Alfred Hitchcock
Master of suspense
Most quoted
"The audience is like a giant organ that you and I are playing. At one moment we play this note and get this reaction, and then we play that chord and they react that way. And someday we won't even have to make a movie — there'll be electrodes implanted in their brains, and we'll just press different buttons and they'll go 'ooooh' and 'aaahh' and we'll frighten them, and make them laugh. Won't that be wonderful?"
— from Interview with François Truffaut, 1966
"I'm scared of eggs, worse than frightened, they revolt me. That white round thing without any holes... have you ever seen anything more revolting than an egg yolk breaking and spilling its yellow liquid? Blood is jolly, red. But egg yolk is yellow, revolting. I've never tasted it."
— from Interview
"Fear isn't so difficult to understand. After all, weren't we all frightened as children? Nothing has changed since Little Red Riding Hood faced the big bad wolf. What frightens us today is exactly the same sort of thing that frightened us yesterday. It's just a different wolf."
— from Interview
All quotes by Alfred Hitchcock (313)
I like stories where the hero is in danger.
The art of the cinema is to make people believe that they are seeing something real.
I always try to put myself in the audience's shoes.
The unexpected is always more effective.
I don't understand why people are so afraid of death. It's the only thing that's certain.
I am an agnostic, but I am not an atheist.
The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.
I am a very ordinary man who has been blessed with an extraordinary imagination.
Fear isn't so bad. It's the anticipation of fear that's the real killer.
Blonde women make the best victims. They're like virgin snow that shows up the bloody footprints.
I enjoy the suspense of not knowing what's going to happen next, even if I'm the one making it happen.
To me, the cinema is not a slice of life, but a piece of cake.
I am a man who likes to be in control. And in the cinema, I am God.
I don't say all actors are cattle; I've had some very good experiences with cattle.
I try to get the audience to participate in the film, to feel the suspense, to be a part of it.
My love for Alma is the only thing that has ever been constant in my life.
The ideal film is one in which the audience is so involved that they forget they are watching a film.
I am fascinated by the idea of the ordinary person caught in extraordinary circumstances.
A good film is when the price of the dinner, the theatre ticket and the babysitter were all worth it.
I am not interested in stories about good and evil. I am interested in stories about people.
Contemporaries of Alfred Hitchcock
Other Film & Theaters born within 50 years of Alfred Hitchcock (1899–1980).