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Home , Dial M for Murder, Ernest Lehman, Family Plot, Marion Crane, Michael Wilding, North by Northwest

THE T A R S a great success, remains significant for two reasons. The 3D craze was sweeping the American nation, and Warner Brothers felt that Part 2 Hitchcock should jump on the bandwagon. thus became the first 1950 to (and only) 3D Hitchcock production. 1980 Hitchcock himself once lamented that the 3D process was a seven-day wonder, and that he had arrived on the seventh day. Indeed the film was hardly ever screened using the gimmicky process, and was largely  seen by audiences in a ‘flat’ version. The second, and probably most significant, reason for the film’s importance, is that it introduced Hitchcock to actress . In Kelly, Hitchcock found the ultimate The corpse in personification of the ‘cool blonde’. She was everything that he could have hoped for, and the coach more. Not quite a femme fatale, and not quite the wilting flower, Kelly was Hitchcock’s ice princess. They would ultimately work to- gether on a further two projects. When she married Prince Rainier of Monaco, Hitchcock The life and career of sorely missed her. Despite both their best efforts to work together again (in The birds and Marnie) the people of Monaco made it clear that they would not share their prin- cess with . After four major successes in a row for the Warner Brothers Studio, Hitchcock was ALEXANDER VAN DER POLL about to sign one of the most lucrative in 1950 was a critical and commercial failure. Correspondent director’s contracts in cinema history… Despite a stellar cast including , , and Success is Paramount ‘If I made Cinderella, the audience would singing The laziest gal in town, its poor per- Through the business acumen of MCA be looking for a dead body in the coach’. formance at the box office sealed, forever, agent, , Paramount Studios Alfred Hitchcock the fate of Hitchcock and Sidney Bernstein’s offered Hitchcock a nine-picture deal. In Transatlantic Pictures. addition to receiving the highest salary (per Part 1 appeared in the CL September/October A new era picture) that he had ever earned, he would be offered a percentage of the profits, as 2005 issue, p 34. In keeping with his usual work ethic, well as acting as producer on five of those Hitchcock had already started working on films. Moreover, the rights of the pictures n an evening in October of 1955, his next couple of projects, even before Hitchcock produced would revert to him thousands of Americans turning on completing Stage fright. The most important eight years after their initial release. Otheir television sets were greeted of these was a film adaptation of Patricia Feeling highly motivated, Hitchcock by the slow-emerging drawn silhouette of (The talented Mr Ripley) Highsmith’s debut embarked on a golden era of creativity. In a Alfred Hitchcock, accompanied by the strains novel, Strangers on a train (1951). The sus- matter of five years, the Master of Suspense of Gounod’s Funeral march of a marionette. penseful story was the perfect source mate- created half a dozen films, all of which are Alfred Hitchcock, in partnership with rial for Hitchcock. The eventual screenplay today regarded as classic cinema. Rear win- MCA and CBS, had launched the Alfred would leave little unchanged from the book, dow, , The man who knew Hitchcock presents television series. With yet it nevertheless met with critical and too much, Vertigo, , this project, Hitchcock cemented his popu- public acclaim, making Strangers one of the and ending off the decade with the film that larity; his name, and his image in the minds of most successful Hitchcock films ever made. would launch a thousand imitations. the American public. The son of an English Continuing under contract to Warner In (1954), Hitchcock was greengrocer had become an American Brothers, Hitchcock produced and directed gladly re-united with Grace Kelly, and an- icon… two further projects, I confess (1953) and other favourite actor and close friend, James Yet, the decade, which would see the Dial M for murder (1954). I confess met Stewart. Rounding off the cast was veteran ultimate rise of the star director, began with mild response from audiences and crit- character actor, Thelma Ritter. rather inauspiciously. Stage fright, released ics, but Dial M for murder, aside from being

Cape Libr., Nov/Dec 2005 44 The film was based on a short story helicopters. The very idea seemed ab- book that formed the by Cornell Woolrich, It had to be murder surd, and certainly had never been done basis of the classic 1955 first published in the pulp magazine Dime before, but Hitchcock respected his wife’s film, Les Diabolique detective in 1942. In fact, pulp fiction often knowledge of cinema, and so, despite much (remade in 1996, star- supplied Hitchcock with ideas for his radio, difficulty, the scene was thus shot. Today, ring Sharon Stone). and later television series. the scene still stands as a testament to Indeed Hitchcock’s first The central motive in Rear window is that Hitchcock’s pursuit of cinematic innovation. choice was to make of voyeurism. A pastime that one suspects Hitchcock’s third contribution, The Diabolique, but having the director of having been particularly trouble with Harry (1956) was a curious lost the chance to do so, fond. As one reviewer noted, ‘It’s like being venture into the realm of black comedy. he settled on D’Entre Hitchcock for 112 minutes.’ (The Second The plot revolves around a bothersome les Morts (From among Virgin film guide, 1993.) Indeed, Rear win- corpse (Harry’s) which keeps appearing and the dead) which would dow is a brilliant exercise in this regard. In disappearing, causing the residents of a small become Vertigo. Hitchcock and Francois the film, a wheelchair-bound Jimmy Stewart Vermont town no end of trouble, as each The complexities and Truffaut (1962) spends his days spying on his flat-dwelling has their own reason for believing that they psychological influ- Truffaut a director of the neighbours across the way. Simultaneously are responsible for his death. ences on the film and its French New Wave inter- the viewer is watching Stewart, watch- The trouble with Harry may not be a casting, is so immense viewed Hitchcock extensively ing others (of course being watched by a masterpiece of cinema, but it did introduce that one could do no for a seminal film book voyeuristic director). A kind of vortex of the world to a talented new actor: Shirley better than to read Dan voyeurism. MacLaine. Auiler’s 1999 book, This theme would re-appear (in smaller Another aside to this whimsical film is that Vertigo - the mak- measure) in later films like Vertigo, the picturesque autumn-time village was ing of a Hitchcock and The birds, to name but a few. filmed in winter, after having been ravaged classic. Unlike Hitchcock’s first film for Warner by Hurricane Carol. Much of what is seen Hitchcock Brothers, Stage fright, Rear window (a onscreen was filmed back in Hollywood on desperately wanted Paramount production) enjoyed enormous a soundstage. A testament to Hitchcock to cast success. Critics and audiences applauded, and his crew’s ingenuity is that it is quite dif- (from The wrong and were hungry for more. Hitchcock ficult to tell the difference between the real man) as the ‘cool received his fourth Academy Award Vermont, and the studio recreation. blonde’ Madeline nomination for Rear window, having Hitchcock’s next venture divides his loyal Elster. Hitchcock Baldy, off duty, chatting with his previously been nominated for Rebecca fans to this day. He had made The man had great plans for director during the filming of (1940), Lifeboat (1944), and Spellbound who knew too much in England in 1934. Vera Miles, aiming The birds (1963) (1945). Hitchcock was not about to disap- Now, in 1956, Hitchcock saw fit to remake to shape her into point them, nor lose momentum. his own film. This time the stars would be the new Grace Kelly. The next year, 1955, saw the release of To and . Fans of the However, she had fallen catch a thief. Again, the film starred Grace Master still disagree as to the merits of the pregnant and announced Kelly, this time opposite . remake versus the original, but Hitchcock her semi-retirement from To catch a thief is almost certainly one of himself seemed particularly proud of the acting. Hitchcock was Hitchcock’s most beautifully-photographed latter version. He once said that the original despondent, and had to films. The idyllic French Riviera scenery, the was ‘the work of a talented amateur, and the make do with newcomer, VistaVision cameras, and the second was made by a professional.’ . Just as James film stock, all helping to achieve a kind of Incidentally, while filming The trouble Stewart’s character tries to postcard beauty. with Harry Hitchcock first hired Bernard re-model a young girl into Though considered a minor entry in the Herrmann to compose the musical score. the image of his deceased Hitchcock oeuvre, audiences worldwide He would subsequently be hired to score lover, so Hitchcock had to responded well to his particular mixture of the next seven Hitchcock productions, and re-model Novak into his humour and suspense. To say little of sexual here he makes a cameo appearance in The image of Miles, who he On the set of innuendo. During an impromptu picnic man who knew too much as the conduc- in turn wanted to fashion To catch a thief (1955) - of cold chicken, Grace Kelly’s character tor of the Storm cloud Cantata during the after Kelly, in another kind Grace Kelly giving seductively asks of Grant’s, ‘So which do you Albert Hall sequence. of Vertigo-effect. Hitchcock a haircut prefer? A leg or a breast.’ Yet, the reason most people remember Young Miss Novak, In our modern film industry, it takes Hitchcock’s forty-third film, is Doris Day’s however, proved to particularly spectacular special effects to throaty rendition of the Oscar-winning, Que be very trying for the impress audiences. Computer-generated Serra, Serra. old director. She was (CG) effects are par for the course. In the After meeting a contractual obligation to inexperienced, and mid , however, there were no CG Warner Brothers with 1957’s The wrong even dared to chal- effects, no computers (at least not as we man (starring and Vera Miles), lenge the director’s know them today), and seemingly simple Hitchcock went on to produce his most (and Oscar-winning shots required a level of ingenuity not many controversial, most talked about, and per- costume designer filmmakers today posess. haps, most enigmatic film. ’s) choice For the memorable cliff-top drive Vertigo (1958) was based upon the of wardrobe. At first, sequence, his wife Alma suggested that the novel by French authors Pierre Boileau and she refused to wear scene be shot using cameras mounted on Thomas Narcejac who had written the  Hitchcock receiving an honorary degree from Columbia Kaapse Bibl., Nov/Des 2005 University, New York 1972 45 THE T A R S

the now-famous grey suit, although she in 1954 for the vehicle, A cinematic revolution relented eventually. Sabrina, and would be nominated again in At the end of the 1950s Hitchcock had ten When Vertigo was released in 1958, most 1959 for North by northwest. He would years of great artistic and financial success to reviews were unfavourable. Most critics dis- work once more with Hitchcock, on the look back on. His fifties films had amassed a missed the film outright. The intricate plot, director’s final film, in 1976. total of twelve Oscar nominations, including and re-invention theme similarly often con- In-jokes abound in the film. Jessie Royce two winners. Best cinematography for fused audiences. To add insult to injury, most Landis, who plays Grant’s character’s mother, To catch a thief and Best song for The audiences of that time probably had no idea was in reality, a few months younger than man who knew too much. In addition, what the word Vertigo actually meant. him. the Alfred Hitchcock presents television series Despite its striking title design and When Roger O Thornhill (Cary Grant) is was entering its sixth season, under the guid- memorable dream sequence (designed by asked what the ‘O’ stands for, his reply is a ance of Hitchcock’s trusted assistant, Joan ) ’s haunting deadpan, ‘Nothing’. Perhaps a subtle dig at Harrison. In that decade, Hitchcock became score, and exceptional acting from Novak Hitchcock’s old partner, David O Selznick. a grandfather thrice over. Moreover, despite and Stewart Vertigo still failed to make a Even the title of the film seems to indicate a some setbacks in his health (mainly caused significant impact at the box-office. Barbara quote from where the young prince by his ever-increasing girth), life was good, Bel Geddes, best remembered for her says that he is ‘but mad north-northwest; and there seemed no stopping the Master of portrayal of Miss Ellie Ewing on televi- when the wind is southerly I know a hawk Suspense. sion’s Dallas (1978-1990), was cast in from a handsaw.’ However, viewers with In late 1958, a little-known author by the the role of Midge, Scottie’s old col- a quick eye and a firm grasp of geography name of , had published a book, lege friend, and ex-fiancé. Ellen Corby, will notice that Grant travels in a northerly loosely based on the facts surrounding the another future television star, would go direction, and at one stage uses ‘Northwest gruesome murders, and acts of cannibalism, on to play the role of Grandma Walton, Airlines’, thus travelling North by Northwest of Wisconsin farmer, Ed Gein. In addition in the hit television series, The Waltons Airlines. to Bloch’s take on the Ed Gein case, and (1972-1981). The chemistry between the two leads Hitchcock’s subsequent film, the same The failure of the film was painful for also allowed Hitchcock to work in some incident inspired two other famous films, the director, as this was, and still is, his most rather risqué sexual innuendoes. the first being Tobe Hooper’s 1974 cult personal film. Nevertheless, over time All these aside, it is still Hitchcock’s hit, The Texas chain saw massacre, and Vertigo has become the director’s most mastery at cinema that makes North by ’s 1991 Oscar win- discussed film. It is currently hailed by critics northwest unforgettable. The famous ning, The silence of the lambs, based on worldwide as a masterpiece. And what a sequence, with the leads Thomas Harris’s best-selling novel. masterpiece it is, compelling one to see it re- crawling across the faces of America’s finest Proposed film treatments had been peatedly, each time experiencing its ethereal presidents. Then there is the truly legendary circulating various studios for months, but beauty differently. crop-duster chase scene. none dared accept the risky material. Alfred On a short reprieve from Paramount, Who can forget the image of Grant, in a Hitchcock, on the other hand, jumped at Hitchcock made one film for MGM in 1959. blue suit, running through a dusty cornfield, the opportunity, and acquired the film rights North by northwest remains the best pursued by a bullet-firing crop-duster plane? immediately. example of a spy/chase film. With Cary The exploding truck at the end of the The working title for Hitchcock’s forty- Grant cast as the advertising executive, who ‘crop-duster’ scene bears the logo of seventh feature, Wimpy, was one of the is mistakenly identified as a CIA agent, and the company that Hitchcock’s son-in-law many ways he kept production details cast as the femme fatale, worked for. There is that dark Hitchcock shielded from of the press. Working in Hitchcock just could not go wrong. humour again! secrecy Wimpy was set to take America by Again, Hitchcock used the artistry of Saul The film was certainly an all-round suc- storm. Bass and Bernard Herrmann’s rousing music. cess, but nothing could prepare the world of Filming in cost-effective black and white, In addition, he secured Oscar nominee cinema for Hitchcock’s next groundbreaking and further cutting costs by using the crew , to write the taut script. project. from his television series, Hitchcock shot Ernest Lehman, had been nominated Psycho, (as the film would be called) in a

Stage fr ight (1950) Marlene Dietr ich tr ies to attract her director’s attention Stranger s on a train (1951) Hitchcock discusses the camera setup under the mer ry-go-round

I confess (1953) Hitchcock uses a glass of water to create a visual metaphor for Rear window (1954) the justice system Always aiming for dramatic shots often involved difficult setups Cape Libr., Nov/Dec 2005 46 TITLE YEAR CAMEO APPEARANCES The Paradine case 1947 Getting off a train carrying a cello (see Strangers on a train). *The pleasure garden 1925 None *Rope 1948 Hitchcock’s silhouette appears in neon in a view from the 1926 None apartment window. The lodger 1926 10 minutes in: sitting in a 1949 5 minutes in: in Town newsroom. Square wearing a coat, and Downhill 1927 None brown hat. Easy virtue 1927 Walking through a gate at a Stage fright 1950 Hitchcock watches Jane Wyman tennis court. rehearse her part as Dietrich’s The ring 1927 None maid, looking puzzled. The farmer’s wife 1928 None *Strangers on a train 1951 10 minutes in: Hitchcock gets onto a train carrying a Champagne 1928 None double bass. The Manxman 1929 None I Confess 1953 Walking along the top of a *Blackmail 1929 On a tube train being staircase during the opening pestered by a small boy. titles. Elstree calling 1930 None Dial M for murder 1954 In a photograph, he is seated on Juno and the paycock 1930 None the left-hand side. Murder 1930 Walking past the scene of *Rear window 1954 60 minutes in: winding the clock the crime (The boarding house). in the songwriter’s apartment. The skin game 1931 None *To catch a thief 1956 9 minutes in: on a bus next to The 1932 None Cary Grant and a birdcage. 1932 None The trouble with Harry 1956 20 minutes in: walking passed limousine of man looking at 1933 None paintings. The man who knew The man who knew 1956 In Moroccan market place too much 1934 None too much watching acrobats. The thirty-nine steps 1935 7 minutes in: dropping some 1957 Narrating the prologue; the only litter in the music hall. time this happened in his films. The secret agent 1936 None *Vertigo 1958 11 minutes in: walking past *Sabotage 1936 None Elster’s shipyard. 1937 Outside the courthouse *North by Northwest 1959 After opening titles; missing holding a camera. the bus. * 1938 Near the end, at Victoria *Psycho 1960 4 minutes in: outside the station, smoking a cigar. real estate agent’s office. Jamaica inn 1939 None *The birds 1963 At the start, he walks out *Rebecca 1940 Towards the end, he is waiting the pet shop with his two dogs, outside a phone booth. Stanley and Jeffrey. Foreign correspondent 1940 11 minutes in: walking past a Marnie 1964 5 minutes in: stepping out of hotel, reading a paper. hotel room looking at ‘Marnie’ guiltily. Mr and Mrs Smith 1941 Halfway in: passing David Smith in front of his building. 1966 Early in: in hotel lobby, with a baby on his lap who seems to Suspicion 1941 45 minutes in: posting a letter at soil itself. the Post Office. Topaz 1969 28 minutes in: at airport, a nurse Saboteur 1942 30 minutes in: standing in front pushes him along in a wheelchair. of Cut Rate Drugs in New York. 1972 In opening scene: wearing a 1943 On a train, playing cards, bowler hat and not applauding holding a full suit of spades. the speaker. Lifeboat 1944 In a newspaper, Hitchcock is *Family plot 1976 40 minutes in: his silhouette seen in before and after behind a frosted glass door, pictures for a diet. arguing with a woman. *Bon Voyage / Adventure 1944 None Spellbound 1945 39 minutes in: emerging from a * Titles marked with an asterisk denote titles available in lift, carrying a violin case Library Service stock. (see Strangers on a train). *Notorious 1946 At the Sebastian mansion, downing a glass of champagne, and leaving quickly.

Kaapse Bibl., Nov/Des 2005 47 THE T A R S

remarkably short period of time, and on a trained. Trick photography, matte effects, fifty years, was now merely a ghost of the minimal budget. and dozens of other methods were used to man he once was. Hitchcock barely seems The stars were , (who achieve the desired result. able to recognise lifetime friends like James would forever afterward be typecast as a (Matte: A technique for blending actors in Stewart, Cary Grant, and , ‘-type’) and . (Janet the studio with location, or trick scenes. The and is even less aware of his surroundings. Leigh is the mother of Jamie Lee Curtis, actor is photographed against a non-reflec- At the end of 1979, Queen Elizabeth II, the product of her marriage to legen- tive background, for example, black velvet, of England, bestowed upon him the honour dary Tony Curtis.) Hitchcock cast Vera and a high contrast negative of this image of Knight Commander of the Order of the Miles in the role of sister to the doomed is combined with the desired background. British Empire. Thus, only a few months (Leigh). Thus men can move among animated mon- before his demise, he became Sir Alfred Yet, the true stars of Psycho are per- sters, or birds, in this instance, and ghosts can Hitchcock. haps the brooding atmosphere, and the slowly disappear.) At the age of nearly 81, on 29 April, 1980, now renowned musical score by Bernard In one scene, where star Alfred J Hitchcock was no more, joined Herrmann. The sound of the screeching all- (mother of Melanie Griffith) is pursued by scarcely two years later, by his partner in life, strings orchestra during the equally famous the feathered fiends, various birds were at- love and work, Alma Reville Hitchcock. shower scene still causes cold chills down tached by thin string to her hair and clothes, Perhaps Hitchcock’s greatest legacy is one’s spine. to give a more realistic effect. The birds was Psycho. With that film, he single-handedly When Psycho was finally released in 1960, yet another major success. revolutionised the ‘horror’ film. The so-called theatre owners were instructed not to let ‘slasher’ films of the 1980s and onward, owe any patron into the cinema after the film had The beginning of the end a huge debt to the man who first had the commenced. ‘The film you have to see from Sadly, Hitchcock’s health was deteriorating courage to defy the restrictive censorship the beginning, or not at all, for no one will be rapidly during the late sixties, and his confi- laws of the time, and show a naked person seated after the start of: PSYCHO,’ read the dence was dealt a blow by two disappoint- being ‘slashed’ to death. tag at the end of the five minute . ing thrillers, Torn curtain (1966) and Topaz In this regard, Psycho may be seen as Psycho ensured Alfred Hitchcock a (1969). A planned film project to be shot the grandfather of the modern ‘horror’ film. permanent place in the annals of film history. in South Africa (where an aunt of his was Horror fans the world over would do well The landmark film landed Hitchcock his residing), sadly, never came to fruition. to remember the origin of their favourite fifth Academy Award nomination for best In 1972, Hitchcock returned to to genre, and bow to Alfred Hitchcock, before director, and even today one finds many web shoot Frenzy, which fared significantly better paying lip service to the Wes Cravens of the sites, college courses, fan clubs, et cetera at the box office, and four years later, he cinema world. which are all devoted to the exclusive study completed his fifty-third, and final, film, the Yet, the legacy of the Master survives to of this masterpiece. comedy-thriller, Family plot (1976). this day. Restored versions of his master- Never one to rest on his laurels, Over the next few years, Hitchcock slowly pieces are becoming increasingly available. Hitchcock proceeded with his next film. An sank ever deeper into a decline, from which Many directors claim Hitchcock as their adaptation of a Daphne du Maurier short he would never quite recover. original inspiration. Dozens of movies have story, The birds. Hitchcock had previously Perhaps the greatest mystery, and injustice, been directly influenced by his style of film- filmed two other Du Maurier stories, is that though he was nominated for five making. Jamaica Inn and Rebecca. Best Director , he never Directors like , films such The strange tale of a small seaside town won. as (1998), the remake mysteriously being attacked by birds, would In 1979, Hitchcock attended a gala event of Rear window (1998) with Christopher prove to be a painstaking exercise in special in his honour. Hosted by the American Film Reeve as the wheelchair bound voyeur, effects. Although technology had increased Institute, he was presented with a lifetime RSVP (2001), Entrapment (1999) and somewhat since the mid 1950s, by the early achievement award. Watching the foot- countless others owe much to the legacy of sixties it still seemed an insurmountable age of this event is a painful experience. Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock - the ultimate problem to make a mass attack by birds The giant, who thrilled the world for over Master of Suspense. look realistic. Hundreds of birds had to be 2 0 0 5

Vertigo (1958) Hitchcock trying to achieve perfection Marnie (1964) in what was the most difficult scene in With characteristic gesture, this movie Hitchcock explains what he needs from

Family plot (1976) Psycho (1960) During his last movie a visibly Hitchcock directing the shower older Hitchcock required increased scene which took seven days and camera movement to highten the seventy-eight shots to complete dramatic effect during the grave- yard scene Cape Libr., Sept/Oct 2005 48