A Conversation for Alfred Hitchcock
Hitchcock and the Censors
Smooshie Started conversation Apr 25, 2005
Hitchcock constantly walked a wire with the ever present censors, most notably in “Psycho” (1960) with the “almost” full nude of Janet Leigh (playing the character Marion Crane) in a long take in the shower. This was made more graphic simply by the violent nature of her death, stabbed repeatedly by Norman Bates. In “Notorious” (1946), Hitchcock circumvented the restrictive Hayes Code of Conduct regulating taste and decency in film productions by getting Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman to repeat a series of short kisses instead of one long one. This overcame the “2-second rule” for on screen kissing, but was an obvious attempt to break the rules without the scene being cut. According to Hitchcock, both the actors found the scene awkward to film, which needed several long takes and complicated blocking to produce. “Frenzy” (1972) was the first Hitchcock film to contain full nude scenes; however, both actresses (Barbara Leigh-Hunt and Anna Massey) both had stand-ins for their nude scenes.
I'm sure there were many more, but these are the only ones that immediately spring to mind.
Smooshie
Key: Complain about this post
Hitchcock and the Censors
More Conversations for Alfred Hitchcock
Write an Entry
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a wholly remarkable book. It has been compiled and recompiled many times and under many different editorships. It contains contributions from countless numbers of travellers and researchers."