A Discussion on the work and legacy of Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock was the son of an East End greengrocer William Hitchcock and his wife Emma. Raised as a strict Catholic and attending Saint Ignatius College, a school run by Jesuits, Hitchcock had a normal upbringing. His first job outside the family business was in 1915 as an estimator for the Henley Telegraph and Cable Company. His interest in movies began at around this time; frequently visiting the cinema and reading US trade journals. In 1920 Hitchcock learned that ‘Lasky’ were to open a studio in London and managed to secure a job as a title designer. He designed the titles for all the movies made at the studio for the next two years. In 1923 he got his first chance at directing when the director of ‘Always Tell Your Wife’ (1923) fell ill and Hitchcock completed the movie. Impressed by his work, studio chiefs gave him his first directing assignment on Number13 (1922), however, before it could be finished, the studio closed its British operation. Hitchcock was then hired by Michael Balcony to work as an assistant director for the company later to be known as Gains Borough

My favourite from the Hitchcock legacy is ‘North by North West’. ‘North by North West’ is a comedy thriller that never allows the audience to take its characters or events too seriously and comes very close to being a self-parody. The plot structure is taken from his early thrillers and really amounts to a re-work of ‘The 39 Steps’. Hitchcock always tells his stories through a series of interlocking episodes. Later Hitchcock films tend to fail in allowing the episodes to become more impressive than the story they combine to tell, this is never the case with ‘North by North West’ despite it having some of the most memorable of Hitchcock’s set pieces: the attack by the crop spraying aircraft and the Mount Rushmore climax.

There are many reasons why I personally am interested in Hitchcock’s films and they are as follows. His use of montage, his control of editing, his use of ‘point of view’, his manipulation of audiences, his exploitation of genre familiarity and especially his ‘silent director’ approach.

Some topics in this essay:
Alfred Hitchcock, Jack Warner, Borough Pictures, North West’, Cable Company, Tell Wife’, Steps’ Hitchcock, Jesuits Hitchcock, Alfred Hitchcock’s, Mount Rushmore, ‘north north west’, alfred hitchcock, ‘north north, hitchcock’s films, north west’, believe hitchcock, ‘point view’, title designer, film director, hitchcock films,