Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980) was born over his family’s foodshop in Leytonstone, East London. Little remains of his early life there, other than a Blue Plaque on the wall. But there is still evidence of the director’s links with the area: two blocks of flats, Marnie Court and Topaz Court, take their names from his films, and The Alfred Hitchcock Hotel on the edge of Epping Forest was also named in his honour. The most attractive memorials are Alfred Hitchcock mosaics in Leytonstone Tube Station in East London, featuring scenes from the director’s life and his films.
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Alfred Hitchcock
Hitchcock married filmie Alma Reville at Brompton Oratory in Kensington in Dec 1926 and they lived in Earls Court. Beginning his film career as a designer in silent films, Hitchcock starting directing the films themselves within five years. For the rest of his life, he used London as the setting for many of his films. Even after he moved to the US and was working in Hollywood!
He wanted to show the rough bits of his city, like the fair dinkum Cockney he was. Hitchcock’s first big success came with The Lodger (1927), a serial killer. Some scenes were filmed inside his studio, but Hitchcock filmed on location where it was practical eg in Westminster and Charing Cross.
Another location which appeared often in The Lodger was Scotland Yard, headquarters of the Metropolitan London Police. Hitchcock was a regular visitor to Scotland Yard, visiting the Police Crime Museum for inspiration. This Victorian museum was home to a grisly selection of criminal evidence from Jack the Ripper and Dr Crippen.
The Lodger was a serial killer loose in London, targeting young women with golden curls. Hitchcock knew all the mystery genre tropes and he filled his film with them. Presumably this was to subvert expectations, twisting the incredibly suspicious lodger into a romantic hero! This film provided a blueprint for the rest of his filmography.
The British Museum played a direct role in Hitchcock’s final silent film Blackmail (1929). The climactic chase scene occurred across the domed glass roof of the museum’s old reading room. Blackmail’s other scenes occurred in Trafalgar Square and Whitehall.
Much of The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) was set in London. The diction of the players was very English, but none the less pleasing and suitable to the NY reviews. Only the photography was thought to be below American norms.
The film The 39 Steps (1935) showed Robert Donat’s character, while vacationing in London, befriending a scared woman; she told him that she was a spy and made a cryptic reference to the 39 steps. The woman was later murdered, so Donat fled on a train to Scotland.
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The 39 Steps, 1935
Sabotage (1936) one of the final films Alfred made before moving to the US in 1939. Opening at the then-newly-built Battersea Power Station, the film celebrated the city’s tourist favourites eg Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus.
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The Lady Vanishes, 1938
One of Hitchcock’s very last films was Frenzy (1972), featuring some of the most beautiful buildings in London, including the Royal Albert Hall and Covent Garden Market, The Globe Pub in Bow St and the Nell of Old Drury Pub in Catherine St. This story of a rapist-murderer, whose distinct murder weapon was a necktie, brought Alfred full circle, back to the London of his 1927 film, The Lodger.
Alfred died in 1980. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered over the Pacific, halfway between his two loved nations. His memorial service was in the Catholic Westminster Cathedral London and his memorial stone is in Hollywood Forever Cemetery, California.
Read Hunting for Alfred Hitchcock in London.
Hitchcock married filmie Alma Reville at Brompton Oratory in Kensington in Dec 1926 and they lived in Earls Court. Beginning his film career as a designer in silent films, Hitchcock starting directing the films themselves within five years. For the rest of his life, he used London as the setting for many of his films. Even after he moved to the US and was working in Hollywood!
He wanted to show the rough bits of his city, like the fair dinkum Cockney he was. Hitchcock’s first big success came with The Lodger (1927), a serial killer. Some scenes were filmed inside his studio, but Hitchcock filmed on location where it was practical eg in Westminster and Charing Cross.
Another location which appeared often in The Lodger was Scotland Yard, headquarters of the Metropolitan London Police. Hitchcock was a regular visitor to Scotland Yard, visiting the Police Crime Museum for inspiration. This Victorian museum was home to a grisly selection of criminal evidence from Jack the Ripper and Dr Crippen.
The Lodger was a serial killer loose in London, targeting young women with golden curls. Hitchcock knew all the mystery genre tropes and he filled his film with them. Presumably this was to subvert expectations, twisting the incredibly suspicious lodger into a romantic hero! This film provided a blueprint for the rest of his filmography.
The British Museum played a direct role in Hitchcock’s final silent film Blackmail (1929). The climactic chase scene occurred across the domed glass roof of the museum’s old reading room. Blackmail’s other scenes occurred in Trafalgar Square and Whitehall.
Much of The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) was set in London. The diction of the players was very English, but none the less pleasing and suitable to the NY reviews. Only the photography was thought to be below American norms.
The film The 39 Steps (1935) showed Robert Donat’s character, while vacationing in London, befriending a scared woman; she told him that she was a spy and made a cryptic reference to the 39 steps. The woman was later murdered, so Donat fled on a train to Scotland.
Sabotage (1936) one of the final films Alfred made before moving to the US in 1939. Opening at the then-newly-built Battersea Power Station, the film celebrated the city’s tourist favourites eg Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus.
Although Hitchcock’s sense of humour was a constant in his Hollywood films, it was more pronounced in the British films, which felt more like comic capers than slasher flicks. The Lady Vanishes (1938) initially resembled a typical British farce, as troubled travellers filled up cramped corners at a crowded inn. This film also made regional references, discussing life in Oxford.
David Selznick signed Alfred to a 7-year contract from March 1939, and the Hitchcocks moved to Hollywood. Although he was clearly an established filmmaker with many credits before his move to LA, Hitchcock had to transition from British curiosity to Hollywood mainstay. The films he made in the UK contained themes and style choices that he constantly revisited, but they also stood apart for their comic tone and special British focus on class and international conflict. Eventually the director filmed 20 feature films overseas, films that turned him into an object of fascination for the US press.
The film that best showed Hitchcock’s changed from London to Hollywood was his second American project, Foreign Correspondent (1940). When the film was released, UK and the US had very different opinions about the war devastating Europe. It opened with a title card praising foreign correspondents as brave people who saw war devastation .. while many Americans didn’t. They then focused on a New York crime reporter sent abroad to cover the chaos in Europe. He arrived a sceptic, became a true believer and eventually urged complacent fellow Americans to hear the live broadcast from The Blitz. Even though Hitchcock frequently returned to London to film, WW2 made this trip impossible. So Foreign Correspondent was filmed by a second unit.
David Selznick signed Alfred to a 7-year contract from March 1939, and the Hitchcocks moved to Hollywood. Although he was clearly an established filmmaker with many credits before his move to LA, Hitchcock had to transition from British curiosity to Hollywood mainstay. The films he made in the UK contained themes and style choices that he constantly revisited, but they also stood apart for their comic tone and special British focus on class and international conflict. Eventually the director filmed 20 feature films overseas, films that turned him into an object of fascination for the US press.
The film that best showed Hitchcock’s changed from London to Hollywood was his second American project, Foreign Correspondent (1940). When the film was released, UK and the US had very different opinions about the war devastating Europe. It opened with a title card praising foreign correspondents as brave people who saw war devastation .. while many Americans didn’t. They then focused on a New York crime reporter sent abroad to cover the chaos in Europe. He arrived a sceptic, became a true believer and eventually urged complacent fellow Americans to hear the live broadcast from The Blitz. Even though Hitchcock frequently returned to London to film, WW2 made this trip impossible. So Foreign Correspondent was filmed by a second unit.
One of Hitchcock’s very last films was Frenzy (1972), featuring some of the most beautiful buildings in London, including the Royal Albert Hall and Covent Garden Market, The Globe Pub in Bow St and the Nell of Old Drury Pub in Catherine St. This story of a rapist-murderer, whose distinct murder weapon was a necktie, brought Alfred full circle, back to the London of his 1927 film, The Lodger.
Alfred died in 1980. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered over the Pacific, halfway between his two loved nations. His memorial service was in the Catholic Westminster Cathedral London and his memorial stone is in Hollywood Forever Cemetery, California.
Read Hunting for Alfred Hitchcock in London.