De-stabilized rules of hospitality, the symbolism invested in the three drinks, cinematography and the uneven exchange of information betray the bad hosting of Hitchcock and Dr. Hartz. In this scene, the latter intends to poison Iris Henderson and Gilbert Redman while they reveal to him the fruits of their investigation. The suspense rests on Iris and Gilbert’s assumption that the doctor is a good-natured host, and our knowledge that he is not. Hitchcock’s deceptive hospitality towards his viewers problematizes this knowledge as we later discover that we have been victims of the director’s bad hospitality. The Hitchcockian trope of the train, as well as Dr. Hartz’ social status, allow him to assume the role of host to which he has no more claim than any other passenger. The camera’s framing and the close-up shots underline the falsehood of Hartz’ hospitality. This scene demonstrates a recurring anxiety that Hitchcock mobilizes in his films with regards to modernity, namely that it confuses rules of hospitality in potentially deadly ways.
The train, because it is a neutral space that brings different people into close quarters, de-stabilizes rules of hospitality. Hartz is therefore able to assume the role of host in this scene for a myriad of reasons. Firstly, he is considered a local while Iris and Gilbert are foreigners. The latter assume that Hartz will be helpful to their investigation because he can interact with the non-British passengers. Hartz’ status as a local, however, is tenuous at best given that the speeding train problematizes any notions of locality. Secondly, his social position as an educated and sought-after doctor, gives him authority over Iris and Gilbert. Because of this position of power, the young couple share all their information with the doctor and seek his council, rather than suspecting him of being in on the plot to disappear Miss Froy. This allows Hartz to follow the progress of the British couple’s investigation, to stall it, and eventually try to end it. Thirdly, quite simply and yet crucially, it is Hartz who invites Iris and Gilbert to join him in ordering drinks, making them his guests. This typically innocent gesture of hospitality is invested with ill intentions, becoming a prime example of bad hospitality.
The three drinks which are brought to their table become a truthful double to the deceitful hospitality that is being played out. While the conversation that takes place suggests an alliance between Hartz and the young couple, the positions of the glasses tell otherwise. The importance invested in the drinking glasses reformulates the motif of ‘glasses’ which began earlier with Miss Froy’s spectacles. Iris and Gilbert’s drinks remain visible in the shots throughout the conversation, reminding us of the immediate danger they are in. Hartz, meanwhile, quickly moves his glass of Chartreuse away, subtly suggesting that his intentions differ from those of the young couple. The contents of their respective drinks further this distancing. Iris and Gilbert order brandy, a spirit associated with British identity and consumed by several Hitchcockian protagonists, while Hartz orders Chartreuse. The latter is decidedly un-British, evoking the European continent, specifically
The use of close-ups and shot/reverse shots in this scene, like the drinks, betrays the false hospitality taking place. Although Iris and Gilbert believe the doctor to be an ally, their framing in the shots of the conversation suggests that this is not so. They are shown facing the doctor together, with the threatening drinks looming in the foreground. Hartz meanwhile, is never in the frame with them but always isolated on his side of the table, opposite—or opposing—them. The extreme close-ups of the poisoned drinks, five in total, call our attention away from the amicable conversation taking place. No matter how helpful the dialogue suggests Hartz intends to be, we are made painfully aware that he is lying by having the poisoned drinks shoved under our noses repeatedly. Hitchcock’s cinematography rearticulates to us what Iris and Gilbert don’t know: that Hartz is not working with them but against them.
The dishonesty of the doctor’s hospitality can also be inferred from the conversation. While this seems misleading, it becomes clearer when we track the exchange of information in the scene. Spy films invest information with a great deal of portents, and The Lady Vanishes is no exception. Iris and Gilbert, being good guests, openly share all the information they have accumulated during their investigation. Hartz, meanwhile, withholds all his knowledge of the situation, making him a miserly host so far as information is concerned. This clue reveals his ill-natured hospitality, as he is unable to reciprocate the honesty of his guests. This imbalanced exchange underlines the falseness of the alliance the couple forms with Hartz at the scene’s conclusion.
Hartz’ dishonesty towards Iris and Gilbert is exceeded only by that of Hitchcock towards us, his cinematic guests. Much like the doctor’s false poisoned drinks, Hitchcock gives us a false token of hospitality. We are made to believe that we have crucial information which Iris and Gilbert do not, namely that their drinks are poisoned, when we see Hartz tell the nun to do so in the moments preceding this scene. This knowledge creates the tension we feel throughout the scene as the supposedly poisoned drinks loom in front of Iris and Gilbert, and are eventually consumed by the couple. Later it turns out, however, that the nun didn’t go through with the poisoning, that Iris and Gilbert will be able to save Miss Froy. Thus, it is not Iris and Gilbert being misled by Dr. Hartz that we are watching in this scene, but rather our own duping by the master of suspense, Hitchcock.
In what seems an ultimate gesture of false hospitality, Hartz induces Iris and Gilbert to finish their drinks with a toast: “To our health, and may our enemies if they exist, be unconscious of our purpose.” It is us viewers, however, who have been rendered unconscious on purpose by the poisoned information we have and which Iris and Gilbert ignore. When this information turns out to be irrelevant a few scenes later, we discover the bad hospitality which Hitchcock has provided us. Similarly, in this scene Hartz uses the blurry rules of hospitality which govern the train to his advantage, extracting a great deal of information from Iris and Gilbert but providing none of his own. His dishonesty is hinted at by the drinking glasses motif, as well as Hitchcock’s cinematography, which ironically conceals the director’s own dishonesty towards us.
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