Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980), was a famous director of the popular Thriller film genre. Hitchcock remains well-known for presenting tense relations between people and objects, managing to relate fear and terror to everyday matter.
Meeting at the fountain in Huntington Park, between Taylor and Mason St., the Alfred Hitchcock Walking Tour will take you on an exciting yet terrifying journey ending in Union Square! (Get ready for a steep downhill walk!)
Often referred to as the ‘master of suspense’, Hitchcock was a big fan of San Francisco and loved to feature its beauty in several of his films. Across Nob Hill to Union Square, the tour will take you to some of the hotels, clubs and stores featured in titles such as Vertigo and other famous productions. You will also learn more about why Hitchcock chose these landmarks to achieve frightening cinematic effect! Interested in what the city of San Francisco was like fifty years ago? Well, this walking tour is for you!
Although Hitchcock’s terrifying productions started with ‘The Lodger’ in 1925, his most famous movies were those during his time in Hollywood after leaving England. These movies included Rebecca (1940), based on a best-selling suspense novel; Suspicion (1941), about a woman who believes her husband is a murderer and Shadow of a Doubt (1943), the tale of a small-town psychopath a Good Samaritan (http://www.bookrags.com/biography/alfred-hitchcock/).
After consistently setting the standard for gripping thrillers, Hitchcock’s movies during the 1950s started to become more thematically complex, as he looked to implement new artistic elements. I Confess (1953), Rear Window (1954) and To Catch a Thief (1955) are just a handful of successful titles.
In 1960 (and perhaps the peak of his career), Hitchcock’s notoriously terrifying film Psycho changed the world’s perception of terror and suspense. Sadly, Hitchcock passed away twenty years later in 1980, however, his legacy continues to live on in the ever-changing film industry and especially, within the minds of Thriller enthusiasts.
If a Hitchcock thriller seems like your kind of movie, why not join the Hitchcock Walking Tour on Sunday, July 22 at 11:00 am. Meeting at the fountain in Huntington Park, between Taylor and Mason St., the tour will be given by Jay Sherwin and Robert Munzer.