Alfred Hitchcock

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Our look at the Master of Suspense begins with a remarkable six-year period from 1958 through 1963, in which he worked on four of his most influential films. 

Already known around the world as the master of suspense with over forty features and a hit TV series under his belt, director Alfred Hitchcock collaborated for the first time with revolutionary graphic designer Saul Bass on Vertigo (1958), while North by Northwest (1959) placed Cary Grant in the most elaborate, ambitious version of Hitchcock’s beloved “wrong man on the run” storyline. Then Hitchcock turned to full-blooded horror for the first time with Psycho (1960) and The Birds (1963), both of which pushed viewers’ nerves and the boundaries of movie censorship to their limits and featured wildly innovative ad campaigns.

Now let’s take a deeper look at this chapter in the career of the screen’s reigning maestro of tension and terror.

Alfred Hitchcock
Saul Bass design
Alfred Hitchcock and Kim Novak
Vertigo church tower
Edith Head drawing
Face in the Shadow?
Different titles for Vertigo
Maxwell Anderson
Eva Marie Saint
Working title for North by NW
Man on Lincoln's Nose?
Robert F. Boyle
Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint
visit from Princess Sophia
Saul Bass comes back
Janet Leigh and John Gavin
Production Code memo
the care and handling
One long opening take
Letter about the score
Beethoven fan writes in
Based on a true story
Suzanne Pleshette and Rod Taylor
Painting of "The Birds"
Bodega Bay extra
Truffaut interview
final scene with Rod Taylor
Hitchcock and Hedren
The Birds in Paris
The sounds of The Birds
Notes for The Birds
Letter from MPAA
Modern soundtrack
Publicity tour in Paris
Veronica Cartwright
The Birds Is Coming!
Fan letter reply