Ep.33: Alfred Hitchcock – Top 9 Movies

August 16, 2023 Peter Jans

Intro

Hello and Welcome to this episode of the podcast, "The Mnemonic Tree", where we add a single mnemonic leaf to our Tree of Knowledge.

Today's episode will be on one of my favourite directors of all time and that is Alfred Hitchcock.

A man known as “The Master of Suspense”, he apparently referred to his actors as cattle, little children and cows. Now, I’m sure the actors thought the last reference was … udder nonsense! However, he could be very unpleasant to work with and wasn’t very open to suggestions or ideas on set. Rather following his storyboard meticulously and to perfection.

But despite being one of the greatest directors of all time, he never won a directing oscar, though he was nominated five times.

Today’s mnemonic is on Alfred Hitchcock’s top nine movies.

With that being said, we will begin with a summary from Wikipedia.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hitchcock_Birds_promotional_still.jpg

Wikipedia Summary

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock KBE (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director and producer. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema.[1] In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 feature films,[a] many of which are still widely watched and studied today. Known as the "Master of Suspense", he became as well known as any of his actors thanks to his many interviews, his cameo roles in most of his films, and his hosting and producing the television anthology Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955–65). His films garnered 46 Academy Award nominations, including six wins, although he never won the award for Best Director despite five nominations.

Hitchcock initially trained as a technical clerk and copywriter before entering the film industry in 1919 as a title card designer. His directorial debut was the British-German silent film The Pleasure Garden (1925). His first successful film, The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927), helped to shape the thriller genre, and Blackmail (1929) was the first British "talkie".[4] His thrillers The 39 Steps (1935) and The Lady Vanishes (1938) are ranked among the greatest British films of the 20th century. By 1939, he had international recognition and producer David O. Selznick persuaded him to move to Hollywood. A string of successful films followed, including Rebecca (1940), Foreign Correspondent (1940), Suspicion (1941), Shadow of a Doubt (1943), and Notorious (1946). Rebecca won the Academy Award for Best Picture, with Hitchcock nominated as Best Director.[5] He also received Oscar nominations for Lifeboat (1944), Spellbound (1945), Rear Window (1954), and Psycho (1960).[6]

Hitchock's other notable films include Rope (1948), Strangers on a Train (1951), Dial M for Murder (1954), To Catch a Thief (1955), The Trouble with Harry (1955), Vertigo (1958), North by Northwest (1959), The Birds (1963) and Marnie (1964), all of which were also financially successful and are highly regarded by film historians. Hitchcock made multiple films with some of the biggest stars in Hollywood, including four with Cary Grant, four with James Stewart, three with Ingrid Bergman, and three consecutive with Grace Kelly. Hitchcock became an American citizen in 1955.

In 2012, Hitchcock's psychological thriller Vertigo, starring Stewart, displaced Orson Welles' Citizen Kane (1941) as the British Film Institute's greatest film ever made based on its world-wide poll of hundreds of film critics.[7] As of 2021, nine of his films had been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry,[b] including his personal favourite, Shadow of a Doubt (1943).[c] He received the BAFTA Fellowship in 1971, the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1979, and was knighted in December of that year, four months before his death on 29 April 1980.[10]

Extracted from: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Hitchcock]

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hitchcock,_Alfred_02.jpg

Mnemonic

Alfred Hitchcock – Top 9 Movies Mnemonic – VeRDaNT STRaP

(Picture Alfred Hitchcock with a green strap whipping everyone into shape on set)

1. Vertigo

2. Rear Window

3. Dial M for Murder

4. North by Northwest

5. The Birds

6. Spellbound

7. To Catch a Thief

8. Rope

9. Psycho

Five Fun Facts

1. Alfred Hitchcock had a few peculiar phobias. One involves being both frightened and revolted by eggs, especially the breaking of the egg yolk.

And the other is the police, thanks to his strict Dad sending him off to the police station with a note when naughty, and the head of police obligingly putting him in a cell!

2. Alfred Hitchcock learnt his craft in a variety of ways. Firstly, while designing the art title cards, he would get acquainted and learn from the writers along with studying the scripts. Secondly, he had an excellent teacher in German film maker F.W. Murnau.

3. Though the first silent film ever produced was “The Jazz Singer” which was released in the US in 1927, Hitchcock produced the first “talkie” in Britain which was called “Blackmail”.

4. In addition to movie making, Hitchcock also had a long running series called “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” which began in 1955. The name was later changed to, “The Alfred Hitchcock Hour”

5. Hitchcock not only loved it behind the camera but also in front, where he would introduce his TV series “Alfred Hitchcock Presents”. His silhouette was ubiquitous and he appeared in a brief cameo in 39 of his films.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alfred_Hitchcock_Publicity_Photo_1976.jpg

Three Question Quiz

Q.1. Hitchcock describes a MacGuffin as what? Your options are:

1. An element that drives a movie’s plot forward

2. A pivotal moment in the film which turns the plot around

3. A mistake made by an actor which forces the crew to re-shoot

Q.2. Did Alfred Hitchcock personally fund the making of Pyscho? True or False

Q.3. Alfred Hitchcock’s films were nominated for a total of 46 Academy Awards. How many Academy Awards did his films win?

Bonus Q. What was the name of the character in Psycho played by Anthony Perkins?

Mnemonic Recap

Alfred Hitchcock – Top 9 Movies Mnemonic – VeRDaNT STRaP

(Picture Alfred Hitchcock with a green strap whipping everyone into shape on set)

1. Vertigo

2. Rear Window

3. Dial M for Murder

4. North by Northwest

5. The Birds

6. Spellbound

7. To Catch a Thief

8. Rope

9. Psycho

Three Question Quiz Answers

Q.1. Hitchcock describes a MacGuffin as what? The three options are:

1. An element that drives a movie’s plot forward

2. A pivotal moment in the film which turns the plot around

3. A mistake made by an actor which forces the crew to re-shoot

A. An element that drives a movie’s plot forward

Q.2. Did Alfred Hitchcock personally fund the making of Pyscho? True or False

A. True – Paramount Pictures balked at the storyline. So, Hitchcock sacrificed his salary in exchange for 60% ownership rights and made it himself. He saved costs by using his crew from Alfred Hitchcock Presents and shot it in black and white. This paid off earning approximately six million from the film which is about 50 million in today’s money.

Q.3. Alfred Hitchcock’s films were nominated for a total of 46 Academy Awards. How many Academy Awards did his films win?

A. Six

Bonus Q. What was the name of the character in Psycho played by Anthony Perkins?

A. Norman Bates

And just in regards to Psycho or Psychos, a long time ago I dated a communist lady who turned out to be a real psycho.

Looking back, I don’t know how I missed all the red flags!

Word of the Week

discombobulated

[ dis-kuhm-bob-yuh-ley-tid ]

adjective