p>Coming back to ‘Vertigo’, it has proved to be different things to different viewers. For some it is a mystery thriller, plain and simple. For others it is a serious attempt to explore the protagonist’s (Scottie, played by James Stewart) subconscious. It is also an allegory wherein a man seeks to redeem his love that death had claimed. American actress Kim Novak’s most famous performance was in Vertigo, wherein she epitomizes the cool blonde heroines whom Hitchcock favoured as his leading ladies.
‘To Catch A Thief’ surprised the Hitchcock movie addicts. He had already earned reputation for his nerve-wracking suspense movies like ‘The Man Who Knew Too Much’, ‘The 39 Steps’, ‘Dial M For Murder’, ‘Rear Window’ etc. Although ‘To Catch A Thief’ too is a suspense movie, comedy predominates the narrative. The film has all sorts of thieves – manipulators, lovers, and hardened felons; and, of course, the reformed ones too. Yet the message that goes out is that theft’s moral implications are not absolutely objective. There is a lot of subjectivity depending on how one perceives the act of larceny.

Trains play a major role in Hitchcock movies: ‘The 39 Steps’ (an adaptation of John Buchan’s novel); ‘The Lady Vanishes’; ‘Strangers On A Train’; ‘North By Northwest’; the circus train episode in ‘Sabotage’ prove the point. However most mystery and action movies have been biased in favour of trains vis a vis other modes of transport like aircraft, cars or ships. Not that the latter never figured in such movies but somehow they failed to conjure up the atmosphere of romance and suspense as trains did.

We must remember the period when these movies were made. Today it is possible to ‘create’ space for all sorts of cinematic action even in an airplane’s toilet thanks to technological advancements. However, trains do hold their own even in today’s movies.
In addition to making films, Hitchcock edited several collections of short stories and produced two television series during the 1950s and 1960s, Alfred Hitchcock Presents and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, on which he served as a portly, hoarse host.

A pioneer who spawned an entire genre of mystery movies, his name has become a metaphor for good, fast paced, gripping cinema.
To paraphrase a famous catchphrase – the master is dead, long live the master.

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Rob Miller | July 20, 2010