Fear of Falling
Introduction to the book 'Alfred Hitchcock. The Complete Films', by Paul Duncan
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There was a picture of his called Suspicion where Joan Fontaine gave the most extraordinary performance. Now, I can't believe that that was all mechanical - all planned... He is hiding things from you; he doesn't say how he works, how he achieves effects - easier to say it was all planned in the script and the rest is mechanics."
Hitchcock compared the preparation process to a composer writing his score for musicians to play. In the same way that the composer can hear the music before it is played, Hitchcock could see and hear the film in his head. Once this was clear, then he could try to turn it into a reality with sets, cameramen, actors and editors. It is probable that Hitchcock loved the pre-production process because the film was still pure inside his head. As friend and interviewer Peter Bogdanovich noted, 'shooting was the area of compromise, to his mind, and of potential confrontation.' However, Hitchcock was not as in control and as certain of the end result as he wanted us to believe. As ably demonstrated in Bill Krohn's Hitchcock at Work and Dan Auiler's Hitchcock's Notebooks, on some films the script was still being rewritten during filming, the storyboards were often used by production designers to show how a scene would look rather than as it would be filmed, and Hitchcock worked with actors and crew to adapt his vision to the screen.
This need for compromise must have played havoc with Hitchcock's need for control. On Suspicion, for example, the ending of the film was changed many times before the final, last-minute one was inserted. And according to Joan Fontaine, who starred in Hitchcock's Rebecca and won an Oscar for her performance in Suspicion, she talked to other actors and they came to the conclusion that Hitchcock operated a 'divide and rule' attitude to actors - he would alienate the main actors from each other and then direc t them individually. This gave Hitchcock more control over their performances. 'He wanted total loyalty, but only to him,' Fontaine wrote. Compare this to legendary costume designer Edith Head's comment: "Loyalty was extremely important to Alfred Hitchcock. He was as loyal to his craftsmen as he expected them to be to him." Hitchcock worked repeatedly with many of the crew (and actors) and this gave him a safe, controllable environment within which to make some of his finest films in the 1950s and early 1960s.
By concentrating upon the technical aspects of his work, Hitchcock presented himself as an artisan and master craftsman. He told Peter Bogdanovich, "You've got to know your craft in order to express the art," but did not consider himself an artist. When asked about the subtext of his work, he told Movie that "I'm more interested in the technique of story telling by means of film rather than in what film contains."
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
Page [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
There was a picture of his called Suspicion where Joan Fontaine gave the most extraordinary performance. Now, I can't believe that that was all mechanical - all planned... He is hiding things from you; he doesn't say how he works, how he achieves effects - easier to say it was all planned in the script and the rest is mechanics."
Hitchcock compared the preparation process to a composer writing his score for musicians to play. In the same way that the composer can hear the music before it is played, Hitchcock could see and hear the film in his head. Once this was clear, then he could try to turn it into a reality with sets, cameramen, actors and editors. It is probable that Hitchcock loved the pre-production process because the film was still pure inside his head. As friend and interviewer Peter Bogdanovich noted, 'shooting was the area of compromise, to his mind, and of potential confrontation.' However, Hitchcock was not as in control and as certain of the end result as he wanted us to believe. As ably demonstrated in Bill Krohn's Hitchcock at Work and Dan Auiler's Hitchcock's Notebooks, on some films the script was still being rewritten during filming, the storyboards were often used by production designers to show how a scene would look rather than as it would be filmed, and Hitchcock worked with actors and crew to adapt his vision to the screen.
This need for compromise must have played havoc with Hitchcock's need for control. On Suspicion, for example, the ending of the film was changed many times before the final, last-minute one was inserted. And according to Joan Fontaine, who starred in Hitchcock's Rebecca and won an Oscar for her performance in Suspicion, she talked to other actors and they came to the conclusion that Hitchcock operated a 'divide and rule' attitude to actors - he would alienate the main actors from each other and then direc t them individually. This gave Hitchcock more control over their performances. 'He wanted total loyalty, but only to him,' Fontaine wrote. Compare this to legendary costume designer Edith Head's comment: "Loyalty was extremely important to Alfred Hitchcock. He was as loyal to his craftsmen as he expected them to be to him." Hitchcock worked repeatedly with many of the crew (and actors) and this gave him a safe, controllable environment within which to make some of his finest films in the 1950s and early 1960s.
By concentrating upon the technical aspects of his work, Hitchcock presented himself as an artisan and master craftsman. He told Peter Bogdanovich, "You've got to know your craft in order to express the art," but did not consider himself an artist. When asked about the subtext of his work, he told Movie that "I'm more interested in the technique of story telling by means of film rather than in what film contains."
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Alfred Hitchcock
Flexicover, 19.6 x 24.5 cm (7.7 x 9.6 in.), 192 pages
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The perfect panic attack
On the set of 'To Catch a Thief' (1955). Hitchcock holds onto a pole in the centre foreground whilst filming the climactic rooftop chase.
Still from 'North by Northwest' (1959). Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint) shoots Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) in front of the implacable gaze of the presidents at Mount Rushmore.