Hitchcock's themes:

1. suspense-thriller genre

2. transference of guilt: the wrong man accused:

• hero pursued & must solve problem to establish innocence:
  • THE 39 STEPS / THE WRONG MAN / NORTH BY NORTHWEST

3. the double (doppelganger): related to transference of guilt:

• the ghostly double of a living person which haunts its counterpart:
  • SHADOW OF A DOUBT / STRANGERS ON A TRAIN / VERTIGO

4. the guilty woman: degree of punishment depends upon degree of guilt:

• complicity in murder: results in death: VERTIGO
• lesser crimes: she must suffer, then restored to "normalcy":
  • BLACKMAIL / NOTORIOUS
• disproportional punishment: PSYCHO

5. the nightmare amidst the commonplace:

• ordinary fears of normal human beings transformed into abnormal occurrences:
  • the underlying chaos: paranoia:
    • PSYCHO / THE BIRDS
  • horrible crimes take place in public places:
    • THE LADY VANISHES train
    • STRANGERS ON A TRAIN amusement park
    • THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (both versions) concert hall

6. the moral complicity of the voyeur:

• films narratively constructed around voyeuristic situations:
  • guilt is extended to viewers because of subjectivity of films:
    • SPELLBOUND / REAR WINDOW / VERTIGO

7. obsessive love:

• REBECCA / PSYCHO / VERTIGO

8. the hero is often infirm: must ultimately confront both exterior enemy and himself:

• physical problems: Stewart's broken leg in REAR WINDOW
• personal/emotional problems: SPELLBOUND / VERTIGO

9. the weight of the past upon the present:

• REBECCA / NOTORIOUS / PSYCHO / VERTIGO

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Hitchcock: inclined towards:

1. false leads, suspects, etc.: the MacGuffin: focuses the quest:

• NOTORIOUS / NORTH BY NORTHWEST / FAMILY PLOT

2. sympathetic villains:

• SHADOW OF A DOUBT / STRANGERS ON A TRAIN

3. dull-witted police: often connected to wrong man theme:

• SABOTAGE / TO CATCH A THIEF / NORTH BY NORTHWEST

4. atmosphere of romantic longing:

• REBECCA / SUSPICION / NOTORIOUS

5. black humor: sometimes pervades entire film:

• THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY / FAMILY PLOT

6. refusal to cloud a good story with ideology: divorced from socialist/realist problems

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Hitchcock's style:

1. bravura manipulation of editing / montage:

• shower scene from PSYCHO:
  • 78 separate shots / 45 seconds of screen time

2. master of the moving camera:

• ROPE: made up almost entirely of 10-minute takes
• REAR WINDOW: opening shots: Hitchcock as master of the establishing shot:
  • actually 4 shots w/moving camera:

    • proximity tells us much that editing wouldn't reveal:
    • about protagonist Stewart: where he lives, profession, etc.

3. self-conscious naration:

• calls attention to itself by the way it's done:
  • 2 ways this happens:
    • a. narration confines itself to single character's point of view more than usual:
      • optical subjectivity: lets us see through character's eyes:
        • powerful tool for audience identification
    • b. use of narrational intrusions: commenting on the action:
      • symbolic inserts: SPELLBOUND: giant gun
      • revelatory camera movements: YOUNG AND INNOCENT:
        • from wide shot of room to c/u of twitching eye
      • unexpected camera angles: THE WRONG MAN:
        • overhead shot of hero being locked in jail cell
      • sound overlaps: THE 39 STEPS: sound bridge
      • creative use of sound: BLACKMAIL: "knife": emphasizes woman's guilt
      • Hitchcock's cameo appearances: his "signature" on the film
• because of self-conscious narration: there's a tension:
  • between what the character knows & what narration tells us:
    • we feel we want to help character
  • but narration never tells all: suppressive aspect to narration

4. sets up challenges for himself: technical innovator:

• sound: creative use of sound in BLACKMAIL
• color: TROUBLE WITH HARRY: autumn leaves in New England
• ROPE: 10-minute takes
• set pieces: Mount Rushmore in NORTH BY NORTHWEST:
  • motif running through films: chase through a famous setting

5. use of actors' images:

• heroes: actors used: e.g., Grant, Stewart:
  • augmenting generic conventions with their own personas
• "cool blonde" heroines: fire under ice: cool and disdainful:
  • yet underlying eroticism
• in general: smooth, slick male --- offset by --- cool, sleek female

6. economy: nothing unnecessary: everything tinged with meaning:

• Hitchcock plays with us on this

7. preparation:

• Hitchcock prepared thoroughly for filming:
  • storyboards:
    • but left some room during filming for alternative takes, etc.
  • "Actors should be treated like cattle."

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bgs: 09-01