HISTOIRE DES ARTS 2015
XXème siècle
Humour in HITCHCOCK films
Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock, 1960
Psycho dates back to 1960. Hitchcock focuses on humour for most of this movie trailer and horror doesn't appear until the very end. For him, comic relief is the best way to produce suspense.
At the beginning of the trailer, we are surprised by the music: it sounds like a cartoon. The soundtrack is light and Hitchcock is our guide for a very special visit: “the fabulous Mr Hitchcock is about to escort you...”
Hitchcock's tour is full of deadpan humour : he is very facetious, he doesn't finish his sentences, he speaks as if the crime had really happened. He smiles but he is actually showing us a crime scene, not a theme park. Hitchcock looks completely innocent, his voice is soft, slow and a bit ridiculous for example when he says “let's go inside” or “the bathroom”.
But we must be very careful because that comic relief introduces the shower scene and we can see Hitchcock's horrifying shadow on the wall too.
The movie trailer ends with the terrifying music of Hitchcock's “Greatest Shocker”.
North by Northwest
by Alfred Hitchcock, 1959
North by Northwest is a 1959 thriller starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason, but the main character in this movie trailer is Hitchcock himself. He is our guide for a hilarious “quiet little tour, say about 2,000 miles.”
This guided tour is full of tongue-in-cheek humour because Hitchcock is making jokes without smiling. What he calls “delights” and “fun trips” are in fact accidents and murders. For example, he says “the people are all so friendly” when the man is run over by a truck. And there is no “serene nobility of Mount Rushmore” in the film at all!
Hitchcock's cynical humour relieves the tension of North by Northwest. But the final music is very stressful. Hitchcock says that Cary Grant is “entirely relaxed” but the only person to look relaxed is Hitchcock, the master of suspense.
North by Northwest trailer
Psycho trailer
The Birds by Alfred Hitchcock, 1963
The Birds trailer
The Birds is a horror film dating back to 1963. It tells the story of violent birds attacking people in a small town. The Birds movie trailer is a good example of Hitchcock's quote: “suspense doesn't have any value if it's not balanced by humour.”
In his movie trailer, Hitchcock doesn't focus on the horrible bird attacks. On the contrary, he makes a long lecture (5 minutes) on the “story of man and his friends, the birds” as he says. For him, birds are “noble creatures who have added to the beauty of the world”, and yet he eats some turkey, shows a rifle and a hat decorated with a dead bird. Hitchcock adds: “it's quite dead of course!” The way Hitchcock speaks is a good instance of tongue-in-cheek humour: he pretends to love birds but his lecture is in fact about dead birds. He smiles when he talks about killing birds. He is both cynical and facetious.
Generally speaking, The Birds movie trailer is based on comic relief. Hitchcock looks hilarious and harmless but the trailer ends with the awful bird attacks and Hitchcock's conclusion: “The Birds could be the most terrifying motion picture I've ever made.”