Post-modernism in Hitchcock

Hughes

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Oct 18, 1996, 3:00:00 AM10/18/96

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I'm sure that all Hitchcock afficionados are well-acquainted with the
fact that one of Hitchcock's greatest themes is that of the wrongful
accusation and pursuit of an innocent man. But surely, you've also
noticed that Hitchcock has a tendency to use and re-use certain
'motifs' throughout his work. Recently, I've started trying to collect
as many as possible. Here are the ones I've found:-

Handcuffs
The Lodger
The 39 Steps

Stairs (as associated with violence)
The Lodger
Blackmail
Psycho
Frenzy

Dogs
Young and Innocent
Rebecca
Foreign Correspondent

Knives / Blades
Blackmail
Sabotage
Spellbound
Dial M For Murder
Psycho
Torn Curtain

Brandy (Hitchcock's favourite drink)
virtually (if not all) every film

Long walks (chases)
The Man Who Knew Too Much
Vertigo
Torn Curtain

White rooms
Spellbound
Psycho

Water
Jamaica Inn
Rebecca
Vertigo
Psycho

Money (left lying around)
The Lodger
Shadow of a Doubt
Psycho

Blonde women
The Lodger
Blackmail
... too many more to mention!

Malignant mother figures
Young and Innocent
Rebecca
Notorious
Psycho
The Birds

Theatre / Stage
The 39 Steps
Saboteur
Stage Fright
The Man Who Knew Too Much
Vertigo (Gavin Elster's first 'untruthful' words about his wife are
uttered as he stands on a raised section in his office ... like a dais
or a stage.)

The number 2
Shadow of a Doubt
Strangers on a Train

Eggs (!?)
Rebecca
To Catch a Thief

Actual 'suspense' (hanging)
Young and Innocent
Saboteur
To Catch a Thief
North by Northwest

Got anything to add? Please do so.

Fergal Hughes, Galway, Ireland.

Tom Davidson

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Oct 19, 1996, 3:00:00 AM10/19/96

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>from td...@bconnex.net
Vertigo: Scotty, after the chase across the rooftops with the policeman.
The policeman drops to his death after trying to help Scotty _hanging_
from the rooftop. The scene fades to black with Scotty left hanging there
(we never see how he gets out of it); I think that Scotty is therefore "in
suspense" for the remainder of the film, which ends with him on another
rooftop, stepping (perhaps) to the edge once more.

Ebiri1

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Oct 21, 1996, 3:00:00 AM10/21/96

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In article <548d9n$2...@niamh.indigo.ie>, thhu...@indigo.ie (Hughes)
writes:

>The number 2
> Shadow of a Doubt
> Strangers on a Train
>
>

What about VERTIGO?

Two parts. Two Madeleines. Two scenes at the church stairs. Two deaths.
(Not counting the cop at the beginning...) The whole thing is figured on
duality. Almost two different faces to the Jimmy Stewart character, too.

----------------
"What kind of government do you represent?"
--A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
(a.k.a. Stairway to Heaven)

MlleKris

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Oct 21, 1996, 3:00:00 AM10/21/96

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there's more movies with water...also, there seems to be an odd theme of
women jumping into water, from The Skin Game to the rumor about Melanie
Daniels and the fountain in The Birds to Marnie's suicide attempt in the
pool to (of course) that great scene in Vertigo.

Thomas Biddle

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Oct 27, 1996, 2:00:00 AM10/27/96

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Under "stairs" (a very interesting observation, by the way) you left off
VERTIGO's malignant bell tower. This is one of Hitchcock's most
enduring images. And, yes, it clearly has to do with violence as Mrs.
Elster (and later, Judy) falls to her death from the top of the stairs.