There is a distinct difference between "suspense" and "surprise, " and yet many pictures continually confuse the two. I'll explain what I mean. We are now having a very innocent little chat. Let's suppose that there is a bomb underneath this table between us. Nothing happens, and then all of a sudden, "Boom! " There is an explosion. The public is surprised, but prior to this surprise, it has seen an absolutely ordinary scene, of no special consequence. Now, let us take a suspense situation. The bomb is underneath the table and the public knows it, probably because they have seen the anarchist place it there. The public is aware the bomb is going to explode at one o'clock and there is a clock in the decor. The public can see that it is a quarter to one. In these conditions, the same innocuous conversation becomes fascinating because the public is participating in the scene. The audience is longing to warn the characters on the screen: "You shouldn't be talking about such trivial matters. There is a bomb beneath you and it is about to explode! " In the first case we have given the public fifteen seconds of surprise at the moment of the explosion. In the second we have provided them with fifteen minutes of suspense. The conclusion is that whenever possible the public must be informed. Except when the surprise is a twist, that is, when the unexpected ending is, in itself, the highlight of the story. . Alfred Hitchcock
Oh, he did look like a deity — the perfect balance of danger and charm, he was at the same time fascinating and inaccessible, distant because of his demonstrated flawlessness, and possessing such strength of character that he was dismaying and at the same time...
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Simona Panova
Listen carefully. I'd crush you like a bug for causing my wife one single moment of pain. Believe it. Fear it.
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J.D. Robb
Eve: What is it about asking you Catholic questions that gets you all jumpy? Roarke: You'd be jumpy, too, if I asked you things that make you feel the hot breath of hell at your back. Eve: You're not going to hell. Roarke: Oh, and...
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J.D. Robb
Roarke: The bodies of the three men were found floating in the Chattahoochee River.Eve: I think it'd be embarrassing to be dead in the Hoochie-Coochie River.Roarke: ChattahoocheeEve: What's the difference? Roarke: Quite a bit, I'd think.
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J.D. Robb
She, as no other ever could, reached every corner of his heart. His joy, and his salvation.
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J.D. Robb
More Quotes By Alfred Hitchcock
Puns are the highest form of literature.
The length of a film should be directly related to the endurance of the human bladder.
Revenge is sweet and not fattening.
What is drama but life with the dull bits cut out.
