Alfred Hitchcock: More Than Just a Profile (FULL MOVIE)

[Music] [Music] Oh Oh good evening I was just about to send greetings to an old friend [Music] my name is Alfred Hitchcock and I would like to tell you about my forthcoming lecture mention the name Hitchcock and it conjures up iconic image after iconic image moments of psychological fear captured on celluloid forever but in all probability the very first image that comes into your head is the celebrated profile of the self acknowledged master of suspense the rotund and balding figure that shuffles into view looks not unlike your favorite jovial uncle [Music] twisting of the of the lights he's as recognizable as the Thames embankment in London the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco the Royal Albert Hall in London and Mount Rushmore in Rapid City South Dakota all of which he used as backdrops in his various movies but what off the man himself like his films he's somewhat of a mystery and with all good mysteries the clues can be found at the very beginning of the story Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was born at the home of his parents William and Emma Jane Hitchcock on the 13th of August 1899 his father William ran a little grocery store that had been handed down to him by his own father Alfred Hitchcock was born in the flat above it deep in the heart of the Outer London County of Essex in the busy town of Leytonstone today the house has long since been demolished and a busy garage now stands on the hallowed ground the town's thriving commercialism like many of the so-called boom towns around England's capital city of London owed much to the Great Eastern Railway line which offered inexpensive workman's fares into the heart of London itself the close proximity of the rivarly which carried canal boat stopped full of various supplies to the docks and warehouses of the thames also helped swell the number of jobs available from Sleepy Hamlet's favored by the landed gentry these surrounding towns became inundated with cheap housing schools churches shops and a huge groundswell of workers and their ever-growing families [Music] Alfred Hitchcock was the third child of the Hitchcock brood arriving seven years later than his sister Nellie and a good nine years after William and Emma's first son William jr. it was only in 1896 that the family had moved to Leytonstone to continue their greengrocery trade three years later as Alfred Hitchcock made the first of his famous appearances his father took out an advert in the Express and independent Almanac promoting his wares fruit potatoes vegetables all of them fresh every day and wore orders punctually attended to William Hitchcock was an everyman the sort of male character who will be typify Din Hitchcock films by James Stewart Gregory Peck or Cary Grant and average Joe as it were calmly drifting through life without making a significant ripple until forced into a situation he doesn't want to be in on the other hand William's wife Emma Jane was a stern and aloof mother to Alfred rigid to the core with the Catholicism that rooted her family in a strict and serious religion it's perhaps this view of women that tainted alfred hitchcock's perception of the female characters in his films leading him to use actresses of a similar look and personality Grace Kelly Ingrid Bergman and Tippi Hedren were all beautiful unattainable women who appeared cold and detached hiding their sexuality behind the mask of intellect and repression [Applause] Hitchcock's early years are shrouded in mystery but it would appear that his childhood was a happy one one memory recounted by Hitchcock to anyone who would listen was of the time his father sent him to the local police station with a note the note stated that he was to be locked in a cell for five minutes to show him what happened to little boys who did wrong it was either a valuable life lesson that his father was trying to bestow or an elaborate practical joke as his grandfather was a policeman and would no doubt have had friends in the close-knit Constabulary either way the slamming shut of the cell door was a memory that Hitchcock would never forget in fact he used it to end a couple of his later movies the Great Eastern Railway line was the start of a fascination for the young Hitchcock with trains and subsequently all forms of transportation a love of all things connected with railways as a peculiar obsession of the English and Hitchcock shared it to the hilt he'd use it to good effect in most of his movies engineering romance danger and death on train car boat and plane rides in 1906 the Hitchcock family moved down the River Lea to take over the running of two existing stores in Limehouse in the borough of Stepney William Hitchcock had grown tired of greengrocery and took up a new career as a fishmonger one of his shop sold fresh fish and the other one supplied a staple diet of England's favorite food fish and chips salmon lane a very appropriate road name to play host to a fishmonger was a cosmopolitan place where cockney life would intermingle with a massive influx of immigrants ranging from the Irish to the Jews with the Chinese and communist court thrown in Hitchcock became addicted to the hustle and bustle of the Kaleidoscope community taking every available opportunity to explore by tram or by tube train it's very appropriate that the town of his birth has commemorated Hitchcock by a series of wonderful mosaics depicting scenes from his films in the underground tube station at Leytonstone [Music] he in point of fact knew the entire layout of the routes that these transports took by the time he was 8 going so far as to memorize the New York transit map two years before he even set foot on American soil Hitchcock was as he appeared to be in later life a voyeur he enjoyed watching what was happening around him rather than being part of it perhaps this is why he took to traveling on trams and trains so much observing his fellow travelers this could also explain why he found refuge in West End theaters and movie houses entranced by the dramatic and cinematic form that transported him away from his lonely if contented childhood this outsider status was evident in his early days of schooling's when he sat out all physical games and was shunned by the other boys for smelling of fish simply because of his father's profession his education was bound up like his family upbringing in religion and by the time he was 11 years old Hitchcock was enrolled at Saint Ignatius College in Stanford founded in 1894 this was a Jesuit run day school for young gentlemen and Hitchcock would take the train from Limehouse every morning to get there for mass at 8:45 a.m. as well as being a school with a wide and varied curriculum of learning Saint Ignatius College was also a thriving Parish Community - with Garden feints holy days holiday concerts and family socials but as his family attended Mass in Stratford where his uncle presided as father John Hitchcock felt left out and isolated from this community spirit at the college again his outsider status made him an active watcher rather than an active participant perhaps pointing his way to his career as a director always watching from the outside of the action Jesuit learning was very strict in its punishments and resulted in Hitchcock saying he'd left there with the strong sense of fear from the harsh punishment regime meted out by the priests a sense of how to be realistic even paradoxically going so far as to teach methods that when taken to their zenith could disprove the existence of God and Jesuit reasoning power the power of arguing a point even when it was implausible this certainly laid the seeds for his working career as his films attest to all of these things sense of fear the realistic but implausible and the radical reasoning behind them I chose to be Hitchcock left school at 14 and applied himself to night classes in engineering with half-hearted ambitions to be an aviation navigator his love of transport overtaking any idea of what he actually wanted to do as a career [Music] [Music] in 1914 as the first world war broke out and Hitchcock's dreams of being a navigator evaporated he was hired by WT Henley's Telegraph works a leading manufacturer and installer of electrical cables in the district of London which is today better known as the Barbican it wasn't exactly flying but it was working off and above the ground it was during the early stages of his new job that his older brother William jr. paid Hitchcock a visit he told young Alfred that their father had passed away and then ushered him on to commiserate with his sister Nellie who was working nearby as a department store model William Hitchcock was 52 years old but a lifetime of heavy social drinking had taken its toll and the charismatic every man who Hitchcock looked up to was no longer there to be a cheerful mental [Music] as World War one raged on an old way of life was passing and times were definitely changing Hitchcock's elder brother took over the running of the family business which left young Alfred free to continue with his more technical occupation by the time he was 18 Hitchcock was eager to join in the fight for Great Britain's survival but was turned down after a medical examination declared him overweight with a glandular condition and still disturbed by his father's death living through the first world war in London rather than at the front line would have subjected Hitchcock to all manner of conflicting experiences on a daily basis it was perhaps this paradox coupled with his father's early death that would mark the end of Alfred's carefree youth and make him begin to see all tragedies in a black Lee comedic light there are some who would suggest this to be an early twist in Hitchcock's personality however it was far more likely to be a straightforward defense mechanism for a young man facing the harsh realities of his time [Music] working react WT Henley's Hitchcock found a camaraderie that had been lacking in his life up until then it enabled him to become less of a loner among men and more of a leader of men progressing through the ranks he moved away from engineering to end up in the sales section of the company during this time he enrolled at Goldsmiths College a branch of the London University to study the history and principles of art thinking it might help him continue upwards in his job he paid off very quickly when he was drafted into the advertising division with a picture orientated job of creating advertisements for the company brochures a bizarre episode in Hitchcock's life began when he took dancing lessons with other employees of Henley's at crippled gait Institute which was situated on Golden Lane nearby the Henley offices the dance lessons were presided over by William Graydon whose acquaintance had a marked effect on Hitchcock's thinking when he came to future filmmaking in fact the Graydon's lived very near the Hitchcock's in Leytonstone both families knowing each other through being staunch Catholics and both with the keen interest in the theatre Hitchcock's sister Nellie was on friendly terms with Avis Graydon the younger daughter of the family throughout their lives the Graydon's eldest daughter was married and took amateur theatre classes in London which Hitchcock may very well have attended her name was Edith Thompson in 1923 Edith's lover Frederick Bywaters was found guilty of killing Edith's husband Edith was also sentenced to death being found guilty of inciting the dastardly deed it was a controversial crime trial and verdict dominating the headlines throughout the 1920s Hitchcock often hinted of a friendship with Edith may have been influenced by the hold a book many believed Edith was falsely convicted and there is a theme running through Hitchcock's movies of false conviction and the wronged the Henley company set up a popular in-house magazine called the Henley Telegraph which Hitchcock not only edited but also heavily contributed to with many darkly humorous and fantastical tales these early flights of fancy by Hitchcock are heavily influenced by his love of authors he admired such as Edgar Allen Poe GK Chesterton and John Buchan the latter being instrumental in Hitchcock's career in fact the Henley Telegraph was so successful that it was sold outside of the company offices - despite his success at Henley Hitchcock made no secret of the fact that he'd love to get into the British film industry he devoured trade journals and magazines hung around film sets in London and generally became the outsider again for a while in 1921 he read an advert for the opening of the English production branch of Paramount Pictures called British famous players-lasky one of the jobs on offer was that of a caption here the writers and illustrators of the explanatory titles between scenes that gave a voice to silent films he made a set of these cards and continued turning up with his portfolio until they offered him a job impressed with his demonstrative persistence it was a coming of age at 21 that set Hitchcock on his way to become the most famous of all film directors British film players-lasky didn't last very long in England and when it was winding down its productions Hitchcock took the chance to try his hand at art direction script writing and film direction during this time he met the woman that he was to spend the rest of his life with her name was Alma Reville and she was an accomplished film editor Alma was born just a day later than Hitchcock on August the 14th 1899 she hailed from Nottingham famous for the lace industry at the time her father was a lace representative in London and she joined him on trips to the capital landing a job as a film cutter at the London film company through a friend of the family in 1923 the time of Edith Thompson's trial and hanging a new British film company had been set up by Michael Balcon Victor Savile and John Friedman Michael Balcon became the most well-known and influential British producer of all time being a master businessman with amazing powers of salesmanship it was he who struck a deal rare in the struggling British film industry to allow their films to gain an American distribution deal through the select organisation this was a company run by Lewis Selznick a man more famous for being the father of two high-flying sons both of whom were a great help to Hitchcock in his career David the younger Selznick would become a very famous producer who would give Hitchcock his first contract in America and the older brother Myron would eventually become Hitchcock's first agent in Hollywood the Balcon savile friedman film company took over the Islington studios where British famous players-lasky had been based and in doing so also took on some of their remaining employees Hitchcock was one of these remaining employees after many and been laid off in a cost-cutting exercise and was delighted when Michael Balcon offered him the chance to be an assistant director on their first motion picture woman-to-woman when asked if he knew any good script writers or art directors he nominated himself for both extra jobs with the extra responsibilities came more control and he was able to start seeing things done the way he wanted them to be realized he hired a new film editor and who better to choose than Alma Reville the girl who never been out of his mind since he'd first set eyes on her she'd been one of the casualties of British famous players-lasky 's cost-cutting purge and Alma was astonished that Hitchcock remembered her woman-to-woman showcased an American star called Betty Compson who became another seed planted in Hitchcock's fertile mind when he found something he liked he tended to stick with it often growing Kraus cultivating or pruning but always tending to the same root idea this was the first appearance of the composite Hitchcock leading lady blonde beautiful and aloof woman to woman gave Hitchcock a taste of what he yearned for the power to control the film from the script through the look of the film and to the direction it would take it also gave him his first real taste of success it was the first British film to premiere in New York scoring a commercial success in the USA critical acclaim in Great Britain and even a box-office triumph in Germany where it had the distinction of being the first British film shown profitably since the war unfortunately the next two films were critical and commercial disasters which sent the balcan savile Freedman company into receivership however Michael Balcon jumped ship first and founded Gainsborough productions named after Thomas Gainsborough the 18th century English painter the Gainsborough lady that appeared at the start of every one of these films dressed in 18th century apparel and smiling beautifully under a magnificent feathered hat would become a recognised stamp for the British film industry a trademark that signified good taste refined entertainment and dignified quality the first Gainsbourg production was the passionate adventure again using Hitchcock as co-director art director and scriptwriter it's a gripping tale that set the template for Hitchcock's catalogue of films as it contains a murder an endangered woman in distress a wronged man and an end scene that builds to a violent crescendo it's also very stylistic using stark images and famous landmarks to set the scene of the story [Music] you [Music] Alma Reville was constantly at Hitchcock's side during his time at Gainsbourg productions ever the faithful muse he looked to her for approval whenever he'd finished directing a shot or sketching out a storyboard for a new sequence to film their relationship was cemented during frequent promotional and professional visits to Berlin in Germany where they spent most of their time trying to cover for another Gainsborough director Graham Cutts who was conducting several extramarital affairs and engaging in all the seedy nightlife Berlin had to offer it was here that Hitchcock had his eyes opened to all manner of sexual practices again being the watcher rather than the participant because of his Catholic upbringing with its strict taboos on sinful endeavors he was fascinated by what was forbidden to him the film that really elevated Hitchcock to a place where the critics and public knew who he was rather than just knowing the stars of his films was called The Lodger it was a film based on a best-selling novel which itself was based on the famed Jack the Ripper killings Jack the Ripper was the name given to a mysterious serial killer who stalked the alleyways of London during 1888 killing and disembowelling prostitutes because nobody was caught and tried for these murders the mystery of Jack the Ripper is shrouded in conspiracy theories and entertaining flights of fancy was it just one man or a series of copycat murders was it a respected surgeon because of the medical way the mutilations of the victims were carried out was it a high-powered member of the royal family using his influence as a cover for his violent tendencies all of these questions have plausible answers but none of them can reveal the truth this was the sort of mystery that intrigued Hitchcock and the resulting film was one in which he was able to attribute every one of his famous trademarks in The Lodger the women who are being murdered are all blond-haired a notion that wasn't in the original book and the handsome man you believed to be the gruesome killer turns out to be wrong this is only discovered at the denouement when another murder is conducted whilst he's about to be lynched by an outraged mob this is another variation from the book where the lodger turns out not only to be the killer but also fades away into the fog bound London night in exactly the same way as Jack the Ripper did never to be seen again The Lodger was a resounding success both in the eyes of the critics and the wallets of the public off the back of the film's unprecedented box office and critical praise Alfred Hitchcock and Alma Reville became man and wife exchanging vows on December the 2nd 1926 their honeymoon route was an annual pilgrimage every Christmas for most of their lives taking in Paris Lake Como and San Moritz on July the 7th 1928 Alma gave birth to the Hitchcock's only child here at Cromwell Road in London Hitchcock normally never happier than when Alma was at his side uncharacteristically panicked and fled the home birth as the labor progressed only returning when the baby girl had been born clutching an exquisite bracelet he bought as a peace offering from a jewelry store in Bond Street London the baby was christened Patricia Alma Hitchcock and was a welcome addition to the close relationship of Alfred and Alma it was also the year that Hitchcock directed his first talkie as the age of the silent film was coming to a close Hitchcock admitted later in life that he always regretted the coming of sound to movies he said that the poetry of the medium suffered as a result with too many subsequent movies composed of pictures of people talking rather than pictures of an unfolding story even though he disliked the medium the resulting collection of Hitchcock's final British movies with the added element of sound were all genuine classics the man who knew too much the 39 steps secret agent sabotage The Lady Vanishes and Jamaica are in because of these successes Hitchcock's American agent Myron Selznick tried to get his brother David O Selznick to supply a contract for Hitchcock to work in American pictures David was notoriously difficult and offered a deal that was well below what Hitchcock needed to be paid accounting for British taxes and American surcharges however excited by the prospect of working in Hollywood Hitchcock paid his own way overseas to attend contract negotiations with his wife Alma constantly at his side he finally signed in 1939 on the basis that he'd be directing a film called Titanic this appealed to Hitchcock as it was another story he could make that revolved a randint journey everyone knows what happened to the huge passenger cruise ship Titanic on her fateful maiden voyage in April 1912 when it struck an iceberg and slowly sank losing most of its passengers to the freezing cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean it would be the story leading up to it that fascinated Hitchcock where he again had a suspenseful bold ending that would climax his love story on the run [Music] mr. mrs. Hitchcock and their young daughter Patricia left the shores of England on March the 4th 1939 sailing across the sea to the land of opportunity as they left England behind the clouds of a second world war were looming large over their native Shore America was not only a huge step for Hitchcock and his family to make but it was also a safe place to be when war finally broke out again at the age of 40 halfway through his life he'd become the outsider again an alien on distant shores with no group of close-knit comrades to surround himself with and only his beloved Alma to tell him he was doing the right thing when Hitchcock began his Hollywood career it closely linked in with the end of his British film industry association Jamaica Rin had been an adaptation of a Daphne du Maurier story and for his first American production he'd be adapting another story by the same writer this one was called Rebecca and he began filming five days after the fateful moment that began World War two when Adolf Hitler's German army invaded Poland Rebecca was a difficult shoot as his producer David O Selznick felt that he should have final veto on everything that was done heat shock considered this somewhat of a straightjacket and was fortunate that most of his producers time was taken up by extensive post-production on the epic and overblown gone with the wind Rebecca won an Academy Award for its producer taking home the Best Picture Oscar against such classic competition as the Philadelphia Story our town the great dictator Kitty Foyle and The Grapes of Wrath he lost out on the Best Director award - John Ford again feeling his outsider status his next film with the same blonde female star Joan Fontaine was suspicion which also starred Cary Grant in his first role that subvert adhesion ice guy image to portray the darker side of his character and he won Fontaine and Oscar for Best Actress in the space of two years Hitchcock's films had won two Academy Awards but like Kari grant his english-born fellow-countryman and favorite male lead Hitchcock never won a competitive Oscar during his career even though he was nominated several times whilst the Second World War raged in Europe the English press took to firing potshots at the British contingent in Hollywood Hitchcock was singled out for some vicious criticism from his old employer and friend Michael Balcon again like Cary Grant and many other English stars he was doing his war work in secret and the criticism so incensed his wife Alma that she'd never returned to England again relocating her side of the family to the USA she also obtained American citizenship at the end of the war in 1945 a full decade before her husband did [Music] in September 1942 Emma Jane Hitchcock Alfred's mother passed away at the age of 79 it was during the making of another Hitchcock classic the shadow of doubt which was scripted by America's eminent playwright Thornton Wilder in the film the mother of the main character is called Emma and is certainly a script in homage to Hitchcock's mother bearing the stern upright qualities that she was steeped in June to her Catholicism and yet showing her caring complex nature towards her son the following year Hitchcock was dealt another personal blow as his elder brother William jr. died in much the same way as his namesake of a father through years of heavy drinking and at roughly the same age concerned about his own health these family deaths prompted Hitchcock did go on a rapping a diet and lose over a hundred pounds in weight ever the practical joker and clown he managed to include his customary cameo in the film he was shooting called lifeboat by way of a newspaper advert for radu Co obesity slayer corset showing him in his before-and-after profiler Alfred Hitchcock's cameo roles are very interesting and as his career progressed audiences would get as much satisfaction from spotting the director as they would from working out whodunit another death in 1944 this time of his agent Myron Selznick and again through heavy drinking freed him from the tyrannical constraints of David self Nick's contract at Selznick international and allowed Hitchcock to become his own free agent and finally attempt some financial security for himself and his family he made three more films to see out his contract two of them generally regarded as masterpieces spellbound and notorious and then formed transatlantic pictures in an attempt to collaborate with the very best of English and American talent sadly his ideals were compromised when the company went bust after two experimental pictures rope a stage play that was filmed in sequence and in continuous long takes of ten minutes and under Capricorn the latter of the two films was banned by many Catholic organizations in America because of the revelation that Ingrid Bergman the star of the film had been conducting an extramarital affair with Roberto Rossellini during the filming Hitchcock was definitely not amused with one of his favorite leading ladies rope had been offered to Cary Grant and Montgomery Clift but because of the noted thread of homosexuality in the script they each in turn got cold feet and declined perhaps because both men had been targeted by the media on various occasions for their close relationships with male friends I am and you're rolling friends now let's forget it shall we I should not get me the sport our pension then let's talk about money anyway oh I'm not kidding it's something wrong with me well if you're really feeling here when she lets the James Oldroyd he'll go get you so James alright he's a bit of a cranky of charge of 20 guineas he's the best diagnostician there is in the end Hitchcock began his association with James Stewart a classic American everyman figure who would work on as many Hitchcock films as Cary Grant did after James Stewart had returned from active and decorated service in World War 2 he wasn't sure that acting was exactly a man's job and sought out meteor and more complex roles rope was the first of a long line of twisted everyman figures that contrasted with his original folksy image whilst Alfred Hitchcock was making these two films his wife was reveling in her usual role as scriptwriter and had been spending huge amounts of time with their mutual friend Whitfield cook according to cook's private journals their closeness developed and they began having intimate relations whether or not Hitchcock knew about this is open to debate he long touted himself as impotent and stressed that his daughter Patricia was the result of his one and only foray into the world of Catholics in both the scripts on the Hitchcock worked on with Whitfield cook during their time together concerned a woman torn between two lovers perhaps she was inadvertently trying to tell her husband something or perhaps it was just coincidence the critical reaction to under Capricorn a script she championed highly was so severe that Alma never had a script credit again preferring to just act as each [ __ ] muse and confidant the affair with cook petered out after the filming was completed four strangers on a train a film in which Hitchcock's daughter Patricia was cast you didn't know when Bruno proposed this fact that he was serious dead serious you had made the mistake of speaking to a stranger on a train and now wherever you go whatever you do you find yourself dominated by his evil presence and you Bruno the old killing was the answer murder without blue without more the perfect fire and they might look very attractive to you until the love in your heart became gripped by a terror that drew you deeper and deeper into this vortex of conspiracy [Music] in 1954 Hitchcock signed an extraordinary contract with Paramount Pictures just before production on rear-window began which allowed him complete creative control he also retained the ownership of all of his movies after an eight-year period the Hitchcock's weren't extravagant with their money so the deal was never about finances it was about the ability to create a pure body of work without interference they're only expensive habit was cultivating a small collection of art by famous post-impressionists and fantasy star 'test s' Hitchcock's particular favorite was the Swiss painter Paul Klee who he often compared himself to in his work Walter Sickert was an artist who Hitchcock had many drawings by well known for his depictions of lowlife subjects it's interesting to note that in a recent study of Jack the Ripper by American crime writer Patricia Cornwell Walter Sickert is allegedly proved to have led a double life as the infamous serial killer this would no doubt have amused Hitchcock greatly rear window was the ultimate voyeur film centered on an invalid photographer who has nothing better to do with his recuperation time and watch the occupants of the building opposite him Hitchcock may have been parodying his own films in making this he may have been parodying himself but the joke never confused the viewing public who instantly hailed it as the definitive Hitchcock film to date whose beat used to be the world right now his world has shrunk down to the size of this window he's been watching the people across the way nobody seems to pull their blinds during a hot spell like this he knows a lot about them by now too much perhaps for instance down there on the second floor the woman pacing about he calls her Miss Lonelyhearts so lonely that even death seems like a friend these are the newlyweds on a honeymoon no one will ever forget he calls her miss hearing-aid an artist of a very odd and strange art the songwriter who plays the same melody over and over again a genius or insane this is the traveling salesman and his invalid wife out of their arguments and nagging comes a weird kind of love miss torso the body beautiful that is viewed from a safe distance those are just a few of my neighbors first I watch them just to kill time but then I couldn't take my eyes off them just as you won't be able to and you won't be able to take your eyes off the glowing beauty of Grace Kelly who shares the heart and curiosity of James Stewart in this story of a romance shadowed by the terror of a horrifying secret [Music] the master of suspense as he'd been dubbed in the press began his paramount ears as totally paramount to the company's finances not one of his films lost money for the studio and he produced such classics as to catch a thief the trouble with Harry psycho Marnie the birds the remake of the man who knew too much the wrong man vertigo and the celebrated Hitchcock favourite North by Northwest in 1955 he also began to host Alfred Hitchcock Presents a TV show for CBS which was such a massive success that it ran for the next ten years but due to this and his line in marketing books with the Alfred Hitchcock title he was becoming a public figure rather than a respected director he would forever on would be dubbed the master of suspense and found it difficult to shift away from retreads of what he'd already achieved after Grace Kelly his two time leading lady and perfect Hitchcock blonde married Prince Rainier of Monaco and went into enforced cinematic retirement Hitchcock trying to find someone he could mold into his ideal icy blond temptress much like James Stewart's character does in vertigo he'd used Doris Day in the man who knew too much Eva Maria st. in North by Northwest Kim Novak in vertigo and Janet Leigh in psycho however it was after spotting an unknown actress in a commercial that he actively tried to find out who she was so she could screen test for his film the birds she was called Natalie Headroom known by her Swedish nickname Tippi which meant little girl Tippi Hedren had just moved to California to try acting after being a model was the divorced mother of a four-year-old child called Melanie who would grow up to become the famous movie actress Melanie Griffith's he worked with her for two pictures teaching coaxing and encouraging her until she insists he made improper advances to her on the set of Marnie and their relationship dissolved in acrimony a few such claims have been made by other actresses detailing Hitchcock's clumsy attempts at flirting as his way of getting them into character but it does appear that he was a man of impulse and rude humor tested the boundaries of taste because of what he was denied by his self acknowledged impotence and the Catholic upbringing of guilt and fear it was rare that he fell out with any of his actresses even the ones who suggested that Hitchcock had behaved improperly but Tippi Hedren is the only one who never worked or socialized with Hitchcock again umbrella the colors stop the colors what colors Marnie's trouble goes deeper than that far deeper and this is the problem which mark must probe but first something must be done to calm this girl now the hero applies mouth-to-mouth resuscitation but that may give you the impression this picture is all sex and no mystery not sorrow here for example Marnie is speaking to I'm not sure who actually but he is a man from her past a past she seems to be denying oh dear they are at it again let me assure you that this is all in the spirit of investigation and this here is further proof that Marnie is a talking picture you don't love me I'm just something you've caught you think I'm some kind of animal you've trapped that's right you are and I've caught something really wild this time haven't I I've tracked you and caught you and by god I'm gonna keep you that should be quite enough if you wish to hear more you will have to buy a ticket as for which one of them is the wild animal there are times when I'm not sure [Music] I don't think that was necessary actually I think I should withhold comment since I'm not certain I understand the scene I shall leave the explanation to your own vivid imagination it would appear that mark has a single solution for all problems this is not so Mark is a complex man dark and forbidding you can also be kind and considerate and he is also a troubled man troubled because he cannot seem to unravel the mystery of the girl called [Music] [Music] during the lucrative and creative years at Paramount Pictures Hitchcock sensed a feeling of his own mortality as health problems began to beset him and his wife Alma he spent four months in hospital with hernia and gallbladder operations while she contracted cervical cancer and was cured due to a revolutionary new radiation treatment he was also surrounded by the passing of friends and colleagues and it made him feel anxious about his health coupled with chronic drinking a hereditary vice and overeating Hitchcock had a heart attack and a pacemaker installed in 1974 a few years after Alma had suffered a major stroke which left her paralyzed in one hand and with a weak heart too his last four films were struggling and all contained more violence sadism nudity and oddly more humor than before torn curtain topaz frenzy and family plot were his last commitments to say annoyed with only frenzied standing actors a genuine classic by a game borrowing its initial plot from the Jack the Ripper murder cases which so intrigued Hitchcock throughout his long life shortly after the release of his 53rd film family plot Alma suffered another stroke the severity of which totally crippled her and left her confined to their house with the permanent nursing staff Hitchcock continued to work on script ideas and tried to develop his 54 film at his offices on the Paramount Studios lot at a tribute dinner in Hitchcock's honor in 1979 organized by the American Film Institute he greeted old friends like Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman as if it would be the last time he'd see them his sister Nellie died in the same year and Hitchcock all but gave up living but he did accept Queen Elizabeth's invitation to make him an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire becoming Sir Alfred Hitchcock filled him with pride and the ceremony took place in America as the director was advised against traveling by his doctor then he finally shut up his office and went home to direct his own death scene lying motionless in his bed next to the incapacitated Alma he withered away until the great director in the sky shouted cart and Hitchcock's life story ended on April the 29th nineteen eighty genius is a word that is used far too frequently in this day and age but it certainly applies to Alfred Hitchcock his films have stood the test of time through audience appreciation and critical evaluation he was the ultimate British knight in shining armor of the movies always ready to gallop into battle on his celluloid horse across a drawbridge made of film reels sir Alfred Hitchcock was certainly best known as the master of suspense but this was only possible because first and foremost he was sir Alfred Hitchcock master filmmaker extraordinaire [Music] you [Music]

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Keywords: Hitchcock, official, Psycho, The Birds, Rear Window, Dial M For Murder, alfredhitchcock, alfred, documentary, movie, freemovie, fullmovie, freefilm, educational, history, classic, ondemand, cinema, film, filmstudies, filmtheory

Id: ZwP5ZmrOQa8

Length: 60min 22sec (3622 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 25 2020