Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Psycho [1960]

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Posted by Evans A Criswell (Member # 381) on 11-02-2001, 10:21 AM:

I showed this movie to some friends on Halloween night and it had been 3 years (since another Halloween party in 1998) that I'd seen this movie. It's definitely a classic that people enjoy seeing again on occasion. Two people at my party had never seen it before and one person had seen it many times and voted for it.

Psycho is a very interesting movie. Every time I see the movie, I notice some detail that I never noticed before. I typically do not like thriller movies, but this one is different and original, with only three violent scenes. On the first viewing, nobody knows when the violence is going to happen, and that suspense keeps people on the edge. In the 1998 remake of Psycho, as I sat through it, I was on the edge because I was expecting something new to be thrown in to catch everyone off guard that was familiar with the 1960 version, and although the 1998 version was a straight remake with no such additions, the suspense created by that expectation certainly worked.

For people who have seen the movie several times and are familiar with it, humor is often found in some of the lines. At the 1998 Halloween party, many of us laughed at some of the lines because everyone had previously seen the movie.

The cinematography was wonderful in Psycho. The DVD we watched was letterboxed to 1.85:1. preserving the original framing. The music used in the film was very effective. After seeing this movie, the music tends to get "stuck in one's head".

If anyone here has not seen this movie, I highly recommend it. Get the DVD of the 1960 version with the 1.85:1 framing.

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Evans A Criswell
Huntsville-Decatur Movie Theatre Information Site

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 11-02-2001, 12:33 PM:

The best of Hitchcock is hard to beat! Motel showers will never be the same.

Saul Bass worked closely with Hitchcock on several films, and is generally credited with the "design" of the shower scene:
http://nextdch.mty.itesm.mx/~plopezg/Kaplan/people/bass.html
http://www.saulbass.net/psychostudio/
http://www.houseofhorrors.com/psycho.htm
http://members.austarmetro.com.au/~xander/dream/artists/saulbass.html

------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Cell: 716-781-4036 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Web site: http://www.kodak.com/go/motion

Posted by Dave Bird (Member # 490) on 11-02-2001, 03:30 PM:

AMC ran a feature about it the other night. Apparently Hitchcock ABSOLUTELY REFUSED to allow ANY music during the shower scene. Of course, whoever (sorry can't recall who) wrote the score barged ahead and put one in, Hitchcock loved it (after initial anger that his direction was ignored) and the rest is history.....

Posted by Will Kutler (Member # 770) on 11-02-2001, 06:00 PM:

Many of the Psyco sets/props are at Universal Studios Holloywood, are alive and well, and are a part of the standard tour.

The shower was a free standing affair with scaffolding on all four corners with dozens of cameras adjusted to capture every angle. Watch this scene very closely and you will notice that the knife never touches the victim! i believe that the blood was choclate syrup--yum, yum ! Excellent editing.

The Bates house is a 1/3 (I believe) scaled set used for camera/tric perspective!

Speaking of horror films, I would love to see Lon Cheney's London After Midnight but no prints are known to exist of this classic silent flic of the 1920's

Posted by Joe Beres (Member # 678) on 11-02-2001, 07:03 PM:

I believe the score was written by Bernard Hermann, who collaborated with Hitchcock on several films. And as I understand it, the chocolate syrup was Hershey's, yum yum indeed.

Posted by Rachel Gilardi (Member # 4594) on 11-05-2001, 01:56 AM:

You know what? I've never seen this. It seems like I've never watched alot of the classic horror films.....like The Exorcist, Halloween, Carrie, etc...hmmmm I have some renting to do.

Posted by Will Kutler (Member # 770) on 11-05-2001, 07:48 PM:

The remixed soundtrack on the rerelease of Exorcist was awesome---very detailed! Best I've heard in a long time!

Some of the really classic horror films that I would love to see is Edison's--thats Thomas--Frankenstein and Lon Cheney Sr's London After Midnight! Unfortuneatly no prints are known to exist--all there is left are some still images and posters.

Trivia--did you know that the origonal sets for Universal's 1931 Boris Karloff Frankenstein were dug up and used for Young Frankenstein!

Biography on A & E bioed Bella Lugosi and spoke about how eastern European actors were typecast. Lugosi was buried in his cape--and he was actually a very famous and gifted Hungarian actor--word had it that his English was very limited at the time he made Dracula--that he spoke phoenaticly--his accent was authentic. Lugosi also turned down the role of the monster in Universal's 1931 Frankenstein because he had no dialogue--ego trip!

Boris Karloff er William Henry Pratt was bioed on the classic television show This Is Your Life--this episode is really something to see!

Vincent Price was another first class gentleman! Spent much time and gave much $$ to educational instutions (colleges and universities) I was very fortunate to have attended one of his lectures at the University of AZ--got to meet him too--WHAT A MENSCH! He was also a noted art collector and gourmet chef! One of my favorites was the House of Wax--which was a remake of Terror in the Wax Museum. House of Wax MUST be seen in its origonal 3D format to be fully appreciated!

I can go on some more, but I'll give someone else a chance....

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 11-12-2001, 07:37 AM:

For more on this film, see Stephen Rebello, 'Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho' (2nd ed., Marion Boyars Publishing, 1988), ISBN 0714530034. It's available to order from Amazon.

Posted by Rachel Gilardi (Member # 4594) on 11-12-2001, 02:37 PM:

Isn't everything available to buy on Amazon???

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 11-13-2001, 02:36 AM:

Not if it's out of print. That book originally came out in the early '90s - I have the first edition - and so checked that it was still available before posting those details. After all there would hardly be any point in saying 'Why don't you buy this great book but, err, sorry, you can't get it any more.'

Another potential issue can be that some things are available through amazon.com which are not available through amazon.co.uk and vice-versa. However this is more of a problem with videos than books, and (I guess) more likely to be a problem trying to order things from our side of the pond than from yours.

During the summer I ordered a DVD of the restored 'Grass' from Facets and it took six weeks to arrive, thanks to UK customs having stopped it. A friend half-jokingly speculated that this was because they thought it was a video about cannabis rather than a 1920s exploration documentary! I don't know if US customers have the same problem ordering things from Europe, but would guess that any transatlantic mailing of bulky packages is now going to be subject to biochemical warfare paranoia for the foreseeable future.

Posted by Rachel Gilardi (Member # 4594) on 11-13-2001, 03:22 AM:

Leo,
I was kidding.

It's just kind of annoying how everything you click on brings you to Amazon.com

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 11-14-2001, 08:27 AM:

Rachel said: "It's just kind of annoying how everything you click on brings you to Amazon.com"

You're so right! Click here for more information:
Click Here

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 11-15-2001, 05:10 AM:

True, though I've found Facets Video of Chigaco - www.facets.org - invaluable for rare video and DVD titles, including out of print stuff. Their catalogue is the size of two or three house bricks, prices are very reasonable, and when the British customs don't think I'm some pervert trying to import hard-core porn, the orders always arrive (from half way across the world) within a week.

Amazon can be cheaper, but I've found that they tend to take longer and are more likely to make mistakes.

Posted by Bernard Tonks (Member # 809) on 11-15-2001, 08:27 AM:

Rachel, you must see the 1960 version of Psycho, and if you do think of us old time projectionists who did changeovers in those days. One particular changeover on my first run frightened the pants off me, which was a very fast shot going down the stairs in the Bates house with that awesome shrieking music! You might see the cue dots still on the DVD or video. I wonder how many changeovers were missed in its early history, I certainly nearly did once.

Release prints were masked 1.66:1 which was Odeon cinemas adopted wide screen ratio. ABC circuit and others’ wide screens were 1.75:1.

(Error deleted)

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 11-15-2001, 10:38 AM:

Hitch used Vistavision a lot during the 50s (e.g. North by Northwest, Vertigo, The Trouble With Harry) but Psycho was made on conventional b/w 35mm on a low budget, mainly by the TV crew who did 'Alfred Hitchcock Presents'. The studio he was contracted to, Paramount, thought that the subject matter was too much of a risk to put serious money into and so it had no recognised 'stars' and a minimal production budget.

On some prints there is a 1.85 hard matte over some of the shots of Janet Leigh in the shower so that if anyone shows it in 1.66 or Academy, the picture won't be too 'revealing'...

Posted by John Walsh (Member # 168) on 11-15-2001, 12:11 PM:

Don't forget the reversed swirl of water going down the shower drain!

Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 11-15-2001, 12:55 PM:

I recall the water swirled counter-clockwise, which would be the normal tendency for the northern hemisphere:

From http://www.filmsite.org/psyc3.html :

"In a closeup, Marion outstretches her hand (toward the viewer), clutches onto the shower curtain and pulls it down from its hooks (one by one) upon herself as she collapses over the edge of the bathtub - her face pitches forward and is awkwardly pressed to the white bathroom floor in front of the toilet. She lies bleeding on the cold, naked floor, with the shower nozzle still spraying her body with water [the soundtrack resembles soft rainfall]. The camera slowly tracks the blood and water that flows and swirls together counter-clockwise down into the deep blackness of the bathtub drain - Marion's life has literally gone down the drain. The drain dissolves into a memorable closeup of Marion's dead-still, iris-contracted [a dead person's iris is not contracted but dilated], fish-like right eye with one tear drop (or drop of water). The camera pulls back up from the lifeless, staring eye (freeze-framed and frozen at the start of the pull back), spiraling in an opposite clockwise direction - signifying release from the drain. [The association of the eye within the bottomless darkness of the drain is deliberate.]"
http://www-istp.gsfc.nasa.gov/stargaze/Srotfram.htm
http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF5/523.html

Posted by Bernard Tonks (Member # 809) on 11-15-2001, 02:14 PM:

Apologies, thanks for correcting my VistaVision error Leo. Obviously my memory was playing tricks on me. Although I have seen the film on TV since 1960 I thought I remembered seeing the VisaVision trade mark. Sorry about that folks.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 01-01-2003, 10:21 PM:

Bumping this back up..........
Those that go out should try to get the DVD version of it. it contains the original trailer with Hitch himself giving the tour of the Bates Motel, and the Psycho House. The DVD is worth the price just to have this trailer. Its done by Hitch pretty much tounge in cheek style and is hilarous. Ooops...."Thaaats the Baaathroom"
Mark

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 01-11-2003, 03:28 AM:

quote:
Saul Bass worked closely with Hitchcock on several films, and is generally credited with the "design" of the shower scene:

I don't know that I believe this. Bass was an animator and created exceptional title sequences. One of the websites said Bass storyboarded the scene, which I don't doubt; although that only implies he illustrated it at Hitch's behest.

Hitchock didn't need help staging or directing; it is well-known that he painstakingly planned every shot in his movies, storyboard-style, before a camera ever rolled.