My favorite from the Master of Suspense

Rating: 9/10 (23 May 2003)

Psycho is my all time favorite of Hitchcock, although I have to admit that I still haven't yet seen all his silent films. Hitchcock had just finished his television series and obviously had learned something new about BW film making. (And this from the director of many fine BW films including Rebecca.) Too bad that Psycho was his last BW film.
Be sure to watch the "Lee flees by auto" sequence with the sound turned off at least once to aid in understanding the enormous value of Bernard Herrmann's all string film score to the tension of the film. (the same should be done in the "Stewart stawks Novak by auto" sequence in Vertigo- again to Herrmann's score.) I think a compelling case can be made that Herrmann's association with Hitch brought his films to a new level during the Rope to Marnie period.
(Spoilers to follow.)
Keep an eye out for the foreshadowing here. Wiper blades in Lee's car and the knives on the wall (the only diagonal props) at the hardware store pointed at Arbogast's head from two different angles!! I haven't seen this mentioned in any of the literature about the film, perhaps because the knives pointing effect is so obvious that it is hard to call it "foreshadowing".
And don't miss the rope pulling the car out of the swamp and "hanging" Perkins at the end while the mother's skull/teeth are double exposed for a fraction of a second.