Alfred Hitchcock on The Tomorrow Show

October 12, 2009 6:34 PM

"Long thought to be lost or destroyed, this complete recording of one of the few hour long interviews of Alfred Hitchcock has been found."

From the description on the YouTube page:

Originally broadcast as one of the first Tomorrow Shows with Tom Snyder in the Fall of 1973. This recording appears to be from a second repeat of this show broadcast on Memorial day, 1980.

The VHS (SP) tape itself was found to be in excellent condition. While properly stored in a climate controlled environment it apparrently had not been played in decades. Great care has been taken to make the digital transfer.

Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6

posted by dhammond (17 comments total)

Hitchcock was undoubtedly... a master... at being... phegmatic.
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:39 PM on October 12

Truly a genius. Many, many of his films go too often unseen these days. If you haven't had the pleasure of viewing Rebecca, Strangers on a Train, Notorious, Dial M or Lifeboat, you've missed some of the most wonderful cinematic rides ever produced. For the weirdest movies ever, it's tough to beat The Trouble with Harry and Frenzy. He's a right nutter, but what a filmmaker.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 6:51 PM on October 12

Hitchcock in the first clip: Somebody once said to me "What is your idea of happiness?" I said "A clear horizon. Not even a horizon with a tiny cloud, no bigger than a man's fist. It has to be absolutely clear."

I'm looking forward to watching the rest of this.
posted by ericost at 8:01 PM on October 12

Can't watch this now but plan to -- thanks for the post.

Adding to Ambrosia Voyeur's list: his three most popular movies are often mentioned as "Vertigo," "North by Northwest," and "Psycho," which he made one after the other and have to be ranked as some of the best movies ever made. "Rear Window" is up there too. All of these movies except "Psycho" star James Stewart or Cary Grant and rank among their best and most complicated performances.
posted by blucevalo at 8:32 PM on October 12

Conversely, Topaz should not be seen by anybody.
posted by PostIronyIsNotaMyth at 8:39 PM on October 12 [1 favorite]

thanks so much for this. i've only gotten through part of it, but it's fantastic.
posted by Lutoslawski at 8:46 PM on October 12

Just saw Double Take (yt) last week. Hitchcock is the bomb.
posted by juv3nal at 9:27 PM on October 12

Ron Burrage is no slouch either.
posted by juv3nal at 9:35 PM on October 12

His golden period: Dial M for Murder (1954), Rear Window (1954), To Catch a Thief (1955), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), Vertigo (1958), North By Northwest (1959), and Psycho (1960).
posted by kirkaracha at 6:03 AM on October 13

No love for Shadow Of A Doubt?
posted by The Whelk at 9:03 AM on October 13

Ah c'mon - just watched Topaz again after not seeing it for many years and while the film itself isn't great it has lots of fabulous moments that seem avant garde today (the wordless entrance to the Hotel in Harlem, the splaying out of the dress when a woman is killed etc.)
posted by jettloe at 9:55 AM on October 13

How about all my love for Shadow of a Doubt?!?! .Allegedly, Hitchcock's favorite and mine too.

If you haven't seen it, please do.

There's a story that I've heard so many times about how Hitchcock and Thorton Wilder worked on completing a new draft of the screenplay going cross country on train before Wilder shipped out during WWII. And I have no idea if it's true or not. But every time some trivia buff or TCM host tells it, it makes me feel a little bit more inspired and a little bit more alive.

I just checked out the DVD from the library and can't wait to watch the special features tonight.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 11:27 AM on October 13

Also Hitchcock/Truffaut is a great read
posted by Lanark at 3:19 PM on October 13

If you can't watch all of it, watch part 5.
posted by Quonab at 11:26 PM on October 13

I really like Hitchcock but this interview was rather disappointing. Snyder gets caught up with the rhyming slang, which is pretty much content-free, asks Hitchcock about his fears, which Hitchcock kind of dodges but then Snyder lingers on his dodgy answer. Part 5 is probably the best, but Hitchcock isn't really the best verbal storyteller. I've never watched a lot of Snyder interviews, but he seems to be going for profundity with the long pauses and slow questioning, and it strikes me as artificial.
posted by beerbajay at 2:34 AM on October 14

I like that the crew's laughter is as audible as the director's words.

Is this common of 1970s interviews? Or was the set simply not prepared for humor?
posted by Ian.I.Am at 7:17 PM on October 14

I think it's just that most crews are conditioned not to laugh at things. If you ever watched Talk Soup, you'd hear laughter all the time. I think this happens occasionally on Charlie Rose too.
posted by beerbajay at 7:06 AM on October 16