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View of the Psycho House: The Good, the Not so Good, and the Ugly

posted 7 years ago by ecarle (14979)
7 replies | jump to latest

My name's popping up too much on the OPs, and some of the OPs are OT(though I've gotten Hitchcock or Psycho into all of those) but I feel I owe the Board a Psycho rumination.

Here goes:

I'm on record as having my favorite shot in Psycho as being the one of Arbogast walking up the hill to the house, before he enters and walks up the stairs to his doom.

I've studied the shot a time or two, and noticed certain things about it that make it different than other shots in the film of the house:

Its one of the few shots that keeps the side of the motel IN the shot, and to show more of the motel, it shows LESS of the house: we can't see the entire house and its roof, rather we see most of the house "from under the roof down" -- with an emphasis on Mother's brightly lit window.

The shot is, I assume "day for night"(a gray filter in the lens) but it seems to be more than that, there is a certain shimmering detail to it that doesn't occur elsewhere in the movie on shots of the house.

And there is the issue of "flavor" and "content": the house is, at once, fantastic and sinister in the Dracula's Castle tradition AND yet "real" (the house of a California family) and contrasted with the hip, tough man in a business suit and hat climbing the hill to the house. It is as if the central selling point of Psycho -- a historic Gothic horror atmosphere AND a contemporary crime thriller atmosphere -- mix and match perfectly here.

But there are other issues with the POV shots of the house.

One comes shortly before Arbogast walks up the hill into this greatest shot of them all:

Moments earlier, Arbogast walks to the edge of the porch and takes his "first view" of the house at night and it is ANOTHER great shot of the house -- full view, roof to bottom, crystal clear sky behind and above the house; the gleam of moonlight from an unseen moon.

Except, as the imdb "gaffes" page points out, the house goes from having a clear gray sky behind it(when Arbogast first looks at it) to having some clouds in the sky behind it(seconds later when, from a new angle, Arbogast climbs the stone steps on the hill.)

Thus we get one of many examples of how the shots of the house vary from scene to scene, and from shot to SHOT.

I suppose we can excuse the seconds-apart difference in the sky as Arbogast climbs the stone steps: the camera has moved, our viewpoint has changed, perhaps we weren't where the clouds were visible seconds earlier. But perhaps not. Perhaps Hitchcock just had to deal with the fact that his many POV shots of the house were NEVER going to match up, shot to shot, location to location.

But of course, as Psycho progresses we are meant to see the house under different weather conditions and times:

FIRST: In the driving rain as Marion first sees the house: no special effects, no matte work -- just that big solid American Gothic house as seen through the pouring rain, with its wooden side slick like reptilian skin in the rain.

SECOND: When Marion hears Mother raging from the window of Cabin One, the rain has ended and the sky is filled with roiling clouds , fast moving left to right.

THIRD: When Norman returns from the house with the food on the tray, again with the clouds moving left to right, but from a closer view.

FOURTH: When Norman runs down the hill after Marion's murder...again with the roiling clouds.

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And that's the last time we see the house for quite some time, until Arbogast arrives on Saturday a week later and the sky is clear, not only for the shots listed above, but for the FIRST time he sees the house and sees Mother in the window.

Indeed, the best shots of the old house in Psycho are ALL in the Arbogast sequence:

The first time Arbogast sees Mother in the window(seated).

The next time Arbogast sees the house (window lit, Mother's not in it) and he decides to climb the stone steps.

And the great shot of Arbogast climbing the hill.

But wait...another shot is coming. Meant to be later the same night as Arbogast's murder, after Norman has handled the call from Sheriff Chambers, Norman climbs the hill to the house and:

We are back to the "roiling clouds left to right" matte shot and-- for the first time in the movie, it is really TERRIBLE.

I wonder if -- with post production near its end on Psycho -- somebody got a little lazy with the matte work.

Recall: the fact that there are matte clouds roiling and moving fast left to right was SAUL BASS' doing -- on request of Hitchcock to "do something with the house to make it more sinister." Bass experimented with model houses and background but that didn't work -- the matte photography of roiling, rolling clouds "hit the spot for mood."

[–] ecarle (14979) 7 years ago

And I have to say, those moving clouds DO help the atmosphere of the film greatly, and, in the
Marion sequence, DO connotate a night in which a driving rainstorm gives way to floating after-clouds and the drip-drip-drip of rainwater off the roof and edges of the motel.. but when the roiling, rolling clouds suddenly reappear for Norman's journey up to the house on what had seemed a clear night...they are jarring.

Perhaps there is a symbolism to the clouds when Norman goes up from the Chambers call to "go get Mother."

The sky had been crystalline and clear for all of Arbogast's two visits...right up to his murder.

Now that it is later than same night...the roiling, rolling clouds are BACK. Norman is going to visit Mother in all of HER roiling fury and the house and sky seem to be reflecting her psycho madness.

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When last the house is seen, it is Sunday -- late morning or early afternoon -- and there is not a cloud in the sky(Despite Sam saying to Norman, "I don't like the look of that sky."). No matte photography for the background sky. For the first time in the movie, the house is fully exposed and fully in view in the glaring, beached sunlight -- ready to expose its secrets.

The house is never seen during this sequence from the angle it got all through the first 2/3 of the film -- up the hill to our left from the motel. Rather we see the house with the motel in front of it, from high above both.

[–] ecarle (14979) 7 years ago

And then, when Lila climbs the hill to the house, for the first time, we see the house "straight on," advancing towards it as the front slowly fills up the screen even as we can't see the two sides of the house. As Lila moves towards the house in a classic "Hitchcock alternating moving camera POV shot" , I will say that he seems to have backlit the house for shadow(maybe using natural sunlight on the backlot) and to have slightered filtered the lens. Because otherwise, the famous Psycho house is in danger of looking more like a backlot fake front than a sinister home.

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Interestingly, about the final ten minutes of Psycho never show the house. We're off to the County Jail, the DA's office, the shrinks' speech and Norman's cell scene...and then back to the swamp for the final chilling moments of the film.

But the house -- having served its great role -- is done. No final shot of the house for Psycho....

PS. The buried lede here: as great as the house looks in the shots during the Arbogast sequence, the matte work is really bad in the shot of Norman going up after the Chambers' call. This tracks with other Hitchcock movies in which "perfect" great shots seem to be matched by rather fumbled ones.

Example: in North by Northwest, at the Rushmore house of James Mason, there is a GREAT shot of Cary Grant sitting in the living room of the house with the maid holding a gun on him. Multiple reflections in the window create a rich "3-D " effect and the room is polished an gleaming in its mix of wood, glass and steel.

And just when one wants to yell out "what a great shot!" -- the NEXT shot shows Eva Marie Saint, Mason and the gang walking away from the Rushmore house and it is clearly a -- painting. A matte painting of some weakness -- with a little painting of a car that looks like its out of "Roger Rabbit."

[–] ecarle (14979) 7 years ago

So: the Rushmore house shots in NXNW. The great-to-poor matte shots of the sky behind the house in Psycho.
Hitchcock seems to have had some problems with quality control. Or with maintaining perfection.

[–] swanstep (2715) 7 years ago

Except, as the imdb "gaffes" page points out, the house goes from having a clear gray sky behind it(when Arbogast first looks at it) to having some clouds in the sky behind it(seconds later when, from a new angle, Arbogast climbs the stone steps on the hill.)

Thus we get one of many examples of how the shots of the house vary from scene to scene, and from shot to SHOT.

I suppose we can excuse the seconds-apart difference in the sky as Arbogast climbs the stone steps: the camera has moved, our viewpoint has changed, perhaps we weren't where the clouds were visible seconds earlier.

I'm with the IMDb 'gaffes' page on this one - only I'd call it a minor continuity error rather than a gaffe. We get a look at that whole side of the sky in previous shots just seconds before (e.g. as Arbogast drives up and Norman high-tails it) and there's not a cloud in it... hence the slight cloudiness seconds later is impossible.

As for the allegedly terrible post-Chambers phone-call shot of the house... it strikes me as of a piece with all the shots of the house as Marion waits for Norman to come back with supper and then later post-murder. I find them all about equally convincing. They're all quite softly focussed, perhaps reflecting that in all these cases we're interested in figures about to enter the frame or listening to Mother and Norman off-screen arguing and the house is temporarily just background. When Marion or Arbogast or Lila are in information acquisition mode about the house, however, the focus deepens to give us the house pin-sharp.

[–] ecarle (14979) 7 years ago

I suppose we can excuse the seconds-apart difference in the sky as Arbogast climbs the stone steps: the camera has moved, our viewpoint has changed, perhaps we weren't where the clouds were visible seconds earlier.

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I'm with the IMDb 'gaffes' page on this one - only I'd call it a minor continuity error rather than a gaffe. We get a look at that whole side of the sky in previous shots just seconds before (e.g. as Arbogast drives up and Norman high-tails it) and there's not a cloud in it... hence the slight cloudiness seconds later is impossible.

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Well, yeah...I think I have to agree. What's cool is that BOTH shots of the house are...really cool. As is the early one when Arbogast was with Norman and saw Mother (not moving) in the window. THAT shot has been used I think for DVD menus and the like.

And the shot of Arbogast climbing the hill to the house was "freezed-framed" like a painting at the Modern Museum of Art during the Hitchcock Centennial of 1999. On a TV screen --you pushed a button and the "Arbogast murder sequence" played to the killing end...and then the screen clicked back to Arbo climbing the hill.

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[–] ecarle (14979) 7 years ago

As for the allegedly terrible post-Chambers phone-call shot of the house...

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Allegedly? ALLEGEDLY? ....hah...just kidding.

I dunno. I was watching some of Psycho the other night (on Encore, I think) and that shot of the roiling/rolling clouds(I think they are BOTH)...popped up and stimulated my OP.

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it strikes me as of a piece with all the shots of the house as Marion waits for Norman to come back with supper and then later post-murder. I find them all about equally convincing.

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Interesting. I must say that credit must be given to Hitchcock for deciding that "something" was necessary to make the house more sinister and that Saul Bass came up with this idea of the rolling/roiling clouds. A lesser director likely would have left all the shots in of the house with a clear sky. (I'd say that it is another continuity error that there are rolling/roiling clouds when Norman goes up to Mother not too long after all the clear sky shots on "Arbogast's final night" -- but a couple of hours have passed(or "three" as Lila noted) and maybe clouds could roll in.

And these shots were in black and white. We've gotten all sorts of "in color" variations with the rolling/roiling clouds -- in the Psycho sequels, in the Van Sant...did they do it on Bates Motel at anytime?

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They're all quite softly focussed, perhaps reflecting that in all these cases we're interested in figures about to enter the frame or listening to Mother and Norman off-screen arguing and the house is temporarily just background. When Marion or Arbogast or Lila are in information acquisition mode about the house, however, the focus deepens to give us the house pin-sharp

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An interesting analysis. Also, I suppose a little "blur" was necessary to get the clouds to look good -- they were "process" after all.

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[–] ecarle (14979) 7 years ago

I suppose this is a good place to drag out the old quote from the art director of "Batman"(1989): "The greatest special effect in the history of movies is...the old house in Psycho."