Wednesday, August 29, 2007

A Brief Biography of Alfred Hitchcock.

“I am a typed director. If I made Cinderella, the audience would immediately be looking for a body in the coach.” Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock, who was known as a master of Suspense, was a British film director and producer,who was born on August 13, 1899 in Leytonstone. He studied at the Jesuit Catholic school "St. Ignatius College", school that he left at the age of 14 years old. After leaving that school, he studied at the "School for Engineering and Navigation", where he studied mechanics, electricity, acoustics and navigation.

His filming career began in 1919 at the Paramount's Famous Players-Lasky studio in London, where he worked designing titles for silent movies. There he learned scripting, editing and art direction and, in general, all film issues.
In 1923 he did his first directing when he replaced the ailing director of Always Tell Your Wife and he had to finish this movie.

In 1922 he directed "Number thirteen", a film that he never finished because the studio closed.

In 1925, he directed his first film "The Pleasure Garden", that was filmed in Munich (Ufa Studios).
In 1926 he married Alma Reville, who was his assistant director and a long-life collaborator for Hitchcock. From The Lodger (1926) Hitchcock made cameo appearances. In 1929 he produced "Blackmail" his first sound film in London. After this film, he produced many other well-known films in London, such as "The Man Who Knew Too Much " (1934) , The 39 Steps (1935), "Secret Agent", "Sabotage" (1936) and "The Lady Vanishes" (1938).

At the end of 1930s, Alfred Hitchcock is invited by David O. Selznick to Hollywood, where he produced many other successful films, and where he finally settled.

His first film in Hollywood was "Rebecca" (1940), based on a novel by Daphne du Maurier. It won the Academy Award for Best picture of 1940. "Lifeboat" (1944)(Academy Award for Best Director), "Spellbound" (1945)(Academy Award for Best Director). Another interesting Hitchcock's film is "The Rope" (1948), but, unfortunately, it was not as successful as his other films at that time.

The 1950s denote a prolific era in Hitchcock's work. During this decade, he produced films such as "Strangers on a Train" (1951), "Dial M for Murder" (1954), "Rear Window" (Academy Award for Best Director)(1954), "Vertigo" (1958), "North by Northwest" (1959), and during the 1960s : "Psycho" (1960)(Academy Award for Best Director), "The Birds" (1963) , "Marnie" (1964) "Topaz" (1969).

Also in 1955, he hosted his own antology television series called Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Each episode lasted for 30 minutes. He also was the host of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.

During 1970s he produced films such as "Frenzy" (1972), filmed in London, after being 30 years in The United States and "Family Plot" 1972.

Finally, at the age of 80 years old, he died due to renal failure in Los Angeles. His body was cremated and the ashes scattered over the Pacific.




This post is based on information found at :

http://hitchcock.tv/bio/bio.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Hitchcock
http://www.hitchcockfans.com/bio.html
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/hitch.htm
http://ukbaptisms.com/bir_casestudy.htm

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Technical Information


Director :
Alfred Hitchcock

Based upon the novel : "D'entre les morts" by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac

Screenplay by : Alec Coppel and Samuel Taylor

Cast :
      • James Stewart as John Ferguson
      • Kim Novak as Madeleine Elster and Judy Barton
      • Barbara Bel Geddes as Midge Wood
      • Tom Helmore as Gavin Elster
      • Henry Jones as The Coroner
      • Raymond Bailey
      • Ellen Corby
      • Konstantin Shayne
      • Lee Patrick
Associated Producer : Herbert Coleman

Director of Photography : Robert Burks

Music Composer :
Bernard Herrmann

Release Date : 9 May 1958 (USA)

Country : USA

Language : English

Run Time : 128 minutes

Art Direction : Hal Pereira and Henry Bumstead

Special Photographic Effects : John P.Fulton

Process Photography : Farciot Edouart and Wallace Kelley

Set Decoration : Sam Comer and Frank McKelly

Edited by : George Tomasini

Assistant Director : Daniel McCauley

Sound Recording by : Harold Lewis and Winston Leverett

Costumes : Edith Head

Music by : Bernard Herrmann

Genre : Drama, Mystery , Thriller

Certification : PG ( Parental Guidance Suggested )

Color : Color (Technicolor)

Awards :

  • 1959 : Nominated Oscar Best Art Direction-Set Decoration
  • 1959 : Nominated Oscar Sound
  • 1959 : Nominated Directors Guild of America, USA Outstanding Directional Achievement in Motion Pictures
  • 1958 : Winner Silver Seashell Award
  • 1958 : Zulueta Prize Best Actor James Stewart
  • 1995 : Winner New York Film Critics Circle Award
  • 2005 : Nominated Satellite Awards



( Information taken from : http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052357/
http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1800131906/awards
http://spanish.imdb.com/title/tt0052357/awards )