'PSYCHO"- WOULD IT WORK AS A PLAY?
"Say "shower" and "movie" to anyone and the response is invariably the same: Psycho. It is a movie that has become larger than its infamous parts by outgrowing the confines of the horror genre to become a part of our cultural language" (Hunt 1). The fact is that, despite being as successful as Hitchcock was, the studio gave him a hard time for this particular film. "Hitchcock liked to call his 47th movie "my little joke. (Hunt 2). He said that what intrigued him was the fact that the heroine was killed off so early in the original novel.
Of course, there are really three key scenes: the infamous shower scene, when Norman kills the detective, and then the revelation of Norman Bates' "mother." One of the reasons the shower scene was so effective was its very carefully planned out sequence. It is said that Hitchcock literally drew up a frame by frame storyboard of what he wanted and how he wanted some close-ups of blood, of the knife, of the shower curtain, but never the horror of seeing the body during this attack. I would do the shower scene, so one only sees the shower curtain and a hand with a knifeàthem some blood spatters in the air..and a quick blackout. The detecitive's murderà.Norman stabs him, he falls back offstage, upstageàyou hear the fall, an agonizing cry or two, then two beats of silence. Norman turns to the audience and smiles. As for the reveal of the motheràNorman propels the chair, ut swivels heqads to the audience, a sheet flies off and the grinning skeletal head is revealed in a white spotlight. Again, a fast black outà.and then the scene with chair and Mother gone.
Film takes more time than theatre: Hitchcock, despite some psychologists' trying to make a name for themselves by psychoanalyzing him along with his films, was a very careful craftsman. There was absolutely not a single "ad lib" type scene shot. He carefully sketched everything o...