Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy

Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy
Author: Raymond Foery
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
Total Pages: 145
Release: 2023-06-14
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 0810877562

After an unparalleled string of artistic and commercial triumphs in the 1950s and 1960s, Alfred Hitchcock hit a career lull with the disappointing Torn Curtain and the disastrous Topaz. In 1971, the depressed director traveled to London, the city he had left in 1939 to make his reputation in Hollywood. The film he came to shoot there would mark a return to the style for which he had become known and would restore him to international acclaim. Like The 39 Steps, Saboteur, and North by Northwest before, Frenzy repeated the classic Hitchcock trope of a man on the run from the police while chasing down the real criminal. But unlike those previous works, Frenzy also featured some elements that were new to the master of suspense’s films, including explicit nudity, depraved behavior, and a brutal act that would challenge Psycho’s shower scene for the most disturbing depiction of violence in a Hitchcock film. In Alfred Hitchcock’s Frenzy: The Last Masterpiece, Raymond Foery recounts the history—writing, preprod

The Art of Alfred Hitchcock

The Art of Alfred Hitchcock
Author: Donald Spoto
Publisher: Anchor
Total Pages: 497
Release: 1991-12-01
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 0385418132

This definitive illustrated survey of all of Alfred Hitchcock's films is a book no movie buff or Hitchcock fan can afford to be without. The monumental scope of Alfred Hitchcock's work remains unsurpassed by any other movie director, past or present. So many of his movies have achieved classic status that even a partial list—Psycho, The Birds, Rear Window, Vertigo, Spellbound—brings a flood of memories. In this essential text, reissued on the occasion of Hitchcock's centennial, internationally renowned Hitchcock authority Donald Spoto describes and analyzes every movie made by this master filmmaker. Illustrated throughout with shots from each film, The Art of Alfred Hitchcock also includes a storyboard section, a complete filmography, and “A Hitchcock Album” (sixteen pages of photos) as an added celebration of his life.

The Art of Pure Cinema

The Art of Pure Cinema
Author: Bruce Isaacs
Publisher:
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2020
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 0190889950

In a now-famous interview with Fran�ois Truffaut in 1962, Alfred Hitchcock described his masterpiece Rear Window (1954) as "the purest expression of a cinematic idea." But what, precisely, did Hitchcock mean by pure cinema? Was pure cinema a function of mise en sc�ne, or composition within the frame? Was it a function of montage, "of pieces of film assembled"? This notion of pure cinema has intrigued and perplexed critics, theorists, and filmmakers alike in the decades following this discussion. And even across his 40-year career, Hitchcock's own ideas about pure cinema remained mired in a lack of detail, clarity, and analytical precision. The Art of Pure Cinema is the first book-length study to examine the historical foundations and stylistic mechanics of pure cinema. Author Bruce Isaacs explores the potential of a philosophical and artistic approach most explicitly demonstrated by Hitchcock in his later films, beginning with Hitchcock's contact with the European avant-garde film movement in the mid-1920s. Tracing the evolution of a philosophy of pure cinema across Hitchcock's most experimental works - Rear Window, Vertigo, North by Northwest, Psycho, The Birds, Marnie, and Frenzy - Isaacs rereads these works in a new and vital context. In addition to this historical account, the book presents the first examination of pure cinema as an integrated stylistics of mise en sc�ne, montage, and sound design. The films of so-called Hitchcockian imitators like Mario Bava, Dario Argento, and Brian De Palma are also examined in light of a provocative claim: that the art of pure cinema is only fully realized after Hitchcock.

The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock: An Anatomy of the Master of Suspense

The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock: An Anatomy of the Master of Suspense
Author: Edward White
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 343
Release: 2021-04-13
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1324002409

Winner of the 2022 Edgar Award for Best Biography An Economist Best Book of 2021 A fresh, innovative biography of the twentieth century’s most iconic filmmaker. In The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock, Edward White explores the Hitchcock phenomenon—what defines it, how it was invented, what it reveals about the man at its core, and how its legacy continues to shape our cultural world. The book’s twelve chapters illuminate different aspects of Hitchcock’s life and work: “The Boy Who Couldn’t Grow Up”; “The Murderer”; “The Auteur”; “The Womanizer”; “The Fat Man”; “The Dandy”; “The Family Man”; “The Voyeur”; “The Entertainer”; “The Pioneer”; “The Londoner”; “The Man of God.” Each of these angles reveals something fundamental about the man he was and the mythological creature he has become, presenting not just the life Hitchcock lived but also the various versions of himself that he projected, and those projected on his behalf. From Hitchcock’s early work in England to his most celebrated films, White astutely analyzes Hitchcock’s oeuvre and provides new interpretations. He also delves into Hitchcock’s ideas about gender; his complicated relationships with “his women”—not only Grace Kelly and Tippi Hedren but also his female audiences—as well as leading men such as Cary Grant, and writes movingly of Hitchcock’s devotion to his wife and lifelong companion, Alma, who made vital contributions to numerous classic Hitchcock films, and burnished his mythology. And White is trenchant in his assessment of the Hitchcock persona, so carefully created that Hitchcock became not only a figurehead for his own industry but nothing less than a cultural icon. Ultimately, White’s portrayal illuminates a vital truth: Hitchcock was more than a Hollywood titan; he was the definitive modern artist, and his significance reaches far beyond the confines of cinema.

Framing Hitchcock

Framing Hitchcock
Author: Sidney Gottlieb
Publisher: Wayne State University Press
Total Pages: 432
Release: 2002
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9780814330616

An engaging look at Alfred Hitchcock's work from all angles, culled from an authoritative source of Hitchcock film commentary. In its ten-year history, the Hitchcock Annual has established itself as a key source of historical information and critical commentary on one of the central figures in film history and arguably one of the most important artists of the twentieth century. Fans of Alfred Hitchcock--both scholars and general readers alike--will be entertained and informed by this selection of writings, which offers an overview of the current thinking on the filmmaker and his work. The articles span his career and cover a wide range of topics from archeological investigations uncovering new details about his working methods and conditions to incisive analyses of the films themselves. The collection begins with rare insights into Hitchcock's early years, including his work in Germany and his silent film Easy Virtue, which, with its metaphoric play on the concept of "being framed," dramatizes aspects of the human condition to which Hitchcock returned repeatedly. Commentators explore a variety of themes, including the centrality of kissing shots and sequences in nearly all the films, and images of women's handbags as elements of suspense and sexual tension in such films as Dial M for Murder and Psycho. Other essays examine the influence of Vertigo, The Birds, and Frenzy on François Truffaut, the remaking of Psycho, and feminist interpretations of Shadow of a Doubt. Interviews with Jay Presson Allen and Evan Hunter illuminate Hitchcock's working relationship with screenwriters, actors, and actresses. Written by established as well as emerging critics of Hitchcock, this fascinating collection will help shape future appreciation and interpretation of an enormously important and influential filmmaker.

Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock
Author: Michael Wood
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2018-03-20
Genre: Motion pictures
ISBN: 9781477801345

Widely regarded as the greatest filmmaker of the twentieth century, Alfred Hitchcock had a gift for creating suspense and a shrewd knowledge of human psychology. His film career, spanning more than half a century, is studded with classics from The 39 Steps to Psycho, North by Northwest to Vertigo (which in 2012 unseated Citizen Kane as the best movie of all time according to Sight and Sound). A master of intricate storytelling, Hitchcock was one of the first directors whose films belonged to both popular culture and high art. By the end of his life, he had gone from being the overweight son of a greengrocer in a London suburb to Hollywood's reigning director, whose cameo roles in his own films were one of their most anticipated features, and whose profile was recognized by millions (thanks to the television show Alfred Hitchcock Presents). Michael Wood describes this journey with the wit and erudition that are the trademarks of his work, showcasing his singular ability to detect hidden patterns within apparently disparate forms. Whether he is writing about Henry James or Hollywood in the 1920s, he is alert to the fundamental truth lurking behind the stated meaning. In Hitchcock, Wood has found his ideal subject--an artist for whom explicit statement was anathema, who made conventional plot a hiding place rather than a source of revelation.

Hitchcock and the Making of Marnie

Hitchcock and the Making of Marnie
Author: Tony Lee Moral
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2002
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780719064821

Hitchcock's 1964 psychological thriller 'Marnie' generated wider critical controversy than any other film of his career. This study details the film from conception to postproduction and marketing, showing the film-making process in action, with production details and participants' oral history.

The Strange Case of Alfred Hitchcock

The Strange Case of Alfred Hitchcock
Author: Raymond Durgnat
Publisher: Mit Press
Total Pages: 444
Release: 1978-03-01
Genre: Design
ISBN: 9780262540346

Reviewed in this book are all of Alfred Hitchcock's films, from The Pleasure Garden(1925) to Frenzy (1972).

Hitchcock

Hitchcock
Author: Francois Truffaut
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 368
Release: 2015-12-04
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1501143220

Iconic, groundbreaking interviews of Alfred Hitchcock by film critic François Truffaut—providing insight into the cinematic method, the history of film, and one of the greatest directors of all time. In Hitchcock, film critic François Truffaut presents fifty hours of interviews with Alfred Hitchcock about the whole of his vast directorial career, from his silent movies in Great Britain to his color films in Hollywood. The result is a portrait of one of the greatest directors the world has ever known, an all-round specialist who masterminded everything, from the screenplay and the photography to the editing and the soundtrack. Hitchcock discusses the inspiration behind his films and the art of creating fear and suspense, as well as giving strikingly honest assessments of his achievements and failures, his doubts and hopes. This peek into the brain of one of cinema’s greats is a must-read for all film aficionados.

Hitchcock

Hitchcock
Author: Robert E. Kapsis
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 370
Release: 2022-02-21
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 0226824659

From the beginning of his career, Alfred Hitchcock wanted to be considered an artist. Although his thrillers were immensely popular, and Hitchcock himself courted reviewers, he was, for many years, regarded as no more than a master craftsman. By the 1960s, though, critics began calling him an artist of unique vision and gifts. What happened to make Hitchcock's reputation as a true innovator and singular talent? Through a close examination of Hitchcock's personal papers, scripts, production notes, publicity files, correspondence, and hundreds of British and American reviews, Robert Kapsis here traces Hitchcock's changing critical fortunes. Vertigo, for instance, was considered a flawed film when first released; today it is viewed by many as the signal achievement of a great director. According to Kapsis, this dramatic change occurred because the making of the Hitchcock legend was not solely dependent on the quality of his films. Rather, his elevation to artist was caused by a successful blending of self-promotion, sponsorship by prominent members of the film community, and, most important, changes in critical theory which for the first time allowed for the idea of director as auteur. Kapsis also examines the careers of several other filmmakers who, like Hitchcock, have managed to cross the line that separates craftsman from artist, and shows how Hitchcock's legacy and reputation shed light on the way contemporary reputations are made. In a chapter about Brian De Palma, the most reknowned thriller director since Hitchcock, Kapsis explores how Hitchcock's legacy has affected contemporary work in—and criticism of—the thriller genre. Filled with fascinating anecdotes and intriguing excerpts, and augmented by interviews with Hitchcock's associates, this thoroughly documented and engagingly written book will appeal to scholars and film enthusiasts alike. "Required reading for Hitchcock scholars...scrupulously researched, invaluable material for those who continue to ask: what made the master tick?"—Anthony Perkins