Known to his audiences as the 'Master of Suspense' and what Hitchcock mastered was not only the art of making films but also the task of taming his own raging imagination.
Director of such works as Vertigo, Psycho, The Birds and Rear Window, Hitchcock told his stories through intelligent plots, witty dialogue, and a spoonful of mystery and murder. In doing so, he inspired a new generation of filmmakers and revolutionized the thriller genre, making him a legend around the world.
His brilliance was sometimes too bright: He was hated as well as loved, oversimplified as well as over analyzed. Hitchcock was eccentric, demanding, inventive, impassioned and he had a great sense of British humor.
Within each section you will be encompassed with the chemistry and intrigue that is…
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock.
Biography
English-born motion-picture director whose suspenseful films won immense popularity.
The son of a London poultry dealer, Hitchcock attended St. Ignatius College, London, and the University of London, where he studied engineering. In 1920 he began to work in the motion-picture industry, designing title cards for the Famous Players-Lasky Company. Within a few years he had become a scenario writer and an assistant director, and he directed his first film, The Pleasure Garden, in 1925.
With The Lodger (1926), the story of a family who mistakenly suspect their roomer to be Jack the Ripper, Hitchcock began making the "thrillers" with which he was to become identified. His Blackmail (1929) was the first successful British talking picture. During the 1930s, he directed such classic suspense films as The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), The 39 Steps (1935), Sabotage (1936), and The Lady Vanishes (1938). In 1939 Hitchcock left England for Hollywood, where his first film, Rebecca (1940), won an Academy Award for best picture.
During the next three decades Hitchcock usually made a film a year in the Hollywood motion-picture system. Among the important films he directed during the 1940s were Suspicion (1941), Shadow of a Doubt (1943), Lifeboat (1944), Spellbound (1945), and Rope (1948). He began functioning as his own producer in 1948, and he went on in the 1950s to make a series of big-budget suspense films starring some of the leading actors and actresses of Hollywood.
These films include Strangers on a Train (1951), Dial M for Murder (1954), Rear Window (1954), To Catch a Thief (1954), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1955; a remake of the 1934 film), Vertigo (1958), and North by Northwest (1959). In the 1960s, Hitchcock turned to making thrillers with new and original emphases, among them Psycho (1960), The Birds (1963), and Marnie (1964). His Torn Curtain (1966) and Topaz (1969) are conventional espionage stories, while in his last films, Frenzy (1972) and Family Plot (1976), he returned to his original themes. From the 1940s on, Hitchcock usually made a fleeting, wordless appearance in a bit part in each of his films.
Hitchcock's films usually centre on either murder or espionage, with deception, mistaken identities, and chase sequences complicating and enlivening the plot. Wry touches of humour and occasional intrusions of the macabre complete this mixture of cinematic elements. Three main themes predominate in Hitchcock's films. The most common is that of the innocent man who is mistakenly suspected or accused of a crime and who must then track down the real perpetrator in order to clear himself.
Examples of films having this theme include The Lodger, The 39 Steps, Saboteur, Strangers on a Train, I Confess, To Catch a Thief, The Wrong Man, North by Northwest, and Frenzy.
The second theme is that of the guilty woman who enmeshes a male protagonist and ends up either destroying him or being saved by him; examples of this theme include Blackmail, Sabotage, Notorious, Rebecca, Vertigo, and Marnie.
The third theme is that of the (frequently psychopathic) murderer whose identity is established during the working out of the plot; examples of this theme include Shadow of a Doubt, Rope, Rear Window, and Psycho. The psychopathic killer theme may sometimes be combined with the plot of the falsely accused innocent man, as in Frenzy.
Hitchcock's greatest gift was his mastery of the technical means to build and maintain suspense. To this end he used innovative camera viewpoints and movements, elaborate editing techniques, and effective soundtrack music. He had a sound grasp of human psychology, as manifested both in his credible treatment of everyday life and in the tense and nightmarish situations encountered in his more chilling films. His ability to convincingly evoke human menace, subterfuge, and fear gave his psychological thrillers great impact while maintaining their subtlety and believability.
Hitchcock produced several popular American television series in the 1950s and '60s, which he introduced and sometimes directed. His name also appeared on a series of mystery-story anthologies. He received the American Film Institute's Life Achievement Award in 1979 and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1980.
Filmography
In Chronological Order…
Click each of the photos for an exclusive interview, trailer, behind-the-scenes footage, or review of the film…
The Pleasure Garden is a British silent film, and the debut feature of Alfred Hitchcock.
The Mountain Eagle is a British silent film, and Alfred Hitchcock's second as director following The Pleasure Garden.
The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (often just called The Lodger) is a silent film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It concerns the hunt for a "Jack the Ripper" type serial killer in London. The wrong man is accused of the crime and is forced to try to prove his innocence.
The Ring is a British, silent, black and white film directed and written by Alfred Hitchcock. The story focused on a love triangle between two men and a woman. It is the only film in his career for which Hitchcock took or was given a full writing credit.
The film, while widely considered a minor work, features photography tricks Hitchcock would use again years later in films like The Man Who Knew Too Much, most notably during the climactic boxing sequences.
Downhill (released in the U.S. as When Boys Leave Home) is a silent film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and based on the play Down Hill.
The Farmer's Wife is a silent film, directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It was based on a play of the same name by British novelist, poet and playwright Eden Phillpotts, best known for a series of novels based on Dartmoor, in Devon.
Easy Virtue is a silent film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and loosely based on a play by Noël Coward.
Champagne is a silent comedy film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, based on an original story by English writer and critic Walter C. Mycroft. The film is about a young woman forced to get a job after her father tells her he has lost all his money.
The Manxman is a silent film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Based on a romantic novel by Hall Caine, the director began work on the film just two weeks after the birth of his daughter, Patricia Hitchcock.
This was the last silent film Hitchcock directed before he made the transition to sound film with his next film Blackmail. The Manxman was filmed almost entirely in the small fishing village of Polperro in Cornwall.
Blackmail is a British thriller/drama film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Anny Ondra, John Longden, and Cyril Ritchard, and featuring Donald Calthrop, Sara Allgood and Charles Paton.
The film is based on the play Blackmail by Charles Bennett, as adapted by Hitchcock, with dialogue by Benn Levy. Having began production as a silent film, the studio, British International Pictures, decided to convert it to sound during shooting. As an early 'talkie', the film is frequently cited by film historians as a landmark film, and is often considered to be the first British sound feature film.
Juno and the Paycock is a film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and starring Barry Fitzgerald, Maire O'Neill, Edward Chapman and Sara Allgood. The film was based on a successful play by Sean O'Casey.
Murder! is based on a novel and play called Enter Sir John by Clemence Dane and Helen Simpson. The film stars Herbert Marshall and Norah Baring.
The Skin Game is based on a play by John Galsworthy. The story revolves around two rival families, the Hillcrests and the Hornblowers, and the disastrous results of the feud between them.
Mary is the German version of Hitchcock's Murder! (1930), shot simultaneously on the same sets with German actors. The film is based on the play Enter Sir John by Clemence Dane and Helen Simpson, and stars Alfred Abel and Olga Tschechowa.
Rich and Strange is a film directed by Alfred Hitchcock during his time in the British film industry. It was adapted by Hitchcock, his wife Alma Reville, and Val Valentine from a novel by Dale Collins.
The film is most notable for the techniques utilized by Hitchcock that would reappear later in his career. Most notable are the sets, including a recreation of a full-sized ship in a water tank used in the final act of the film. The director also experimented with different camera techniques and shot compositions.
Number Seventeen is a film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, based on a stage play by J. Jefferson Farjeon, and starring John Stuart, Anne Grey and Leon M. Lion.
The film is about a group of criminals who committed a jewel robbery and put their money in an old house over a railway leading to the English Channel, the film's title being derived from the house's street number. An outsider stumbles onto this plot and intervenes with the help of a neighbour, a police officer's daughter.
Waltzes from Vienna is a film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The film was also called Strauss' Great Waltz. The film tells the story of the writing and performance of The Blue Danube.
The Man Who Knew Too Much is a suspense film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, featuring Peter Lorre, and released by Gaumont British. It was one of the most successful and critically acclaimed films of Hitchcock's British period.
The 39 Steps is the original British thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, loosely based on the adventure novel The Thirty-nine Steps by John Buchan. The film stars Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll.
Secret Agent is a British film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, loosely based on two stories in Ashenden: Or the British Agent by W. Somerset Maugham. The film starred John Gielgud, Peter Lorre, Madeleine Carroll and Robert Young. Future star Michael Redgrave made a brief, uncredited appearance.
Sabotage, also released as The Woman Alone, is a British thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It was based on Joseph Conrad's novel The Secret Agent. It should not be confused with Hitchcock's film Secret Agent released the same year, or his 1942 film Saboteur.
Young and Innocent (U.S. title: The Girl Was Young) is a British film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Nova Pilbeam, Derrick De Marney and John Longden. It is very loosely based on Josephine Tey's novel A Shilling for Candles (1936).
The Lady Vanishes is a British thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and adapted by Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder from the 1936 novel The Wheel Spins by Ethel Lina White. It stars Margaret Lockwood, Michael Redgrave, Paul Lukas and Dame May Whitty, and features Cecil Parker, Linden Travers, Naunton Wayne, Basil Radford, Mary Clare, Googie Withers, Catherine Lacey and Sally Stewart.
Jamaica Inn (1939)
Jamaica Inn is a film made by Alfred Hitchcock adapted from Daphne du Maurier's novel of the same name, the first of three of du Maurier's works that Hitchcock adapted (the others were her novel Rebecca and short story "The Birds").
Rebecca (1940)
Rebecca is a psychological/dramatic thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock as his first American project, and his first film produced under his contract with David O. Selznick.
The film's screenplay was an adaptation by Joan Harrison and Robert E. Sherwood from Philip MacDonald and Michael Hogan's adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's 1938 novel of the same name, and was produced by Selznick. It stars Laurence Olivier as Maxim de Winter, Joan Fontaine as his second wife, and Judith Anderson as his late wife's housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers.
Foreign Correspondent (1940)
Foreign Correspondent is a American thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock which tells the story of an American reporter who tries to expose enemy spies in Britain, a series of events involving a continent-wide conspiracy that eventually leads to the events of a fictionalized World War II.
It stars Joel McCrea and features Laraine Day, Herbert Marshall, George Sanders, Albert Bassermann and Robert Benchley, along with Edmund Gwenn.
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941)
Mr. & Mrs. Smith is a screwball comedy film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, written by Norman Krasna, and starring Carole Lombard and Robert Montgomery. It also features Gene Raymond, Jack Carson, Philip Merivale and Lucile Watson.
Suspicion (1941)
Suspicion is a romantic psychological thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and starring Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine as a married couple. It also stars Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Nigel Bruce, Dame May Whitty, Isabel Jeans and Heather Angel.
Saboteur (1942)
Saboteur is a Universal film directed by Alfred Hitchcock with a screenplay written by Peter Viertel, Joan Harrison, and Dorothy Parker. The movie stars Priscilla Lane, Robert Cummings, and Norman Lloyd. It should not be confused with a Hitchcock film of a similar title, Sabotage (also known as The Woman Alone, 1936).
Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
Shadow of a Doubt is a American thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and written by Thornton Wilder, Sally Benson and Alma Reville. It stars Teresa Wright, Joseph Cotten, MacDonald Carey, Patricia Collinge, Henry Travers and Hume Cronyn.
Lifeboat (1944)
Lifeboat is an American war film directed by Alfred Hitchcock from a story written by John Steinbeck. The film stars Tallulah Bankhead, William Bendix, Walter Slezak, Mary Anderson, John Hodiak, Henry Hull, Heather Angel, Hume Cronyn and Canada Lee, and is set entirely on a lifeboat.
Spellbound (1945)
Spellbound is a psychological mystery thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It tells the story of the new head of a mental asylum who turns out not to be what he claims. The film stars Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck, Michael Chekhov and Leo G. Carroll.
It is an adaptation by Angus MacPhail and Ben Hecht of the novel The House of Dr. Edwardes (1927) by Hilary Saint George Saunders and John Palmer (writing as "Francis Beeding").
Notorious (1946)
Notorious is an American thriller film directed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock, and starring Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman and Claude Rains as three people whose lives become intimately entangled during an espionage operation.
The Paradine Case (1947)
The Paradine Case is a American courtroom drama film, set in England, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and produced by David O. Selznick. The screenplay was written by Selznick and an uncredited Ben Hecht, from an adaptation by Alma Reville and James Bridie of the novel by Robert Smythe Hichens.
The film stars Gregory Peck, Ann Todd, Alida Valli, Charles Laughton, Charles Coburn, Ethel Barrymore and Louis Jourdan. It tells of an English barrister who falls in love with a woman who is accused of murder, and how it affects his relationship with his wife.
Rope (1948)
Rope is a American thriller film based on the play Rope (1929) by Patrick Hamilton and adapted by Hume Cronyn (treatment) and Arthur Laurents, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and produced by Sidney Bernstein and Hitchcock as the first of their Transatlantic Pictures productions.
Starring James Stewart, John Dall and Farley Granger, it is the first of Hitchcock's Technicolor films, and is notable for taking place in real time and being edited so as to appear as a single continuous shot through the use of long takes.
Under Capricorn (1949)
Under Capricorn is a Alfred Hitchcock film based on a novel by Helen Simpson, with screenplay by James Bridie, and adaptation by Hume Cronyn.
The movie was co-produced by Hitchcock and Sidney Bernstein for their short-lived production company Transatlantic Pictures and released through Warner Bros. The film starred Michael Wilding, Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten, and Margaret Leighton.
Stage Fright (1950)
Stage Fright is a British crime film directed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock starring Jane Wyman, Marlene Dietrich, Michael Wilding and Richard Todd. Others in the cast include Alastair Sim, Sybil Thorndike, Kay Walsh, Hitchcock's daughter Patricia Hitchcock in her movie debut and Joyce Grenfell in a humorous vignette.
Strangers on a Train (1951)
Strangers on a Train is a American film by the studio Warner Bros. It was produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The film stars Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, Robert Walker, Leo G. Carroll, Patricia Hitchcock and Laura Elliott.
I Confess (1953)
I Confess is a drama film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and starring Montgomery Clift as Fr. Michael William Logan, a Catholic priest, Anne Baxter as Ruth Grandfort, and Karl Malden as Inspector Larrue.
This was the only film Hitchcock made with these three actors. Biographers say he had trouble with "Method" actors such as Clift and Paul Newman, who worked with Hitchcock in Torn Curtain (1966).
Dial M for Murder (1954)
Dial M for Murder is a thriller film adapted from a successful stage play and directed by Alfred Hitchcock and released by the Warner Bros.
It stars Ray Milland as a retired tennis pro who wishes to have his wife killed, Grace Kelly as the wife, and Robert Cummings as her paramour. The supporting cast includes John Williams as the police detective who investigates the matter and Anthony Dawson as the man hired to do the killing.
Rear Window (1954)
Rear Window is a American suspense film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, written by John Michael Hayes and based on Cornell Woolrich's 1942 short story "It Had to Be Murder".
Originally released by Paramount Pictures, the film stars James Stewart as a photographer who spies on his neighbors while recuperating from a broken leg; Grace Kelly as his girlfriend; Thelma Ritter as his nurse; Wendell Corey as a police detective; and Raymond Burr as one of the neighbors.
To Catch a Thief (1955)
To Catch a Thief is a romantic thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, Jessie Royce Landis and John Williams. The movie is set on the French Riviera, and was based on the 1952 novel of the same name by David F. Dodge. The screenplay was written by John Michael Hayes.
The Trouble with Harry (1955)
The Trouble with Harry is a American black comedy film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, based on the novel by Jack Trevor Story. It was released in the United States on October 3, 1955, then re-released once the rights were acquired by Universal Pictures in 1984.
The film starred John Forsythe and Edmund Gwenn; Shirley MacLaine and Jerry Mathers co-starred, both in their first film roles.
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
The Man Who Knew Too Much is a suspense film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring James Stewart and Doris Day. The film is a remake in widescreen VistaVision and Technicolor of Hitchcock's 1934 film of the same name.
The Wrong Man (1956)
The Wrong Man is a film by Alfred Hitchcock which stars Henry Fonda and Vera Miles. The film is based on a true story of an innocent man charged for a crime he did not commit, even though witnesses swear he is guilty.
The story was based on the book The True Story of Christopher Emmanuel Balestrero by Maxwell Anderson and the article "A Case of Identity" (Life magazine, June 29, 1953) by Herbert Brean.
Vertigo (1958)
Vertigo is a American psychological thriller film, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring James Stewart, Kim Novak, and Barbara Bel Geddes.
The film was written by Alec Coppel and Samuel A. Taylor, based on a novel by Boileau-Narcejac. A retired police detective, who has acrophobia, is hired as a private investigator to follow the wife of an acquaintance to uncover the mystery of her peculiar behavior.
North by Northwest (1959)
North by Northwest is a American suspense film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason, and featuring Leo G. Carroll and Martin Landau. The screenplay was written by Ernest Lehman, who wanted to write "the Hitchcock picture to end all Hitchcock pictures".
Psycho (1960)
Psycho is a American film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The film is based on the screenplay by Joseph Stefano, who adapted it from the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch. The novel was based on the crimes of Wisconsin serial killer Ed Gein.
The film depicts the encounter between a secretary, Marion Crane (Janet Leigh), who is in hiding at a motel after embezzling from her employer, and the motel's owner, Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), and the aftermath of their encounter.
The Birds (1963)
The Birds is a suspense/horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock based on the 1952 novel The Birds by Daphne du Maurier. It depicts Bodega Bay, California which is, suddenly and for unexplained reasons, the subject of a series of widespread and violent bird attacks over the course of a few days.
Marnie (1964)
Marnie is a psychological thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock and based on the novel of the same name by Winston Graham. The film stars Tippi Hedren and Sean Connery. The original film score was composed by Bernard Herrmann.
Torn Curtain (1966)
Torn Curtain is a American political thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Paul Newman and Julie Andrews.
Topaz (1969)
Topaz is a suspense film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It is a Cold War and spy story, adapted from the book of the same name by Leon Uris and closely based on the 1962 Sapphire Affair (sapphire was replaced by another jewel hence the title) involving French SDECE spy Philippe Thyraud de Vosjoli (a friend of Leon Uris) who "ha[d] played a considerable part in helping the U.S. discover the presence of Russian offensive missiles in Cuba".
It stars Frederick Stafford, Dany Robin, Claude Jade, Michel Subor, Karin Dor, John Vernon, Michel Piccoli, Philippe Noiret, John Forsythe, Roscoe Lee Browne, and Per-Axel Arosenius.
Frenzy (1972)
Frenzy is a thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and is the penultimate feature film of his extensive career. The film is based upon the novel Goodbye Piccadilly, Farewell Leicester Square by Arthur La Bern, and was adapted for the screen by Anthony Shaffer. La Bern later expressed his dissatisfaction with Shaffer's adaptation.
The film stars Jon Finch, Alec McCowen and Barry Foster and features Billie Whitelaw, Anna Massey, Barbara Leigh-Hunt, Bernard Cribbins and Vivien Merchant. The original music score was composed by Ron Goodwin.
Family Plot (1976)
Family Plot is a American dark comedy/thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, his final film. It stars Barbara Harris, Bruce Dern, William Devane, and Karen Black.
Photos
Videos
Quotes
On actors and actresses…
There is a dreadful story that I hate actors. Imagine anyone hating Jimmy Stewart… Jack L. Warner. I can't imagine how such a rumor began. Of course it may possibly be because I was once quoted as saying that actors are cattle. My actor friends know I would never be capable of such a thoughtless, rude and unfeeling remark, that I would never call them cattle… What I probably said was that actors should be treated like cattle.
(About Claude Jade, who starred in Topaz (1969)) "Claude Jade is a brave nice young lady. But I don`t give any guarantee what she will do on a taxi's back seat."
(Eva Marie Saint on Hitchcock) "He said, 'I don't want you going back to sink-to-sink movies. You do movies where you wash the dishes looking drab in an apron. The audience wants to see their leading ladies dressed up.' He saw me as others didn't."
(On directing Charles Laughton) "You can't direct a Laughton picture. The best you can hope for is to referee."
"When an actor comes to me and wants to discuss his character, I say, 'It's in the script.' If he says, 'But what's my motivation?,' I say, 'Your salary.'"
(To Ingrid Bergman when she told him that she couldn't play a certain character the way he wanted because "I don't feel like that, I don't think I can give you that kind of emotion.") "Ingrid… fake it!"
(About Dario Argento and his film Profondo Rosso (1975)) "This young Italian guy is starting to worry me."
"Cary Grant is the only actor I ever loved in my whole life."
On his films…
(On his cameos) "One of the earliest of these was in The Lodger (1927), the story of Jack the Ripper. My appearance called for me to walk up the stairs of the rooming house. Since my walk-ons in subsequent pictures would be equally strenuous… (boarding buses, playing chess, etc.) I asked for a stunt man. Casting, with an unusual lack of perception, hired this fat man!"
(Regarding The Birds (1963)) "You know, I've often wondered what the Audubon Society's attitude might be to this picture."
(On North by Northwest (1959)) "Our original title, you know, was 'The Man in Lincoln's Nose'. Couldn't use it, though. They also wouldn't let us shoot people on Mount Rushmore. Can't deface a national monument. And it's a pity, too, because I had a wonderful shot in mind of Cary Grant hiding in Lincoln's nose and having a sneezing fit."
"To make a great film you need three things - the script, the script and the script."
"If it's a good movie, the sound could go off and the audience would still have a perfectly clear idea of what was going on."
"It's only a movie, and, after all, we're all grossly overpaid."
"The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder."
"To me, Psycho (1960) was a big comedy. Had to be."
"Even my failures make money and become classics a year after I make them."
"Some films are slices of life, mine are slices of cake."
"I enjoy playing the audience like a piano."
"A good film is when the price of the dinner, the theatre admission and the babysitter were worth it."
"In feature films, the director is God; in documentary films, God is the director."
On murder and suspense…
"Fear isn't so difficult to understand. After all, weren't we all frightened as children? Nothing has changed since Little Red Riding Hood faced the big bad wolf. What frightens us today is exactly the same sort of thing that frightened us yesterday. It's just a different wolf. This fright complex is rooted in every individual.
"I made a remark a long time ago. I said I was very pleased that television was now showing murder stories, because it's bringing murder back into its rightful setting… in the home."
"Seeing a murder on television… can help work off one's antagonisms. And if you haven't any antagonisms, the commercials will give you some.
"There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.
"Always make the audience suffer as much as possible.
"Drama is life with the dull bits left out.
"In films murders are always very clean. I show how difficult it is and what a messy thing it is to kill a man.
"Man does not live by murder alone. He needs affection, approval, encouragement and, occasionally, a hearty meal.
"Film your murders like love scenes, and film your love scenes like murders.
Wit and Remarks…
"I am scared easily, here is a list of my adrenaline-production: 1: Small children, 2: Policemen, 3: High places, 4: That my next movie will not be as good as the last one."
"I don"t understand why we have to experiment with film. I think everything should be done on paper. A musician has to do it, a composer. He puts a lot of dots down and beautiful music comes out. And I think that students should be taught to visualize. That's the one thing missing in all this. The one thing that the student has got to do is to learn that there is a rectangle up there… a white rectangle in a theater… and it has to be filled."
"I'm frightened of eggs, worse than frightened, they revolt me. That white round thing without any holes… have you ever seen anything more revolting than an egg yolk breaking and spilling its yellow liquid? Blood is jolly, red. But egg yolk is yellow, revolting. I've never tasted it. (on his lifelong fear of eggs - Ovophobia)
(When accepting the American Film Institute Life Achievement award) "I beg permission to mention by name only four people who have given me the most affection, appreciation, and encouragement, and constant collaboration. The first of the four is a film editor, the second is a scriptwriter, the third is the mother of my daughter Pat (Patricia Hitchcock), and the fourth is as fine a cook as ever performed miracles in a domestic kitchen. And their names are Alma Reville."
"In the old days, villains had moustaches and kicked the dog. Audiences are smarter today. They don't want their villain to be thrown at them with green limelight on his face. They want an ordinary human being with failings."
"These are bagpipes. I understand the inventor of the bagpipes was inspired when he saw a man carrying an indignant, asthmatic pig under his arm. Unfortunately, the man-made sound never equalled the purity of the sound achieved by the pig."
"We seem to have a compulsion these days to bury time capsules in order to give those people living in the next century or so some idea of what we are like."
(His entire acceptance speech for the Irving Thalberg Memorial Award) "Thank you."
"(Walt Disney) has the best casting. If he doesn't like an actor, he just tears him up."
"I was an uncommonly unattractive young man.
"I am a typed director. If I made Cinderella (1937), the audience would immediately be looking for a body in the coach."
"Blondes make the best victims. They're like virgin snow that shows up the bloody footprints."
"This award is meaningful because it comes from my fellow dealers in celluloid."
"Television has done much for psychiatry by spreading information about it, as well as contributing to the need for it."
"There is nothing quite so good as a burial at sea. It is simple, tidy, and not very incriminating."
"This paperback is very interesting, but I find it will never replace a hardcover book… it makes a very poor doorstop."
Links
Wiki
Hitchcock sites
- AlfredHitchcock.com
- - Official Website - Includes biography, filmography, cameos and trivia.
- Alfred Hitchcock… Find a Grave.
- Alfred Hitchcock Scholars… "MacGuffin" home page
- - includes news, discussion, links to site's other pages
- Alfred Hitchcock Geek
- - Includes news, book reviews and essays about Alfred Hitchcock.
- Alfred Hitchcock Fans Online
- - Alfred Hitchcock fansite - with pictures, up-to-date news, and information about Hitchcock films.
- A Year of Hitchcock
- - Weekly podcast and discussion of Hitchcock's films from the authors of A Year of Hitchcock: 52 Weeks with the Master of Suspense.
- Hitchcock.tv
- - Hitchcock history, filmography, and trivia.
- HitchcockOnline
- - Contains a lengthy online essay and related links.
- The Master of Horror Alfred Hitchcock
- - an in-depth biography and links to find more on Hitchcock himself.
- Works by or about Alfred Hitchcock in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
- Writing With Hitchcock
- - includes original interviews, essays, script excerpts, and extensive material on Hitchcock's unproduced works.
Film and TV sites
- Alfred Hitchcock at the BFI
- Alfred Hitchcock at the Internet Movie Database
- Alfred Hitchcock at Allmovie
- Alfred Hitchcock at the TCM Movie Database
- Alfred Hitchcock at TV.com
- Alfred Hitchcock at Rotten Tomatoes Celebrity Profile
- Alfred Hitchcock Movie Trailers
- Alfred Hitchcock and Anny Ondra in Sound Test for Blackmail 1929
- Alfred Hitchcock at the British Film Institute's Screenonline
- Hitchcock's Style
- - online exhibit from screenonline, a website of the British Film Institute
- Hitchcock EyeGate Collection
Profiles and interviews
- Alfred Hitchcock Biography from Answers.com
- EuroScreenwriters features interviews with Hitchcock, both text and video
- Film Reference - Brief Profile on Hitchcock by Robin Wood
- Not For The Birds… David Sterritt Zooms In On The Mystery And Mastery Of Hitchcock's Movies
- One-hour video interview with Alfred Hitchcock by Tom Snyder
- Senses of Cinema's "Great Directors" Alfred Hitchcock Profile
Essays
- Basic Hitchcock Film Techniques
- Essay… The Lodger… The First 'Hitchcock' Film
Images
- LIFE Presents… Alfred Hitchcock
- - slideshow by Life Magazine