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One of Sarris’ three premises that make Alfred Hitchcock one of the most well-known auteurs and gives him a distinct style of film from other directors is his technical competence; with usage of mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing, and sound. Beginning the list, Hitchcock uses woman who are almost always blonde. For example, Marion Crane (‘Psycho’, 1960), Melanie Daniels (‘The Birds’, 1963), and Lisa Carol Fremont (‘Rear Window’, 1954). Hitchcock stated that he had a preference for blondes as they were less suspicious than brunettes. He saw them as being more innocent. When a blonde did something deceitful or untruthful, it’s a greater shock then when a brunette did the same. Other elements Hitchcock uses in his mise-en-scene include staircases. Staircases would be signified having a foreboding look to them. Examples would include staircases in ‘Psycho’, ‘Vertigo’ (1958), and ‘Strangers on a Train’ (1951). Hitchcock would as well shoot shots including the reflection of the actors in the scene quite often in his films. Another large element of mise-en-scene Hitchcock incorporated was birds. He used birds quite often as it symbolized terror and fear in his films. In ‘Psycho’, birds are found behind Norman Bates, he has stuffed birds around his house, birds overlook the town of phoenix, Arizona, and Bates says to Marion “you eat like a bird”. In the film ‘The Birds’, the symbolism of birds should be fairly obvious to the point of no explanation. Finally, another element we see in Hitchcock’s mise-en-scene are that objects often embody some kind of visual representation. For example, in ‘Psycho’, the shower symbolizes entrapment. Same can be said for the phone booth in ‘The Birds’.
Elements that are part of the technical camera include POV-shots, which were largely used by Hitchcock as it provoked voyeurism. This could be seen in the film ‘Rear Window’ and ‘Psycho’, when Norman would watch Marion. Technical elements with the camera also included the Hitchcock rule, where the size of the object in the frame should be equal to the importance in the story at that moment. Hitchcock also incorporates establishing shots of landscapes at the beginning of his films. He masters the way of establishing an area such as San-Francisco in ‘The Birds’, Phoenix in ‘Psycho’, and London in ‘Frenzy’ (1972). Technical elements of editing include several POV-shots which relate to the Kuleshov effect, which is a mental study where the audience establishes a connection between multiple shots. Hitchcock uses parallel editing to show relation between characters. Such as the film ‘Strangers on a Train’, where even though the characters may be far apart from each other, their relationship and the indecisiveness between the two storylines make them feel as if they are very close to each other, almost as if they’re in the same shot. This back-and-forth transition between the two create a flow for the storytelling and narrative. Parallel editing is also used to show an element of balance between good and evil, which can be portrayed towards the cast in ‘Strangers on a Train’.
Technical elements of sound would include Hitchcock’s favorite use of silence. In ‘The Birds’, before the major attack, the birds are all silent, slowly gathering on the playground. In ‘Psycho’, Norman watches at the beginning of the shower scene with ambient sound, and in ‘Frenzy’, the breaking of the girl’s fingers is accommodated with silence, then the sound of snapping fingers. Another element of sound Hitchcock uses is dialogue. Hitchcock believed it’s not necessarily important by what the actors say, it’s about what’s being seen on screen and the interactions between actors; that is mastering the visual element. It’s one reason why Andrew Sarris contributes to the argument that Hitchcock is one of the most technically advanced people in all of cinema.
The second of Sarris’ premises that make Alfred Hitchcock a well-known auteur is his personality. Hitchcock would often reflect his own personal life into his films and have recurrent characteristics in his films relating to his expressions. The personalities of American directors have been stereotyped and forced to show scenes visually instead through literary due to censorship. For example, a sexual scene would have strict regulations and would have to instead be indicated by the after scenes such as a couple lying in bed smoking a cigarette. Which leads American directors to develop an abstract way to overcome obstacles, which Hitchcock would find creative ways to interpret a scene without losing the meaning towards it. As well Hitchcock would often have parallel comparisons between characters. Sometimes the wrong character is accused such as Guy Haines in ‘Strangers on a Train’. Another aspect of Hitchcock’s decisions would be the view towards the police in his films. He would consider the police to be incompetent, unable to do anything about the bird attack, or even denying the truth towards psycho Norman Bates. He would also decide to make women trap the male figures, then the woman would fall into distress and need the help. For example, Marion Crane had a sexual control over Norman Bates, then later on, she needed to be saved by her sister and her boyfriend. Same could be said for Norman Bates, who was trapped by his mother. And as well Melanie Daniels who gets trapped by the birds and needs to be saved. It’s a recurring theme that women are trapping the male then getting themselves into trouble and having to be saved in Hitchcock’s films. And lastly, a common decision made by Hitchcock was to have the transference of guilt, such as the transference of guilt from Norman Bates’ mother onto him. The ability for Hitchcock to relay his opinions and decisions into his films credited him as being the author of his films, thus an auteur.
The third of Sarris’ premises that considers Alfred Hitchcock to be an auteur is his interior meaning in his works. Interior meaning deals with elevating cinema from a low art form to a high art form. One of the reasons towards the auteur theory is that cinema was often seen as a low art form. It was a commercial art form and was believed as not true art. So how was cinema lifted from being formed commercially into a high art form? That was changed when tension was added between a director’s personality and his material. A director has a distinct kind of attitude towards the meaning of cinema. By seeing this attitude, by creating this meaning, we can create a higher element of art. This can be seen through the technical level and the personality and style of the director on screen, which transfers meaning into the film. This is one thing that Pauline Kael had completely gone against when she would rebuttal towards the auteur theory. She believed that meaning was being made up just for the sake of meaning in a film. But looking at Richard Maltby in Hollywood cinema, he stated that “what permits the endless variety of meaning to be generated from a film are in large part the critical practices themselves”. Even though the director may not have intended any sort of meaning, it is the responsibility of the viewers, critiques, and theorists, to uncover the meaning.
Let’s take a look at interior meaning in Hitchcock’s work, mainly considering around voyeurism. Voyeurism itself can be attributed to cinema; crowds of people gathered in a dark room, or even one person watching a movie alone, the actual viewing experience may very well be a voyeuristic activity in its own nature. You are watching people on screen in their everyday lives and they cannot see you, so it implies a sort of pleasure in the audience watching the events of others unfold. This voyeuristic element even goes further into giving the audience power. By being voyeuristic, it gives the sense of power. By having that power, you can tame and repress sexuality in film. This is why certain people feel dirty or uneasy after watching a Hitchcock film. This topic has always engaged Hitchcock and therefore leaks into many angles of his films. This common theme is not only a reemerging pattern, but also an integral part of his own technique. The film ‘Rear Window’ resolves around the very concept of this, being one of the most subjective films ever made. The main plot tells the story of a recently-incapacitated photographer passively spying upon his neighbors in his small confined apartment complex, thus establishing voyeurism in the film and in the audience.
Another interior meaning Hitchcock incorporates in most of his films is the commonality of evil. It cannot be completely ridden from the diegetic world at the end of his films, there is still evil. For example, at the end of ‘Psycho’, Norman was detained but his aura of evilness is still present. Although captured, he is still alive. In ‘The Birds’, the birds are still alive at the end. Even if it may appear that it has been conquered, it is not ridden from the world. With Hitchcock, authority is incompetent. The psychiatrist in ‘Psycho’, the police, all sources of authority is unable to act upon the main threat of the film. So, it is the responsibility of the protagonist to take it upon himself to move the plot forward and fix it.
Andrew Sarris’ premises of auteurs being able to take complete artistic control with thematic technical competencies, their unique distinguishable personality, and their views of interior meaning in the work they create, is what considers Alfred Hitchcock the ‘Master of Suspense’, having his own distinct realm of cinema and style, and makes him one of the world’s most famous and creative auteurs in film history.
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