[Daily Dose #1: Spiralling into View: The Pleasure Garden (1925)]

That was a great observation on The Man Who Knew Too Much scene. I had forgotten about that. 

1. I do see several instances of moments in "The Pleasure Garden" (1925) that Hitchcock would also use in his later features with the "Hitchcock Touch." The music hall "audience" portion might have served as an inspiration for the audience portion in the "Albert Hall" scene in Hitchcock's 1956 remake of "The Man Who Knew Too Much."  Another instance would be in the scene where the villainous henchmen secretly steal Jill's letter of introduction to Mr. Hamilton, trying to gaslight her when she tries to present the letter to the clerk inside the Pleasure Garden Theatre.  This might have served as an inspiration for the sequence in "North by Northwest" (1959) where Phillip Vandamm (James Mason) and his henchmen (Martin Landau, Adam Williams and Robert Ellenstein) are gas-lighting Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant).  

 

2. I highly agree with Strauss, Yacowar, and Spoto's connection of the sequence and the "Hitchcock Touch."  Everything from the pacing of the film, to the expressions of the actors and the cinematography are Hitchcock's own style (that he would employ in his later features).  

 

3. I don't think there were any limitations (in "The Pleasure Garden") to Hitchcock's cinematic craft and style in his British silents.  With the advancement of motion picture sound technology (sound-on-disc and sound-on-film) at the end of the 1920's, sound would serve as a greater enhancement to the work of the "master of suspense."

[Daily Dose #1: Spiralling into View: The Pleasure Garden (1925)]

1. One thing that stuck out to me in this scene was the pan of the faces in the audience and their reactions. I've noticed this in other Hitchcock films where the camera will pan and focus on different faces in a setting. You'll learn a little about each person even if they don't end up being part of the main action of the scene or even having dialogue, but details are given to their reactions and nonverbals. I'm specifically thinking of Torn Curtain where you see the various riders in the bus ride sequence and some of the scenes in the Birds where the townspeople are gathered in the restaurant. 

 

2. What Spoto says about the rapid cuts from the observer to the observed also makes me think about The Birds when you see the cuts from Melanie to the action of the fire and the birds at the gas station.

 

3.  I don't feel that the lack of sound detracts. I am always curious if the viewing experience would have been different in a theater with an organ vs watching a silent movie with music that has been added later on.