Editing Alfred Hitchcock (section)

====Early sound films====
[[File:BlackmailUSWindowCardOndra.jpg|thumb|upright|left|alt=An advertisement for the film ''Blackmail'' Surrounding text describes the film as "A Romance of Scotland Yard" and "The Powerful Talking Picture"|Advertisement for ''[[Blackmail (1929 film)|Blackmail]]'' (1929)]]

<!--mention Hitchcock Baker Productions and cruise in 1931-->Hitchcock began work on his tenth film, ''[[Blackmail (1929 film)|Blackmail]]'' (1929), when its production company, [[British International Pictures]] (BIP), converted its [[Elstree Studios (Shenley Road)|Elstree studios]] to [[Sound film|sound]]. The film was the first British "[[Sound film#Transition: Europe|talkie]]"; this followed the rapid development of sound films in the United States, from the use of brief sound segments in ''[[The Jazz Singer]]'' (1927) to the first full sound feature ''[[Lights of New York (1928 film)|Lights of New York]]'' (1928).<ref name=Blackmail>{{cite web |title=Blackmail (1929) |url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6a55273b |publisher=British Film Institute |access-date=1 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171231082847/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6a55273b|archive-date=31 December 2017}}; also see {{harvnb|White|Buscombe|2003|p=94}}; {{harvnb|Allen|Ishii-Gonzalès|2004|p=xv}}</ref> ''Blackmail'' began the Hitchcock tradition of using famous landmarks as a backdrop for suspense sequences, which includes an early example of a [[red telephone box]] being used for criminal activity, while the climax takes place on the dome of the [[British Museum]].<ref name="Time Out"/> It also features one of his longest cameo appearances, which shows him being bothered by a small boy as he reads a book on the [[London Underground]].{{sfn|Walker|2005|p=88}} In the [[PBS]] series ''The Men Who Made The Movies'', Hitchcock explained how he used early sound recording as a special element of the film to create tension, with a gossipy woman ([[Phyllis Monkman]]) stressing the word "knife" in her conversation with the woman suspected of murder.<ref>{{harvnb|McGilligan|2003|pp=120–123}}; {{cite web |title=Alfred Hitchcock and David O. Selznick Collaborations |url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/hitchcock_a.html |publisher=Public Broadcasting System |date=10 January 2001 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080319043811/http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/hitchcock_a.html |archive-date=19 March 2008|url-status=live}}</ref> During this period, Hitchcock directed segments for a BIP [[revue]], ''[[Elstree Calling]]'' (1930), and directed a short film, ''[[An Elastic Affair]]'' (1930), featuring two ''Film Weekly'' scholarship winners.{{sfn|McGilligan|2003|p=137}} ''An Elastic Affair'' is one of the lost films.<ref name=Kerzoncuf2009>{{cite journal |last1=Kerzoncuf |first1=Alain |date=February 2009 |title=Alfred Hitchcock and The Fighting Generation |journal=[[Senses of Cinema]] |issue=49 |url=http://sensesofcinema.com/2009/feature-articles/hitchcock-fighting-generation/ |access-date=15 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180405234711/http://sensesofcinema.com/2009/feature-articles/hitchcock-fighting-generation/ |archive-date=5 April 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:The 39 Steps Still.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|[[Madeleine Carroll]] (the archetypal [[Blonde stereotype#Typology|"Hitchcock blonde"]]) and [[Robert Donat]] in ''[[The 39 Steps (1935 film)|The 39 Steps]]'' (1935)]]

In 1933, Hitchcock signed a multi-film contract with [[Gaumont-British]], once again working for Michael Balcon.{{Sfn|Spoto|1999|p=37}}{{Sfn|McGilligan|2003|p=153}} His first film for the company, ''[[The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934 film)|The Man Who Knew Too Much]]'' (1934), was a success; his second, ''[[The 39 Steps (1935 film)|The 39 Steps]]'' (1935), was acclaimed in the UK, and gained him recognition in the US. It also established the quintessential English "Hitchcock blonde" ([[Madeleine Carroll]]) as the template for his succession of ice-cold, elegant leading ladies.<ref name="Chapman">{{cite book |last1=Chapman |first1=James |title=Hitchcock and the Spy Film |date=2017 |page=54 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|quote=Carroll was the archetypal 'Hitchcock blonde' – the first in a lineage that would also include Grace Kelly, Eva Marie Saint, Kim Novak and Tippi Hedren}}</ref> Screenwriter [[Robert Towne]] remarked: "It's not much of an exaggeration to say that all contemporary escapist entertainment begins with ''The 39 Steps''".<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Scragow |first1=Michael |title=Rewatching Hitchcock's "The 39 Steps" |url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/rewatching-hitchcocks-the-39-steps |magazine=The New Yorker |date=9 July 2012|access-date=25 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171026110604/https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/rewatching-hitchcocks-the-39-steps|archive-date=26 October 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> [[John Buchan]], author of ''[[The Thirty-Nine Steps]]'' on which the film is loosely based, met with Hitchcock on set, and attended the high-profile premiere at the [[New Gallery (London)|New Gallery Cinema]] in London. Upon viewing the film, the author said it had improved on the book.<ref name="Chapman"/> This film was one of the first to introduce the "[[MacGuffin]]" plot device, a term coined by the English screenwriter and Hitchcock collaborator [[Angus MacPhail]].<ref>{{cite book |last=McArthur |first=Colin |title=Whisky Galore! and the Maggie |year=2003 |publisher=I.B. Tauris |location=London |page=21}}</ref> The MacGuffin is an item or goal the protagonist is pursuing, one that otherwise has no narrative value; in ''The 39 Steps'', the MacGuffin is a stolen set of design plans.<ref>{{harvnb|Truffaut|1983|pp=137–139}}</ref>

Hitchcock released two spy thrillers in 1936. ''[[Sabotage (1936 film)|Sabotage]]'' was loosely based on [[Joseph Conrad]]'s novel, ''[[The Secret Agent]]'' (1907), about a woman who discovers that her husband is a terrorist, and ''[[Secret Agent (1936 film)|Secret Agent]]'', based on two stories in ''[[Ashenden: Or the British Agent]]'' (1928) by [[W. Somerset Maugham]].{{efn|In 2017, a ''[[Time Out (magazine)|Time Out]]'' magazine poll ranked ''Sabotage'' as the 44th best British film ever.<ref name="Time Out">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.timeout.com/london/film/100-best-british-films#tab_panel_4 |title=The 100 best British films |magazine=Time Out |access-date=24 October 2017 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20190403073405/https://www.timeout.com/london/film/100-best-british-films%23tab_panel_4|archive-date=3 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>}} In his positive review of ''Sabotage'' for ''[[The Spectator]]'', the writer and journalist [[Graham Greene]] identified the children's matinée scene as an "ingenious and pathetic twist [[Hitchcockian|stamped as Mr Hitchcock's own]]".<ref>{{cite journal |last= Greene|first= Graham|author-link= Graham Greene|date= 11 December 1936|title= Sabotage/The Tenth Man|journal= [[The Spectator]]}} (reprinted in: {{cite book|editor-last= Taylor|editor-first= John Russell|editor-link= John Russell Taylor|date= 1980|title= The Pleasure Dome|url= https://archive.org/details/pleasuredomegrah00gree/page/122|publisher= Oxford University Press|pages= [https://archive.org/details/pleasuredomegrah00gree/page/122 122-123]|isbn= 0192812866}})</ref> ''Secret Agent'' starred Madeleine Carroll and [[John Gielgud]], with [[Peter Lorre]] playing Gielgud's deranged assistant, and typical Hitchcockian themes include mistaken identity, trains and a "Hitchcock blonde".<ref>"'Secret Agent' – Exciting Spy Film by Alfred Hitchcock", ''The Manchester Guardian'', 11 May 1936, p. 13; "New Films in London", ''The Times'', 11 May 1936, p. 10; and "'Secret Agent' at the Gaumont", ''The Manchester Guardian'', 13 October 1936, p. 13</ref>

[[File:Hitchcocks-Joan-Harrison-1937.jpg|thumb|left|[[Alma Reville]], [[Joan Harrison (screenwriter)|Joan Harrison]], Hitchcock, and [[Pat Hitchcock]], 24 August 1937]]

At this time, Hitchcock also became notorious for pranks against the cast and crew. These jokes ranged from simple and innocent to crazy and maniacal. For instance, he hosted a dinner party where he dyed all the food blue because he claimed there weren't enough blue foods. He also had a horse delivered to the dressing room of his friend, actor [[Gerald du Maurier]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2016/04/29/alfred-hitchcock-a-sadistic-prankster/ |title=Alfred Hitchcock: a sadistic prankster |last=Chilton |first=Martin |date=29 April 2016 |work=The Telegraph |access-date=9 January 2019 |issn=0307-1235|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190110014406/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2016/04/29/alfred-hitchcock-a-sadistic-prankster/|archive-date=10 January 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

Hitchcock followed up with ''[[Young and Innocent]]'' in 1937, a crime thriller based on the 1936 novel ''[[A Shilling for Candles]]'' by [[Josephine Tey]].{{Sfn|Taylor|1996|p=137}} Starring [[Nova Pilbeam]] and [[Derrick De Marney]], the film was relatively enjoyable for the cast and crew to make.{{Sfn|Taylor|1996|p=137}} To meet distribution purposes in America, the film's runtime was cut and this included removal of one of Hitchcock's favourite scenes: a children's tea party which becomes menacing to the protagonists.{{Sfn|Taylor|1996|p=138}}

[[File:The-Lady-Vanishes-1938.jpg|thumb|[[Margaret Lockwood]] (middle) and [[Michael Redgrave]] (right) in a publicity shot for ''[[The Lady Vanishes]]'' (1938)]]

Hitchcock's next major success was ''[[The Lady Vanishes]]'' (1938), "one of the greatest train movies from the genre's golden era", according to [[Philip French]], in which Miss Froy ([[May Whitty]]), a British spy posing as a governess, disappears on a train journey through the [[List of fictional countries on the Earth|fictional European country of Bandrika]].<ref>{{cite news |first=Philip |last=French |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2012/jul/24/my-favourite-hitchcock-lady-vanishes |title=My favourite Hitchcock: The Lady Vanishes |newspaper=The Guardian |date=24 July 2012|access-date=10 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170209074800/https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2012/jul/24/my-favourite-hitchcock-lady-vanishes|archive-date=9 February 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> The film saw Hitchcock receive the [[1938 New York Film Critics Circle Awards|1938 New York Film Critics Circle Award]] for Best Director.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Lady Vanishes |work=Turner Classic Movies |url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/80706/the-lady-vanishes |access-date=24 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170711175302/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/80706/The-Lady-Vanishes/ |archive-date=11 July 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref> Benjamin Crisler of ''[[The New York Times]]'' wrote in June 1938: "Three unique and valuable institutions the British have that we in America have not: [[Magna Carta]], the [[Tower Bridge]] and Alfred Hitchcock, the greatest director of screen melodramas in the world."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Crisler |first1=B. R. |title=Hitchcock: Master Melodramatist |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1938/06/12/archives/hitchcock-master-melodramatist.html |work=The New York Times |date=12 June 1938|access-date=11 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612224617/https://www.nytimes.com/1938/06/12/archives/hitchcock-master-melodramatist.html|archive-date=12 June 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> The film was based on the novel ''[[The Wheel Spins]]'' (1936) written by [[Ethel Lina White]], and starred [[Michael Redgrave]] (in his film debut) and [[Margaret Lockwood]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Holston |first1=Kim R.|title=The English-speaking Cinema An Illustrated History, 1927-1993 |date=1994 |publisher=McFarland |page=33}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|date=11 December 2021|title=Crime writer Ethel Lina White's Abergavenny blue plaque|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-59550580|access-date=11 December 2021}}</ref>

By 1938, Hitchcock was aware that he had reached his peak in Britain.{{Sfn|Taylor|1996|p=140}} He had received numerous offers from producers in the United States, but he turned them all down because he disliked the contractual obligations or thought the projects were repellent.{{Sfn|Taylor|1996|p=141}} However, producer [[David O. Selznick]] offered him a concrete proposal to make a film based on the sinking of {{RMS|Titanic}}, which was eventually shelved, but Selznick persuaded Hitchcock to come to [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]]. In June 1938, Hitchcock sailed to New York aboard the [[RMS Queen Mary|RMS ''Queen Mary'']],<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=1938-06-01 |title=Western Morning News from Plymouth, Devon, England |url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/816153978/ |access-date=2025-02-17 |website=Newspapers.com |language=en-US}}</ref> and found that he was already a celebrity; he was featured in magazines and gave interviews to radio stations.{{Sfn|Taylor|1996|p=142}} In Hollywood, Hitchcock met Selznick for the first time. Selznick offered him a four-film contract, approximately $40,000 for each picture ({{Inflation|US|40,000|1938|fmt=eq|r=-4}}).{{Sfn|Taylor|1996|p=142}} Before finalising any American deal, Hitchcock had one last film to make in England, as director of the [[Charles Laughton]]-produced picture ''[[Jamaica Inn (film)|Jamaica Inn]]'' (1939), which he had signed on to make in May 1938, right before his first trip to the US.<ref name=":1" />