作业 惊魂记txt 导演阿尔弗雷德希区柯克.docx

1、作业 惊魂记txt 导演阿尔弗雷德希区柯克BackgroundAlfred Hitchcocks powerful, complex psychological thriller, Psycho (1960) is the mother of all modern horror suspense films - it single-handedly ushered in an era of inferior screen slashers with blood-letting and graphic, shocking killings (e.g., Homicidal (1961), The

2、 Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), Halloween (1978), Motel Hell (1980), and DePalmas Dressed to Kill (1980) - with another transvestite killer and shower scene). While this was Hitchcocks first real horror film, he was mistakenly labeled as a horror film director ever since.The nightmarish, disturbing

3、 films themes of corruptibility, confused identities, voyeurism, human vulnerabilities and victimization, the deadly effects of money, Oedipal murder, and dark past histories are realistically revealed. Its themes were revealed through repeated uses of motifs, such as birds, eyes, hands, and mirrors

4、.The low-budget ($800,000), brilliantly-edited, stark black and white film came after Hitchcocks earlier glossy Technicolor hits Vertigo (1958) and North by Northwest (1959), and would have been more suited for as an extended episode for his own b/w TV series Alfred Hitchcock Presents. In fact, the

5、film crew was from the TV show, including cinematographer John L. Russell.The master of suspense skillfully manipulates and guides the audience into identifying with the main character, luckless victim Marion (a Phoenix real-estate secretary), and then with that characters murderer - a crazy and tim

6、id taxidermist named Norman (a brilliant typecasting performance by Anthony Perkins). Hitchcocks techniques voyeuristically implicate the audience with the universal, dark evil forces and secrets present in the film.Psycho also broke all film conventions by displaying its leading female protagonist

7、having a lunchtime affair in her sexy white undergarments in the first scene; also by photographing a toilet bowl - and flush - in a bathroom (a first in an American film), and killing off its major star Janet Leigh a third of the way into the film (in a shocking, brilliantly-edited shower murder sc

8、ene accompanied by screeching violins). The 90-odd shot shower scene was meticulously storyboarded by Saul Bass, but directed by Hitchcock himself.A satirical parody of scenes from various Hitchcock films, including some from Psycho, were included in Mel Brooks comedy High Anxiety (1978). The shower

9、 scene itself has been referenced, spoofed and parodied in numerous films, including Brian De Palmas The Phantom of the Paradise (1974) and Dressed to Kill (1980), Squirm (1976), Victor Zimmermans low-budget Fade to Black (1980), Tobe Hoopers The Funhouse (1981), John De Bellos Killer Tomatoes Strik

10、e Back! (1990), Martin Walz The Killer Condom (1997, Ger.), Wes Cravens Scream 2 (1997), Scott Spiegels From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money (1999), and the animated Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003), in which Bugs acts out with the films black-and-white footage and a can of Hersheys chocolate

11、 syrup poured down the drain.In this film, Hitchcocks gimmicky device, termed a MacGuffin (the thing or device that motivates the characters, or propels the plot and action), is the stolen $40,000 from the realtors office. Marion Crane becomes a secondary MacGuffin after her murder.The films screenp

12、lay by Joseph Stefano was adapted from a novel of the same name by author Robert Bloch. Remarkably, Blochs 1959 novel was based on legendary real-life, Plainfield, Wisconsin psychotic serial killer Edward Gein, whose murderous character also inspired the mother-obsessed farmer in Deranged (1974), th

13、e Leatherface character in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), and serial killer Jame Gumb (Buffalo Bill) in The Silence of the Lambs (1991).Bloch became a major horror screenwriter during the 60s decade and beyond, responsible for such suspenseful horror films and chillers as The Cabinet of Caligar

14、i (1962) - an update of the 1919 classic, Strait Jacket (1964), The Night Walker (1964), The Skull (1965), The Psychopath (1966), The Deadly Bees (1967), The Torture Garden (1967), The House That Dripped Blood (1971), Asylum (1972), the short feature Mannikin (1977), and The Amazing Captain Nemo (19

15、77).Like many of Hitchcocks films, Psycho is so very layered and complex that multiple viewings are necessary to capture all of its subtlety. Symbolic imagery involving stuffed birds and reflecting mirrors are ever-present. Although its one of the most frightening films ever made, it has all the ele

16、ments of very dark, black comedy. This film wasnt clearly understood by its critics when released. Hitchcock admitted that Henri-Georges Clouzots influential thriller Les Diaboliques (1955, Fr.) inspired his film.This taut masterpiece was followed by three feature film sequels (none directed by Hitc

17、hcock) and other imitations or TV films:TitleDirectorCommentPsycho (1960)Not rated until 1968, when an early version of the MPAA ratings system rated it M, for mature audiences only; a 1984 reissue re-rated the film R Alfred Hitchcock Anthony Perkins as Norman BatesPsycho II (1983)Note: This was a r

18、ecord interval - 23 years between a I and II picture. Richard Franklin Anthony Perkins as Norman, released from a mental hospital after 22 years; Marions sister Lila Loomis (again Vera Miles) protests his releasePsycho III (1986) Anthony Perkins, in his directorial debut Anthony Perkins as Norman, 2

19、5 years laterBates Motel (1987) Richard Rothstein TV pilot film, with Bud Cort as Bates Motel managerPsycho IV: The Beginning (1990) Mick Garris Made for Cable-TV film, with Anthony Perkins as Norman, Henry Thomas as a young Norman, and Olivia Hussey as Norma BatesPsycho (1998) Gus Van Sant An almos

20、t scene-by-scene (actually shot-by-shot) remake (or replication) of the original classic, that only generated interest for the original filmThe films four Academy Award nominations failed to win Oscars: Best Supporting Actress (Janet Leigh with her sole career nomination), Best Director (Alfred Hitc

21、hcock with the last of his five losing nominations), Best B/W Cinematography, and Best B/W Art Direction/Set Decoration. Bernard Herrmanns famous and memorable score with shrieking, harpie-like piercing violins was un-nominated.When the film was originally aired in theaters in mid-1960, Hitchcock in

22、sisted in a publicity gimmick (a la P.T. Barnum) that no one would be seated after the film had started - the decree was enforced by uniformed Pinkerton guards. Audiences assumed that something horrible would happen in the first few minutes. Violence is present for about two minutes total in only tw

23、o shocking, grisly murder scenes, the first about a third of the way through, and the second when a Phoenix detective named Arbogast is stabbed at the top of a flight of stairs and topples backwards down the staircase. The remainder of the horror and suspense is created in the mind of the audience,

24、although the tale does include such taboo topics as transvestism, implied incest, and hints of necrophilia.The StoryThe bleak, monochrome film is made more effective by Bernard Herrmanns sparse, but driving, recognizable score, first played under the frantic credits (by industry pioneer Saul Bass) -

25、 shown with abstract, gray horizontal and vertical lines that streak back and forth, violently splitting apart the screens and causing them to disappear. The frenetic lines appear as prison bars or vertical city buildings. These criss-crossing patterns, like mirror-images, are correlated to the spli

26、t, schizophrenic personality of a major protagonist.The film opens with the aerial-view camera sweeping left to right along the urban skyline of PHOENIX, ARIZONA where some new construction is in progress. The numerous references to birds in the film begins here, with the city of Phoenix. The specif

27、ic date and time are emphasized in titles in the middle of the screen:FRIDAY, DECEMBER THE ELEVENTHTWO FORTY-THREE P.MThe shot pans across many skyscraper buildings, and after a series of numerous dissolves, randomly chooses to descend and penetrate deeper into one of many windows in a cheaper, high

28、-rise hotel building - the windows venetian blinds narrowly conceal the dingy interior. There, the camera pauses at the half-open window - and then voyeuristically intrudes into the foreground darkness of the drab room. The camera takes a moment to adjust to the black interior - and then pans to the

29、 right where a post-coital, semi-nude couple have just completed a seedy, lunch-time tryst. Attractive, single 30-ish secretary, Marion (spelled not with an A but an O - signifying emptiness) Crane (Janet Leigh), wearing only a prominent white bra and slip and reclining back on a double bed, is with

30、 her shirtless lover/fiancee Sam Loomis (John Gavin) who stands over her. In the background is a bathroom (the first of three bedrooms with bathrooms in the background).Sam speaks the first line of dialogue, referring to the uneaten lunch food on the stand - on many levels, she has lost her appetite

31、 for their ungratifying relationship and mutual poverty. As he kisses her and they embrace on the bed, they discuss their cheap relationship and impoverishment, and their many unresolved issues:Sam: You never did eat your lunch, did you?Marion: Id better get back to the office. These extended lunch

32、hours give my boss excess acid.Sam: Why dont you call your boss and tell him youre taking the rest of the afternoon off? Its Friday anyway - and hot.Marion: What do I do with my free afternoon? Walk you to the airport?Sam: Well, you could laze around here a while longer.Marion (foreshadowing a future hotel visit): Hmm. Checking out time is 3 pm. Hotels of this sort are interested in you when you come in, but when your time is up. Oh Sam, I hate having to be with you in a place like this.Sam: Married couples deliberately spend an occasional night in a c