1
00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:09,840
♪♪

2
00:00:09,920 --> 00:00:18,560
♪♪

3
00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:22,080
[ Dark luminous music plays ]

4
00:00:22,160 --> 00:00:24,360
Elvis Mitchell:
Alfred Hitchcock,

5
00:00:24,440 --> 00:00:25,880
the director once said,

6
00:00:25,960 --> 00:00:28,320
I want to be remembered as a man

7
00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:31,640
who entertained millions
through the technique of film.

8
00:00:32,880 --> 00:00:34,320
Hitchcock, or Hitch,

9
00:00:34,400 --> 00:00:36,360
as his friends and family
called him,

10
00:00:36,440 --> 00:00:39,240
is probably on
the very short list

11
00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:42,120
of the most recognizable
directors of cinema.

12
00:00:44,160 --> 00:00:47,400
He had a specific style
and explored themes repeatedly,

13
00:00:47,480 --> 00:00:49,880
but through different stories
and characters,

14
00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:53,200
and he knew
how to market himself.

15
00:00:53,280 --> 00:00:56,240
Many classic actors
are identifiable through films

16
00:00:56,320 --> 00:00:57,800
they made with Hitchcock,

17
00:00:59,240 --> 00:01:01,800
and even when talking
about composer Bernard Herrmann,

18
00:01:01,840 --> 00:01:05,600
for instance, he is immediately
connected to Hitchcock.

19
00:01:06,720 --> 00:01:08,640
As years go by, however,

20
00:01:08,720 --> 00:01:10,320
there's a tendency
to only focus

21
00:01:10,400 --> 00:01:12,960
on a handful of his films,

22
00:01:13,039 --> 00:01:15,400
but by looking at
his filmography,

23
00:01:15,480 --> 00:01:18,640
one gets an overview
of Film History.

24
00:01:21,400 --> 00:01:23,039
He started during the silent era

25
00:01:23,120 --> 00:01:25,320
and found himself
at the junction

26
00:01:25,400 --> 00:01:28,680
when sound appeared
with a film called "Blackmail."

27
00:01:30,240 --> 00:01:32,840
"Blackmail," 1929,

28
00:01:32,880 --> 00:01:35,479
is significant
in so many ways.

29
00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:39,280
It marks a transition
from one technology to another,

30
00:01:39,320 --> 00:01:42,080
and shows Hitchcock embracing
sound in a compelling

31
00:01:42,120 --> 00:01:44,120
and experimental way.

32
00:01:46,039 --> 00:01:47,440
[ Screams ]

33
00:01:48,640 --> 00:01:51,759
Then there are so many themes
in the film itself

34
00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:53,280
and of the titles surrounding it

35
00:01:53,360 --> 00:01:55,600
that are part
of Hitchcock cinema.

36
00:01:55,640 --> 00:01:58,000
While "Blackmail"
was already Hitchcock's 10th

37
00:01:58,039 --> 00:02:00,120
fully completed
feature film,

38
00:02:00,200 --> 00:02:03,080
it is one that can be seen
not only as one of his best,

39
00:02:03,160 --> 00:02:06,440
but also one that developed
further the director's style

40
00:02:06,480 --> 00:02:08,280
and his singular
cinematic eye...

41
00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:09,280
[ Dish clatters ]

42
00:02:09,360 --> 00:02:10,280
...and ear.

43
00:02:10,360 --> 00:02:11,680
[ Birds chirping ]

44
00:02:11,720 --> 00:02:12,880
"Blackmail,"

45
00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:14,680
and those very early films

46
00:02:14,720 --> 00:02:16,360
mark in many ways,

47
00:02:16,440 --> 00:02:18,720
the birth
of the Hitchcock touch.

48
00:02:18,800 --> 00:02:20,720
[ Projector whirring ]

49
00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:22,280
[ Suspenseful music plays ]

50
00:02:22,360 --> 00:02:28,960
♪♪

51
00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:35,640
♪♪

52
00:02:35,720 --> 00:02:42,320
♪♪

53
00:02:42,400 --> 00:02:49,120
♪♪

54
00:02:50,640 --> 00:02:52,680
[ Tense music plays ]

55
00:02:52,720 --> 00:02:55,079
"Blackmail" is the story
of a young woman,

56
00:02:55,160 --> 00:02:58,680
Alice White, Anny Ondra,
who murders an artist.

57
00:02:58,760 --> 00:03:02,760
Crewe, Cyril Ritchard,
in self-defense.

58
00:03:02,800 --> 00:03:06,440
She is blackmailed by a man
named Tracy, Donald Calthrop,

59
00:03:06,520 --> 00:03:07,640
who saw them together,

60
00:03:07,720 --> 00:03:09,920
but is protected
and ultimately saved

61
00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:11,240
by her fiancé,

62
00:03:11,280 --> 00:03:13,480
Frank Webber,
John Longden,

63
00:03:13,560 --> 00:03:15,400
the detective
in charge of the case.

64
00:03:15,480 --> 00:03:17,200
Alice.

65
00:03:17,280 --> 00:03:18,480
Lock that door.

66
00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:24,920
"Blackmail,"
the play by Charles Bennett,

67
00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:28,160
starred Tallulah Bankhead,
in the lead role of Alice.

68
00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:31,760
It premiered at London's
Globe Theater in 1928

69
00:03:31,800 --> 00:03:33,640
and was directed by
Raymond Massey,

70
00:03:33,720 --> 00:03:35,079
himself an actor.

71
00:03:36,040 --> 00:03:39,079
Bennett said that the road began
with Hitchcock attending

72
00:03:39,160 --> 00:03:41,160
a performance of the play
one night,

73
00:03:41,200 --> 00:03:43,640
and then asking to meet Bennett.

74
00:03:43,680 --> 00:03:47,079
He plainly announced he wanted
to make this into a movie.

75
00:03:47,160 --> 00:03:49,760
Bennett answered,
"Talk to my agent about it."

76
00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:51,400
And so he did.

77
00:03:53,360 --> 00:03:56,120
On "Blackmail,"
Bennett didn't adapt his play.

78
00:03:56,200 --> 00:03:59,000
Alfred Hitchcock gets credit
on the film's adaptation

79
00:03:59,079 --> 00:04:00,760
with Benn Levy
for the dialogue,

80
00:04:00,800 --> 00:04:02,040
for the sound version.

81
00:04:03,240 --> 00:04:05,000
"Blackmail" began
as a silent movie.

82
00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:08,960
And as talking pictures
appeared.

83
00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:11,760
Hitch had to deliver
a sound version of the film.

84
00:04:11,800 --> 00:04:12,880
Sorry, sir. Full up.

85
00:04:12,960 --> 00:04:14,040
We have
more room upstairs.

86
00:04:14,080 --> 00:04:15,480
Go on.

87
00:04:15,560 --> 00:04:17,560
I think I told you
there's more room upstairs.

88
00:04:18,880 --> 00:04:20,440
Sorry, sir. Full up here.
More room up--

89
00:04:20,519 --> 00:04:21,720
Hey!

90
00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:23,360
Both the silent
and the sound version

91
00:04:23,440 --> 00:04:25,880
were eventually released.

92
00:04:25,960 --> 00:04:27,560
It's interesting to mention

93
00:04:27,640 --> 00:04:30,360
that most Hitchcock films
were based on existing material.

94
00:04:30,440 --> 00:04:32,560
Novels,

95
00:04:32,640 --> 00:04:34,560
short stories,

96
00:04:34,640 --> 00:04:36,840
and plays.

97
00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:39,400
There are few
original screenplays.

98
00:04:39,480 --> 00:04:41,200
"North by Northwest,"
for instance,

99
00:04:41,280 --> 00:04:43,520
was an original script
by Ernest Lehman,

100
00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:46,720
another screenwriter with whom
Hitch had a strong relationship.

101
00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:48,880
In fact,
Ernest Lehman once said,

102
00:04:48,960 --> 00:04:52,360
"You realize very early on
when you're working with Hitch

103
00:04:52,440 --> 00:04:54,240
that you're writing
for a star.

104
00:04:55,960 --> 00:04:59,280
And that star
is Alfred Hitchcock."

105
00:04:59,360 --> 00:05:04,080
John Michael Hays also wrote
four screenplays for Hitchcock.

106
00:05:04,120 --> 00:05:06,760
And Alma Reville,
Hitchcock's wife,

107
00:05:06,840 --> 00:05:09,760
greatly contributed
to everything Hitch did.

108
00:05:12,480 --> 00:05:13,400
Man: Don't be silly, Alice.

109
00:05:13,480 --> 00:05:14,440
Alice: Let me go!

110
00:05:14,520 --> 00:05:15,720
Let me go!

111
00:05:15,800 --> 00:05:16,960
[ Straining, grunting ]

112
00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:18,960
[ Typewriter clacking ]

113
00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:22,040
Mitchell: The writing
in his films was essential,

114
00:05:22,120 --> 00:05:24,440
and was one of the
most important elements

115
00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:26,440
in the success
of Hitchcock pictures.

116
00:05:26,480 --> 00:05:28,600
[ Typewriter clacking ]

117
00:05:28,640 --> 00:05:31,040
"One of my biggest problems
is writing,

118
00:05:31,080 --> 00:05:33,240
and that is why
I can't make films more often,"

119
00:05:33,280 --> 00:05:34,360
Hitchcock declared.

120
00:05:34,440 --> 00:05:36,520
He also admitted with a wink,

121
00:05:36,600 --> 00:05:38,600
"But of course I need writers.

122
00:05:38,680 --> 00:05:40,640
I am a visual man,

123
00:05:40,720 --> 00:05:43,600
but unfortunately,
I must also have delineation

124
00:05:43,680 --> 00:05:45,840
of character and dialogue.

125
00:05:46,920 --> 00:05:48,680
The plot I can depict,

126
00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:51,520
but I must have characters
and good dialogue."

127
00:05:53,080 --> 00:05:57,400
The first play that Hitch
adapted was "Downhill" in 1927,

128
00:05:57,440 --> 00:06:00,200
followed that same year
by "Easy Virtue,"

129
00:06:00,240 --> 00:06:02,680
based on the great
Noel Coward effort,

130
00:06:02,760 --> 00:06:05,720
and "The Farmer's Wife" in 1928.

131
00:06:05,800 --> 00:06:07,920
Even though it was all dialogue,

132
00:06:07,960 --> 00:06:12,520
Hitchcock did his best to make
that film as visual as possible.

133
00:06:12,560 --> 00:06:14,720
[ Lighthearted music plays ]

134
00:06:14,760 --> 00:06:17,480
And have as few title cards
as possible.

135
00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:26,120
♪♪

136
00:06:26,200 --> 00:06:34,880
♪♪

137
00:06:37,640 --> 00:06:39,720
[ Lighthearted music fades ]

138
00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:43,240
This was good training ground
for "Blackmail."

139
00:06:44,720 --> 00:06:46,720
"Blackmail"
was advertised as --

140
00:06:46,760 --> 00:06:50,440
"The first British
sound feature length film."

141
00:06:50,520 --> 00:06:53,159
John Maxwell,
the producer of "Blackmail,"

142
00:06:53,200 --> 00:06:55,760
set up a temporary
sound-stage studio

143
00:06:55,800 --> 00:06:58,880
with RCA material imported
from the United States.

144
00:07:01,320 --> 00:07:04,080
During the transition
between silent and sound,

145
00:07:04,160 --> 00:07:07,440
films were advertised
as part sound films.

146
00:07:07,480 --> 00:07:09,280
They had been shot silent,

147
00:07:09,320 --> 00:07:11,600
but only the last reel
had sound.

148
00:07:13,480 --> 00:07:15,160
Well, here we are.

149
00:07:17,520 --> 00:07:19,520
I'm right up there. Top.

150
00:07:19,560 --> 00:07:22,120
It seems that during
the production of "Blackmail,"

151
00:07:22,160 --> 00:07:24,320
there would be a sound version.

152
00:07:24,360 --> 00:07:26,840
In fact,
the silent version was released

153
00:07:26,920 --> 00:07:29,920
after the talkie version
of "Blackmail."

154
00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:32,040
Good evening, Miss White.
How are you?

155
00:07:32,120 --> 00:07:33,440
I'm alright, thanks.

156
00:07:33,480 --> 00:07:35,080
I haven't seen you
for a long time.

157
00:07:35,159 --> 00:07:36,640
Therefore,
while shooting

158
00:07:36,720 --> 00:07:38,280
the silent version
of "Blackmail,"

159
00:07:38,360 --> 00:07:40,520
Hitchcock was thinking sound.

160
00:07:40,600 --> 00:07:42,040
That's right.

161
00:07:42,080 --> 00:07:44,040
Well,
I must push along.

162
00:07:44,080 --> 00:07:45,280
Good night.

163
00:07:45,320 --> 00:07:47,320
Good night.
Good night,
Frank.

164
00:07:47,400 --> 00:07:48,640
Well, dear.

165
00:07:54,440 --> 00:07:56,159
[ Pensive music plays ]

166
00:07:56,200 --> 00:07:57,800
The first part of "Blackmail"

167
00:07:57,880 --> 00:08:00,480
practically remains
a silent film.

168
00:08:00,560 --> 00:08:05,640
No dialogue, pure visuals
showing detectives on the case.

169
00:08:05,720 --> 00:08:07,840
[ Pensive music continues ]

170
00:08:09,280 --> 00:08:13,040
There's an interesting shot of
the bad guy reading a newspaper,

171
00:08:13,080 --> 00:08:15,480
Hitch would reproduce
a near similar shot,

172
00:08:15,520 --> 00:08:17,720
in "Shadow of a Doubt."

173
00:08:17,800 --> 00:08:19,920
The camera moved
to a mirror,

174
00:08:19,960 --> 00:08:22,240
again,
a shot that Hitch reprized

175
00:08:22,320 --> 00:08:24,800
many years later in "Topaz."

176
00:08:26,240 --> 00:08:28,080
The scene in Scotland Yard

177
00:08:28,160 --> 00:08:30,200
with the different stages
of the villain's arrest

178
00:08:30,280 --> 00:08:32,039
is rich with details.

179
00:08:32,120 --> 00:08:35,480
[ Dramatic music plays ]

180
00:08:35,559 --> 00:08:37,840
It's almost like watching
a documentary.

181
00:08:37,919 --> 00:08:41,679
♪♪

182
00:08:41,760 --> 00:08:44,039
Hitchcock will film
Henry Fonda's arrest

183
00:08:44,080 --> 00:08:46,840
in "The Wrong Man" in 1957,

184
00:08:46,880 --> 00:08:48,720
in a similar
documentary approach

185
00:08:48,800 --> 00:08:50,800
detailing the steps
of the arrest.

186
00:08:51,800 --> 00:08:56,080
The film was also based
on a true story.

187
00:08:56,120 --> 00:08:59,560
"Blackmail"
is full of innovations,

188
00:08:59,640 --> 00:09:01,760
but that was also true
of "The Ring,"

189
00:09:01,840 --> 00:09:05,120
which the director called
"a Hitchcock picture"

190
00:09:05,160 --> 00:09:07,120
had a scene
where our protagonist,

191
00:09:07,160 --> 00:09:09,560
an up-and-coming boxer,
Jack Saunders,

192
00:09:09,600 --> 00:09:12,000
imagines having to leave
his wife behind

193
00:09:12,080 --> 00:09:14,040
whilst he goes on tour.

194
00:09:14,080 --> 00:09:17,240
Look at how Hitch materializes
Jack's fear and suspicion

195
00:09:17,280 --> 00:09:19,960
towards his wife's interest
in another man.

196
00:09:20,040 --> 00:09:22,400
What could happen
if he left them alone?

197
00:09:23,680 --> 00:09:24,840
[ Jazzy music plays ]

198
00:09:24,880 --> 00:09:26,880
"Champagne"
was very much a comedy

199
00:09:26,960 --> 00:09:29,520
with some interesting
visual gags.

200
00:09:29,600 --> 00:09:31,720
A drunk man on a ship.

201
00:09:31,760 --> 00:09:34,960
When the ship is steady,
he is barely on his feet.

202
00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:37,520
When the ship is rocking,
he is steady.

203
00:09:38,520 --> 00:09:40,760
There's also food being served,

204
00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:43,160
where Hitch shows it
as a mess in the kitchen,

205
00:09:43,200 --> 00:09:47,040
and how it eventually reaches
a table looking appetizing.

206
00:09:48,320 --> 00:09:50,000
Among those early titles,

207
00:09:50,040 --> 00:09:52,880
you find the seed of some
of Hitch's later films.

208
00:09:52,960 --> 00:09:55,440
The state fair in "The Ring"
is echoed

209
00:09:55,480 --> 00:09:58,320
in "Stage Fright"
and "Strangers on the Train."

210
00:09:58,400 --> 00:10:01,720
The POV of a man drinking
from a glass in "Champagne"

211
00:10:01,760 --> 00:10:04,320
can also be found in
"Spellbound."

212
00:10:04,360 --> 00:10:06,560
The slapstick comedy
in that same film

213
00:10:06,640 --> 00:10:09,120
is present in another
Hitchcock comedy.

214
00:10:09,160 --> 00:10:10,680
"Mr. and Mrs. Smith."

215
00:10:11,640 --> 00:10:14,320
the historical setting
of "Juno and the Paycock"

216
00:10:14,400 --> 00:10:16,160
is in "Foreign Correspondent,"

217
00:10:16,200 --> 00:10:19,240
"Saboteur" and "Lifeboat,"
for instance.

218
00:10:19,320 --> 00:10:22,160
a costume ball party
in "Rich and Strange,"

219
00:10:22,240 --> 00:10:24,280
is like in "To Catch a Thief."

220
00:10:25,600 --> 00:10:27,160
For $9,000.

221
00:10:27,240 --> 00:10:28,800
Once...
[ Gavel bangs ]

222
00:10:28,880 --> 00:10:29,800
twice...

223
00:10:29,880 --> 00:10:30,760
[ Gavel bangs ]

224
00:10:30,840 --> 00:10:32,240
the third and last time.

225
00:10:32,280 --> 00:10:34,880
[ Indistinct chatter ]

226
00:10:34,920 --> 00:10:37,000
There's an auction scene
in "The Skin Game,"

227
00:10:37,080 --> 00:10:39,280
just like in
"North by Northwest."

228
00:10:39,320 --> 00:10:41,960
Auctioneer: $22.50 once.

229
00:10:42,040 --> 00:10:43,800
$22.50 twice.

230
00:10:43,880 --> 00:10:45,040
Last call.

231
00:10:45,120 --> 00:10:46,200
$1,500.

232
00:10:47,160 --> 00:10:49,040
There are many more examples

233
00:10:49,120 --> 00:10:51,640
underlining that
the Hitchcock sensibility

234
00:10:51,720 --> 00:10:53,280
was already forming,

235
00:10:53,360 --> 00:10:55,280
not only during
those early years,

236
00:10:55,360 --> 00:10:58,120
but in films that are
way different from the ones

237
00:10:58,200 --> 00:11:01,720
that he would become
most known for.

238
00:11:04,080 --> 00:11:05,840
We meet Anny Ondra.

239
00:11:05,880 --> 00:11:08,720
Now, uh, Miss Ondra,

240
00:11:08,760 --> 00:11:11,360
you asked me to let
you hear your voice

241
00:11:11,440 --> 00:11:13,880
on the talking picture.
[ Chuckles ]

242
00:11:13,920 --> 00:11:15,720
But, Hitch,
you mustn't do that.

243
00:11:15,760 --> 00:11:16,960
Why not?

244
00:11:17,040 --> 00:11:19,760
Well,
because I can't speak well.

245
00:11:19,800 --> 00:11:22,760
Do you realize a squad
van will be here any moment?

246
00:11:22,800 --> 00:11:25,000
No. Really. Oh, my gosh.
I'm terribly frightened.

247
00:11:25,080 --> 00:11:27,640
Why? Have you been
a bad woman or something?

248
00:11:27,680 --> 00:11:29,440
Well, not just bad.
But, er...

249
00:11:29,480 --> 00:11:30,680
But you've slept
with men?

250
00:11:30,760 --> 00:11:32,040
Oh, no! [ Laughs ]

251
00:11:32,080 --> 00:11:34,240
You have not? Come here.
Stand in your place.

252
00:11:34,280 --> 00:11:36,440
Otherwise it will
not come out right,

253
00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:38,920
as the girl said
to the soldier.
[ Laughing ]

254
00:11:39,000 --> 00:11:40,280
That's enough.

255
00:11:40,320 --> 00:11:41,800
[ Laughter ]

256
00:11:43,160 --> 00:11:45,920
Anny Ondra,
who plays Alice White,

257
00:11:46,000 --> 00:11:48,920
a prophetic name,
as in "Alice in Wonderland,"

258
00:11:48,960 --> 00:11:50,520
or so she thinks,

259
00:11:50,560 --> 00:11:53,560
but instead falls
into a rabbit hole

260
00:11:53,600 --> 00:11:56,000
and gets involved
with Murder.

261
00:11:57,000 --> 00:12:00,200
In white, but first shown
dressed in black,

262
00:12:00,240 --> 00:12:02,440
although after her ordeal
at the end,

263
00:12:02,520 --> 00:12:05,240
dressed in bright colors,
ready to start over.

264
00:12:05,320 --> 00:12:07,040
[ Gentle music plays ]

265
00:12:07,120 --> 00:12:10,360
Anny Ondra, whose real name
was Anna Ondráková,

266
00:12:10,440 --> 00:12:12,840
was German and Czech.

267
00:12:12,880 --> 00:12:17,400
She also starred in
"The Manxman," released in 1929,

268
00:12:17,480 --> 00:12:21,120
which Hitchcock directed
a few months before "Blackmail."

269
00:12:22,560 --> 00:12:27,000
"The Manxman" was Hitch's last
silent movie before "Blackmail,"

270
00:12:27,080 --> 00:12:29,280
which included
some interesting shots.

271
00:12:30,880 --> 00:12:33,200
But Ondra's career
in England was killed

272
00:12:33,280 --> 00:12:34,800
when the talkies came in.

273
00:12:35,840 --> 00:12:39,240
She returned to Germany
and appeared in a few films,

274
00:12:39,280 --> 00:12:42,680
and then retired after marrying
prizefighter Max Schmeling.

275
00:12:43,680 --> 00:12:45,840
Michael Powell,
who later became writer,

276
00:12:45,880 --> 00:12:49,000
director, producer
of films such as...

277
00:12:53,080 --> 00:12:57,120
...began his career at
British International Pictures.

278
00:12:57,160 --> 00:12:59,600
"Although I was head
of the stills department,"

279
00:12:59,640 --> 00:13:01,720
Powell wrote
in his autobiography,

280
00:13:01,800 --> 00:13:03,800
"It was agreed
by Hitch and me

281
00:13:03,880 --> 00:13:07,360
that I should personally shoot
all stills on his pictures.

282
00:13:08,840 --> 00:13:11,000
I went down to Elm Street
to see him.

283
00:13:11,040 --> 00:13:12,880
He was shooting
extra sound scenes

284
00:13:12,920 --> 00:13:15,520
between Anny Ondra
and Cyril Ritchard,

285
00:13:15,600 --> 00:13:17,240
her seducer in the film.

286
00:13:18,880 --> 00:13:21,720
Anny had a Czech accent
you could cut with a knife.

287
00:13:21,800 --> 00:13:24,760
So Hitch had hired a bright
young actress,

288
00:13:24,840 --> 00:13:26,160
Joan Barry,

289
00:13:26,240 --> 00:13:29,000
to speak Anny's
cockney lines off camera

290
00:13:29,080 --> 00:13:31,840
while Anny mouthed them
in front of the camera.

291
00:13:31,920 --> 00:13:35,400
It was a mad idea,
but it worked.

292
00:13:35,480 --> 00:13:38,800
Unless you know that fact,
the switch is seamless."

293
00:13:38,840 --> 00:13:41,120
Oh no, I don't think so.

294
00:13:41,200 --> 00:13:43,800
Besides,
I have to go home soon.

295
00:13:45,280 --> 00:13:46,520
I see it.

296
00:13:47,880 --> 00:13:49,880
Michael Powell continues,

297
00:13:49,920 --> 00:13:51,280
"Hitch was listening
to the scene

298
00:13:51,360 --> 00:13:53,240
on a dead set of earphones.

299
00:13:53,280 --> 00:13:55,320
He waved to me
and I waved back,

300
00:13:55,400 --> 00:13:57,360
And then I looked around.

301
00:13:57,440 --> 00:14:00,560
Where was Jack Cox,
the director of photography?

302
00:14:00,640 --> 00:14:02,560
Where was the soundproof camera?

303
00:14:02,600 --> 00:14:04,760
I edged carefully
around the set

304
00:14:04,800 --> 00:14:07,240
to where the camera was
presumably hidden,

305
00:14:07,320 --> 00:14:09,560
and found it
in a sort of sweat box

306
00:14:09,600 --> 00:14:13,520
which contained the camera
and the whole camera crew."

307
00:14:13,600 --> 00:14:15,360
By the way,
Ronald Neame,

308
00:14:15,440 --> 00:14:17,640
the director of
"The Poseidon Adventure,"

309
00:14:17,680 --> 00:14:20,480
among others,
was assistant cameraman

310
00:14:20,520 --> 00:14:22,120
on "Blackmail."

311
00:14:22,200 --> 00:14:23,720
Visuals and camera movements

312
00:14:23,800 --> 00:14:26,320
were always important
to Hitchcock.

313
00:14:26,360 --> 00:14:29,600
"I don't decry dialogue,"
Hitch once said,

314
00:14:29,680 --> 00:14:33,200
"but I feel that technique
is not necessarily cinematic."

315
00:14:33,280 --> 00:14:36,000
He told French filmmaker
Francois Truffaut

316
00:14:36,080 --> 00:14:39,160
for the iconic interview book
"Hitchcock/Truffaut"

317
00:14:39,200 --> 00:14:41,800
that to him,
silent movie-making

318
00:14:41,880 --> 00:14:45,000
was the purest form of cinema.

319
00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:49,360
But that didn't stop Hitch
from experimenting.

320
00:14:49,440 --> 00:14:51,000
In "Murder!," at one point,

321
00:14:51,040 --> 00:14:54,520
Herbert Marshall is shaving,
listening to the radio.

322
00:14:54,600 --> 00:14:57,640
He has a stream
of consciousness monologue,

323
00:14:57,680 --> 00:14:59,560
something quite novel
at the time.

324
00:14:59,640 --> 00:15:01,720
Had to drink a drop of brandy.

325
00:15:01,760 --> 00:15:03,120
For that scene,

326
00:15:03,160 --> 00:15:05,600
Hitch had an orchestra
playing music live,

327
00:15:05,680 --> 00:15:06,920
but off screen.

328
00:15:06,960 --> 00:15:08,560
[ Orchestral music playing ]

329
00:15:08,640 --> 00:15:09,960
I'm sure I was right
when I raised that point,

330
00:15:10,040 --> 00:15:11,920
and I feel more certain now.

331
00:15:11,960 --> 00:15:14,160
How did we know that someone
else didn't drink the brandy?

332
00:15:14,200 --> 00:15:15,360
Perhaps there was someone else.

333
00:15:15,400 --> 00:15:16,800
That's the whole thing.

334
00:15:16,880 --> 00:15:18,400
Whoever drank that brandy --

335
00:15:18,440 --> 00:15:19,720
[ Knock on door ]

336
00:15:20,920 --> 00:15:24,200
Alice is one of Hitchcock's
complicated blondes.

337
00:15:24,240 --> 00:15:26,080
She starts off as one
of Hitchcock's

338
00:15:26,160 --> 00:15:28,600
strongest female characters.

339
00:15:28,680 --> 00:15:30,640
I must be getting home.

340
00:15:30,680 --> 00:15:32,560
You are frightened?

341
00:15:32,640 --> 00:15:34,480
I'm certainly not.

342
00:15:34,520 --> 00:15:36,560
Take more than the man
to frighten me.

343
00:15:36,640 --> 00:15:39,040
Yeah. [Chuckles]
That's what I thought.

344
00:15:40,040 --> 00:15:42,360
She is in love
with her boyfriend Frank,

345
00:15:42,440 --> 00:15:43,800
but is bored with him

346
00:15:43,880 --> 00:15:46,360
and wants to explore
other potential,

347
00:15:46,400 --> 00:15:48,200
namely an artist.

348
00:15:49,400 --> 00:15:52,480
She lies to Frank
and hooks up with a guy.

349
00:15:52,560 --> 00:15:54,800
What happens next
is literally a journey

350
00:15:54,840 --> 00:15:58,720
to get her to realize that
Frank is the right man for her.

351
00:16:00,120 --> 00:16:02,880
You find that theme
throughout the Hitchcock oeuvre.

352
00:16:02,920 --> 00:16:06,720
For example, in "Stage Fright,"
Eve, played by Jane Wyman,

353
00:16:06,800 --> 00:16:08,640
falls in love with a detective

354
00:16:08,720 --> 00:16:12,560
while trying to prove that a man
she loves is innocent of murder,

355
00:16:12,640 --> 00:16:15,000
but is in fact a killer.

356
00:16:16,200 --> 00:16:18,760
"Blackmail" also announces
more directly

357
00:16:18,840 --> 00:16:20,640
Hitchcock's "Dial M for Murder,"

358
00:16:20,720 --> 00:16:23,200
based on a hit play by
Frederick Knott,

359
00:16:23,280 --> 00:16:26,800
in which Tony Wendice,
Ray Milland, arranges the murder

360
00:16:26,880 --> 00:16:30,240
of his adulterous wife,
Margot, Grace Kelly.

361
00:16:30,320 --> 00:16:32,280
But when the killer strikes

362
00:16:32,360 --> 00:16:35,080
attempting to strangle
his victim,

363
00:16:35,160 --> 00:16:38,840
Margot grabs a pair of scissors
and stabs the man in the back.

364
00:16:39,920 --> 00:16:42,720
A scene reminiscent
of "Blackmail,"

365
00:16:42,760 --> 00:16:44,880
in which Anny Ondra
stabs the man

366
00:16:44,920 --> 00:16:46,560
who is trying to rape her.

367
00:16:46,640 --> 00:16:48,000
[ Gasping ]

368
00:16:49,160 --> 00:16:52,320
You think Margot is lucky
to have escaped murder,

369
00:16:52,360 --> 00:16:53,760
but things turn against her

370
00:16:53,800 --> 00:16:55,760
when her liaison
with Mark Halliday,

371
00:16:55,800 --> 00:16:58,080
Robert Cummings, surfaces.

372
00:16:58,160 --> 00:17:00,360
The husband made it look
like the killer

373
00:17:00,400 --> 00:17:01,800
was blackmailing Margot.

374
00:17:02,880 --> 00:17:04,920
She loses the sympathy
of the jury

375
00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:07,720
and is condemned to death
for murder.

376
00:17:08,800 --> 00:17:10,960
The detective in charge,
John Williams,

377
00:17:11,040 --> 00:17:14,280
is skeptical, however,
and with Mark's help

378
00:17:14,319 --> 00:17:16,599
manages to prove
Margot's innocence.

379
00:17:17,560 --> 00:17:19,920
Like Anny Ondra's own journey
in "Blackmail,"

380
00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:21,760
what is memorable about
Grace Kelly

381
00:17:21,839 --> 00:17:24,160
in "Dial M for Murder"
is her transformation

382
00:17:24,240 --> 00:17:25,640
throughout the film.

383
00:17:25,720 --> 00:17:27,359
We'd better drop in here
first and have a drink.

384
00:17:27,400 --> 00:17:29,800
Mitchell: She goes from
glamorous and sexy

385
00:17:29,880 --> 00:17:32,400
to vulnerable and defeated.

386
00:17:32,480 --> 00:17:34,160
What's the matter with me,
Mark?

387
00:17:35,960 --> 00:17:38,040
I don't seem able to feel
anything.

388
00:17:38,080 --> 00:17:39,840
Hitchcock did
a masterful job making

389
00:17:39,880 --> 00:17:42,680
making a seemingly
unsympathetic character --

390
00:17:42,720 --> 00:17:45,600
she is, after all,
cheating on her husband --

391
00:17:45,680 --> 00:17:47,640
completely sympathetic.

392
00:17:47,680 --> 00:17:50,720
The audience roots for her
even before we find out

393
00:17:50,760 --> 00:17:53,160
the husband's murderous
intentions.

394
00:17:54,840 --> 00:17:57,760
Many years later,
the consequence of impulse --

395
00:17:57,840 --> 00:18:00,520
like Alice's own desire
to hook up with Crewe,

396
00:18:00,560 --> 00:18:02,400
the artist in "Blackmail" --

397
00:18:02,440 --> 00:18:06,440
would be deadly for Janet Leigh
in Hitchcock's "Psycho."

398
00:18:06,520 --> 00:18:09,600
There is a blonde
who would change the face

399
00:18:09,640 --> 00:18:12,720
of thrillers and cinema
altogether.

400
00:18:14,240 --> 00:18:16,280
There are many other blondes
in Hitchcock's films,

401
00:18:16,360 --> 00:18:20,360
but truly, the impulsive
one started with "Blackmail."

402
00:18:22,640 --> 00:18:25,120
Alice and Frank
go to Lyon's Corner Hall,

403
00:18:25,160 --> 00:18:27,160
a popular spot in London.

404
00:18:27,200 --> 00:18:29,920
It's a fascinating scene
to watch.

405
00:18:29,960 --> 00:18:31,600
There, something happened
that shows

406
00:18:31,680 --> 00:18:33,880
Hitchcock's brilliance
at setting things up.

407
00:18:33,960 --> 00:18:35,120
Frank,

408
00:18:35,200 --> 00:18:36,880
I've lost one
of my gloves.

409
00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:39,640
I think I left it
at the other table.

410
00:18:39,720 --> 00:18:41,880
[ Indistinct chatter ]

411
00:18:41,960 --> 00:18:43,960
[ Laughter ]

412
00:18:44,040 --> 00:18:46,240
[ Indistinct chatter continues ]

413
00:18:46,280 --> 00:18:48,360
[ Mid-tempo orchestral music
playing ]

414
00:18:50,400 --> 00:18:51,560
Is this it?

415
00:18:51,640 --> 00:18:52,680
Yes, thanks.

416
00:18:52,720 --> 00:18:54,560
Hm, thought so.

417
00:18:54,640 --> 00:18:56,320
There's a hole
in two fingers.

418
00:18:56,400 --> 00:18:59,440
Would you like a pair of
nail scissors for Christmas?

419
00:18:59,520 --> 00:19:00,840
Funny, aren't you?

420
00:19:01,840 --> 00:19:04,160
And later,
she loses her glove again

421
00:19:04,240 --> 00:19:06,800
at the home
of the man she kills.

422
00:19:06,880 --> 00:19:09,600
It's the perfect payoff
when Frank finds the glove

423
00:19:09,680 --> 00:19:11,280
when investigating the murder.

424
00:19:11,360 --> 00:19:13,520
[ Dramatic musical sting ]

425
00:19:14,640 --> 00:19:16,360
He knows it was her.

426
00:19:16,440 --> 00:19:18,200
On one hand,
by keeping the evidence,

427
00:19:18,240 --> 00:19:19,840
he is protecting her.

428
00:19:19,920 --> 00:19:22,440
On the other,
Alice becomes, in a way,

429
00:19:22,480 --> 00:19:24,360
his prisoner forever,

430
00:19:24,440 --> 00:19:27,200
since he is the only one
who knows the truth.

431
00:19:29,160 --> 00:19:30,360
In "Blackmail,"

432
00:19:30,440 --> 00:19:32,160
Hitchcock makes
his cameo appearance

433
00:19:32,240 --> 00:19:35,080
on a subway train sitting
behind John Longden,

434
00:19:35,160 --> 00:19:37,320
who is across
from Anny Ondra.

435
00:19:38,200 --> 00:19:41,000
Hitchcock had appeared in
a silent thriller, "The Lodger,"

436
00:19:41,040 --> 00:19:45,000
in 1926,
three years before "Blackmail."

437
00:19:45,080 --> 00:19:48,120
"It all started with a shortage
of extras in my first thriller,"

438
00:19:48,200 --> 00:19:49,960
Hitchcock once said.

439
00:19:50,040 --> 00:19:52,240
"I was in for a few seconds
as an editor

440
00:19:52,280 --> 00:19:54,080
with my back to the camera.

441
00:19:54,120 --> 00:19:57,960
It really wasn't much,
but I played it to the hilt.

442
00:19:58,040 --> 00:20:00,360
Since then,
I have been trying to get into

443
00:20:00,440 --> 00:20:02,560
every one of my pictures.

444
00:20:02,640 --> 00:20:04,400
It isn't
that I like the business,

445
00:20:04,480 --> 00:20:08,560
but it has an impelling
fascination that I can't resist.

446
00:20:08,640 --> 00:20:10,600
When I do it, the cast,

447
00:20:10,680 --> 00:20:14,120
the grips and the cameramen,
and everyone else gather

448
00:20:14,160 --> 00:20:17,040
to make it as difficult
as possible for me.

449
00:20:17,120 --> 00:20:18,800
But I can't stop now."

450
00:20:20,040 --> 00:20:22,440
Hitchcock said, regarding
his cameo roles,

451
00:20:22,480 --> 00:20:26,200
that he tried to keep
those roles as short as possible

452
00:20:26,240 --> 00:20:28,800
so that he wouldn't
have to suffer the indignity

453
00:20:28,840 --> 00:20:32,280
of being an actor any longer
than necessary.

454
00:20:33,360 --> 00:20:35,320
He also liked
to get this gimmick over with

455
00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:37,600
early in his films,

456
00:20:37,680 --> 00:20:40,720
so that the audience wouldn't
just sit there looking for him.

457
00:20:42,240 --> 00:20:43,920
[ Train whistle blows ]

458
00:20:43,960 --> 00:20:45,840
Hitchcock like trains.

459
00:20:45,920 --> 00:20:47,840
[ Train engine chugging ]

460
00:20:50,400 --> 00:20:53,840
He appeared on a train
in "Shadow of a Doubt."

461
00:20:53,880 --> 00:20:56,520
He's playing cards
with another passenger.

462
00:20:56,600 --> 00:20:59,440
He is coming out of a train
station with Gregory Peck,

463
00:20:59,520 --> 00:21:01,880
in "The Paradine Case,"

464
00:21:01,920 --> 00:21:03,960
and trying to climb
aboard a train holding

465
00:21:04,040 --> 00:21:07,040
holding a cello case in
"Strangers on a Train."

466
00:21:07,080 --> 00:21:09,520
[ Bell clanging ]

467
00:21:09,560 --> 00:21:11,800
Menier: It's proving
astonishingly difficult

468
00:21:11,880 --> 00:21:14,320
to find the right person
for one particular part.

469
00:21:15,800 --> 00:21:17,760
Might I ask you
to stand up for one moment?

470
00:21:19,160 --> 00:21:21,480
The really frightening thing
about villains

471
00:21:21,560 --> 00:21:23,400
is their surface likableness.

472
00:21:24,560 --> 00:21:26,760
Menier: You know Bennett,
he looks it.

473
00:21:26,800 --> 00:21:28,600
He looks it
quite perfectly.

474
00:21:28,640 --> 00:21:30,400
Exactly what
I've been thinking, Sir John.

475
00:21:31,800 --> 00:21:33,800
An Agatha Christie
type character

476
00:21:33,840 --> 00:21:35,880
in Hitchcock's "Suspicion" says

477
00:21:35,960 --> 00:21:38,600
about the villains
in her mystery novels...

478
00:21:38,680 --> 00:21:40,960
I was completely fascinated
by the way your villain --

479
00:21:41,040 --> 00:21:43,240
My villain?
My hero you mean.

480
00:21:43,320 --> 00:21:45,960
I always think of
my murderers as my heroes?

481
00:21:46,040 --> 00:21:49,360
That quote seems to parallel
Hitchcock's own approach

482
00:21:49,400 --> 00:21:51,400
to the bad guys
in his films.

483
00:21:51,480 --> 00:21:53,800
I'm afraid you're wasting
your time.

484
00:21:53,880 --> 00:21:57,120
You see, she can
neither here nor speak.

485
00:21:57,200 --> 00:21:59,960
"I always make my villains
charming and polite,"

486
00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:01,080
the director said.

487
00:22:01,160 --> 00:22:02,640
Do you mind?

488
00:22:02,680 --> 00:22:03,680
Hmm?

489
00:22:03,760 --> 00:22:04,720
Hands up.

490
00:22:04,800 --> 00:22:06,040
"It's a mistake to think

491
00:22:06,120 --> 00:22:08,120
that if you put
a villain on screen,

492
00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:11,760
he must sneer nastily,
stroke his black mustache,

493
00:22:11,840 --> 00:22:14,320
or kick a dog in the stomach.

494
00:22:14,360 --> 00:22:17,160
Some of the most famous
murderers in criminology,

495
00:22:17,240 --> 00:22:20,160
men for whom arsenic
was so disgustingly gentle

496
00:22:20,200 --> 00:22:22,600
that they did women in
with a blunt instrument,

497
00:22:22,680 --> 00:22:24,960
had to be charmers to
get acquainted with the females

498
00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:26,560
they eventually murdered."

499
00:22:26,640 --> 00:22:28,280
Will you search
this gentleman?

500
00:22:28,360 --> 00:22:30,200
I take it
you've no objection.

501
00:22:30,280 --> 00:22:31,440
I don't mind.

502
00:22:32,400 --> 00:22:35,000
In "Blackmail,"
Hitch said that the shadow

503
00:22:35,040 --> 00:22:38,000
to suggest a mustache
on the artist's face

504
00:22:38,040 --> 00:22:41,000
was his farewell
to the silent films.

505
00:22:41,040 --> 00:22:43,480
Hitchcock was a master
at making his villains

506
00:22:43,520 --> 00:22:46,320
almost as charming
as his heroes.

507
00:22:46,360 --> 00:22:48,720
They all seem
to possess a sense of humor,

508
00:22:48,800 --> 00:22:51,200
and though their view
of the world was sinister,

509
00:22:51,280 --> 00:22:53,640
they kept smiles on their faces.

510
00:22:53,720 --> 00:22:56,080
I'm so sorry, Sir John.

511
00:22:56,160 --> 00:23:00,640
I'm afraid I understand
so little about playwriting.

512
00:23:00,720 --> 00:23:03,000
I always think
a girl knows instinctively

513
00:23:03,080 --> 00:23:04,200
when she
can trust a man.

514
00:23:04,240 --> 00:23:06,240
Yes, of course she does.

515
00:23:07,360 --> 00:23:10,440
Do you trust me...Alice?

516
00:23:10,520 --> 00:23:13,920
In "Blackmail," there are,
in essence, two villains,

517
00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:17,240
Crewe, the artist,
truly a champagne villain,

518
00:23:17,280 --> 00:23:21,280
And Tracy the blackmailer,
a sleazy type.

519
00:23:21,320 --> 00:23:24,360
This again will become
a bit of a staple for Hitch.

520
00:23:25,640 --> 00:23:28,160
Look at "Dial M"
suave Ray Milland,

521
00:23:28,240 --> 00:23:31,360
the mastermind behind the
attempted killing of his wife

522
00:23:31,440 --> 00:23:33,040
and the creepy henchman
he hires,

523
00:23:33,120 --> 00:23:35,200
played by Anthony Dawson.

524
00:23:35,280 --> 00:23:38,280
Another example
might include Mr. Krug

525
00:23:38,360 --> 00:23:40,080
from "Foreign Correspondent."

526
00:23:40,160 --> 00:23:42,240
Krug has a sketchy history,

527
00:23:42,320 --> 00:23:44,440
as revealed by
the scar on his neck

528
00:23:44,520 --> 00:23:46,240
hidden under
his turtleneck sweater

529
00:23:46,320 --> 00:23:49,480
versus Stephen Fisher,
played by Herbert Marshall,

530
00:23:49,520 --> 00:23:51,560
who never gets his hands dirty.

531
00:23:51,640 --> 00:23:54,280
Marshall had also appeared in
"Murder!"

532
00:23:54,320 --> 00:23:57,120
in a much more likable role.

533
00:23:57,160 --> 00:23:59,760
Also think of silky James Mason

534
00:23:59,840 --> 00:24:02,520
versus his dedicated-to-a-fault
subordinate

535
00:24:02,560 --> 00:24:05,760
played by Martin Landau in
"North by Northwest."

536
00:24:07,560 --> 00:24:09,320
Rotten.

537
00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:10,480
[ Laughing ]

538
00:24:10,560 --> 00:24:11,840
Never mind.

539
00:24:11,920 --> 00:24:14,040
We'll finish this masterpiece
together.

540
00:24:14,080 --> 00:24:15,560
That's the idea.

541
00:24:15,640 --> 00:24:18,080
Art and framing
take a special place

542
00:24:18,160 --> 00:24:19,800
in Hitchcock's body of work.

543
00:24:19,840 --> 00:24:21,400
[ Dark luminous music plays ]

544
00:24:21,440 --> 00:24:23,480
The painting of a court jester

545
00:24:23,560 --> 00:24:26,640
is a very important image
in "Blackmail."

546
00:24:26,720 --> 00:24:27,880
[ Laughing ]

547
00:24:28,840 --> 00:24:33,000
Hitchcock, himself a great
appreciator of art and fashion,

548
00:24:33,080 --> 00:24:35,600
had an eye for paintings
in his work.

549
00:24:35,680 --> 00:24:38,200
Think about a few examples --

550
00:24:38,280 --> 00:24:40,800
a painting
of Carlotta Valdes

551
00:24:40,880 --> 00:24:42,400
and the self-portrait
that Midge does

552
00:24:42,440 --> 00:24:45,400
of herself in "Vertigo" later.

553
00:24:45,440 --> 00:24:47,560
The portrait in "Rebecca,"

554
00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:51,280
or the one done by Bruno's mom
in "Strangers on a Train."

555
00:24:51,360 --> 00:24:54,680
The painting of Joan Fontaine's
father in "Suspicion,"

556
00:24:54,720 --> 00:24:56,200
or the painting
in the hallway

557
00:24:56,280 --> 00:24:58,480
that an inspector looks at
enigmatically

558
00:24:58,560 --> 00:25:00,040
in a separate scene.

559
00:25:01,800 --> 00:25:04,520
The bird stuck
on a painting in "The Birds."

560
00:25:05,960 --> 00:25:09,960
John Forsythe is a painter
in "Trouble with Harry,"

561
00:25:10,040 --> 00:25:12,800
and Hitch collaborated
with Salvador Dalí

562
00:25:12,880 --> 00:25:15,800
to visualize the dream sequence
in "Spellbound."

563
00:25:16,920 --> 00:25:19,200
In "Blackmail,"
the court jester painting

564
00:25:19,280 --> 00:25:22,280
makes a big statement
until the end of the film.

565
00:25:23,360 --> 00:25:25,000
There.

566
00:25:25,040 --> 00:25:26,880
Oh!

567
00:25:26,960 --> 00:25:28,440
You are awful.

568
00:25:28,480 --> 00:25:29,960
[ Chuckles ]

569
00:25:31,600 --> 00:25:34,520
In the scene where Crewe
asks Alice to change,

570
00:25:34,560 --> 00:25:37,560
Hitchcock uses almost
a split screen device.

571
00:25:37,640 --> 00:25:40,760
The artist playing
the piano on one side

572
00:25:40,800 --> 00:25:43,240
while we're put in
the position of a voyeur,

573
00:25:43,320 --> 00:25:45,840
with Alice undressing
on the other.

574
00:25:47,160 --> 00:25:48,960
Voyeurism
would be a central theme

575
00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:50,880
to "Rear Window," for instance,

576
00:25:50,960 --> 00:25:52,800
where Jimmy Stewart
uses a camera

577
00:25:52,880 --> 00:25:54,920
to look across at his neighbors.

578
00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:57,840
In "Blackmail,"

579
00:25:57,920 --> 00:26:01,480
Alice goes from black,
possibly woman in control,

580
00:26:01,520 --> 00:26:03,200
to white,
pretty much hinting

581
00:26:03,280 --> 00:26:05,360
at a virginal,
untouched look.

582
00:26:05,440 --> 00:26:07,640
♪ Prove unpleasant
for the latter ♪

583
00:26:07,680 --> 00:26:10,120
The camera is telling
two stories.

584
00:26:10,200 --> 00:26:11,880
Anny Ondra is nervous

585
00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:15,160
while Cyril Ritchard
is getting excited.

586
00:26:15,200 --> 00:26:18,560
The soundtrack tells us
the third story through music.

587
00:26:18,640 --> 00:26:20,160
♪ Miss Up-to-Date ♪

588
00:26:20,240 --> 00:26:22,400
The song describes
the situation

589
00:26:22,480 --> 00:26:24,000
in the most literal sense,

590
00:26:24,040 --> 00:26:26,040
"Miss Up-to-Date"
about a wild,

591
00:26:26,120 --> 00:26:29,200
pretty, and naughty
girl meeting an awful fate.

592
00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:31,080
♪ They say you're wild ♪

593
00:26:31,160 --> 00:26:32,920
♪ A naughty child ♪

594
00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:36,080
♪ Miss-up-to-date ♪

595
00:26:36,120 --> 00:26:38,680
♪ For whom if you predict ♪

596
00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:42,360
♪ For you an awful fate ♪

597
00:26:42,440 --> 00:26:45,800
The song sets the stage
for what's about to happen.

598
00:26:47,120 --> 00:26:49,600
But look at the difference
between the silent version

599
00:26:49,680 --> 00:26:52,560
and the sound version
of that same scene.

600
00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:54,560
And that's a song
about you, my dear.

601
00:26:54,600 --> 00:26:56,040
[ Chuckles ]

602
00:26:57,400 --> 00:26:59,440
You haven't said
how you liked it.

603
00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:02,040
It's quite a lesson on
how Hitchcock adapted

604
00:27:02,080 --> 00:27:04,760
to this new
revolutionary technique.

605
00:27:07,600 --> 00:27:08,880
Wait a minute.

606
00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:10,200
Where is this trouble?

607
00:27:11,640 --> 00:27:15,320
This scene, which was probably
quite shocking at the time,

608
00:27:15,400 --> 00:27:17,440
introduces yet another theme

609
00:27:17,520 --> 00:27:21,160
that preoccupied
Hitchcock's characters --

610
00:27:21,200 --> 00:27:22,720
Sex.

611
00:27:22,760 --> 00:27:23,880
[ Gentle music plays ]

612
00:27:23,960 --> 00:27:25,560
"My attitude towards sex,"

613
00:27:25,640 --> 00:27:28,160
Hitchcock said,
"is the same as it is

614
00:27:28,200 --> 00:27:30,200
to other aspects of my work --

615
00:27:30,240 --> 00:27:33,360
'understatement' all the time.

616
00:27:33,400 --> 00:27:36,760
I'm not a believer
in hanging sex all over women.

617
00:27:36,840 --> 00:27:40,440
It should be discovered
in the story."

618
00:27:40,480 --> 00:27:43,240
This quote applies perfectly
to what is happening here

619
00:27:43,280 --> 00:27:46,640
between Anny Ondra
and Cyril Ritchard.

620
00:27:46,680 --> 00:27:49,720
Hitchcock didn't have
complete nudity in his films

621
00:27:49,800 --> 00:27:53,400
until "Frenzy" in 1972.

622
00:27:53,480 --> 00:27:57,160
However, he shocked
the nation in 1960

623
00:27:57,200 --> 00:28:02,720
when he showed Janet Leigh
in her sexy bra in "Psycho."

624
00:28:02,800 --> 00:28:06,120
And used that image
for the poster of the film.

625
00:28:07,320 --> 00:28:10,480
This is one of the scenes
that Hitchcock had to reshoot

626
00:28:10,560 --> 00:28:12,680
For the sound version
of "Blackmail."

627
00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:14,680
[ Gentle music swells ]

628
00:28:14,720 --> 00:28:17,560
At the Lincoln Center tribute
for Alfred Hitchcock,

629
00:28:17,640 --> 00:28:20,480
Cyril Ritchard recalled
that in that scene,

630
00:28:20,560 --> 00:28:22,960
mics were hidden all
over the set."

631
00:28:24,600 --> 00:28:26,520
[ Up-tempo piano tune playing ]

632
00:28:26,560 --> 00:28:29,360
"And I had to talk into
the first one

633
00:28:29,400 --> 00:28:31,800
and then another
as I walked about,

634
00:28:31,880 --> 00:28:35,120
sometimes having to pause
in mid-sentence..."

635
00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:36,320
That's an idea.

636
00:28:36,400 --> 00:28:37,760
"...while I walked
out of the range

637
00:28:37,800 --> 00:28:39,680
of one microphone
into the second."

638
00:28:39,760 --> 00:28:40,840
Let's see it on you.

639
00:28:40,920 --> 00:28:42,240
"I thought
that Anny and I

640
00:28:42,320 --> 00:28:44,320
were getting a little glazed
from shooting

641
00:28:44,400 --> 00:28:46,000
the scene so many times.

642
00:28:46,040 --> 00:28:48,480
It turned out
that Hitch had substituted

643
00:28:48,560 --> 00:28:50,480
real gin in our glasses."

644
00:28:50,560 --> 00:28:51,880
Oh, it's so strong.

645
00:28:51,960 --> 00:28:55,800
"To give the scene
a bit more 'vitality.'"

646
00:28:57,240 --> 00:28:59,200
[ Up-tempo piano music plays ]

647
00:29:00,440 --> 00:29:01,680
There it is.

648
00:29:01,760 --> 00:29:03,920
[ Up-tempo playing continues ]

649
00:29:06,200 --> 00:29:07,320
[ Discordant final note play ]

650
00:29:08,480 --> 00:29:11,800
We are now reaching
the turning point in our story

651
00:29:11,840 --> 00:29:14,360
as the curtain rises on murder.

652
00:29:15,840 --> 00:29:19,280
Hitchcock had different ways of
killing his victims in movies...

653
00:29:19,360 --> 00:29:20,680
[ Sinister music plays ]

654
00:29:20,760 --> 00:29:23,720
...mainly strangulation
and stabbing,

655
00:29:23,800 --> 00:29:25,080
like in "Blackmail."

656
00:29:25,120 --> 00:29:27,120
[ Sinister music continues ]

657
00:29:27,160 --> 00:29:29,400
Other killings with knives
or sharp objects

658
00:29:29,480 --> 00:29:31,520
are featured
in the following films --

659
00:29:31,560 --> 00:29:37,360
In "Murder!," a woman was killed
with a pointy fire poker.

660
00:29:37,440 --> 00:29:41,960
In "The 39 Steps,"
a spy is stabbed in the back.

661
00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:43,400
[ Gasps shakily ]
[ Groans, gasps ]

662
00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:46,360
In "Sabotage,"
Sylvia Sidney kills her husband

663
00:29:46,400 --> 00:29:48,280
with a kitchen knife.

664
00:29:48,360 --> 00:29:49,880
In "Dial M for Murder,"

665
00:29:49,960 --> 00:29:54,280
Grace Kelly kills her assailant
with a pair of scissors.

666
00:29:54,360 --> 00:29:56,000
In "Rear Window,"

667
00:29:56,080 --> 00:29:58,480
a man cuts up his wife
with sharp instruments.

668
00:29:58,560 --> 00:30:00,080
[ Sinister music continues ]

669
00:30:00,160 --> 00:30:03,120
In the second version of
"The Man Who Knew Too Much,"

670
00:30:03,160 --> 00:30:05,320
released in 1956,

671
00:30:05,400 --> 00:30:08,160
a man is stabbed
in the back.

672
00:30:08,240 --> 00:30:10,080
In "North by Northwest,"

673
00:30:10,160 --> 00:30:13,760
a man at the United Nations
is also stabbed,

674
00:30:13,800 --> 00:30:15,920
but in "Torn Curtain,"

675
00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:19,960
a knife fails to kill
an East Berlin security officer.

676
00:30:20,000 --> 00:30:23,400
And of course,
in "Psycho"...

677
00:30:23,440 --> 00:30:24,840
[ Screams ]

678
00:30:24,920 --> 00:30:27,040
...Janet Leigh and Martin Balsam

679
00:30:27,120 --> 00:30:31,560
are both stabbed to death
in two separate scenes.

680
00:30:31,640 --> 00:30:33,640
[ Sinister music continues ]

681
00:30:33,680 --> 00:30:34,840
Don't be silly, Alice.

682
00:30:34,920 --> 00:30:36,440
Like he did with nudity,

683
00:30:36,520 --> 00:30:38,800
Hitchcock was careful
to use violence

684
00:30:38,880 --> 00:30:40,720
in the best possible taste.

685
00:30:40,760 --> 00:30:43,120
Alice: Let me go!
Let me go!

686
00:30:43,160 --> 00:30:45,960
"People ask me constantly,"
Hitchcock declared,

687
00:30:46,040 --> 00:30:48,640
"Why are you so interested
in crime?

688
00:30:48,720 --> 00:30:50,680
The truth is, I'm not.

689
00:30:50,760 --> 00:30:55,000
I'm only interested in
that it affects my profession."

690
00:30:55,040 --> 00:30:56,640
At the same time, the director,

691
00:30:56,680 --> 00:30:58,040
who was born in England

692
00:30:58,080 --> 00:30:59,840
and lived there a good part
of his life,

693
00:30:59,880 --> 00:31:03,720
acknowledged that crime had
always been an English passion.

694
00:31:03,800 --> 00:31:06,360
[ Alice grunting ]

695
00:31:06,440 --> 00:31:10,360
Visually, Hitchcock filmed
murders with style.

696
00:31:10,440 --> 00:31:12,320
"Blackmail"
is no exception,

697
00:31:12,400 --> 00:31:15,160
but it happens behind a curtain.

698
00:31:17,880 --> 00:31:20,360
"Blackmail"
is also self-defense,

699
00:31:20,400 --> 00:31:24,000
as we will see again in
"Dial M for Murder."

700
00:31:24,080 --> 00:31:26,200
[ Dark, gloomy music plays ]

701
00:31:26,240 --> 00:31:29,000
Ondra delivers
a brilliant performance

702
00:31:29,040 --> 00:31:31,520
through attitude
and body language.

703
00:31:31,600 --> 00:31:40,320
♪♪

704
00:31:40,400 --> 00:31:42,960
Look at how she strikes
the painting laughing at her.

705
00:31:43,040 --> 00:31:44,400
[ Canvas rips ]

706
00:31:46,320 --> 00:31:48,520
She breaks the fourth wall
in the same way

707
00:31:48,560 --> 00:31:50,400
that Norman Bates would
in "Psycho"

708
00:31:50,480 --> 00:31:51,960
as she walks towards us.

709
00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:53,800
[ Dark, gloomy music continues ]

710
00:31:53,880 --> 00:31:56,800
Hitchcock dissolves
from a close up of Ondra's face

711
00:31:56,840 --> 00:32:00,080
to a long shot of the studio.

712
00:32:00,160 --> 00:32:02,760
While the dissolve technique
is typically used to indicate

713
00:32:02,840 --> 00:32:05,360
to the audience a time lapse.

714
00:32:05,440 --> 00:32:09,040
Here there is no disruption
of the temporal continuity.

715
00:32:09,080 --> 00:32:12,080
Look at a freeze frame of
Ondra's face in the dissolve,

716
00:32:12,160 --> 00:32:16,240
and compare it to that of Norman
Bates at the end of psycho.

717
00:32:16,320 --> 00:32:19,800
The effect and resulting
subliminal image you get

718
00:32:19,880 --> 00:32:21,360
are almost similar.

719
00:32:21,400 --> 00:32:23,720
♪♪

720
00:32:23,760 --> 00:32:28,200
Hitchcock's brilliant visual
storytelling is in full swing

721
00:32:28,240 --> 00:32:30,560
as she is drifting,
following the killing.

722
00:32:30,600 --> 00:32:32,080
[ Melancholy music plays ]

723
00:32:32,160 --> 00:32:35,480
♪♪

724
00:32:35,560 --> 00:32:37,680
Everything reminds her of it.

725
00:32:37,760 --> 00:32:40,680
♪♪

726
00:32:40,760 --> 00:32:43,400
In a similar way,
Hitchcock will express

727
00:32:43,480 --> 00:32:45,880
Jimmy Stewart's vertigo
literally.

728
00:32:45,920 --> 00:32:49,160
In "Marnie,"
she's afraid of red,

729
00:32:49,240 --> 00:32:50,920
and we see it.

730
00:32:50,960 --> 00:32:52,200
[ Frantic music plays ]

731
00:32:52,280 --> 00:32:54,600
Here, he gives us
more visual information

732
00:32:54,680 --> 00:32:58,320
that reflects Anny Ondra's
own state of mind.

733
00:32:58,360 --> 00:33:00,720
She's dizzy and confused.

734
00:33:02,000 --> 00:33:04,760
Hitchcock used some
interesting visual associations

735
00:33:04,800 --> 00:33:07,600
to convey Alice's state of mind.

736
00:33:07,640 --> 00:33:10,440
Film historian
Gene D. Phillips points this out

737
00:33:10,520 --> 00:33:14,400
in his book on Alfred Hitchcock
that analyzes imagination.

738
00:33:14,480 --> 00:33:15,640
[ Horns honking ]

739
00:33:15,680 --> 00:33:17,880
The cocktail shaker on the scene

740
00:33:17,960 --> 00:33:20,800
suddenly turns into
a phallic knife,

741
00:33:20,880 --> 00:33:25,160
stabbing at the first syllable
of the word "cocktail,"

742
00:33:25,240 --> 00:33:29,160
leaving no doubt about the link
between the lethal weapon

743
00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:32,560
that Alice employed
to defend her purity,

744
00:33:32,640 --> 00:33:36,600
and the sexual weapon Crewe
had intended to use on Alice.

745
00:33:36,680 --> 00:33:39,040
[ Suspenseful music plays ]

746
00:33:39,120 --> 00:33:41,960
The director's understanding
of sound, music,

747
00:33:42,040 --> 00:33:44,000
visuals is masterful,

748
00:33:44,040 --> 00:33:46,840
and is in contrast
by the following segment,

749
00:33:46,880 --> 00:33:49,440
which is pure silent movie.

750
00:33:49,480 --> 00:33:52,080
The dissolve at the door
is another reminder

751
00:33:52,160 --> 00:33:55,160
that Alice has a dream-like
relation to time.

752
00:33:55,240 --> 00:33:57,920
[ Suspenseful music continues ]

753
00:33:58,000 --> 00:34:00,320
Just when we think
that Alice is safe,

754
00:34:00,360 --> 00:34:03,120
the shadow
of the blackmailer appears.

755
00:34:03,160 --> 00:34:06,920
And of course,
this creates suspense.

756
00:34:06,960 --> 00:34:08,560
According to Hitchcock,

757
00:34:08,600 --> 00:34:10,679
the essential element
of suspense

758
00:34:10,760 --> 00:34:14,440
was always to let the audience
know more than the hero.

759
00:34:14,520 --> 00:34:18,400
Let them know that there is a
bomb under the character's seat.

760
00:34:18,440 --> 00:34:22,440
Let them suffer as they see
the characters of the drama

761
00:34:22,480 --> 00:34:25,600
grope for solutions
they already know.

762
00:34:26,719 --> 00:34:28,080
"It was much easier,"

763
00:34:28,120 --> 00:34:30,960
Hitchcock said
regarding the silent era.

764
00:34:31,040 --> 00:34:34,840
"There were no nuances of
dialogue to be concerned with,

765
00:34:34,920 --> 00:34:37,560
and the acting
was much more elemental.

766
00:34:37,600 --> 00:34:41,360
The whole atmosphere
was more relaxed."

767
00:34:41,400 --> 00:34:42,920
For instance,

768
00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:45,639
there's an interesting scene
in "The Farmer's Wife"

769
00:34:45,719 --> 00:34:47,639
that underlines this point.

770
00:34:47,719 --> 00:34:50,000
Unable to find a wife,

771
00:34:50,040 --> 00:34:54,080
the protagonist of the story
stares at an empty chair.

772
00:34:54,159 --> 00:34:57,880
Ghostly images of women
he met appear.

773
00:34:57,920 --> 00:34:59,360
Then...

774
00:34:59,440 --> 00:35:02,200
[ Romantic music plays ]

775
00:35:02,280 --> 00:35:05,320
...the woman he loves
comes and sits,

776
00:35:05,400 --> 00:35:08,600
and he realizes she is the one.

777
00:35:08,680 --> 00:35:11,400
[ Romantic music fades ]

778
00:35:11,480 --> 00:35:14,280
In "Murder!,"
a couple comes to meet Sir John

779
00:35:14,360 --> 00:35:17,720
and to convey the fact
that they're intimidated...

780
00:35:17,800 --> 00:35:19,600
How do you do,
Mr. Markham?

781
00:35:19,640 --> 00:35:21,720
As a man advances
towards him,

782
00:35:21,800 --> 00:35:23,800
Hitchcock had him
on something soft.

783
00:35:23,840 --> 00:35:27,880
Probably a mattress of some kind
rather than a hard floor.

784
00:35:27,960 --> 00:35:29,520
How do you do,
Sir?
Why don't you
sit down?

785
00:35:30,480 --> 00:35:31,560
After the murder,

786
00:35:31,640 --> 00:35:33,440
Hitchcock explains visually

787
00:35:33,480 --> 00:35:36,360
that Alice is now in a trance.

788
00:35:36,440 --> 00:35:39,600
[ "Miss Up-to-Date"
tune plays hauntingly ]

789
00:35:41,120 --> 00:35:44,160
The music on the soundtrack
is the slow version

790
00:35:44,200 --> 00:35:47,560
of the song Cyril Ritchard
was playing on the piano

791
00:35:47,600 --> 00:35:49,800
before his death.

792
00:35:49,840 --> 00:35:52,080
Hitchcock understood perfectly

793
00:35:52,160 --> 00:35:55,320
the importance
of music in film.

794
00:35:55,400 --> 00:35:59,680
He uses the "Miss Up-to-Date"
tune here as a cynical touch.

795
00:35:59,720 --> 00:36:04,920
It's as if he's saying to us,
"See, I told you so."

796
00:36:05,000 --> 00:36:07,120
[ Suspenseful music plays ]

797
00:36:07,160 --> 00:36:10,520
Here is a great use of sound.

798
00:36:10,560 --> 00:36:12,640
Alice is roaming the streets.

799
00:36:12,720 --> 00:36:15,240
She sees a man asleep
in a corner.

800
00:36:15,320 --> 00:36:18,840
His hand reminds her
of the man she killed.

801
00:36:18,920 --> 00:36:20,440
[ Screams ]

802
00:36:21,480 --> 00:36:23,760
Then we cut with a scream
to the landlady,

803
00:36:23,800 --> 00:36:26,360
finding the victim's body.

804
00:36:26,400 --> 00:36:30,440
Hitchcock also used sound
to mark a narrative transition,

805
00:36:30,520 --> 00:36:33,320
as in the case of
"The 39 Steps."

806
00:36:33,400 --> 00:36:36,680
In that film, a landlady finds
a corpse of a woman.

807
00:36:36,760 --> 00:36:38,040
[ Woman screams,
train whistle blares ]

808
00:36:38,080 --> 00:36:40,120
We immediately cut
the loud whistling

809
00:36:40,200 --> 00:36:41,840
of a train leaving the station,

810
00:36:41,920 --> 00:36:44,160
and on board is Richard Hannay,

811
00:36:44,240 --> 00:36:47,960
the man who will
be wrongly accused of the crime.

812
00:36:48,040 --> 00:36:50,600
In "Young and Innocent,"
two women discover

813
00:36:50,680 --> 00:36:53,600
the lifeless body
of a victim washed ashore

814
00:36:53,680 --> 00:36:55,800
as they're about to scream...

815
00:36:55,880 --> 00:36:57,480
[ Seagulls squawking ]

816
00:36:57,560 --> 00:37:00,680
...Hitchcock cuts to the sound
of seagulls above,

817
00:37:00,760 --> 00:37:03,440
an ominous foreshadowing
of "The Birds,"

818
00:37:03,520 --> 00:37:06,480
where Jessica Tandy,
who played Rod Taylor's mother,

819
00:37:06,560 --> 00:37:08,440
goes to visit
a neighboring farmer.

820
00:37:09,400 --> 00:37:12,040
She enters his house,
notices that all the cups

821
00:37:12,080 --> 00:37:15,120
that hang on hooks
in the kitchen have been broken.

822
00:37:15,160 --> 00:37:19,920
She goes towards the bedroom
and finds the poor man dead.

823
00:37:19,960 --> 00:37:23,040
The instinct here would
have been to have her scream,

824
00:37:23,120 --> 00:37:25,600
but Hitchcock knows better.

825
00:37:25,680 --> 00:37:28,040
Instead,
she runs out of the house,

826
00:37:28,120 --> 00:37:31,160
completely unable
to make a sound.

827
00:37:31,200 --> 00:37:33,040
[ Muted scream ]

828
00:37:34,200 --> 00:37:37,840
It's as if the scream
is strangled in her throat.

829
00:37:37,920 --> 00:37:41,200
And it is we in our seats
who want to scream,

830
00:37:41,280 --> 00:37:45,880
because the absence of it
on the soundtrack is so potent.

831
00:37:47,040 --> 00:37:48,480
What do you think?

832
00:37:48,520 --> 00:37:50,560
There's been a murder
last night around the corner.

833
00:37:50,640 --> 00:37:53,480
Another use
of sound in "Blackmail"...

834
00:37:53,520 --> 00:37:55,200
And they tell me the police
are round there now.

835
00:37:55,280 --> 00:37:58,200
...of a bird chirping
allows Hitch to play up

836
00:37:58,280 --> 00:38:01,200
the contrast
between Alice's internal world,

837
00:38:01,240 --> 00:38:02,840
the trauma she suffered,

838
00:38:02,920 --> 00:38:05,600
and the otherwise innocent world
that surrounds her.

839
00:38:05,680 --> 00:38:07,240
[ Bird chirps merrily ]

840
00:38:07,280 --> 00:38:08,640
And all that,

841
00:38:08,680 --> 00:38:11,200
under the watchful eye
of her boyfriend Frank,

842
00:38:11,240 --> 00:38:13,520
a framed photo of him
on her wall.

843
00:38:13,600 --> 00:38:15,080
[ Suspenseful music plays ]

844
00:38:15,160 --> 00:38:17,080
Because Hitchcock had started
making movies

845
00:38:17,120 --> 00:38:18,720
in the silent era,

846
00:38:18,800 --> 00:38:21,760
there was a sense that he
understood to a greater degree,

847
00:38:21,840 --> 00:38:24,520
perhaps over directors
who came afterwards,

848
00:38:24,560 --> 00:38:27,560
the potential power
of a soundtrack.

849
00:38:27,640 --> 00:38:29,760
But the pièce de résistance,

850
00:38:29,840 --> 00:38:31,960
the true mark
of Hitchcock genius,

851
00:38:32,040 --> 00:38:36,240
and his understanding of sound
takes place over breakfast.

852
00:38:37,840 --> 00:38:39,840
A good clean, honest
whack over the head

853
00:38:39,920 --> 00:38:42,080
with a brick is one thing.

854
00:38:42,160 --> 00:38:43,880
There's something British
about that.

855
00:38:43,960 --> 00:38:45,200
But knives...

856
00:38:45,240 --> 00:38:47,960
The news
of the crime is everywhere.

857
00:38:48,040 --> 00:38:52,040
Alice is at a table and is
asked to cut a slice of bread

858
00:38:52,080 --> 00:38:55,760
while a neighbor, or maybe
she's just a regular customer,

859
00:38:55,840 --> 00:38:58,920
tells everyone present
about the murder,

860
00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:01,320
but all we hear is each time

861
00:39:01,360 --> 00:39:04,160
the woman
says the word "knife."

862
00:39:04,240 --> 00:39:06,400
...knife.
Man: Alice cut us a bit
of bread, will you?

863
00:39:06,480 --> 00:39:09,560
The rest of her dialogue
is purposely garbled.

864
00:39:09,600 --> 00:39:10,880
[ Muffled speech ]
...knife.

865
00:39:10,960 --> 00:39:13,040
The poor girl responsible
for the killing

866
00:39:13,120 --> 00:39:15,000
is hesitant
in handling the knife.

867
00:39:15,040 --> 00:39:16,880
[ Muffled speech ]
...the knife...

868
00:39:16,960 --> 00:39:19,200
[ Muffled speech ]
...musn't use a knife!

869
00:39:19,240 --> 00:39:20,280
[ Knife clatters ]

870
00:39:20,320 --> 00:39:21,480
And eventually drops it

871
00:39:21,520 --> 00:39:22,800
when the neighbor delivers

872
00:39:22,880 --> 00:39:25,280
one last and loud "knife."

873
00:39:25,360 --> 00:39:27,920
Man: Really you ought to be
more careful.

874
00:39:27,960 --> 00:39:30,080
You might have cut
somebody with that.

875
00:39:30,120 --> 00:39:31,480
[ Suspenseful music plays ]

876
00:39:31,520 --> 00:39:33,880
Mitchell: But now,
observe the same scene

877
00:39:33,920 --> 00:39:35,640
in the silent version.

878
00:39:37,040 --> 00:39:39,040
[ Suspenseful music continues ]

879
00:39:39,120 --> 00:39:46,600
♪♪

880
00:39:46,640 --> 00:39:48,960
[ Suspenseful music swells ]

881
00:39:49,040 --> 00:39:52,240
♪♪

882
00:39:52,320 --> 00:39:54,720
[ Suspenseful music fades ]

883
00:39:54,800 --> 00:39:56,920
Hitchcock's manipulation
of the word knife

884
00:39:57,000 --> 00:39:58,680
in the talkie version

885
00:39:58,720 --> 00:40:02,040
announces other important sounds
in Hitch's films.

886
00:40:03,840 --> 00:40:06,760
Like in both versions of
"The Man Who Knew Too Much"...

887
00:40:06,840 --> 00:40:08,000
[ Scream echoes ]

888
00:40:08,080 --> 00:40:09,760
...the unforgettable scream.

889
00:40:09,800 --> 00:40:11,560
[ Blood-curdling scream ]

890
00:40:11,600 --> 00:40:12,920
[ Cymbal crashes ]

891
00:40:12,960 --> 00:40:14,800
...meant to prevent
an assassination.

892
00:40:16,120 --> 00:40:19,680
Screams, of course,
are trademark of anything scary.

893
00:40:19,760 --> 00:40:21,000
[ Curtain rattles ]

894
00:40:21,040 --> 00:40:22,960
[ Screaming ]

895
00:40:23,040 --> 00:40:27,040
As is the anticipation
of the scream in "Frenzy,"

896
00:40:27,120 --> 00:40:29,680
as a secretary
returns to her office.

897
00:40:29,760 --> 00:40:33,880
But Hitchcock keeps his camera
outside on the street.

898
00:40:33,920 --> 00:40:34,880
[ Footsteps receding ]

899
00:40:34,920 --> 00:40:36,800
We know she is about to discover

900
00:40:36,880 --> 00:40:38,920
that her boss
has been strangled.

901
00:40:39,000 --> 00:40:40,320
We wait...

902
00:40:40,360 --> 00:40:43,920
and wait until,
to our great relief,

903
00:40:43,960 --> 00:40:47,600
we hear the horrifying scream.

904
00:40:47,680 --> 00:40:49,160
[ Blood-curdling scream ]

905
00:40:50,160 --> 00:40:52,960
But Hitchcock sometimes
used prosaic sounds

906
00:40:53,000 --> 00:40:54,560
to provide suspense,

907
00:40:54,640 --> 00:40:57,640
as in an amazing sequence
in "Torn Curtain,"

908
00:40:57,720 --> 00:41:01,240
when Paul Newman,
aware that he is being followed,

909
00:41:01,280 --> 00:41:05,280
tries to lose his tail
by going into a museum.

910
00:41:05,320 --> 00:41:06,960
Hitchcock in that scene

911
00:41:07,040 --> 00:41:10,160
creates a score using
only footsteps...

912
00:41:10,240 --> 00:41:11,760
[ Footsteps tapping ]

913
00:41:11,840 --> 00:41:14,600
...sounding against the marble
floors of the galleries.

914
00:41:14,680 --> 00:41:16,680
[ Footsteps tapping ]

915
00:41:16,760 --> 00:41:19,360
The pacing of the sound alone

916
00:41:19,400 --> 00:41:22,400
is what drives the action
and suspense.

917
00:41:24,160 --> 00:41:26,840
Later silence is as important

918
00:41:26,920 --> 00:41:29,760
when Newman is forced
to kill Gromek,

919
00:41:29,840 --> 00:41:31,120
Wolfgang Kieling,

920
00:41:31,200 --> 00:41:34,600
an East German security
officer who is onto him.

921
00:41:34,640 --> 00:41:36,680
The murder takes place
in a kitchen

922
00:41:36,760 --> 00:41:40,680
and in order to not alert the
taxi driver waiting outside...

923
00:41:40,720 --> 00:41:42,200
[ Cabinet clatters ]

924
00:41:42,280 --> 00:41:44,520
[ Windows clatter ]

925
00:41:44,600 --> 00:41:48,160
...Newman tries his best
to keep the man from screaming.

926
00:41:48,240 --> 00:41:51,960
He and a woman end up dragging
Gromek on the floor

927
00:41:52,040 --> 00:41:55,920
and shoving his head
inside a gas oven.

928
00:41:56,000 --> 00:41:57,440
[ Both panting ]

929
00:41:57,520 --> 00:41:59,520
[ Gromek groaning ]

930
00:41:59,600 --> 00:42:02,400
It's really the struggle
to keep the man silent

931
00:42:02,440 --> 00:42:04,800
that creates
the suspense.

932
00:42:04,840 --> 00:42:07,000
Well did anyone else
enter the house that night?

933
00:42:07,040 --> 00:42:08,040
Ad lady says not.

934
00:42:08,080 --> 00:42:09,280
Girl says not.

935
00:42:09,320 --> 00:42:10,520
They were alone.

936
00:42:10,600 --> 00:42:11,720
That's right.

937
00:42:11,800 --> 00:42:13,480
All: Any answer to that,
Sir John?

938
00:42:13,520 --> 00:42:16,960
Mitchell: There's also a similar
approach to sound in "Murder!"

939
00:42:17,040 --> 00:42:18,800
See the cadence in that scene.

940
00:42:18,880 --> 00:42:21,160
But no one else
could have done the murder.

941
00:42:21,200 --> 00:42:22,160
'Cause they were alone.

942
00:42:22,200 --> 00:42:23,200
Says they quarreled.

943
00:42:23,280 --> 00:42:24,280
Admits it.

944
00:42:24,360 --> 00:42:25,560
That's right.

945
00:42:25,600 --> 00:42:27,320
All: Any answer to that,
Sir John?

946
00:42:29,280 --> 00:42:31,400
She does not admit it.

947
00:42:31,480 --> 00:42:33,040
She says
she doesn't remember.

948
00:42:33,080 --> 00:42:34,920
A totally abstract approach

949
00:42:35,000 --> 00:42:38,000
that takes full advantage
of what sound offered

950
00:42:38,040 --> 00:42:40,080
to filmmakers like Hitch.

951
00:42:40,120 --> 00:42:41,440
Man:
And not against all of us.

952
00:42:41,480 --> 00:42:42,800
Man
of yourself.

953
00:42:42,880 --> 00:42:43,920
Man

954
00:42:44,000 --> 00:42:45,080
Woman: Waste of my
quality brandy.

955
00:42:45,120 --> 00:42:46,480
Man:
Hands all over blood.

956
00:42:46,560 --> 00:42:48,240
All: Any answer? Any answer?

957
00:42:48,320 --> 00:42:49,920
Any answer to that,
Sir John?

958
00:42:53,560 --> 00:42:56,760
I hope you don't mind
if I have something to eat,

959
00:42:56,840 --> 00:42:58,200
but I'm rushed today.

960
00:42:58,280 --> 00:42:59,520
[ Plucky music plays ]

961
00:42:59,560 --> 00:43:01,760
Hitchcock's greatest
preoccupation

962
00:43:01,800 --> 00:43:03,960
was food.

963
00:43:04,000 --> 00:43:06,400
"Cinema is not a slice of life.

964
00:43:06,480 --> 00:43:10,360
It's a piece of cake,"
Hitchcock said.

965
00:43:10,440 --> 00:43:14,400
Food plays an important part
in many Hitchcock films.

966
00:43:14,480 --> 00:43:16,280
In "Blackmail,"
Alice and Frank

967
00:43:16,360 --> 00:43:18,480
had their argument
at a restaurant.

968
00:43:18,560 --> 00:43:20,600
Alice killed Crewe with a knife

969
00:43:20,680 --> 00:43:23,480
that was placed next
to a loaf of bread.

970
00:43:23,520 --> 00:43:27,360
The news of the murder takes
place at the breakfast table,

971
00:43:27,400 --> 00:43:32,600
and later the blackmailer will
conduct his business over food.

972
00:43:34,320 --> 00:43:37,560
"A few years ago in
Santa Rosa, California,

973
00:43:37,600 --> 00:43:41,160
I caught a side view of myself
in a store window

974
00:43:41,240 --> 00:43:44,040
and screamed with fright,"

975
00:43:44,080 --> 00:43:48,640
Hitchcock once said about
his rather corpulent figure.

976
00:43:48,680 --> 00:43:49,880
[ Plucky music continues ]

977
00:43:49,920 --> 00:43:51,280
"Since then,

978
00:43:51,320 --> 00:43:54,280
I limit myself
to a three-course dinner

979
00:43:54,320 --> 00:43:57,320
of appetizer,
fish, and meat

980
00:43:57,360 --> 00:44:00,440
with only one bottle
of vintage wine

981
00:44:00,520 --> 00:44:01,680
with each course."

982
00:44:03,560 --> 00:44:05,640
On another occasion,
he said,

983
00:44:05,720 --> 00:44:07,320
"It's been my observation

984
00:44:07,360 --> 00:44:10,760
that a man does not live
by murder alone.

985
00:44:10,800 --> 00:44:15,160
He needs affection, approval,
encouragement,

986
00:44:15,240 --> 00:44:17,760
and occasionally a hearty meal.

987
00:44:17,840 --> 00:44:19,400
[ Plucky music continues ]

988
00:44:19,440 --> 00:44:21,520
Food was as abundant
in his films

989
00:44:21,600 --> 00:44:23,840
as it was on his table.

990
00:44:23,880 --> 00:44:25,920
The Hitchcocks would, in fact,

991
00:44:26,000 --> 00:44:28,520
bring their own cook
to Hollywood.

992
00:44:28,560 --> 00:44:31,080
[ Plucky music continues ]

993
00:44:31,120 --> 00:44:34,920
This fascination with food
made it to the screen.

994
00:44:34,960 --> 00:44:37,560
Hitchcock loved to show
his characters eating

995
00:44:37,600 --> 00:44:39,600
and discussing food,

996
00:44:39,640 --> 00:44:42,720
but his own commentary
on the subject was best.

997
00:44:42,800 --> 00:44:46,240
This applied to both
his culinary predilection

998
00:44:46,280 --> 00:44:49,960
as well as his preference
for visuals revealing seduction,

999
00:44:50,040 --> 00:44:53,120
marriage,
relationship and murder,

1000
00:44:53,200 --> 00:44:54,480
you know, appetites.

1001
00:44:54,560 --> 00:44:56,560
[ Plucky music continues ]

1002
00:44:56,640 --> 00:44:59,440
His gastronomic sensibility
also extended

1003
00:44:59,480 --> 00:45:02,120
to the graphic nature
of violence,

1004
00:45:02,200 --> 00:45:04,440
as evidenced
in his observation that,

1005
00:45:04,520 --> 00:45:06,920
"There will obviously be
a lot of drama

1006
00:45:06,960 --> 00:45:10,920
in the steak that is too rare."

1007
00:45:11,960 --> 00:45:13,240
Mmm!

1008
00:45:13,320 --> 00:45:14,800
Best meal
I've tasted for ages.

1009
00:45:14,840 --> 00:45:16,400
[ Utensils clatter ]

1010
00:45:16,480 --> 00:45:18,440
[ Man slurping noisily ]

1011
00:45:18,520 --> 00:45:19,760
[ Boat creaking ]

1012
00:45:19,800 --> 00:45:22,160
[ Slurping continues ]

1013
00:45:22,240 --> 00:45:24,200
[ Creaking continues ]

1014
00:45:25,840 --> 00:45:27,640
[ Slurping continues ]

1015
00:45:27,680 --> 00:45:29,240
In "Rear Window,"

1016
00:45:29,280 --> 00:45:31,880
Grace Kelly is bringing food
to Jimmy Stewart.

1017
00:45:31,960 --> 00:45:33,480
Ah.

1018
00:45:33,520 --> 00:45:36,920
Her way of suggesting
he should marry her.

1019
00:45:36,960 --> 00:45:39,880
There is a similar scene
in "Notorious"

1020
00:45:39,920 --> 00:45:42,960
where Ingrid Bergman
invites Cary Grant for dinner,

1021
00:45:43,000 --> 00:45:46,400
hinting at how wonderful
it is to eat in style...

1022
00:45:46,480 --> 00:45:49,120
I've decided we
are going to eat in style.

1023
00:45:49,200 --> 00:45:50,880
Marriage must be wonderful
with this sort of thing

1024
00:45:50,960 --> 00:45:52,080
going on every day.

1025
00:45:52,160 --> 00:45:54,400
...and hinting
at a married life.

1026
00:45:54,440 --> 00:45:57,920
But it's also over food
that in "Rear Window,"

1027
00:45:58,000 --> 00:46:00,560
Stewart and Thelma Ritter
discuss murder

1028
00:46:00,640 --> 00:46:02,680
and the neighbors
across the way.

1029
00:46:02,720 --> 00:46:05,440
Since we haven't witnessed
any crime,

1030
00:46:05,480 --> 00:46:07,120
the only reaction we get

1031
00:46:07,160 --> 00:46:09,720
from the gruesome
speculative details

1032
00:46:09,760 --> 00:46:11,200
spilled out by Thelma Ritter...

1033
00:46:11,280 --> 00:46:12,560
That's the only place

1034
00:46:12,640 --> 00:46:14,160
where we could have washed
away the blood.

1035
00:46:15,880 --> 00:46:19,360
...is through watching
Jimmy Stewart lose his appetite.

1036
00:46:19,440 --> 00:46:22,960
The most celebrated line
about food

1037
00:46:23,000 --> 00:46:26,000
in a Hitchcock film
may be in "To Catch a Thief"

1038
00:46:26,040 --> 00:46:29,640
when Grace Kelly innocently,
or perhaps not so,

1039
00:46:29,720 --> 00:46:32,200
asked Cary Grant
over a picnic basket...

1040
00:46:32,240 --> 00:46:34,440
You want a leg
or a breast?

1041
00:46:34,480 --> 00:46:35,880
You make the choice.

1042
00:46:37,000 --> 00:46:40,480
A similar conversation is
featured between Eva Marie Saint

1043
00:46:40,560 --> 00:46:42,560
and Grant
in "North by Northwest,"

1044
00:46:42,640 --> 00:46:46,360
as he sits across from her
in a dining car on a train,

1045
00:46:46,440 --> 00:46:49,000
and she declares
that she never discusses love

1046
00:46:49,080 --> 00:46:50,400
on an empty stomach.

1047
00:46:50,480 --> 00:46:52,600
I never discussed love
on an empty stomach.

1048
00:46:53,720 --> 00:46:55,040
You've already eaten.

1049
00:46:55,120 --> 00:46:56,440
But you haven't.

1050
00:46:57,920 --> 00:47:00,320
When they're kissing later
in the train compartment

1051
00:47:00,400 --> 00:47:01,960
their exchange
has to do with

1052
00:47:02,040 --> 00:47:05,440
Cary Grant having taste
in food, clothes, and women.

1053
00:47:05,520 --> 00:47:06,720
Same taste and women.

1054
00:47:07,960 --> 00:47:11,640
"Rope" is completely centered
on a meal served on a chest

1055
00:47:11,680 --> 00:47:14,560
in which
a murder victim is hidden.

1056
00:47:14,640 --> 00:47:16,880
Placing candlesticks
on the chest,

1057
00:47:16,920 --> 00:47:18,920
one of the killers
proudly observes

1058
00:47:18,960 --> 00:47:22,960
that they suggest a ceremonial
altar from which the guests,

1059
00:47:23,000 --> 00:47:26,800
including the family, friends
and girlfriend of the dead man,

1060
00:47:26,880 --> 00:47:29,600
will be eating
our sacrificial feast.

1061
00:47:29,640 --> 00:47:33,360
I think they suggest
a ceremonial altar,

1062
00:47:33,400 --> 00:47:36,440
which you can heap with the
foods for our sacrificial feast.

1063
00:47:37,400 --> 00:47:40,440
Later on, it is mentioned
that Farley Granger's character,

1064
00:47:40,480 --> 00:47:44,680
the other killer, is quite good
at "strangling chickens."

1065
00:47:44,720 --> 00:47:46,720
A discussion of death and murder

1066
00:47:46,800 --> 00:47:49,360
takes place at the table
in "Suspicion,"

1067
00:47:49,440 --> 00:47:53,360
"Strangers on a Train,"
and others, including "Frenzy,"

1068
00:47:53,400 --> 00:47:55,080
in which the wife
of the detective

1069
00:47:55,120 --> 00:47:58,200
in charge of the necktie murders
experiments with

1070
00:47:58,280 --> 00:48:00,920
mostly repulsive-looking
nouvelle cuisine

1071
00:48:00,960 --> 00:48:02,160
throughout the film,

1072
00:48:02,200 --> 00:48:03,760
adding a layer of humor...

1073
00:48:03,800 --> 00:48:05,160
It's delicious.

1074
00:48:05,200 --> 00:48:06,920
...to the progress
of the investigation.

1075
00:48:07,000 --> 00:48:08,800
But I find the...

1076
00:48:08,840 --> 00:48:10,480
ingredients are
somewhat mystifying.

1077
00:48:10,560 --> 00:48:14,040
The killer Bob Rusk,
played by Barry Foster,

1078
00:48:14,080 --> 00:48:15,600
works at a fruit market

1079
00:48:15,680 --> 00:48:19,080
and hides one of the bodies
in a potato bag.

1080
00:48:19,160 --> 00:48:22,040
He later has to retrieve
a piece of evidence,

1081
00:48:22,120 --> 00:48:23,560
his tie pin,

1082
00:48:23,640 --> 00:48:26,760
which the victim grabbed
when she was being strangled.

1083
00:48:28,040 --> 00:48:30,760
And of course,
food is on the menu in "Psycho."

1084
00:48:30,840 --> 00:48:32,760
You never did
eat your lunch, did you?

1085
00:48:32,840 --> 00:48:34,760
I better get back
to the office.

1086
00:48:34,800 --> 00:48:35,960
These
extended lunch hours

1087
00:48:36,000 --> 00:48:37,760
give my boss
excess acid.

1088
00:48:37,800 --> 00:48:39,000
From the first scene

1089
00:48:39,040 --> 00:48:40,840
where Janet Leigh
and John Gavin

1090
00:48:40,880 --> 00:48:43,160
meet to have sex
during her lunch hour,

1091
00:48:43,240 --> 00:48:46,400
to her last meal
with Norman Bates,

1092
00:48:46,440 --> 00:48:49,080
a simple sandwich
and a glass of milk

1093
00:48:49,160 --> 00:48:50,480
during which he observes...

1094
00:48:50,560 --> 00:48:52,880
You...You eat like a bird.

1095
00:48:54,360 --> 00:48:55,600
You know,
of course.

1096
00:48:57,920 --> 00:49:00,560
In "Rebecca,"
Mrs. Danvers terrorizes

1097
00:49:00,600 --> 00:49:02,320
the second Mrs. de Winter...

1098
00:49:02,360 --> 00:49:04,560
I'd like to know
if you approve of the menu.

1099
00:49:04,600 --> 00:49:07,440
...by asking her to fill in
blank spaces on the menu

1100
00:49:07,520 --> 00:49:09,520
with suggestions for sauces.

1101
00:49:09,600 --> 00:49:11,400
I've left a blank space
for the sauce.

1102
00:49:11,440 --> 00:49:14,280
In "The Paradine Case,"
Lord Horfield,

1103
00:49:14,360 --> 00:49:17,640
played by Charles Laughton,
observes on one hand

1104
00:49:17,680 --> 00:49:19,840
that Ann Todd
is very appetizing.

1105
00:49:19,880 --> 00:49:21,680
You look very,
very appetizing.

1106
00:49:21,720 --> 00:49:23,120
She replies in fashion...

1107
00:49:23,200 --> 00:49:24,320
Charming compliment

1108
00:49:24,400 --> 00:49:25,520
from such a gourmet
as yourself,

1109
00:49:25,600 --> 00:49:27,160
Lord Horfield.

1110
00:49:27,240 --> 00:49:29,320
Part of the plot
of the second version

1111
00:49:29,360 --> 00:49:30,720
of "The Man Who Knew Too Much"

1112
00:49:30,760 --> 00:49:32,920
unfolds in a restaurant
in Morocco,

1113
00:49:32,960 --> 00:49:38,360
with Jimmy Stewart being unable
to eat the local food properly.

1114
00:49:38,400 --> 00:49:41,280
Hitchcock declared
he hated eggs.

1115
00:49:41,360 --> 00:49:43,840
No surprise, then,
in "To Catch a Thief,"

1116
00:49:43,920 --> 00:49:45,080
that Jessie Royce Landis

1117
00:49:45,160 --> 00:49:47,080
puts out a cigarette
in an egg dish.

1118
00:49:47,160 --> 00:49:48,640
Not literally.

1119
00:49:48,680 --> 00:49:50,680
There's also a suggestion
in "The Birds"

1120
00:49:50,760 --> 00:49:53,480
that birds are getting
their revenge on mankind

1121
00:49:53,560 --> 00:49:56,680
because we've been eating them.

1122
00:49:56,720 --> 00:49:57,880
His trailer for "The Birds"

1123
00:49:57,920 --> 00:50:00,120
began with Hitchcock
eating chicken.

1124
00:50:00,200 --> 00:50:03,040
I've come to feel
very close to the birds,

1125
00:50:03,120 --> 00:50:05,960
and I've come to realize
how they feel when...

1126
00:50:06,040 --> 00:50:08,360
[ Quizzical music plays ]

1127
00:50:08,400 --> 00:50:09,920
I don't think I'll eat just now.

1128
00:50:09,960 --> 00:50:12,360
Hardly proper
with all of you here.

1129
00:50:12,400 --> 00:50:14,400
Mitchell: Similarly,
he introduced "Frenzy"

1130
00:50:14,480 --> 00:50:16,720
by standing in front
of a bag of potatoes.

1131
00:50:16,800 --> 00:50:18,720
And the horrors of vegetables.

1132
00:50:20,520 --> 00:50:22,440
I've heard of a leg of lamb,

1133
00:50:22,520 --> 00:50:23,760
a leg of chicken,

1134
00:50:23,840 --> 00:50:25,840
but never a leg of potatoes.

1135
00:50:25,880 --> 00:50:28,440
[ Jaunty music plays ]

1136
00:50:28,480 --> 00:50:31,680
The examples of food
in Hitchcock's films go on.

1137
00:50:31,720 --> 00:50:35,120
the systematic and almost
compulsive inclusion

1138
00:50:35,160 --> 00:50:38,280
of something as common
as food in cinema

1139
00:50:38,320 --> 00:50:39,800
was, on Hitchcock's part,

1140
00:50:39,880 --> 00:50:41,920
another device
to engage his audience

1141
00:50:41,960 --> 00:50:43,760
with his plots and characters,

1142
00:50:44,800 --> 00:50:46,600
A way to wet our appetite

1143
00:50:46,680 --> 00:50:50,480
and keep our attention to alert
and on edge.

1144
00:50:50,560 --> 00:50:54,080
A way to keep us wanting more,
coming back,

1145
00:50:54,160 --> 00:50:56,040
and asking for seconds.

1146
00:50:56,120 --> 00:50:58,000
[ Jaunty music crescendos
and ends ]

1147
00:50:58,040 --> 00:50:59,800
Perhaps it's
rather fortunate

1148
00:50:59,840 --> 00:51:01,520
that your little secret,

1149
00:51:01,600 --> 00:51:02,800
uh, only came into the hands

1150
00:51:02,880 --> 00:51:04,000
of a man like me.

1151
00:51:05,040 --> 00:51:06,880
Do you know
there are some men

1152
00:51:06,920 --> 00:51:09,080
who would make money
out of a thing like that?

1153
00:51:10,000 --> 00:51:12,400
What a chance
for blackmail.

1154
00:51:12,480 --> 00:51:16,560
Tracy, the blackmailer here
is played by Donald Calthorpe,

1155
00:51:16,600 --> 00:51:18,600
who was mainly a stage actor

1156
00:51:18,680 --> 00:51:22,520
and whose film appearances
were usually as villains.

1157
00:51:22,600 --> 00:51:26,760
Calthorpe worked with Hitchcock
on three other films --

1158
00:51:26,800 --> 00:51:28,640
"Elstree Calling,"

1159
00:51:28,680 --> 00:51:30,880
"Murder!,"

1160
00:51:30,960 --> 00:51:33,320
and "Number Seventeen."

1161
00:51:34,920 --> 00:51:38,080
Michael Powell recalled
in his autobiography,

1162
00:51:38,120 --> 00:51:41,120
"Hitch had already decided
that Donald Calthorpe,

1163
00:51:41,160 --> 00:51:45,400
a complex and brilliant actor,
would play the blackmailer.

1164
00:51:45,480 --> 00:51:49,720
Calthorpe came of a famous
and gifted theatrical family.

1165
00:51:49,760 --> 00:51:53,600
He despised films
but liked money.

1166
00:51:53,680 --> 00:51:56,440
Opinions that are often combined
in the superb piece

1167
00:51:56,520 --> 00:51:58,000
of screen acting.

1168
00:51:58,080 --> 00:52:00,400
I looked everywhere
for that...

1169
00:52:00,480 --> 00:52:02,280
other glove last night.

1170
00:52:04,240 --> 00:52:06,400
But of course, you detectives
are better trained

1171
00:52:06,440 --> 00:52:08,320
at finding these things.

1172
00:52:08,400 --> 00:52:11,920
For fun, look at the way
Hitchcock frames the actors

1173
00:52:12,000 --> 00:52:15,920
and how there's an ad
that spells out "sex to come."

1174
00:52:16,000 --> 00:52:18,800
Clearly a reference
to what led to this situation.

1175
00:52:20,160 --> 00:52:24,120
Calthorpe is not the only
blackmailer in Hitchcock films.

1176
00:52:24,160 --> 00:52:26,560
The standouts would be
Ray Milland,

1177
00:52:26,640 --> 00:52:28,920
who blackmails a man
into killing his wife

1178
00:52:29,000 --> 00:52:30,560
in "Dial M for Murder."

1179
00:52:30,600 --> 00:52:32,960
There's blackmail in
"I Confess,"

1180
00:52:33,000 --> 00:52:34,640
in Strangers on a Train,"

1181
00:52:34,720 --> 00:52:37,120
or even in "Rebecca"
with the line...

1182
00:52:37,200 --> 00:52:39,240
Blackmail is not much
of a profession.

1183
00:52:39,280 --> 00:52:40,680
[ Dark luminous music plays ]

1184
00:52:40,760 --> 00:52:43,040
John Longden,
who was a British leading man

1185
00:52:43,080 --> 00:52:44,280
in the early '30s

1186
00:52:44,360 --> 00:52:46,040
and who played the role
of Frank,

1187
00:52:46,080 --> 00:52:49,560
had this to say about
his experience on "Blackmail."

1188
00:52:49,640 --> 00:52:51,720
"I don't remember any feeling

1189
00:52:51,800 --> 00:52:54,600
that it was
an historical occasion."

1190
00:52:54,680 --> 00:52:56,160
Like Cyril Ritchard,

1191
00:52:56,240 --> 00:52:58,560
John Longden had
a difficult time adjusting

1192
00:52:58,640 --> 00:53:01,800
to the microphones
and the new sound techniques.

1193
00:53:01,840 --> 00:53:05,840
He said, "Besides tending
to produce a crick in my neck,

1194
00:53:05,920 --> 00:53:09,440
it hardly contributed to the
smooth portrayal of my part."

1195
00:53:10,840 --> 00:53:13,640
But this is not the only
Hitchcock film

1196
00:53:13,680 --> 00:53:17,480
in which a detective
chooses love over duty.

1197
00:53:17,520 --> 00:53:18,680
Why didn't you tell me?

1198
00:53:20,000 --> 00:53:22,840
In "Sabotage,"
Sylvia Sidney kills her husband

1199
00:53:22,920 --> 00:53:25,080
with a kitchen knife
over dinner.

1200
00:53:25,120 --> 00:53:28,320
Only a detective who was in
love with Sylvia Sidney

1201
00:53:28,360 --> 00:53:30,120
knows of the crime.

1202
00:53:30,160 --> 00:53:32,160
As she is about to confess
to the police...

1203
00:53:32,240 --> 00:53:33,240
He's dead.

1204
00:53:33,320 --> 00:53:34,560
[ Bomb explodes ]

1205
00:53:34,600 --> 00:53:36,920
...a bomb
then destroys her home

1206
00:53:37,000 --> 00:53:39,880
along with the evidence
of her crime.

1207
00:53:39,960 --> 00:53:41,880
Rather unfortunate,

1208
00:53:41,960 --> 00:53:44,440
the way that poor man
round the corner

1209
00:53:44,520 --> 00:53:46,400
er, died last night.

1210
00:53:46,440 --> 00:53:48,840
During the whole confrontation
with the blackmailer...

1211
00:53:48,880 --> 00:53:50,280
Perhaps it's fortunate...

1212
00:53:50,320 --> 00:53:52,880
...Alice is nervous,
but Frank defends her.

1213
00:53:52,960 --> 00:53:54,840
That a suspicious
looking man

1214
00:53:54,880 --> 00:53:56,520
with a criminal record

1215
00:53:56,560 --> 00:53:57,760
was seen hanging
around.

1216
00:53:57,840 --> 00:53:59,600
What's interesting
in "Blackmail"

1217
00:53:59,680 --> 00:54:01,120
is that the story swerves

1218
00:54:01,160 --> 00:54:02,760
from the detective's
ethical choice

1219
00:54:02,800 --> 00:54:04,280
of apprehending
the culprit...

1220
00:54:04,360 --> 00:54:06,560
Don't you try and swing
this thing on me.

1221
00:54:06,600 --> 00:54:07,760
That won't get you
anywhere.

1222
00:54:07,800 --> 00:54:09,600
...to protecting her instead.

1223
00:54:09,640 --> 00:54:11,720
Frank even goes
further by implying

1224
00:54:11,800 --> 00:54:15,320
to shift the blame to a person
who did not commit the crime.

1225
00:54:15,400 --> 00:54:19,560
Rather unfortunate that
Scotland Yard are at present

1226
00:54:19,640 --> 00:54:21,480
looking for that man.

1227
00:54:21,560 --> 00:54:25,680
The blackmailer is dodgy
and has a criminal background,

1228
00:54:25,720 --> 00:54:27,720
but he did not kill the artist.

1229
00:54:27,800 --> 00:54:29,960
In this he is innocent.

1230
00:54:30,960 --> 00:54:32,960
But that doesn't stop Frank.

1231
00:54:33,000 --> 00:54:35,760
[ Tense, dramatic music plays ]

1232
00:54:35,840 --> 00:54:37,200
Hey!

1233
00:54:37,280 --> 00:54:39,000
The chase of the villain

1234
00:54:39,080 --> 00:54:41,240
and the climax
at the British Museum

1235
00:54:41,320 --> 00:54:42,800
is pure Hitchcock.

1236
00:54:43,800 --> 00:54:46,200
The villain gets to the top
of the museum.

1237
00:54:46,240 --> 00:54:48,200
It's not me you want.
It's him.

1238
00:54:48,240 --> 00:54:49,240
Ask him!

1239
00:54:49,280 --> 00:54:50,240
Why his own --

1240
00:54:50,320 --> 00:54:51,560
[ Glass shatters ]

1241
00:54:51,640 --> 00:54:53,640
And eventually
falls through the roof

1242
00:54:53,680 --> 00:54:56,040
into the galleries below.

1243
00:54:56,080 --> 00:54:57,680
The fall in
"Blackmail" is echoed

1244
00:54:57,760 --> 00:55:01,120
in "The Man Who Knew Too Much"
at the Royal Albert Hall,

1245
00:55:01,160 --> 00:55:03,920
Mount Rushmore
in "North by Northwest,"

1246
00:55:04,000 --> 00:55:07,400
The Statue of Liberty
in "Saboteur,"

1247
00:55:07,480 --> 00:55:09,680
The mission in "Vertigo,"

1248
00:55:09,760 --> 00:55:11,160
Even in "Murder!"

1249
00:55:11,200 --> 00:55:12,440
the killer,

1250
00:55:12,520 --> 00:55:14,440
realizing
that he has been revealed,

1251
00:55:14,520 --> 00:55:17,000
hangs himself during
a circus act.

1252
00:55:17,080 --> 00:55:19,280
[ Crowd screaming ]

1253
00:55:20,320 --> 00:55:22,160
The chase
is an essential element

1254
00:55:22,240 --> 00:55:24,280
in many Hitchcock movies.

1255
00:55:24,360 --> 00:55:26,640
Hitchcock developed
his taste for chase scenes,

1256
00:55:26,720 --> 00:55:29,080
mainly through books.

1257
00:55:29,160 --> 00:55:32,480
"I have derived more
from novelists like John Buchan,

1258
00:55:32,560 --> 00:55:33,680
J.B. Priestley,

1259
00:55:33,720 --> 00:55:35,080
John Galsworthy,

1260
00:55:35,120 --> 00:55:37,120
and Marie Belloc Lowndes

1261
00:55:37,200 --> 00:55:39,120
than from movies,"
Hitchcock said.

1262
00:55:40,240 --> 00:55:42,680
"I like them
because they use multiple chases

1263
00:55:42,760 --> 00:55:45,560
and a lot of psychology.

1264
00:55:45,600 --> 00:55:48,680
My chases are the result
of using all of the resources

1265
00:55:48,760 --> 00:55:50,200
of modern film technique,

1266
00:55:50,240 --> 00:55:52,680
combined with what I got
from these novelists."

1267
00:55:52,760 --> 00:55:54,840
[ Train engine chugging ]

1268
00:55:54,880 --> 00:55:57,440
For Hitchcock,
in the ideal chase structure,

1269
00:55:57,480 --> 00:56:00,160
the tempo and complexity
of the chase

1270
00:56:00,240 --> 00:56:02,480
is an accurate reflection
of the intensity

1271
00:56:02,560 --> 00:56:05,360
of the relations between
the characters in "Blackmail."

1272
00:56:05,440 --> 00:56:07,080
[ Dramatic music continues ]

1273
00:56:07,120 --> 00:56:09,880
"The chase is the ultimate
payoff in many ways,"

1274
00:56:09,920 --> 00:56:11,480
Hitchcock said.

1275
00:56:11,520 --> 00:56:14,520
"The chase makes up
about 60% of the construction

1276
00:56:14,560 --> 00:56:16,360
of all movie plots.

1277
00:56:16,400 --> 00:56:18,600
[ Dramatic music fades ]

1278
00:56:18,680 --> 00:56:20,760
"When it came to the chase
through the streets,

1279
00:56:20,800 --> 00:56:24,280
I broached an idea that
had been maturing for a while."

1280
00:56:24,360 --> 00:56:25,800
Michael Powell said,

1281
00:56:25,840 --> 00:56:28,240
"Hitch, don't let's do
an ordinary chase

1282
00:56:28,280 --> 00:56:30,440
through the streets
like you did in "The Lodger."

1283
00:56:31,720 --> 00:56:33,840
"Let's take it
into some bizarre location

1284
00:56:33,880 --> 00:56:36,080
that is entertaining in itself.

1285
00:56:36,160 --> 00:56:37,760
I had been thinking of my visits

1286
00:56:37,840 --> 00:56:39,920
to the British Museum
reading room

1287
00:56:39,960 --> 00:56:41,480
to see my grandfather

1288
00:56:41,520 --> 00:56:43,720
and the impression
that he had made upon me

1289
00:56:43,760 --> 00:56:46,200
by his bent figure at the desk,

1290
00:56:46,280 --> 00:56:47,960
dwarfed by the height
of the shelves

1291
00:56:48,040 --> 00:56:52,040
and topped by the glass dome
over the whole vast room."

1292
00:56:52,120 --> 00:56:55,000
Michael Powell continues,

1293
00:56:55,080 --> 00:56:57,880
"Let's have him slip into
the British Museum at night,

1294
00:56:57,960 --> 00:57:00,440
get chased through the rooms
full of Egyptian mummies

1295
00:57:00,520 --> 00:57:02,480
and Elgin marbles,

1296
00:57:02,560 --> 00:57:06,240
climb higher to escape
and be cornered,

1297
00:57:06,320 --> 00:57:08,880
and then fall through the
glass dome of the reading room

1298
00:57:08,960 --> 00:57:10,560
and break his neck."

1299
00:57:11,600 --> 00:57:13,160
Hitch, being a Londoner,
of course,

1300
00:57:13,240 --> 00:57:16,400
had never been near
the British Museum reading room,

1301
00:57:16,480 --> 00:57:18,880
but he saw the possibilities
of the idea.

1302
00:57:18,920 --> 00:57:21,880
And so I think I can make
a modest claim

1303
00:57:21,960 --> 00:57:24,600
to being the inventor
of the Hitchcock climax,

1304
00:57:24,680 --> 00:57:26,040
unveiled to the world

1305
00:57:26,120 --> 00:57:28,040
through the chase
in 'Blackmail.'"

1306
00:57:29,480 --> 00:57:31,920
Unfortunately,
Hitchcock was not allowed

1307
00:57:32,000 --> 00:57:34,680
to shoot that scene in that way.

1308
00:57:34,760 --> 00:57:37,640
Hitchcock used
many trick shots in "Blackmail,"

1309
00:57:37,720 --> 00:57:40,680
especially during the sequence
at the British Museum.

1310
00:57:40,720 --> 00:57:42,920
"We used the Schüfftan process

1311
00:57:43,000 --> 00:57:46,160
because it wasn't enough light
in the museum to shoot there,"

1312
00:57:46,240 --> 00:57:48,640
Hitchcock told
Francois Truffaut.

1313
00:57:48,720 --> 00:57:50,880
For "Blackmail," the producers
knew nothing about

1314
00:57:50,920 --> 00:57:52,480
the Schüfftan process,

1315
00:57:52,520 --> 00:57:54,600
a technique
that consisted of covering

1316
00:57:54,680 --> 00:57:56,920
part of the camera's view
with a mirror

1317
00:57:56,960 --> 00:57:59,920
and allowed to assemble
an image from multiple parts.

1318
00:57:59,960 --> 00:58:03,400
And there was a fear they
might have raised objections.

1319
00:58:03,480 --> 00:58:05,880
It was all done without
their knowledge.

1320
00:58:05,960 --> 00:58:09,880
In fact, John Maxwell,
the producer of "Blackmail,"

1321
00:58:09,960 --> 00:58:11,840
thought that the shooting
of the visual effects

1322
00:58:11,880 --> 00:58:15,120
would delay the production
and put the film over budget.

1323
00:58:15,200 --> 00:58:17,600
While he was doing
the visual effects,

1324
00:58:17,680 --> 00:58:20,240
Hitchcock set up a camera
on the sidelines,

1325
00:58:20,280 --> 00:58:22,600
photographing
a letter for an insert

1326
00:58:22,680 --> 00:58:24,560
in case someone
from the production office

1327
00:58:24,640 --> 00:58:26,240
showed up uninvited.

1328
00:58:27,600 --> 00:58:31,840
When Maxwell saw the film,
he was totally surprised.

1329
00:58:33,280 --> 00:58:35,800
Framing the story around
a specific place

1330
00:58:35,880 --> 00:58:38,040
was a clever way
to engage audiences

1331
00:58:38,120 --> 00:58:39,440
with the characters.

1332
00:58:39,520 --> 00:58:40,880
In "Saboteur,"

1333
00:58:40,960 --> 00:58:43,040
the fact that
the climactic confrontation

1334
00:58:43,080 --> 00:58:45,240
between the hero
and the villain took place

1335
00:58:45,320 --> 00:58:47,120
on top of the Statue of Liberty,

1336
00:58:47,200 --> 00:58:48,520
tied in with the plot,

1337
00:58:48,600 --> 00:58:51,360
which revolved around traitors
and, in essence,

1338
00:58:51,440 --> 00:58:53,160
the fight for freedom.

1339
00:58:53,240 --> 00:58:54,920
In "North by Northwest,"

1340
00:58:54,960 --> 00:58:57,040
that very same type
of confrontation

1341
00:58:57,120 --> 00:59:00,000
takes place on top
of Mount Rushmore,

1342
00:59:00,080 --> 00:59:01,960
also a fitting location

1343
00:59:02,000 --> 00:59:05,400
since the movie is
about government secrets.

1344
00:59:05,480 --> 00:59:08,200
"Stage Fright"
is about travesty.

1345
00:59:08,240 --> 00:59:11,520
The villain is an actor
and plays the role of the victim

1346
00:59:11,600 --> 00:59:13,040
quite convincingly.

1347
00:59:13,120 --> 00:59:16,080
He is in fact
a psychotic killer.

1348
00:59:17,440 --> 00:59:21,040
Therefore, dramatic art plays
center stage in the story.

1349
00:59:21,080 --> 00:59:23,760
[ Dramatic music continues ]

1350
00:59:23,840 --> 00:59:27,240
Key elements of "Secret Agent"
take place in Switzerland,

1351
00:59:27,280 --> 00:59:30,760
so Hitchcock stages a scene
inside a chocolate factory.

1352
00:59:31,840 --> 00:59:33,680
The beginning
of "Foreign Correspondent"

1353
00:59:33,720 --> 00:59:34,960
is set in Holland,

1354
00:59:35,000 --> 00:59:37,600
so Hitchcock playfully
uses windmills

1355
00:59:37,680 --> 00:59:39,360
as a plot device.

1356
00:59:39,440 --> 00:59:42,120
Other monuments
indelibly identified

1357
00:59:42,200 --> 00:59:43,640
with Hitchcock's cinema

1358
00:59:43,720 --> 00:59:46,600
include the Royal Albert Hall
for both versions

1359
00:59:46,640 --> 00:59:48,160
of "The Man Who Knew Too Much."

1360
00:59:48,240 --> 00:59:50,720
The Tower Bridge in "Frenzy,"

1361
00:59:50,800 --> 00:59:53,480
and the Golden Gate Bridge
in "Vertigo."

1362
00:59:53,560 --> 00:59:56,480
Real cities like Bodega Bay
in "The Birds"

1363
00:59:56,560 --> 00:59:59,480
are also as iconic
as the films themselves.

1364
00:59:59,520 --> 01:00:01,000
[ Dramatic music ends ]

1365
01:00:02,040 --> 01:00:03,560
Hello!

1366
01:00:03,640 --> 01:00:06,960
It isn't very often I see you
so early in the day is this.

1367
01:00:07,000 --> 01:00:09,240
Call to see Frank?

1368
01:00:09,320 --> 01:00:10,360
No.

1369
01:00:11,720 --> 01:00:14,960
I want to see
Inspector Wald, please.

1370
01:00:15,000 --> 01:00:18,600
In "Blackmail,"
Alice wants to confess.

1371
01:00:18,680 --> 01:00:20,800
Well, I suppose you're going to
tell him who did it, miss.

1372
01:00:20,840 --> 01:00:23,680
Hitchcock here carefully
designed how she looks.

1373
01:00:23,760 --> 01:00:25,000
Yes.

1374
01:00:25,040 --> 01:00:27,040
She is dressed
in bright colors.

1375
01:00:27,080 --> 01:00:29,640
No longer the black outfit
from the beginning.

1376
01:00:29,680 --> 01:00:30,920
[ Solemn music plays ]

1377
01:00:31,000 --> 01:00:32,960
Costumes
would very much be a part

1378
01:00:33,040 --> 01:00:34,920
of the Hitchcock language.

1379
01:00:35,000 --> 01:00:37,520
"Vertigo" being possibly
the extreme

1380
01:00:37,600 --> 01:00:39,320
as it was part of the plot.

1381
01:00:39,400 --> 01:00:41,760
I better say what
I have to say now.

1382
01:00:42,760 --> 01:00:45,760
Ironically,
as Alice is about to confess...

1383
01:00:45,840 --> 01:00:46,960
What I wanted to say
is that --

1384
01:00:47,040 --> 01:00:48,320
[ Telephone ringing ]

1385
01:00:48,400 --> 01:00:50,160
I was the one.
One moment, please.

1386
01:00:50,200 --> 01:00:51,800
...the phone rings.

1387
01:00:51,840 --> 01:00:53,560
In a way, Alice,

1388
01:00:53,600 --> 01:00:57,000
Just like the film itself
is saved by sound.

1389
01:00:57,040 --> 01:00:59,240
Yes. Hold on.
You deal with this young lady.

1390
01:00:59,320 --> 01:01:00,480
I should be busy
for a minute.

1391
01:01:00,520 --> 01:01:01,880
Cinema wins.

1392
01:01:01,920 --> 01:01:03,080
Yes, sir.

1393
01:01:03,120 --> 01:01:04,440
The phone ringing
allows Frank

1394
01:01:04,480 --> 01:01:05,680
to take Alice out,

1395
01:01:05,720 --> 01:01:07,760
saving her from telling
the truth.

1396
01:01:07,840 --> 01:01:09,920
And to let people think
that Tracy,

1397
01:01:09,960 --> 01:01:12,960
the blackmailer,
was in fact, the killer.

1398
01:01:14,280 --> 01:01:16,960
Aha!
So you found him, miss.

1399
01:01:17,040 --> 01:01:18,640
Did she tell you
who did it?

1400
01:01:20,400 --> 01:01:21,600
Yes.

1401
01:01:21,680 --> 01:01:23,000
You want to look out.

1402
01:01:23,080 --> 01:01:25,000
Or you'll be losing your job,
my boy.

1403
01:01:25,080 --> 01:01:26,360
[ Laughter ]

1404
01:01:26,400 --> 01:01:27,600
it's an ironic twist,

1405
01:01:27,640 --> 01:01:31,160
and perhaps
even a life sentence.

1406
01:01:31,240 --> 01:01:33,680
Would she really wanted to stay
with this man

1407
01:01:33,720 --> 01:01:35,440
under normal circumstances?

1408
01:01:35,480 --> 01:01:37,920
But what choice does she have?

1409
01:01:38,000 --> 01:01:40,920
Hitchcock declared
that he originally wanted

1410
01:01:41,000 --> 01:01:42,920
another ending for "Blackmail."

1411
01:01:43,000 --> 01:01:46,720
He said after the chase and
the death of the blackmailer,

1412
01:01:46,760 --> 01:01:48,480
the girl would have
been arrested

1413
01:01:48,560 --> 01:01:51,600
and the young man would have
had to do the same things to her

1414
01:01:51,680 --> 01:01:53,360
that we saw in the beginning.

1415
01:01:53,400 --> 01:01:57,280
Handcuffs, working at the
police station, and so on.

1416
01:01:57,360 --> 01:02:00,560
Then he would see his
older partner in the men's room,

1417
01:02:00,600 --> 01:02:03,440
and the other man,
unaware of what had taken place,

1418
01:02:03,480 --> 01:02:06,240
would say, "Are you going out
with your girl tonight?"

1419
01:02:06,280 --> 01:02:10,040
And he would have answered,
"No, I'm going straight home."

1420
01:02:10,080 --> 01:02:12,360
And the picture
would have ended that way.

1421
01:02:12,440 --> 01:02:15,640
But the producers claimed
it was too depressing.

1422
01:02:15,720 --> 01:02:17,320
In the play,

1423
01:02:17,360 --> 01:02:20,080
it was revealed that the artist
had a heart condition,

1424
01:02:20,120 --> 01:02:23,680
died because of it,
and had fallen on the knife.

1425
01:02:25,120 --> 01:02:26,800
We've seen the painting
of the jester

1426
01:02:26,880 --> 01:02:29,960
on several occasions
throughout the film.

1427
01:02:30,000 --> 01:02:32,360
When Alice entered
the artist's studio,

1428
01:02:32,400 --> 01:02:35,040
she looked outside the window
and saw a policeman.

1429
01:02:35,080 --> 01:02:37,880
She then looked at the painting
and laughed.

1430
01:02:37,960 --> 01:02:41,960
The traditional court jester
was hired to ridicule society.

1431
01:02:42,040 --> 01:02:43,720
Alice identified
with the painting

1432
01:02:43,800 --> 01:02:45,120
when she laughed at
the policeman

1433
01:02:45,200 --> 01:02:49,200
because in fact
she was laughing at Frank.

1434
01:02:50,160 --> 01:02:51,480
After the murder,

1435
01:02:51,520 --> 01:02:53,960
Alice tore up the painting
as she realized

1436
01:02:54,040 --> 01:02:56,120
that the accusatory finger
of the jester

1437
01:02:56,160 --> 01:02:58,800
was pointing at her all along.

1438
01:02:58,880 --> 01:03:01,040
[ Mocking laughter echoes ]

1439
01:03:01,120 --> 01:03:05,000
But who is the jester laughing
at now at the end of the film?

1440
01:03:05,040 --> 01:03:07,440
At the irony
of Alice's situation,

1441
01:03:07,480 --> 01:03:09,480
at love, at authority?

1442
01:03:09,560 --> 01:03:12,240
Maybe he's laughing at us --

1443
01:03:12,320 --> 01:03:14,000
the audience.

1444
01:03:14,040 --> 01:03:17,080
[ Mocking laughter continues ]

1445
01:03:17,120 --> 01:03:21,360
The irony in the ending
was also a Hitchcock trademark.

1446
01:03:21,440 --> 01:03:23,640
The ironic conclusion
of "Murder!"

1447
01:03:23,720 --> 01:03:25,520
where what drove
the killer to kill

1448
01:03:25,600 --> 01:03:28,760
was to protect a secret
from his paramour.

1449
01:03:28,840 --> 01:03:30,560
A murder
on an impulse

1450
01:03:30,600 --> 01:03:32,040
to silence the mouth
of a woman

1451
01:03:32,120 --> 01:03:33,640
who knew his secret

1452
01:03:33,720 --> 01:03:35,440
and was going to reveal it
to the woman

1453
01:03:35,520 --> 01:03:36,960
he dared to love.

1454
01:03:37,000 --> 01:03:39,400
There is a melodrama for you,
Sir John.

1455
01:03:39,440 --> 01:03:43,360
The same secret she already
knew from the beginning.

1456
01:03:43,440 --> 01:03:46,840
Other ironic endings
can be found in "Frenzy" --

1457
01:03:46,880 --> 01:03:49,080
"Mr. Rusk,
you're not wearing your tie."

1458
01:03:49,160 --> 01:03:52,040
Mr. Rusk,

1459
01:03:52,080 --> 01:03:54,160
you're not wearing your tie.

1460
01:03:55,320 --> 01:03:56,520
"To Catch a Thief" --

1461
01:03:56,560 --> 01:03:59,000
"Oh,
mother will love it up here."

1462
01:03:59,080 --> 01:04:01,600
So this is where you live.

1463
01:04:01,680 --> 01:04:03,800
Oh, mother will love it
up here.

1464
01:04:03,880 --> 01:04:07,400
[ Ominous music plays ]

1465
01:04:07,440 --> 01:04:09,560
Or "Strangers on a Train" --

1466
01:04:09,600 --> 01:04:11,200
"Aren't you Guy Haines?"

1467
01:04:11,240 --> 01:04:12,480
[ Whimsical music playing ]

1468
01:04:12,560 --> 01:04:13,800
I beg your pardon,

1469
01:04:13,840 --> 01:04:15,440
but aren't you
Guy Haines?

1470
01:04:16,600 --> 01:04:18,640
A question
that set the plot into motion

1471
01:04:18,720 --> 01:04:20,520
at the very beginning
of the film.

1472
01:04:21,760 --> 01:04:23,680
[ Suspenseful music plays ]

1473
01:04:23,760 --> 01:04:28,040
"Blackmail" was publicized
as the first British talkie.

1474
01:04:28,080 --> 01:04:29,360
Michael Powell wrote,

1475
01:04:29,440 --> 01:04:31,320
"It was a smash hit

1476
01:04:31,360 --> 01:04:34,400
and put Hitch on the top
of the heap."

1477
01:04:34,480 --> 01:04:37,520
All the atmosphere and suspense
of "The Lodger,"

1478
01:04:37,560 --> 01:04:40,640
plus a few clever tricks
with sound,

1479
01:04:40,720 --> 01:04:43,840
the film had all the
visual appeal of a silent film,

1480
01:04:43,920 --> 01:04:45,280
plus the suspense.

1481
01:04:46,480 --> 01:04:48,200
When the film reached Hollywood,

1482
01:04:48,240 --> 01:04:50,680
Hitch was deluged with offers,

1483
01:04:50,760 --> 01:04:53,320
but he wasn't ready to go yet.

1484
01:04:53,400 --> 01:04:55,520
[ Uplifting instrumental
music plays ]

1485
01:04:55,600 --> 01:04:58,240
"I think that somebody
once said to me,"

1486
01:04:58,280 --> 01:05:00,160
Alfred Hitchcock declared,

1487
01:05:00,240 --> 01:05:02,560
"'What's your idea
of happiness?'

1488
01:05:02,640 --> 01:05:05,880
And I said, 'A clear horizon.

1489
01:05:05,920 --> 01:05:10,920
No clouds, no shadows,
nothing.'"

1490
01:05:10,960 --> 01:05:14,360
This remark is quite unexpected,
coming from someone

1491
01:05:14,400 --> 01:05:17,360
who left behind such
a legacy of moving images.

1492
01:05:18,760 --> 01:05:21,560
But rather,
what Hitch may have meant here

1493
01:05:21,600 --> 01:05:25,440
is his idea of happiness
was a blank screen

1494
01:05:25,480 --> 01:05:29,400
on which he could create
his own images.

1495
01:05:29,480 --> 01:05:33,120
And with "Blackmail,"
and those early films,

1496
01:05:33,200 --> 01:05:36,120
Hitch, it seems,
legitimized sound,

1497
01:05:36,160 --> 01:05:40,200
but also made a giant step
for motion pictures.

1498
01:05:40,280 --> 01:05:42,880
[ Uplifting music continues ]

1499
01:05:42,960 --> 01:05:48,240
He went on to have one of the
most amazing cinematic careers,

1500
01:05:48,320 --> 01:05:51,000
and it's those early films
that set the tone

1501
01:05:51,080 --> 01:05:54,440
and connect all the films Hitch
did subsequently.

1502
01:05:54,520 --> 01:05:56,880
[ Uplifting music continues ]

1503
01:05:56,960 --> 01:05:58,880
You have the blonde...

1504
01:05:58,960 --> 01:06:01,800
the wrong man or woman...

1505
01:06:01,880 --> 01:06:03,640
villains...

1506
01:06:03,680 --> 01:06:05,560
detectives...

1507
01:06:05,640 --> 01:06:07,440
the chase...

1508
01:06:07,520 --> 01:06:10,640
the humor...

1509
01:06:10,720 --> 01:06:12,120
the food...

1510
01:06:12,160 --> 01:06:13,960
spies...

1511
01:06:14,040 --> 01:06:16,360
voyeurism...

1512
01:06:16,440 --> 01:06:19,720
suspense...

1513
01:06:19,760 --> 01:06:22,360
sexuality...

1514
01:06:22,400 --> 01:06:23,800
murder.

1515
01:06:23,840 --> 01:06:26,080
[ Uplifting music continues ]

1516
01:06:26,160 --> 01:06:28,360
The singular
cinematic language

1517
01:06:28,440 --> 01:06:30,600
and the MacGuffin,

1518
01:06:30,640 --> 01:06:32,920
the thing
that motivates the plot

1519
01:06:33,000 --> 01:06:35,120
but is of no importance.

1520
01:06:36,480 --> 01:06:40,320
Very few filmmakers can claim
to be a brand name.

1521
01:06:40,360 --> 01:06:45,800
Hitchcock was, is,
and always will be a brand.

1522
01:06:45,880 --> 01:06:47,760
[ Uplifting music swells

1523
01:06:47,800 --> 01:06:49,600
[ Music fades ]

1524
01:06:49,680 --> 01:06:51,800
[ Pensive music plays ]

1525
01:06:51,880 --> 01:06:55,280
Francois Truffaut said,
"When I direct a movie,

1526
01:06:55,360 --> 01:06:58,360
I realized if I'm having
problems with a scene,

1527
01:06:58,400 --> 01:07:00,160
I always find a solution

1528
01:07:00,240 --> 01:07:02,400
if I think of Hitchcock."

1529
01:07:02,440 --> 01:07:05,040
[ Music continues ]

1530
01:07:05,080 --> 01:07:08,880
No doubt most filmmakers
are indebted to Hitchcock,

1531
01:07:08,960 --> 01:07:13,120
and as audience members,
so are we.

1532
01:07:13,160 --> 01:07:15,320
To paraphrase Truffaut,

1533
01:07:15,400 --> 01:07:18,720
If you're having problems
with a film you're watching,

1534
01:07:18,760 --> 01:07:23,520
you can always find solace
in revisiting a Hitchcock movie.

1535
01:07:23,560 --> 01:07:26,160
No doubt it will remind you

1536
01:07:26,200 --> 01:07:29,960
how far reaching the art
of cinema can be.

1537
01:07:30,000 --> 01:07:33,840
♪♪

1538
01:07:35,280 --> 01:07:37,280
[ Dark luminous music plays ]

1539
01:07:37,360 --> 01:07:45,120
♪♪

1540
01:07:45,200 --> 01:07:52,960
♪♪

1541
01:07:53,040 --> 01:08:00,800
♪♪

1542
01:08:00,880 --> 01:08:08,640
♪♪

1543
01:08:08,720 --> 01:08:16,479
♪♪

1544
01:08:16,520 --> 01:08:24,319
♪♪

1545
01:08:24,359 --> 01:08:32,160
♪♪

1546
01:08:32,200 --> 01:08:40,080
♪♪