![]() ![]() This is not to say, however, that everything Hitchcock created was perfection. ![]() This article, therefore, is about both the things Hitchcock’s work can bring to first-time watchers and the valuable lessons he could teach potential filmmakers. However, if even the future directors and screenwriters neglect Hitchcock’s work, how can one expect the opposite from the general public? Moreover, the absence of Hitchcock movies on television is glaring and I have noticed that even members of older generations have seen too few of them, if any. Yet there are many such individuals who, for one reason or another, have been robbed of a great source of inspiration, instruction, beauty and entertainment. This sounds just as absurd as a person who wants to become a playwright but has never seen or read a Shakespeare play. Yet, some years ago when I was at drama school, I encountered many fellow students, some of whom were aspiring filmmakers, who had never in their life seen a single Hitchcock film. To many, writing a piece about Hitchcock might seem pointless, since everybody knows that his films are worth watching and so many brilliant - and some not so brilliant - books have been written about him already. In many cases, old films can be most rewarding and entertaining, and, for those who work in cinema or aspire to do so, they may be surprisingly instructive and inspiring. ![]() Like my friend, I had found many of the films and television series produced today disappointing, and realised that much of the early twentieth century cinema seems fresher and more daring in the dark currents of its subtext than most of the crude mass products of today. The reason I enquired into her cinematic preferences was that for quite a while I myself had been either rewatching or seeing for the first time movies produced in the last century, not few from before the fifties. When pressed further for the reasons of this choice I detected a familiar escapist desire for beauty, order and certainty, of the kinds one sees so often in abundance in old movies, and which lack so much in our lives. ![]() I’ve been watching old black and white movies from the Golden Age of Hollywood,” she said. Little of what’s done today is of any interest to me. In a way I was both surprised and not surprised at all with her answer. Recently I asked a young friend of mine what new films she had been watching during the strange and alienating Plague Year 2020. ![]()
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