Suspense: "Blackmail," "Juno and the Paycock" & "The 39 Steps"

Writer Michael Regina tweeted "Writing suspense is all about how tight you can make the rope before you break it and send your audience plunging."

The metaphor of suspense reminds me of Alfred Hitchcock. Aside from the reoccurring theme of ropes in his films, Hitchcock uses suspense as a type of rope. Each scene, each shot, each character--everything he does he does on purpose. With each scene, shot, character, etc, he is building suspense. As he builds suspense, the rope becomes tighter until the climax of the film where the rope breaks and the audience is plunging. In a sense, it almost becomes meta. The audience's anxiety, anxiousness, and tension breaks. The audience falls not only mentally but they seem to fall through the film. This climaxing moment is where the audience puts the film together and ties together all of those connections.

Hitchcock makes the rope tighter in his films The 39 Steps, Juno and the Paycock, and Blackmail. 

In my own personal opinion, I think The 39 Steps is one of Hitchcock's better suspenseful films. Suspense is a key component of this film. From the very first moment of the film, the audience experiences suspense. Nobody knows who shot the gun and after everyone floods from the building. Hannay, the main character, is an ordinary man who is put into an extraordinary situation. The entire film is filled with suspenseful moments. From the secrecy of Annabella and her mysterious murder; Hannay's voyage across the country to rightfully clear his name; the multiple police chases Hannay experiences; the Professor shoots Hannay and leaves him to die; the film climaxes with Mr. Memory telling what "the 39 Steps" are and he is shot. The entire film is built upon suspenseful moments.

The image above is an important component to the film. The dangerous, powerful, villainous character, the one Annabelle warned Hannay about lifts his hand up and says, "sure it wasn't this one?" This moment in the film really draws the audience in and heightens the suspense. When I was watching this film, I was questioning, is he the ultimate villain, what is he going to do with Hannay, and if Hannay dies, how will I find out what "the 39 steps are."

Like many of the other films, Juno and the Paycock also presents elements of suspense. Juno and the Paycock is similar to The Manxman. Suspense is developed more through the plot development and through the characters then the specific scenes, motifs, objects, landmarks, etc. In this film, there is a variety of characters that build suspense. There is the Captain who is referred to the paycock because he does not have a job and uses up all of the families finances and leaves his wife Juno to work hard and keep the family together. There is Mary, a woman who jumps between men and has an affair on her fiance Jerry and there is the son Johnny who has turned a military man killed by turning him into the police. Between the characters, suspense is created. Each character makes a selfish mistake that leads to another mistake that builds up the suspense and the plot within the film. By the end of the movie, Juno leaves with Mary and the two together try to rebuild a new life after they have lost everything.

The film cover is an important component to this film. It does a nice job demonstrating the multiple characters in this film and the different personalities that they have. Each character contributes to the suspense as there is not a lot occurring throughout the film where as The 39 Steps is a non-stop thriller. 

Blackmail is also another film that is created around suspense. At the beginning of the film, Alice murders Mr. Crewe after he attempts to rape her. Alice's boyfriend, detective Frank Webber tries to protect his girlfriend from being convicted of murder. After she is discovered by a blackmailer, the audience watches the film unfold.

There area many objects that  reoccur throughout the film that help build suspense between the audience and the film. Alice's black gloves, the knife, the jester canvas, the phone booth, etc. Another way in which Hitchcock creates suspense is by using famous landmarks/buildings. When the blackmailer is running from the cops, he runs into the British Museum. This scene specifically is very suspenseful. The camera shoots back and forth between Tracy and the police officers. As they chase him, the music in the background is shaping the mood and the tone of this scene. Finally, the suspense falls when Tracy falls to his death through the skylight on the roof of the museum.

As the blog progresses, you will notice the many ways in which suspense is used and incorporated into Hitchcock's films.