Comments on: Happy Birthday Hitch! 4 Alfred Hitchcock Secrets

By: marvin nubwaxer

marvin nubwaxer — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 07:34:00 +0000

stephen chow writes, directs and stars in his movies, and has made quite a few. i’m mentioning him because i believe he is a true genius at what he does and the sooner people discover him in the west the sooner they will realize they’ve been missing some real treats.

By: Johnny Cat

Johnny Cat — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 03:31:26 +0000

Hitch! Hitch! Hooray!

By: Nicky

Nicky — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 19:45:01 +0000

Please, please, PLEASE post a pic of whatever Hitch tat you get!

By: Emily

Emily — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 19:25:42 +0000

Hitchcock is so, so great. My favorite constantly rotates but it comes down to: Psycho, Rear Window, North by Northwest, Vertigo, Notorious and The Birds.

Some Dial M For Murder trivia: I’m not sure if the entire film is shot in 3D, but the scene where Grace Kelly’s character is attacked IS shot in 3D. She reaches for help and the intent was to use 3D so that she was literally reaching into the audience for help, thereby making the audience complicit in fate.

One of my favorite parts of Psycho is the ending, when Norman is in the holding cell and “Norma” gives the monologue and she says the part about how she’s not even going to swat that fly, and then Norman looks up and gives the CREEPIEST look into the camera, and then they superimpose one frame of Norma’s “face” over Norman’s. (I’m guessing everyone has seen it and knows what I mean but I would hate to ruin it for someone.) Oh man, what a great movie.

Re the relatively slow pace: These films are all 30+ years old, too. As much as I would like to think that my attention span is impervious to MTV, computers and all the other usual suspects, it’s definitely not. Plus, suspense by Hitchcock standards is not suspense by today’s standards. The suspense lies in the excruciating wait for the other shoe to drop rather than a cliffhanger ending or a bunch of plot twist endings or whatever.

By: Kim

Kim — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 19:11:21 +0000

I took film history in college and one semester was dedicated to the study of all things Hitchcock. I knew a little about his films, but after that class, I became a huge fan. My favorite is probably Rear Window. Everything in his movies add some little detail to the film. He was and remains a great filmmaker.

By: bre

bre — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 17:52:52 +0000

I’m a video editor, and in my edit suite I have a large poster of Hitchcock from the Apple “Think Different” campaign of the late 90’s. I was at MacWorld in 1998, and they were giving the posters away on the show floor. They went fast, and were always gone fairly soon after the show opened each day. I only got two…Hitchcock and Amelia Earhart. But I was so glad I snagged Hitchcock. It’s a great shot of him peeking out from behind a stone wall. I had someone offer me $100 for the poster recently, but I won’t part with it.

BTW…@ PartiallyDeflected…if film ran out and a new roll was loaded, an edit had to happen.

By: Joanna

Joanna — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 17:43:14 +0000

One of my favorite tidbits is how in Rear Window, the camera is always inside the apartment or right outside the window, except when something in the courtyard draws everyone’s attention and involves them with each other.

As to the complaint that Hitchcock’s movies are slow, well, they are – but that’s part of the genius. The concert scene is The Man Who Knew Too Much drags on, and on, and on, and there’s not a word of dialogue, just lots of Doris Day looking around and close-ups of relevant people, but you’re absolutely ready to leap our of your seat by the end of it. That, in my opinion, is nothing short of brilliant. I’ll take a slow burn over a quick bang any day.

reCAPTCHA: the Dotter — I think I just discovered a long-lost villain. Proofreader by day, poison-pen writer by night, and oh-so-suave and evil!

By: beth

beth — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 15:12:20 +0000

Who doesn’t LOVE Hitchcock. The MacGuffin works every time.

Ok some things not mentioned (but maybe everybody knows):

You NEVER see Janet Leigh actually get stabbed in the movie.

The “blood” going down the drain in Psycho is actually newsprint (and Mel Brooks used this device in his Hitchcock inspired comedy, “High Anxiety.”

In North by Northwest, Cary Grant’s mother was actually several years YOUNGER than Cary!

By: Bekah

Bekah — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 14:58:43 +0000

Some fun trivia you missed: The version of The Man Who Knew Too Much you mention is actually the SECOND version Hitchcock did. The first was in 1934, did NOT have a climactic scene in the Royal Albert Hall, and the kidnapped child was a daughter, not a son. It doesn’t have the star power of the second one (although Peter Lorre was in it, who I think is a great character actor), but it’s got Hitch written all over it.

By: Dex

Dex — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 13:55:07 +0000

I worked in film for years and there was an old urban legend that tied in Hitchcock.

The on-set catering department is referred to as “Craft” our “Crafts Service”. The common explanation is that it is called this because it is servicing all of the crafts of film (camera, actors, grips, etc.).

One explanation is that Hitchcock was so impressed by the caterer on his set, he commented, “You, sir, are a service to your craft.” The term stuck.