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Alfred Hitchcock
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====Gainsborough Pictures and work in Germany==== [[File:Hitchcock sculpture, London, 2007.jpg|thumb|left|Hitchcock sculpture at the site of [[Gainsborough Pictures]], Poole Street, [[Hoxton]], north London<ref>{{cite news |last1=Rose |first1=Steve |title=Where the lady vanished |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2001/jan/15/artsfeatures |work=The Guardian |date=15 January 2001|access-date=30 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171231051755/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2001/jan/15/artsfeatures|archive-date=31 December 2017}}</ref>]] When Paramount pulled out of London in 1922, Hitchcock was hired as an assistant director by a new firm run in the same location by [[Michael Balcon]], later known as [[Gainsborough Pictures]].{{sfn|Truffaut|1983|p=27}}{{sfn|Spoto|2008|pp=3–4}} Hitchcock worked on ''[[Woman to Woman (1923 film)|Woman to Woman]]'' (1923) with the director [[Graham Cutts]], designing the set, writing the script and producing. He said: "It was the first film that I had really got my hands onto."{{sfn|Spoto|2008|pp=3–4}} The editor and "script girl" on ''Woman to Woman'' was [[Alma Reville]], his future wife. He also worked as an assistant to Cutts on ''[[The White Shadow (film)|The White Shadow]]'' (1924), ''[[The Passionate Adventure]]'' (1924), ''[[The Blackguard]]'' (1925) and ''[[The Prude's Fall]]'' (1925).{{sfn|Truffaut|1983|p=30}} ''The Blackguard'' was produced at the [[Babelsberg Studios]] in Potsdam, where Hitchcock watched part of the making of [[F. W. Murnau]]'s ''[[The Last Laugh (1924 film)|The Last Laugh]]'' (1924).<ref>{{harvnb|Gottlieb|2002|p=42}}; {{harvnb|Gottlieb|2003|pp=157–158}}; also see {{harvnb|Garncarz|2002}}</ref> He was impressed with Murnau's work, and later used many of his techniques for the set design in his own productions.{{sfn|Gottlieb|2002|pp=42–43}} In the summer of 1925, Balcon asked Hitchcock to direct ''[[The Pleasure Garden (1925 film)|The Pleasure Garden]]'' (1925), starring [[Virginia Valli]], a co-production of Gainsborough and the German firm [[Emelka]] at the [[Bavaria Studios|Geiselgasteig studio]] near Munich. Reville, by then Hitchcock's fiancée, was assistant director-editor.{{sfn|Truffaut|1983|pp=31, 36}}{{sfn|Spoto|1992|p=3}} Although the film was a commercial flop,{{sfn|McGilligan|2003|pp=68–71}} Balcon liked Hitchcock's work; a ''Daily Express'' headline called him the "Young man with a master mind".{{sfn|Truffaut|1983|p=39}} In March 1926, the British film magazine ''[[Picturegoer]]'' ran an article entitled "Alfred the Great" by the film critic [[Cedric Belfrage]], who praised Hitchcock for possessing "such a complete grasp of all the different branches of film technique that he is able to take far more control of his production than the average director of four times his experience."{{sfn|Spoto|1999|p=84}} Production of ''The Pleasure Garden'' encountered obstacles which Hitchcock would later learn from: on arrival to [[Brenner Pass]], he failed to declare his [[film stock]] to customs and it was confiscated; one actress could not enter the water for a scene because she was on her [[Menstrual cycle|period]]; budget overruns meant that he had to borrow money from the actors.{{Sfn|McGilligan|2003|p=70}} Hitchcock also needed a translator to give instructions to the cast and crew.{{Sfn|McGilligan|2003|p=70}} In Germany, Hitchcock observed the nuances of [[German cinema]] and filmmaking which had a big influence on him.{{Sfn|McGilligan|2003|p=63}} When he was not working, he would visit Berlin's art galleries, concerts and museums. He would also meet with actors, writers and producers to build connections.{{Sfn|McGilligan|2003|p=64}} Balcon asked him to direct a second film in Munich, ''[[The Mountain Eagle]]'' (1926), based on an original story titled ''Fear o' God''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.brentonfilm.com/articles/alfred-hitchcock-collectors-guide-the-mountain-eagle-1926 |title=Alfred Hitchcock Collectors' Guide: The Mountain Eagle (1926) |publisher=Brenton Film |access-date=30 August 2019 |date=23 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191219011242/https://www.brentonfilm.com/articles/alfred-hitchcock-collectors-guide-the-mountain-eagle-1926|archive-date=19 December 2019}}</ref> The film is lost, and Hitchcock called it "a very bad movie".{{sfn|Truffaut|1983|p=39}}{{sfn|Spoto|1992|p=5}} A year later, Hitchcock wrote and directed ''[[The Ring (1927 film)|The Ring]]''; although the screenplay was credited solely to his name, [[Eliot Stannard|Elliot Stannard]] assisted him with the writing.{{Sfn|McGilligan|2003|p=98}} ''The Ring'' garnered positive reviews; the ''Bioscope'' critic called it "the most magnificent British film ever made".{{Sfn|Taylor|1996|p=76}} When he returned to England, Hitchcock was one of the early members of the London Film Society, newly formed in 1925.{{Sfn|McGilligan|2003|p=75}} Through the Society, he became fascinated by the work by Soviet filmmakers: [[Dziga Vertov]], [[Lev Kuleshov]], [[Sergei Eisenstein]] and [[Vsevolod Pudovkin]]. He would also socialise with fellow English filmmakers [[Ivor Montagu]], [[Adrian Brunel]] and [[Walter Mycroft]].{{Sfn|McGilligan|2003|p=76}} Hitchcock recognised the value in cultivating his own brand, with the director aggressively promoting himself during this period.<ref>{{harvnb|Kapsis|1992|p=20}}</ref> In a 1925 London Film Society meeting he declared directors were what mattered most in making films, with [[Donald Spoto]] writing that Hitchcock proclaimed, "''We'' make a film succeed. The name of the director should be associated in the public's mind with a quality product. Actors come and go, but the name of the director should stay clearly in the mind of the audience."{{sfn|Spoto|1999|p=73}} {{Quote box |quote = Visually, it was extraordinarily imaginative for the time, most notably in the scene in which Hitchcock installed a glass floor so that he could show the lodger pacing up and down in his room from below, as though overheard by his landlady. |source ={{snd}}[[BFI]] entry for Hitchcock's first thriller, ''[[The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog]]'' (1927)<ref>{{cite news |title=The Lodger A Story of the London Fog|url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6af1296e |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160222212308/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6af1296e |url-status=dead |archive-date=22 February 2016 |access-date=2 May 2023 |publisher=BFI}}</ref> |width= 23em |align= right |salign= right |style = padding:1.2em}} Hitchcock established himself as a name director with his first thriller, ''[[The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog]]'' (1927).<ref name="Lodger BFI"/> The film concerns the hunt for a [[Jack the Ripper]]-style serial killer who, wearing a black cloak and carrying a black bag, is murdering young blonde women in London, and only on Tuesdays.{{sfn|Truffaut|1983|p=45}} A landlady suspects that her lodger is the killer, but he turns out to be innocent.{{sfn|Truffaut|1983|p=47}} Hitchcock had wanted the leading man to be guilty, or for the film at least to end ambiguously, but the star was [[Ivor Novello]], a [[matinée idol]], and the "[[star system (filmmaking)|star system]]" meant that Novello could not be the villain. Hitchcock told Truffaut: "You have to clearly spell it out in big letters: 'He is innocent.'" (He had the same problem years later with [[Cary Grant]] in ''[[#Suspicion|Suspicion]]'' (1941).){{sfn|Truffaut|1983|p=43}} Released in January 1927, ''The Lodger'' was a commercial and critical success in the UK.{{Sfn|McGilligan|2003|p=85}}<ref>{{harvnb|Kapsis|1992|p=19}}</ref> Upon its release, the trade journal ''Bioscope'' wrote: "It is possible that this film is the finest British production ever made".<ref name="Lodger BFI">{{cite news |title=Lodger, The: A Story of the London Fog (1926) |url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/438120/index.html |access-date=13 July 2022 |work=BFI}}</ref> Hitchcock told Truffaut that the film was the first of his to be influenced by [[German expressionist cinema|German Expressionism]]: "In truth, you might almost say that ''The Lodger'' was my first picture."{{sfn|Truffaut|1983|p=44}}<!--<ref>{{harvnb|McGilligan|2003|p=83}}</ref> in 2004 edition; is the date correct? --> In a strategy for self-publicity, ''The Lodger'' saw him make his first [[List of cameo appearances by Alfred Hitchcock|cameo appearance]] in a film, where he sat in a newsroom.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.brentonfilm.com/articles/alfred-hitchcock-collectors-guide-the-lodger-a-story-of-the-london-fog-1926 |title=Alfred Hitchcock Collectors' Guide: The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1926) |publisher=Brenton Film |access-date=30 August 2019 |date=23 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222033129/https://www.brentonfilm.com/articles/alfred-hitchcock-collectors-guide-the-lodger-a-story-of-the-london-fog-1926|archive-date=22 December 2019}}</ref>{{sfn|Truffaut|1983|p=49}} Continuing to market his brand following the success of ''The Lodger'', Hitchcock wrote a letter to the ''[[The Evening News (London newspaper)|London Evening News]]'' in November 1927 about his filmmaking, participated in studio-produced publicity, and by December 1927 he developed the original sketch of his widely recognised profile which he introduced by sending it to friends and colleagues as a Christmas present.<ref>{{harvnb|Kapsis|1992|p=20}}</ref>
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