05 Nov 08 Alfred Hitchcock
Saboteur is one of his more popular, later films that you might recognize him from. Perhaps you’re even indirectly familiar with his films through spoofs like High Anxiety. You owe a debt of gratitude to Alfred Hitchcock, however, if you enjoy films fillled with drama.
The great director, Alfred Hitchock, began his career as an advertising designer and a draftsman. Due to his aptitude and interest in movies, he was a success designing title cards for silent movies.
Before becoming a director, Alfred Hitchcock was a writer of silent films such as Three Live Ghosts and Love’s Boomerang in Great Britain and Germany. In 1925, he made his mark with the film, The Pleasure Garden, where he finally got the chance to act as director. He continued directing other silent movies. It was immediately evident he was skilled at story telling with unique camera work.
Some of his earlier works, unfortunately, have been lost completely or there are only parts of them known to remain.
Sound made it possible for him to enrich his film making. Many of his earlier films were produced in Britain. His success with these early ‘talkies’ gave him the resources to perfect his art.
Perhaps Alfred Hitchcock is known best to the current generation for the remakes of his films. There have been several box office hits as a result of his later films being remade.
If you get the chance to watch one of Hitchcock’s films, be sure to watch for him. He often made cameo appearances of some type in his films. Here are a few examples:
* Foreign Correspondent made in 1940 where he is seen after Joel McCrea leaves his hotel, wearing a coat and hat and reading a newspaper
* The Wrong Man made in 1956 where he is seen in silhouette narrating the film’s prologue
* Stage Fright made in 1950 where he is seen turning to look back at Jane Wyman in her disguise as Marlene Dietrich’s maid
* Shadow of a Doubt made in 1943 where he is seen on the train to Santa Rosa, playing cards
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