comparison and contrast paper
Comparison and Contrast
Recently while watching two old film classics, Vertigo and Notorious, I found myself thinking of other movies directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Most of his movies have many things in common, while remaining completely independent of each other. These two films have different plots, actors, and most obvious one is filmed in color the other black and white. Which leads me to believe that Alfred Hitchcock really knew what he was about; as a result his films all a have a distinctive theme about them. Both films keep you in a state of anticipation as the stories unfold and reveal the twist and turns that Alfred Hitchcock was famous for. Notorious was written in 1946 a year after World War II came to an end and the red-scare was sweeping the nation, yet Vertigo was written twelve years later in a completely different climate. Meaning the McCarthy era had come to an end and the United States was a different country then. Taking that into consideration it’s interesting the parallelisms these two films have.
Each movie has a theme or a genre we could place them in, Notorious is a spy thriller similar to a James Bond film, and Vertigo is a mystery thriller with a twist like The Sixth Sense. In Vertigo you don’t see what’s coming in the end, you are taken by surprise and the same can be said for Notorious. There isn’t much dialogue in either film; instead the music and camera angles guide the movies to create the plot. Vertigo is shot in color and not just plain colors, the colors are enhanced to be bold, and to stand out so that you notice them and the people surrounded by them. Alfred Hitchcock uses color to make a point, to show fear, tension, anxiety and love. In this movie the color of Madeline’s green dress in the restaurant scene stands out against the red of the walls. It is what I noticed first. In Notorious he uses black and white; the shadows create a sinister effect surrounding the theme of the movie, which is communism, good guy/bad guy.
Recently while watching two old film classics, Vertigo and Notorious, I found myself thinking of other movies directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Most of his movies have many things in common, while remaining completely independent of each other. These two films have different plots, actors, and most obvious one is filmed in color the other black and white. Which leads me to believe that Alfred Hitchcock really knew what he was about; as a result his films all a have a distinctive theme about them. Both films keep you in a state of anticipation as the stories unfold and reveal the twist and turns that Alfred Hitchcock was famous for. Notorious was written in 1946 a year after World War II came to an end and the red-scare was sweeping the nation, yet Vertigo was written twelve years later in a completely different climate. Meaning the McCarthy era had come to an end and the United States was a different country then. Taking that into consideration it’s interesting the parallelisms these two films have.
Each movie has a theme or a genre we could place them in, Notorious is a spy thriller similar to a James Bond film, and Vertigo is a mystery thriller with a twist like The Sixth Sense. In Vertigo you don’t see what’s coming in the end, you are taken by surprise and the same can be said for Notorious. There isn’t much dialogue in either film; instead the music and camera angles guide the movies to create the plot. Vertigo is shot in color and not just plain colors, the colors are enhanced to be bold, and to stand out so that you notice them and the people surrounded by them. Alfred Hitchcock uses color to make a point, to show fear, tension, anxiety and love. In this movie the color of Madeline’s green dress in the restaurant scene stands out against the red of the walls. It is what I noticed first. In Notorious he uses black and white; the shadows create a sinister effect surrounding the theme of the movie, which is communism, good guy/bad guy.