Psycho

Psycho

1960, Hitchcock

But, its 31 minutes in and so far, she is not dead, but I don't want Nomran Bates to kill her! He's so cute!

Yes, I know that's the point.

Who is this actor? Leigh is still alive and I can already see he's brilliant.

We all go a little mad sometimes. Norman Bates. Mother. I thought the only cliché to come out of this movie was a shower scene and killing the lead actress off early in the plot, like within 20 minutes. But, she's still alive, 44 minutes in. And I've already encountered three more cliches! It's amazing.

Here's a thing, by 1960, we had color movies pretty regularly. But Psycho is in B+W. It's for the blood, isn't it? People like Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino go to great lengths to get the color and consistency of blood correct and artistically satisfying. This is the fourth Hitchcock film I've seen to date, and unless I'm missing something, Hitchcock doesn't really do blood.

No, he does lighting and blocking and sound. Like, how clearly important this money in the newspaper is. That's what all the tension hinged on in the first part of the movie, do we continue to have it so prominently lit because that's what will bring justice to Bates?

Oh Norman Bates, you are exactly my type. Tall, awkward, obscure hobby.

If not for that slug of a mother. It's his dead mother right?

Minute 64: "It's linen day... I don't know, creepy smell!"

Best delivery of a line ever.

Yep. Dead Mother. Freaking brilliant.

Have you seen the trailers for this? The fabulous Mr. Alfred Hitchcock taking you on a tour of the Bates estate? Accompanied by the sort of quaint fuddy-duddy music you may get on an antiques road show circa the time Monty Python started making fun of them. Clearly, Hitchcock himself considered this only scary in so far as the murderer was as normal and attractive as anyone you'd find. Normal – Norman. hm. I guess we're lucky that even Mr. Rockwell was named such a subliminally ordinary name.

What makes her even more normal than normal is the supreme Victorian taint that holds over on everything Mother owned. All lace and doilies. Like the owners of Lady and later The Tramp. If I didn't think it too personal a vendetta for him, I would that Hitchcock was out disarm Walt Disney specifically of his idealistic representation of the post-Victorian stability of urbane America.

But no, it's just that Hitchcock is out to create tension and fear in the same way that Rockwell and Disney created comfort and peace by using exactly the same tools of intimacy and familiarity.

Anyway, this trailer probably holds more craft in it (like trailers today) than the movie. It contains more misinformation than a Clancy novel and more misdirection too. As The Fabulous Mr. Alfred Hitchcock walks through on his tour, he point out every room and object that was of significance in the film, from the stuffed birds and peep hole in the motel parlor, to the bedrooms and clothes in the house. Yet, with each, he immediately dismisses the ones that have true interest and dwells on the ones that are meant to lead us to the obvious conclusions.

That is, he takes more time, gives more weight to the stuffed birds and sink print of Mother, while tells us The Son's Bedroom and This Picture in the motel are uber significant, then uses the cheapest, oldest trick in the suspense book – literally “but it's not important” or “but we'll stop here, I have something better to show you”.

And right until the end (like the two hour sensations Rear Window and Notorious) Hitchcock keeps up with the road show music and his goofy composure until the tour is suddenly over and the trailer film cuts to the most famous scream in film history.

Freaking. Brilliant.

But why Hitchcock didn't let us see Bates throw his voice ever, I don't know. The only improvement I'd make – 40 years later – is to let Bates physically speak in Mother voice in the fruit cellar. The clothes are startling enough, yes, but one more shot, 3 more seconds of film, of him yabbering, would have sealed it completely.