10 Things You Don't Know About Alfred Hitchcock

4/22/2023 ISO 1200 Magazine 0 Comments

Alfred Hitchcock is one of the most well-known and influential filmmakers since the invention of the medium... So Film Riot did some digging and found 10 facts you probably don't know about the master of suspense!

He directed a lost film. Hitchcock’s second film, The Mountain Eagle, which was released in 1926, has since become his only lost film and is on BFI’s 10 most wanted list for lost films. All that remains now are a few production photos and a lobby card that was found at a flea market. Hitchcock himself seemed happy that the film was lost and called it “a very bad film” during his famous Hitchcock-Truffaut interview.
He directed the first British sound film.The first British talkie is considered to be "Blackmail," a 1929 film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The film was a thriller about a woman who, after killing a man in self-defense, is blackmailed by a witness to that killing. It actually started production as a silent film but switched to sound during production, which happened to several films around that time.
Hitchcock's wife, Alma Revel, was his closest collaborator. She was a writer, a script supervisor, editor, and assistant director on several of his early films. During production, Hitchcock would go to Alma for opinions after each take.
Dial M for Murder is Hitchcock's only film to be shot entirely in 3D. While this might seem surprising for a film that isn't action-packed, there are a few moments that make a little more sense once you know that it was intended for 3D.
Hitchcock wanted an extreme close-up of the rotary phone in Dial M for Murder, but Warner Brothers' proprietary 3D camera system didn't allow that kind of close-up. So Hitchcock had a giant phone with a giant finger made just for this moment.
In Rear Window, Hitchcock chose to use only diegetic sound in the film other than the score at the opening and close of the film. Diegetic sound is a sound that the character inside the actual film can hear, and Hitchcock wanted to immerse the audience in the world of that apartment courtyard in every way he could.
Hitchcock's wife, Alma, was instrumental in the inclusion of the Bernard Hermann cue in the shower scene in Psycho. Hitchcock didn't want any score for the scene, but it was Alma's insistence that the cue be used that ultimately led him to relenting.
Hitchcock's film "The Pleasure Garden" was his first feature film, which you can find easily online.
Hitchcock's film "The Mountain Eagle" was one of his least favorite films, and he was happy when it was lost to history. He called it a very bad film during his famous Hitchcock-Truffaut interview.
He never won an Oscar for best director. Despite being nominated five times for best director by the Academy Awards, Hitchcock never won the coveted statuette. He was nominated for Rebecca (1940), Lifeboat (1944), Spellbound (1945), Rear Window (1954), and Psycho (1960), but lost to other directors every time. He did receive an honorary Oscar in 1968 for his contributions to cinema, but he only said two words in his acceptance speech: “Thank you.” He also received two Golden Globes, eight Laurel Awards, and five lifetime achievement awards from various organizations.