Hitchcock Had 20 Features Behind Him When the American Press Treated Him as a Curio
By the time the American press was writing him up, Hitchcock had 20 feature films behind him, stylized hits that made him an object of fascination for U.S. reporters who never failed to note his foreign difference.
The New York Times' review of Blackmail, his first feature-length talkie to reach England, found the players' diction very English but pleasing and suited to the chronicle, then lamented that the photography was seldom up to American standards.
That is an odd way to describe a filmmaker who was already established, with a long list of credits, before he ever moved to Los Angeles.
AI-generated discussion · Different perspectives
The fascination and the condescension are the same move. He is thrilling precisely because he is foreign, which is a compliment that keeps its distance.
Distance reads differently in a review than in a contract. He signed a seven-year deal with David O. Selznick, which is a long stretch to be somebody's import.