What Hitchcock Saw
Here's a tape of Alfred Hitchcock speaking to Francois Truffaut in the mid '60s for the book that eventually became "Hitchcock/Truffaut." The subject, as Hitchcock described, was "a little matter of the physical aspect of the kissing scene in Notorious. The actors, of course, hated doing it. They felt dreadfully uncomfortable in the manner of how they had to cling to each other. And I said, I don't care how you feel, I already know how it's going to look like on the screen.
Alfred Hitchcock
"I conceived the scene in terms of a desire on the participants not to break the romantic mood. To normally break apart, it's possible that the moment would be lost. But there were things to be done, movements to be made with the telephone and the door, where it was still essential for them not to break the embrace. And I felt that the camera, representing the public, should be permitted as a third part, to join in the embrace. I was giving the public the great privilege of embracing Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman together. It was a kind of temporary menage a trois.
Here's the best part: "The aspect of not wanting to break the mood...the idea was given to me when I was in a train coming from Bologne to Paris and the train was going through a tup rather slowly," Hitchcock says. "It was a Sunday afternoon and there was a big factory and there was a large red brick wall, and against the wall was standing a young man with his girl. The girl had her arm linked through his, but he was urinating against the wall. But she never let go of his arm. She was looking down at what he was doing, then she looked around the countryside and then back again, and I thought this was true love really functioning, and that was the actual inspiration for the scene in Notorious."
Here's a site with links to several tape portions of the Hitchcock/Truffaut sessons.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on July 1, 2008 at 6:06 PM
comment #1
kidkosmic
says ...
But Wells, he looks like those Buy N Large victims in Wall-e! Banned from the Netflix list?
Posted by kidkosmic
at July 1, 2008 6:55 PM
comment #2
BurmaShave
says ...
Recumbent tubbo!
Posted by BurmaShave
at July 1, 2008 8:37 PM
comment #3
gruver1
says ...
No -- he was Alfred Hitchcock, and therefore brought things to the table that were so creatively ripe, rich, eternal, fascinating and delectable that his physical proportions are anecdotal, at best. Same deal with Orson Welles (starting in the mid 1950s), Guillermo del Toro, Diego Rivera, Charles Laughton, etc. Their inside action so completely overwhelms the outside appearance that the matter of corpulence barely comes to mind.
Now, it may well be that this or that morbidly obese Jabba waddling around the local galleria is a secret Orson Welles or Guillermo del Toro and that their inner light is simply not apparent to the passerby (i.e., I was a secret guy myself for years before coming into my own), but possessing an awareness of this or that walrus lardbucket's wondrous creativity, imagination and richness of spirit is not my responsibility. I need some sort of readily apparent indications of this. Besides, we can all tell things by just looking at someone. We can see past a person's massive body-fat situation to look at how they're dressed, what they seem to be about income or lifestyle-wise, what they're up to activity-wise, how fat their kids are and how their eyes look -- how sparkling or interested they seem to be in the life around them, or how deadened by junk food and a WALL*E teletubby lifestyle, which creates eyes that are next door to a shark's.
On top of which Mr. Hitchcock was a super-Jabba only from the early to mid 1930s to the early '40s. He embarked on a diet during the making of Lifeboat with the aid of a product called Reduco (you can see the before and after shots of Hitchcock on a newspaper that William Bendix is reading during the film), and henceforth was never that massive -- just pleasingly plump or perhaps modestly fat. He suddenly became heavier, yes, towards the end of his life when he wasn't working and was eating far too many rich desserts or high-calorie gourmet dishes, but....I digress. (I'm kidding about Reduco, of course -- that was a made-up product Hitchcock threw in for the sake of visual economy.)
Posted by gruver1
at July 2, 2008 8:53 AM
comment #4
sardine
says ...
grace kelly walking into Jimmy stewart's apt in REAR WINDOW , bending down to kiss him....was the scene that started THE FRENCH NEW WAVE.
NOTORIOUS is a wonderful movie.
Posted by sardine
at July 2, 2008 9:22 AM
comment #5
Edward
says ...
Making actors uncomfortable to tell the story. How many directors could get away with that these days?
Great story, thanks Jeffrey.
Posted by Edward
at July 2, 2008 10:06 AM
comment #6
renorambler
says ...
"eyes that are next door to a shark's." Good one.
Posted by renorambler
at July 2, 2008 10:37 AM
comment #7
Rich S.
says ...
This story is brilliantly illustrative of Nigel Tufnel's observation that there is such a fine line between clever and stupid. How many other people would see some guy taking a leak on a wall and relate that to a love/suspense scene in a spy thriller? It shows the utter unpredictability of genius, which Hitchcock had in spades. Great story.
Posted by Rich S.
at July 2, 2008 10:53 AM
comment #8
Movie fan09
says ...
Posted by renorambler at July 2, 2008 10:37 AM
This story is brilliantly illustrative of Nigel Tufnel's observation that there is such a fine line between clever and stupid. How many other people would see some guy taking a leak on a wall and relate that to a love/suspense scene in a spy thriller? It shows the utter unpredictability of genius, which Hitchcock had in spades. Great story.
well, it was never about the final action.
it was about the moment.
Posted by Movie fan09
at July 2, 2008 12:09 PM
comment #9
Valerie Cherish
says ...
Why has AUNT SASSY been BANNED???
I miss her insightful comments on film, and her bitchy commentary. She added a refreshing viewpoint to this site.
FREE AUNT SASSY!!!
Posted by Valerie Cherish
at July 2, 2008 4:44 PM
comment #10
dd
says ...
This story is brilliantly illustrative of Nigel Tufnel's observation that there is such a fine line between clever and stupid. How many other people would see some guy taking a leak on a wall and relate that to a love/suspense scene in a spy thriller? It shows the utter unpredictability of genius, which Hitchcock had in spades. Great story.
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at May 11, 2010 12:29 AM
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