Hitchcock's Auteur Theory

When we think of the greatest films in history, certain names come to mind: Griffith, Murnau, Kuleshov, Hitchcock, Spielberg, Tarantino, and the list goes on. Good movies allow actors to be praised for years, but great movies make their directors indelible for centuries. The director of a film is equal to a novel writer, which defines the auteur theory (Module 13). The auteur theory(politique des auteurs) gives special attention to film directors over any other role in the filmmaking process, arguing that a film is a reflection of the director’s artistic vision. The man behind the theory just so happened to be one of the most recognized directors of the French New Wave, François Truffaut, who stood at the heart of the movement, starting in

But before Hitchcock became a household name, he got his start writing inter-titles in the British film industry in the early 1920s. He directed his first film, The Pleasure Garden (1925), during the coming of sound. He continued to hone his craft during the Golden Age of British film, becoming the editing expert that he known to be, but it was the film The 39 Steps (1935) that earned him his ticket to Hollywood. Hitchcock was later hired by Lew Wasserman to work at Universal because no one “doubted his ability to draw audiences” (Gomery and Pafort-Overduin 256). At Universal is where Hitchcock made some of his most notable work, including The Birds (1963) and Marnie (1964). Although Hitchcock was most celebrated for his films, he also gained high regard by working in television, crafting a popular series called “Alfred Hitchcock Presents,” becoming “the most famous director in the United States, if not the world” at the time (Gomery and Pafort-Overduin 267). He represented the rare filmmaker that could perfect his craft as a director while remaining extremely favored among his audience. His film Notorious (1946) was celebrated by Truffaut, calling it “the very quintessence of Hitchcock” (Gomery and Pafort-Overduin 267). Soon the French New Wave would be inspired by Hitchcock, the “master of the Classical Hollywood system of filmmaking.” Not only did Hitchcock inspire a movement, but he taught a lesson. He showed himself and his audience what good happens when you follow the Classical Hollywood style of filmmaking, and what happens when you don’t. In his film Rope (1948), Hitchcock made an 80-minute film in seemingly one continuous take without any cuts; it was a box-office failure. After that failure, Hitchcock produced some of his best work, including “one of the great examples of Classical Hollywood filmmaking of its time,” Psycho (1960) (Gomery