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Tuesday's With Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock has been known for his stunning use of color, camera techniques, and sound, throughout all of his major motion pictures. Each of Hitchcock's films express how the studious of the day were operating. Whether the studious demanded rapid output of B pictures or prolonged work on an A film. Hitchcock could do both and usually would be able to turn out great work no matter the time frame or budget. The simple act of looking out of a window and viewing what is out there is taken to the extreme in Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window. The main character L.B. Jefferies, a photojournalist, is confined to a wheelchair because of a broken leg. His situation allows for him to spend most of his waking hours peering out into the courtyard of his Manhattan apartment building. Through Jefferies, the viewer experiences what it is like to be a "peeping-tom". By doing this Hitchcock reveals that no matter how morally wrong we may think it is, as humans it is our nature to wondering about others' private lives. Alfred Hitchcock also displays his natural production/direction techniques in Dial M for Murder. Dial M for Murder creates a sense of suspense by continuously changing the outcome of the story line. The husband Tony, played by Ray Milland, has hired a man to kill his wife because of her infidelity and because he is the sole benefactor of her will. When the plan goes wrong and Margot, played by Grace Kelley, ends up killing the man her husband hired, Tony must convince the police that Margot planned on killing this man because he was trying to blackmail her. Through these two films Hitchcock comments on the aspect of gender, voyeurism, and displays how time/cost saving techniques led him to be a well sought after producer/director.
Hitchcock creates a feeling of isolation and loneliness in Rear Window by his little use of sound throughout the film. Stefan Sharfe states that, "… 35 percent of Rear Window is totally silent, and an additional 15 percent can be...