1 Hitchcock: Books

This reference guide on Hitchcock includes: a biographical sketch; critical overview; chronological listing of films; annotated bibliography of criticism; chronological listing of his writings and other non-directional work; annotated listing of archival sources; and a listing of films.

This collection of essays displays the range and breadth of Hitchcock scholarship and assesses the significance of his body of work as a bridge between the fin de siecle culture of the 19th century and the 20th century. It engages with Hitchcock’s characteristic formal and aesthetic preoccupations.

Hitchcock was, despite his English origins and early career, an American master.

Arriving on US shores in 1939, for the next three decades he created a series of masterpieces that redefined the nature and possibilities of cinema itself: “Rebecca,” “Notorious,” “Strangers on a Train,” “Rear Window,” “Vertigo” and “Psycho,” to name just a few. …

The most comprehensive volume ever published on Alfred Hitchcock, covering his career and legacy as well as the broader cultural and intellectual contexts of his work. …

Regarded as The Master of Suspense and one of the most influential filmmakers of all time, Hitchcock is remembered for a long career, consisting of more than fifty films made in six decades. This volume discusses themes that make a film truly Hitchcockian-the plot twist, voyeurism, and the innocent man accused-and analyzes some of Hitchcock’s best-known work, including Psycho, North by Northwest, Vertigo, Rear Window, and more.

This new edition of A Hitchcock Reader aims to preserve what has been so satisfying and successful in the first edition: a comprehensive anthology that may be used as a critical text in introductory or advanced film courses, while also satisfying Hitchcock scholars by representing the rich variety of critical responses to the director’s films over the years. …

Hitchcock is arguably the most famous director to have ever made a film. Almost single-handedly he turned the suspense thriller into one of the most popular film genres of all time, while his Psycho updated the horror film and inspired two generations of directors to imitate and adapt this most Hitchcockian of movies.

Yet while much scholarly and popular attention has focused on the director’s oeuvre, until now there has been no extensive study of how Hitchcock’s films and methods have affected and transformed the history of the film medium. …

The contributors bring to bear an unrivaled enthusiasm and theoretical sweep on the entire Hitchcock oeuvre, analyzing movies such as Rear Window and Psycho. Starting from the premise that ‘everything has meaning,’ the authors examine the films’ ostensible narrative content and formal procedures to discover a rich proliferation of hidden ideological and psychic mechanisms. But Hitchcock is also a bait to lure the reader into a serious Marxist and Lacanian exploration of the construction of meaning. …

For half a century Hitchcock created films full of gripping and memorable music. Over his long career he presided over more musical styles than any director in history and ultimately changed how we think about film music. This book is the first to fully explore the essential role music played in the movies of Alfred Hitchcock. Based on extensive interviews with composers, writers, and actors, and research in rare archives, Jack Sullivan discusses how Hitchcock used music to influence the atmosphere, characterization, and even story lines of his films. …

Hitchcock and Twentieth-Century Cinema looks at the work, influences, legacy and style of one of cinema’s most famous directors. Alfred Hitchcock worked in Britain and America, in silent and sound films, and through and beyond the studio system, all the time appealing to mass audiences while employing his own distinctive style. This book examines how he was affected by German cinema, British writing, the Hays Code and his own upbringing to produce films that challenged key notions of acting, sexuality, mise-en-scène and narrative convention. …

Considers the ways in which Alfred Hitchcock adapted and transformed a variety of literary works–novels, plays, and short stories–into film.

It is remarkable how infrequently, over a period of more than fifty years, Hitchcock spoke about the beautiful, legendary and talented actresses he directed. And when he did, his remarks were mostly indifferent and often hostile. But his leading ladies greatly enriched his films, even as many of them achieved international stardom precisely because of their work for Hitchcock; among the dozens of women were Madeleine Carroll, Joan Fontaine, Grace Kelly and Tippi Hedren. Yet he maintained a stony, insistent silence about the quality of their performances and their contributions to his art. …

The Women Who Knew Too Much remains a classic work in film theory and criticism. The book consists of a theoretical introduction and analyses of seven important films by Alfred Hitchcock, each of which provides a basis for an analysis of the female spectator as well as of the male spectator. …

Even twenty years after his death and nearly fifty or more years after his creative peak, Hitchcock (1899-1980) is still arguably the most instantly recognizable film director in name, appearance, vision, and voice. Long ago, through a combination of timing, talent, genius, energy, and publicity, he made the key transition from proper noun to adjective that confirms celebrity and true stature. It is a rare film watcher indeed who cannot define “Hitchcockian.” …

This book is a dialogue between Francois Truffaut and Alfred Hitchcock.

Gathered here for the first time are Hitchcock’s reflections on his own life and work. In this ample selection of largely unknown and formerly inaccessible interviews and essays, Hitchcock provides an enlivening commentary on a career that spanned decades and transformed the history of the cinema. Bringing the same exuberance and originality to his writing as he did to his films, he ranges from accounts of his own life and experiences to techniques of film-making and ideas about cinema in general. …

Hitchcock (b. 1899–d. 1980) is unquestionably one of the most well-known and important filmmakers to date. His career spanned the silent and sound eras, and although he was known primarily as a maker of suspenseful thrillers, his works also include distinctive elements of comedy, romance, melodrama, documentary, and expressionism, and reflect his lifelong interest in experimental and avant-garde filmmaking.

Alfred Hitchcock’s films are a testament to his autonomy-but there was one person whose ideas and advice he valued above all others: his wife, Alma. Who was the woman behind the most famous film director in the world? Pat Hitchcock O’Connell offers rare insight into the life and career of her mother and father, and finally reveals Alma’s extraordinary contribution to the Hitchcock legacy. …

Hitchcock is often held up as the prime example of the one-man filmmaker, conceiving and controlling all aspects of his films’ development–the archetype of genius over collaboration. An exhibition at the Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University, however, put the lie to Hitchcock-as-auteur, presenting more than seventy-five sketches, designs, watercolors, paintings, and storyboards that, together, examine Hitchcock’s very collaborative film-making process. …

Looking for Alfred documents Johan Grimonprez’s prize-winning film of the same name, an homage to Alfred Hitchcock in the form of a search for the perfect Hitchcock doppelganger and vignettes starring those multiple would-be Hitchcocks, reenacting his cameos. …

This index covers over 300 journal and magazine titles for film and television reviews, scholarly and critical analysis of cinema and television, and articles of popular interest about film and television.

Master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock presents several short stories. The stories are invariably surprising, often containing elements of horror, comedy, suspense, and the supernatural.

Alfred HItchcock, master of suspense, always started out his show with the line ‘Good Evening.’ Loaded with twists, turns, and things that go bump in the night, view this storyteller’s classic tales with some of the biggest names in showbiz.

This book analyzes some 68 works directed by Hitchcock–including notable silents, all of his films from the early 1930s on, the two French propaganda shorts from WWII, and episodes of his television program–assessing his development as an artist. Each analysis is supplemented by key film facts, trivia, awards, a guide to his cameos, and a listing of available DVD releases.