preview

The Creator of Suspense Essay

Better Essays

The Creator of Suspense Alfred Hitchcock is one of the most well known directors of all time bringing murder and mystery to a new light. His films, starting in 1925 with "The Pleasure Garden" and ending in 1976 with the film "Family Plot", set a precedent for all other directors in the film industry. Many story lines and techniques within the cinematography of Hitchcock are common standards for films of today.

However, Hitchcock did not start out as a brilliant director, but instead started from the very bottom of the business. As a young man Hitchcock was raised and lived in England with his parents. When a new Paramount studio opened he rushed to get a job there having had interest in film making for quite a bit of time. …show more content…

However, in "Blackmail" there was a solution…Ondra's voice was dubbed over by an English actress named Joan Barry. By doing this voice-over the film could remain a "talkie" and they would not have to re-film. The film also was still using the synchronized sound so it was not as perfect as later techniques of putting sound to film.

The film is about a young woman, Alice, who makes a bad character judgement about a stranger she meets. She is invited to the studio of a sketchy looking artist who would like her to pose for him, or so she thinks that is his intention. His true intention, however, is to sleep with her. Ultimately she has to fight off his unwanted attention and goes as far as killing him, in true Hitchcock fashion, with a knife. This murder lands her in a spiral of intrigue as she is caught between her boyfriend who is an investigating detective and a person who is blackmailing her. Alice wants to turn herself in, but if she did that she'd have to explain why she had put herself in such a position.

Within this film is the typical Hitchcock story that the character wants to tell the police what has happened but they just can not do it. They know they'd never be believed so they must set out to defend themselves. This occurs in "The 39 Steps", a film that will be focused on following this film, as well.

Get Access