Alfred Hitchcock: The Difference Between Mystery & Suspense

Alfred Hitchcock explains the differences between mystery and suspense at an AFI Seminar in 1970.
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[@heatherferreira4225]

I learn more about film in 60 seconds of listening to Alfred Hitchcock than I learned my entire time at NYU film school. Not to knock the school, it was fantastic. But this man was the absolute cinematic genius of all time.

[@BeardofHorrors]

Heather Ferreira True that

[@monsieurgolem3392]

Lol, NYU

[@lynnturman8157]

Suspense is created by giving information to the audience. Mystery is created by withholding information from the audience.

[@heatherferreira4225]

SPOT ON.

[@edp3202]

I actually like both. I do like mysteries too.

[@ASMRASCENDING]

Yaaa

[@corrinflakes9659]

@@edp3202 That’s why you mix them, withhold key details for mystery, give vital details for suspense.

[@oliverford5367]

So a mystery is like a whodunit. You're trying to figure out who the murderer is. Suspense is when you know who the murderer is and you are waiting to see who he'll kill

[@dafunkyshit]

In my opinion, he is the greatest filmmaker of all time. His genius is his simplicity and his films are just as he speaks - economical but brilliant and to the point.

[@Mirrorgirl492]

He says so much with so few words...brilliant

[@Hritik9000]

How are you after 10 years?

[@GNoodle]

Both Mystery and Suspense when done properly can be an absolutely amazing experience.

[@Sheesh123]

Listening to Hitchcock speak, it makes me a film student and aspiring director/screenwriter realize just how much i have to learn.

[@rockingtundra2830]

Hey! How are you doing with your progress towards Directing/Screenwriting one decade later? I hope it’s going in a good direction!

[@rievans57]

Mystery is an intellectual process and suspense is an emotional one. Fascinating.

[@hjeriz]

The "whodunit" that Hitchcock mention is the film "The Sabotage" (1936).

[@tomatoherb]

It's like he knows how much of a genius he is, and I ain't even mad.

[@LeconsdAnalyse]

A brilliant man.

[@gunnerysgthartman6124]

LeconsdAnalyse hey i also said the same😦😄

[@apontutul]

9 mysterious people disliked this, which keeps me in suspense, why?

[@catherinerosa-baker2937]

🤣

[@theviolinoob]

. "Mystery is an intellectual process, like in a whodunit. But suspense is essentially an emotional process".. :D

[@GetToDaChoppa-k5r]

Good to know the differences, but you can mix mystery with suspense. This can make a story doubly exciting.

[@Alectricify]

I find him mysterious... And yet watching him speak is just full of suspense.

[@pod9363]

Mystery is "what happened" and Suspense is "what's going to happen".

[@pod9363]

There is intrigue in what happened, but there is only anxiety in what's going to happen. The only time you feel anxiety is when it effects what's going to happen. Like in Mystic River. The suspense isn't in "who killed the boy", it's in what's gonna happen once they find out who killed him.

[@landofthesilverpath5823]

Greatest filmaker of all time. His films are timeless.

[@rievans57]

If someone believes Hitchock to be the greatest filmmaker of all-time I can understand why.

[@pyrrho314]

one of the best philosophers of authorship ever, not to mention perhaps america's best filmaker (among another dozen artistic geniuses).

[@mrshadows738]

i love alfred hitchcock :D most kids dont know who he is. my teachers freak out when i talk about him. they just tell me "your only 16 how do you know him." therefor i tell them "i dont know him, i know about him."

[@n0on343]

Your 25

[@mrshadows738]

@@n0on343 bruh

[@n0on343]

Wow a 25 year old!

[@lbrtvlldr]

Great lesson. Always give priority to the heart over the brain. Mystery = a brain process. Suspense = a heart process.

[@petrfrizen6078]

Like in Japan's medical regulations, as far as I remember...

[@kell_checks_in]

That's not what he said. He wasn't bashing mysteries. Jeesh.

[@madahad9]

Probably a good example of his "suspense" would be (in my opinion one of his best films) Frenzy where we know who the killer is so there is no mysetery as to whom is guilty and who is innocent but the unfortunate series of events which befall the main character causes the light of suspicion to fall upon him. It has one of my favorite end scenes. It at first has a disturbing moment, an "oh, no" moment, and then a line that has just the slightest touch of humor but does not sabotage the moment.

[@gunnerysgthartman6124]

A brilliant man

[@dondoyle8474]

WOW such a Genius

[@SalamiKing7]

Gotta love Hitch!

[@STONECOLD1987]

Master of Suspense

[@PlayIt4MeAgainSam]

A very wise man! Well many have knowledge, Hitchcock has wisdom.

[@robonez]

Great point from Hitchcock there!

[@Karaokuma]

Case in point: Psycho. Essentially, it's a mystery because we aren't told who's committing the murders until the final ten minutes of the film. However, Hitchcock makes sure that the film isn't just a whodunnit because we get emotionally invested in Marion Crane's story and after she's murdered, we get emotionally invested in Norman and Lila and Sam's story. We're on the edge of our seats because WE know there's a psycho running around with a knife hacking people to bits, but the characters don't. The suspense is what fuels the film, not the curiosity of who's killing people.

[@MindlessInvalid]

@film23790 You're overthinking it. Suspense requires a person to connect with a film on an intuitive level. They have to enjoy a scenario enough to want to know more. Suspense is essentially wanting to know what happens next. Mystery on the other hand, is a process of trying to intellectualize the possible outcomes of a given scenario. Emotion and Thought are fundamentally different. Suspense and Mystery are the respective results of a informational vacuum in a work. Feeling and Thinking.

[@more_tezza]

wow, totally agree with him!!!

[@madahad9]

The only hope for modern movies is to look back at it's history. What made movies great seems to be a thing of the past now. Today it is all just pandering to the audience instead of taking them on a ride that has an absurd predictable outcome. A good student of film will look to the very beginning of cinema to the silents. Stanley Kubrick stated that to make a silent is a great education. It is pure cinema--the image. Study the German expressionists. Europeans saw film as a true artform.

[@petrfrizen6078]

Very clearly explained.

[@EmperorsNewWardrobe]

@cheeriosinabowl In a way, you're right, there is mystery in suspense, but it is possible to have no suspense in mystery. For instance, working out the 'w' questions of a scene (who, what, where, why etc) is not emotive alone, but when these directly effect the emotional stakes towards the character, that's when it become suspense. Hitch is distinguishing the two to cease the common confusion that mystery alone is as emotionally effective as suspense. I'd love to know what you think!

[@MTFDarkEagle]

this guy is a genius!

[@coachfb18]

The Man!

[@nexttimewelove51]

Alfred "Genius" Hitchcock

[@CYBERSURF88]

Hitchcock is my favorite. However, in this clip, H is stating the obvious. Simply put, "Mystery" is a noun. When applied to film, it is a catagory / genre of film. In a Mystery, there is a puzzle that must be solved. In contrast, "Suspense" is an adjective. It is an action word which evokes emotion. Holding your breath in anticipation is an act of Suspense. As I've earlier said, H's earliest films were his greatest. The suspense thrillers of the 30's. JAMAICA INN is one of the best.

[@rajendrabiswas]

Vertigo was mysterious

[@dwinklet]

Hmmmm. I don't know about this answer here. HIs reply seemed a bit contradictory, though I think I understand the gist of what he's trying to say. I mean, one can't say that a mystery has no emotion, except the emotion of curiosity. And one can't say, I've never made a mystery, but I've made a whodunit, when he defines a mystery as a whodunit.

[@petrfrizen6078]

Yes, mysteries are very emotional. But less informative compared with suspense.

[@Double-R-Nothing]

This genius explains why A Quiet Place is such a brilliant movie decades before it even existed.

[@shockingpinks]

Bomb ticking. He makes a great point...then loses it in the end when he says mystery results in curiosity which is an emotion. Suspense is created by set-ups. BOOM!

[@GeorgeVreelandHill]

He knew his stuff. No wonder why Hitchcock is the legend he is. George Vreeland Hill

[@aoodi6]

Gramatik

[@13Orcun]

@film23790 indeed David Lynch gives a very limited things you to not have any chance to think about possibilities. He only gives unconnected visuals to see. Then he said '' meaning depends on people ''. There is no any suspense and mystery.

[@MrFacundo7]

@Jtp101z I agree,he was the best,he is the best and he will be the best.He was a real artist and a genius.Alfred Hitchcock,We salute you!

[@breaksystembse]

He's gotta a point about the differences, but I like to think mystery and suspense are the Ebony and Ivory of literature.

[@NotRegret]

in video games suspender is nonexistent and the plot is designed to hold as many '5 second revalations' as possible. since the player is supposed to feel like he is a character the player is frustrated when he must knowingly guide his character into a trap and not act on his knowledge of the plot. surprises have more of an impact on the audience in game environment however because the player has an emotional investment in the playable character and doesn't want to see bad things happen to him

[@PlayIt4MeAgainSam]

I'd say: "To Catch a Thief" (1955)

[@goldenheaven110]

1:38

[@phaedrabacker2004]

A wonderful accent.

[@LIFEGUARD805]

Master if suspense, indeed! He also is the master of manipulating, soliciting emotions from the audience. Same as Steven Spielberg and his ability to manipulate the audiences emotions. Amazing guys!

[@deljefe]

what a fucking genius so much to learn here

[@lassesolbu1360]

I think suspense and mystery are not so easily separated. For example, you can get a good deal of suspense going by having characters being in danger. Such as in Agatha Christies "And then there were none". It is a whodunit, but you also know the victims are together on an island with a mad killer, and that creates suspense (not merely an intellectual curiosity). Also suspense and mystery can be combined to great effect, such as Hitchcock himself did on numerous occations, such as n Psycho. We are curious to what is really going on in that old house (mystery), and we also know that 'mother' is hiding in the fruit cellar (suspense). Also I don't think suspense is "better" than mystery, just affecting us in different ways..

[@jewellmiket]

I pay FULL TRIBUTE to HITCHCOCK and BERNARD HERRMANN with my movie, WE ALL DO DUMB THINGS (posted above). This is a suspense-filled little movie I made with these two names in mind when I set out to make it.

[@Stratword_]

Curious to know what his 'whodunit' will is.

[@gabrielferreira3552]

Alfred Hitchcock was a great director, cristhopher nolan should wach this video to learn how to use suspense.

[@johnpaulpierrot]

Which film is the 'whodunit' that he refers too?... I'm thinking maybe The Lodger?

[@vigneshvicky8139]

Sabotage

[@smithhedgehog]

In "the lady vanishes" dosen't the main character go missing; and therefore it's a mystery because we don't know where, why, or how she dissapeared...?

[@goldenheaven110]

00:24

[@RB-mq6em]

Mystery is about the past; suspense is about the future.

[@027220]

Mystery - Who done it? Suspense - Emotion.

[@Enr227]

I'm not sure but I think Vertigo was both

[@SerlingPictures]

@seth5220 ummm... did u mean north by northwest?

[@cheeriosinabowl]

To me, mystery and suspense go hand in hand.

[@DenkyManner]

His films often have mystery in them. Vertigo is ostensibly a mystery though he deliberately turns the mystery of the second woman into a suspense when she confesses the truth in a letter she never sends. I don't know if he was right to do that as the suspense didn't work for some reason. The power of Vertigo is from a deeper mysteriousness, a poetic, unconscious dream like disorientation rather a plain "whodunit".

[@BjornSvenson]

which film does he consider his only "who done it?"

[@Deathriken]

@artformeandyou the creator of Slashers

[@silvpetros]

hello there

[@jagdishacharya1438]

Mystery# paper currency and Suspence# paperless currency. Cards.

[@madpeace1764]

THE YODA OF FILMMAKING...

[@MaxxUS08]

Im not completely sure which film he referred to as the 'Who dunnit". It has to be Under Capricorn, not his best at all.

[@ohiogremlin87]

I think strangers on a train

[@edp3202]

I love that Hitchcock found showing too much of women's body parts boring and offensive which is why his actresses always are pretty covered up and classy.

[@SharpDesign]

Murder She Wrote- Mystery Columbo - Suspense

[@Aqua_paw]

gramatik brought me here

[@adelacarmen]

if he would live now .... i bet was the king of horror movies ..:P

[@GregCoxTV]

Indeed, Hitch was a great filmmaker but don't forget to give credit to the screenwriters, without them there would be no great film.

[@houserulez2008]

hitchcock or kubrick?

[@petrfrizen6078]

Leonardo da Vinci or Renoir?..

[@IoEstasCedonta]

The irony is, I'm wondering which film he considers his "whodunnit." Murder?

[@GOreelz]

why wouldn't psycho be a "whodunit'? Doesn't the audience want to know who killed Janet Leigh's character?

[@vigneshvicky8139]

No information was already given..!

[@gethsoftware]

the "horror" aka zombie movies, resident evil, are not really that scary. movies like Alien and games like slender are very suspensfull, sure alien has gore, like chest buster, but alien is so much more then that. lot of the deaths happen off screen. and slender is all about mystery and suspense. the tention grows and grows when you stalked by slender without any breaks.

[@oliverford5367]

Vanilla Sky is the worst example of too much mystery. You can't figure out what's a dream and what's real. After you've seen it you can argue about which bits were real, but that's a cerebral thing. It's not emotional.

[@Andreasjacke1]

Vielen Dank - wenn Du magst siehe meinen Vortrag über Hitchcock auf der Seite von meinem Kanal!!!

[@christianespinal1938]

ttt

[@pyrrho314]

@pyrrho314 : yeah yeah, he was a brit... :) ANYONE CAN BE AMERICAN! fine, world's best... grrmamdmfmbmblb

[@m420carbine4]

we are donating now on youtube? are you kidding me. how about we all donate to reinvest in america. but only if we can vote more than 4 years.

[@oxymomo]

Sorry, but "suspense" is a noun, too.

[@cubanbach]

not really, because we always know "who did it"...

[@monsieurgolem3392]

Hitchcock lies, lol, his presents series was nothing but mystery, which Im finding to be better than his movies.

[@ofanzivnonestabilan]

you couldn't be more wrong

[@broc8095]

Filip d I’d trust the word of Hitchcock more than the word of a Filip d

[@goldenheaven110]

1:05