HITCHCOCK ON HIMSELF: MEMOIR

He starts by calling his cameo appearances an eccentricity of his character which the audience has been tolerant of so far, but might not be amused any longer. Jokes about directors being granted ‘one eccentricity per capita.’ He then gives a twist to the habit by calling it a devious, sinister ploy on his part to ‘worm’ his way into his pictures ‘as a spy.’ He thinks that a director should know the other side of the camera, and what it feels like.

He finds this helpful in putting his actors and technicians anticipative and anxious to shoot him, doing their work much more agilely.

One thing he has learnt is to make the press people subject to their own devices. "I have a secret yen to interview them, to pose them for still pictures." And he would like to write a review of what they write.

"My purpose is, as I have indicated, purely sinister. I find that the easiest way to worry people is to turn the tables on them." And he does that by surprising viewers – by making innocent, unsuspected characters the villains. By the extraordinary occurrences – like a murder taking place in the United Nations.

He goes on to describe what he considers to be the chief feature of best drama – that in which common people are shown in routine situations of life only to be later exposed for the dramatic elements lurking beneath. He thinks that spy stories of prewar era were just the stuff that made for such stories – ordinary events and people later turning out to be elements extraordinaire. He thinks that this kind of spy drama is at an end today, now being shown in other situations.

Finally, the Mcguffin – he believes it must adapt to the times. No more of stolen papers and secret codes. But it is still essential.

The other thing that must change in suspense dramas is their setting. Trains, subways, towers, must make the way for newer locations. He mentions shooting a spy story in Alaska.

(The original story appeared in the New York Times.)