Master of Suspense: Alfred Hitchcock

In connection with the upcoming Halloween season, credit for suspense should be given where credit is due and to none other than the "Master of Suspense" Sir Alfred Hitchcock.The appropriate stir of the macabre and the cryptic is in the air with Halloween coming soon and likely no better time to pay tribute to mystery buffs and masters alike.

With regard to cinematography many people realize an all-time master of course is Sir Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980). Born in London, England, he was characterized by his austerity and command of attention from the audience in famous films and television presentations. A film director who lived until the age of 80, Alfred Hitchcock was a pioneer of suspense and thrillers, nowadays we give credit to Stephen King. Hitchcock worked many aspects of cinema, from silent film, to the black and white talking films and later evolving to color productions, including television. He was married to Alma Reville and died in Bel Air, Los Angeles, Calif. on April 29, 1980. Cinema experts describe his work as an arm of German Expressionism, a visual and time line comparative might be the artist Eduard Munch whose famous work included "The Scream."

Famous actor Francois Trauffaut and producer Steven Spielberg brought top billing from "Close Encounters of The Third Kind," later contemporaries influenced by Alfred Hitchcock. Certainly science fiction was the next logical step after the explosive repercussions of earlier suspense and thrillers.

In a span of six decades, Alfred Hitchcock directed as many as 50 feature films, the longest work 130 minutes, or just over two hours. "The Alfred Hitchcock Presents" television series aired from 1955 to 1965 usually for 60 minutes, reshows following for many years afterwards. Some of the stellar stars included Cary Grant, Grace Kelly and James Stewart, all highly visible during the black and white film productions.

Sir Alfred utilized technique, compact dialogue, symbols and tools to elevate the level of suspense in his features. Reeled camera shots were taken from a believable vantage point further convincing the audience of immediate presence. Symbols created a sense of impendence, i.e., in one "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" feature a man becomes tormented when he is unable to remember where he buried someone, large hedges and the moon are viewed many times from different angles pre-empting the viewer to be just as stumped in knowing where the corpse is. In "The Birds" shot after shot of different angles of flocks of crows become more impending as the birds move in closer towards attack, increasingly chaotic to heighten the anxiety. "North by Northwest" shows a rooftop and weathervane again and again at different times during the most heightened suspense as a visual tag. In "The 39 Steps" the use of footsteps and repeated camera shots of stairs boost tension and narrate the mystery. Most of these features and films were in black and white, many times at night, and there was no doubt these films were suspense thrillers.

The movie "Rebecca" received an academy award for Best Picture. A master of human interraction, Sir Alfred builds the suspense between a second wife and an aloof husband, a predatory housekeeper, and the hauntings of the beautiful late first wife "Rebecca." In watching this movie, my suspense was wondering if the second wife was going to an afterlife as the first. How the first wife died reaps suspense as a ticking clock. This feature film starred Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine.

The accompanying photograph is one of the classic perched crow signatures of Alfred Hitchcock. In a series of shorter films for television, usually 50 to 60 minutes, included was the Hitchcock introductory signature: the raising of suspense questions in the beginning, the director himself in a black suit with a cigarette, sometimes a black crow roosting on his shoulder, and other times he maintained only a profile while giving the introduction. The signature series also included a closing and often a dubious question was proposed at the end. The movies and productions incorporated musical portrayals, sounds of doom, faint to louder, etc., screeching birds, a scream in the night, and the composer who receives credit is Louis Levy.

Top rated feature films included "Rebecca" receiving the Academy Award, "Lifeboat," "Spellbound," "Rear Window," "Psycho," and "Suspicion" other famous works for cinema. The television series "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" earned the Golden Globe Award. From that series the productions I remember so many years later included "The 39 Steps," "Frenzy," "The Birds," "The Lady Vanishes," "Vertigo," "North by Northwest," and "The Man Who Knew Too Much." All of these were in black and white and first rate. Dialogues were brief, compact and as direct and poignant as the visuals.

As a strange quirk for thought, Alfred Hitchcock is purported to despise eggs. After eating a poached egg as a youth he continued to avoid eating them to a point of compulsion and appeared to develop a phobia of eggs.

Any notable mystery buff organization celebrates Alfred Hitchcock. There is a current popular organization Alfred Hitchcock Scholars, Hitchcock Magazine publications have been circulating for many years and advertises at www.mysterynet.com. The magazine continues its imprint in 2007 with excellent mystery stories written by modern writers. Some stories take place in foreign countries, some are bent towards crime, most are just plain scary. Then for a "horrific" Halloween consider an all-night or weekend series of film showings including sci-fi, suspense and Alfred Hitchcock presentations.