Donald Spoto

A short documentary featuring Donald Spoto about the making of Alfred Hitchcock's 'Jamaica Inn'.

Director Alfred Hitchcock is revered as one of the greatest creative minds in the history of cinema. Known for his psychological thrillers, Hitchcock’s leading ladies were cool, beautiful and preferably blonde. One such actress was Tippi Hedren, an unknown fashion model given her big break when Hitchcock’s wife saw her on a TV commercial. Brought to Universal Studios, Hedren was shocked when the director, at the peak of his career, quickly cast her to star in his next feature, 1963’s The Birds. Little did Hedren know that as ambitious and terrifying as the production would be to shoot, the most daunting aspect of the film ended up coming from behind the camera.

6.3/10

Films beget films. Filmmakers influence other filmmakers constantly. But the most influential filmmaker of all time is Alfred Hitchcock.

7.2/10

A documentary on the sound in Alfred Hitchcock films.

Set to a bebop jazz beat, this documentary brings to life the extraordinary work of graphic designer Saul Bass, whose groundbreaking title sequences for Hitchcock's films transformed the art of movie titles. Through interviews with directors such as Martin Scorsese and Guillermo del Toro, this film reveals why Bass is still considered the medium's greatest artist.

7.4/10

No director-composer collaboration has been more seminal to motion pictures than the partnership of Alfred Hitchcock and Bernard Herrmann. In this documentary we examine the long and sometimes painful partnership that produced unforgettable musical scores for such films as Vertigo, Psycho, and The Man Who Knew Too Much.