Psycho!

 

 

The Shower Scene

We might as well just start with this.....get it over with.

 

I am pretty careful with what I watch, but this may be the most horrifying scene I've ever seen.  Leave it to Hitchcock to kill off his leading lady 20 minutes into the film.  But it didn't matter...she served such a great purpose.  The shower scene took 7 full days to shoot, and only lasts 45 seconds, the entire film took 30 days to shoot. Although Janet Leigh was not bothered by the filming of the famous shower scene, seeing it on film profoundly moved her. She later remarked that it made her realize how vulnerable a woman was in a shower. To the end of her life, she always took baths. 

After the film's release Alfred Hitchcock received an angry letter from the father of a girl who refused to have a bath after seeing Diabolique (1955) and now refused to shower after seeing this film. Hitchcock sent a note back simply saying, "Send her to the dry cleaners." 

No Spoilers

Every theater that showed the film had a cardboard cut-out installed in the lobby of Alfred Hitchcock pointing to his wristwatch with a note from the director saying "The manager of this theatre has been instructed at the risk of his life, not to admit to the theatre any persons after the picture starts. Any spurious attempts to enter by side doors, fire escapes or ventilating shafts will be met by force. The entire objective of this extraordinary policy, of course, is to help you enjoy PSYCHO more. -Alfred Hitchcock"

Also, the movie ended similarly to a pulp fiction novel that Hitchcock promptly had bought up in every bookstore he could find it in, so as to not give away the ending.

Black and White

 

Films at this time were filmed in color.  But obviously Psycho was not.  Hitchcock chose to film it in black and white for a couple reasons.  One, in the shower scene, he wanted the blood to be just right going down the drain, so he used Bosco chocolate syrup instead of anything red.  It was just the right consistency.  And two, because he thought it would be more horrifying in black and white because that's still what the public was seeing newsreels in.  He didn't want the ooohs and aaaahs of the fact taht it was in color to distract from the viewer.  He was very careful about the viewing of this film, as stated above. 

Until next time.....