20 Facts About Alfred Hitchcock: The Man, The Artist, The Weirdo

20 Facts About Alfred Hitchcock: The Man, The Artist, The Weirdo

We all know Alfred Hitchcock as the visionary mind behind Vertigo, Psycho, and M. Night Shyamalan’s frustrated dreams. And we actually mean visionary, not “visionary” with super-ironic scare quotes and a subsequent jerk-off motion like when the word is used next to Zack Snyder or Elon Musk. Hitchcock was an absolute genius of cinema (hell, even of failed videogames), and he proved it beyond any doubt pretty much consistently for almost half a century. Yet besides being the sort of Master of Suspense whose movies are still inspiring today’s filmmakers(’s lack of creativity), Hitchcock was also a complex individual. For better or worse, the genius also came with the weirdness, and even some good ol’ toxic masculinity

In this context, today’s Pictof – uh? What’s that? You’re saying toxic masculinity is super lame and only bad faith dumb-dumbs still equivocate it with masculinity? Oh yeah, of course, glad we’re on the same page. Anyway, in today’s Pictofacts we discuss some aspects of the life, talent, and sliminess of this legendary, Walt Disney-triggering psycho. We’re not really focusing on the movies per se, but on the man, the artist, the friggin’ weirdo. Some facts will probably be known to you, but others will come as a surprise. For example, did you know Hitchcock mentored a young M. Night Shyamalan and told him “you’re gonna absolutely reinvent the thriller – for like five minutes, and then you’re gonna spend decades fizzling out and it’s gonna be painful because I’m the real deal?” True story. We truly learn something new every day, don’t we?

Alma Reville

CRACKED.COM Alfred Hitchcock His wife was a big part of his career. For four decades, Hitchcock's wife Alma Reville helped with the scripts and, well, pretty much every other aspect of filmmaking, defining much of his style. It was reportedly her idea to use Bernard Herrmann's string score for the shower scene in Psycho.

Source: History

Title Cards

CRACKED.COM Alfred Hitchcock His first movie job was as a title card designer. In 1919, a branch of Paramount Pictures was planning to shoot a movie in London with the super-metal name of The Sorrows of Satan. Hitchcock sent them ideas for title cards, and they hired him. Не would soon gain experience in many other areas of filmmaking, and in around 18 silent films.

Source: Wikipedia

François Truffaut

Alfred Hitchcock François Truffaut interviewed for eight days. For a big Hollywood director, Hitchcock was respected by artsy filmmakers. Truffaut's interview with him resulted in 50 hours' worth of material. A book was published in 1967, and a documentary was released in 2015. CRACKED.COM

Source: Wikipedia

First Steps

His beginnings were in a newspaper. Interested in creative writing, by 1919 Hitchcock was submitting short stories, writing advertisements, and drawing graphics for The Henley Telegraph. Decades later, he would call that his “first step towards cinema.”

Source: Wikipedia

'Memory of the Camps'

Alfred Hitchcock Не worked on a documentary about Nazi concentration camps. The film, titled Memory of the Camps, was made in 1945, but shelved because it would hurt German morale (those poor Germans). It was finally released during the '80s. CRACKED.COM

Source: History

Lost Movies

CRACKED.COM Alfred Hitchcock His first and third movies are lost. Of these, only the latter was actually (a 1926 silent drama titled The Mountain Eagle) was finished to begin with. No copies remain- only some scattered stills, a lobby card, and Hitchcock's related travel notebooks.

Source: History

Hitchcock Doodle

CRACKED.COM Alfred Hitchcock Не drew his own caricature for his TV show. Hitchcock himself drew the iconic doodle from the intro of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. His interest and training as a title-card designer and graphic artist would be a constant during his entire life. Also, the drawing is cool.

Source: Wikipedia

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