Alma Reville

Alma Reville
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Name	Alma Reville
Birth name	Alma Lucy Reville
Birth date	23 August 1899
Birth place	Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England
Death date	6 July 1982
Death place	London, England
Occupation	Screenwriter, editor, film technician
Spouse	Alfred Hitchcock
Children	Patricia Hitchcock

Alma Reville

Alma Reville was an English screenwriter and film editor who collaborated closely with director Alfred Hitchcock across a career spanning the silent era into mid-20th century cinema. She contributed to numerous productions in the British and American film industries, influencing works produced by studios such as Gaumont British, Famous Players-Lasky, and Paramount Pictures. Reville's technical expertise and editorial insight were acknowledged by contemporaries including Michael Balcon, David O. Selznick, and Hitchcock associates.

Early life and education

Alma Lucy Reville was born in Nottingham to Arthur Reville and Kate Ward in 1899, growing up during the reign of Queen Victoria and through the reign of King George V. She attended local schools in Nottingham during a period marked by the influence of the Industrial Revolution legacy and the expansion of the British film industry. Early exposure to cinema in regional venues linked her to emerging institutions such as Gaumont-British Picture Corporation and the trade networks connecting London and provincial studios. Her formative years coincided with technological advances including innovations by inventors like Thomas Edison and companies such as Pathé, which shaped opportunities for apprenticeships in film laboratories and cutting rooms.

Career and collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock

Reville began her professional association with the motion picture industry at studios where figures such as Isidore Ostrer and Cecil Hepworth were influential, moving into roles that brought her into contact with directors including Alfred Hitchcock, Anthony Asquith, and Maurice Elvey. Her marriage to Hitchcock in 1926 formalized a creative partnership that intertwined with the operations of production companies like Gainsborough Pictures and executives such as Michael Balcon at Gaumont-British. Reville's name appears in collaboration contexts alongside screenwriters and producers including Ian Hay, Charles Bennett, John Russell Taylor, Hugh Brooke, and Edgar Wallace. The couple's transatlantic transition connected them with Hollywood institutions such as Selznick International Pictures, RKO Radio Pictures, and Warner Bros.. Her collaborations influenced films that engaged stars like Irene Dunne, Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, and technicians including Bernard Herrmann and Robert Burks.

Screenwriting and editing work

As a scriptwriter, continuity cutter, and editor, Reville worked on projects associated with titles and personnel from the British silent tradition to sound features; she contributed to productions connected with filmmakers including Herbert Wilcox, Maurice Tourneur, Thorold Dickinson, Paul Leni, and Thorold Dickinson. Her editing and script supervision intersected with screenplays tied to writers such as Ben Hecht, Joan Harrison, Ernest Hemingway, and Noël Coward. Reville's craft related to narrative devices used in films produced under banners like British International Pictures and distributors such as Universal Pictures and Columbia Pictures. She is credited with shaping dialogue and structure for projects involving performers including Charles Laughton, Edna Best, Norman Lloyd, and Peggy Ashcroft, and working within studio frameworks influenced by executives such as Louis B. Mayer and Irving Thalberg.

Personal life and family

Alma and Alfred Hitchcock married in December 1926 in a ceremony attended by colleagues from London society and film circles; their domestic life intersected with the careers of contemporaries like Charles Chaplin, Ivor Novello, and Noël Coward. The couple's only child, Patricia Hitchcock, pursued acting and appeared in films and television connected to producers such as David O. Selznick and directors including Billy Wilder and Alfred Hitchcock himself. Reville's social and familial networks overlapped with artists and intellectuals active in mid-century cultural institutions such as BBC Television, Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and film festival circuits including Cannes Film Festival and Venice Film Festival. Her friendships and professional links included screenwriters, editors, and composers from both British Lion Films and Hollywood studios.

Later years and legacy

In later decades Reville continued to advise on projects and to participate in archival efforts associated with cinematic heritage institutions such as the British Film Institute and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Her editorial judgments and collaboration with Hitchcock influenced scholarship by historians and critics referencing archives at BFI Southbank, the Margaret Herrick Library, and university collections at University of California, Los Angeles and University of Exeter. Academics and biographers including Donald Spoto, Francis M. Nevins, Hugh Kenner, Peter Ackroyd, and Pat J. Bishop have examined her role in film history. Reville's contributions are commemorated in retrospectives and exhibitions mounted by institutions like the Victoria and Albert Museum, Museum of Modern Art, and film festivals honoring the legacy of directors and screen practitioners.

Category:English screenwriters Category:Women film editors Category:1899 births Category:1982 deaths