We are now having a very innocent little chat. Let’s suppose that there is a bomb underneath this table between us. Nothing happens, and then all of a sudden, “Boom!” There is an explosion. The public is surprised, but prior to this surprise, it has seen an absolutely ordinary scene, of no special consequence. Now, let us take a suspense situation. The bomb is underneath the table and the public knows it, probably because they have seen the anarchist place it there. The public is aware the bomb is going to explode at one o’clock and there is a clock in the decor. The public can see that it is a quarter to one. In these conditions, the same innocuous conversation becomes fascinating because the public is participating in the scene. The audience is longing to warn the characters on the screen: “You shouldn’t be talking about such trivial matters. There is a bomb beneath you and it is about to explode!”
In the first case we have given the public fifteen seconds of surprise at the moment of the explosion. In the second we have provided them with fifteen minutes of suspense. The conclusion is that whenever possible the public must be informed. Except when the surprise is a twist, that is, when the unexpected ending is, in itself, the highlight of the story.” ― Alfred Hitchcock
Rear Window (1954)
“Always make the audience suffer as much as possible.” ― Alfred Hitchcock
“I have a perfect cure for a sore throat: cut it.” ― Alfred Hitchcock
The 39 Steps (1935) Alfred Hitchcock (second right) directing the handcuffed Madeleine Carroll and Robert Donat on the first day of filming
“Revenge is sweet and not fattening.” ― Alfred Hitchcock
“Fear isn’t so difficult to understand. After all, weren’t we all frightened as children? Nothing has changed since Little Red Riding Hood faced the big bad wolf. What frightens us today is exactly the same sort of thing that frightened us yesterday. It’s just a different wolf. This fright complex is rooted in every individual.” ― Alfred Hitchcock
Rear Window (1954)
“Ideas come from everything” ― Alfred Hitchcock
“There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.” ― Alfred Hitchcock
The Lady Vanishes – Googie Withers
“Give them pleasure. The same pleasure they have when they wake up from a nightmare.” ― Alfred Hitchcock
“What is drama but life with the dull bits cut out.” ― Alfred Hitchcock
“The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder.” ― Alfred Hitchcock
“There is a distinct difference between “suspense” and “surprise,” and yet many pictures continually confuse the two. I’ll explain what I mean.
“Blondes make the best victims. They’re like virgin snow that shows up the bloody footprints.” ― Alfred Hitchcock
Stage Fright (1950) Marlene Dietrich tries to attract her director’s attention
‘The more successful the villain, the more successful the picture’ – Alfred Hitchcock
“We seem to have a compulsion these days to bury time capsules in order to give those people living in the next century or so some idea of what we are like. I have prepared one of my own. I have placed some rather large samples of dynamite, gunpowder, and nitroglycerin. My time capsule is set to go off in the year 3000. It will show them what we are really like.” ― Alfred Hitchcock
Stage Fright (1950) Marlene Dietrich tries to attract her director’s attention
Psycho – 1960
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Paramount
USA
On/Off Set
Psycho (1960)
Hitchcock in London during the filming of Frenzy (1972).
Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh visit Alfred Hitchcock in his studio office in advance of filming Psycho, 1959 Sid Avery
Alfred Hitchcock and Tippi Hedren on the set of Marnie, 1964
