Analysis of Shadow of a Doubt, Strangers on a Train and The Lady Vanishes - Essay Example

?Essay Two Hitchcock, Shadow of a Doubt (1942), Hitchcock, Strangers on a Train (1951) and Hitchcock, The Lady Vanishes. Alfred Joseph Hitchcock remains to be one of the great film director and producer of his time. With a career spanning over a period of more than half a century anybody in the cinema industry would agree that Hitchcock is one of the most influential people in the industry. He is widely known in the film industry as the most significant artist, he was even at one time described as the “most influential filmmaker of all time” by MovieMaker magazine (Wood 20). After having a successful career in the British cinema Hitchcock decided to move to Hollywood where he received much recognition for his distinct directing style. In his career he pioneered a number of techniques that improved the quality of films in the psychological thriller and suspense genres (Bays). Over six decades, Hitchcock directed over fifty feature films both at the British cinema and in Hollywood. This does not mean that his career was smooth all the way in fact most of his first films did not do so well. According to Donald Spoto (1976), Hitchcock’s first seventeen films did not receive much recognition as they were more of historical curiosities (8). In Donald’s text he indicates that Hitchcock’s career took a leap for the better starting from 1935, which saw him produce and direct great pieces of art (Spoto 9). Throughout his career he produced a wide range of remarkable films. It would take a long time if one was to analyze all the best films by Hitchcock. However, for the purpose of this essay we get to analyze three of his best classics. This includes the 1942 Shadow of a Doubt followed by the 1951 Strangers on a Train and the 1938 The lady vanishes. These great films were shot using unique styles that captures the viewers’ attention leading into a lot of suspense, mystery and admiration for the good work. The interesting part with Hitchcock is that for each composition and scene in the films, he knew who to work with for him to produce the best results. He went to the extent of seeking German and British technicians just to get the right image and the perfect shot. The German technicians helped him bring out unique techniques such as bring in the right “silent shrieks”, expressionist lighting, angular shadows and disturbing mirror reflections (Spoto 29). Some of his famous contributions to the film industry also include the feel of “voyeurism”; a technique where the camera’s movement imitates a person’s gaze and thus engaging the viewer more to the scenes (Bays, n. p.). Shadow of a Doubt is one of Hitchcock’s’ great masterpiece, shot in 1943 the films themes revolved around psychological thriller a genre in which most of his movies were categorized. After gaining a positive audience and a grand reception for the film all over the nation; the film was nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Story category. In 1991, the US national Film Registry selected to be part of the Library of Congress as its theme portrayed historical and cultural significance (McDevitt and Juan 158). The movie features a grand opening image which involves a perfect synchronization scene of a couple twirling with Merry Widow Waltz in the background. Perfection in the image goes on throughout the film with other outstanding scenes such as detective strides flawlessly matching with the background music as uncle Charlie is being trailed (McLaughin 147). Shadow of a Doubt’s features such as the beautiful filming and suggestive lighting all portray the stunning advances of style and technique by Hitchcock. The director creates amazing camera angles that form unparalleled portrayal of emotion in the characters. Using sharp editing and camera close-ups, Hitchcock gives an emphasis on Uncle Charlie’s sinister nature in the scene where Uncle Charlie and Charlotte have dinner and Charlotte behaves in an erratic manner. As a psychological thriller, Hitchcock has to use all these techniques to be able to come up with quality film which captures the attention of the audience and Shadow of a Doubt does not disappoint. Falling in the same genre as Shadow of a Doubt, Strangers on a Train is another great masterpiece produced by Hitchcock. Similar to most of his films the opening scene features the theme of contrasting doubles in which two sets of shoes walking towards the train resembles the medley strangers and walking. As usual Hitchcock pays a lot of attention to music making each scene synchronize perfectly with the background music. These interesting techniques can be best captured in the scene where Guy and Bruno are fighting on a merry-go-round and there has to be shifts in tempo and pitch of the background music to synchronize the turn of events as they unfold (Spoto 522). The films motifs and themes are what make the film outstanding as Hitchcock uses various themes and motifs to demonstrate his prowess. Just like in Shadow of a Doubt Hitchcock explores two themes in this film that captures the audience attention as he uses them to create a specific image in the overall composition of his films (Spoto 243). The two themes are Doubles and Doppelgangers something which any Hitchcock’s fan would tell you that he blends it well in most of films (McDevitt and Juan 73). When watching the movie one will notice the doubles theme in many scenes such as two women wearing eyeglasses, two influential a fathers, two old men at the carousel, and presence of two Hitchcocks (Chandler 203). In this film one technique that the director emphasizes on to bring out the desired image is the lighting. He uses light and darkness in various scenes to portray the good and evil sides of Guy and Bruno who are the key characters. In some scenes with both Guy and Bruno the director blurs the light to create a state of good-evil continuum. When one watches’ this film there is no doubt that they will be marveled by the directors skill in and make it a personal favorite. Filmed in 1938 The Lady Vanishes is another classic comic thriller done by Alfred Hitchcock. The Plot of the film is about a beautiful English tourist whose travel companion disappears while they are travelling by train. This is one of Hitchcock’s final films in the United Kingdom before relocating to Hollywood (Spoto 102). The New York Times classifies the film as a brilliant comedy. What makes the film a spectacular to watch is the startling amount of sexual chemistry that the two lead characters Henderson and Margaret portray. The charismatic role of Gilbert Redman is also a great creation that Hitchcock puts in to capture the viewers attention. Away from Hitchcock’s regular Psychological thrillers, in this film he takes it to another level away from too much suspense and winning views attention by putting in comedic scenes that would leave his audience with painful ribs because of laughter (Vermilye 43). Alfred Hitchcock remains to be the most influential film director and producer over the years to date. Any person watching his films would agree that the choice of image, visual effects and style, the music, the dialogue and all the scenes in each film were well choreographed. With all this he brought out the perfect films something that he only knew well and how to explore on it ending up deliver the best. Works Cited Bays, Jeff. Bays, Jeff (December 2007). "Film Techniques of Alfred Hitchcock". 12 December 2007. Web. 1 March 2013 . Chandler, Charlotte. It's Only a Movie: Alfred Hitchcock, A Personal Biography. New York: Applause Books, 2006. Print. McDevitt, Jim and Eric San Juan. A Year of Hitchcock: 52 Weeks With the Master of Suspense. Chicago: Barnes & Noble, 2009. Print. McLaughin, James. "All in the family: Alfred Hitchcocks Shadow of a Doubt." A Hitchcock Reader (1986): 141-152. Print. Spoto, Donald. The Art of Alfred Hitchcock. Toronto: Random House Inc., 1976. Print. Vermilye, Jerry. The Great British Films. London: Cidatel Press, 1978. Print. Wood, Jennifer. "The 25 Most Influential Directors of All Time." MovieMaker, 6 July 2002: 14-23. Print. Read More