Alfred Hitchcock, Part 1: Becoming the Master of Suspense — Fear, Power, and the Fight for Control

About this episode

Before he became the Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock had to start somewhere. He started in a British film industry struggling to survive — and in a fight for control that would carry him all the way to Hollywood. Continuing our October Halloween series, this is Part 1 of our three-part look at the life of Alfred Hitchcock. Over half a century, Alfred Hitchcock perfected the art of suspense, becoming one of the most celebrated filmmakers who ever lived and earning a title that still belongs to him and him alone: the Master of Suspense. But before he got there, before Rear Window, Vertigo, North by Northwest, and Psycho, he had to break free of a small, strictly ordered world, find his way into pictures, and turn his own fears into something he could use. This episode follows Hitchcock from his 1899 birth in Leytonstone to his first job in pictures, designing title cards for silent films at a London studio, where he met Alma Reville — the editor who would become his wife and lifelong collaborator. From there, he became one of Britain's leading filmmakers through The Lodger, Blackmail, The 39 Steps, and The Lady Vanishes. In 1939, David O. Selznick brought Hitchcock to Holly