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"Some of our most exquisite murders have been domestic, performed with tenderness in simple, homey places....like the kitchen table."
The author of this disturbing yet famous quotation? Alfred Hitchcock, an Englishman who single-handedly changed the face of American cinema.
Born in Leytonstone, England, in August 1899, Hitchcock began his cinematic career illustrating title cards at a Paramount playhouse in London. It was there he learned the ropes of movie-making, seeking and accepting any work which would enable him to slowly but surely master the craft with which he once claimed to be obsessed. Lighting, scripting, art direction, and editing all fell to the responsibility of Hitchcock during this learning period.
For more than two years, Hitchcock continued in this vein at Paramount. Then, a break came during 1922 when a director had to bow out of a work in progress, "Always Tell Your Wife," because of illness. Hitchcock was given the chance to finish the film, and impressing the studio brass, did just that. When "Number 13," another of Paramount’s London projects, was ready to film, the powers-that-be unanimously voiced such confidence in Hitchcock’s directorial prowess he was given total control of the directing of the film. However, during the filming, Paramount decided to close the doors on its London operation and the film was never finished. It was while filming "The Pleasure Garden," a 1922 co-production between Germany and Britain, that Hitchcock’s career and fame skyrocketed.
For the next thirteen years, Hitchcock wove many intriguing tales through the magic of film while directing in his native England. In 1926, he directed what many consider his first truly excellent piece, "The Lodger." In it, a small bit of the brilliance yet to come from the "Master of Suspense," as he became widely known, was clearly visible. As with so many other classics stamped with the undeniable feel of Hitchcock, "The Lodger" was a suspenseful tale of crime, accusations, and intrigue.
Three years later, a whole new dimension would enter Hitchcock’s films: he directed his first movie with sound, "Blackmail." Another effort that involved murder, hate, and inner turmoil, "Blackmail" was hailed as technically brilliant. After a young woman murders a man who has thrown very unwanted advances, Hitchcock, emphasizing to the audience the deeply rooted terror inside the girl, garbles all the 'morning-after' dialogue except for one word: 'knife'.
After "Blackmail," Hitchcock went on to direct six more films in London. Among those are some of his earliest best, including "Murder!" in 1934; "The Man Who Knew Too Much" in 1934; and "39 Steps," in 1935. While these films garnered unwavering support, Hitchcock’s next try, "Sabotage," didn’t gather the usual dose of critics’ loyalty. Hitchcock himself explained that by bringing harm to an innocent, as happens in "Sabotage" very late into the film, the usual satisfying outcome to an audience’s sense of justice fails to develop.
"The Lady Vanishes" and "Jamaica Inn," filmed in 1938 and 1939 respectively, were Hitchcock’s last films from London. In 1940, "Rebecca," with Joan Fontaine, ushered in the classic Hollywood efforts of a now world-famous Hitchcock. Between "Rebecca" and "Psycho," his most famous and perhaps most disturbing film, Hitchcock would direct no less than eighteen movies, most of which are considered brilliant by critics and audiences alike. Among those Hollywood films are "Suspicion," again with Joan Fontaine and the country’s most debonair actor, Cary Grant, in 1941; "Shadow of a Doubt," 1943; "Lifeboat," in 1944; "Rope," with Jimmy Stewart, in which Hitchcock attempted to create the look of one long, unedited shot involving no cuts, in 1948; "Dial M for Murder," 1954, and "To Catch a Thief," 1955.
When "Rear Window" opened in 1954, audiences were, for perhaps the very first time, made to feel as real, involved, working parts of the film. The story of a photographer, homebound with a broken leg, witnessing what he believes to be murder in the apartment across the street, "Rear Window" drew deeply into its web of voyeurism those who sat in reclining chairs in darkened movie houses.
In 1960, "Psycho" was released and its impact upon audiences across the world was immediate and forceful. The now-famous shower scene between Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins as "Mother" is still shuddered at today, some forty years later, thanks to the ingenious mind of Hitchcock and his absolute mastery of special shot selection and vision. In yet another voyeuristic turn, as in "Rear Window," the audience is once again made to feel as part of this film, especially in places such as the shower scene, when they are privy to what may become of Leigh as she innocently bathes in room six of the Bates Motel.
Post-"Psycho" films by Hitchcock include "The Birds," in 1963; "Marnie," in 1964; "Torn Curtain," in 1966 and "Topaz," in 1969. In 1972, he returned once again to England. It is there he directed "Frenzy," a tale of an innocent man accused of grotesque stranglings.
"Family Plot," Hitchcock’s very last film, was released in 1976 and included, forty-one minutes into the film, the silhouette of Hitchcock as he stood behind the door of the Registry of Births and Deaths. Throughout his career Hitchcock made quite a regular habit of appearing, however briefly, in his films; something no other director has ever considered. But then again, no other director has ever possessed quite the vision of Alfred Hitchcock, brilliant storyteller and Master of Suspense.
Hitchcock died of liver failure and other health problems on April 28, 1980.
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