It was recently discovered that Alfred Hitchcock's earliest film has been found in New Zealand. It was produced in 1923 and called "The White Shadow." Hitchcock has credits as the assistant director, art director, editor, and writer of the film. His directorial debut would come two years later at age 25 on "The Pleasure Garden."
"The White Shadow" stars Betty Compson who plays a double role as two very different twin sisters. It was directed by Graham Cutts. Only half of the six-reel feature has been found.
"These first three reels of The White Shadow - more than half the film - offer a priceless opportunity to study [Hitchcock's] visual and narrative ideas when they were first taking shape," said David Sterritt, chairman of the National Society of Film Critics and author of The Films of Alfred Hitchcock.
"What we are getting is the missing link," he continued to say. "He was a creative young man who had already done some writing. We know the kind of creative personality he had when he was young and we know a few years later he started directing movies himself. What we don't know is how these things were coalescing in his imagination."
We are excited about this new discovery, just in time for the director's 112th birthday celebration.
Here are some of Alfred Hitchcock's greatest films! Quotes below are from Hitchcock taken from Francois Truffaut's book of interviews.
“I was feeling very creative at the time, the batteries were well-charged.”http://www.lcelebrities.com/gr“What I like in The 39 Steps are the swift transitions…The rapidity of those transitions heightens the excitement…You use one idea after another and eliminate anything that interferes with the swift pace.”http://www.google.com/imgres?q“During the first part, all sorts of things happen to the hero with such bewildering rapidity that he doesn’t know what it’s all about. Cary Grant came up to me and said, ‘It’s a terrible script. We’ve already done a third of the picture and I still can’t make head or tail of it.’”http://www.google.com/imgres?q“Miss Novak arrived on the set with all sorts of preconceived notions that I couldn’t possibly go along with. You know, I don’t like to argue with a performer on the set; there’s no reason to bring the electricians in on our troubles. I went to Kim Novak’s dressing room and told her about the dresses and hairdos that I had been planning for several months. I also explained that the story was of less importance to me than the over-all visual impact on the screen.”http://www.google.com/imgres?q“Notorious was simply the story of a man in love with a girl who, in the course of her official duties, had to go to bed with another man and even had to marry him. That’s the story.”http://www.google.com/imgres?q“For the final scene, in which Rod Taylor opens the door of the house for the first time and finds the birds assembled there, as far as the eye can see, I asked for a silence, but not just any kind of silence. I wanted an electronic silence, a sort of monotonous low hum…It was a strange, artificial sound, which in the language of the birds might be saying, ‘We’re not ready to attack you yet, but we’re getting ready. We’re like an engine that’s purring and we may start off at any moment.’ All of this was suggested by a sound that’s so low that you can’t be sure whether you’re actually hearing it or only imagining it.”http://www.google.com/imgres?q
