Friday, September 6,1974'
rHE MICHIGAN DAILY
Page Five
Friday, September E, 1974 THE MICHIGAN DAILY rage Five
Hitch, master of orror, now
75
-
By MARY CAMPBELL
AP-News Feature Writer
NEW YORK (P) - Alfred
Hitchcock, just turned 75, has1
directed 55 movies since 19221
and, without thought of retire-
ment, has a contract to make1
three more.
"Tell your story. Tell it with1
great potency. Tell it visually,.
-Be as simple as you can. That.
is my summation of film mak-1
ing," the master' said in his us-
ual mock sepulchral voice.
"My approach is, 'What do.
they think of this movie on the,
Ginza?' Therefore, I tell it as
visually as I can, so a Japan-.
ese audience looking at t h e
screen understands what the'
situation is and isn't relyingj
upon that double-exposed title
at the bottom. Otherwise they
are going to spend the eve-,
ning reading, not going to see a'
picture.
"And what about an English-1
speaking woman? She dropsI
something and in reaching;
down for it, doesn't hear an im-
money," he said.
Madam and Hitch, as they
call each other in gentle and
polite tones, live in Bel Air,
Calif., in a one-story house
without home swimming pool or
home screening room. In fact,
Hitchcock says he doesn't at-
tend movies at all any more,
having come to his own work-
able conclusions about them
through the years.
Hitchcock is considered the
master of suspense and wry
humor in film. His subject is
usually murder.
"Ideal with murder as fic-
tion. I don't even believe in hat-
red. I think it's wasted energy.
I don't dislike anyone; I feel it
doesn't do any good. Revenge
I think is a dreadful, dreadful
thing."
In the way he plans a film
now, Hitchcock plotted care-
fully his entry to the movie
business. He was working in
the advertising department of
an engineering firm in Britain
when he started job seeking.
"My approach is, 'What do they think of
this movie on the Ginza?' Therefore, I tell
it as visually as I can, so a Japanese aud-
ience looking at the screen understands
what the situation is and isn't relying upon
that double-exposed title at the bottom."
-Alfred Hitchcock
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AP Photo
ALFRED HITCHCOCK, recently marking his 75th birthday, examines a script in his elegantly furnished office at Universal
Studios.
portant line of dialogue. If it's
beinng told visually, it will take
longer, and she won't miss all
of it.
"The essential thing is to
make the audience participate.
My films are designed to create
emotion in the audience; it's
what makes suspense."
It may take three or four
years to make the three n e w
films but the director says it's
no good rushing into a picture.
"Madam and I live modestly
enough so we don't have to be
terribly desperate to make a
picture for the sake of making
"I think when a young man
wants a job it is very vital that
he show a sample of his work.
I found out through the trade
papers that Paramount was go-
ing to open a studio in London,
and the name of their first film.
"I sketched out the title and
got a commercial artist to exe-
cute it in the best professional
manner. I took it to the studio
and told them I'd like to do the
title for their film and showed
it to'them. The man in charge
said they hadn't organized the
studio yet." ,
Hitchcock wanted to do notr
ss
Records in review
Do you love schlagers, like I love schlagers?'
Lori Lieberman belts them out like a pro on her new album,I
A Piece of Time (Capitol ST-11297). Her music is lavish and
soothing-confectionary rock. She's smarter than Petula Clark,
and she's got more nerve, but otherwise they're sisters in tle
faith.
The powers behind Lieberman's throne are Charles Fox and
Norman Gimbel (authors of Jim Croce's I Got a Name), who
produced and wrote all the songs here. And they did the job
right, making good use of Lieberman's versatile and likeable
voice. This album is downright pretty.
A Piece of Time 'would be wonderful but for one annoying
feature: Gimbel and Fox wrote lyrics which are often smothering
in their righteousness-just too goddamn Puritanical for many
tastes. Still, this album is a must for softies everywhere.
-Tom' Olson
only the main title but the sub-
titles of the silent film.!
"I went along again when I
heard theyahad changed t h e,
first film, with the new title
designed and executed, and Ii
got the job. I was 20," Hitch-
cock recalled.
Titles in silent film were of
three kinds - spoken, character!
and narrative. The director re-
calls putting an illustration un-
derneath the words.
"If you said, 'By this time,
George was leading a fast life,'
you'd draw a candle with a
flame at both ends. I had to!
figure out the idea. Some of the
titles were awful," he recalled. I
The movie studio closed down
and Hitchcock was out of a
job. He found work building'
movie sets for a rental moviel
company,"and in his spare time
wrote his own script from a
novella. "Then they said they'd!
bought the play, 'Woman to Wo-
man,' and did I know anyone
who could write the script. I
said I'd show them a sample of
my work. I got the job, onlyI
by showing what I could do.'
Not promises. Facts."
In this way, Hitchcock be-
came a movie art director, gen-
eral production manager, assist-
ant director and director. And
he married an editor Alma Re-
ville.
At home in California, Hitch-
cock and his wife prepare their
dinner - Prince Rainier and
Princess Grace have eaten at
the Hitchcock kitchen table -
and once a week they eat out
as a change for Madam." i
They retire early, but it is'
Hitchcock who prepares the tea:
tray with electric teapot at the:
ready for wheeling into the bed-:
room. And it is he who presents
Ms. Hitchcock her cup of hot
tea first thing in the morning.
Hitchcock, whose birthday
was Aug. 13, goes to his doctor
every Tuesday and every month
has blood tests.
"I'm not scared of anything.
I just want to know what is go-
ing on. I've been doing it for the
last seven or ten years. In 1943,
I weighed just under 300 pounds.
My ankles hung over my socks.
My back ached. So I took off
97 pounds.
"My present weight is 228. If
I can get to 215 or 200, I'll
be just the weight for my
frame. It's horribly embarras-
sing to talk about oneself, butI
I know you should have y o u r
story," he added.
Hitchcock first came to the
United States in 1940. His con-
tract has always given him
complete artistic control over
his films. "This is an embar-
rassing clause because I am not
a belligerent person." He re-
members exercising the clause
only once.
Although he prepares his
films with great care, Hitch-
cock considers film making not
an art but an industry.
"I have a responsibility to cause only myself to starve if
the people employed where I'm my painting doesn't sell. Does
working, of which I'm v e r y , a director have a right to say,
very conscious. Five thousand 'I'm going to make this film
people are employed on the Uni- only to please myself?' I don't
versal lot. If the studio does think he does. Because he has
not make successful pictures, a decided to involve himself in
lot of people are going to be what is called - this is an im-
out of work. portant word - the film indus-
"I'm not an artist who may try."
Michigan Daily
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KATHERINE HEPBURN WEEKEND 1952
PAT AND MIKE
The acting team of Hepburn and Spencer Tracy tackle this comedy about
a talented lady athlete and her hard-boiled manager. "It's the most
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of Wild Horses. Zagreb animation.
KATHERINE HEPBURN WEEKEND
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