Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature Bc. Martin Burget Works of Alfred Hitchcock: An Analysis Master´s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: doc. PhDr. Tomáš Pospíšil, Dr. 2013 1 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the sources listed in the bibliography. …………………………………………… Author’s signature 2 I would like to thank my supervisor doc. PhDr. Tomáš Pospíšil, Dr. for his advice, guidance and support. 3 Table of Contents 1. Introduction…………………………………………………………………….5 2. Hitchcock Biography…………………………………………………………..8 3. Cultural Importance Of Alfred Hitchcock……………………………..……17 4. Hitchcock and Auteur Theory, Unifying Elements in Hitchcock´s Films…26 5. Suspense…………………………………………………………………….…39 5.1 Suspense…………………………………………………………….……..39 5.2 Subjective Suspense and Exploitation of Spatial Setting………...……. 50 5.3 Shared Suspense and Morality of Suspense…………………………..…61 5.4 Sexuality, Voyeurism, Humor and Suspense……………………..….…..66 6. Conclusion……………………………………………………………..………73 Bibliography………………………………………………………………...……..77 Czech Abstract…………………………………………………………….………82 English Abstract………………………………………………………..………….83 4 1. Introduction This thesis focuses on the works of Alfred Hitchcock, British born director, who is one of the most recognized movie directors of all time. The thesis aims on Hitchcock´s films in general pointing out the unifying elements which connect them but the core of the thesis and its main focus is directed at suspense, how Hitchcock employed suspense in his films and the techniques he used to generate it. In order to connect the thesis from a very specific field of film studies to a more general perspective of cultural studies, the thesis also provides short examination of Hitchcock´s author style related to auteur theory and also cultural impact of Hitchcock´s persona is examined by a general overview of his reception in Europe and in the United States. Alfred Hitchcock was connected with film industry almost since its very beginning when it was making the first steps to utilize its significant potential in entertainment provision. There have not been many film directors that would leave such an important impact on the movie industry: ―Unquestionably the greatest filmmaker to emerge from these islands (British), Hitchcock did more than any director to shape modern cinema, which would be utterly different without him. His flair was for narrative, cruelly withholding crucial information (from his characters and from us) and engaging the emotions of the audience like no one else‖ (Smith 85). The master of suspense is one of the most often used nicknames for the director who became almost the official representative of suspense and psychological thriller movies. Hitchcock was famous for exploiting the combination of love and murder and the works from his repertoire, which contains more than fifty films, all share his signature style. ―In America you respect him because he shoots scenes of love as if they were scenes of murder. In Europe we respect him because he shoots scenes of murder like scenes of 5 love. Anyway, it´s the same man we are talking about, the same man, and the same artist‖ (Truffaut, Hitchcock 18). Hitchcock ventured into numerous genres and experimented with a variety of techniques that made him a very versatile and reliable director he was and still is a major figure in popular culture. ―He was one of the founding fathers of the cinematic art and, together with Eisenstein and Murnau, helped define its visual language. So fruitful was he that a single film could spawn an entire genre, as Psycho helped create the modern horror film and North by Northwest the style and tone of the James Bond films, not so much cloak and dagger as tuxedo and irony‖ (Lewis 460). Hitchcock exerted strong control over his films and was always a perfectionist that gave his films distinctive looks which made them easily distinguishable. However, it is not only the craftsmanship and focus on detail that make us remember Hitchcock more than thirty years after his death: ―It is because of his sensitive understanding of the potential for film to say and show things that cannot easily be done in other genres of art. From his earliest silent work, he saw film as a medium for the imaginative expression of space and thought. This is his real breakthrough, and he exploited those potentials as no director has, before or since‖ (Lewis 458). In the chapter Hitchcock Biography, a general and brief overview of Hitchcock´s life and mainly his films is provided in order to establish picture of his repertoire and to facilitate orientation in number of films that shall be used in the thesis as example cases of Hitchcock´s employment of suspense. Next chapter is dedicated to cultural importance of Alfred Hitchcock as he was a director whose influence reached beyond the sphere of movie industry. In the peak of his career, Hitchcock was a well established cultural icon that was willing to accept such 6 position and exploit its potential. The chapter Hitchcock and Auteur Theory, Unifying Elements in Hitchcock´s Films focuses on Hitchcock´s distinctive style and examines his production from the perspective of auteur theory, a look at Hitchcock´s films through the lens of post structuralism and cine-analysis is also provided. Finally, this chapter also focuses on the unifying elements that can be explored in Hitchcock´s films and it gives examples of certain features that tend to repeat in them. Chapter Suspense and its four sub chapters analyze suspense in general, what it is, how it is created and most importantly how Hitchcock employed suspense in his films with the focus being primarily on spatial setting, morality and sexuality. The thesis offers various examples from a number of movies to illustrate the discovered observations and quotes from various academic scholars are used to support author´s arguments. In Conclusion the findings from the thesis are summarized to provide a final general overview of the observed topic. 7 2. Hitchcock Biography Alfred Hitchcock was born in Leytonstone, Essex, England on 13 August 1899 to a family of William, a greengrocer and poulterer, and Emma Jane. Hitchcock family was Catholic which placed them outside of the majority of England´s Protestant religion. Alfred was the second son and the youngest of three children. When he was 11 he was sent to Salesian College and the Jesuit Classic School St. Ignatius College in London. He recalled the years spent at this school as being very important for the formation of his personality: ―It was probably during this period with the Jesuits that a strong sense of fear developed-moral fear of being involved in anything evil. I always tried to avoid it. Why? Perhaps out of physical fear. I was terrified of physical punishment‖ (Truffaut, Hitchcock 26). After he finished the studies at St. Ignatius College at the age of fifteen, Hitchcock begun to work at Henley Telegraph Company where he was employed as a draftsman and advertising designer. At the same time he was taking courses at the University of London where he studied art. Hitchcock was interested in film already at this time and he read movie journals from the age of sixteen. During his time at Henley Hitchcock started to express his creativity by regularly submitting short articles for in-house publication which had been established at the company. Hitchcock soon became one of the most prolific contributors and his first ever short story called Gas from 1919 already revealed what themes and topics were close to Hitchcock – the story is about a young woman who thinks she was assaulted only to be revealed that it was a hallucination. It was in 1920 when Hitchcock applied for job at title department at London branch of Paramount's Famous Players Lasky which would eventually become Paramount Pictures. The establishment of Famous Players Lasky in England created a lot of excitement and expectation as the 8 American company was expected to bring the know how to British film industry which was at the time significantly inferior to that of its American counterpart. Compared to Hollywood, the British industry was a perennially weak sister. English films were fewer in quantity, and generally considered inferior in quality. The production equipment and values were often second-rate. (McGilligan 100) Hitchcock got the job and he soon became head of the title department and it was through this work that Hitchcock got close to film making when the industry was still making its small steps to become a mainstream media and during times when it had to recover after devastating world war which crippled its output and this recovery would take another ten years. ―In those days it was possible to completely alter the meaning of a script through the use of narrative titles and spoken titles. Since the actor pretended to speak and the dialogue appeared on the screen right afterward, they could put whatever words they liked in his mouth‖ (Truffaut, Hitchcock 27). Hitchcock met several established American writers and he begun to be involved in scriptwriting and shortly after he became assistant and art director at Islington Studios. It took Hitchcock fife years from his starting point as a draftsman to become a film director. The move to Islington was important for Hitchcock not only from the perspective of his professional life but also personal life because it was at Islington where he met his wife and collaborator Alma Reville. In 1922 Hitchcock had the first opportunity to shoot his very first picture which was named Number Thirteen. However, Hitchcock´s first projects were plagued by production problems and simply bad luck and his first movie was no 9 different. Number Thirteen was canceled after only few shots had been made and the film would never be finished.