7 War

Chapter 6 War Alfred Hitchcock was always a large man. He had once weighed as much as 365 pounds. But in the early 1940s, he went on an extreme diet. He lost over 150 pounds.

Even so, he wasn't in the best of health. He had heart damage and a hernia—a rupture in his stomach. Although he knew he should, Hitch refused to have the necessary surgery to treat it. After filming Lifeboat in 1944, Hitch and Alma traveled to England, where Hitch made two short films about the war for the British government. The government hoped the movies would give courage and support to the brave French people who were fighting to free their country from the Nazis. For Hitch, the return to England was bittersweet. Not only was his family gone, but his home city of London had been devastated by bombs.

THE BLITZ BLITZ IS THE GERMAN WORD FOR LIGHTNING. "THE BLITZ" REFERS TO GERMANY'S PLAN TO BOMB THE UNITED KINGDOM INTO SUBMISSION DURING WORLD WAR II. STARTING ON SEPTEMBER 7, 1940, SIXTEEN BRITISH CITIES WERE BOMBED FOR FIFTY-SEVEN CONSECUTIVE NIGHTS. MORE THAN ONE MILLION HOMES IN LONDON WERE DAMAGED OR DESTROYED, AND OVER FORTY THOUSAND PEOPLE WERE KILLED. MANY LONDONERS FLED THE CITY. SOME SENT THEIR CHILDREN AWAY FROM THE DANGER TO THE BRITISH COUNTRYSIDE OR EVEN TO OTHER COUNTRIES.

When they returned to the United States,

Alma applied for American citizenship for herself and Pat. Hitchcock chose to remain a British citizen. Hitch's contract with his producer, David O. Selznick, ended in 1947, and Hitch decided to produce his next film himself. His first color film, Rope, was shot entirely in long, ten-minute scenes. Most movies are made up of short shots of five to fifteen seconds each. Hitchcock produced two movies on his own, and neither were hits. Although his movies were known all over the world, his reputation as a master was slipping. But then, in April 1950, he read a novel by Patricia Highsmith: Strangers on a Train.

FROM BLACK AND WHITE TO COLOR OUT OF THE TEN MOVIES NOMINATED FOR BEST PICTURE OF THE YEAR IN 1939, ONLY THE WINNER, GONE WITH THE WIND, WAS FILMED ENTIRELY IN COLOR. THE OTHER NINE WERE ALL SHOT IN BLACK AND WHITE, EXCEPT FOR THE WIZARD OF OZ, WHICH WAS FILMED PARTLY IN BLACK AND WHITE AND PARTLY IN COLOR. ALTHOUGH THE FIRST TECHNICOLOR FEATURE FILM WAS RELEASED IN 1935, THE FILM WAS EXPENSIVE AND CUMBERSOME TO WORK WITH. IT WASN'T UNTIL TECHNICOLOR DEVELOPED ITS SUPERIOR COLOR PRINTS IN 1955 THAT DIRECTORS BEGAN TO PREFER THE NEW COLOR FILM. ALTHOUGH HITCHCOCK USED COLOR FILM FOR ROPE IN 1948, HE STILL SHOT FILMS IN BLACK AND WHITE AS LATE AS 1960.