PETER BOGDANOVICH: But you never watch your films with an audience – don’t you miss hearing them scream?
ALFRED HITCHCOCK: No. I can hear them when I’m making the picture.
Hitchcock and Cary Grant
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Two of my favourite things, Cary Grant and dramatic silhouettes!
I just LOVE this silhouette – such a great photo!
I love this man and Cary Grant ain’t bad either. I just this minute finished watching the documentary “Hitchcoch/Truffaut” which discusses Truffaut’s book (obviously). I am not a film buff in any sense of the word but I love the movies I love and I can watch a Hitchcock or John Ford movie any day of the week and twice on Sunday and I have. IMHO, they both understand that a movie is visual. For some of their movies, you don’t even need sound. And they were both very romantic/sensual in showing relationships. The kisses in The Quiet Man or Notorius or She Wore A Yellow Ribbon. They way they used black and white or color. The focus on the eyes and hands which Ford didn’t do a lot (the scene in Stagecoach where the gambler decides to shoot the captain’s wife to save her from the Indians)but Hitchcock’s movie are all about eyes and hands (The lit milk glass, when Bob Cummings fights Norman Lloyd in the truck). Love that man. Even Frenzy and Topaz.
Carolyn – I love your observations, especially about eyes and hands!! Good stuff!
That Truffaut/Hitchcock doc was so great – I met Kent Jones at the Film Forum screening here in New York, which was such a treat!
I also love your observation that their films could work as silent films. I’m not sure who I could say that about today. Such masters. And it’s interesting to consider that Hitchcock was – not looked down upon – but wasn’t seen as “serious” because he was interested in a genre that wasn’t seen as respectable as, say, melodrama or social criticism. Truffaut’s interviews did a lot to turn that around – well, the French in general – who love the stuff of ours that we think is silly. Even Westerns! They hold the torch for our “trash” until we come around.
//I also love your observation that their films could work as silent films. I’m not sure who I could say that about today.//
Pawlikowski’s “Ida” immediately comes to mind.
Forgive me, Sheila, but I am not really an old movie buff. There are however some exceptions for certain actors, like Cary Grant or Audrey Hepburn and pretty much all of Hitchcock’s work. Maybe it was the early life saturation with Nancy Drew reading that made me a sucker for mysteries, suspense, thrillers, and subtle horror. Several years ago I had the pleasure of seeing ‘The 39 Steps’ on Broadway. We saw several other huge shows on that trip, but that one was by far my favorite. The stage show is both a spoof of and an homage to Hitchcock’s 1935 film. Even so early in his career the film has all the Hitchcock hallmarks even his famous cameo appearance. I particularly enjoy the juxtaposition of subtle, sometimes nearly slapstick humor with the serious tension of real danger and fear. His camera angles and use of dramatic lights and shadows keep the viewer off balance throughout. I can’t analyze his films with your expertise, Sheila, but I just know that watching Hitchcock I find myself holding by breath or digging my fingernails into my hand. My heart rate is elevated and when I do laugh it often explodes like a valve releasing pressure. Not only that, but nearly all of the modern shows i enjoy draw inspiration from the master, Hitchcock. Happy Birthday!