October 26, 2008

"Hitchcock's 13 Secrets for Success"

Gil Mansergh stepped in at the last minute when our scheduled speakers had a conflict. I asked Gil, a well-known radio talk show host Word by Word: conversations with writers on KRCB (NPR) and Cinema Toast on KRSH-FM, as well as a lecturer, book doctor, workshop leader and author of of many books, to talk about Alfred Hitchcock's brilliant career and how it applies to writers of all genres. Gil is recognized internationally as a Hitchcock expert and it was clear to all present that he is quite the expert.

Gil's presentation, Hitchcock's 13 Secrets for Success, was lecture and video. He chose a number of film clips, showing how Hitchcock's themes and treatment earned him the title of Master of Suspense.

"Drama is life with the dull bits left out."
"There is no terror in a bang, only the anticipation of it."

Hitchcock was a brilliant director but a very strange man. He was the writer of most of his earlier films and his wife, Alma Raville, also contributed to the early writing. As he grew in fame, so did his odd behavior but it did not detract from his abilities to create some of the most famous films of all times.

A couple of years ago, my 18 year old niece Melinda came to California and my husband Don and I took her to Bodega Bay for seafood and told her about The Birds. We rented the movie and she sat on the sofa, clutching a pillow and announced at the end that it was the scariest movie she'd ever seen. She'd never seen a movie without special effects, car chases or shoot-'em-ups. She's been a Hitchcock fan ever since...

"We try to tell a good story and develop a hefty plot. Themes emerge as we go along."

We saw clips from "Young and Innocent", "Strangers on a Train," " The Wrong Man, and "North by Northwest." Running through each clip were some of Hitchcock's themes including: the wronged man, an identifiable landscape, famous music, faces and eyes, the police as incompetent and the hero is innocent, the hero is Everyman. To go into all the details we learned would take up too much space but suffice it to say that these clips and Hitchcock's many movies are worth studying no matter what you are writing. His storyboards are legendary; his plots fascinating and the use of his themes universal.

"I am a typed director. If I made Cinderella, the audience would immediately be looking for a body in the coach."

—Barbara Truax, President