Vtxplant

We meet Abbott as he picks himself up from a brush with calamity. He has a lighthearted reaction to being knocked off his feet. He could be upset, but instead he laughs. Is he sick man, we wonder, since he's attended by a nurse. He also manages to poke fun at his English, as we also learn it's new to him. When he meets the ski-jumper there's an awkward air. Maybe they know each other? Since I saw the whole film before repeatedly watching this scene ( and thinking about the introduction to Abbott), I know he's a key character. Lorre shows us an antagonist with a light touch, who doesn't appear to take himself too seriously. Yet he's responsible for the ensuing mayhem. In this scene Abbott comes off as personable, and perhaps complex. I missed most of these details when I watched the whole film. Lorre's likeable villian would have fooled me.

In the scene we studied from Blackmail, I'd like to comment on three elements of Hitchcock's sound design. At the beginning of the scene a the soundtrack is filled with a customer's patter. All this conversation is exuberant, it's as if we're making up for the silence of all the movies that came before. When Alice enters the phone booth, she is bathed in a silence that contrasting with the voices in the shop. In the phone booth Alice can organize her thoughts in the refuge offered by lack of sound. For the next technique, one word is intelligible, knife, while any other words are gradually reduced to a buzz, like static. As the key word, knife, is repeated, somewhat rhythmically, a closeup on Alice's face shows how she is effected by its mention. Shots of her holding the knife emphasize a loss of self control. Finally, Alice (alone) hears the word screamed, and she throws the knife she's using to cut the breakfast bread. Another sound, the shop's bell, is emphasized to reflect how Alice perceives it. The sound focuses her attention, and draws her from her thoughts, yanking her to the reality of the shop. The next time the bell rings, we hear it as she does, reverberating louder. Her face is lined with tension the sound produced. His innovative use of sound in the scene reflects the excitement Hitchcock may have felt with ability to add sound to his pictures. He was exploring how to use sound to advance the tale. Could using the techniques I saw in the scene be too obvious for modern moviegoers? We don't seem to expect sound to illuminate character. Conversations in movies advance the plot, and sound effects (sometimes) push us back in our seats. In comparison with Hitchcock, sound doesn't appear to being used in the same way. Maybe modern audiences don't have patience for innovative use of sound?

The movement of the students in the headmaster's office is captured by tracking shot. We can study their faces as they approach. The pressure of the meeting increases as the students near the desk. In the first view of the room, the headmaster appears small and distant, lost in a corner of the office. Though he's not moving much the tracking shot of him makes him grow larger in the frame. His seriousness, as shown by his face and carriage, becomes apparent, and likewise captures our notice. The tracking camera is also used when the woman approaches the students, and her face grows larger on the screen. Suspense increases, because the time for her to move across the room is recorded by the moving camera. As the woman moves closer, we can see her effect on the faces of the students by the camera moving toward them (and showing us what she sees.) Finally, when she identifies the one who wronged her, her movement is abrupt, suggesting she's yielding a weapon.

The young fighter in a room with his manager glimpses in the mirror a wild party. He's not entirely distracted from the serious plans presented to him, but he sees (or imagines) his wife cozying with his opponent! Now we cut to the party, and it's raging. Two dancers inspire the revelers. Everyone in the room is moving. The young challengers wife nearly hangs on his opponent. She seems transported by this new man. A glance at her husband through the looking glass momentarily deflates her mood. Sober thoughts are quickly routed by dancers and the party's wild air. From her intimate conversation with the rival, a dissolve shows the young fighter and his manager talking earnestly. Training starts tomorrow, and his wife won't be around while he trains. The wild mood of the party leads him to imagine his wife's betrayal. A montage expresses this feeling, the last image an imagined embrace between his wife and his rival. The nightmare vision inspires the fighter to attend the party at last. But his appearance only seems to annoy the participants. Ignored, he retreats. He observes, at a remove, in the mirror. The door closes, blocking the reflection, and what's left of his link to them. The fighter faces a professional challenge - the fight - but he's also confronted with a personal crisis. Is his relationship with his wife at risk?

A reporter takes notes as the witness is interrogated by a bobby. As she relives her experience for the crowd at the refreshment stand, the reporter calls in his story. There's not a moment to lose. Next we're shown the newspaper being created and distributed. We gather with editors around the teletype to learn details of the crime. This intertitle, the wire report, explodes with narrative. The news factory hums with human and mechanical activity. The news rush continues. As the paper hits the streets, news sellers are mobbed. A benefit of this crime? Fear sells papers.

Our attention was directed to the dancer Patsy Brand by sharing her admirer's effort to focus on her. In reaction to his attentive stare, she is discouraging and dimissive - she even 'makes a face'. Even before they meet, we sense she knows how to handle stage door Johnnies. Before she knows why Mr. Hamilton calls her over, she is cooperative, a common response to your employer. We've met Patsy and have seen two sides to her job. Outside the theatre Hitchcock shows us what draws the attention of the two men by the door. They see a purse rather than the woman holding it. What I find common to both scenes is the director's careful direction of our attention with camera techniques. In the first scene, this is done by focusing the image. Literally highlighting the purse in the next scene tells us to keep our eyes on it.