Another one of the uncovered 1997 clips with famous filmmakers discussing the impact of Hitchcock’s work on their own work. I think they were trying to find people who might seem odd choices, like Mike Leigh who talked about REAR WINDOW, which is why Hal Hartley was their choice rather than someone more mainstream and commercial. Hartley was one of those indie filmmakers from the 1980s who is best known for his independent films from the 1990s. He broke onto the scene with THE UNBELIEVABLE TRUTH which was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, and subsequent films were in competition at Sundance and Cannes and won a few awards.
I think he has an interesting point of view - coming from the indie world which seemed to think that Hitchcock’s movies were cold and precise and unemotional. There is an odd belief that precision and competence is somehow mechanical and unfeeling. That art must be ragged and spontaneous. But his comments on NOTORIOUS show that this just isn’t true - he sees the deep emotions at play in the big end scene of the film, and how the specific choice of shots and angles and pacing is what makes these emotions powerful on screen. I like when he talks about the length of time and deliberation of the scene on the staircase - how this is stretched out to make it a big moment, when it could have been a chase scene or designed to highlight the suspense of the scene (which is there) instead of the connection between these two people... with the third trying to push his way into the scene.
NOTORIOUS is my favorite Hitchcock film because of these emotions - in this scene and all of the others. It’s a romance film disguised as a spy movie. When I did the two day class I had a clip of all of the scenes on the park bench in Rio where they met so that she could report to him - and those scenes showed the relationship changing as she moves further and further away from him on the bench... until she just doesn’t show up and he is alone. That sort of precise writing (Ben Hecht) and directing is what makes those scenes emotional scenes - not just scenes where she reports her undercover work. The idea that Hitchcock is cold and unemotional because he plans his shots and uses specific angles and framing and movements is the opposite of the truth. Ragged and spontaneous doesn’t make it art - it just makes it ragged and less emotional. An interesting look at the film from the other side of the film world.
- Bill
HITCHCOCK: MASTERING SUSPENSE
Alfred Hitchcock, who directed 52 movies, was known as the “Master Of Suspense”; but what exactly is suspense and how can *we* master it? How does suspense work? How can *we* create “Hitchcockian” suspense scenes in our screenplays, novels, stories and films?
This book uses seventeen of Hitchcock’s films to show the difference between suspense and surprise, how to use “focus objects” to create suspense, the 20 iconic suspense scenes and situations, how plot twists work, using secrets for suspense, how to use Dread (the cousin of suspense) in horror stories, and dozens of other amazing storytelling lessons. From classics like “Strangers On A Train” and “The Birds” and “Vertigo” and “To Catch A Thief” to older films from the British period like “The 39 Steps” and “The Man Who Knew Too Much” to his hits from the silent era like “The Lodger” (about Jack The Ripper), we’ll look at all of the techniques to create suspense!
Films Included: NOTORIOUS, SABOTAGE, STRANGERS ON A TRAIN, THE 39 STEPS, REBECCA, TO CATCH A THIEF, FRENZY, FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT, THE LODGER, THE BIRDS, TORN CURTAIN, SABOTEUR, VERTIGO, THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (1934), THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (1955), SUSPICION, and NUMBER SEVENTEEN. 17 Great Films!
369 pages packed with information!
Price: $5.99
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HITCHCOCK: EXPERIMENTS IN TERROR
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HITCHCOCK DID IT FIRST!
We all know that Alfred Hitchcock was the Master Of Suspense, but did you know he was the most *experimental* filmmaker in history?
Contained Thrillers like “Buried”? Serial Protagonists like “Place Beyond The Pines”? Multiple Connecting Stories like “Pulp Fiction”? Same Story Multiple Times like “Run, Lola, Run”? This book focuses on 18 of Hitchcock’s 53 films with wild cinema and story experiments which paved the way for modern films. Almost one hundred different experiments that you may think are recent cinema or story inventions... but some date back to Hitchcock’s *silent* films! We’ll examine these experiments and how they work. Great for film makers, screenwriters, film fans, producers and directors.
Films Examined: “Rear Window”, “Psycho”, “Family Plot”, “Topaz”, “Rope”, “The Wrong Man”, “Easy Virtue”, “Lifeboat”, “Bon Voyage”, “Aventure Malgache”, “Elstree Calling”, “Dial M for Murder”, “Stage Fright”, “Champagne”, “Spellbound”, “I Confess”, and “The Trouble with Harry”, with glances at “Vertigo” and several others.
Professional screenwriter William C. Martell takes you into the world of The Master Of Suspense and shows you the daring experiments that changed cinema. Over 77,000 words.
SALE: $3.99
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- Bill
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