I've spent the past few days concentrating on the work of Alfred Hitchcock, it has been awhile since I've delved into his body of work, I've almost forgotten just how wonderful his films are. It doesn't take long to remind one of Hitchcock's greatness, you just have to choose one of his films to make you realize why they call him "The Master of Suspense" or just simply "The Master".
My first personal Alfred Hitchcock experience I remember was when I was a kid and seeing him on TV introducing segments of his famous series "Alfred Hitchcock Presents". I loved watching his dry, dark humour, but since I was mostly a frightened child I never stayed to watch the actual program. My knowledge of Hitchcock as a director came later, I knew early on of his famous horror films "Psycho" and "The Birds", mother in fact was the first person to mention "The Birds" remembering she had nightmares as a child from the vision of the man who's eyes were pecked out. She just needs to hear the sound those birds made and it would bring back those memories, to this day I cannot get her to re watch "The Birds".
The first Hitchcock film I viewed myself was "Rear Window", which I viewed mostly because of my love for Jimmy Stewart. Stewart was responsible for introducing me to other directors such as Frank Capra and John Ford, so it would be the same for Hitchcock. Even before I watched "Rear Window" I heard of the plot before about a man who looks out his window and believes his neighbour has killed his wife. I probably knew the plot from watching some third rate imitation of it, all I remember thinking after watching the movie was "so that's where that plot came from" (I was very young). I didn't know much about film when I watched "Rear Window", I didn't know film had its own language and that Hitchcock was a master of that language, all I knew was I liked Jimmy Stewart.
It was not long after that however that I decided to give Mr. Hitchcock another try this time with his most notorious film "Psycho", I think it was here I realized the true majesty of the master craftsman. Again I didn't know much about film, but I remember being affected so much more than any other film, I remember the Bernard Herrman score captivating me right from the opening credits, I remember actually liking Norman Bates when I first met him and actually being shocked about the ending, which thankfully I knew nothing about before seeing it. Mostly I remember being totally uneasy about the ending and that feeling stayed with me for days. I think it was the first time I ever saw a horror film, but I remember being more excited than horrified, my first instinct was wanting to watch it again, I think it was that thrill that helped me have this need to understand how films work.
These past few days I've been re-watching some of my favorite Hitchcock films like "The Lady Vanishes", "Foreign Correspondent", "Strangers on a Train", and the underrated "The Wrong Man". Along with those I've rewatched some films like "Suspicion" and "Dial M for Murder" which I appreciate even more. You can tell there was something about Hitchcock films that separated them from most of the ones that were being made back then, even the ones that are being made today. Some filmmakers make it a current habit of ripping off Hitchcock in all of their work, I suppose it was a way of saying, you can't improve on perfection.
Hitchcock is the kind of filmmaker who is known by everyone, even if you've never seen one of his movies, you still know the name. Roger Ebert said of Hitchcock that even people who don't like classic movies like Hitchcock movies, and it's true perhaps it's because Hitchcock knew better than anyone what people wanted to see, and he knew better than anyone how to involve them in his stories.
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