Echoes #6

Written by Daniel Kasman

Published on

From Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest (1959), matte painting by Matthew Yuricich:

North by Northwest

From Dario Argento's Suspiria (1977), cinematography by Luciano Tovoli:

Suspiria

Part of our on-going series, Echoes. 

Responses

10 responses to this post.  Join the discussion

  • Mademoiselle

    This matte painting in North by Northwest always reminds me of Michel Gondry’s films and his universe.

  • Daniel Kasman

    Interesting! Howso? I couldn’t imagine two worlds more different than Hitch’s and Gondry’s…

  • rado
    1. Because no one was allowed to film in or around the United Nations building until “The Interpreter” (2005)
    2. Argento’s cinema has always been vertigo-inducing so this is quite a fitting shot.
  • Mademoiselle

    Hitchcock’s and Gondry’s worlds are definitely very different. But when I was watching North by Northwest I was so drawn to this shot, for a few seconds I could see a glimpse of something that looked a bit artsy craftsy (in a good way!) in an Hitchcock film.
    This setting reminded me of Gondry incredible creativity in, for example, his “Usine de films amateurs” (http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xh0zrj_gondry-nous-fait-visiter-son-usine-de-films-amateurs_creation – at 02:15 you can see a very interesting device with cars that particularly reminds me of this matte painting). I’m not trying to establish any influence of Hitchcock in Gondry just saying that for a brief moment, in this matte painting, I saw a setting so different from what I had seen from Hitchcock and that this little detail reminded me of Gondry’s artsy craftsy world.

  • AmericanWaterGummo

    This reminds me of Black Narcissus

  • Daniel Kasman

    I like that comparison, AWG

  • Bobby Wise

    The Hitchcock shot definitely stands out as being very art deco. To me it also looks like a children’s play set.

  • Daniel Kasman

    …which connects with Mademoiselle’s Gondry connection.

  • Christoph Hochhäusler

    The Suspiria-shot shows the BMW headquarters (Architect: Karl Schwanzer) in Munich, Germany, where the film was made. The circular building on the upper left side is the BMW museum.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_Headquarters

  • Stephen

    What about Kubrick’s shot of the maze in The Shining? Very similar to the Hitchcock shot, I think, with the artificial look but small figures with shadows walking around.

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