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ecarle's Replies
A final thought. Everyone knows that part of Psycho's importance is that it brought together Hitch's star-driven film side and his more disreputable, lucrative, teen-courting TV side. Keeping DON in mind as influence on Psycho deepens that basic perception by reminding us that Hitch's decision to come to Hollywood in 1939 had its price. It forced Hitchcock towards more elevated materials suitable for big stars like Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck, and Cary Grant, and away from his roots in exciting thrillers and mystery-publishing.
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Very gratifying, swanstep, to get to read a "long post" over several posts...and allowed. This is the kind of "in-depth" writing on film(without being article-length) that I very much value reading...and occasionally indulge in myself, if only because some ideas can use some airing out.
No one HAS to read a long post(or "multi-post post,") but for me, the reading experience of such can be very gratifying, educational and entertaining.
Thanks for this post, which may end up making the case for "Dead of Night" as the MOST influential film on Psycho the movie, and certainly on Psycho the novel by Bloch.
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Eaaling Studios meanwhile would take up this banner. Hitchcock would get back to his UK roots in disreputable genres first with his TV shows, and then finally, triumphantly would merge all his horizons with Psycho.
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I think from the time he first set foot in America, Hitchcock would occasionally get the freedom to "break free" from the constraints of studios, major stars, and "prestige."
You can see it, I think , in the Hitchocck films where the stars were NOT the biggest, and the casting was along the lines of "an ensemble rather than a star":
Foreign Correspondent
Shadow of a Doubt
Lifeboat
Strangers on a Train
The Trouble With Harry
Psycho(Hitchcock wrote to someone that he didn't cast "big stars" in this film.)
The Birds
Topaz(after the mega-stardom of Newman and Andrews in Torn Curtain demoralized Hitch in certain ways)
Frenzy(probably the LEAST starry film Hitchcock ever made; NOBODY was a "name")
Family Plot(Dern, Black, and Harris were names, but not very big ones.)
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With his "less starry" casts, Hitchcock could get more violent(Psycho, The Birds, Frenzy-- though I must admit Torn Curtain has a major violent scene); could get more experimental (Psycho, The Birds, Marnie, Topaz, Frenzy, Family Plot) and in general not have to tailor the story to the stars.
One of the counterintuitive aspects of Hitchcock's career is how what many consider his "Big Three"(Vertigo, North by Northwest, and Psycho) came rather late in what was already a very solid career of three decades worth. And trouble began almost immediately after Psycho...it was almost three years to The Birds(after one film a year) and then a "downhill slide based on age and health and relevance" began.
On the other hand, Hitch came to America with all those British thrillers and a reputation, immediately "checked in" with a Best Picture, in the same year gave audiences the really big thrills of Foreign Correspondent(that assassination and chase! that PLANE CRASH!.) And became almost immediately a cult director whose name went over the title. In short, Hitchcock was perhaps a greater success in the 30's and 40's than in the 60's.
Though his forties stuff is generally not as slam-bang as his fifties/early sixties stuff, Hitchcock DID establish two things once he hit America: (1) an affinity for thrillers(which made him a brand name for entertainment) and (2) a great talent for visual and sound ideas literally outside the abilities of pretty much every other director working.
I can see Hitchcock's cult forming around the shots of Mrs. Danvers in Rebecca, the assassination and plane crash scenes in FC, Cary Grant coming up the stairs with the milk in Suspicion, the dream sequences (and brutal flashback death of a boy) in Spellbound; the spinning POV of Cary Grant from Ingrid's position in Notorious, etc.
Came the fifties, as other directors started losing studio contracts(Michael Curtiz at Warners) and some directors didn't work much(Capra and Hawks), Hitchocck just kept plugging away.
And in 1955, added the TV show for megastardom.
And from 1951(Strangers on a Train) through 1963(The Birds), more often than not treated his audience to several exciting or terrifying set pieces PER FILM. Not to mention the unique "Rear Window," in which the ENTIRE MOVIE feels like a set piece.
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One irony about the Vertigo-NBNW-Psycho grand slam:
A New Republic critic named Stanley Kauffmann wrote scathing reviews of all three films in which his contention was that they were nowhere near Hitchcock's work of the 30s and 40's. He wrote of NXNW "surely the real Hitchcock has died and been replaced by this hack"(in so many words.)
These reviews were "wacky" but perhaps understandable: Vertigo and Psycho certainly didn't match the sedate content of Hitchcock's earlier films, and even NXNW seemed to have fun with old Hitchcock tropes.
Kauffman's reviews came back to haunt him as Psycho became a blockbuster, Vertigo became "one of the greatest films ever made"(even in 1965 it was given that cachet by critic Robin Wood) and North by Northwest was always and forever beloved. Kauffman found himself Truffaut's punching bag in print: "Surely Stanley Kauffmann has resoundingly failed," wrote Truffaut.
It seems OK now , swanstep.
It was very weird. The posts started to disappear off the screen AS I TYPED THEM. Hence I sent in a one-word message or two, just to try to get in.
"All is well." For now.
OK. The problem seems to be over now.
This is the third of three sites where I am registered and visiting. I feel a loyalty to everyone who found us "imdb orphans" a site, so I will try to visit all three.
Each has its own strengths, but I do like the fact that this one here is constructing itself rather like imdb and MAY be where the archived posts turn up.
I have great confidence that swanstep's archives WILL turn up somewhere. And not just our vaunted Psycho board....
I'm going to try to get in here, again.
The last time, my posts pretty much disappeared before my eyes as I typed them. Who knows why?
So...test.....
I can get in there...not here...wonder why?
great!
Posts disappear
It would be great if they can...IMDb should be willing to turn them over...what do they have to lose?