A Look at Hitchcock

A Look at Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock has for long been thought of as the father of the suspense thriller. Though not much has been known of what preceding filmmakers apparitions have found their way into his films, if one were to pay closely, certain elements of inspiration can be drawn. In order to understand what has influenced a man who was so innovative we must understand what has shaped his life into the great director and screen writer he became. Analysis from three of Hitchcock's films will be used to try to understand what elements of his films were similar to some of those who came before him. The Lodger (1926), The Thirty Nine Steps (1935) and Spellbound (1945) will serve as comparisons for what might have influenced him during the beginning and middle of his career.

Comparisons to filmmakers that came before Hitchcock would be unjust. Hitchcock, as well as other directors of his time, was experimenting with a new type of cinema. Instead of simply shooting images for the sake of shooting images, Hitchcock developed in depth sociofactors to discuss within his films. Hitchcock was perhaps most often inspired by fellow filmmakers of his time. While his style of film, often referred to as film noir or a look into the human psyche, was innovative for his time, it can still be said that certain characteristics of previous filmmakers works have found their way into some of his work.

In 1925 Hitchcock obtained a position at the UFA's Neubabelsberg Studios in Germany making films (Phillips, 1984). It was here during the Weimer period of expressionalism where Hitchcock developed his characteristic style which is aptly named film noir, or dark cinema. Hitchcock was now faced with a different type of cinema that was drastically different than what he had seen working in England. The expressionalist movement influenced German cinema profoundly during this time. The basic elements of this type of cinema include selectively darkened lighting, and topics of a macabre and sinister nature. Leading characters were often miscreants of society that the audience was influenced into liking despite their derangement and lowered mental capacities.

One particular German director of the time that undoubtedly influenced Hitchcock was F.W. Murnau. He is most closely associated with the world's first horror flick, Nasfaratu (1922), (Flippo, 2005). Other directors noted for initiating the film noir movement include G.W. Pabst and Robert Weine, the latter most closely associated with his film Das Cabinett des Dr. Caligari (1919), (Flippo, 1).

The Lodger is a silent film about a serial killer preying on blonde women in London known as the Avenger. The lodger, Jonathon Drew, rents an extra room from a family. The family's daughter, Daisy, a blonde, tells her boyfriend Joe who is a police officer that she thinks the lodger is the killer. He is then arrested and put in jail so as to not harm the daughter.

This film is one of Hitchcock's earliest and one of his few silent films. Many of the shots used in the film create a sense of fear and uncertainty. This is evident even in the very first shot of a young woman screaming. The shot lasts for about four to five seconds then fades to black. The audience is not clued into why she is screaming until the plot is revealed later in the movie. The scenes of the vast majority of the film are lit in the typical German expressionalist style (Auiler, 5). In an interview with Peter Boganovich, Hitchcock states that only one year earlier, he was working on films in Germany and was very conscious of the differences of German and American cinematic lighting styles (LaValley, 1972). He also states that he worked closely with Emil Jannings, a German filmmaker that later became an Oscar winning actor. While in Germany, Hitchcock was able to absorb some of his methods and techniques (LaValley, 28).

In William Rothman's 1982 book, Hitchcock: The Murderous Gaze, some comparisons are made between The Lodger and some earlier American films. In the scene where the lodger is first introduced, Hitchcock wanted to create a feeling of uncertainty. This would not have been possible by showing Ivor Novello's face since was such a likeable actor at the time and would easily have been recognized by the audience (Rothman 16). In order to maintain a level of ambiguity, Hitchcock places a mask on him to conceal his identity. When the camera first focuses on the lodger's face, the audience is revealed a man with no identity and creates a very empty feeling, almost as if the man has no soul. Rothman makes reference to Wiene's Das Cabinett des Dr. Caligari (1919) when describing this scene. He states, "This shot specifically alludes to the moment in Das Cabinett des Dr. Caligari when the somnambulist Cesare opens his eyes at Caligari's bidding and stares into the camera. The Lodger incorporates Caligari's nightmarish events and places them within a world depicted realistically."

Rothman makes another comparison to German film when he speaks of the scene where Joe, Daisy's boyfriend sees Daisy and the lodger hugging. Joe lowers his head and walks in a slow and cumbersome fashion down the hall. Rothman states that this scene is very similar to scenes in Freidrich-Wilheim Murnau's Nasfaratui (1922) and Boris Karloff's Frankenstein (1931).

Spellbound is another one of Hitchcock's films that deals directly with the human psyche. It is a story about a young psychiatrist Dr. Edwards (Gregory Peck) that is hired to replace a retiring doctor in the Green Manors Mental Asylum. He soon finds himself falling in love with Dr. Peterson (Ingrid Bergman), an attractive coworker of his. It is later learned that Dr. Edwards is an amnesic and may have killed the real Dr. Edwards and assumed his identity.

Because of the lapse of time (19 years) between the aforementioned film and this one, it is difficult to determine what elements of pioneering cinema, if any, are present in this film. At this point in time, Hitchcock was seen as a major star in the movie industry and he employed a lot of his own developed practices in the movie.