A comprehensive, behind-the-scenes examination of the work of director Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980). Fully illustrated throughout in colour and black and white, this book examines all of the director's career, from the early films made in the UK in the 20th and 30th, to his move to Hollywood where he became co-producer as well as director of his films. It therefore provides an overview of his movies as well as being a visual celebration of one of the word's most renowned directors. Many of the illustrations are published here for the first time and include film stills, shots from film sets, storyboards and reproductions of Hitchcock's annotated scripts. The book also includes a complete filmography.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
Considering the wealth of Alfred Hitchcock books produced recently, it's good that Krohn (Hollywood correspondent for the influential Cahiers du cin ma) finds the director's oeuvre inexhaustible. First published last year in France, where it won the Prix de la Critique, this book refutes the director's mythology. Krohn argues that the enigmatic director, once quoted as saying that once the screenplay was finished the actual making of the film bored him, was more open to improvisation and less a slave to the script and storyboard than his public image allowed. Focusing on the Hollywood years, Krohn examines each of the major films and details the progression of the filming, from casting to titling, adding interesting commentary gleaned from Hitchcock's papers. Although the thesis is a bit overstated, the sumptuous photographs alone make this a necessary addition to film libraries. A very readable treatment for scholars and popular audiences and a fine study for film collections.DKelli Perkins, Herrick Dist. Lib., Holland, MI
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From the Publisher
A comprehensive, behind-the-scenes examination of the work of director Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980). Fully illustrated throughout in colour and black and white, this book examines all of the director's career, from the early films made in the UK in the 20th and 30th, to his move to Hollywood where he became co-producer as well as director of his films. It therefore provides an overview of his movies as well as being a visual celebration of one of the word's most renowned directors. Many of the illustrations are published here for the first time and include film stills, shots from film sets, storyboards and reproductions of Hitchcock's annotated scripts. The book also includes a complete filmography.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Krohn at work on Hitchcock,
This review is from: Hitchcock At Work (Hardcover)
First and foremost I shoud state that although I consider myself a film buff, I emphatically dislike the medium of coffee table books. They appear to be just another way to rip off consumers by creating great expensive "packages" with little or no substance. There are of course exceptions to this generality and the best one I've seen so far is this epic retelling by Bill Krohn of the work of Alfred Hitchcock. The Master's centennial has come and gone and with it so has the media hoopla surrounding him that made any interested fan at a loss to find the right vehicle to discover what it was that made him indeed the Master. Now that the dust has settled, Bill Krohn's book on Hitchcock emerges as the undisputed source for Hitchcock's film work. Yes, it is formatted as a coffee table tome but this unprecedented work requires nothing less.Meticulously researched, Krohn has done the unthinkable in his text and graphics by not only debunking the great myth of the director tyranically planning the enitre film in advance of production but uses storyboards and the like to prove this worthy point. Nor does Krohn rely solely on the sometimes faulty memory of the directors collaborators. He substantiates all claims with archival production notes to state emphatically once and for all that Hitchcock's genuis lay not in the pre-programmed myth of his work but his ability to be malleable in the collective art of filmmaking. In short, Bill Krohn's book has made me re-evealute the coffee table book format and more importantly, the work of the great Alfred Hitchcock!
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hitchcock at Work - Not Just Another Picture Book,
This review is from: Hitchcock At Work (Hardcover)
Anyone trying to decide whether to buy Bill Krohn's new, award-winning Hitchcock at Work should know that this reviewer is particularly pleased to be able to offer an unqualified thumbs up. Using original sources and applying a formidable intellect, Krohn has assembled the kind of "behind the camera" quiltwork that humanizes Hitchcock the great director without debunking the genius of the master's artistry. Real-life events and historic accuracy are the high octane fuel of the prose, and a great selection of finely printed color and black and white photos, from the archives, from the movies and from selected production sources, add depth and texture. Those who know Krohn and his seemingly boundless knowledge of films, directors, writers, actors, camera people and producers, will not be surprised to find in Hitchcock at Work the kind of revelations that make the best biographies compelling reading. The book is big in every way. Hitchcock at Work not only has visual coffee-table appeal, but is also an excellent reference tool. It will surprise and delight real cineastes and casual movie goers alike. In addition, Krohn writes from the perspective of someone who understands how movies are made. His years as a publicist at Fox and the work he did posthumously on behalf of Orson Wells, assembling and producing a completed version of that director's previously unfinished South American movie, along with decades of critical writing for the prestigious Cahiers du Cinema, give him a rare skillset with which to gently and precisely open up Hitchcock's world in ways hitherto unavailable to film buffs and audiences. But Krohn is no intellectual snob. His excellent prose style is clear and readable. If you can only buy one book about Hitchcock, this is the one, whether for its film history, detail and insights, or simply because you want easy access to the many images and visual delights which Hitchcock brought to the screen. Five stars aren't enough! END
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An essential book about a great director,
By
This review is from: Hitchcock At Work (Paperback)
In essence, this is a book intended to demythologize Alfred Hitchcock. It has long been a staple of criticism on Hitchcock's films to buy into his assertions that he made his films in his head, via screenplays and storyboards, prior to production, and that the production itself was largely irrelevant. This claim, amazingly, has gone largely uncontested until Krohn's book comes along and shatters it to pieces. One would expect that that sort of demythologization would result in a feeling that Hitchcock's films were, somehow, less great than we felt them to be before, but that is anything but the case. If anything, Krohn's work reaffirms Hitchcock's status as one of the all-time great filmmakers.A previous reviewer criticized Krohn's book for giving some films more attention than others. Why carp? What's here is great, and it is reasonable to assume that Hitchcock improvised more on some sets than he did on others, and that the sort of documentation one needs to do the necessary research was more in abundance for some films than for others. Therefore, it is unfair to expect a film-by-film rundown. What we should focus on is what IS in the book, not what isn't, and what's here is amongst the most important work ever done on Hitchcock's films. If you are a fan of Hitchcock's, and enjoy reading about his films as well as watching them, then you owe it to yourself to own this book.
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