Peeking at PSYCHO

November 20th, 2009 at 10:45am Will Pfeifer

Over at his Shadowplay blog, David Cairns writes up an excellent analysis/review/appreciation of Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece, PSYCHO. It’s full of astute observations and worth reading in its entirety, but here’s a small sample, where he discusses the scene where Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) and Anthony Perkins (Norman Bates) have dinner at the hotel before Marion takes that fateful shower…

Dinner in the office, with the stuffed birds. Hitchcock is in economy mode, keeping it static and letting the actors hold the scene, with repetitive shot/countershot coverage that keeps amping up, every minute or two, with an angle change that intensifies the mood. (Screenwriter Josef) Stefano wrote this as a little play, a two-hander that could almost stand alone — without the backstory we already have for Marion it would be positively Pinteresque. Anyway, by the end of it, Marion has decided to return the loot, which is a pretty tragic irony. And Norman has discovered that she signed a false name on the hotel register, which makes him think… what? That she’s not a nice girl, presumably. This makes it OK, in his mind, to peep on her (except he was already planning on doing that, it seems) and presumably explains his later line “She might have fooled me but she didn’t fool mother.”

Read the rest here.

Entry Filed under: Horror movies, Classic movies