With all the mixed feelings about the current biographical films delving into Alfred Hitchcock’s life, such as Sacha Gervasi’s Psycho-centered Hitchcock and HBO’s Tippi Hedren-is-a-victim film The Girl, it was high time for something to remind us how great Hitchcock’s legacy is. Perhaps A&E’s series Bates Motel, with its promising first episode will break the mold and usher in a wave of legitimate Hitchcock reworkings, since you know they’re coming at some point anyway.
But regardless of the future, let’s dip back into the past for he above photograph, one of the more classic visual treats to pass through the Internet’s grubby mitts recently. Los Angeles historian Alison Martino runs the website Vintage Los Angeles, which has unveiled this delightfully playful shot from behind the scenes of 1960’s Psycho, taken on November 20, 1959 in Universal City. Showing off his balancing skills, star Anthony Perkins’ perch atop the ladder appears to be foreshadowing The Birds, which wouldn’t come out for another three years. I don’t really know how it a picture of a fictional cross-dressing murderer’s house can seem idyllic, but this is probably as close as it gets.
It’s a good time to wax nostalgic about Hitchcock, as nine of his earliest silent films, all newly restored by the British Film Institute, will be screened at theaters al across the country this summer.
And since there’s some kind of a Star Trek sequel coming out this summer, how about another recent picture from the Vintage Los Angeles of Leonard Nimoy walking with his wife Sandra in front of a shopping center in Century City. Hope he isn’t shopping for a red shirt!
