Hitchcock, Psycho, and the International Film Market

swanstep has started a nice OT discussion("OT: The box office these days") on the state of the current movie marketplace, circa 2021...with China racking up huge grosses which, in certain ways, dwarf what the United States market can produce in dollars(because: more population.)

It was not ever thus, and I was thinking about how Our Man Alfred Hitchcock -- in his usual way -- rather took a step to the future and today's international market place way back in 1960.

In my readings on Hitchcock and Psycho, I've been intrigued to see this:

Psycho had a weird release in the United States. It played a number of East Coast markets -- NYC, Philadelphia, Boston and Chicago(at least) -- in June of 1960. But it didn't reach the WEST Coast -- Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego and, I assume Oregon and Washington State markets -- until August of 1960. Imagine -- the "secrets of Psycho" -- including the twist ending -- were kept mum for almost two months while folks on the West Coast of the US waited to get it.

Fascinating, says I. But there was no internet then, nor much promotion of the film on TV. People simply could WAIT for Psycho, they didn't have to know its secrets.

But Hitchcock wasn't done yet with his marketing schemes. As he saw the Psycho grosses grow and grow and grow -- with much of the profit going into his pocket -- he devised a "worldwide tour" with Psycho for the FALL of 1960. He was already a very big star thanks to his hit TV show and movie cameos and trailers. Both Hitchcock himself AND Psycho were things to be welcomed by fans worldwide.

Photographs indicate that -- much as with WWII -- Psycho had a "European theater" and a "Pacific theater" for Hitchcock's fall (September-October-November) tour. There are photos of Hitchcock hamming it up in Paris and Italy (he also went to London), and in Japan, Australia, and New Zealand.

There is no record of Hitchcock taking Psycho to mainland China, which , I guess, was a closed market with no screens in 1960. Maybe he took Psycho to Hong Kong, I don't know.

But the point is, Hitchcock DID take Psycho to all these other nations, he saw the opportunity to market both Psycho and himself at his peak of popularity.

And this was in an era in which -- evidently -- the ratio of American screens/grosses to international (all markets) screens/grosses was 80/20.

It would take a few decades, but THAT changed. Reversed?

I will note that I could find no record of Hitchcock doing world tours with NXNW or The Birds, let alone Marnie or Torn Curtain. He DID take Frenzy to the Cannes Film Festival(as he did The Birds) and London(where the film was shot) and Paris(where he was adored.)

But Psycho was a different deal. A bigger hit, a bigger profit center for Hitch.

And this: as the 60's rolled on, Hitchcock came to learn of the love for his work in France(well, in French cinema magazines) and he came to learn of how European films were becoming "the new thing" with their lack of censorship, art film savvy and bold themes.

So Hitchcock rather went "internationale" for a decade and three films: Torn Curtain(set in Copenhagen and East Germany), Topaz(set in Copenhagen, DC, NYC, Cuba, and Paris) , and Frenzy (set in London.) He used a lot of "foreign" actors in all three films -- including a purely British cast for Frenzy and some veterans of Bergman, Bunuel, and Truffaut films in the others.

Only for his final film -- Family Plot -- did Hitchcock return to America and solely American cast (though he impishly refused to SET the film in any known American city; it was all a fantasy mix of Los Angeles and SF locations.)

My point: the British transplant to America(and eventual American citizen) Alfred Hitchcock seemed by 1960 to have realized that there was a world of cinema beyond Hollywood and American borders. The "Psycho international tour of 1960" made him more money and the three foreign-based films from Torn Curtain through Frenzy established him as a "filmmaker of the world."

I'm sure if he had lived longer, Hitchcock would have figured out a way to make nice and make money with mainland China. A cliffhanger climax off the Great Wall, perhaps?