The wide ranges of camera angles used such as bird eye, high angle, eye level and good reaction shots and the fact that Alfred Hitchcock is known to be master of suspense and the movie is up to audience’s expectation can also be the reason audience could be attracted to watch this movie. In the scene outside United Nation building where confused roger is fleeing from murder, Hitchcock uses bird’s eye shot which creates dramatic vertigo effect of perspective to create suspense and confusion leaving the audience to wander what happen next.
The creation of tension is built intensively from one of the famous Cropduster scene to height of the Mt. Rushmore. In the crop duster sequence where Roger Thorn hill is waiting for the arrival of real George Chaplin, Hitchcock uses high angle camera angle in establishing shot of open farmland in the beginning which signifies his complete isolation. This refers to narrative generic convention of thriller consists of isolation and vulnerability of main hero .The diegetic sound in the sequence is silent and having that makes his loneliness even more effective. Straight lines have been featured extensively in the opening of the sequence where the roads and sky appear in straight form. The fields which appear in double crossed form represent deception. Audience already having foreknowledge of previous plot can experience the order and suspense that is created by the straight lines. This implies Todorov’s equilibrium where everything seemed balanced (in order) in the beginning but is disrupted by some sort of source. The equilibrium here is disrupted by a plane attempts to kill roger breaking the straight lines. This builds up tension and suspense until the end of the sequence as it crashes and the equilibrium is restored temporarily. This is enhanced by a non-diegetic sound.
The settings of the movie is mostly in touristy areas gives us a tour to places like Mount Rushmore, New York and Chicago where we can see strong use of cultural code (one of Roland Barthes code) .For example, Cary grant using one of the train station service in the New York central station. This is a good cultural reference as New York Central Station was newly opened and very popular during1960’s for its facilities. Another example is Mt. Rushmore, which had great historical significance to cold war which was happening around 1960’s.
Another good example of Hitchcock’s brilliant work is the reaction shot of roger (Cary grant) after being shot by Eve .The foreground and the background is carefully framed and narrative construction is such that it leaves audience puzzled as they didn’t expect Eve (who roger knows is in the good side now) to kill Roger. In a way the audience’s expectation is shattered and there is a mystery code (Roland Barthes) in it makes audience to question themselves whether roger is really dead or not and engages audience to watch the rest of the film to know the answer.
His technique of creating suspense and making the audience guessing by having mystery codes is also one of the reasons that audiences hold on to the movie and also Cary Grant’s humor also boost the whole movie. Even in serious situation like near death on the cliff hanging moment at Mt. Rushmore he makes humorous comment like "That wasn't very sporting, using real bullets’’ talking about the previous fake bullets.
In over all, the movie has all the qualities and factor of a genuine thriller and Hitchcock’s ways of presenting the narrative is gripping.
