The Urbane Shocker

By

Randeep Wadehra

Even long after his death he is known as the Master of Suspense for his awesome skill in directing psychological thrillers. As a director, he was appreciated for his witty urbanity, his exquisite but highly stylized cinematic technique, and his predilection for the weird and the sensational. He was a trailblazer in using cerebral and strong ambient factors to create a particular effect. One of the directorial quirks was his non-speaking cameo appearances in his films.

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was the son of a poultry dealer in London. He began his career in film industry as a title designer. Before migrating to the United States he directed his first movie ‘The Pleasure Garden’ in 1925. In 1926 he directed ‘The Lodger’, generally acknowledged as his first suspense-thriller. After moving to the USA he directed such masterpieces as‘Rear Window’ (1954), ‘Psycho’ (1960), and ‘The Birds’ (1963), among other memorable works.

Cinema is a complete language in itself – with its own ever-evolving metaphor and syntax. What is avant-garde today becomes hackneyed tomorrow – such are the dynamics of this nouveau art form. This is true of suspense-thrillers too. The plots that have become almost predictable today draw their inspiration from the works of past masters, among whom Hitchcock stands the tallest. Hitchcock himself improvised on some of his plots/ideas/ scenes in his subsequent works. Says George Perry, a noted movie critic, “Any Hitchcock fan who sits through The 39 Steps can see at once a prefiguring of key images, scenes and ideas that Hitchcock will return to in his later works. The notion of a group of spies carrying some important secrets out of the country is reworked to great advantage in North By Northwest.”
His movies had a lot of influence not only on the contemporary works but also the ones by the succeeding generations of filmmakers. For example, in ‘To Catch A Thief’ there is this exciting scene where a dark figure attacks Robby from behind. The two grapple on a cliff by the waterside. One of them falls headfirst into the river. The director cleverly disguises the identity of the character who thus falls. Today of course such scenes are commonplace but these were originally conceived and portrayed in the Hitchcock movies. However, even today, movie buffs are entranced by the Hitchcockean world of suspense, romance, humour and sheer audacity.
Well made suspense-thrillers can be a sensuously stirring experience, something like an aphrodisiac – that sends your nerves jangling with blood coursing through them at high velocity. But Hitchcock did not make mere thrillers. Romance had an equal share in the narrative. When suspense and romance mix, erotic sensation grips one’s imagination. The art of generating this erogenous sensation through the mind-blowing mix of suspense-romance-thriller was Hitchcock’s main strength.

‘North By Northwest’ (1959) was the most popular of Hitchcock's "wrong man" thrillers. On the one hand Cary Grant was chased by the police across the country, from the United Nations to the top of Mount Rushmore, and on the other hand, a bloodthirsty spy-ring, led by James Mason was in hot pursuit. Herrmann's musical composition constructed on effervescent South American rhythms, with pauses that effectively highlighted the suspense and comedy in the movie, gave the audience an unforgettable cinematic experience.
Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh gave remarkable performances in 'Psycho' (1960), one of the director’s most famous films. Perkins stars as Norman Bates in this sinister tale of murder and suspense.

While ‘North By Northwest’ was a buoyant romantic comedy with a strong component of love and an ending that did not leave any loose ends, ‘Vertigo’ and ‘Psycho’ were both tragedies of a dismal, profound and more somber timbre.
When we see ‘Vertigo’ today we discern sexist overtones in the narrative. Judy allows the obliteration of her entity and is moulded into what she feels impelled to believe as her original self’s improved version – Madeleine. She goes through this, what we would term today as humiliating transformation of the individuality, to win over the man she loves. There are umpteen movies in the Indian cinema where this willful subordination by woman characters is still held forth as a virtue. Though the Western male has come to terms with the female's unique particularity, the Indian male is still in the process of doing so.

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