The Master of Suspense

Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was indeed one of the most iconic and influential film directors in the history of the medium as well as being internationally recognizable throughout his life. This paper delves into his earlier works, concentrating on his narrative elements such as the MacGuffin technique, the likeable antagonist, the innocent man or woman whom is falsely accused or misunderstood, and the act of balancing suspense and tragedy with humor and comedy. From a stylistic standpoint the paper conveys Hitchcock’s profound use of atmosphere and landscape, song as a suspense device, landscape of crowd caricatures, and point-of-view technique. Looking at The 39 Steps (1935), The Lady Vanishes (1938), Saboteur (1940), and Shadow of a Doubt (1943) we can see the styles and techniques these precursors pioneered and why they were implemented into Hitchcock’s greatest works in the coming decades. We take our first look at Hitchcock’s famed narrative technique, the MacGuffin. The MacGuffin was a plot device used by Hitchcock to hold the tension of the story without actually having any relevance to the plot itself. It was a gimmick that had the sole purpose of adding suspense to whatever situation the hero or heroine might have been in by motivating the characters to start the story. They do not know what it is but they will do anything to uncover its mystery, thus pushing the action and drama of the narrative forward. The initial use of this technique was in one of his earlier British films of the 1930’s, The 39 Steps. The character Mr. Memory had a set of secret plans for a new type of airplane engine that which he had memorized and stored inside his head. However, this does not come to fruition until the final minutes of the film. The audience does not know what it is, they only know of its existence and that the characters are after it, therefore adding tension to the story. The MacGuffin can be added to mean anything. Because Hitchcock was able to allure the viewers to a significant amount of empathy for the characters through other methods, the dilemma or conflict grew to be quite trivial. “The main thing I’ve learned over the years is that the MacGuffin is nothing. I’m convinced of this, but I find it very difficult to prove it to others”-Alfred Hitchcock (Truffaut, p.139). This became a recurring theme throughout Hitchcock’s career. In The Lady Vanishes (1938), the MacGuffin is the encoded tune memorized by Miss Froy. There are subtle hints to it over the course of the film but it is never said outright until the end. The audience only wants to know the mystery of how or why Miss Froy disappeared, not about some secret musical tune. In Saboteur (1940), it is the secret plot to destroy a military naval ship. Neither the audience nor characters know what the secret is but the plot is driven by it throughout.
Hitchcock regularly portrayed his antagonists to be appealing, likeable adversaries without the usual unsophisticated and malevolent traits audiences were used to seeing in the run-of-the-mill villain. The viewers were sometimes torn between wanting them to be brought to justice and secretly hoping that in the end they would get away with their dastardly plans. Hitchcock believed that the villain and the hero are not always evidently different and in many ways may be the same. “What it boils down to is that villains are not all black and heroes are not all white; there are grays everywhere.”-Hitchcock (Truffaut, p.153). A prime example of this is Joseph Cotten’s portrayal of the titular character Uncle Charlie in Shadow of a Doubt. What sets this apart from Hitchcock’s other films, with the exception of Psycho, is that the central figure of the story is also the villain. We are introduced to Uncle Charlie and immediately fall in love with him. He is refined, charming and even though there may be something mysterious about him the audience cannot help but be attracted to his polished and warm demeanor towards his young niece and her family. This attraction lasts even after he is found out to be the one murdering all the old widows because the viewer cannot help but find that there is something moral about his judgment. Hitchcock reinforces this sympathy towards Charlie by never actually showing him committing a murder, therefore creating this dispute of whether or not he is good or bad, black or white when in reality it could be argued either way.
A similar example of this narrative technique is seen in the seemingly respectable Professor Jordan of The 39 Steps, although his pleasant appearance is much more short-lived than that of Uncle Charlie. He is an amiable and reputable man amongst many and held in high regard within the small Scottish village he resides in. In The Lady Vanishes early on the audience is introduced to a Dr. Hartz, a outwardly caring physician who, again until the end of the film, comes off as a very supportive and sympathetic man who actually attempts to help the heroine find the vanishing lady; of course only to cover his own tracks.
The theme of mistaken identity was very popular with Hitchcock in his earlier work and became a recurring element in many of his later films as well. In fact, many of his films’ plots rest on the notion of someone trying to prove his or her innocence. A man is accused of a crime of which he is innocent and is hunted down throughout, adding more suspense. Hitchcock would almost always think of the audience while creating his films. He saw that by making the man on the run innocent rather than guilty of the crime, the viewers would be able connect with him more. “The theme of the innocent man being accused, I feel, provides the audience with a greater sense of danger. It’s easier for them to identify with him than with a guilty man on the run. I always take the audience into account.”-Hitchcock (Truffaut, p. 47). The 39 Steps was a first to evoke this narrative theme. Our hero, Hannay, is caught up in the middle of an action packed thriller containing espionage and murder when he only was meant to be visiting London for an unexplained reason. He is thrown into this dangerous situation only by chance and must fight to clear his name. Another instance is in Saboteur, where Barry Kane is accused of blowing up the airplane factory he worked at when in fact it was Frank Fry who was the culprit. This inciting incident sets the story in motion and acts as the engine for the plot so that it can push on.
The theme of innocence was not always just concerned with a transgression or crime that was committed. It was not always limited to just a male; there were heroines involved as well. The Lady Vanishes, for instance, introduces the audience to Iris Henderson, a young playgirl traveling in continental Europe by train. She grows concerned after the disappearance of an older woman she meets by the name of Miss Froy; so much so that the entire plot is centered on the young girl trying to locate the old woman. She goes up and down the train from car to car questioning each passenger on the whereabouts of the old woman but to no avail. They all begin to think that she hallucinated the entire incident after learning she had a slight head injury before boarding the train. Now, in this case we are dealing with someone who is not accused of a crime but rather mental confusion or madness. This works in the same way as the innocent man falsely accused of a crime because it creates an added danger and therefore suspense because the audience feels the central figure is alone. In Shadow of a Doubt the aspect of innocence is dealt with a little differently. The police are after a serial killer who murders widows and they have narrowed their search down to two suspects: the central figure Uncle Charlie and another man from a different state. Towards the later half of the film the second suspect is said to have been shot to death while fleeing from the police. They assume that he is the one guilty of the Merry Widow murders, calling off the search for the killer. While this may be an exception to the formula used The 39 Steps or Saboteur, there is still an instance of an innocent man being accused of something he did not do.
Hitchcock was very adamant about balancing the suspenseful and dramatic scenes of his movies with humor and comedy. This delicate combination of tension and release let the audience sympathize with the characters. At a moment of heavy tension, whether it’d be someone being shot or a killer stalking his or her victim, Hitchcock would add something humorous at one of these key points to ease the suspense and give the viewer a break for the time being. “…When you have comic relief, it’s important that the hero as well as the audience be relieved,” said Hitchcock. However, Hitchcock made sure he kept comic relief at a reasonable measure so that when the tension arose the humor did not take away from the thrilling aspects. To achieve this he would wait until the film was finished so that he could judge how much humor is needed.
Just about every Hitchcockian film is sprinkled throughout with humor. The 39 Steps showcases multiple, as Hannay and Pamela are literally inseparable by handcuffs. In a rather chaplinesque sequence, the two are chased by inept police officers through a herd of sheep, under a waterfall, and over a wooden fence which at first they both seem to have trouble traversing due to their temporary linkage to one another. The scene is quite humorous but still holds true to the suspense of them being chased by the law. The following sequence puts them both at an inn run by an elderly man and woman. In an attempt to conceal their handcuffs the two never unlock hands. The real humor arrives as the elderly woman shows them to their room and afterwards exclaims how “terribly in love with each other” they are when in reality they can’t stand each other.
In an almost identical scene in Saboteur, the central figure, Barry Kane, is handcuffed and on the run with his hostage, Patricia Martin, on a Californian highway. While he struggles to get her into his car after she tries to flag down oncoming drivers for help, an elderly couple stops to see what the commotion is and Kane drives off with Patricia. Immediately after this happens the elderly woman says with a smile, “My, they must be terribly in love.” Each one of these scenes has tension that is relieved by comedy: Hannay and Kane trying to conceal their predicament, and the two elderly women misunderstanding what is really going on.
Hitchcock often found ingenious methods to make songs become apart of the plot of his films and evoke a certain level of suspense. This is experimented with largely in The Lady Vanishes. With the exception of the beginning and ending scenes, there is absolutely no musical score throughout the entire picture. The only music that the audience hears is the tune sung by the Italian musician who is strangled outside the hotel towards the beginning of the film, the encoded tune sung by Miss Froy, the music hummed by Gilbert, the dance music conducted by Gilbert and the workers in his hotel room, and the dance music that Iris hears while on the train. Hitchcock insisted that there be no musical score to add a sense of realism to the film and therefore craft a more authentic look.
In the beginning of The 39 Steps, there is a song playing while Mr. Hannay is attending Mr. Memory’s show at the music hall. Later, at the end of the film, Hannay is confronted by the same tune and realizes it is the same show, prompting him to ask Mr. Memory about the 39 steps and therefore uncovering Professor Jordan’s plans to steal the secret airplane engine formula.
Hitchcock would also illustrate tension through the dialogue used in his films. Very often when two or more characters were conversing there would be no outside sound to intensify what was being said and how the characters were saying it. He wanted the audience to focus on the character’s voice rather than any ambient noise. This is clearly seen in the climax of Saboteur where we have Barry Kane holding on to the jacket sleeve of his enemy Frank Fry in attempt to save him from falling from the top of the Statue of Liberty to his death. As Fry’s sleeve begins to tear there is absolute silence with the exception of the sounds coming from either Kane or Fry. This increases the tension significantly with each passing moment until it happens: Fry’s sleeve rips and he lets out one last groan before falling to his demise.
Another method of conveying realism in his films was the various landscapes of crowd caricatures introduced in the opening. Many of the beginning sequences start out populated by distinctively constructed crowds of ordinary citizens. Hitchcock used this technique to grab the attention of the audience quickly, further connecting them to the story. "It must always be remembered that the primary aim of pictures is to provide entertainment. To entertain people, one must first capture their interest,” said Hitchcock Each person had their own story to tell though we only would focus on one: the main protagonist’s. The opening of The 39 Steps demonstrates this perfectly. A large music hall filled with hundreds of people, all there to see Mr. Memory for whatever reason. During the beginning of the show as Mr. Memory asks for questions that he can answer, one after another a person asks his or her own unique question telling the audience a little bit about them. Hitchcock wanted to have vibrant and active background characters rather than stiff and unresponsive ones so that the realism could be shown more deeply. “Hitchcock gives each person a close-up as they take turns asking ridiculous questions, allowing a rich tapestry of personalities to surface. His strategy seems to be of showing us that there are many equally interesting stories happening at once, but choosing only to follow one.” Shadow of a Doubt opens similarly. There is a man sitting on a peer eating a sandwich and children playing a game in the street. In Saboteur, the audience is confronted by a vast array of factory workers on an assembly line. Each character has his or her individual and personal story to tell. Lastly we look at one of Hitchcock’s most famed stylistic techniques: the camera’s point-of-view. This was one of the most important things to keep in mind according to him because it could turn a simplistic scene into something much more dramatic. The signature point-of-view sequence Hitchcock used was in the form of a close-up of a character’s face looking at something in the distance and the switching between whatever they were looking at with the close-up. One clear example of this takes place within Saboteur when Barry Kane is attempting to break off his handcuffs on the fan belt of the car he is traveling in with Patricia Martin. As she is attempting to flag down any passing car to help her bring him to justice, he attempts to break free from his chains. In this sequence we have three shots: a close-up of Kane’s face, the handcuffs chain on the fan belt, and Patricia farther up the road. As Kane tries to break free, he looks alternatively between Patricia and the handcuffs, hoping that they will break before she can get him into trouble. With each consecutive shot the view of the handcuffs gets closer and closer, hinting that they are getting closer to breaking. This causes the audience to root on their hero as the tension increases more and more until finally, the chain breaks. The Lady Vanishes also illustrates this signature point-of-view sequence. Towards the end of the film when the passengers are stuck in the detached cars on the train tracks the viewpoint switches from them looking at the soldiers from inside the car to the soldiers looking at them from the wooded area outside the cars. In a way, the audience simply makes use of a random character’s eyes to get a sense of what is happening outside as well as inside the stalled cars without having to know what the character is thinking at that particular moment.
Proximity also plays a large part in driving the plot because we can decipher what a character’s intentions are without them speaking it directly. In Shadow of a Doubt when the younger Charlie is descending the staircase to get a better look or in The 39 Steps when Peggy Ashcroft walks closer to the camera to illustrate her getting nearer to her husband to listen in. These are different points-of-view as they only utilize one viewpoint the entire time.
Hitchcock was truly a pioneer of many techniques used today by a variety of filmmakers and it is clear that he used several of the same methods from the beginning of his career to the end. His style was unique and inspirational as it broke barriers and brought about innovative approaches to film. These experimental approaches proved to be successful as Alfred Hitchcock is an internationally recognizable name and he will be forever know as the true Master of Suspense.

Works Cited

1. Bays, Jeffery M. "Definitive List of Hitchcock MacGuffins." Borgus.com. N.p., Dec. 2010. Web. July 2011. <http://borgus.com/hitch/macguffins.htm>.

2. Bays, Jeffery M. "Humor: Hitchcock's Secret Weapon." Borgus.com. N.p., July 2007. Web. <http://borgus.com/hitch/hitch-humor.htm>.

3. Condon, Paul and Sangster, Jim 1999. The Complete Hitchcock, Virgin Publishing Ltd., London

4. Duguid, Mark. "Hitchcock's Style." Www.screenonline.org.uk. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tours/hitch/tour6.html>.

5. Hitchcock, Alfred, and Sidney Gottlieb. Hitchcock on Hitchcock: Selected Writings and Interviews. Berkeley: University of California, 1995. Print.

6. Scott, Helen G. "WHAT'S A MacGUFFIN?" Hitchcock. By François Truffaut. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1983. 139. Print.

Filmography

1. Saboteur (1940) dir. Alfred Hitchcock, USA

2. Shadow of a Doubt (1943) dir. Alfred Hitchcock, USA

3. The Lady Vanishes (1938) dir. Alfred Hitchcock, United Kingdom

4. The 39 Steps dir. (1935) Alfred Hitchcock, United Kingdom

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[ 1 ]. Truffaut, p. 153
[ 2 ]. Hitchcock, Alfred, and Sidney Gottlieb. Hitchcock on Hitchcock: Selected Writings and Interviews. Berkeley: University of California, 1995. Print.
[ 3 ]. Truffaut, p. 47
[ 4 ]. Bays, Jeffery M. "Humor: Hitchcock's Secret Weapon." Borgus.com. N.p., July 2007. Web. .
[ 5 ]. "The Lady Vanishes." Www.imdb.com. N.p., n.d. Web. .
[ 6 ]. Condon, Paul and Sangster, Jim 1999. The Complete Hitchcock, Virgin Publishing Ltd., London
[ 7 ]. Hitchcock, Alfred, and Sidney Gottlieb. Hitchcock on Hitchcock: Selected Writings and Interviews. Berkeley: University of California, 1995. Print.