Psycho
Screening on Film
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
With Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, John Gavin.
US, 1960, 35mm, black & white, 109 min.
With Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, John Gavin.
US, 1960, 35mm, black & white, 109 min.
Psycho is movie of splits: broken credits, a bifurcated narrative, slashed faces. Long after you’ve dissected the shower sequence, the remarkably supple performance by Tony Perkins enthralls. Hitchcock used his TV crew as an experiment—to save money, to anger his bosses at Paramount, and to stay close to his new home at Universal. The multiple camera setups gave Perkins much more room to breathe than Hitch’s usual storyboarded, “cutting in the camera” approach. One final split: Psycho essentially ended continuous exhibition in America. “Here’s where I came in” got replaced by “No one, but no one, will be admitted to Psycho after it has begun…”