Timeline of Alfred Hitchcock (With Analysis)
1890
August 13, 1899 – Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, the second son and the youngest of three of William Hitchcock and Emma Hitchcock, was born in Leytonstone, London. This is the birth of a genius. An innovator of cinema. The man who defined the thriller genre. Welcome to the world, Alfred Hitchcock.
1900
1914 –William Hitchcock (Alfred’s father) died. This event had a particularly big effect on Hitchcock as his mother was very domineering and his father was his only friend. After this, he quit school (he was 14) and studied engineering.
1920
1920 – Received a full-time job at Islington Studios, and its British successor, Gainsborough, designing titles for silent movies. This was Hitchcock’s first shot in the film industry. His humble origins as a title designer contrasts greatly with his future job as a full-time director.
1925 – Michael Balcon of Gainsborough Pictures gave Hitchcock a chance to direct his first film The Pleasure Garden (based on a novel by Oliver Sandys) made at UFA studios in Germany. Starring Virginia Malli and Carmelita Geraghty, it was commercial failure and endangered his future as a film director. Hitchcock’s first movie to direct was a failure, and people were not sure of this man’s future as a film director, but his later movies were instant classics.
1926 – Hitchcock made his debut in the thriller genre, The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (released in January 1927 in the UK). This film was a commercial and critical success, and was the first true “Hitchcockian” film that incorporated many themes he would use in his later films. This film can be considered Hitchcock’s first “true” film as this film was more like his later ones. Many consider this the “start” of his career.
December 2, 1926 – He married his personal assistant Alma Reville at the Brompton Oratory. Reville wrote many of Alfred’s screenplays and worked with him on almost every film of his. Hitchcock and his wife Alma had a deep personal relationship. She was actively involved with him and was his closest collaborator.
July 7, 1928 – Their only child, Patricia Hitchcock was born. She would later become an American actress and producer, and she appeared in several of his movies. Patricia Hitchcock grew up to be a famous actress and held her father’s name. She is still alive at age 80.
June 30, 1929 – Blackmail was released as the first all-talkie movie (motion picture with sound), starring Anny Ondra, John Longden, and Cyril Ritchard. It was first meant to be a silent movie, but producers later decided to make it with sound. The climax of the film was taken on the dome of the British Museum, and started Hitchcock’s tradition of making use of landmarks for suspense scenes in his movies. Hitchcock’s Blackmail had many “firsts” and was a precedent to many of his critically-acclaimed films.
1930
1934 – The Man Who Knew Too Much was released, and was one of the most successful and critically acclaimed motion pictures of Hitchcock’s British period. It starred Leslie Banks, Edna Best, and Peter Lorre. This was the only film remade by Hitchcock, for Paramount Pictures in 1956. When this film was remade, critics said it lacked the magic of the original. I guess one cannot repeat a masterpiece.
1935 – Considered one of his best films of his early times, 39 Steps was released, starring Robert Donat and Madeline Carroll. It was based on the novel by John Buchan. This film introduced the plot device of the “MacGuffin,” something around which the whole movie revolves around, but in the end the object itself has little relevance or importance to the story or ending of the movie. The MacGuffin is Hitchcock’s most prominently used plot device and is now even used by other directors.
March 1939 – Hollywood producer David O. Selznick signed Hitchcock, who moved to the United States, to a seven year contract. Selznick had frequent money problems and often controlled the creativity Alfred had over his films. Hitchcock moved to Santa Cruz, CA and begun his reign over Hollywood. Selznick and Hitchcock worked together for many movies until Hitchcock’s contract ended. From then on, Hitchcock produced his own films.
1940
April 12, 1940 – Hitchcock made his first American movie, Rebecca, a gothic tale, which is an adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier’s 1938 novel of the same name. This film was very successful. Hitchcock was very lucky to have his first American movie be such a big hit. This victory propelled him to become one of the most highly-regarded directors in Hollywood.
1940 – Hitchcock purchased the Cornwall Ranch in the Santa Cruz Mountains, and it became his and his wife’s permanent residence for the rest of their lives. Hitchcock still had his home in Bel-Air, but lived in Santa Cruz for the remainder of his life. However, when he was ill and was about to die in 1979-80, he was moved back to Bel-Air, where he took his final breath.
1941 – Rebecca was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, and Foreign Correspondent (released 1940) was nominated for 6 at the 1941 Academy Awards. Rebecca won the awards for Best Picture and Best Black and White Cinematography, and Foreign Correspondent did not win any. Hitchcock’s Academy Award-winning films helped his public image as a good director. People recognized him because of his awards. September
April 22, 1942 – The first of two films made for Universal Studios, Saboteur, starring Priscilla Lane, Robert Cummings, and Norman Lloyd, releases. Hitchcock did extensive location shooting, especially atop the Statue of Liberty, a first in Hollywood. Hitchcock set the precedent of using famous landmarks in films. He repeatedly did this in his movies.
January 12, 1943 – Shadow of a Doubt, was released. It starred Teresa Wright and Joseph Cotten. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Writing and Original Story. In 1991, this movie was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. This was Hitchcock’s first movie to be added to the National Film Registry. This film was Hitchcock’s personal favorite of all his movies and included extensive characterization and showcased his love for crime and criminals.
October 31, 1945 – Spellbound, a psychological mystery thriller, was released and met with critical success. It starred Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck, and included a dream sequence designed by renowned Spanish artist Salvador Dali. This film was nominated for 6 Oscars and won the award for Best Musical Score. Also, Spellbound became the Hitchcock movie to train audiences to look for Hitchcock’s signature cameo appearance as the trailer pointed this out. This psychoanalytical film had many was un precedented in many ways, including the collaboration with Dali. The two artists created a work of genius.
1945 – Transatlantic Pictures, a production company was founded by Hitchcock and business associate Sidney Bernstein. However, this company dissolved after two commercial flops, Rope (Hitchcock’s first Technicolor film) and Under Capricorn. Hitchcock’s business venture was unsuccessful, but he produced all his films after this.
August 15, 1946 – Notorious was released and has remained one of Hitchcock’s most acclaimed films. Featuring a plot about Nazis, South America, and uranium, the movie starred Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman. Because he used uranium as a plot device, Hitchcock was under brief FBI surveillance. Dr. Robert Millikan of Caltech was apparently contacted by Hitchcock about the development of the atomic bomb. This film shows that Hitchcock was way ahead of his time, as he incorporated a story that we might see in action movies these days.
1950
Feburary 23 1950 – Hitchcock filmed his first movie for Warner Brothers, Stage Fright, on location in the U.K. It was his first production for Warner Brothers, and starred Jane Wyman and Marlene Dietrich. Warner Brother, a famous production company today, also had a big name in Hitchcock’s time, and a film with them would equal gold.
May 29, 1954 – Hitchcock returns to Technicolor with his film Dial M for Murder. Hitchcock tried experimenting with 3D for this movie, but it didn’t make the final cuts. Dial M or Murder starred Ray Milland and Grace Kelly. Hitchcock kept switching from Technicolor films to black and white ones, firstly because of budget reasons, and secondly to create a mood to fit the story of the movie.
August 1, 1954 – The critically acclaimed Rear Window releases and is considered one of Hitchcock’s most thrilling and most exciting pictures. It spawned many remakes and retellings. In 1997, this movie was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. A remake of the same name, starring Christopher Reeve (after his accident) was released in 1998. Disturbia, a 2007 thriller movie with the same premise as Rear Window met with critical success as a “Hitchcockian” film. Both were well received, but could not match the genius of Alfred Hitchcock.
December 22 1956 – Hitchcock’s only film starring Henry Fonda, The Wrong Man, was released as a low-key, black and white movie. It was based on real like incidents and was the least favorite Hitchcock film for many years. The almost too-realistic qualities of The Wrong Man made it unfavorable to fans who liked his suspenseful thrillers.
May 9, 1958 – Vertigo, a film that was a box office failure met with negative reviews, was released. However, today the film is seen as a classic Hitchcock movie. It starred James Stewart. People did not like thriller/romance movies, but a careful watch of this movie could have changed their minds.
July 28, 1959 – North by Northwest, starring Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint, was released and met with favorable reviews. The producers of this film wanted to create a true Hitchcockian film to end all movies once in for all. But this did not happen.
1960
June 16, 1960 – Psycho was released, starring Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, John Gavin. It is often mentioned as Hitchcock’s most well-known film, even when it was taken in black and white on a spare camera set. The shower scene spawned many parodies and became a legacy. Psycho is the film the average person will know if asked about a Hitchcock film. A 1998 remake was a box office failure, even when it copied the original frame-by-frame.
March 28, 1963 – The Birds was released and it starred Tippi Hedren, Rod Taylor, and Jessica Tandy. It was one of the first films to deal with an apocalyptic theme and the “revenge” of nature (in this case, birds). This eerie and spine-chilling film set the stone for movies based on infestation or diseases.
1980
April 29, 1980 – At age 81, Alfred Hitchcock died of arthritis, liver failure, and slowdown of kidney function. On this day, the world lost the father of thriller films and the innovator of cinema. Never again will another director take control of the movie industry like Alfred Hitchcock.