In his sixty year career, Alfred Hitchcock established himself as one of the most important cultural figures of the 20th century
Publicity photo for The Birds, early sixties.
A photo of Hitchcock, early in his career
Hitchcock broke into show business by getting a job with the newly arrived motion picture studio Famous Players-Lasky British Producers, a venture associated with Paramount Pictures. He was to design the captions that accompanied the action in the studio’s silent films. Initially, a part time employee, Hitchcock worked hard, keeping his day job at Henley’s but eventually landing full time at Famous Players Lasky in 1921.
Peter Lorre, The Man Who Knew Too Much
Hitchcock spent the next few years directing and producing various dramas, thrillers and even a musical revue before his 1934 effort, The Man Who Knew Too Much. Possessing the same title as his subsequent 1956 effort with Doris Day and Jimmy Stewart, the film has a similar plot involving kidnapping, political assassination and criminal intrigue. It also cast Peter Lorre, having recently fled Germany after his great success in the Fritz Lang classic, “M.” Lorre, who was Jewish and was uncomfortable with Hitler’s acquisition of political power, barely spoke English and ingratiated himself with the director by anticipating when Hitchcock, already a budding raconteur, would finish a story, laughing noisily despite not understanding a word of the anecdote. For the part, the Hungarian born actor had to learn his lines phonetically. Lorre’s mysteriously interesting face was featured on the film’s poster and “The Man Who Knew Too Much,” was received with great acclaim and popularity, reaffirming Hitchcock as a major figure in British cinema.
Alma Hitchcock, Joan Harrison, and Hitchcock's daughter, Patricia
Hitchcock was headed to greener pastures in the United States. Sailing on the Queen Mary on March 1, 1939 with his family, his personal secretary, Joan Harrison, two servants and two dogs, he and his wife were eager to leave. They believed that Hitchcock had accomplished everything he could possibly achieve in Britain and Hollywood allowed him much greater opportunity. He could afford his entourage, having signed a five-picture deal with David O. Selznick, with a guaranteed $50,000 salary for his first picture, Rebecca.
Olivier and Fontaine in Rebecca If Hitchcock’s personality included a desire for complete control, he certainly met his match in David O. Selznick. The director’s adaptation and script outline for Rebecca, that also contained as always contributions from his wife, was summarily rejected with any attempts at including characteristic humor deemed inappropriate. In one of his famously lengthy and detailed memos, the producer stated in the first sentence that “he was shocked and disappointed beyond words,” and declared that the film must be a completely faithful rendition of the novel with a focus on retaining its serious tone. He also made it quite clear that the final version of the film would be his and his alone. An additional headache was Laurence Olivier, so miffed that his wife Vivien Leigh wasn’t cast in the film that he took it out on the eventual female lead Joan Fontaine. If there wasn’t enough tension on the set, the beginning of World War II in Europe coincided with the first week of shooting. The production was a predictable struggle of wills, Hitchcock sticking to his style of only shooting scenes from an angle or perspective he ultimately would use in a final edit and Selznick wanting vastly more material to select during the editing process. Clearly, it was not a creatively happy marriage. But, probably as a tribute to both men’s ability, the resulting film was a commercial success and the Best Picture of 1940.
