Sexpionage and Hitchcock's abusive nature
Hitchcock's North by Northwest, The 39 Steps, and Carol Reed's The Third Man present how spy films portray sex as a tool to conduct espionage. Specifically, it shows how female spies use sex to seduce their enemies and how Hitchcock's past and abusive nature translate into his films.
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Eden Brockman
Exploring
The Themes of Sex
and
Strong Women
in Spy Films
The Third Man
In Carrie Reeds The Third Man, Holly Martins travels to Vienna to visit his childhood friend Harry Lime. However, Lime had recently died, and Holly starts investigating his death. Martins is framed for murder and befriends Anna Schmidt, Lime's former lover. As their relationship progresses, Holly shamelessly flirts with Anna. Anna rejects him due to her feelings for Lime, which gives her the power in their relationship. The director portrays Anna's rejection of Holly to show that she ultimately holds the power in their relationship. In the last scene, Anna walks past him, as he patiently waits for her against a car, which shows her final rejection of the relationship.
North by Northwest
In Alfred Hitchcock's film North by Northwest, Roger Thornhill loses his identity by being mistaken as a man named Kaplan. Hitchcock portrays Thornhill as an innocent man that becomes wrapped up in the world of espionage. The innocent Thornhill is a playboy that uses sex as a tool and game. The viewer sees this persona when he has his secretary send a box of chocolates to an unnamed woman. His playboy persona is even more obvious when he meets Eve Kendall, allowing her to easily seduce him. Hitchcock demonstrates the honeytrap when Eve uses sex to gain Thornhill's trust. Honey trapping was used by agents to allow them to take control of the victims unknowingly.
The 39 Steps
Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps, shares the story of Richard Hannay who is framed for murdering Lucie Manheim. However, she was killed by members of an illegal spy ring in Hannay's apartment. Hannay innocently enters the great game and goes on the run, where he meets Pamela. Hannay is physically and sexually aggressive with Pamela, illustrating his reckless sexual nature. He displays his sexual dominance to prove his power and force Pamela to do what he wants. The pair being handcuffed together makes it appear that Hannay is more powerful than Pamela. However, Pamela uncuffs herself, revealing that the woman had the power the whole time.
Sexpionage
in North by
Northwest
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"The classic honey trap is seduction to extract secrets.
"Other times, spies set honey traps to draw their victims into their enemy’s clutches."
Christopher Beam, SLATE
Eve Kendall, a Russian spy, honey traps Roger Thornhill to help Vandamm
enemy, capture him. Hitchcock employs the classic honey trap to illustrate a tactic that has been used in spying for ages. He pinpoints one of the main pitfalls of the honey trap as Eve falls in love with Roger. The spy agency would never want the pair to fall in love because then the agent's loyalty shifts from the agency to her lover. Hitchcock sheds light to the common stereotype where a Russian woman's assignment is to have sex with a person of interest to aid their country. The CIA uses the honey trap, although Russia is most well-known for using this tactic.
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"In America, in the West, occasionally you ask your men to stand up for their country. There's very little difference. In Russia, we just ask our young women to lay down."
Oleg Kalugin, Former KGB General
Hitchcock's Abusive Nature Translated into His Films
Tippie Hedren and Alfred Hitchock
"The harder I fought him, the more aggressive he became. Then he started adding threats, as if he could do anything to me that was worse than what he was trying to do at that moment."
Tippie Hedren
Tippie Hedren, the lead actress in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, admitted in her memoir that she was sexually harassed and assaulted by Hitchcock. Hedren wrote, "He suddenly grabbed me and put his hands on me. It was sexual, it was perverse, and it was ugly."(Source). The viewer can recognize the connection between Hitchcock's mistreatment and disrespect of women in real life in how he treats women in his films. In The 39 Steps, Hannay is physically and sexually aggressive with Pamela. When they first meet, Hannay grabs Pamela's wrists and forcibly kisses her without her consent. Hitchcock's disregard of consent in his personal life made him more comfortable with having Hannay sexually assault Pamela. However, Hitchcock did not see this action as detrimental because eventually, the characters fall in love. The viewer can hypothesize that Hitchcock felt that his actions towards Tippie were not inappropriate because he viewed her as someone he was allowed to mistreat.
The Ideal Woman
Anna Schmidt (The Third Man)
1948
Pamela (The 39 Steps)
1935
1930's Woman
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Short hair
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Soft feminine figure
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Classic hitchcock blonde
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Disobedient when she thinks Hannay is a criminal and becomes obedient even after Hannay treats her with disrespect
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1930's wives were compliant to their husbands
1940's Woman
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After WWII, the fashion industry embraced military fashion seen through Anna's masculine, long overcoat
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Brunette, as the film was not produced by Alfred Hitchcock
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Well kept short hair
Eve Kendall (North by Northwest)
1959
1950's-60s Woman
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Beginning of the 1960s sexual revolution where women are open about their sexuality and challenge traditional roles of sexual behavior
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Hithcock described her as "smart, simple, subtle and quiet" (Source) in a way acting opposite to the wild and loud women emerging in the hippie revolution
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Classic hitchcock blonde
The Hitchcock Blonde: Alfred Hitchcock explained that he utilizes blondes in his films for cinematography purposes by saying, "Blondes make the best victims. They're like virgin snow that shows up the bloody footprints." (Source). In North by Northwest, Eve is a victim as her bosses force her to use her body to not only seduce Thornhill but also Vandamm as she is a double agent. It is no accident that Hitchcock tortured her as he has said, "Torture the women! The trouble today is that we don't torture women enough." (Source). Hitchcock may be living out his fantasy of wanting to torture beautiful, blonde women. He gave many blonde women leading roles in his films that they became known as the Hitchcock Blondes. Over time, he became more obsessed with filming their hair and torturing them. After assaulting Tippie Hedren, his films no longer contained Hitchcock blondes.
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