[Daily Dose #4: Depends on Your Point of View (Scene from Downhill)]

It's all about FOCUS. It could be called the POF shot as well...where to Focus your attention. It's a POV because we are told where to Focus by our director's POView. Hitchcock is a story-teller. He has a story to tell with a particular sequence of events he wishes the viewer to follow. He emphasizes his view with the movement of the camera. Words are really not necessary, ie., the captions. His direction to the actors is perfection. Their facial expressions and body language speak volumes. Hitch keeps his audience focused by his point of view. The camera does the rest.

[Daily Dose #2: To-night Golden Curls (Opening Scene of The Lodger)]

1. Pleasure Garden was slow in its start, whereas The Lodger opened with excitement. Both films utilized a crowd scene along with individual character expressions. However, The Lodger was clearly going to be more about suspense than Pleasure Garden.

2. There was clearly no need for dialogue. I only recall one or so screens of just dialogue on a black screen. The use of neon-like wording and flashing words familiar to movie theater advertising were very attention grabbing. Also "wet off the presses" was awesome...murder/blood= wet, as does the the ink on the page. Both are wet, and then dry. Both leave their mark. Dual meaning. Very Hitchcockian, I thought. Plus, the screaming "blonde" woman became a trademark of Hitchcock movies throughout his career. The looks of horror, and also morbid curiosity on the faces in the crowd were striking. Too bad I missed the 6 sec of the Hitch cameo, which became a staple of all his movies. I always had a hard time finding him.

3. Of course Psycho comes to mind, both in Janet Leigh's part, and at the end when her sister finds the remains of Norman's mother in the basement. A scream is a scream, whether you hear it or not. It's all in the facial expression and/or body language. It's one of those things that Hitch just did better than most.

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

1. Do you see the beginnings of the "Hitchcock touch" in this sequence? Please provide specific examples. 

Sexy blondes, crowded scene quickly reduced to a character or two engaged in ordinary tasks endeavors, ie., the older gentleman in the audience eyeing the blonde and trying to engage her; the pick-pockets, the innocent girl vs the experienced dancer...

2. Do you agree or disagree with Strauss, Yacowar, and Spoto assessments that this sequence contains elements, themes, or approaches that we will see throughout Hitchcock's 50-year career? 

Again, the blondes...on stage they seemed to outnumber the brunettes, although I was surprised that a brunette was the lead dancer. The innocent girl being taken advantage of by the pick-pockets...he uses innocent types of women being taken advantage of by men throughout many of the films I've seen.

3. Since this is a silent film, do you feel there were any limitations on these opening scenes due to the lack of synchronous spoken dialogue?

Not very much. The lack of the spoken word, however, does encourage one to pay closer attention to body and facial language, as well as the music and pace of captioning. If you miss a caption, then you have to let your imagination fill in the blanks. In this film, I don't think it would be that difficult. It's all right there in front of your face.