Sir Alfred Hitchcock

By Illa Vij

ALFRED HITCHCOCK was a man with a vivid imagination, strong creative skills and a passion for life. He has always been linked with humour and frightening suspense. With his inimitable style and god-gifted wit he produced and directed some of the most thrilling films that had the audience almost swooning with fright and falling off their seats with laughter.

Alfred Hitchcock was born in 1899 in London. His father was in the poultry business. Being a Roman Catholic, he went to Jesuit schools. It is believed that at the age of five, Alfred was once sent to the police station by his father. He carried along with him a note for the superintendent. On reading it, the latter locked the little boy in a cell and told him that his father wanted him to learn what happens to bad children. Alfred was so taken aback, rather shocked, that policemen and spies stayed in his mind till the end!

After school, Alfred studied science and engineering at London University. He was greatly influenced by American films and magazines. At the age of 20, he took up a job at the office of Paramount Studio, London. Using imagination, talent and dedication, he made each of his endeavours, a success.

He took great pleasure in working in the studio and made all those around him feel his presence. He was known for his humour and took a great delight in keeping people in suspense. For example while going down in a lift, he would narrate incidents to his companion or wife, all the while well aware that the other people around were listening. His talk was so well timed, that as soon as the climax of the incident was reached or an answer to a question like "You know what happened then?" was about to be answered, the lift would reach the ground floor, and people would part in suspense!

While working on a film, Alfred often worked all seven days a week. He laboured with the script writer, plot construction and brought in dialogues, which probably only he could create. The plot used to be so well knit that every detail had to be worked out in advance, leaving no room for any last minute changes. Short, fat and beaming that infectious smile, he won many hearts and was always welcomed with great affection. Once he reserved a table at Stock-holm’s most exclusive restaurant. The management quickly prepared some confections in the shape of daggers, guns and poison bottles! He gained such attention whether he was visiting Hong Kong or India .

Fascinated by big money, Alfred moved to the USAin 1939 and got his American citizenship in 1955. Here, he produced more complex films. He also produced and hosted a weekly television show. No matter from where his ideas came, whether a magazine article, a mystery novel or an incident, his films had the typical of Hitchcock touch — where agony of suspense were relieved by interludes of laughter!

The Master of Suspense produced the following well-known films:
The Pleasure Garden (1925)
The Lodger (1926)
Blackmail (1929)
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934 — remade in 1956)
The 39 Steps (1935)
The Lady Vanishes (1938)
Rebecca (1940)
Shadow of a Doubt (1942)
Spellbound (1945)
Stranger on a Train (1951)
North by Northwest (1959)
Psycho )(1960)
Frenzy (1972)

Hitchcock was knighted in 1980. He died the same year.