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Takashi Fujimura's Thesis: Hitchcock-Hawksianism
Hitchcock Skill-Type Protagonist Chart
① Mission (Actual activity)
② Occupation
③ Origin (Motivation for choosing this profession)
④ Guilt regarding the mission
● "MURDER!" (1930)
Herbert Marshall
① Detective work
② Playwright and actor
③ None
④ Yes. He feels guilty for turning away actress Noah Baring, who had sought his help, which inadvertently involved her in the case, and for convicting her as a juror.
● "SECRET AGENT" (1936)
John Gielgud
① Espionage
② Spy
③ Yes. A British novelist becomes an Air Force captain and is called in by an intelligence agency to become a spy. Out of patriotism.
④ Yes. He tries to stop the murder and has Peter Lorre do it instead of directly committing it himself. He is tormented by guilt afterward.
Madeline Carroll
① Espionage
② Spy
③ Yes. Seeking thrill and reward.
④ Yes. Feels guilty about killing an innocent man.
Peter Lorre
① Espionage
② Spy
③ No. He's called "the hairless Mexican" simply because he's hairy and not Mexican; his "origin" is unknown.
④ Absolutely none.
● "SPELLBOUND" (1945)
Ingrid Bergman
① Psychoanalysis
② Psychoanalyst
③ No.
④ No.
Gregory Peck
① Fugitive
② Psychiatrist
③ Yes. Caused his brother's accidental death as a child.
④ Yes. Regarding his brother's accidental death.
● "Notorious" (1946)
Ingrid Bergman
① Espionage
② Spy
③ Yes. Selected as a spy because she and her father had previously been close to an enemy spy.
④ No. While her father's treasonous actions seem plausible, she feels no guilt whatsoever regarding her mission, as she's completely preoccupied with Cary Grant.
Cary Grant
① Espionage
② Spy
③ None
④ Yes (Regarding Bergman's infiltration of the enemy organization and her being poisoned)
● "THE PARADINE CASE" (1947)
Gregory Peck
① Legal work
② Lawyer
③ None
④ Yes (Regarding defending the woman he loved, which led to her lover's suicide)
● "STAGE FRIGHT" (1950)
Jane Wyman
① Playing a role
② Actor
③ None
④ Yes (After deceiving Dietrich and exposing the truth, she breaks down in tears.)
● "I Confess" (1952)
Montgomery Clift
① Maintains confidentiality
② Catholic priest
③ Yes. Became a priest after being wounded in the war.
④ Yes. Fulfills confidentiality with a frown.
● "TO CATCH A THIEF" (1955)
Cary Grant
① Catches a thief
② Former thief
③ Yes
④ No
● "MANIE" (1964)
Tippi Hedren
① Steals
② Thief
③ Yes. Childhood trauma
④ Tormented by guilt after her second theft.
Sean Connery
① Performs psychoanalysis.
② Company president. Also a zoologist who studies animal instincts, particularly writing papers on female crime.
③ No.
④ Yes. Feels conflicted about psychoanalyzing his wife.
● "TORN CURTAIN" (1966)
Paul Newman
① Becomes a Western double agent and steals physics formulas
② Physicist
③ Yes. Because he can't solve the physics formulas. (There is no "origin" of him becoming a physicist).
④ Yes. Confesses the truth to his lover out of guilt.
● "TOPAZ" (1969)
Frederick Stafford
① Espionage
② Spy
③ No. It exists in individual missions.
④ Yes. He makes a face on the plane after Karen Doll's death.