Sir Alfred Hitchcock was born on Sunday, August 13, 1899; that makes today is his 111th birthday. And it happens to be Friday the 13th. How perfect is that? Pretty perfect, except not as perfect as the fact that his 100th birthday in 1999 was also on Friday the 13th. (He had quite a few his lifetime: 1909, 1915, 1920, 1926, 1937, 1943, 1948, 1954, 1965, 1971, and 1976. His next Friday the 13th birthday won't be until 2021.)Some of my friends may already know of my Hitchcock obsession. And if you aren't one of those, let me fill you in: I'm obsessed with the Master of Suspense. Well, not as much as I used to be. I haven't had the time (or I should say I haven't made the time) for my Hitch obsession or, for that matter, my other hobbies such as photography. Just to give you a sense of my obsession: Over the course of a few years I collected every film by Alfred Hitchcock. I own a dozen or so books about him, including a couple biographies of him. One year I watched a "Hitch a week" for a year, watching, in order, every Hitchcock movie over the course of a year. It's convenient that there are 52 Hitchcock films. (Actually, there are a few more, as you'll see below. The one film missing from my collection is Waltzes from Vienna, which is only available as a bootleg, which is fine because it was one of Hitch's least favorite films.) I also love watching Hitchcock-inspired films. I know some people hang lots of movie posters in their homes; I have but one and it is one of the best movie posters of all time, Alfred Hitchock's Vertigo.
I haven't "played" with my Hitchcock collection in years. I have only rarely pulled a DVD off the shelf to watch, and then usually only one of my favorites, not one of his lesser known films. I haven't flipped through my Hitch books and my web bookmarks folder of Hitchcock-related web sites is quite dusty.
But for some reason I felt compelled to reacquaint myself with the Master of Suspense today. Maybe it's because his birthday fell on Friday the 13th. Maybe it's just that it's on a Friday. Or maybe it's because it fell on the Friday before we go back to school.
Whatever the case, I'm having a little Hitchfest tonight. Hitchcock was active for six decades, from the 1920s to the 1970s, from the Silent Era (he made the first British "talkie," Blackmail) to the modern era, from black and white to technicolor. He made films on both sides of the Atlantic. He experimented widely and introduced a great number of cinematic innovations. He even made one of the first movies in 3D, Dial "M" for Murder.
So, I've loaded up my six-disc DVD player with one film from each decade and I'll rev it up around 5 o'clock and we'll see how long we last. Whatever we don't finish tonight, we'll certainly watch tomorrow night.
Here's the line-up:
For the 1920s (and the Silent Era) I've chosen The Lodger (1927). Most people mistakenly believe this was his first film as a director. His first was Number 13 (there's that number again!), which was never finished and no footage survives. He directed The Pleasure Garden in Germany and then The Mountain Eagle (which also doesn't survive) before The Lodger. But many regard The Lodger as the first "Hitchcockian" film. It has so many of his trademark motifs: murder, suspicion, guilt, love, lust, the role of authority in society (especially as it relates to the police), the "Hitchcock blonde," and of course, his cameo. His other 1920s films include Downhill, Easy Virtue, The Ring, The Farmer's Wife, Champagne, The Manxman, all of which were silents and Blackmail, which he made as a silent and as a "talkie."
For the 1930s I'll watch The 39 Steps (1935) on my Criterion Collection DVD. This film helped solidify his reputation in England and to gain greater notice in the U.S. In a way, it can be said that North by Northwest (one of my all-time favorites) is a remake of sorts of The 39 Steps. The other films of the 1930s include Juno and the Paycock, Murder!, The Skin Game, Rich and Strange, Number Seventeen, Waltzes from Vienna, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Secret Agent, Sabotage, Young and Innocent, The Lady Vanishes, and Jamaica Inn.
Hitch moved to the United States in 1939 to work with David O. Selznick and started his American career off with a bang with academy-award winning Rebecca (1940). Hitchcock said on a few occasions that one of his personal favorites was Shadow of a Doubt (1943) so who am I to doubt the Master? He used Thorton Wilder (of "Our Town" fame) as a consultant on the film and it's easy to see his influence. The contrast of innocence and guilt are stark in this film. His other films from the 1940s are Foreign Correspondent, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Suspicion, Saboteur, Lifeboat, Spellbound, Notorious, The Paradine Case, Rope, and Under Capricorn.
How do you choose just one film from the 1950s? It's his single best decade though it's easy to argue that this great decade stretches from Suspicion in 1942 to the Birds in 1963. Between those two bookmarks there is hardly a bad film (Under Capricorn being a notable exception). The 1950s include some of his most famous films, and for good reason: Stage Fright, Strangers on a Train, I Confess, Dial M for Murder, To Catch a Thief, The Trouble with Harry, The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Wrong Man, Vertigo, and North by Northwest. I decided to go with Rear Window (1954), the first Hitchcock film I saw on the big screen when it was re-released in 1999.
His most famous film is probably Psycho (1960). What better Hitchcock film could there to be to watch late at night on Friday the 13th? Perhaps the Birds. It's a toss-up, but I'm going with Pyscho. He made three other films in the 60s: Marnie, Torn Curtain, and Topaz, none of which were very well received at the time.
Hitchcock returned to England to make his penultimate picture, Frenzy (1972). He also returned to top Hitchcockian form. His only other film of the 1970s is Family Plot.
You can learn more about his films on the Hithcock Wiki or IMDB.
So, there you have my Hitchcockian Friday the 13th Birthday Bash Plan. Stop by tonight if you want to join in the fun. Or go rent your favorite Hitchcock film to celebrate yourself. Happy Birthday, Hitch!
