TCM is running a mini Hitchcock marathon and my daughter is running a fever. A week by the beach ended in a sore throat and a virus so here we sit, soaking up Hitchcock, one after another. We’ve watched Psycho, Vertigo, now The Birds and Rear Window next. When discussing Rear Window with my 10 year-old I said, “you know, it has that pretty blonde in it.” And she says back, “you know, mom, every Hitchcock movie seems to have a pretty blonde in it.” And I thought, okay, parenting is often a pain in the ass but when you get to explain the Hitchcock Blonde concept to a curious mind it kicks ass. By the way, The Birds is her favorite Hitchcock movie. I’m torn between Psycho and Vertigo.
But I got to thinking about the Hitchcock Blonde, now that we’re seeing them back to back and wondered what the similarities were between them. In effect, what exactly IS a Hitchcock Blonde? In truth, not enough is said about the other archetypes in his films, like the overbearing mother and the bespeckled smart/ugly girl. But let’s focus on the blonde for the moment.
The Hitchcock Blonde is, I’ve decided, a not-too-bright woman with perfect clothes and hair, with a sophistication that covers a childlike vulnerability. They tend to be sexually forward, with a hint of vulgarity even (Marnie being an exception) and they tend to pursue the somewhat indifferent male. Pursue or more to the point, seduce.¬† Hitchcock was known for being overly interested in how his female leads dressed, a la Jimmy Stewart in Vertigo.
The Hitchcock Blonde has become a cinematic staple, an female archetype that reveals as much about Hitchcock himself as it does our collective fascination with these unattainable Aryan goddesses. These are not warm women, nor particularly affectionate women, though they do like long smooches.¬† Vertigo is the one, though, that seems to really undress the Hitchcock blonde, revealing herself to be a dime store floosie living in a hotel and getting “picked up.” All it takes to transform her is a suit, a change in hair and makeup and suddenly – instant sophistication, instant turn-on. Is it any wonder that Hitch has often been accused of hateful towards women (and actors).
But it is probably Grace Kelly who most personifies the Hitchcock Blonde and indeed she wears it better than the others simply because she really was one in real life, or at least seemed to be. As beautiful as she is she’s not my favorite of the bunch, perhaps because she’s just too perfect, just like Lisa Freemont.
I’ve not delved into Hitchcock’s psyche much because I enjoy his films too much; I wouldn’t want to know any more than I already know about his tastes and predilections.¬† I prefer to treasure them unscathed.
Hitchcock’s camera is pure genius. He is one of the few directors of this era to do things like film people’s backs of heads or their head in silouette. He is helped along when working with a really good actor, like Stewart. One of my favorite shots of Stewart is when he looks at Judy’s necklace and realizes it’s Carlotta’s necklace. It’s just a slow burn as the whole thing plays out in his mind’s eye.
I greatly admire the shot of Norman Bates leaning over the registry and sucking intently on a lemon drop. From this angle he resembles a nervous lizard.¬† Hitchcock, I’ve noticed, had a thing about showing an actor looking directly at the camera, like Norman Bates at the end of Psycho, or when we first meet Arbagast. Vertigo is full of gorgeous long shots but the final shot of Jimmy Stewart standing on the roof of the church after Judy has fallen to her death, with his hands held helplessly at his side but facing up, showing total surrender.
The way he films Kim Novak’s face (he reportedly despised her) is visual poetry, though, both when she’s the almost grotesque Judy (“You can’t even touch me”) and especially when he’s the perfected Madeline. It is his strangest and saddest film.
The Hitchcock films I don’t watch very often are Marnie and everything after that. Any film before that last phase I will watch at every opportunity.¬† It seems like Marnie was really the turning point where things began to go a little weird for old Hitch. Maybe it was true that he was ultimately undone by Hedren, whom he apparently was in love with. Or maybe he just entered that phase where he lost his magic touch. These films aren’t bad, really, they just aren’t at the level of brilliance his earlier films were.
That is the sum total of our 4th of July. We will try to find fireworks somewhere to get in the spirit. But in the meantime, Hitch is doing us just fine.
