number plates in psycho
john smith
heard nfb is for norman francis bates but not what the number or what the other plate
means
Fayelle Ward
that question!!
Fayelle
john smith <som...@mail.com> wrote in message
news:94902365...@Chaos.es.co.nz...
southbound
Spoto in "The Art of Alfred Hitchcock" (1976). ANL? Well,
I'll let you guess what people have speculated that meant.
But Joseph Stefano, the screenwriter of PSYCHO who was also
on the set all during production, stated unequivocally at
the Hitchcock conference in October that these license
plates had no meaning that Hitchcock intended. They were
simply cars that had been rented for the production and
those were the plates that happened to be on the cars.
Furthermore, I always felt that Mary Crane had been changed
to Marion to make the name closer to Norman, thus
encouraging the notion that they were 'doubles' of each
other. Stefano told me personally that this was not true
(this is also noted in the Stephen Rebello book on the
film.) Mary Crane had to be changed for legal reasons;
actually Stefano had considered calling the character
Marilyn after his wife, but decided that she might not
consider this too flattering (since the character steals
$40,000 and gets hacked to death in the shower...) The name
Marion was just picked out of the air. No signifigance.
Does this diminish the power of PSYCHO? Not a bit.
Jim Davidson
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Dominic Angadi
definitve answer to what was or was not meant by the number plates.
One view is that it was competely a haphazard choice and this is
supported by Stefano the scriptwriter. Another contibutor here quoted
a crew member who said ANL 709 belonged to his car and Hitchcock
wanted it for the hire car used in the scene.
We know (from the docuemtary recently shown on SciFi channel - cant
remember what it was called - The Art of Hitchock?)) that often the
scriptwriters were tha last to know what was going on. Evan Hunter
(The Birds) thought he was writing a comedy. There is no reason to
believe that Stefano had a better idea than you or me on what was
intended by Hitchcock.
However it's my view that was is up on the screen is what is meant to
be seen and interpreted. Nothing is accidental or without meaning. A
director like Hitchcock put many jokes on the screen some obvious,
some having meaning only to himself.
If you want to read something sinister or meaningful in what you see
that's OK, you're not wrong or right, it's your interpretation.
Donald Strerrit (The Films of Alfred Hitchcock 1993) says,after
examining a theme of scatalogical references, 'If there is any doubt
regarding Hitchcock's scatalogical turn of mind throughout Marion's
ordeal, a closeup of her first car's license plate lays it to rest: It
is ANL-709, the letters spelling a revealing word while the numbers
cushion an anuslike zero between two more substantial digits'.
He goes on to talk about other zeros, eye sockets, plug holes and Os
in his films backing his theory.
Who knows.
pete....@tesco.net
> is there any significance of the number plates on marions 2 cars anl and nfb 418 ive
> heard nfb is for norman francis bates but not what the number or what the other plate
> means
Anal..really?
I'd go with the Bates thing but..
Marion Crane and anal?
I think not..
Next, you will be telling me that Area 51 means,
5=E and 1=A, thus prooving it's an Experimental Area.
You people need to get out more, like the cinema,
and stop trying to find things that really, don't exist..
2001 movie..
HAL, letter transposition by one letter, IBM?
Have you a reason for the birds attacks, in the movie?
Or, what is the name of that ship; Mutiny on the Bounty?
Enjoy at your peril...