Alfred Hitchcock’s regret over his most overlooked movie: “I’m sorry it wasn’t a success”
You wouldn’t imagine that the world ‘overlooked’ would be associated with Alfred Hitchcock’s career, with the director being widely cited as one of the most influential in the history of British cinema. After pioneering the thriller genre through films such as Psycho, Rear Window and Notorious, the director became known for his uniquely suspenseful yet darkly comedic style, merging both elements together to create a new spin on tense narratives.
Part of this is achieved through his voyeuristic visual style and witty character dynamics, with the camera existing as an omnipresent presence that adopts the same perspective as someone who is secretly spying on the action, involving the viewer in the action in a way that was revolutionary for the time.
However, while we associate him with unprecedented hits such as The Birds, Vertigo and North by Northwest, the director felt that there was one film of his that deserved a second chance and was most overlooked.
With over 50 films under his belt, it’s only natural that some of them would slip under the radar, with modern audiences revisiting underrated works from his filmography or those that are less celebrated compared to the likes of Psycho and Vertigo. Whether it be the slow-burn pacing of Notorious or the surprising love story at the heart of To Catch A Thief, many of Hitchcock’s films have been rediscovered and pored over by new generations of film lovers, dissecting both popular and less commercially successful projects from his collection.
However, there was one film that Hitchcock himself felt was unfairly ignored after its release, describing his love for the 1936 film Secret Agent. After three British agents are assigned to assassinate a mysterious German spy during WW1, two of them become conflicted when their duty to the mission clashes with their moral conscience.
Starring Madeleine Carroll and John Gielgud, Hitchcock infuses his classic humour with spy espionage, murder, romance and deceit, a combination that isn’t unfamiliar territory to the director. But when discussing the reception of the film, he said, “I liked The Secret Agent quite a bit. I’m sorry it wasn’t more of a success, but I believe it was unsuccessful because it was the story of a man who did not want to do something. He was sent out to kill a German spy and was given a killer to do it and he botched it the first time–killed the wrong man. You can’t root for a hero who doesn’t want to be a hero. So it’s a negative thing. I think that’s why it didn’t really succeed”.
While it might not have resonated with wider audiences at the time, there are many great stories that find their fanbase much later on, finding their feet in the future and reaching people in a way that it wasn’t able to do before. Despite the disappointment of creating something that didn’t immediately resonate with people, there is no doubt that it was later rediscovered and viewed through a new lens, giving it another chance.
