Alfred Hitchcock Spellbound Quotes

For me, suspense doesn't have any value if it's not balanced by humor. ~ Alfred Hitchcock

I'm not against the police; I'm just afraid of them. ~ Alfred Hitchcock

It's only a movie, and, after all, we're all grossly overpaid. ~ Alfred Hitchcock

This award is meaningful because it comes from my fellow dealers in celluloid. ~ Alfred Hitchcock

This weapon [an ax] is primitive but effective. And it's also guaranteed to be fifty-percent painless. You see, it takes two people to operate, and the person at this end [the handle] doesn't feel a thing. ~ Alfred Hitchcock

Television has brought back murder into the home - where it belongs. ~ Alfred Hitchcock

In many of the films now being made, there is very little cinema: they are mostly what I call 'photographs of people talking.' When we tell a story in cinema we should resort to dialogue only when it's impossible to do otherwise. I always try to tell a story in the cinematic way, through a succession of shots and bits of film in between. ~ Alfred Hitchcock

Really, the novelist has the best casting since he doesn't have to cope with the actors and all the rest.
-Alfred Hitchcock ~ Alfred Hitchcock

Ideas come from everything ~ Alfred Hitchcock

He was such a fabulous drama coach. What better person to have than Alfred Hitchcock? His work as a director was impeccable. I learned so much. ~ Tippi Hedren

The paperback is very interesting but I find it will never replace the hardcover book
it makes a very poor doorstop. ~ Alfred Hitchcock

Our primary function is to create an emotion and our secondary function is to sustain that emotions. ~ Alfred Hitchcock

Drama is real life with all the boring parts cut out. ~ Alfred Hitchcock

Love those wrongdoers, they need it more than you. ~ Alfred Hitchcock

These are bagpipes. I understand the inventor of the bagpipes was inspired when he saw a man carrying an indignant, asthmatic pig under his arm. Unfortunately, the man-made sound never equalled the purity of the sound achieved by the pig. ~ Alfred Hitchcock

All love scenes started on the set are continued in the dressing room. ~ Alfred Hitchcock

Suspense is like a woman. The more left to the imagination, the more the excitement. ... The conventional big-bosomed blonde is not mysterious. And what could be more obvious than the old black velvet and pearls type? The perfect 'woman of mystery' is one who is blonde, subtle and Nordic. ... Although I do not profess to be an authority on women, I fear that the perfect title [for a movie], like the perfect woman is difficult to find. ~ Alfred Hitchcock

The best actor is the man who can do nothing extremely well ... ~ Alfred Hitchcock

Raksin worked for Alfred Hitchcock, about whom one of the most famous Raksin anecdotes was spoken. The legendary director declared he wanted no music at all for the oceanic Lifeboat, because he felt audiences would wonder where the music was coming from in the middle of the sea. Raksin said, Ask Hitch where the cameras are coming from. ~ Paul Zollo

Some films are slices of life, mine are slices of cake ~ Alfred Hitchcock

Puns are the highest form of literature. ~ Alfred Hitchcock

Suspicion," he said. "Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. He's a genius." "Starring Cary Grant." When Lucas gave me a look, I added, "You have your priorities, I have mine. ~ Claudia Gray

The more successful the villain, the more successful the picture. ~ Alfred Hitchcock

One never knows the ending. One has to die to know exactly what happens after death, although Catholics have their hopes. ~ Alfred Hitchcock

People don't always express their inner thoughts to one another; a conversation may be quite trivial, but often the eyes will reveal what a person really thinks or feels. ~ Alfred Hitchcock

My knowledge of trains - and love before first sight, love at negative-one sight - comes from Alfred Hitchcock. ~ Darin Strauss

Someone once told me that every minute a murder occurs, so I don't want to waste your time, I know you want to go back to work. ~ Alfred Hitchcock

In feature films the director is God; in documentary films God is the director. ~ Alfred Hitchcock

Brandon, until this very moment, the world and the people in it have always been dark and incomprehensible to me, and I've tried to clear my way with logic and superior intellect, and you've thrown by own words right back in my face; you've given my words a meaning that I never dreamed of, and you tried to twist them into a cold logical excuse for your ugly murder!

Tonight you've made me ashamed of every concept I've ever had, of superior or inferior beings, but I thank you for that shame, because now I know that we're each of us a separate human being, Brandon, with the right to live and work and think as individuals, but with an obligation to the society that we live in. By what right do you dare say that there's a superior few to which you belong? By what right did you dare decide that that boy in there [he's referencing the dead body of "David," lying in a trunk in the middle of the room] was inferior and therefore could be killed?

Did you think you were God Brandon? Is that what you thought when you choked the life out of him? Is that what you thought when you served food from his grave! I don't know what you thought or what you are, but I know what you've done - YOU'VE MURDERED! You've strangled the life of a fellow human being who could live and love as you never could... and never will again! ~ Arthur Laurents

Mystery is an intellectual process ... But suspense is essentially an emotional process. ~ Alfred Hitchcock

It's one of those jobs where you go, 'Oh no, I've got to play Alfred Hitchcock. I have to play him even though I know what this is going to involve.' ~ Toby Jones

Man does not live by murder alone. He needs affection, approval, encouragement and, occasionally, a hearty meal. ~ Alfred Hitchcock

Even my failures make money and become classics a year after I make them. ~ Alfred Hitchcock

In the old days villains had moustaches and kicked the dog. Audiences are smarter today. They don't want their villain to be thrown at them with green limelight on his face. They want an ordinary human being with failings. ~ Alfred Hitchcock

For every answer, I like to bring up a question. Maybe I'm related to Alfred Hitchcock or maybe I got to know him too well, but I think life should be that way. ~ Kim Novak

Content, I am not interested in that at all. I don't give a damn what the film is about. I am more interested in how to handle the material so as to create an emotion in the audience. I find too many people are interested in the content. If you were painting a still life of some apples on a plate, it's like you'd be worrying whether the apples were sweet or sour. Who cares? ~ Alfred Hitchcock

In films murders are always very clean. I show how difficult it is and what a messy thing it is to kill a man. ~ Alfred Hitchcock

It's Toby Jones playing Alfred Hitchcock, not Alfred Hitchcock. We all felt that his silhouette was crucial, so his nose and lips were crucial as well. We had to build it out a bit to get the silhouette. But, with my nose being so small within the proportion of my face, the first nose was too big. I felt like a nose on parade. ~ Toby Jones

For me, the cinema is not a slice of life, but a piece of cake. ~ Alfred Hitchcock

There are several differences between a football game and a revolution. For one thing, a football game usually lasts longer and the participants wear uniforms. Also, there are usually more casualties in a football game. The object of the game is to move a ball past the other team's goal line. This counts as six points. No points are given for lacerations, contusions, or abrasions, but then no points are deducted, either. Kicking is very important in football. In fact, some of the more enthusiastic players even kick the ball, occasionally. ~ Alfred Hitchcock

I was an uncommonly unattractive young man. ~ Alfred Hitchcock

Drama is life with the dull bits cut out. ~ Alfred Hitchcock

I'm a writer and, therefore, automatically a suspicious character. ~ Alfred Hitchcock

I've never been very keen on women who hang their sex round their neck like baubles. I think it should be discovered. It's more interesting to discover the sex in a woman than it is to have it thrown at you, like a Marilyn Monroe or those types. To me they are rather vulgar and obvious. ~ Alfred Hitchcock

The thing I loved about Alfred Hitchcock is that he left a lot of open ends there, a lot of clues that didn't really add up the way you think they would, and sometimes, not at all. ~ Kim Novak

I suddenly realized how much I loved her when we attended Alfred Hitchcock's 75th birthday party last August. There was something magical about that night, and it made me see how much she really meant to me. ~ Rod Taylor

I think of great masters, like [Alfred] Hitchcock, for example, who works absolutely within this sensational realm. You feel like you can always tell what temperature a room is in a Hitchcock film because the people feel alive, they don't feel like they're just being filmed on a stage. ~ Tilda Swinton

That is the most frightening sight I have ever seen. ~ Alfred Hitchcock