Notes on Opening Scene of the pleasure garden.
1: Yes there was very definite signs of ‘Hitchcock’s Touch’ in the scene:
- The visual humour. No sync-dialogue, so all humour must be ’shown’ rather than ‘spoken’. I’ve seen that in a few of his films.
- The evident superiority and (occasional sexual) power the women have over the men. The man who remarks about her ‘curl’ is reduced to childish coyness end she goes on to gently rebuke him - much as a teacher rebukes an errant pupil. This reminds me of Grace Kelly’s attitude to Stewart in their scenes together in Rear Window.
- Again to quote from Rear Window, the male voyeurism of the theatre audience and the POV shots.
2: Yes I would largely agree. The observational humour, the shot choices, even some of the imaginative use of framing such as the first 2 shots featuring the staircase and the stage in this clip may hint at Hitchcock’s future use and exploration of ground-breaking framing and filming techniques - such as the famous reverse-dolly shot from Vertigo.
3: There may have been. As there is no way for the actors to express emotion audibly, such as the scene with the girl searching for her letter of introduction. In this scene, she and many other actors here, are having to emote with their facial expressons - which can lead to an over-acted feel.
