Alfred Hitchcock
What film director can embed a signature moment into the psyche of several generations of audiences? Alfred Hitchcock, of course. His meticulously crafted movies combine suspense, humor, romance, horror, and innovative filming techniques. Hitchcock was born in London in 1899, trained at a technical school but moved on to work in advertising, and then screenwriting and filmmaking at the studios at Gainsborough Pictures. He made a series of films in several genres throughout the 1920s and 30s, but gained international fame with The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) and The 39 Steps (1935). By the late 1930s he moved to Hollywood to work with producer David Selznick, a less than happy pairing of two controlling men. Hitchcock was essentially loaned out to other producers - an arrangement that made Selznick money and allowed Hitchcock a greater measure of freedom over his films. In his independent films such as Rope (1948) we see experimentation with long takes and shooting within a confined space. Other Hitchcock signatures include a plot device known as the ‘MacGuffin’ - a sometimes minor detail that becomes the driving motive of the plot. His longtime collaboration with composer Bernard Herrmann, who wrote the soundtracks for many of Hitchcock’s films, is perhaps best showcased in Psycho (1960) with its screeching strings. From 1955-65 Hitchcock also hosted and produced a successful television series, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, which made his image and mannerisms familiar to American TV audiences. Alfred Hitchcock died in 1980, shortly after being knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. Can you take a shower without peeking through the curtain to make sure nobody is there? Good advice: select your motel with care; and, if more than three birds congregate behind you, it might be time to leave the playground.
