Hitchcock: stairs & staircases /
'Hitchcockian levels' - page 2

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Foreign Correspondent (1940): Left: Assassination on the steps in the rain. Right: Johnny Jones hiding out in a windmill. He will go up the steps to evade the killers' arrival on the main level.

Strangers on a Train (1951): Left: From Guy's point of view, Bruno stalking him on the steps of the Jefferson Memorial. Right: Guy's nighttime visit to the upper level of Bruno's house; he is menaced by the Great Dane on the way up and by Bruno on the way down.

I Confess (1953): Top: Hitchcock's cameo at the beginning of the movie. Middle left: Ruth's descent to meet Michael in her romantic flashback. Middle right: Father Michael descends the rectory steps to begin his walk through the city. Bottom: Mocked by the crowd, Father Michael descends the staircase after the trial.

Rear Window (1954): Left: The sculptress gives unwanted gardening advice to Thorwald; steps of various sorts serve to discourage community by dividing up the courtyard into discrete areas. Right: Lisa climbs the fire escape to Thorwald's upper-level apartment as Jeff watches from his upper-level apartment.

Vertigo (1958): Left: Gavin Elster tempts Scotty from a raised conference room. Right: The most famous Hitchcock staircase: the bell tower as Scotty descends after Madeleine's fall to her death.

North by Northwest (1959): Left: Roger Thornhill scales the wall of Vandamm's modernistic Rapid City house, where even the main floor is on an upper level. Right: The housekeeper's point of view as Roger tries to sneak down the stairs; she orders him at gunpoint to sit down on the stairs.

Psycho (1960): Left: Detective Arbogast makes his fateful climb to Mother Bates's upstairs domain. Right: As Norman climbs upstairs, Lila can't resist descending the cellar steps.

The Birds (1963): The sinister staircase. Left: Melanie's point of view as she ascends to check out a mysterious noise. Right: after the bird attack.
Frenzy (1972): All three sex murders in Frenzy occur upstairs. Top: The stairs to Brenda Blaney's office. Middle: Rusk escorts Babs upstairs to his apartment. Bottom: Richard Blaney climbing Rusk's stairs with murderous intent. The shot of his hand on the bannister echoes a shot that Hitchcock rejected for Psycho because "it shows a murderer going up the stairs."