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John Cartagena

Professor Papayanis

The Art of Film

12 December 2011.

Style and Themes of the Master of Suspense.

Alfred Hitchcock can be considered one of the greatest directors of our time. The

innovative techniques he employed in his productions brought the genres of his movies to new

heights and made him an ever-popular household name in the film industry. Having migrated

from England to the United States, some consider him to be the master of suspense due to the

fact most of the plots of his films were laced with elements that caused anticipation and anxiety

in his audiences. The two films I will be discussing are North by Northwest (1959) and Psycho

(1960), both of which can be categorized as thrillers. After having watched these significant

movies, a case can be made for Alfred Hitchcock’s cinematographic qualities based on

observations of his signature style and recurring themes. Tim Dirks, who is the writer and editor

for AMC filmsite describes thriller and suspense films as having “plots [that] involve characters

which come into conflict with each other or with outside forces, [where] the menace is

sometimes abstract or shadowy.” Even though these two films are suspense thrillers, they each

are a hybrid with other genres as well. In North by Northwest the suspense is mixed with the

light-hearted, romantic comedy genre. At the complete opposite end of the thriller continuum is

Psycho, which is mixed with the brooding, agonizing darkness of the horror genre. In North by

Northwest, the menace is abstract because as viewers we have an idea as to why Roger Thornhill

is being mistaken for the fictitious George Kaplan, but we don’t have all the details to arrive at a

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plausible conclusion until later in the film. In Psycho, the menace is very shadowy because we

think that the psychopathic killer is Norman Bates’ mother, whom we later find out is nothing

but a corpse, and realize that the killer indeed is “Mother”, one of the personalities that inhabit

Norman’s psyche. In conforming to aspects of the horror genre, Psycho allows audiences to

“confront and vicariously conquer something frightening that we do not fully comprehend…

those frightening somethings are aspects of our existence even more intimidating than

technology or science: death and insanity. Both represent the ultimate loss of control and a

terrifying, inescapable metamorphosis” (Looking at Movies, 92).

In terms of thematic qualities, Hitchcock manages to use several of the same themes in

his films. After having watched the two aforementioned classics, there are recurring themes that

stand out in both films, some in more overt ways than others. Among the more obvious, note-

worthy themes in these movies there is secrecy, voyeurism, conflict between mother and son,

and love affairs. Each of these themes is cleverly adapted into the narrative of each movie in

such a way that they charm the viewer into reacting to characters in certain ways or identifying

with them in some way or another. Hitchcock is also known for the use the themes of sex and

sexuality, marriage, conflict between good and evil and vulnerability. These two movies

approach the theme of sex and sexuality in completely different ways: North by Northwest

simply makes reference to them through the use of dialogue between Eve and Roger in the

train’s dining car which is filled with lots of sexual innuendos, as well as in the scenes when they

are together in the cabin where the fade out implies that much more than making out took place.

It would be wrong to not mention the classic ending shot of the train going into the tunnel, which

leaves much to the imagination. The opening scene in Psycho, lets us arrive at our own

conclusion as to what just took place between Marion and Sam as they begin to dress themselves

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and return to their respectable lives outside of the hotel. Here, “the sexuality implicit in the

scene is subdued, understated, in keeping with the director’s usual mode in these matters: you get

the idea, but there is no panting, no heavy breathing in Hitchcock love scenes” (Bertolini). This

is how Hitchcock was able to integrate these themes into his movies, without breaking

censorship rules, which otherwise would have prohibited him from depicting this theme for his

audiences.

North by Northwest tailors the themes of secrecy and voyeurism to fit into the plot by

depicting the concept of secret identities and espionage. Roger Thornhill is mistaken for George

Kaplan at the hotel with his colleagues, which kicks off the confusing frenzy that carries through

the rest of the film when it comes to the character’s supposed identities. Phillip Vandamm is

convinced that Roger Thornhill is the spy George Kaplan, all the while Vandamm is not aware

that his girlfriend Eve Kendall is a double agent. Meanwhile, Vandamm assumes the identity of

Lester Townsend to add another plot point to keep the movie going and build up suspense. As

the viewer, we think that Eve Kendall is Vandamm’s girlfriend, but later find out she is a

government agent working undercover. Eve leads Roger to believe he is going to meet Kaplan

in the famous crop duster scene, when in reality she is taking directions from Leonard in an

effort to get rid of Thornhill. The voyeuristic theme is depicted through the idea of the

government intelligence agencies keeping tabs on spies, through Roger gaining access to

Kaplan’s hotel room, where he snoops through this fictitious person’s belonging to find clues

that will bring credibility to his predicament, and through Roger listening in on Leonard and

Phillip’s conversation at the end of the movie. As the plot unfolds, and we begin to see the

character development, the theme of conflict between mother and son is revealed through

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Roger’s relationship with his mother. Paul Gordon from Psychoanalytic Review gives some

insight on the scene where Roger calls his mother from jail to bail him out by saying:

The light-hearted tone of this scene must be explained as due to more than just

Thornhill’s drunkenness, for that would merely “beg the question” in leaving unanswered

the question of why Hitchcock decided to play this scene, as well as all the scenes

between Thornhill and his mother, for laughs. The reason for all this comedy, I would

suggest, is that without it the relationship between Thornhill and his mother would be too

uncomfortable for the viewer to bear. As is often the case, humor alleviates the very

discomfort which provokes it, and the fact that such bantering…is also indicative of the

fact that what we have here is an inappropriate relationship between a boy and his mother

that is not just the effect of his being placed in jail, it is also the cause of his being placed

in jail.

Gordon is making reference to the fact that the whole ordeal Roger is in is because of his mother.

If it wasn’t because he was trying to get the waiters attention to send his mother a telegram about

their dinner plans, he would have never been in the situation he finds himself deeply involved in

for the remainder of the movie. The theme of love affairs, as they are perceived by the narrative

and world of the characters, is one that has great significance to the plot of North by Northwest.

There is a “real” love affair that begins to flourish between Roger and Eve on the train, and even

though the different plot points that propel the movie complicate it, we know it ends happily ever

after for these two characters. On the other hand, we have the bogus love affair between Eve and

Phillip, which even though we learn it began as something real; it evolved into something that

was inauthentic. The only purpose of Eve’s love affair with Phillip, once Roger came into the

picture, was to aid the government intelligence agency in keeping tabs on Phillip and his

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“importing and exporting of government secrets”. As a result of the government approaching

her to help with the investigation, she finds herself in a dangerous situation towards the end of

the movie, which serves as the catalyst for the famous Mt. Rushmore sequence. In this sequence,

Hitchcock’s cinematographic style is notorious.

In the movie Psycho, these same themes are manifested in ways that are appropriate for

the mood of this particular movie. Secrecy is a recurring theme in this film and the first secret,

we, as viewers are let in on is the secret lunchtime rendezvous of Marion Crane and Sam

Loomis. The dialogue that takes place in this scene in the hotel room reveals a lot about these

two characters. Not only does it make us aware of the reason why they meet like they do, but the

dialogue also reveals the motivation for Marion’s actions in the scene that follows. Upon

Marion’s return to the office we are let in on more secrets. Caroline reveals to Marion that her

mother gave her tranquilizers on her wedding night to calm her down, which infuriated her

husband when he found out. Continuing the theme of secrecy is the fact that Marion’s boss

keeps a bottle of liquor in his desk drawer, this secret is revealed by Mr. Cassidy, who himself

reveals a secret about how he doesn’t declare sources of income for tax purposes that would

otherwise not allow him to keep the money he is using to buy his daughter a house. The theme

of voyeurism is approached from two perspectives; first through the perspective of characters in

the movie like Norman Bates who uses a peep hole on the wall to watch Marion undress and

prepare to take a shower, and second through the perspective of the audience as spectators of

what is taking place in the film, we are being let into the secret life of the characters in the

movie. James Griffith writes in Film Comment that “critics identify Psycho’s power with

Hitchcock’s masterful use of the cinema’s essential voyeurism: the audience participates in evil

by secretly peeping at illicit scenes and then identifying with the illicit, even criminal, acts

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portrayed.” In his critical analysis of the film, he elaborates on the theme of voyeurism and how

it is explored for the enjoyment of audiences. He goes on to say that Psycho “disturbs us not

because of what it allows us secretly to watch, but because it makes us confront the terror or

being secretly watched” (Griffith). This insight on the subject of voyeurism as one of

Hitchcock’s themes in the film allows us to identify with the characters on a deeper level. In

terms of the theme of conflict between mother and son, Psycho is the epitomized characterization

of said theme because of the twisted way in which it is explored. The mood created by the

progression of the plot of this movie serves to reinforce the twisted nature of the relationship

between Norman Bates and his mother, and the fact that both Norman and his mother are the

same person adds to the perverse note the film ends on. In contrast to this previous theme is the

theme of love affairs, which is represented in the opening scene between Marion and Sam in the

hotel room. It is obvious that this young couple is in love but their current circumstance prevents

them from getting married and being a respectable couple. This theme is also explored through

the love affair between Norman’s mother and the man that came between them and in some

perverted level between Norman and his own mother. There are two lines in the movie that

reinforce this last point and they are spoken by Norman when he is having a conversation with

Marion in the parlor, he says that “a boy’s best friend is his mother” and that “a son is a poor

substitute for a lover”, which plants the thought in our minds that there was a possible incestuous

relationship between him and his mother.

Alfred Hitchcock’s signature style, in terms of cinematography, made him what you call

a virtuoso, which is defined by Webster as “one who has great skill in some endeavor”, his

endeavor being film making. Stylistic qualities such as the use of camera angles and movement,

abstract composition, mastery of suspense vs. surprise and use of diegetic and nondiegetic sound

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all came together in such a way as to create a work of art that only an auteur could craft. One of

his most important stylistic qualities was the use of the “MacGuffin”, which is a “term [used] to

refer to an object, document, or secret within a story that is of vital importance to the characters,

and thus motivates their actions and the conflict, but that turns out to be less significant to the

overall narrative than we might at first expect” (Looking at Movies, 34). Some critics have

suggested that audiences were less concerned with the performances of actors in his movies and

that they were mostly attracted to Hitchcock’s style in movie making. Another notable trait in of

his style was the director’s cameo Hitchcock incorporated into his movies in such an

inconspicuous way that was easy to miss, and at the same time was something that attracted

audiences to his films.

North by Northwest makes great use of camera angles and movement to elaborate on the

film’s mise-en-scene, specifically the design and composition that is captured by the lens. The

opening scene depicts Roger moving freely between locations, from his office to the sidewalk on

Madison Avenue and to the taxicab that takes him to the hotel, the entire scene is shot in a closed

frame. If we pay attention to the design and composition we realize that Hitchcock creates a

claustrophobic, trapped feeling by having Roger get off the elevator, which is an enclosed space,

then walk through the hallways of the office building leading to the shot outside on the sidewalk

where we see throngs of people surrounding Roger and his secretary. We then see him get in a

cab with his secretary, another enclosed space, thus setting the tone for the rest of the movie

where Roger will find himself trapped by his circumstances and propelled to find a way out.

There are two other instances where the use of closed framing stands out. One is the shot of

Roger in Grand Central Station; the openness of this location creates a closed frame because

Roger cannot seem to escape the chaos that ensues him by Vandamm’s goons and the police

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following him. The second and more significant closed frame is the crop duster scene, which

incorporates several cinematographic elements to impact the audience. The scene begins with an

aerial shot of the setting, which reveals an open expanse that translates to a closed frame because

Roger has no way of escaping once the plane begins to chase him. There is much suspense in the

scene prior to the chase by the plane because the scene is silent; there is no dialogue and the only

sound we hear is the cars driving by. The camera movement as Roger approaches the man he

thinks is Kaplan only builds the suspense and keeps the audience on edge as to what is going to

happen next. Hitchcock’s abstract composition is depicted through having a bus stop in the

middle of such a remote location, where it doesn’t seem like there should be any reason for one

to be in an unpopulated, deserted location, except for stylistic purposes. Hitchcock also uses

abstract composition in the long shot of Roger running through the lobby of the General

Assembly building and through the bird’s eye view of Roger running out of the building. Given

that Hitchcock did not have permits to film in this location, the way he made these two shots

made them look as if they were paintings or caricatures, linking them to the vivid and upbeat feel

of the movie. North by Northwest makes use of diegetic and non-diegetic sound, with non

diegetic sound playing a bigger role in the audience’s reactions to certain scenes. The score of

this movie gives the feeling of a chase, and the same orchestral composition is employed in key

parts of the movie where a chase is taking place. For example, on the winding roads with Roger

driving drunk down the hill trying to get away from his abductors, and of course in the Mt.

Rushmore scene, where the same score adds to the suspense of Eve and Roger being chased by

Leonard and the other bad guys. The only examples of diegetic sounds are the radio

transmission in the police car when Roger is arrested after his disorderly conduct at the auction

and when he is in the hospital room after Eve shoots him with blank rounds, there is a radio

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broadcasting news on the table next to his bed. Here Hitchcock’s employment of the MacGuffin

is revealed to be the microfilm inside the statue Vandamm acquired at the auction. Mike Digou

from Literature/ Film Quarterly gives insight as to the MacGuffin when he writes:

Suspense rises because it is still unclear what Vandamm is doing. When Thornhill grows

weary of the Professor’s verbal games, the Professor teases him with more information:

“War is hell, Mr. Thornhill-even when it’s a cold one”. This comment suggest that

Vandamm is either Russian or working or working for the Russians, and when Thornhill

overhears Vandamm talking about the microfilm in the statue’s belly, everything makes

sense. However, the content of the microfilm remains a mystery. Thornhill is uninterested

in what is on the microfilm and, and because the audience has experienced the story with

him, they do not care either. North [by Northwest] effectively explains enough about the

MacGuffin so that the audience cares as little or as much for it as the protagonist does.

This device along with his brief cameo is very much one of Hitchcock’s signature qualities in

terms of filmmaking. Hitchcock’s brief cameo takes place at the beginning of the movie where

we can see him trying to get on the bus as the door closes and drives away. These cameos were

brief in nature because they were not meant to bring attention to him in the film, they were meant

to attract attention to his film as an extra something that entertained audiences.

Psycho is a very different movie than North by Northwest in terms of how Hitchcock’s

style is manifested in order to make the viewer react in a specific way. This movie uses camera

angles and camera movement to makes us identify with a character or to make us experience

fear. One of the scenes where Hitchcock makes use of several different kinds of shots is the

scene after Marion has gone home with the money and is in her room packing her belongings.

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The camera moves with Marion as she moves about the room gathering her things, and then cuts

to the money in the envelope on the bed and then back to a medium shot of Marion looking at the

money. Hitchcock also gives us a close up of Marion, where we are able to see the expression

on her face as she is contemplating the crime she committed or is about to commit, since, she

really has not decided whether or not she is going to go through with it. Once she is fully

committed to the crime, the camera moves to a medium close-up where we are able to see

Marion sit on the bed, take the money and put it in her purse. At this point she has decided to go

through with the theft. The mise-en-scene here is worth noting because the use of on and off

screen space plays an important role. The audience identifies with the camera, and it’s almost as

if we are in the room with her, a feeling that is created between the alternating shots, which helps

give a sense of orientation for the audience in Marion’s room. Later in the film, when the

murders take place, we are able to experience fear and terror from what is happening, but these

feelings are heightened to the maximum by the manner in which they were shot. The murder

scene in the shower uses a variety of angles, capturing Marion’s murder from every imaginable

angle Hitchcock could possible think of. The bird’s eye view at the top of the stairs when

Arbogast is murdered adds to the terror we experience from that particular scene as well. John

Bertolini from the New England Review theorizes that:

Hitchcock makes us identify subjectively with Marion Crane and the detective, Arbogast,

before and during their murders, but then lets us laugh and breathe a sigh of relief that we

were not in fact the ones murdered. Audiences in 1960 reacted to the murder in the

shower at first with shock and undiluted terror, since Hitchcock had placed them through

his camera in the position of the victim…Hitchcock’s way of shooting the murder scene

terrified the audience much more than the murder itself: the sudden acceleration of the

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cutting, a succession of so many shots, most lasting less than a second each, and each one

implying merciless, catastrophic violence to a completely vulnerable (because naked)

human body—the manner was what was new, not the matter.

The manner he is referring to is how Hitchcock was clever to use the different angles and shot to

play tricks on our eyes and minds. Of course, none of the victims were actually hurt, but the

rapid movement of the camera and what it captured in that flash of an instance make us believe

that these characters are really being slashed and stabbed. Another interesting use of the camera

shots is the scene when Norman is looking through the peephole on the wall. The way the

extreme close-up of Norman’s eye, combined with alternating shots of Marion undressing in the

other room is very subjective in the sense that there is more than one person participating in the

act of invading Marion’s privacy. First is Hitchcock himself for having the vision to create such

a shot, then Norman who is actually looking through the hole in the wall. Then there is the

audience who also participates through the way the shot was arranged (Griffith).

In terms of abstract composition in the design of the movie Psycho, there are a few things

that come to mind. For starters you have the gothic looking Victorian house where Norman

lives, which reminds you of a haunted house by the way it sits at the top of the hill behind the

motel. The motel itself looks run down and like no one has stayed there for quite a while, which

makes you think that any person with sense would not stay there. Then we have the set of the

parlor behind the office, which by looking at the props; communicate something very twisted

through the pictures of naked women on the walls mixed among all the taxidermy birds. These

are all very appropriate for the overall feel of the movie, but make you wonder what kind of

imagination a person must have to come up with these things. Hitchcock makes use of abstract

composition right after the shower murder scene by shooting the water coming out of the shower

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head from a low angle and then moving the camera slowly following the flow of the water down

the drain. As the camera begins to zoom in on the drain, Hitchcock transitions to an extreme

close-up of Marion’s eye ball. Also the movie presents us with the notion of a psychopathic,

knife wielding old lady, who goes around brutally murdering people. The end of the movie

shows us Norman sitting in a jail cell and as the shot fades out we can see a super imposed image

of his mothers decomposing face, which signifies a complete takeover of her personality within

Norman’s mind. The use of diegetic and non-diegetic sound in this film serves to build up the

suspense and bring us to those climatic moments where the suspense turns into fear and terror.

The diegetic sound of the toilet flushing, the water in the shower prior to Marion’s murder begins

to prepare us for something very dramatic because everything seems so calm at this point. Then

as the murder is about to take place, the non-diegetic sound of the famous score used in this

scene terrorizes us as the murder unfolds before our eyes. Hitchcock’s signature use of the

MacGuffin is built into the plot with the stolen money in Marion’s possession at the time of the

murder. This money is a minor elements used in the narrative that serves to move the plot along,

but it does not take away from other elements of the plot which the director intended us to focus

more on, such as Sam and Lila finding out what really happened to Marion, and who the real

murderer is. The director’s cameo was a bit more difficult to spot in this movie because

Hitchcock’s style in using this device was not meant to be obvious. He appears outside Marion’s

office, turned sideways and wearing a hat and we can only see him briefly as Marion enters into

the office.

These two films are great examples of Alfred Hitchcock’s talent in filmmaking. They

both make use of themes that he is known for integrating into his narratives, and in each of these

films are elaborated on in very different but very appropriate ways in order to fit in with the tone

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of each of these movies. His signature qualities are exemplified in vivid, creative and

memorable ways, leaving audiences with an impression of his style sufficient to label him as the

master of suspense.

Word count: 4,293

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Work Cited

Barsam, Richard Meran., and Dave Monahan. Looking at Movies: an Introduction to Film. New

York: W. W. Norton, 2010. Print.

Bertolini, John. "Psycho at Fifty: Pure Cinema Or Invitation to an Orgy?" New England Review

31.3 (2010): 131,142,191. ProQuest Central. Web. 28 Nov. 2011.

Digou, Mike. "Hitchcock's MacGuffin in the Works of David Mamet." Literature/Film Quarterly

31.4 (2003): 270-5. ProQuest Central. Web. 28 Nov. 2011.

Dirks, Tim. "Thriller and Suspense Films." Greatest Films - The Best Movies in Cinematic

History. American Movie Classics Company LLC, May 1996. Web. 06 Dec. 2011

Gordon, Paul. "R.O.T.: North by Northwest." Psychoanalytic review 91.2 (2004): 271-88.

ProQuest Central. Web. 28 Nov. 2011.

Griffith, James. "Psycho: Not Guilty as Charged." Film Comment 32.4 (1996): 76-. ProQuest

Central. Web. 28 Nov. 2011.

North by Northwest. Dir. Alfred Hitchcock. Prod. Alfred Hitchcock. By Ernest Lehman. Metro-

Goldwyn-Mayer, 1959. DVD.

Psycho. Dir. Alfred Hitchcock. Released by Paramount Pictures Corp., 1999. DVD