Friday, January 21, 2011

Hitchcock's Trailers

Written by this week's Cin-Ob Supreme, ADAM from The Blue Meanies Are Coming!

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We all love going to the cinema to watch the latest movies. Some film fans turn up in time for the start of the film, while others arrive in advance to watch the trailers.

I'm in the second category, and my favourite trailers are those that feature footage that isn't in the film. I don't mean scenes included in trailers released before it was decided to cut them from the film (e.g. the Iron Man 2 trailer), I mean anything that was specifically shot for the trailer only.

Besides being the 'Master of Cinema', Alfred Hitchcock was also the master of this kind of trailer. Here are my two favourite examples...

The opening minute of this trailer for Rope (1948) features a scene between characters Janet Walker and David Kentley, with narration from Jimmy Stewart, who also appears in the film. As the trailer states, this is the only time that we see David alive. I suspect the trailer was shot so that the actor at least got some dialogue!


I don't know what cinemagoers thought of this trailer for Hitchcock's The Birds (1963), but it's certainly worth seeing. It begins as a lecture by Hitchcock himself about man's relationship with birds, and it's only at about four minutes in that we realise something more sinister is going on. Could Hitchcock himself have prompted the film's bird attack, by preparing the meal that we see him almost tuck into?!


Both excellent trailers, and each are available on the DVDs for the respective films.


2 comments:

KeLLy aNN said...

BIG Hitchcock fan!
Last year started watching the ones I've never watched before.
The Birds is a favorite.

Great post! Thanks for the vids.

Tom Clift said...

We watched the Birds trailer in a film class last year. Love it! I also love the Psycho trailer, where he gives people a "tour" around the Bates motel