Alfred Hitchcock is famous for cropping up in almost all of his movies. It all started in his 1929 silent film The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog, in which Hitch could be found amongst a braying mob at the movie’s climax, but that was more due to a lack of extras than anything else, but since then rarely has a Hitchcock movie been released that Hitch can’t be found it. Usually he’s just in the background somewhere, or walking through a scene, but I’ve tried to highlight some of his more inventive appearances.
5. Rear Window: Seeing as Rear Window is shot almost entirely from the perspective of the apartment of the wheelchair-bound Jeff (James Stewart) and the cast is made predominantly from his neighbours, it would have been difficult for Hitch to have appeared as a neighbour, whilst only being in the one scene. This difficulty is evaded by having him setting the clock in the composer’s studio apartment, next door to Jeff’s. I really like this cameo because it makes absolutely no sense. Why on Earth would you need someone to come round and wind your clock for you? Clearly they couldn’t think of anything better, other than perhaps Hitchcock just walking past the alleyway for a second, so Hitch just stepped in and did this instead.
4. Family Plot: Any time Hitchcock included himself without us actually seeing him is counted as a good cameo by me. In Family Plot, which is a fun if a little messy comedy, and the last film Hitchcock completed, the director can be seen having a silhouetted argument in the office of the Registrar of Births and Deaths. This could have been a tie with his cameo in Rope, where his trademark signature outline can barely be seen on a neon sign in the distance outside the apartment setting in that film, but it’s too difficult to make out, so I give it to Hitch in Family Plot instead.
3. North By Northwest: If you were to go through all of Hitchcock’s films and note down all of his cameos (which I definitely do not recommend, seeing as many other people have already done it) I estimate that a little over half of them would involve transport of some kind. Many have him sat on a bus in the proximity of, or occasionally right next to, our protagonist (To Catch A Thief), or playing cards with his back to the camera (Shadow of a Doubt), or entering/leaving a train station carrying a cello (Strangers on a Train & The Paradine Case). My favourite of these is in North By Northwest, during a sequence that accentuates the hustle and bustle of big city life, in which Hitchcock is unable to have a travelling cameo, because he just misses the bus.
2. Dial M For Murder: These last two get the top places for pure inventiveness. Dial M For Murder is one of my favourite Hitchcock movies, and given it’s very limited locations and number of characters it was going to be tricky fitting the cameo in there somewhere. Fortunately, on the wall of our main setting is an important photo, in which Hitchcock can be seen at the front, turning to face the camera. As cameos go, this is probably the easiest one to miss when watching the film, as it’s probably the last place you’d expect Hitchcock to show up.
1. Lifeboat: Speaking of limited locations and characters, Lifeboat really takes the biscuit for that. It’s set entirely on one tiny, bobbing location – the eponymous lifeboat – adrift in the ocean after a ship is torpedoed. With just ten people on board (to begin with, and that number never increases) and none of them being Hitchcock, it seemed utterly impossible for the director to achieve his customary cameo. That is certainly the case, until one of the survivors picks up a newspaper and shows the camera a printed advertisement for Reduco, The Sensational New Obesity Slayer. Both the Before and After images are of Hitchcock, who lost a great deal of wait shortly before making this film. So, let’s think about that. In the one film that he’d have had the most difficulty inserting himself into, he managed to fit not one but two cameos. That’s why it’s my favourite.
So did I miss any off? Do you have any other faves? Let us know in the comments!