Alfred Hitchcock is one of the most well-known and respected names in British and American cinema. From his initial foray into cinema during the silent era and transitioning to sound cinema before heading to the United States to work in Hollywood, Hitchcock's influences can be traced to three distinct cinema and film styles and periods: German Expressionism, Soviet Constructivism, and Griersonian Documentary Realism. The combination of these three styles and periods are present in The 39 Steps (1935) and The Lady Vanishes (1938), two thriller films from Hitchcock's British Sound Period. Through The 39 Steps's and The Lady Vanishes's editing, mise-en-scene, and narrative, Hitchcock exploits the fundamental elements of German Expressionism, Soviet Constructionism, and Grierson Documentary Realism to create a unified film that draws in a willing and captive audience.
Hitchcock was first introduced to German Expressionism in 1924 when he was sent to work at the UFA studios and collaborated…...

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Works Cited

Gazetas, Aristedes. An Introduction to World Cinema. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland

Company, Inc. Publishers, 2008. Print.

Hitchcock, Alfred. The 39 Steps. United Kingdom: Gaumont British, 1935. DVD.

-. The Lady Vanishes. United Kingdom: United Artists, 1938. DVD.

This ties closely with Hitchcock's belief that "dialogue means nothing" in and of itself. He explains, "People don't always express their inner thoughts to one another, a conversation may be quite trivial, but often the eyes will reveal what a person thinks or needs." Thus the focus of a scene within his movies never focuses on what actors say, but rather on what they are doing. Unlike a painter, or a writer, "we don't have pages to fill, or pages from a typewriter to fill, we have a rectangular screen in a movie house." The reduction of dialogue and focus on action, however minute is a central technique utilized by Hitchcock to build suspense in many of his most memorable movies.
One of Hitchcock's most important techniques was his mastery of the point-of-view editing. Point-of-view sequences can allow Hitchcock to convey shades of meaning that otherwise would have been completely…...

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Bibliography

FREEMAN, David the last days of Alfred Hitchcock: a memoir featuring the screenplay of "Alfred Hitchcock's the Short Night." Woodstock, NY: The Overlook Press, 1984. 281p.

LEFF, Leonard J. Alfred Hitchcock and Selznick: the rich and strange collaboration of Alfred Hitchcock and David O. Selznick in Hollywood. New York: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1987. 383p. illus.

SPOTO, Donald the life of Alfred Hitchcock: the dark side of genius. London: Collins, 1983. 165p.

TAYLOR, John Russell Hitch: the life and work of Alfred Hitchcock. London: Faber, 1978. 320p.

According to Francois Truffaut, "Hitchcock is universally acknowledged to be the world's foremost technician, even his detractors willingly concede him this title," and other critics state, "Hitchcock is one of the greatest inventors of form in the entire cinema," while still others assert that "his films remain central to questions of cinematic practice and critical theory" (Kirshner). Psycho was one Hitchcock's favorite films, because he derived his main satisfaction from the fact that "the film had an effect on audiences" (Kirshner). He once told Truffaut, "I take pride in the fact that Psycho, more than any of my other pictures, is a film that belongs to film-makers, to you and me" (Kirshner). In a good film, every shot counts, and the basic element of a film is not the scene, but the shot, one continuous exposure of film (Kirshner). A typical movie has hundreds of shots, and the shower scene…...

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Works Cited

Belton, John. "Can Hitchcock be saved from Hitchcock studies?" Cineaste. September 22, 2003. Retrieved December 17, 2006 from HighBeam Research Library.

Kirshner, Jonathan. "Alfred Hitchcock and the art of research." PS: Political Science & Politics. September 1, 1996. Retrieved December 17, 2006 from HighBeam Research Library.

McGilligan, Patrick. Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light. Regan Books. 2003.

Pp. 578,579,580,583,597.

Among these were women's inaccessibility to birth control and proper information about their own sexuality, the lack of knowledge about which caused many women to suffer health and social problems.
It is not only the overtly sexual scenes that show parts of a woman's body like the famous shower scene in Psycho or the depiction of sexual tension in L.B. Jeffries' room in Rear indow, therefore, that suggest Hitchcock's progressive attitude towards women. Instead, his depicting women as promiscuous reveals that they have choices about their own sexuality, and are not confined to the sexual rules forced upon them by society. Although the promiscuity is often punished by murder, one can argue that this is not a punishment for the women, but rather a punishment for society who did not acknowledge the sexuality of women and now must pay for this oversight.

Although many claim that Alfred Hitchcock's films are misogynistic…...

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Works Cited

Mogg, Ken. "Alfred Hitchcock." Senses of Cinema. 18 June 2008.  http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/05/hitchcock.html 

Greg, Garrett. "Hitchcock's Women on Hitchcock." Literature Film Quarterly 27.2

During the broadcasting of Psycho, Hitchcock asked for the doors to the cinema to be closed for those that wanted to enter.
Psycho is a motion picture that had surely intimidated its audience. From the very start of movie, the viewers feel that they are being presented with a distorted image of an ordinary lunch. Marion and Sam have sex in their hotel room instead of finishing their food. This is a weird moment from the audience, as they consider that the movie is nothing of what they thought it would be. Scenes like that of Marion's look when she's got her back turned on Sam, have the viewer identify themselves with Marion's character, as they have a feeling of intimacy with her. Unlike Sam, Marion is more natural, and more likely to get the audience to sympathize her.

Hitchcock cleverly uses anything from lighting to clothing in order to give…...

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Works Cited

Psycho. Dir. Alfred Hitchcock. Paramount Pictures: 1960-1968, Universal Pictures: 1968-present.

ALFRED HITCHCOCK was born in London in 1899, and came to America in 1940 to make his mark as a film director. He became one of the most renowned and emulated directors of horror and suspense film. Many of his films are still considered classics, such as "The irds," "Psycho," "Rear Window," and "North by Northwest," and they starred some of the biggest names in Hollywood, including Cary Grant, James Stewart, and Grace Kelley. Hitchcock also created many film techniques, but he is probably most famous for creating the "MacGuffin," a plot device that lives on today in numerous films. "MacGuffin (n.) 1. In a film, a plot device whose sole purpose is to set the action in motion, such as a suitcase with unknown contents. Often, the MacGuffin turns out to be a decoy, causing men to make fools of themselves in pursuit of futile ends. Word origin: Coined…...

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Bibliography

Enders, Eric. "The MacGuffins." EricEnders.com. 2002. 30 July 2003. http://www.ericenders.com/macguffins.htm

Tuska, Jon. Encounters with Filmmakers: Eight Career Studies. New York: Greenwood Press, 1991.

Hitchcock even placed the camera behind the wheel of Scottie's car as he followed Madeleine around the city. In addition, Hitchcock uses the first-person technique to put the audience in the right mind frame of a suspense thriller. "Vertigo" ends in one of Hitchcock's most shocking, abrupt, and negative scenes.
From Scottie's viewpoint: Madeleine!

INT. CHUCH, SAN JUAN BAUTISTA -- DAY

Scottie runs in, stops at the foot of the steps, hears the running footsteps, and looks up. From his viewpoint, we see Madeline running up the open stairway that spirals up along the walls of the high tower. She is already well on her way. Scottie is immediately stricken by the vertigo, and the tall tower seems to slide away from him.

He makes an attempt to start up the stairs, flattens himself against the wall and struggles up. He claws his way up, crosses over the hand-railing and uses it to…...

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References

Bogdanovich, Peter. Who the Devil Made it. New York: Ballantine, 1997

Modleski, Tania. The Women Who Knew Too Much, New York: Routledge, 1989.

Spoto, Donald. Art of Alfred Hitchcock. New York: Anchor, 1976.

Truffaut, Francois. Hitchcock.. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1985.

Alfred Hitchcock's Rear indow and focuses on one of the basic theme of the film, The act of Voyeurism. This paper through a viewer's point-of-view analyzes on how the main character of the film, Jeff commits voyeurism and eventually gets into trouble. This paper also highlights how other characters of the film also take part in Voyeurism.
Alfred Hitchcock's Rear indow

Alfred Hitchcock is an esteemed film director who is famous for combining art films with puissant reputation and great prominence among the audience. Throughout his career of filmmaking he has provided his audience with greater entertainment than they had ever imagined. It was Hitchcock, who assisted filmmaking to make a transformation from silent to sound, eliminate the eclipse of black and white movies with color cinema and supervised films which would be captivating not only to the general audience but also to film scholars and critics. Francois Truffaut said, "Hitchcock's…...

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Work Cited

Charles L.P. 2002. Alfred Hitchcock And The Making Of a Film Culture. Available on the address . Accessed on 12 Mar.http://www.mysterynet.com/hitchcock/silet.shtml

2003.

Tim D. 2002. Rear Window. Available on the address  http://www.filmsite.org/rear.html .

Accessed on 12 Mar. 2003.

However, in Psycho, the main character dies at the end of Act 1.
Given that Psycho varies so significantly from Syd Field's classic three act paradigm, it is possible to define a new paradigm based on Pyscho's plot structure. Psycho follows Field's three act paradigm during Act 1, where the main character, and his or her situation, is outlined. However, the plot point at the end of Act 1 can be seen as turning point, where the story changes substantially from the events set out in Act 1. This differs significantly from Field's inciting incident at the end of Act 1.

In Pyscho's Act 2, new characters are introduced (like the detective), and formerly minor characters (Sam and Marion's sister) develop as the main characters. At the end of Act 2, there is a plot point, which I will call the crisis point, where the newly developed main characters (Sam and…...

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References

Field, Syd. 1988. The Screenwriter's Workbook. Dell.

Psycho. 1960. Director: Alfred Hitchcock.

Edgar Allan Poe as seen through the lens of Hitchcock
Several authors have explored the aesthetic relationship between Edgar Allan Poe and Alfred Hitchcock, particularly writers like Dennis Perry and Donald Spoto among others. Although Poe has had major influence on many artists, (with Hitchcock demonstrating many of Poe's influences and gaining worldwide recognition for it) few have truly attempted to understand Poe. The only one who seems to have tried and lived a life similar to Poe's is Alfred Hitchcock. And as people, as men, they share several similarities, both professionally and personally.

Ever since his youthful submersion into Poe lore, Hitchcock consciously or unconsciously continued using Poe as a source for new ideas. One may argue Poe's main legacy to Hitchcock is the masterful generation of emotional reactions in audiences. The key to that legacy is the notion of surrealism and the concurrent experience of (that Perry so well…...

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Works Cited

Perry, Dennis R. Hitchcock and Poe: The legacy of delight and terror. Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press, 2003. Print.

Perry, Dennis R. "The Imp of the Perverse: Metaphor in The Golden Bowl." Literature Film Quarterly 24.4 (1996): 393-400. Print.

Poe, Edgar A. The Raven and Other Poems. Ed. Gahan Wilson. New York, N.Y: Berkley Pub. Group, 1990. Print.

Schroeder, David P. Hitchcock's Ear: Music and the Director's Art. New York: Continuum, 2012. Print.

Alfred Hitchcock has cast several actors in a few of his films. James Stewart, a favorite of Hitchcock's has been in "Rope," "Rear indow," "The Man ho Knew Too Much," and "Vertigo." He is and always has been an actor that grows with his characters. As the relationship between Stewart and Hitchcock grew, so did the character's he played, complexity. Stewart provided Hitchcock what few could in his life and career, a constant, an evolutionary constant. Through analysis of his roles in these four films, the actor-director relationship can be explored as well as how these roles may have changed Stewart and even Hitchcock.
In "Rope" James Stewart plays Rupert Cadell. He is a mentor to the two murderers in the film: Brandon and Phillip. Although Rupert was the catalyst for the logic behind committing a murder, (Rupert had deliberated with both Brandon and Phillip, in a seemingly favorable way, the…...

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Works Cited

Aulier, Dan. Vertigo: The Making of a Hitchcock Classic. New York: Griffin, 2001. Print.

BBC News. "Vertigo is named 'greatest film of all time'." BBC News. BBC News, 2 Aug. 2012. Web. 15 Dec. 2013. .

Fuss, Diana. Inside/out: Lesbian Theories, Gay Theories. New York: Routledge, 1991. Print.

Truffaut, Franc-ois. Hitchcock: [the Definitive Study of Alfred Hitchcock]. New York [u.a.: Simon & Schuster, 1984. Print.

The “mother” of all other horror movies, Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho transformed the directorial, cinematographic, and narrative style of cinema (“Psycho - How Alfred Hitchcock Manipulates An Audience”). Especially in the way Hitchcock attempted to involve the audience directly by creating a subjective, unreliable narrator, it was possible to generate the intense suspense and tension that permeates the film. As a result, viewers place themselves into Marian’s shoes. Even though Hitchcock uses editorial cuts at the beginning the viewer is led into it as one long scene, as we become voyeurs looking into the life of the protagonist who is at a sort of crossroads or turning point in her life (“Psycho - How Alfred Hitchcock Manipulates An Audience”). A close-up on the wad of money in the envelope is shown because Marian is thinking about stealing it, an illegal and unethical act carried out for unselfish reasons; the audience is…...

visual motifs that Alfred Hitchcock puts into service to tell a film's story cinematically. The focus of the essay will be to discuss such visual motifs as they are to found both in Strangers on a Train and in North by Northwest. Also, we will examine how Hitchcock use editing, performance, doubling and camera movement to cinematically create both suspense and irony in these films. Additionally, we will consider if the films reviewers of the period noticed these Hitchcockian devices.
First we need to define visual motif and what it meant for Hitchcock as a part of his entire filmatic theme's vision. By looking at the films, it is obvious to this author that Hitchcock used film noir in his crime dramas, particularly those that emphasized cynical attitudes with sexual motivations and connotations. This is understandable as Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally seen as extending from the early…...

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Works Cited

"Film Noir." Filmsite. Filmsite.org, 2011. Web. 6 Dec 2011. .

Hitchcock, Alfred, dir. Alfred Hitchcock - Masters of Cinema (Complete Interview in 1972) . You Tube, 1972. Film. .

Kapsis, Robert. Hitchcock: The Making of a Reputiation. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1992.

Otherwise, it is a bit abrupt that there is no mention of this film until the second half. Each paragraph is relevant to your proposition. Great choice to include quotes from other crew members that expressed how excited they were to work with Hitchcock. You also offer interesting perspective by choosing a director who was successful among his peers, fans, and critics, who made the shift from mainstream into academia.
Substantive

It is a great choice to include how others who worked with Hitchcock felt about working with him. It was actually a great move to not quote Hitchcock directly, but to describe his character through his actions and through the quotations from others. This was a great strategy in presenting your argument. Overall, there was a very clear logic in the paper and you sustained your reasoning from start to close. I also found it good that you began the…...

The woman, in this type of movie, becomes "isolated, glamorous, on display, sexualised" - which is how not only Miss Torso is presented in Rear Window, but also Lisa
An example of this is Jeff's relationship with Lisa. In the beginning he does not really show any interest in Lisa. He is afraid to commit to her through marriage. Lisa's display of sexuality (a form of exhibitionism accented by her insistence on clothes and jewelry) triggers this sense of fear, the symbol of his castration anxiety, in Jeff, and which he consequently has to try to channel. The female threat has to be eliminated (hence Thorwald's murdering of his wife as Jeff's dream scenario) or neutralized (e.g. y a marriage). Subsequently, Jeff's anxiety for Lisa's sexuality (and exhibitionism) can only diminish when she becomes a part of the world he looks at from his window, when she can be gazed…...

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Bibliography

Rotten Tomatoes. 2002. Retrieved from the World Wide Web, December 1st, 2007:

 http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1017289-rear_window/ 

Mogg, Ken. 2003. Labyrinth Connections. Retrieved from the World Wide Web, December 1st, 2007: http://www.labyrinth.net.au/~muffin/rear_window_c.html

Internet Movie Data Base, (I.M.D.B.) 2007. Retrieved from the World Wide Web, December 2nd, 2007: