When looking at Hitchcock’s overall style he is obviously a mastermind of suspense. The common thread that runs throughout both the films, Strangers on a Train and 39 Steps is the feeling of impending danger.
During Strangers on a Train, Hitchcock makes the bold decision to change Guy into a professional tennis player. By making this switch he puts Guy in a much more vulnerable state. He is now in the public eye and getting away with a murder would be a much harder task than if press and fans were not following him. This change also makes a change in the play with Guy’s name. The novel makes him appear to be a normal upstanding gentleman, in other words, an ordinary guy. Now that he’s a tennis player, his “normal guy” status is taken away from him. Hitchcock also tends to follow a specific object in his films that have significant meaning. In Strangers on a Train, this object is the lighter than Guy leaves in Bruno’s train car. The two ideas of Guy’s tennis fame and Bruno’s stolen lighter unite in the scene in which Guy is finishing a tennis match in order to catch Bruno before he frames him for Miriam’s murder. The suspense of the film is put at an all time high while the audience watches Guy bounce the tennis ball back and forth, meanwhile the camera literally bounces the audience back and forth between shots of Guy and shots of Bruno.
Hitchcock’s film, 39 Steps takes a somewhat similar approach to suspense. He changes one of the main features of the novel when he makes the murder victim go from male to female. Like Strangers on a Train, this change makes the film take a different feel. Since the murder was that of a woman it added a sense of vulnerability and even more hate (not that the murder of a man is any less gruesome, no offense guys). Hitchcock also adds a whole new character, Mr. Memory, who is the actual key to the 39 steps. This change makes the audience question though, are the 39 steps real? Can this man be trusted? Who can actually be trusted? One of the most suspenseful scenes is also one that Hitchcock decided to also add. While Hannay is on the run he goes to the cabin of a somewhat strange couple. This scene is often seen as the most suspenseful because it adds sexual tension and plays with the idea of being caught. Hitchcock focuses much of this scene around a newspaper found on the table in the cabin. Hannay tries to keep the paper away form the couple, for fear of his identity being divulged. This scene mirrors when he is sitting on the train with the three other gentleman and they watch him over the paper. There is the constant threat of his identity being found out, and then being found guilty for a crime he did not commit.
I actually thought Guy kept his "ordinary guy" persona in the film. Although he was changed to more of a celebrity and public figure, it didn't seem as if he really got that much special treatment like the celebrities of modern day. With the murder of his wife, he was kept as a suspect and even kept under tight surveillance, which the man staying outside Ann's family home 24/7 and detectives watching his every move. Maybe a little bit of his public light magnified the whole ordeal, but it seemed like he was treated pretty much the same as an ordinary citizen.
ReplyDeleteIf anything, I felt the notion of Guy constantly being in the public eye added to the tension of the film greatly. Bruno never is far from Guy, whether it is in the shadows across the street, or at the capitol building, Bruno is a frequent, unhinged threat. I feel that the Bruno in the film is a more psychotic character than the one we spend much of the novel exploring and getting to know. I'm not saying that one is better than the other, as both are out of their minds, but the Bruno of the film is lessened as he is reduced to a common, unhinged villain with no real motivation aside from ruining Guy's life.
ReplyDeletethe changes made to characters between original works and adaptations are an interesting thing to look at, especially in the lens of economic climate in time. For example when examining different adaptations of Maltese Falcon yield very different protagonist between times of healthy and unhealthy economies. I imagine with the relatively healthy economy of the fifties an idealization of an aristocratic or athletic lifestyle could be taken into consideration among the reasons to change Guy's profession, but as we all know Hitchcock thinks through multiple layers. A back and forth retaliatory relationship between Bruno and Guy is reminiscent of a tennis match.
ReplyDeleteYes, Hitchcock really values suspense building as is evident in not only by the plot changes in his film adaptation, but also his camera work and use of sound. Everything is very deliberate as he leads viewers to certain expectations only to add to the overall shock value like when Hannay sees the professors finger. Film being so visual demands plot changes for suspense when it comes to novel adaptations.
ReplyDelete