1972: Alfred Hitchcock on music for suspense
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As he completes work on his latest film, Frenzy, Alfred Hitchcock speaks to Anthony Friese-Greene about the use of music in his movies. The director discusses the 'screaming violins' that made Psycho so memorable, the electronic sound-scapes he commissioned for The Birds and Herbert Bath's score for Hitchcock's first sound picture, Blackmail.
This unedited interview is presented as it was originally recorded, prior to editing into a longer programme. Therefore, there are changes in the sound levels and there may be some interruptions and interference from background noise.
Music features prominently in many of Hitchcock's films - notably his two versions of The Man Who Knew Too Much, in which a performance at the Albert Hall is a major plot-point. For Lifeboat, which was set almost entirely at sea in a small boat, he elected not to have a score as, he claimed, it would break credibility to have an orchestra playing when the characters were supposed to be in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The film only features music in the opening and closing moments.
Recorded 7 January 1972
