Customer Reviews

Alfred Hitchcock (Midsize)

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Although this is meant to be looked at more than read, you should choose this volume if you want to splendour occasionally over some very interesting Hitchcock movie frames, `on the set' photographs and family album memorials, this is more of a film makers enlightenment than a Hitchcock tome for information. There are hundreds of photographs, black & white and colour, many covering a full 20cm x 25cm page, or even two of them. There are plenty of shots of Hitchcock in the middle of direction, standing by an actor or beside a camera, waving his arms about or pulling a face. It is interesting to see the early Hollywood sets and dollies, the kind used by Orson Wells to the new wave 70s helicopter rigs flying alongside the river Themes. It is not the kind of book that we are supposed to read from back to back, but is there for our amusement as a coffee table picture book and certainly a fine reference manual for any film making enthusiast. I highly recommend it to complement a Hitchcock DVD film collection. I often turn the pages to reference a film I have just watched to see some of the set design. It also covers some interesting topics like where and when Hitchcock appears in his movies with still-frames for orientation. The binding is high quality. There is tons of stuff on framing and lighting including the dynamics of camera elevation. Each image is something to be deeply considered. I can not see a film maker go wrong using these images as a director's template. It is a bit of imaging bible in that respect.

The information in this book is few on any details. It basically rushes from one film to the next getting the "just of" Hitchcocks filmography in less than 200 pages in a book that is 50-60% photographs. Worse off it is not always completely accurate. Here is a good example of this books rushed and somewhat innaccurate information.

"Hitchcock realised that the only way he could make a lot of money was to move to America. He canvassed the studios in Hollywood with little success. Only David O. Selznick semmed interested so, after some haggling, Hitch signed a 4-picture deal with him on 14 July 1938."

This paragraph covers one of the more interesting parts of most Hitchcocks biographys. The transistion from Britain to America. It was a time full of uncertainty for Hitchcock and he was in some ways belittled from one of the greatest directors to being treated in some ways like a nobody. The story of how he struggled to get his first American project off the ground is indeed interesting. The line "Only David O. Selznick seemed interested" is completely false, infact lots of people had contracts waiting for Hitchcock to sign, and he most likely would'ive but he coulden't until DOS officially said yes or no since he got to him first. An entire chapter could be written on what this book squezzed into this one bland paragraph.

Yet why could I still recommened this book? Well its the pictures. As childish as it may sound the pictures are really good, and this book is full of them. As a companion to any full-fledged biography of Alfred Hitchcock, this book does wonders. As you move from movie to movie in your biography you can follow along visually as the book has excellent photos of even some of his rarest work like The Mountain Eagel.

I spent my $15 on this simply to use as a high quality photographic scrap book of movie stills, posters, behind the scenes photos etc of Hitchcocks filmography to accompany my much thicker and more detailed Hitchcock biography. I did not however buy this book for its information, and I don't recommend you should either.

Not much new here in the way of text, but the book does contain plenty of excellent photographs, many of which I have not seen before. A seriously great price for such a nice publication. Taschen certainly puts out some great stuff!