“In many of the films now being made, there is very little cinema: they are mostly what I call 'photographs of people talking.' When we tell a story in cinema we should resort to dialogue only when it's impossible to do otherwise. I always try to tell a story in the cinematic way, through a succession of shots and bits of film in between.”
― François Truffaut, quote from Hitchcock
“To reproach Hitchcock for specializing in suspense is to accuse him of being the least boring of filmmakers; it is also tantamount to blaming a lover who instead of concentrating on his own pleasure insists on sharing it with his partner.”
― François Truffaut, quote from Hitchcock
“The camera should never anticipate what’s about to follow.”
― François Truffaut, quote from Hitchcock
“Nowadays, the work of Alfred Hitchcock is admired all over the world. Young people who are just discovering his art through the current rerelease of Rear Window and Vertigo, or through North by Northwest, may assume his prestige has always been recognized, but this is far from being the case.
In the fifties and sixties, Hitchcock was at the height of his creativity and popularity. He was, of course, famous due to the publicity masterminded by producer David O. Selznick during the six or seven years of their collaboration on such films as Rebecca, Notorious, Spellbound, and The Paradine Case.
His fame had spread further throughout the world via the television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents in the mid-fifties. But American and European critics made him pay for his commercial success by reviewing his work with condescension, and by belittling each new film.
(...)
In examining his films, it was obvious that he had given more thought to the potential of his art than any of his colleagues. It occurred to me that if he would, for the first time, agree to respond seriously to a systematic questionnaire, the resulting document might modify the American critics’ approach to Hitchcock.
That is what this book is all about.”
― François Truffaut, quote from Hitchcock
“That’s because the theme of the innocent man being accused, I feel, provides the audience with a greater sense of danger. It’s easier for them to identify with him than with a guilty man on the run. I always take the audience into account.”
― François Truffaut, quote from Hitchcock
“gatherings I would sit quietly in a corner, saying nothing. I looked and observed a good deal. I’ve always been that way and still am. I was anything but expansive. I was a loner—can’t remember ever”
― François Truffaut, quote from Hitchcock
“Suspense is simply the dramatization of a film’s narrative, or if you will, the most intense presentation possible of dramatic situations.”
― François Truffaut, quote from Hitchcock
“The art of creating suspense is also the art of involving the audience, so that the viewer is actually a participant in the film.”
― François Truffaut, quote from Hitchcock
“He was being reasonable; he wasn't beating the shit out of them right now. He considered that pretty damn reasonable considering the burgeoning rage he felt.”
― Erica Stevens, quote from Refugee
“SCENE: Apollo jogs along the beachfront, shooting arrows backwards from his golden bow. He's followed by campers dressed in combat gear, jogging in military formation.
APOLLO: I don't know but I've been told!
CAMPERS: We don't know but we've been told!
APOLLO: The sun god's got a bow of gold!
CAMPERS: The sun god's got a bow of gold!
APOLLO: He's the best shot in the land!
CAMPERS: He's the best shot in the land!
APOLLO: Augh! [Apollo trips and lands on his backside] I've fallen in the sand!
CAMPERS [jogging circles around him]: Augh! He's fallen in the sand!
APOLLO: I meant to do that, so don't laugh!
CAMPERS: He meant to do that, so don't laugh!
APOLLO [tries to get up but falls back again]: Ow! I hurt my godly calf!
CAMPERS: Ow! He hurt his godly calf!
APOLLO [glowering and starting to glow]: If you want to live another day ...
CAMPERS: If we want to live another day ...
APOLLO [radiating brighter]: STOP REPEATING WHAT I SAY!
CAMPERS: STOP - um...
- Military cadence written, chanted and abruptly ended by Apollo
Best. Scene. Ever. - P. J.”
― Rick Riordan, quote from Camp Half-Blood Confidential
“On almost all issues, citizens could not identify the stands of the candidates--as intended.”
― Noam Chomsky, quote from Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance
“You will think you take generous views of her; but you will never begin to know through what a strange sea of feeling she passed before she accepted you. As she stood there in front of you the other day, she plunged into it. She said 'Why not?' to something which, a few hours earlier, had been inconceivable. She turned about on a thousand gathered prejudices and traditions as on a pivot, and looked where she had never looked hitherto.”
― Henry James, quote from The American
“Morelli opened a kitchen drawer, removed a gun, and stepped to the cellar door. “Wait,” I said, “maybe we should call the police.” “Cupcake, I am the police.”
― Janet Evanovich, quote from Fearless Fourteen
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