Hitchcock Gallery

The Hitchcock Gallery is a permanent collection of mosaics held on the walls of Leytonstone tube station. It was created by the London Borough of Waltham Forest with commission from Greenwich Mural Workshop to celebrate 100 years since the birth of Alfred Hitchcock in Leytonstone. The works feature scenes from Hitchcock’s films and is 17 mosaics in total. The installation started in June 2000 with the final installation in April 2001. The Gallery was unveiled in 3 May 2001.

The Gallery itself is partly in dimly lit areas so it’s best to head down on a sunny day just to get enough light come through into the station. On each mosaic, an attached plaque placed either above or below the artwork describing the scene shown as well as quotes from people related to the film. The pictures were chosen by local people. The designs were done by Steve and Nathan Lobb, Carol Kenna, Claire Notley and Julie Norbun at the Greenwich Mural Workshop. Below are the mosaics with the texts on the adjoining plaques and location in the station:

Entrance

Rebecca
1940
Joan Fontaine as the new Mrs De Winter struggling to escape the memory of her husband’s first wife, Rebecca. Here Mrs Danvers (Judith Anderson) wills her to suicide. In the background, St John’s Church, Leytonstone, as it was in Hitchcock’s childhood.

Mrs Danvers (Judith Anderson): “You’re overwrought, madam. I’ve opened a window for you. A little air will do you good. Why don’t you go? Why don’t you leave Manderley? He doesn’t need you. He’s got his memories. He doesn’t love you - he wants to be alone again with her. You’ve nothing to stay for. You’ve nothing to live for, have you, really? Look down there. It’s easy, Isn’t it? Why don’t you? Go on, go on. Don’t be afraid…”

The Wrong Man
1956
Hitchcock’s bleakly realistic account of a real-life story has Henry Fonda as New York musician Christopher Ballestrero mistakenly identified by the police as an armed robber.

“When I was no more than six years of age, I did something that my father considered worthy if reprimand. He sent me to the local police station with a note. The officer on duty read it and locked me in a jail for five minutes, saying ‘This is what we do to naughty boys.’ I have, ever since, gone to any lengths to avoid arrest and confinement. To you young people my message is – Stay out of jail!” – Alfred Hitchcock

Rear Window
1954
James Stewart as action photographer LB Jeffries is confined to his apartment by a broken leg. With the help of fiancé Lisa Freemont, played by Grace Kelly, he begins to suspect a murder has occurred and sets to solve the crime.

“I’ve never seen Hitchcock look through a camera – some directors never stop.” - James Stewart
Stella (Thelma Ritter): “We’ve become a race of Peeping Toms. What people ought to do is get outside their own house for a change. Yes sir. How’s that for a bit of homespun philosophy.”

Hitchcock and Deitrich

Marlene Dietrich, star of his 1950 thriller Stage Fright, relaxes with Hitchcock off-set.
“Marlene was a professional star – she was also a professional cameraman, art director, costume designer, hairdresser, makeup woman, composer, producer and director.” – Alfred Hitchcock

Left side:

North By Northwest
1959
Hitchcock’s supreme chase comedy-thriller in which Cary Grant, as urbane business man Roger Thornhill, is mistaken for a spy, and is pursued across the country by both enemy agents and the police. In this famous scene his life is threatened by, of all things, a crop-dusting aeroplane.
“It is only when you adopt the basic premise that Cary Grant could not possibly come to harm that the tongue in Hitchcock’s cheek becomes plainly visible.” – Hollis Alperi, Saturday Review

The Skin Game
1932
Based on a play by John Galsworthy, the story about the struggle between the old English way of life and the advance of the factories into the countryside and explores how the country people and the nouveau riche can be equally unscrupulous where property is the goal.

“Hitchcock loves to be misunderstood, because he has based his whole life around misunderstandings.’ – Francois Truffaut

Psyche1960
Hitchcock directs Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates, who “goes a little mad sometimes”, and Janet Liegh as the unfortunate Marion Crqane before the infamous shower scene.

“At the end of Psycho, I realised I’d worked with the director who’d been more open to the actor’s suggestions and ideas than I’d worked with”- Anthony Perkins
“Psycho gave me very wrinkled skin. I was in that shower for seven days…At least he made sure the water was warm.”- Janet Leigh

Suspicion
1941
Cary Grant as dubitable playboy Johnny Aysgarth bringing to his young new wife a drink, which she suspects to be poisoned.

Johnnie Aysgarth: “If you’re going to kill someone, do it simply.”

Hitchcock At Work

In a directorial pose from the Skin Game of 1931 Hitchcock is imagined directing some of his stars, including Margaret Lockwood, Ingrid Bergman, Peter Lorre and Cyril Richard.
‘In Hitchcock’s eyes the movement was dramatic, not the acting. When he wanted the audience to be moved, he moved the camera. He was a subtle human being, and he was also the best director I have ever worked with.’ – Bruce Dern, actor

Number 17
1932
Jewel thieves and Sheldrake - played by Donald Calthrop and Garry Marsh - attempt a getaway to the coast on a stolen train moments before their high speed chase ends in disaster.

‘A lot of movies are about life, mine are like a slice of cake’. - Alfred Hitchcock

Young Alfred outside his father’s shop

Alfred Hitchcock as a boy on a horse outside his father’s greengrocers at 517 The High Road, Leytonstone (circa 1906).

Right Side:

To Catch a Thief
1955
High on a roof, reformed cat-burglar John Robie, played by Cary Grant, is caught against a sky illuminated by fireworks as he attempts to capture the imposter who has been giving him a bad name.
“Hitchcock couldn’t have been a nicer fellow. I whistled coming to work on his films.” – Cary Grant

The Birds
1963
Tippi Hedren as Melanie Daniels, one of the Bodega Bay residents inexpicably attacked by ever increasing flocks of birds, in Hitchcock’s apocalyptic allegory.

“Hitchcock captures the subtleties of females warring with each other; all those nuances of knives and guns conducted in looks and body language. He sculpts the human body in space.” – Camilla Paglia

Saboteur
1942
Handcuffed together, Robert Cummings as Barry Kane and Priscilla Lane as Patricia Martin escape from a gang of enemy saboteurs. In the background is the old Leytonstone High Road.

“The drama of a nation stirred to action, of a people’s growing realisation of themselves and their responsibilities” – Motion Picture Herald

Vertigo
1958
Tom Helmore as Gavin Elster and Kim Novak as Madeline in Hitchcock’s masterly study of love and obsession.

“Hitchcock knew exactly what he wanted to do in this film, exactly what he wanted to say and how it should be seen and told…And anyone who saw him during the making of the film could see, as I did, that he felt it very deeply indeed.” – Samuel Taylor, screenwriter
Cary Grant as dubitable playboy Johnny Aysgarth bringing to his young new wife a drink, which suspects to be poisoned.
Jonnie Aysgarth: “If you’re going to kill someone, do it simply.”

Strangers On a Train
1951
Based on a novel by Patricia Highsmith and co-scripted by Raymond Chandler, this is the story of the psychotic Bruno, brilliantly played by Robert Walker, who suggests exchanging murder victims with Guy, played by Farley Granger, a stranger that happens by chance to share the same train.

Bruno (Robert Walker): “Some people are better off dead - like your wife and my father, for instance.”

Pleasure Garden
1926
A good old-fashioned melodrama, full of life, death and passion, this was Hitchcock’s first feature as sole director and comes his enthusiasm for the theatre and the music hall.

“Once a man commits himself to murder, he will soon find himself stealing. The next step will be alcoholism, disrespect for the Sabbath and from there on it will lead to rude behaviour. As soon as you set the first steps on the path to destruction you never know where you will end. Lots of people owe their downfall to a murder they once committed and weren’t too pleased with at the time ’- Alfred Hitchcock

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