So over the holidays I have seen a variety of different Hitchcock films:
Here is my list
Strangers on a train
The birds
Psycho
Vertigo
Rear window
The man who knew too much
Frenzy
suspicion
Ive noticed some similar reoccurring sort of characters and motifs in all the films that i Feel will help me come up with my own story. Hitchcock's storylines are deeply rooted in the Psyche and the psychological nature of the human mind and they are often full of crazies, betrayals and double crosses, there are also clever techniques such as the mcguffin used throughout his films and someone who seems to find the concept of murder funny, the bad can be punished in this film
Strangers on a train
- The film starts off fairly normally with the two characters of Guy and Bruno sitting on the train chatting.
- Guy seems pretty standoffish and stressed out and I suppose Bruno is meant to be charming but he honestly comes across as a little lonely and creepy, maybe he is meant to be interpreted differently by different people.
- The thing is they both seem like normal people
- The theme of murder comes in almost immediately with the mention of Guy's wife: Miriam and Bruno's father
- One of Hitchcock's themes "perfect crimes" comes in here as Bruno mentions the idea of exchanging murder and thus murder is mentioned and on the cards
- the idea of the psycho and the disturbed human psyche comes in with Bruno being revealed to be a bit of a crazy stalking down Miriam at an amusement park and strangling her.
- His crazy nature is also revealed when he becomes almost obsessed with Guy fulfilling his side of the deal, he gets to know Guy's new fiancee Anne and her sister Barbara who looks a lot like Miriam
- There is a guest at the party who finds the idea of murder amusing which is another Hitchcock theme
- A hard moment for Guy is when he is forced to confess what is going on to Anne
- Brunos is furious and thinks Guy has betrayed him and as a result he will try to Frame guy for Miriam's murder, he has really thought everything through. It is why he stole his lighter.
- Guy ends up dead thanks to his crazy ways, it seems the bad are punished
Psycho
- Marion is a character we grow to feel sympathy foreign this film. She really needs money and the man giving his money to the bank is just so into himself and so clearly spoiling his daughter you don't wish anything less for him than to have his money stolen right out from under him.
- You can see through Marion's facial expressions her own conflict at stealing the money and whether she is really going to do it.
- I honestly felt sorry for Norman throughout the whole film as he obviously had some serious issues and was absolutely deranged yet he was such a loveable character in the way he was so kind hearted and friendly and had this small stutter. He was also attractive which is not typical of a psycho killer. This is Hitchcock's genius exploration of the Human Psyche
- Marion is about to come clean and take the money back when she is brutally murdered which makes them mores o effected by her death.
- the fact that Norman is the way he is makes him seem very un guilty.
- He is absolutely insane in the way he becomes the mother and kills everyone in his way of exposing him for what he
- The fact he kept his mothers body and took on part of her personality when she dies just shows how truly psycho he really was.
Vertigo
- Some people regard this as Hitchcock's best film and there is just so much murder, betrayal and perfect crimes throughout this film. It is a Hitchcock master piece.
- The film opens with an exploration of Scotties Psyche, when he visits his ex fiancee and explains how roof top chase resulting in the death of a police man has caused his severe fear of heights and therefore vertigo.
- This therefore explores the consequences of a traumatic experience.
- Midge tells Scottie he may need another psychological shock in order to reverse his Vertigo.
- Scotties acquaintance Gavin expresses that he fears that his wife Madeline may be possessed by Calotta Valdes, who was her great grandmother who committed suicide
- This here explores more of the psyche, the idea of possession from an external source or the own human min, being either disturbed or working to achieve a perfect crime
- The idea of disturbances in the psyche is again brought up when Madeline jumps into the water near the golden gate bridge and is rescued by Scottie and the next day when, despite confessing his love for Madeline, can barely bring himself to run up the church steps to save Madeline from suicide due to his intense fear of heights.
- After "Madelines" death you can clearly see the inner workings of Scotties Psyche begin to unravel as he becomes clinically depressed and frequents the places Madeline visited imagining he is seeing her.
- One day he sees an actual woman who actually looks exactly like Madeline.
- She identifies herself as Judy Barton. And she was pretending to be Madeline. Here Hitchcock's theme of mistaken identities and perfect crimes come into play.
- Judy as part of a plan to murder Madeline was impersonating Gavin's wife.
- The films delves again into the psyche when Scottie doesn't want to accept Judy as Judy, he is in love with Madeline.
- the idea of perfect crimes comes in again when the truth is revealed. That Gavin got Judy to impersonate his wife Madeline after he killed her.
- Scottie and Judy go back the the bell tower and once again the psyche is introduced. The idea that another shock could stop Scotties fear of heights is reintroduced and Judy is pushed off the bell tower most likely healing Scottie of his vertigo.
Rear Window
- Rear window also explores the theme of the Psyche in a very different way. It is not so focused on the psyche of the killer (Lars's) psyche but focuses rather on the psychology of Jeff and the fact that his conscience makes him unable to let a crime happen without having it resolved.
- Lar's crime to murder his wife isn't like Hitchcocks normal perfect crime. I is loud and flawed and wakes Jeff with screaming.
- HItchcock explores Jeffs Psyche in the way he doesn't let this crime go, he calls a place man to keep an eye on it, he gets his girl friend Lisa and his Nurse Stella involved in his investigations, even getting to the point where Stella is arrested.
- In a very Hitchcock manner the good are rewarded and in the end Lars is caught despite the fact Jeff ends up with two broken legs.
The man who knew too much
- There is so much of Hitchcocks plot lines and common character themes in this film it is not even funny
- The family is a wealthy well off family who are content in their own lives as many of Hitchcocks characters are
- They meet a French man: Louis Bernard who isn't who he seems to be, he is a French intelligence agent and he is soon killed off giving a fatal piece of information to Ben, that there will be a statesman who is soon assassinated in London.
- The story gets even more twisted from there, as many of Hitchcocks storylines are complex
- Scottlands Yardsman Buchanan in London tells the familys that Louis was trying to uncover a perfect crime (another Hitchcock classic) an assassination plot. He tells the family to tell him if they notice any suspicious activity
- The Draytons who were Ben's family's friends are then not who they say they are (classic Hitchcock film style) they are double crosses and take Hank, (bens son) to a foreign embassy after knocking Ben out.
- Jo has seen a sketchy looking man that she recognises from her holiday and realises he is the actual assassin Louis was trying to uncover.
- He is heading to the royal albert Hally to assassinate the foreign Prime minister
- Ben regains consciousness and joins Jo to go to the Royal Albert Hall, the assassin is completing his perfect crime by waiting on the crash of the cymbals to hit the Prime minister but he misses.
- Lucy, who is married to Edward Drayton still has Hank.
- Edward Drayton wants to complete his perfect crime by escaping but is hit by Ben and falls to his accidental death.
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