Alfred Hitchcock is known worldwide as the Master of Suspense, and it is probably an unanimity that this title should not belong to anybody else. With an astonishing filmography of more than fifty movies – from primordial silent black and white to colored ones –, he has become a reference on both technique and narrative. His films never get old and are not only meticulously shot, but also filled with thriller, humour and fascinating characters.

The effectiveness of suspense relies on uncountable elements, however one figure is the basis upon which this kind of plot stands: the villain. François Truffaut said that “the better the villain, the better the picture”, and a careful analysis of Hitchcock’s movies can confirm this statement. If the character of the villain is plain, the audience first reaction will be to repel him. This can work very well in some horror movies, but fails to arouse the psychological tension Hitchcock was looking for.

He believed that his antagonists should be attractive and complex in order to awaken curiosity. The more flaws and insecurities a villain has, more the spectator will recognize his humanity and, as humans themselves, be aware of how malevolent he can be. This will incite vulnerability in the viewer, who usually has ambiguous impressions of these villains.

Almost all villains in Hitchcock’s pictures, may they be murderers, maniacs or involved in some megalomaniac international transaction, have this common characteristic: complexity. Usually they are even deeper than the main character, having their traumas and lives more thoroughly explored.

Throughout years of analysis, scholars have even asked themselves whether some of the villains could not be considered the main characters, what would disqualify them as antagonists. One thing, however, is unquestionable: suspense movies depend on the strength of villainous elements, and Alfred Hitchcock mastered on creating them.

10. Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr) from Rear Window (1954)

Rear Window is, above all, a film about voyeurism and human curiosity. L.B Jefferies is a news photographer confined to a wheelchair by a broken leg whose new hobby is to obsessively gaze at his neighbour’s behaviors through his back window. His inability to move also limits the viewer, who is restricted to his point of view, once all the shots are from inside his apartment.

This interesting choice discomforts and involves the audience: even though it is wrong to peep other people’s private lives, it is exactly what enables one to forget his own troubles – and exactly what one is looking for when, for example, watching a movie.

Jeff observes patterns in his neighbor’s lives. At some point, however, unusual things succeed at one of the apartments. The photographer starts to suspect that its owner, Thorwald, murdered his wife. At first, his idea seems absurd, but as the viewer is trapped to Jeff’s perspective, he is easily convinced. As the story proceeds, Jeff and his fiancée get obsessed with finding out the truth, what will make them submit themselves to very dangerous situations.

Lars Thorwald is an unusual antagonist, because the viewer barely knows him. All he has is Jeff’s distant point of view, what gives place to a lot of imagination and uncertainty. There is no real evidence he is a murderer whatsoever until the very ending of the movie, when he makes his first close appearance and proves himself to be a rather villainous man.

9. Phillip Vandamm (James Mason) from North By Northwest (1959)

Phillip Vandamm is the man behind Roger Thornhill’s adventures in the acclaimed North by Northwest. The movie has a common plot for Alfred Hitchcock’s fans: an innocent man is wrongly accused and pursued. With a rather confusing screenplay, it still manages to have the viewer’s attention from beginning to end with its humorous situations, beautiful shots and interesting characters.

At a business meeting in a hotel, Thornhill is kidnapped by two men and taken to Vandamm, a spy who trades secrets with the Soviets during Cold War. He was, however, mistaken with Mr. George Kaplan – a non-existing agent the FBI has created in order to draw Vandamm’s attention while they spy on him.

Vandamm does not believe Thornhill and tries to kill him by getting him drunk and forcing him to drive off a cliff. He manages to survive, but he is sued for drunk driving and nobody believes in his absurd story. He then decides to go after the truth himself.

Murder, love, farce and sexuality have a strong place in this Hitchcock masterpiece, in which turn of events happen all the time and the spectator feels he has nobody left to trust. As for Vandamm, he is a very charming man who does not seem to regret any of his evil acts, may it be murder or treason. He is also very well-off and influential, given the loyalty of those who work for him.

This is one of the few Hitchcock films on which there is a clear distinction between good and evil, but he still manages to make the characters as little shallow as possible: Thornhill will do whatever it takes to find out the truth; and the villainous Vandamm, as any human being, has his Achilles heel: his affection for his mistress, the stunning Eve Kendall (with whom Thornhill happens to fall in love as well). Her presence is crucial for the unrolling of events which will lead to a fatal scene at Mount Rushmore.

8. Brandon Shaw (John Dall) from Rope (1948)

7. John Ballantine (Gregory Pack) from Spellbound (1945)

6. Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson) from Rebecca (1940)

Judith Anderson, although British, was the first to perform a Hitchcock villain in the United States. Rebecca is about the marriage of a young simple woman and a rich widower, Maxim de Winter, the owner of a beautiful mansion called Manderlay. It is not easy for her, however, to live in the shadow of Maxim’s ex-wife, Rebecca, who died very mysteriously and for whom the housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers, keeps her loyalty and love.

The way the maid talks about Rebecca and takes care of her old room and things drives new Mrs. Winter insane, and she starts to doubt her own ability to run Manderlay and also the love of her husband. Mrs. Danvers’ obsession is so strong that it helps the main character and the viewer to create a phantom of the perfect Rebecca which seems to be hiding behind each door and each element of the mansion. The ever-present housekeeper is the personification of this ghost.

The characters are therefore built in order to guarantee the villainous elements’ effectiveness: Mrs Winter does not belong at the mansion, Maxim acts very mysteriously and Mrs. Danvers’ creepiness invades the atmosphere. These elements cooperate to exalt Mrs. Winter’s own insecurities and leave Rebecca alive inside her, making Manderlay a rather scary place. At the end, Maxim’s secret will be revealed and Mrs. Danvers will prove her capacity of doing anything in order to preserve the memory of her former mistress.

The psychological ingredients Hitchcock worked with in Rebecca for the first time influenced him to add this perspective, which became a mark of his work, to all his following films.

5. Bob Rusk (Barry Foster) from Frenzy (1972)

4. Alexander Sebastian (Claude Rains) from Notorious (1946)

3. Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) from Psycho (1960)

2. Uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotten) from Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

Uncle Charlie might be the most charming villain of all times, and his beautiful niece, who was named after him, certainly agrees. They seem to have some kind of strong connection which, at first, makes her behave very naively around him, but her sagacity will soon allow her to find out his real personality and therefore place her in a very dangerous situation.

Uncle Charlie is already presented to the viewer as a suspicious man: in the opening scene, two investigators come looking for him at a hotel he is staying at and he – clearly preoccupied – runs away. He then decides to go visit his older sister’s house in Santa Rosa, California, where she lives with her husband and three kids, including young Charlie.

His arrival brings to the typical american family excitement and happiness, and his kindness and handsomeness are glorified with the expensive gifts he brings to them and the exciting stories he tells about the world. In less than fifteen minutes the viewer is caught by his fascinating personality and starts to admire him. It doesn’t take long, however, until his weird behaviors appear.

At the dinner table, young Charlie whistles the waltz The Merry Widow, and he doesn’t seem pleased to hear it. Then he hides a piece of the newspaper and his niece, out of curiosity and suspicion, goes to the library to find out that it was on the search of The Merry Widow murderer, and that her beloved uncle was one of the two main suspects. Their relationship changes when he discovers she knows his secret and starts to act very violently towards her.

Uncle Charlie is a very strong character because he is a murderer with an ideal and he suffers the psychological consequences of what he has done. He kills widows out of despise of the way they live and wants to get rid of them because the world is already evil enough.

However, he is clearly worried about being caught and keeps having the same disturbing vision (which is actually the same shot behind the opening credits of the movie): couples waltzing to The Merry Widow. His love for his niece is also truly strong; and everyone around him admires him because of his personality.

This brings the viewer’s perception once again to the ambiguity of humans and the idea that “villains are not all black and heroes are not all white; there are grays everywhere,” as Hitchcock once said.

1. Bruno Antony (Robert Walker) from Strangers on a Train (1951)

It is not an easy task to choose the best one among so many fascinating villainous characters Alfred Hitchcock has created, but the seductive Bruno Antony is probably a good shot. The masterpiece Strangers on a Train is about a tennis player, Guy Haines, being accused of a murder he did not commit, a common subject in Hitchcock’s movies.

A well-known incident from the director’s childhood in which his father sent him to the police station with a note and the chief of police locked him on a cell for a few minutes and said this was what happened to naughty boys is a plausible explanation to his obsession on the theme.

Guy Haines can be seen as the weak little boy who, wanting to divorce his cheating ex-wife, Miriam, to marry the beautiful daughter of a U.S senator, Ann Morton, runs into the wrong man on a train. Their paths cross in a beautiful metaphor with the train rails: two men whose lives go parallel ways meet at a crossing point which will leave their destinies forever linked.

However, it does not really feel as a coincidence once Bruno Antony seems to know everything about Guy’s private life, what leaves him bothered and intrigued. Bruno then tells Guy about his hate for his father and offers him a “criss-cross” plan: he will kill Guy’s ex-wife and leave him free to remarry and, in exchange, Guy will kill his father, leaving on both murders no possible connection between the killer and the victim.

Guy finds the idea absurd and leaves to solve his own problems. What he does not predict is that Bruno will move on with his psychopathic – and rather perfect – plan and, after strangling Miriam, chase him in order to ensure he will do his part of the agreement.

With enchanting manners and a good sense of humor, Bruno manages to enter Guy’s social circle and plays hideous psychological tricks on him. These are effective given the vulnerability of the tennis player’s situation because, not only he is the main suspect for the crime, but also realizes the benefits of Miriam’s death. He is left on a situation of moral ambiguity which even makes him feel that he committed the crime himself.

As the narrative follows, the audience learns more about Bruno Antony’s personal life, his crazy mother and how his wickedness will haunt Guy Haines and those he loves. The two main characters will then be led to a brutal confront in a Merry-go-Round which has become one of the most famous scenes of Hitchcock’s career and probably of film’s history.

SOURCE: Taste of Cinema

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