Favourite directors: Alfred Hitchcock

I have always loved Alfred Hitchcock’s films and regard him as one of cinema’s greatest directors. He had an extraordinary ability to create suspense, often through what the audience knew rather than what was actually shown, and he understood how to turn ordinary places and situations into something deeply unsettling. Films such as Vertigo, Rear Window, Psycho, Notorious and North by Northwest are not only gripping thrillers but beautifully crafted works of cinema, filled with memorable images, psychological complexity and brilliant storytelling. I also love Hitchcock’s dark humour, his famous cameo appearances and the meticulous control he exercised over every aspect of his films.

 

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Favourite quotes

• In feature films the director is God; in documentary films God is the director.
• I enjoy playing the audience like a piano.
• Our primary function is to create an emotion and our secondary function is to sustain that emotions.
• The more successful the villain, the more successful the picture.
• Always make the audience suffer as much as possible.
• There is something more important than logic: imagination
• There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.
• To make a great film you need three things - the script, the script and the script.
• Drama is life with the dull bits left out. 
• The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder.
• Give them pleasure - the same pleasure they have when they wake up from a nightmare.
• I've become a body of films, not a man, I am all those films.

Movies I've seen