where is hitchcock
Where was he in the movie?
shareHe missed some of the early films.
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MovieChat Forums > Rich and Strange (1932) Discussion > where is hitchcock
Hitchcock must have had a 'break' from his cameo appearances (tough job, 'acting'!) in the early 30's, as he did not again appear in one of his films until The 39 Steps (1935).
shareThe cameo began in the early films as nothing more than a response to the low budgets - there wasn't enough money for as many extras as required, so Hitch and other members of the crew would stand in. For example the director appears twice in The Lodger: once sitting at a desk with his back to the camera; later he is in the crowd pursuing Novello and his producer appears, I think, in the 1934 Man Who Knew Too Much.
He therefore didn't appear in every one of the earlier movies. Later on, as his profile in Britain increased, he used it as a self-publicising device and kept it on in the later films because audiences were actively looking for him - that's why the later the film, the earlier the cameo tends to be.
I haven't spotted him in this film and haven't read a description of a cameo in Rich and Strange anywhere, but that doesn't mean there isn't one - some of the earlier ones are quite difficult to spot.
Baloney. Hitchcock was well financed and never needed to play an extra. His appearances were totally for fun.
SFGreg
Apparently, Hitchcock did film a cameo for this, near the end, as the couple are about to return home, the meet Hitch onboard and he nods to them. This is in reference to the novel, in which the narrator passes by the couple at the end of the story. Hitchcock was battling with his producer on this one, and several scenes were cut, including the cameo. It is not sure if the cameo was cut at the producer's insistence or if Hitchcock wanted to cut it, but in any case, he is not in this film.
shareBaloney. Hitchcock was well financed and never needed to play an extra. His appearances were totally for fun.
Bollocks. In his early days he was just another young director, and as has been explained, some of his first films were very low budget.
By this point in Hitchcock's career, he was the most well-known director in Great Britain. Rich and Strange was not a low-budget film, and Hitchcock had filmed a cameo, one that is based on a scene in the original novel by Dale Collins.
Hitchcock described the scene to Peter Bogdanovich in an interview:
Their cargo ship is wrecked and abandoned in the South China Sea, and they are rescued by some looters on a Chinese junk. Then, after it's all over, they meet me in the lounge. This is my most devastating appearance in a picture. They tell their story and I say, 'No, I don't think it will make a movie.' And it didn't.
Hitchcock was feuding with Walter Mycroft and John Maxwell of British International Pictures, and he was forced to cut several scenes from the film. The cameo was never included in the final cut of the film. Source: Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light by Patrick McGilligan. share
At the end when Fred turns on the wireless, it sounds like Hitch is the radio announcer.
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