This documentary covers Hitchcock's early British career, up to his move to America in 1940.
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Roy Ward Baker was an English film director born in London on 19 December 1916. His best known film is A Night to Remember which won a Golden Globe for best foreign English language film in 1959. His later career was varied, and included many horror films and television shows. Baker's early career, from 1934 to 1939, was spent working for Gainsborough Pictures, a British film production company based in Islington, North London, famous for its prestige productions. His first jobs were menial - making tea for crew members, for example - but by 1938 he had risen through the ranks to work as assistant director on Alfred Hitchcock's The Lady Vanishes. He served in the army during World War II, until transferring to the Army Kinematograph Unit in 1943 in order to make better use of skills developed in his pre-war career producing documentaries and teaching materials for troops. One of his superiors at the time was novelist Eric Ambler. It was he who gave Baker his first big break directing The October Man, from an Ambler screenplay, in 1947. Ambler also adapted Walter Lord's A Night to Remember for Baker's 1958 screen version. During the early 1950s, Baker worked for three years in Hollywood where he directed Marilyn Monroe in Don't Bother to Knock (1952) and Robert Ryan in 3D film noir Inferno (1953). He returned to the UK for the latter part of the decade, but defected to television in the early 1960s. He directed episodes of The Avengers, The Saint and The Champions - all adventure series created with an eye on the American market. The low-budget ethic of television production made him well-suited to his next career move into cheaply produced but lavish-looking British horror films. He directed, amongst others, Quatermass and the Pit (1967) The Vampire Lovers (1970) and Scars of Dracula (1970) for Hammer, and Asylum (1972) for Amicus. In the latter part of the 1970s he returned to television, and throughout the 1980s continued to work in Television. He retired in 1992.
Robert Donat (born Friedrich Robert Donat) was a star English film and stage actor. He is best remembered for his roles in The 39 Steps (1935) and Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939), the latter which earned him a Best Actor Academy Award.
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE (August 13, 1899 – April 29, 1980), was an English director and producer. Labeled as the "Master of Suspense", he became known for thrillers, often combined with a dark sense of humor. After a successful career in his native country, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood in 1939. Over a career spanning more than half a century, Hitchcock fashioned for himself a distinctive and recognizable directorial style. He pioneered the use of a camera made to move in a way that mimics a person's gaze, forcing viewers to engage in a form of voyeurism. He framed shots to maximize anxiety, fear, or empathy, and used innovative film editing. His stories frequently feature fugitives on the run from the law alongside icy blonde female characters. Many of Hitchcock's films have twist endings and thrilling plots featuring depictions of violence, murder, and crime, although many of the mysteries function as decoys —or MacGuffins— meant only to serve thematic elements in the film and the extremely complex psychological examinations of the characters. Hitchcock's films also borrow many themes from psychoanalysis and feature strong sexual undertones. Through his cameo appearances in his own films, interviews, film trailers, and the television program Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955-1965), he became a cultural icon. Hitchcock is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In 2002, Hitchcock was ranked 2nd behind Orson Welles in the critics' top ten poll in the list of The Greatest Directors of All Time compiled by the Sight & Sound magazine. Andrew Sarris in his influential book of film criticism The American Cinema: Directors and Directions 1929–1968 included him in the "pantheon" of the 14 greatest film directors who had worked in the United States. Hitchcock's critically most acclaimed film is the psychological thriller film Vertigo (1958). Although being a mild failure upon its release, it has risen in popularity over the decades. In 2012 it even replaced Orson Welles' Citizen Kane as the greatest film ever made in the Sight & Sound critics' poll. Regarding visual style, Vertigo is often declared as Hitchcock's most perfect film. The use of color symbolism, meticulously composed shots, and the famous "Vertigo effect" (dolly zoom) continue to be studied and admired. Hitchcock's most commercially successful and most famous film is Psycho (1960), which had a significant impact on the horror genre, especially the slasher film. Hitchcock was able to prove his skills with the mystery thriller film Rear Window (1954), to create suspense within a confined setting - primarily the protagonist's apartment. In this film, voyeurism, one of Hitchcock's favorite subjects, is an essential aspect. Many of Hitchcock's spy films, most notably North by Northwest (1959) and Notorious (1946), had a major impact on the Mission: Impossible and James Bond series.
