Alfred Hitchcock: The Master of Suspense: A Pop-up Book

Book Description

Known worldwide as the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980) had an incredible directing career that spanned five decades and more than fifty films. He earned numerous awards, inspired countless publications and festivals, and spawned a new era in suspense cinema.

This spectacular pop-up pays tribute to the great filmmaker and features seven of his most influential films: Saboteur, Vertigo, Psycho, The Birds, Marnie, Torn Curtain, and Frenzy. With stunning three-dimensional paper engineering by Kees Moerbeek highlighting pivotal moments and Hitchcock's cameo in each film, Alfred Hitchcock: The Master of Suspense will be treasured by fans and film lovers alike for years to come.

Customer Reviews:

Seven Suspensfull Scenes.......2007-04-12

Seven of Alfred Hitchcock's most famous films are brought to life by Kees Moerbeek's complex paper engineering. Each of seven spreads is a large montage of scenes from the film and includes a brief synopsis of the plot. You may also lift a flap and view the scene in which Hitchcock has placed himself in the movie, something he did in almost every film he made. This is a must-have for any Hitchcock fan, and for pop-up collectors as well

Wonderful tribute to the master!.......2007-03-22

A visual delight & work of art! Though I would have liked more text, this would probably have detracted from the book's artistry & visual appeal; as it is, the text that is present is full of quirky facts & fits quite nicely with the images. Very unique & fun book!

Hitchcock Book.......2007-01-19

When I read a review about this book in the Washington Post, I thought it would make a good present for my son because Hitchcock is one of his favorite directors. My son does not, however, enjoy reading, so I wasn't sure if he would want the book. Much to my pleasure he told me it was one of his favorite Christmas presents he received.

Not exactly impressed.......2007-01-19

I gave my GF this pop-up book for Xmas. She is a big Hitchcock fan. I thought she would be really impressed but she just briefly flipped through and barely raised an eyebrow. The other day I saw it buried under a pile of junk in her room. It's a good idea but not all that interesting to look at.
I had read a glowing review of the book and the techincal genius of the "paper engineers" who constructed it in the Wall St. Journal. While some of the displays are amusing, ultimately, I was not all that impressed and found the report in the WSJ to be exaggerated.
Makes a good coffee table book.

Perfect!.......2007-01-10

This book is so unique and a must for any Hitchcock movie fan. It gave great info on the movies it covered. I just wish it had "all" of his movies!

Average customer rating:

One of three best Hitchcock books
A terrific book about a film master of suspense
A really great conversation about film.
I didn't actually read it
If you like the cinema, this book is a must for you!

Hitchcock (Revised Edition)
Helen G. Scott , and Francois Truffaut
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0671604295

Amazon.com

Any book-length interview with Alfred Hitchcock is valuable, but considering that this volume's interlocutor is François Truffaut, the conversation is remarkable indeed. Here is a rare opportunity to eavesdrop on two cinematic masters from very different backgrounds as they cover each of Hitch's films in succession. Though this book was initially published in 1967 when Hitchcock was still active, Truffaut later prepared a revised edition that covered the final stages of his career. It's difficult to think of a more informative or entertaining introduction to Hitchcock's art, interests, and peculiar sense of humor. The book is a storehouse of insight and witticism, including the master's impressions of a classic like Rear Window ("I was feeling very creative at the time, the batteries were well charged"), his technical insight into Psycho's shower scene ("the knife never touched the body; it was all done in the [editing]"), and his ruminations on flops such as Under Capricorn ("If I were to make another picture in Australia today, I'd have a policeman hop into the pocket of a kangaroo and yell 'Follow that car!'"). This is one of the most delightful film books in print. --Raphael Shargel

Customer Reviews:

One of three best Hitchcock books.......2007-09-08

Alfred Hitchcock rarely granted interviews. He did so only when it was required for publicity for his TV series and his movies. But in the late 1960s, French director Francois Truffaut interviewed Hitchcock at length (something like 2 or 3 hours a day for five days straight) and from a director-to-director standpoint, the book covers each and every one of Hitchcock's movies and "in-his-own-words" format. So Hitchcock is constantly commenting about his films. Truffaut thankfully, lets Hitchcock do much of the talking. There is no other book like this one and of the three must-have books on Alfred Hitchcock, this is on the top of the list.

Examples: When Truffaut asked Hitchcock why he appears at the close of the opening credits of NORTH BY NORTHWEST, the director commented that his in-joke of appearing in "almost" every movie distracted audiences spending time looking for him, shortly after the success of the TV show, hence the reason why the director made his on-screen appearances in the beginning of each of his movies after 1956, and not in the middle or end. Remember the scene in which Eva Marie Saint pulls a gun out and shoots Cary Grant towards the end of the picture? Hitchcock commented that a blooper is in that scene. A young boy in the background puts his fingers in his ears BEFORE she pulls the gun out of the purse. When Truffaut commented that Hitchcock won his only Oscar for Rebecca, which won the Academy Award for best picture of the year, Hitch corrected him saying he did not. He wold have had he won best director. The best picture Oscar went to Selznick, the producer.

There is no other book like this. It's filled with page after page of info.

(The other two must-reads are the Donald Spoto's "Art of Alfred Hitchcock" book and Grams and Wikstrom's "The Alfred Hitchcock Presents Companion". Together with these two and this book, you have the essential library and all-you-really-need references for all things Hitchcock.)

A terrific book about a film master of suspense.......2007-07-02

Yes, I'm one of those who can't hear Gounod's "Funeral March of a Marionette" without thinking of the Alfred Hitchcock Presents series that used it for a title theme.

This book is about Hitchcock and his more than 50 movies. And it is a fine work. Francois Truffaut writes it by supplying us with the results of a set of interviews with Hitchcock, and I think this works very well.

Hitchcock was an unrivaled master of suspense. Other considerations were secondary. Did the villains seem to take absurd chances or appear inadequately motivated? Well, sometimes they did, but that was not a big problem. Even in "Vertigo" Hitchcock admits that there is a "flaw" in the plot, as the entire idea by which the murderer has planned to escape might not work at all. But that did not bother me, and I doubt that it bothered Hitchcock very much either.

Another minor consideration was the exact nature of the items that the bad guys (or the good guys) make such desperate moves to acquire or defend. Hitchcock simply called such an item (such as some secret documents) a "MacGuffin." In the superb "North by Northwest" we see the exact nature of this item reduced to total insignificance (with the only comment being "government secrets"), and the movie is not any poorer for it. We do find out in this book that in 1944 (well before Hiroshima), Hitchcock wanted to use uranium as a MacGuffin, and he explained to a producer that the uranium was going to be used to make an atom bomb. Of course, when Hitchcock tried to ask a well-known physicist how big an atom bomb would be, he got a very evasive reply (and it turned out that the FBI put Hitchcock under surveillance for three months after that).

As Hitchcock explains, suspense is very different from surprise. If something dramatic happens out of the clear blue sky, the audience will be surprised. But suspense is achieved by letting the audience know that something is probably about to happen. Of course, surprise is not bad; it too is an essential element of many Hitchcock films.

Hitchcock gave himself bit parts in pretty much all of his movies; it was one of his trademarks. I'd always look to see where he'd show up when I saw a Hitchcock film. And Truffaut tells us and shows us quite a bit about these roles as well.

I admit that I was not very happy with one of the first Hitchcock movies I saw. You see, in John Buchan's exciting book, "The Thirty-nine Steps," the hero cracks the code of a now dead man to figure out the story left in a notebook. And there is this phrase in it that gets repeated a few times.

"('Thirty-nine steps') was the phrase; and at its last time of use it ran--('Thirty-nine steps, I counted them--high tide 10.17 p.m.')."

It is interesting to see the mystery worked out. And I was wondering how Hitchcock would handle it. Perhaps he would have either the victim or the hero miscount the steps! I was disappointed. The movie, albeit suspenseful, had nothing to do with either 39 or steps. It would have been better had it been titled with some mild double-entendre, such as "The Rubber Band" (the name of a very different mystery that has nothing to do with Hitchcock).

On the other hand, I truly enjoyed many other Hitchcock movies (one of my favorites is "The Trouble With Harry"). And this book is a very good and rather comprehensive tribute to Hitchcock and his cinematography. By the way, Truffaut dedicated it to Hitchcock's daughter, Patricia, who appeared in at least three of Hitchcock's movies and played an important role in "Strangers on a Train."

If you liked some of Hitchcock's movies, you'll probably find this book fascinating.

A really great conversation about film........2006-05-08

This book is a simple idea - Francois Truffaut interviews Alfred Hitchcock about his career. The simplicity makes for an engaging read. The book offers a unique look into the art of film. While it's technically an interview, it reads more like a casual conversation between two people who are incredibly skilled at what they do. If you love behind-the-scenes history of movies, you must pick up this book. Hitchcock talks about everything from casting to costumes to set design for every movie he ever made.

The book starts with Hitchcock's childhood and his first days making silent films in England in the 20's. The interview traces his career all the way to 1966's Torn Curtain. The concluding chapter includes a short interview on Frenzy, Hitch's 1972 hit, and offers Truffaut's comments on Topaz and Family Plot. It also gives a brief summary of The Short Night, a screenplay Hitch was working on shortly before his death. Truffaut also objectively examines the decline in quality of Hitchcock's films toward the end of his career, and explains his interesting theory of great flawed films.

If you love Hitchcock movies, the history of cinema, or the theory of directing, you'll enjoy this book.

I didn't actually read it.......2005-08-07

I bought this book as a gift for my brother who is going into film school soon, and it looks KICK ASS. It was mentioned in the dvd commentary of "The 400 Blows." I hope to borrow it from my bro at some juncture.

If you like the cinema, this book is a must for you! .......2005-07-19

Fifty hours, five hundred questions. This a provocative book. Two filmmakers talking about cinema: the circumstances that surrounded every film, the script elaboration, the backstage problems, the minutely precise reconstruction of the Hitchcock work enriched by the little anecdotes and the penetrating intelligence of Truffaut make of this text an absolute reference consult to explore the intimate universe of the suspense master.
And please don't forget that Truffaut made the Bride wore black in the middle sixties as perpetual homage to A.H.

Average customer rating:

"Must" reading for all Hitchcock fans!
The master's canon
Excellent presentation, too little room to develop it

The Alfred Hitchcock Story
Ken Mogg
Manufacturer: Taylor Trade Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0878331638

Book Description

The authoritative guide to the world's best-loved and most respected film director. The story combines complete stroy synopes, insightful commentary, and a stunning collection of photographs to capture the essence of the acclaimed Master of Suspense.

Customer Reviews:

"Must" reading for all Hitchcock fans!.......2000-03-04

Film director Alfred Hitchcock was a master of suspense: this survey of his film contributions gathers over 300 photos from throughout his life, providing an excellent collection of revealing images spiced with film reviews and sidebars of facts. Highly recommended for any Hitchcock fan.

The master's canon.......2000-02-26

Interested in the films he directed, or just a hitchcock fan? Either way this book is a must. Not only does it cover every film he directed, but there are nice little extras on the stars he worked with, the writing process and even a look at films he inspired. The book is beautifully laid out, yet if you are looking for close analysis then this is not what you want. It looks at each film and talks about them, but there is no hard depth to this material - this is just a good look at the entire canon.

Excellent presentation, too little room to develop it.......1999-11-09

Reference books make great gifts because they can be pretty useful for years to come. Some of them are even attractive enough to leave out on coffee tables for guests to flip through when conversation drags. by Ken Mogg (Taylor Publishing Company, 1999) is probably the most attractively produced book on that much written about director. It is well organized, each of the Master's films getting anywhere from one to five or six pages, well illustrated, with several specialized items to keep us abreast of trends in Hitch's career. For example, there is a list of all his cameo appearances in his films, a brief examination of his film techniques, his use of famous locations, and so on. Especially welcome are little inserts of trivia, such as the story behind the song the children are singing as The Birds are massing outside in the playground, and a generous number of lobby card reproductions. There is also a good discussion of his television series and even his paperback anthologies. In short, Mr. Mogg does not concentrate entirely on the films, although they do take up the bulk of the volume. By the way, listing Janet Leigh as co-author on this website is misleading: she only wrote a one-page introduction that is quite amusing. My only complaint is that 211 pages are not enough room to handle this wealth of material; and here and there I feel much more of value could have been said had the author been given more space. (Hence the one star less in my rating.) Still such a comment merely shows how much I like this book and many of you will too.

The Films of Alfred Hitchcock (Cambridge Film Classics)

Average customer rating:

a MUST for Hitchcock fans

The Films of Alfred Hitchcock (Cambridge Film Classics)
David Sterritt
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0521398142

Book Description

The introduction gives an overview of Hitchcock's long career, with special attention to the varied influences on his work; themes that run through many of his films, from the "transference of guilt," to the connection between knowledge and danger; the overlooked importance of his presence within his films, including his famous cameo appearances and characters who represent him within the story; his fascination with performance and the ambiguities of illusion and reality; the question of viewing him and his work through the auteur theory; and other issues. Also discussed is the relationship between Hitchcock as a serious, even tormented artist and Hitchcock as a magician with a weakness for cinematic practical jokes. Six chapters then provide in-depth examinations of key films: Blackmail, his first talkie; Shadow of a Doubt, one of his personal favorites; The Wrong Man, which questions the nature of guilt and innocence; Vertigo, arguably his most profound work; Psycho, his most savage look at the nature of evil; and The Birds, his last masterpiece and one of his most widely misunderstood works. David Sterritt is film critic at The Christian Science Monitor and Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Graduate Film Division of Columbia University.

Customer Reviews:

a MUST for Hitchcock fans.......2000-03-31

Sterritt's book is somewhat modest compared to the many other tomes on cinema's Grand Wizard; he tackles only a dozen or so of the films in a few unassuming essays -- but he does a brilliant job, adding to the wealth of insights on such classics as "Shadow of a Doubt." His piece on "Psycho" is outrageous, claiming that it's actually a film about MONEY, and that money is equated with human excrement -- and he proves his case! (Marion flushes her calculations down the toilet; Cassidy says, "She sat there while I dumped it out"!) The introductory essay is also very insightful, esp. about Hitch's oversight of his own films. (Sterritt claims that H's cameos are signs that he is ever-present and always monitoring his creation.) I love Hitch, I have practically every book written about him and his work, and I can recommend this book unreservedly.

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The Analysis of Film
Raymond Bellour
Manufacturer: Indiana University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0253213649

Book Description

The Analysis of Film brings together Raymond Bellour's now-classic studies of classic Hollywood film. It is at once a book about the methods of close film analysis, the narrative structure of Hollywood film, Hitchcock's work--The Birds, Marnie, Psycho, North by Northwest--and the role of the woman in western representation. But, finally, it is a book about cinema itself and the love for cinema that drives the passion for analyzing the supreme art form of the twentieth century.

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A Hitchcock Reader

Manufacturer: Blackwell Publishing Professional
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0813808928

Footsteps in the Fog: Alfred Hitchcock's San Francisco

Average customer rating:

packed full of facts and photos
Order not received yet
Cinema history and travel guide
Great book for Hitchcock lovers!
Undiscovered Country

Footsteps in the Fog: Alfred Hitchcock's San Francisco
Jeff Kraft , and Aaron Leventhal
Manufacturer: Santa Monica Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1891661272

Book Description

A celebration of the San Francisco films of Alfred Hitchcock, this book examines the master director's familiarity with Northern California and how it greatly influenced his decision to use the Bay Area location in several of his landmark motion pictures. More importantly, this book shows how San Francisco was often the source of inspiration for many of these same cinema classics. The masterpieces that are examined are Shadow of a Doubt, Vertigo, The Birds, Suspicion, Psycho, and Family Plot. Hitchcock fans are taken on a journey around the Bay Area, experiencing cinemagraphic intrigue and learning about Bay Area history, lore, and the timeless elegance of San Francisco and its picturesque surroundings. Hundreds of historical and contemporary photos are included, with an emphasis on those buildings and businesses that no longer exist.

Customer Reviews:

packed full of facts and photos.......2007-09-28

I always figured that Hitchcock's roots were in England or Hollywood, but after reading this book, I realized that he had many connections to the San Francisco area. Smart man.

The amount of detail in this book can be overwhelming, but if you just peruse it and enjoy the photos, it's fun. And it's especially useful if you are planning a trip to the Bay Area and enjoy seeing movie locations.

Order not received yet.......2007-02-08

Subject of order not received yet. However, according to your confirmation, the deadline for the delivery estimate was Feb 14. So, I am still waiting. The reason for the rate "1 star" is that otherwise the review would not be submitted. I surely expect to revise the rate as soon as I get and read the book.

Cinema history and travel guide.......2007-01-19

We used "Footsteps in the Fog" to plan part of a recent vacation to the San Francisco Bay area, including a trip down to San Juan Bautista. Not at all a conventional travel guide, but very useful for a Hitchcock fan visiting the area!

Great book for Hitchcock lovers!.......2006-09-01

I have been a fan of Hitchcock since I was little as one of my dad's favorite films is "The Birds" and he and I watched it many times while I was growing up. After I got older I discovered some of Hitch's other films and have loved his work for quite a while.

I was able to visit San Francisco and northern California in 2004 and one of the places I wanted to visit while there was Bodega Bay where they filmed The Birds. We rented a car and drove up the coast to Bodega Bay and it was in the Bodega Bay restaurant/gift shop where I bought this book and spent most of the flight back home reading it and once home I couldn't put it down. It is wonderful and the authors couldn't have done a better job with their research.

I had only seen Vertigo once before I bought the book, but have since bought it on DVD and really love it and love all the details in the book about the filming locations, etc.

A few weeks ago Encore Mystery had a marathon of Hitch movies in honor of his birthday and I got out the book and re-read parts of it while watching Vertigo. It is amazing to me how detailed the authors are with their photos of the filming locations and how they looked then and now. Lots of great little tidbits about the locations too!

Great book and highly recommended!!!!

Undiscovered Country.......2006-06-19

This is undiscovered country if you have not been paying close attention to your Hitchcock films. The concept of this book is intuitive. These places were there all along in all of Hitchcock's film. But San Francisco seems to hold a special place for Hitchcock. This is a rich study into the meaning that San Francisco holds fot Hitchcock.

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Alfred Hitchcock: Centenary Essays
Sam Gonzalez
Manufacturer: British Film Institute
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0851707351

Amazon.com

If you're looking for more information about the films, versatility, and lasting impact of Alfred Hitchcock, Hitchcock: Centenary Essays should sate your hunger. Celebrating the 100th anniversary of Hitchcock's birth, editors Richard Allen and S. Ishi Gonzales have assembled a collection of essays that cover not only the gamut of Hitchcock's movies, but also their continuing importance in today's culture. Acclaimed critics and theorists like Slavoj Zizek, Peter Wollen, Brigitte Peucker, William Rothman, Susan White, Raymond Bellour, and Lee Edelman contribute essays on famous films like Vertigo, Psycho, and The Thirty-Nine Steps, as well as lesser-known works like Stage Fright, Rope, Foreign Correspondent, and Marnie.

The book also covers Hitchcock's status as the "master of suspense," his forays into the genre of film noir, his interest in painting and sculpture, his humor, and his vision of the future. (It even offers a chapter somewhat mysteriously entitled "The Hitchcockian Blot.") "This centenary," the editors write, "provides us with the ideal occasion to consider the nature of Hitchcock's achievement as a filmmaker, the relationship between the artist and the authorial persona he partially (and ingeniously) manufactured, and the relationship of the director's work to the larger political and economic forces that shaped it. It also happens to coincide with the end of the twentieth century.... We would like to suggest that Hitchcock is the century's exemplary artist." --Raphael Shargel

Book Description

Born in 1899, Alfred Hitchcock directed 57 films in a fifty year career that spanned the history of the moving image, from the silent era to stereo sound, black-and white to Technicolor, widescreen to television, and from Europe to Hollywood. His oeuvre has so comprehensively engaged the attentions of scholars of all critical persuasions that the study of his films is synonymous with the study of the art of cinema itself.
Alfred Hitchcock: Centenary Essays displays the range and breadth of Hitchcock scholarship and assesses the significance of his singular body of work. The book engages with Hitchcock's characteristic formal and aesthetic preoccupations, his relationship with modernism and politics and his engagement with romance and sexuality.
This volume of essays draws on the best of current Hitchcock criticism and opens up new directions for Hitchcock scholarship.

Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho: A Casebook (Casebooks in Criticism)

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Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho: A Casebook (Casebooks in Criticism)

Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0195169190

Book Description

Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho: A Casebook collects some of the finest essays on this groundbreaking film--a film that is ideal for teaching the language of cinema and the ways in which strong filmmakers can break Hollywood conventions. Psycho is a film that can be used to present the structures of composition and cutting, narrative and genre building, and point of view. The film is also a highpoint of the horror genre and an instigator of all the slasher films to come in its wake. The essays in the casebook cover all of these elements and more. They also serve another purpose: presented chronologically, they represent the changes in the methodologies of film criticism, from the first journalist reviews and early auteurist approaches, through current psychoanalytic and gender criticism. Other selections include an analysis of Bernard Hermann's score and its close relationship to Hitchcock's visual construction; the famous Hitchcock interview by Francois Truffaut; and an essay by Robert Kolker that, through the use of stills taken directly from the film, closely reads its extraordinary cinematic structure. Contributors include Robert Kolker, Stephen Rebello, Bosley Crowther, Jean Douchet, Robin Wood, Raymond Durgnat, Royal S. Brown, George Toles, Robert Samuels, and Linda Williams.

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Interesting But Spotty
Wood
The Price of Innovation
As brilliant as it is controversial
Occasionally insightful and obscure at the same time

Hitchcock's Films Revisited
Robin Wood
Manufacturer: Columbia University Press
ProductGroup: Book
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ASIN: 0231126956

Amazon.com

This is really two books in one. It contains the entire text of Robin Wood's groundbreaking Hitchcock's Films and supplements it with articles and commentaries on Hitchcock that Wood wrote from the time of that book's publication until today. Tracing the trajectory of Hitchcock's career, Hitchcock's Films Revisited also allows us to follow the intellectual and emotional development of one of the cinema's major critics. Wood's close readings are always revelatory and exciting, and this volume contains probably the best single essay ever written on a Hitchcock movie, Wood's analysis of Vertigo.

Book Description

When Hitchcock's Films was first published, it quickly became known as a new kind of book on film -- one that came to be considered a necessary text in the Hitchcock bibliography. When Robin Wood returned to his writings on Hitchcock's films and published Hitchcock's Films Revisited in 1989, the multi-dimensional essays took on a new shape -- one that was tempered by Wood's own development as a critic.

This new revised edition of Hitchcock's Films Revisited includes a substantial new preface in which Wood reveals his personal history as a film scholar -- including his coming out as a gay man, his views on his previous critical work, and how his writings, his love of film, and his personal life have remained deeply intertwined through the years. This revised edition includes all original eighteen essays and a new chapter on Marnie titled "Does Mark Cure Marnie? Or, 'You Freud, Me Hitchcock.'"

Customer Reviews:

Interesting But Spotty.......2007-04-02

On the rare occasions when they bothered to contemplate him and his work, arts intelligentsia relegated Alfred Hitchcock to the status of competent craftsman of popular thrillers--until the 1960s, when a few critics began a major re-evaluation of his work. Among the best known of these was Robin Wood, who published HITCHCOCK'S FILMS in 1965. It would be among the first critical texts to give Hitchcock the status of master artist.

Republished as HITCHCOCK'S FILMS REVISITED, most of the body of the book remains the same as the originally titled HITCHCOCK'S FILMS, a critical study of eight of Hitchcock's then most recent films: STRANGERS ON A TRAIN, REAR WINDOW, VERTIGO, NORTH BY NORTHWEST, PSYCHO, THE BIRDS, MARNIE, and TORN CURTAIN. But then as now, the study is very problematic, and this has a great deal less to do with the films than with the fact that Wood is much like the Mother Goose nursery rhyme. When he is good he is very, very good, but when he is bad he is horrid.

Wood was among the first to rescue VERTIGO from the dismissive reviews and tepid audience response it received upon its debut, and his comments here are tremendously insightful; he is no less effective in his studies of REAR WINDOW and PSYCHO. His thoughts on STRANGERS ON A TRAIN are excessively pendantic and have a forced quality, but they are none the less interesting. He does not manage to convince me that I should regard NORTH BY NORTHWEST as a masterpiece, but even so he makes a good case.

In his opening remarks, Wood states that he is not among those fans for whom Hitchcock can do no wrong, and attempts to prove his point by citing several famous Hitchcock films that he considers weak. Indeed, he largely dismisses virtually every film Hitchcock made before 1940 and has a tendency to regard Hitchcock's films of the 1940s as developmental. But there is no two ways about it: he is completely off the mark when describes THE BIRDS and MARNIE as masterpieces and TORN CURTAIN as merely disappointing.

The basic problem is that Wood focuses on thematic elements to the virtual exclusion of everything else. It is true that Hitchcock tends toward certain themes--perhaps most obviously an ironic form of individual isolation--so it is hardly surprising that these also occur in THE BIRDS, MARNIE, and TORN CURTAIN. Indeed it would be a shock if they did not. But thematic presence does not necessarily qualify a film for the description of "masterpiece," and where THE BIRDS and MARNIE are concerned Wood throws the word around much too freely for my liking.

The great strength of both THE BIRDS and MARNIE is their numerous set pieces, many of which are very famous and all of which are highly watchable. In each instance, however, the film emerges as a premise in search of a viable plot, and whatever thematic interest may exist pales alongside this very fundamental fact. TORN CURTAIN has several interesting performances in the supporting cast and one truly spectacular Hitchcockian set piece, but it is chiefly remarkable for being among the handful of boring films that Hitchcock made, and no amount of thematic presence can alter this rather basic observation.

Wood has annotated his original text with subsequent articles, and the same situation holds true here as well: he tends to offer praise to those films that have something he can identify as a consistent thematic purpose and dismiss those that do not, all of it without regard to whether or not the film actually works as a film. His comments are not without interest, but in the end these are the musings of a literary scholar instead of an individual who has any real idea of the difference between "interesting failure" and "cinema masterpiece."

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

Wood.......2006-05-25

There are alot of cool insights and interesting ways of looking at the several of Hitchcocks's films in this book, but....Wood's prose is choppy and a real bitch to read. I feel like he is constantly making an exposition on some great insight into the films and then he sort of drops it, leaving the reader feeling a little cheated. The introduction is very long and not really applicable? Who cares that you are a gay marxist. The only real critique from a marxist perspective is the chapter on blackmail. this isnt your autobiography, and I don't really care to draw connections between your evolutuion in criticism and the events of your life. That said.. The second half is superior to the first. The first half reads like a high school english teacher wrote it. The second half has some gems. Specifically the chapters on Blackmail, Rope, The Man who knew too much

The Price of Innovation.......2005-10-09

Forty years ago Robin Wood joined a then-small number of serious critics who urged that Hitchcock be taken seriously. Since many of those critics did not receive a wide reading, Wood's effort was of extreme significance in garnering Hitch the respect he deserved.

It's wonderful to note that Wood, still writing, has continued to update his first work without repudiating or diluting any of it. He made some highly daring observations in 1966, which so many writers ridiculed or dismissed. His originality and critical integrity is so notable, though, that it has weathered these attacks and survived to the present, in actually even better form.

Consider, for example, that Wood countered a then-contemporary tend in dismissing "Marnie" as a failure. Instead, in his first book and most recent edition, he insists that "Marnie" be counted in among films like Psycho, The Birds, Vertigo and North by Northwest as a masterly pairing of visual images addressing psychological elements. And who else before Wood saw the utterly original qualities of "Vertigo," or deconstructed them more effectively?

You won't be sorry to have this book in your library. It originated a critical lanugage of film, and celebrated one of film's greatest contributors in a unique way.

As brilliant as it is controversial.......2005-09-08

Most of the comments posted about this book are embarrassing in their refusal to engage properly with what Robin Wood is actually trying to argue. Previous readers appear to resent Wood's desire to take the cinema seriously, and suggest that we should look to Hitchcock's films for no more than "craft" and "technique". If that's all one is concerned with, I'm not sure why it would be worth reading a book on Hitchcock at all. Wood has always been firm in asserting that the experience of watching a film is both emotional and intellectual. Taking the cinema seriously doesn't mean one has to stop responding to it emotionally. Nor does Hitchcock's status as a consummate entertainer invalidate Wood's arguments that his films raise profound and troubling moral and political questions.

Wood writes beautifully. Complaints about his reliance on Freudian or Marxist terminology are wrongheaded - such terminology is in fact employed far more rarely than by most academic writers. Wood's use of language is magnificently precise and careful. It is true that he conducts his critique of Hitchcock, as of other filmmakers, from a leftwing viewpoint. One does not have to share his commitment to Marxism (a kind of reconstructed, humanistic Marxism, incidentally, which has nothing to do with the atrocities perpetrated by Mao or Stalin) in order to appreciate the strength of his analysis. Anyone who is prepared, as a reader, to engage in lively debate with a writer's ideological and moral assumptions, should be able to profit by reading Wood's book.

I certainly don't agree with everything Wood has to say either on a political or an aesthetic level. But no other writer on Hitchcock, or on the cinema, has the same depth, reach or passion for his subject. Hitchcock's Films Revisited, presenting in tandem Wood's earlier and later thoughts on one of the cinema's great masters, is not only great criticism; it is also a moving account of one man's personal and political evolution.

Occasionally insightful and obscure at the same time.......2004-01-26

Wood's seminal book was first published in 1966 and he has revised it since then on a number of occasions. This latest revision allows Wood to revisit his past and comment on both his acute observations on Hitchcock's films and comment some of the sillier concepts that dotted the original book as well. It's appropriate that Wood cites Freud as often as he does; Hitchcock was fascinated with psychoanalysis and it figures significantly in a number of films in one form or another. On the other hand, Wood also revisits many of the same films in the newer material and while the observations are always interesting, they are, at best just as overblown as some of his original inflated claims for Hitchcock as well.

Hitchcock's Films still stands as an essential read for Hitchcock fans and film students but much of what Wood has to say should be taken with a grain of salt. Wood frequently becomes so anayltical that he loses touch with the power and joy in Hitchcock's craft. Hitchcock's films are as much about his technique as they are about the themes that fascinated him. Hitchcock's Films isn't a bad book; it's a book that needs to be read by someone who has already developed enough critical skills to recognize when the author's arguements have become as full of hot air as a balloon.

Like all the hyperbole written about an important artistic figure, Wood's book has a number of noteable insights but, again, he reads more into the material than is there sometimes. I much prefer Patrick McGilligan's fine biography of Hitchcock. McGilligan manages to mix his observations with comments from people who actually were involved in the making of the films. We get insight from the artist's that collaborated with Hitchcock vs. second hand observations from someone sitting in a darkened cinema.

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