Question #1: The most striking similarity to me is the use of montage and the importance of the image to tell the story. Obviously, both are silent movies, so the image is supreme, but where other filmmakers may have used titles to cover exposition, Hitchcock lets the pictures tell the story (the openings of both "Rear Window" and "To Catch A Thief" come to mind as later examples of this technique). Another similarity between "Pleasure Garden" and "The Lodger' is that the we see a series of bold singular images that, out of context, may not relate to one another: a screaming woman with no sense of place; later a shot of a printing press. His use of imagery is almost like a comic book experience where isolated frames tell a story unto themselves, but arranged, in order, a second broader narrative emerges. You can almost sense the storyboard. This is different than the example of "Rear Window" where we immediately know that we are in L.B. Jeffries' apartment, thus effectively placing parenthesis around the objects upon which Hitchcock will force our gaze.
Question #2: The most obvious element of the Hitchcock thematic, if not his "style" is the use of the blonde - in this case the off-camera victim. Even though we never see her, this identifying characteristic is central to the story thus far. Other Hitchcockian stock characters emerge as well, namely the well-meaning but minimally effective policeman. We see him here listening and taking notes, but by keeping him at a profile of to the side of frame, we know that he is not going to be the hero of the story. We see these types of police in several Hitchcock movies including "North By Northwest," and "Rear Window." Hitchcock is an establishment, middle class director: he doesn't paint the police as incompetent. At the same time, if they were more involved, we wouldn't need the everyman main character to solve the central crime. Even Scottie in "Vertigo" loses his job as detective to become an everyman before he enters the intrigue of the plot. Another, obvious Hitchcock element is the fact that we are at the scene of the crime.
With regard to filmmaking style, I think one emerging element is that the camera, and thus the viewer, is usually an objective eye. We are taking in each of these moments, not as a participating viewer (with a few exceptions, as when the old woman sees the distorted reflection the joking bystander durning her retelling of events, in which the camera adapts a subjective point of view). As a director, particularly in opening scenes, Hitchcock is often arranging images in a dispassionate way: as if he is showing us evidence upon which he expects us to judge, or like a magician laying out his cards with the intention of later fooling the eye.
Question #3: The scream is great. As with a lot of silent film experiences, when I think back on the scene, I remember the audio even though it wasn't there. I think its power comes from the fact that its a close up, and the character's anguish is evident. I never really thought about the scream in Hitchcock movies before, but as soon as I read the question i immediately thought of three: Doris Day stopping the would be assassin's bullet in "The Man Who Knew Too Much", Eva Marie Saint on the side of Mount Rushmore, seeing one of Van Dam's henchman n "North By Northwest", and of course, Vera Miles in the basement meeting the real Mrs. Bates in "Psycho". All of which are uttered by blondes in semi-close up.
Daily Dose #2: To-night Golden Curls (Opening Scene of The Lodger)
in The Master of Suspense: 50 Years of Hitchcock
Posted
Question #1: The most striking similarity to me is the use of montage and the importance of the image to tell the story. Obviously, both are silent movies, so the image is supreme, but where other filmmakers may have used titles to cover exposition, Hitchcock lets the pictures tell the story (the openings of both "Rear Window" and "To Catch A Thief" come to mind as later examples of this technique). Another similarity between "Pleasure Garden" and "The Lodger' is that the we see a series of bold singular images that, out of context, may not relate to one another: a screaming woman with no sense of place; later a shot of a printing press. His use of imagery is almost like a comic book experience where isolated frames tell a story unto themselves, but arranged, in order, a second broader narrative emerges. You can almost sense the storyboard. This is different than the example of "Rear Window" where we immediately know that we are in L.B. Jeffries' apartment, thus effectively placing parenthesis around the objects upon which Hitchcock will force our gaze.
Question #2: The most obvious element of the Hitchcock thematic, if not his "style" is the use of the blonde - in this case the off-camera victim. Even though we never see her, this identifying characteristic is central to the story thus far. Other Hitchcockian stock characters emerge as well, namely the well-meaning but minimally effective policeman. We see him here listening and taking notes, but by keeping him at a profile of to the side of frame, we know that he is not going to be the hero of the story. We see these types of police in several Hitchcock movies including "North By Northwest," and "Rear Window." Hitchcock is an establishment, middle class director: he doesn't paint the police as incompetent. At the same time, if they were more involved, we wouldn't need the everyman main character to solve the central crime. Even Scottie in "Vertigo" loses his job as detective to become an everyman before he enters the intrigue of the plot. Another, obvious Hitchcock element is the fact that we are at the scene of the crime.
With regard to filmmaking style, I think one emerging element is that the camera, and thus the viewer, is usually an objective eye. We are taking in each of these moments, not as a participating viewer (with a few exceptions, as when the old woman sees the distorted reflection the joking bystander durning her retelling of events, in which the camera adapts a subjective point of view). As a director, particularly in opening scenes, Hitchcock is often arranging images in a dispassionate way: as if he is showing us evidence upon which he expects us to judge, or like a magician laying out his cards with the intention of later fooling the eye.
Question #3: The scream is great. As with a lot of silent film experiences, when I think back on the scene, I remember the audio even though it wasn't there. I think its power comes from the fact that its a close up, and the character's anguish is evident. I never really thought about the scream in Hitchcock movies before, but as soon as I read the question i immediately thought of three: Doris Day stopping the would be assassin's bullet in "The Man Who Knew Too Much", Eva Marie Saint on the side of Mount Rushmore, seeing one of Van Dam's henchman n "North By Northwest", and of course, Vera Miles in the basement meeting the real Mrs. Bates in "Psycho". All of which are uttered by blondes in semi-close up.