December 3, 2010

TED Presentations, round 3

Shaun - Alfred Hitchcock and Special Effects

- Schufftan Process - where a mirror is placed by camera to allow the scene to appear bigger than it really is

- fires superimposed

- Children ran on treadmills for The Birds

- Use of yellow screen over blue screen

- The Vertigo Show, where the camera is on the dolly

- Falling effect done on blue screen

- Mother in Psycho was actually different people

This was an awesome presentation. There was so much I had no idea about. The mirror process for the films, the superimposed fires, I had no idea. This really goes to show you how amazing hitchcock was and how progressive his methods were. Even though the use of yellow screen was noticeable, as you knew the character was not in the real scene, it looked a hell of a lot more clean than that of the blue screen.

Jessica - Suspense in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho

- chords were reused

- music has relationship with story

- uses chords against audience to build up the suspense in a scene

- Subverts audience's perspective with Norma Bate's character

- private locations can not always be secure

- controlling audience reactions

- POV camera style

Another great presentation, Jessica did an awesome job. The one aspect i found to be the most interesting was the ability Hitch had to make private locations insecure. Using the shower scene, a very private place to most people, he uses it to show that people are not always as safe as they think they are, even in the most private of places.

Margret - Innocence and Guilt

- connection of guilt/innocent man - is there really a difference?

- transference of guilt - as an innocent third party

Hithch seemed able to do things to the audience that few other in the history of cinema have been able to replicate. He used the audience against itself. Margret did a good job of demonstrating this concept of transference of guilt. In many cases the audience, not involved in a crime or issue at all, was made to feel bad for even watching what was going down. Another truly impressive ability of Alfred Hitchcock.

Erin - Alfred Hitchcock Presents

- the concept of the show was appealing to Hitchcock because his narcissism

- Each episode had Hitchcock do an opening monologue and a closing monologue

he did different monologues for the American version and the British version.

- The show featured many soon to be actors and characters

I am fairly unfamiliar with the Alfred Hitchcock Presents series, so I found this presentations fascinating. Whoever it was the decided to pitch Hitchcock on the idea based on the fact that he could do monologues and appeal to that narcissistic man was a smart one himself. After hearing this presentation I wanted to go home and hit the netflix to stream the series. I have not had a chance to yet, but I hope to soon.

Max - Voyeurism and Alfred Hitchcock

- Rear Window being the epitome of this concept had windows as the screen and jeff himself was a photographer, which is in a way a voyeur in its own right

- Psycho - the focusing on her eye after her murder, we leave her perspective and move onto someone else's

- In Vertigo we have madeline who was an object, and Scottie who tries to recreate that object

- In many cases the voyeur has a handicap, which cause the behavior to start.

I think that the concept of the voyeur was interesting to Hitchcock because I imagine he loved to "people watch" himself. With so many themes, and so many stories based on the way people act and react to different situations, it would be hard to imagine that Hitchcock did not do these things himself. Maybe it is not quite as obvious as siting back staring at people through a giant rear window, but in one way or another, Hitchcock had to do this in his life. He simply was use the concept of how interesting it was in his films.

Tremain - The Making of Rope

- First full color film for Hitchcock

- First film to appear to have been shot in a single take

- dark objects on screen for reel changes

- elaborately simple set that was moveable so the camera position could be changed

I am a huge fan of Jimmy Stewart, as it might be apparent from my presentation, but I have never had the chance to see this film. I was excited to hear about it, and considering I knew very little about its story before this presentation, it was awesome. Considering the reels they used back in this time period only lasted for about 10 minutes, i could only imagine how technically sound everything had to be revolving around the story and putting it all together. I cant wait to get my hands on the film so I can watch it.

Hmong - Blonde Hair, White Skin, and Blood

- concept of the cold face and the warm heart for the women

- Weak, helpless women (except in Rear Window)

- White skin - symbol of purity, and men desire this

- blood, used in thrillers for visual effects

One of the things I have noticed over the course of the semester, and watching so many Hitchcock films, is how much he would use blood later on in comparison to how little he used it early on . In Black Mail the girl kills a would be rapist with a butter knife, but when we are shown the knife afterwards, there is no blood on it. In comparison, in Psycho, the use of blood in the shower scene is an extremely important effect that is necessary to set to mood and the scene.

Laura - Psycho: The Original Thrasher Film

- The hook, gaining suspense until the end

- Modern day, starts of suspenseful to grab attention.

Considering the fact that the topic of Psycho had been used several times over the course of these presentations, I was impressed at the new information that was brought up by Laura in hers. The different in Hitchcock's use of suspense varies greatly from that of the films we see today. He started off more slow than we are used to now, building to a point where the main actress is killed, flipping the audience's world on its back. Showing how different auiences are today with the fact that we need to be grabbed early or we will lose interest. This is the case in the classics film Scream. Drew Berrymore, a big named actress, is killed in the first 10 or 15 minutes of the film. This immediately grabs our attentions, and leaves us in suspense to find out what is going on. Both use the same concept, they just do it at different times.

November 20, 2010

TED presentation, round 2

Ryan - Vertigo

- The use of the swirl to represent death. this is shown in her hair, in the staircase, in the painting on the wall, etc.

- The use of doubles in various points along the plot line: Judy overall has a double with Madeline, the use of the mission tower two times (once at beginning and once at end), there is the double plot being used with both girls, and in several different points there is a mirror which doubles up the characters in the shot.

- theme of trickery and lost love

I was not a fan of Vertigo when we watched it in class, and I am still not a fan of it. It makes me feel a lost hope for humanity. People just lose credibility to me. I guess one aspect you can say about that is the actors did an excellent job in the film if thats how I feel about it. But the story was just not something I liked. Understanding some of the technical aspects and how Hitch used them in this film was informative, and maybe next time around I will be able to enjoy that aspect of the film, since I don't think I will ever really enjoy the film itself.

Tiffany - Hitchcock and Casting

- The use of big name actors bring recognition and draws emotion from the audience

- In the 1940s American actors did not want to do thrillers, as they thought it would harm their career, it seemed almost belittling to them

- With Grace Kelly in Rear Window, she brought sex appeal, but indirectly she brought a lot of audience appeal as well

- In working with Hitchcock there became a "new Jimmy Stewart"

Considering this was, indirectly, an offshoot of the presentation I did, I was interested in Tiffany's take. One of the reasons I consider Rear Window one of my top three Hitchcock movies is because I love Grace Kelly's role in the film. Besides the fact that she is downright gorgeous, her character has such appeal to her, and I could not imagine anyone, even thinking about today's actresses, that could fill that role properly. Hitchcock seemed to be able to get the perfect actor for each of the roles, there are very few instances where I thought someone else could have filled the roll better than the one Hitchcock picked.

Agnes - Hitchcock and Catholic Influences

- The catholic son - Hitchcock was still active when he made his move to Hollywood.

- The concept of the original sin

- The falsely accused man and the guilt woman

- The devil

- The target audience for Hitchcock was women, he wanted to get the to the theaters and scare them.

- Eve = blondes

I can not remember if it was during this presentation or something else, but I recall hearing a clip from Hitchcock that stated how the woman almost always dictates what happened in a relationship, usually whatever she wants to do she can talk or get her husband into doing it. With this concept, if he draws the woman to his films, then the man has no choice but to join her. In reference to the other topics, I was not consciously aware of the original sin idea as being integrated into Hitch's films, but after this presentation, it makes perfect sense to me and is pretty easy to find throughout many of his films.

Tyler - Use of Sound in Alfred Hitchcock's Films

- implied sound/ over reacting that was seen in the silent films

- blurred lines of sound representation

- Psycho shower scene without sound.

I like that Tyler showed us the Psycho shower scene without the sound on. In one of my previous posts, I mentioned that Hitchcock originally did not want to use sound for the infamous shower scene. I never got around to actually trying it out, until this presentation. It would have been such an utter fail if he had not changed his mind. The now famous chords that are associated with the scene seem to be cinematic gold and will forever be remembered.

Manola - Hitchcock: Misogynistic?

- Violence against main character

- male violence higher than female characters

In watching Manola's presentation, it was shocking to see how heavily the male violence outweighed the female. Upon further thought, I considered the fact that I never came under the assumption that i figured the females were the main focus of violent acts in his films, better yet the female's representation as character is where I had my issue. A majority of them are week and fragile people, not many are strong, confident women that can stand on their own. I think this is where the issue with female leads takes root, not in the violence toward them.

My Presentation

- pretty awesome, no bias here!

Monica - Psycho, beginning of the slasher films

- Psycho and its effect on Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Halloween, Friday, Nightmare on Elm Street, and Scream.

- The use of masks, knives and other sharp instruments, and the mother/killer relationship

- memory issues

I never really understood the importance of Psycho to the modern horror films until seeing many of these presentations. It is amazing the effect it has had on pretty much every movie. As Hitchcock said, it all steps from the suspenseful children's story, Little Red Riding Hood, but the movie version all stems from Psycho. Its pretty amazing if you look at it. Where would we be without it? And, as a side note, I dont think any movie I have seen in a long time even compares to Psycho.

Sterling - Teachings of Hitchcock

- Hitchcock was very aware - of both himself and his surroundings

- Money overpowers everything?

- Rebecca, did she marry for love, or was it because he was simply rich?

- Thou shalt not steal concept. Thieves almost always die.

- Relationship of falling in love, the process always seems to be accelerated, with an exaggerated courting process.

- teaches moral and life lessons

In his own way, Hitchcock seems to be able to dictate the rules of life through film. In almost every film the bad guys is caught or killed, and there is definitely an overriding concept that you should always do what is right. Sterling brought some great ideas up, in that there always seem to be a moral concept that is apparent in Hitchcock's films. Some are a little more in your face than other, but they are almost always seemingly there.

I didn't catch the name - Vertigo

- Dealing with lost love

- Sexual overtones/ double meanings

- Spiral of time/ personal moments

falling cop/falling madeline

- tone is dark and cynical - tragedy

Again Vertigo is not my favorite topic, but I did enjoy the point brought up about the falling theme in the movie. Considering the movie is titled vertigo, which is brought on by a fear of heights, it is only proper that this occurs more than once in the film. Every time the falling occurs, someone dies, and only aids the the fear the Scottie has.

November 20, 2010

TED proposals, round 1

For this I am going to note some of the more interesting topics I found on each presentation and do a short response for each.

Vito - Hitchcock and Modern Film

-Vito took note of Hitchcock and his use of special effects in several movies, and noted how many were done by using camera tricks and miniatures, among others.

- He mentioned how in the movie Jaws, by Steven Spielberg, the use of the Shark was Hitchcockian, in that Spielberg would often times not show the shark, but would use its essence to build suspense with the audience.

- Halloween and Friday the 13th were movies derived/heavily influenced by Psycho.

- Nightmare on Elm Street took color queues from Vertigo

- An elevated "big chase" was a Hitchcock element that is seen in The Fugitive

- Christopher Nolan uses Hitchcockian elements in his movies

Newer movies such as Hostel and the Saw series have pulled away from the Hitchcockian ways and have gone in a different direction.

I thought this was an awesome presentation to start with. Vito did a great job of portraying Hitchcock as a whole, and not too specifically. Understanding that many of the suspense movies we see today have been influenced by Hitchcock, particularly Psycho. Overall it was a great tie-in of many of the things we have learned about during the course of the class, and now seeing how it has been done today was very cool.

Will - Catholic Guilt

- Hitchcock uses excessive feelings of guilt, which is one of the running themes in Hitchcock movies

- Also established "audience guilt" which makes the audience feel bad for blaming or assuming one person did something wrong when they really did not.

- Innocent man accused of wrong doing

- Paranoia consumes characters because they feel guilt for something

- guilt assumed even though innocent actions have occured

- In Psycho, we have a woman who is guilt for stealing money, and a guilt Norman who tries to hide his actions

This is a theme that we have spoken of frequently throughout the course of the class. There are mny influences from the Catholic church that Hitchcock brings into his films. I liked getting a little deeper, and understanding how this influence actually is shown in his films. The use of the cross and the nun are in your face ways, but how the feeling of guilt is used is very interesting.

David - Hitchcock and the Autuers

- The Golen Age of Hitchcock was considered between the 50s and 60s

- Mentioned how TV destroyed studios, and only big names were able to work

- There are lots of new techniques in cinematography

- Akira Kurosowa was a painter, assistant director, worked with storyboards and details. In Japan.

- Ingmar Bergman - religious, writer and Assistant director, theater, and is from Sweden.

- These two guys link to Hitchcock because of their backgrounds, they are educated in the arts, they are considered leaders in films, and they are pioneers.

The Autuer theory is is something I have a hard time grasping. It is not the term or how it is defined, but what it ACTUALLY means. If someone were to pull the same actions as one of the autuer directors, like Hitchcock would, in a business environment, they would be hated by employees and most likely deemed a micromanager. But, since this is film they are considered artists? In any case, I enjoyed hearing about the other directors and how they all relted, how many of the autuers had the background and information to be able to run and dictate every step of a successful film.

Katie - Challenging Audience Expectations - Psycho

- The use of marketing for the film - with a vague trailer, this left viewers ready for the films, but unprepared for what they were about to see.

- Mentioned how people were not allowed in the theater after the movie started

- The leading lady being killed early shocked the audience

- 2/3 of the music queues in the film were on Marion, which sets up her character

- Hitchcock uses surprise over suspense in this film

I love Psycho. So, in turn, I really enjoyed this presentation. I have always been fascinated with the draw around the film, and how people reacted to it. Hithcock did an amazing job around setting the film up and how it influenced the audience take, even before they stepped foot in the actual theatre. Also, I liked the take Katie had on how Hitchcock uses Surprise over suspense, because, as I imagine, it the audience had more surprises during the movie than they bargained for.

Luke - Origins of Psycho - Mother-half of the Home

- Psycho is the birth of modern horror films

- sexuality is prevalent throughout the film, as Norman is a cross dresser who commits murder dressed as a woman.

- There was semi-nudity used, and much more gore than most audiences were used to.

- New genres of film began from Psycho - leading to Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Black Christmas, and so on.

We know how I feel about Psycho by now, so I wont repeat, but another interesting take on the film. bringing up some of the points he did, Luke did a good job of teaching is some of the off-the-wall topics about the films, and how it led to some of the other classic horror movies of our generation.

Paul - Alfred Hitchcock Working Methods, Master of Work

- Hitchcock worked visually before setting up script, he imagined how everything would look way before it ever happened.

- Worked a lot in pre-production, and getting writers to write what he wanted them to

- Infused meaning into everything

- Did little directing, and let the actors work it out

I think this presentation was an awesome demonstration of who Hitchcock really was. Sometimes he gets a bad rep as a director, but this sheds a little different light. Yes, he was very specfic on how he wanted things to be done, but it shows how brilliant of a man he was. He never looked through a camera, but visualized everything. Also, how, as a controlling man, he would let actors work out scenes. Granted, he would film scenes over and over and over and over again, the actors had a way to figure it out. I thought that was very cool.

November 12, 2010

Our last movie screening of the semester happened this week in class, and in all honesty, I am a little bummed. I have really liked this class, and have really enjoyed watching the Hitchcock movies. Coming into the class I have only seen a couple of them, so it was always fun getting into these classic films I have never seen before. We chose a great one to end on.

The Birds.

In class we were shown two quotes in regards to the films. The first from Alfred Hitchcock - "[The film] is about complacency" and the other is some Robin Wood, who said the film "is about arbitrary and unpredictable."

Taking both of these quotes and trying to understand what each meant in terms of the movie is going to be kind of tough, but I'll give it a go.

As Hitchcock referred to the film as being about complacency, I can only guess what is meant by that. What I believe he meant by this was that there are all things we take for granted in our lives. These range in importance from the oxygen we breath, without thinking about it, to the simplicity of pressing a gas pedal to make a several ton car move along a road. These things are pretty amazing aspects of our lives that we dont even think about. It is easy to never think about them. That is until they dont work, or dont work right. It seems like the second we get complacent with those types of things they tend to give us issues. I think that is what Hitchcock means in this statement. So many things in our lives just happen, we dont think about them, but they go as planned 99.999% of the time. What were to happen if one of those items did not go as it normally does? If the natural order of things were to be disrupted, we would not know how to handle it. And this is what occurs in the film. The natural order is disrupted and an entire town encounters a very large issue.

In terms of the statement by Robin Wood, I believe he went for a different angle on the same type of concept. I believe he took on the idea of the movie as in to say, what were to happen if the things around us were not as we saw them? Instead of a bird staying away from humans, it would attack when you least expected it. Take nature as a general concept, imagine that every once and a while it would just decide to infringe on our space via the animals, trees, or whatever. Our lives would be a lot different than what they are. Imagine being stopped at a stop light and a tree just fell over with no reason right onto your car. What a different would that would be! Again, I think it is along the concept of flipping the order of our world around and asking the question: What if it was not as ideal as it is now?

Another concept that one person in class brought up that I thought was interesting was that the birds did not start attacking the town until Melanie Daniels, the main character, came up to the little town in Northern California from the large San Francisco. The idea was that the birds were, in a way, protecting themselves from the outside influence and someone who represented a different lifestyle and way of living. She comes from a cement jungle filled with cars and people, much different from this small town that she enters. I thought this was a very interesting concept, and could be something to look deeper into. The only issue that I saw with the theory was that there was mention of one of a local boat's crews getting attacked before Melanie even got there. So it did not start when she got there. So whatever that correlation is something that could be investigated further. I am sure there is some interesting representation that could be found in this subject.

Another question that was raised in class was: Why did Hitchcock include subtle material that most wont see?

I think if anything portrayed Hitchcock as a director, this could be it. Hitchcock, as we know, is an autuer. The movies he made were his artistic vision, and he controlled every element from beginning to end. They were his babies. Because he liked to be in so much control during the process, and be able to portray events/characters/sets/etc. in such a paticular way, I believe that the subtle things in each movie are just a way in which he puts that much more Hitchcockian elements into them. Yes, many will never be known, many wont be understood, but I can imagine every time Hitchcock were to sit back watching one of his movies, and seeing these subtle objects, he would smile or nod in approval. He would know exactly what they meant, what they represented, and why he put them there. And no one else would. It seems like an ultimate knowledge/power trip for a man who appeared to live off of it.

November 5, 2010

Visit by Trevor Albert

I really enjoyed this visit from someone who is an experienced professional in "real" Hollywood. With movies such as Groundhogs Day, Bedazzled, League of Extraordinary Gentleman, and many more to his resume, Trevor Albert was a wealth of knowledge and stories.

One of the best facts that I learned over the course of the visit was that anytime you see the gopher from Caddyshack pop up out of the ground, it is no one other than our friend Trevor Albert hunkered below the ground sticking his hand up a puppet. Since no one else, at the time, was small enough to go down into the hole, he volunteered to do it. Having the ability to say that I met the guy who was was gopher for certain scene in Caddyshack will undoubtedly be one of the highlights of my life.

Considering the fact that I am planning on entering a completely different field than any one of my classmates, I was able to listen to his advice and suggestions in a completely different light.

In all honesty, it seems like his career path was a pretty lucky one. He started off as a lowly hand on Caddyshack, not even given the luxury of a room to sleep in, he met the right people, made the right impression, and off he went on his career.

Coming from a fan of a certain ghost-busting movie, I am inherently a big fan of Harold Ramis. Considering that he seems to have spent a large part of his career working with and around Harold Ramis, I thought it was very cool.

Sitting on the outside of the profession, looking in, he reiterated many important concepts to me. A little hard work and a good attitude goes an extremely long way. Also, to seize opportunities no mater where you are working. You never know who you might meet, impress, or work with. Somewhere along the way, sometimes even immediately, these relationships will pay off and could help you in one way or another.

I actually stayed after to talk to him and the other guy who came down also, unfortunately I am terrible with names, and forgot his. Since I want to get into media coaching and image management I wanted to see if he knew anything on the subject or any suggestions either might be able to give me on the career and what I could do to get on the right path. Unfortunately neither of them knew much about it beyond the general facts behind PR and marketing. Its all good though.

Im going to leave this post where it is, I feel like I am starting to ramble on.

October 29, 2010

In class this week we got to watch Psycho. I have never seen the movie in its entirety before this class. Understandably, I was extremely excited to watch it, since it is quite possibly the most famous of all Hitchcock movies. Coming from someone who has stood by his mindset that Rear Window is my favorite Alfred Hitchcock movie, and has been pretty adamant about it, I can honestly say this is my new favorite. This was flat out just a fun movie. I could totally out myself in the shoes of people going to the movie for the first time in the theaters. What an awesome event that must have been. The movie had so many elements to it, from the story to the acting, to the psychological elements, the list can go on and on from what I loved about it. Good flick!

For the journal, Alex asked us to note the Hitchcockian elements that we noticed while watching the film. There was a lot to it, so I did not catch nearly all of them, but these are of the ones that I did catch:

Blonde Girl:

One of the most glaring and well-known of the hitchockian elements is the use of the beautiful blonde leading lady. This movie is no exception. Marion Crane, played by Janet Leigh was the lucky girl in this film.

Sexual Innuendoes:

Like many of this movies, Hitchcock throws in some simple one liners, says certain things, or uses objects to demonstrate sexuality.

Lines (as in shapes) to Introduce Movie:

This is one we have not spoken of, and I have always wondered about it, but upon rolling the opening credits, many of his movies starts with lines covering the screen when this is occurring. This happens in Psycho, North by Northwest, and many of his other movies.

Musical Queues:

Watching the progression of hitch's films throughout the semester, one of the improvements that was impressive over time was his use of music. Psycho might be the culmination of this aspect. Everyone knows the tones for the shower scene. Hitchcock was able to use music to his advantage in setting up scene, not leading up to the peak of action in a scene, but might stop the music right before it to mess with audience.

Birds:

Obviously Hitchcock made a movie dedicated entirely to birds, but it is something he uses in many of his movies. In Psycho there is a bird on the wall in the office parlor. Possibly, this represents death.

McGuffin:

While the mcguffin is another one of those known things Hitchcock thrived on in his films, Psycho, of course, had them as well. The most glaring and in-your-face mcguffin is the money that is stolen in the beginning of the films that is eventually thrown into the lake while in the trunk of the car.

Cross:

As representation of the catholic church is another overriding theme across the realm of his films, and in this one, at one point there is a shadow of a cross that is portrayed on one of the doors.

Bumbling Cops:

Although this one is not quite as apparent in Psycho as it is in many of his other films, the cops in his movies are portrayed as bumbling fools that are always tricked or go there wrong way. The cops in this one come across more lazy and give up pretty easily. Still not as competent as one would hope a police squad would be.

I know there are many more, but these are some of the glaring Hitchcockian elements that I saw in the films.

I was looking around at some Psycho facts and found some I thought were extremely entertaining.

- Hitchcock ended up buying as many copies of the Psyco novel as he could before the film came out so that no one would know the ending before they saw it in the theaters.

- Hitchcock was nominated for Best Director for the film, but did no win. In total he was nominated six times, and never won.

- The film cost only $800,000 and made over $40,000,000

- Hitchcock originally wanted the shower scene to be done completely silent, but Bernard Hermann scored it anyway, and Hitchcock ended up agreeing to it.

- Hitchcock waived his standard $250,000 directing fee, and instead went with a 60% share of the films grosses. (good choice, Alfred!)

- Norman was based on a 1950's serial killer named Ed Gein

The funniest one of all - Hitchcock received a letter from an angry father whose daughter would not shower after this movie, and would not take a bath after a film called Les Diaboliques (1954). Hitchcock responded by telling the man to take "send her to the dry cleaners."

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October 23, 2010

North by Northwest. This was a fun movie. I loved watching this one. To date, it would come down to this film, and Rear Window for my favorite film we have viewed so far. Even though this storyline is a near carbon copy to that of The 39 Steps, I enjoyed this one much, much more.

May seem to believe this is the prize in the list of Hitchcock's repertoire of films. I am not in the position to make the best statement in agreement or disagreement of this statement, but the film seemed to embody everything that made so many of his films so great. The one issue I had a big problem with, and this might just be due to the time period I live in now, was the ending. But, I will get back to that later.

There were so many Hitchcockian elements to this films, it is almost unbelievable. Now, you might think it would be poorly put together and obvious with so many nuances of Hitchcock's in the film, but if anyone can make it seamless, it would be Sir Alfred.

Some of the Hitchcockian elements found in this film are as follows:

The innocent man falsely accused - Cary Grant's character, Roger Thornhill, gets dragged into a situation where he is accused og being a secret agent for the US government and is chased around the country trying to free himself and get to the bottom of the situation.

This theme is found in numerous other films by Hitchcock, such as The 39 Steps and Blackmail.

Mistaken identity - although this often ties together with the innocent man falsely accused, it is still a common theme. In this movie, as stated above, Thornhill is mistaken for a government agent.

Also seen in: Blackmail, The 39 Steps, Vertigo, and arguably Psycho, among others.

Blonde lead actress - In North by Northwest, the lead female was Eve Kendall, played by Eva Marie Saint. Of course her blonde hair is key, but she plays a secret agent for the government and seems to be in a situation that is no longer in her control, especially as Roger enters the picture when they "coincidentally" meet on a train.

Also seen in: Now what films of his do not have this as an element? It might be easier to list the ones that dont have a blonde lead, but, to keep it simple, every movie we have seen so far in this class has the blonde actress right in the middle of the story.

Incompetent Police Officers - In this film Roger has several instances where he is being chased by the police, as he is a wanted man. In every situation he, almost too easily, escapes the chase and gets away from these policemen who are always a step behind or not thorough enough to get the suspest.

Also seen in: The 39 Steps, Rear Window, Rebecca, etc.

Overbearing Mothers - Roger Thornhill's mother in this film is a well off upscale woman who prances around in her fur coats, so prim and proper. Roger is always concerned about updating her and seeking her approval along the way. Even though she is quite condescending and rude at times, she is still a big focus for Roger in his life.

Also seen in: With many examples, there is one that fits too perfectly, Psycho, with Norman Bates and his deceased mother still "controlling" his life.

Trains - Hitchcock loved to use trains in his films. In this one, Roger uses the train to evade the police, several times, he meets a strange lady, Eva, who helps him out and he would shortly fall in love with.

Also seen in: Shadow of a Doubt, The 39 steps, and, even though I haven't seen it, one properly names Strangers on a Train.

I think those are some pretty good examples. Even though I wont delve deeper into them at this time, other running themes of exotic locales, plot twist and turns, sexual undertones, etc. can be seen in this film as well.

Going back to the thought I had in the beginning of this film, The ending seemed so unfinished to me. As Eva screamed hanging from the Mt Rushmore monument, as her hand seemed to slowly slip away from Roger's, I truly thought that she would slip and would fall to her death. At the very least I was excited to see her actually be saved by Roger and how he did it. Instead, almost in mid scream, we flash to a different scene where each of them are back on a train and being swept away to spend the rest of their lives together. Happy Ending! Except for those watching. It seemed as though Hitchcock either ran out of time of funding to truly conclude the heroic scene at the end. I was left wanting more. The only thing I can think why he may have done it, was in his own condescending way, he thought "I dont need to finish this out, the audience will know what happened, I dont need to put it in." Either way, I was not happy with it and would have much preferred a real ending to that scene!