Psycho‘s shower scene is often a starting point for many conversations regarding film. The three-minute sequence throws the film’s narrative in disarray and still unnerves viewers with its perceptible brutality. While it’s been a point of contention of some time, today brings a new video which puts artist Saul Bass‘ storyboards against the finished footage, contributing to another conversation about the sequence: who is responsible for the shower scene in Psycho?
The question arises from conflicting reports about Psycho‘s production from key collaborators including Bass and Alfred Hitchcock. Bass was paid (different sums ranging from two to seventeen thousand have been reported) to serve as a pictorial consultant on the film. He did extensive drawings for the pivotal sequence in which Marion Crane gets murdered in the shower. Bass, however, has a more elaborate view of his role stating, “When the time came to shoot, I was on stage near Hitch, who was sitting in his elevated director’s chair in his Buddha mode, hands folded on his belly. He asked me to set up the first shot, as per my storyboard. After I checked it through the camera, I turned to him and said ‘Here it is.’ Then Hitch said ‘Go ahead, roll it.’ It was an amazing moment. On Hitch’s set, no one would issue orders other than Hitch. So I swallowed hard, gulped and said ‘Roll camera! . . . Action!’ He sat back in the chair, encouraging me, benignly nodding his head periodically, and giving me the ‘Roll’ signal as I matched each shot to the storyboard.”
Hitchcock would quickly deny claims the he did not direct one of his most famous sequences even while Bass supporters, like Billy Wilder, insisted the graphic artist was the one responsible. Both artists, Bass and Hitchcock, have an impressive body of work that indicates either were capable of such a creation. In the years since the controversy, quotes have been retracted, Vivian Leigh has outright denied Bass claims, and the truth is probably a moderate answer skewed by too many egos involved; it was most likely a genuine collaboration, like most films. Before the biggest Hitchcock fans call blasphemy, it’s worth taking a look at the video and seeing how perfectly the Bass storyboards match the Hitchcock shots.
Check it out below, thanks to VashiVisuals, as well as the actual clip from the film, a DVD extra on the making of the scene (which completely shuts out the above theory) and a selection of Bass’ storyboards, courtesy of CUA.
Do you think there’s any merit to the claim that Hitchcock might not have directed the scene?