More than fifty years after its release, Psycho (1960), Alfred Hitchcock’s classic, is still a hot topic of conversation, as illustrated by yet another documentary, Alexandre O. Philippe’s 78/52, which analyses in detail Marion Crane’s murder scene. Watching this film, the music of Bernard Herrmann is always equally as mesmerizing as the picture itself. This was their sixth collaboration, and for this feature film featuring Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh, Herrmann reached his zenith, particularly with the strident strings of the infamous shower scene. The score plays such an important role in Psycho that it is rumoured that Hitchcock feared Herrmann might in fact overshadow him! In fact, despite (or maybe because of) the undeniable success of this soundtrack, the film marked the beginning of the end of their partnership – they only worked together again on two occasions (The Birds and Marnie).
Hitchcock and Herrmann met in the middle of the 1950s. At that time, both were somewhat independent figures in Hollywood. The director had been his own producer since Rope in 1948. As for the composer, he was renowned for his intransigence towards majors, and was allowed to pick and choose which film he would score – a luxury in this city where signatories of studio contracts are usually held hostage by their commitments. Before Hitchcock, Herrmann worked with Orson Welles (Citizen Kane), Joseph L. Mankiewicz (The Ghost and Mrs Muir) and Robert Wise (The Day The Earth Stood Still). Hitchcock and Herrmann also shared a very strong personality and a rather similar outlook on life. According to Donald Spoto, Alfred Hitchcock’s biographer, they both shared “a dark, tragic sense of life”.
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