h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

How about a run-down of some great Hitchcock films and classic scenes?

I'll start with Young and Innocent, an early British thriller. The hero (falsely accused of a murder and on the run from the police) and heroine are on the look-out for the real murderer. All they know is he has a peculiar facial twitch and they've followed the trail to a dance hall. The camera looks down on the hall and watches as the hero and heroine make their way through the dancing couples. Slowly the camera floats across the dancefloor and over to the stage where a minstrel band is playing dance music. We draw closer and closer to the band, move past the conductor and eventually stop right in the face of the drummer... whose face is hidden under black-face make-up but whose eyes and mouth begins to twitch nervously...

Such a brilliant and technically advanced shot for the time, it's also an early example of letting the audience in on soemthing the characters don't know - the identity of the killer!

I love that bit! I'm a film colourist specialising in restoration work, and we had "Young and Innocent" through for DVD remastering. What struck me was the way all the Hitchcock elements were present even in this early stage, down to the icy blonde heroine...

In Frenzy we find out who the murderer is, and then the camera follows his next victim up to the his room - and stops. Instead of going in and showing what happens to the girl, the camera pulls back maddeningly and drifts back down the stairs. It is the ultimate in suspense, because we know this man is going to try to murder her.

In Psycho their is one amazing shot,it's about a minute and a half long. It follows Norman Bates up the stairs, but stops at the top of the stairs, you hear Norman talking with his "mother" then when he walks out carring his "mother" it zooms on the door and then basicly does a flip then follows Norman walking down the stairs from above.

One of my favorite Hitchcock movies is "Rope". Yet another film with James Stewart in the cast, this film was the first to look like one continuous shot. Hitchcock shot ten minute takes and then cut them together in a way that looked like one camera moving aroung the room for an hour and a half. Done in the dark ages before CGI and digital editing, this is truly an amazing feat! Not to mention innovative and original!