Monday
Master of suspense
As Alfred Hitchcock so aptly demonstrated, you don’t need chainsaw-wielding maniacs or buckets of blood to create a truly terrifying movie. Renowned for suspenseful psychological thrillers like “Rear Window,” “Psycho” and “North by Northwest,” the acclaimed film director was born today in 1899 in London.
Hitchcock’s contributions to his genre and to filmmaking in general were numerous, but there are two we find particularly fascinating.
In an era replete with blonde bombshells like Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield, Hitchcock pioneered the “icy blonde,” a female character whose air of cool sophistication belies a passionate (for better or for worse) personality. Kim Novak in “Vertigo,” Tippi Hedren in “The Birds” and Grace Kelly in “Rear Window” are just a few of the many examples.
Hitchcock is also credited with coining the term “MacGuffin,” which refers to a goal or item that helps drive the movie’s plot. In some cases, both the protagonist and the antagonist vie for the MacGuffin, though their reasons for wanting the MacGuffin tend to be vaguely explained and the importance of the MacGuffin generally wanes over the course of the film.
Hitchcock, who was fond of withholding important information from both his characters and his audience, employed MacGuffins to great effect, using them to increase suspense as well as the viewers’ sympathy for the characters.
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