a number of years ago, while working on VERTIGO, i found myself stumped by the object in H's hand in his cameo, and raised this question on some cinema list-servs, almost certainly including this one . . . in the end no satisfactory answer emerged . . . another example, perhaps, of mr. H continuing to keep us in suspense long after his final "finis"
mike
-----Original Message-----
From: Film and TV Studies Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Norman Holland
Sent: Tuesday, November 02, 2010 10:50 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [SCREEN-L] Negative criticism on Alfred Hitchcock as an auteur
Hitchcock's cameo in *Vertigo*.
I called it a trumpet case, because I thought that's what it looked like.
BTW the revised edition of the Truffaut-Hitchcock book (p. 158n) has a list
of many of his cameos, but no details.
I agree that interpretation hinges on such details, Eleni. Is there back-up
forthe ear trumpet reading? It seems improbable given that there were
electronic hearing aids at the time the picture was made. But my only
justification for the trumpet case is that it looked that way to me.
trumpet is a "horn."
--With warm regards,
Norm
Norman Holland
On Mon, Nov 1, 2010 at 4:13 PM, Eleni P. <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> "marking the move from one world to another"--that is crucial to one way of
> interpreting Vertigo/*D'entre les morts*. Hitchcock becomes the Charon
> letting Scottie hang around a bit in the middle of the stream so to speak.
>
> This is a story about a real ghost: Scottie, imagining his lost life.
>
>
> Eleni
>
> On Sun, Oct 31, 2010 at 7:14 PM, William Lingle <[log in to unmask]
> >wrote:
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> >
> > "He walks across the film frame, carrying a trumpet case, as Scottie is
> > about to go upstairs to
> > Elster's office in the shipyard. I read Hitchcock as marking the move
> from
> > one world to another. He is a Pied Piper, leading Scottie away from the
> > realistic world, where, as "hard-headed Scot," he has just been
> > tryingrationally to overcome his acrophobia. "
> >
> > But I believe that is an ear trumpet case. It's not a trumpet case. A
> > small point, perhaps, but on such points does interpretation hinge.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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