P1247676908jqYEa

1
A few comments from the journals (The 39
Steps) Hannay is instinctively chivalrous
toward Pamela. He hangs her stockings by the
fireplace to dry and offers her a Kleenex when
she sneezes. . . . Hannay shifts from being
someone who needs to confess and ask for help to
one who helps adapts to whatever his situation
demands. The reactions of Annabella when she
enters Hannays apartment work as a kind of
double revealing process because we not only see
her fear but also his reaction to her
strangeness. The end provides us with the same
feeling of identifying with Hannay by the use
of the camera. When Mr. Memory is telling his
secret, everyone is crowded around him. With this
use of the camera we feel as if we were another
person kneeling beside him. . . . This feeling .
. . Is reinforced when the camera focuses on the
hands of the new couple not from a high or low
angle but dead on. We are eye-level with their
intimacy. During the kiss with the cool blonde
to hide from the police on the train, Hitchcock
cuts from the womans reaction to her tense,
stiff arms and hands to show her objection and
discomfort. The close-up of her hands tells us as
much about her objection as her facial
reaction. A great pan of the inside of the
music hall shows a wide array of patrons. There
are a lot of quick editing moments when Mr.
Memory takes the stage that really grant the
scene a rather chaotic feel. The stylized change
in lighting in the apartment foreshadows the
sinister nature of what is to come. The car
being stuck on the bridge mirrors the train
scene both times Hannay escapes certain
doom. We watch Pamela in near silence as it
dawns on her that Hannay is innocent.
2
A few other shots from the film that catch the
eye. What might be the larger purpose?
Some useful terms from the examples negative
space open-frame forms (and the opposite
closed-frame forms) canted (or oblique or tilted
or Dutch) angle soft focus
3
Some visual examples from Sabotage
Some useful terms closed-frame visual forms
chiaroscuro (high-contrast light dark) motif
blocking (or hostile) foreground element
Extra-credit question. Did you notice the mistake
that Donald Spoto makes in discussing Sabotage?
He must have rewritten his chapter without
reviewing the film. Explain in a sentence or two
the mistake on the back of your journal page.
4
The first part of Ted Haimes 1999 documentary
Dial H for Hitchcock covered these points the
introductory pure cinema montage general
comments from other filmmakers about
Hitchcock the concept of Hitchcock as genius and
showman the concept of Hitchcocks characters
stepping into private traps biographical
summary Hitchcocks early years, marriage to
Alma Reville, birth of daughter the importance of
The Lodger and Blackmail
5
A second documentary about Hitchcock also
appeared in 1999. This one was by nonfiction
filmmaker Michael Epstein, and it seems to have
been suggested by the idea behind Leonard J.
Leffs book. (Leff appears in the documentary.)
The film is called Hitchcock, Selznick, and the
End of Hollywood. It covers the seven-year
collaboration of the director and producer and
the way Hollywood was changing. It is a good way
of learning about the way movies were made in
Hitchcocks era (and how he may have benefited
from restraint). Here is what the first portion
covers (and what you need to know)
the rigid Hollywood studio (i.e., assembly line)
system background on Selznick (his father, his
ambition, his wife, his needs) background on
Hitchcock (his evening confession, his jail
trauma, Berlin and UFA, the shy guy, his
directing technique, expressionistic sound in
Blackmail) the unimportance of directors in 1930s
Hollywood Selznicks tyranny over directors (and
everybody else) Gone with the Wind the
unimportance of filmmaking in 1930s England
Hitchcocks first American film (Rebecca) and the
clash of working method with Selznick (i.e.,
Hitchcocks jigsaw cutting)