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36 | Kultura » Culture The shower scene in Psycho. e biplane chase inNorth by Northwest. e gas station attack in eBirds. ese are some of themostmemorable and terrifying scenes incinematichistory—and they came fromthemindof oneman: Alfred Hitchcock. e Master of Suspense, who went by the nickname “Hitch”, is also one of the most recognisable Hollywood icons, and his life was as fascinating as his films. Here are some things you might not have known about this legendary filmmaker. Frightenedof hisownfilms “I’m frightened of my own movies. I never go to see them. I don’t knowhowpeoplecanbear towatchmymovies,” he once said in a interview. “There’s nothing more stupid than logic,” was Hitchcock’s famous reply when asked about his illogical fear of his own films. Afraidof eggs Omele�esweredecidedly not his favouritebreakfast op�on. “I’m frightened of eggs, worse than frightened, they revoltme,” he once said in an interview. “That white round thingwithout any holes …Have you ever seen anything more revol�ng than an egg yolk breaking and spilling its yellow liquid? Blood is jolly, red. But egg yolk is yellow, revol�ng. I’ve never tasted it.” He learned fromamaster In 1924, Hitchcock and his wife Alma were sent to Germany to work on two Anglo-German films. There he was taken under thewing of expressionist filmmaker F.W. Murnau,whocreated thechillingDraculaadapta�onNosferatu, andwas then shoo�ng a silent filmcalled The Last Laugh. “From Murnau,” Hitchcock later said, “I learned how to tell a story without words.” Poppinguponscreenall the time Themost consistent image inHitchcock’s films seems to have been Hitchcock himself. The filmmaker perfected the art of the cameo, making blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearances in 39 of his own films. His trickier appearances include the single-loca�on film Lifeboat, where he appears in a weight-loss adver�sement in a newspaper read by one of the film’s characters. The only film he actually speaks in is 1956’s The Wrong Man, where his tra1 3 . 8 . 1 899 . Happy birthday, Mr Hitchcock As we celebrate the 121st anniversary of the legendary director’s birth, we remember that Alfred Hitchcock was the Master of Suspense, a pioneer of what we now call horror cinema di�onal cameo is replaced by a silhoue�ed narra�on in the introduc�on. Hello,MacGuffin Even if you don’t know it by name, you knowwhat it is. TheMacGuffin is the so-calledmo�va�ngelement that drives a film’s plot forward. Think: the eponymous statue in TheMaltese Falcon, or the briefcase in Pulp Fic�on, or the plane engine plans in Hitch’s own The 39 Steps. Neverwonanoscar Hitchcock is in thebi�ersweet class of venerablefilmmakers likeStanleyKubrick, OrsonWelles, CharlieChaplin, Ingmar Bergman and others who never received their industry’s highest honour as Best Director. Hitchcock did receiveOscarnomina�ons fordirec�ngRebecca (whichtook home Best Picture), Lifeboat, Spellbound, Rear Window and Psycho, but he personally went home empty-handed every �me. When the Academy finally honoured him with the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 1967, his long-�me-comingspeechwasonlyfivewords long: “Thank you very much indeed.” Notorious practical joker Hitchcockhadapenchant for pullingabsurdando�en cruel pranks on his film sets and in his private life. He delighted in placing whoopee cushions under his co-workers’ chairs, and once held a dinner party where all the courses had been inexplicably dyed blue with food colouring. In some cases, Hitchcock even used his pranks as part of the crea�ve process. During the filming of The 39 Steps, he handcuffed the two leads together for a scene and then pretended to have lost the key. Blondesdidn’t have fun AlfredHitchcocko�encastblondeactresses inhisfilms. According to The Guardian, his reasonwas that “Blondes make thebest vic�ms. They’re like virgin snowthat shows up the bloody footprints.” Hičkok kaže da nikada nije video ništa strašnije od jaja Hitchcock says he has never seen anything scarier than eggs

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