Customer Reviews

Hitchcock and the Making of Marnie (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you're a fan of the film MARNIE, or a fan of Hitchcock, or are just interested in what's all involved in the development and production of a movie, this book is definitely recommended. It is really chock-full of details and helped me gain a deeper appreciation of a film that I already was fond of.

The only reason I didn't give the book four stars was that I think it could have benefitted from some careful editing. While there are a few typographical errors, those aren't the problem. Rather, there are several very awkward phrases throughout the book. And of more concern is a very frequent tendency to have seemingly unrelated topics or thoughts put together into a single paragraph, and to have sudden shifts in topic between paragraphs. If I had been the editor, I would have also suggested that the author provide a timeline, because sometimes the chronology of events is a little difficult to follow.

But don't let stylistic/grammatical matters keep you from enjoying this book!

This thoroughly-researched book on Hitchcock's most controversial film is invaluable for anyone who has been entertained, intrigued , confused or even angered by MARNIE. As Mr. Moral illustrates, though it was dismissed by critics who didn't understand Hitchcock's expressionistic techniques and shunned by audiences who were disturbed by the film's themes, MARNIE is revealed to be one of the director' most personal works and one of his finest achievements. The author documents the film's history, from publication of the source novel through filming, release and current re-evaluation. The book reveals that Hitchcock's characteristic immersion into virtually every facet of the film's production reflected his intentions and aspirations concering this very personal - and partly autobiographical - project. Concerning the salacious rumors reported in the 1983 biography by Donald Spoto, Mr. Moral objectively presents the facts and allows readers to draw their own conclusions, the inescapable one being that Hitchcock may have been a frustrated Svengali but not a lecherous ogre. The author's interviews with numerous personnel associated with the film, on both sides of the camera, are all informative and create a balanced portrait of the director and his film. This book should supplant Spoto's book as the definitive reference work on the subject, particularly in conjuction with the recent biography of the director by Patrick McGilligan, an author who, like Mr. Moral, doesn't have a personal agenda. However, the book is primarily a documentation of all of the elements that Hitchcock utilized to create a film that has received so much belated but deserved attention in recent years and that continues to fascinate an increasing number of viewers four decades after its release. The commercial disappointment of MARNIE had a profound effect upon Hitchcock and his subsequent career but, as Mr. Moral illustrates, it has survived and emerged as one of the director's greatest works. This book is required reading for Hitchcock fans, film scholars and movie lovers.

Definitely the most complete record of "Marnie," Hitchcock's 1964 film about a frigid kleptomaniac. Having gained an almost cult status over the years, it was labeled a flop when it was first released. Misunderstood and underappreciated, many have written about it over the years and helped elevate it into the category of flawed classic. This book does a very thorough and well documented job of addressing many of the criticisms that stuck to it (unfairly) over the years, especially the controversy over the use of rear projection and backdrops. Although Donald Spoto's book, "The Dark Side of Genius" gives an exciting and salacious account of Hitchcock being obsessed with Tippi Hedren, it is nowhere near as twisted as Spoto asserts. Fans of this film should definitely read this book for a deeper appreciation. This author actually has access to people and records from the film that nobody else has tapped into.

I bought this book expecting--based on "the making of" in the title--a book along the lines of two books I'd enjoyed reading, Stephen Rebello's "Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho" and Dan Auiler's "Vertigo: The Making of a Hitchcock Classic." Tony Lee Moral takes a more academic approach. For me the book's strengths are its account of the screenplay's genesis and its refutation of Daniel Spoto's contention that Hitchcock adopted the movie's controversial technical "shortcuts" (the rear-projection scenes and the harbor matte painting) because he lost interest late in the production process. But the book's analytical passages seemed repetitious and, for me at least, less interesting. In addition, the book is marred by numerous typos and misspellings; Hitchcock's silent film "The Farmer's Wife" is listed as "The Fireman's Wife" (!). As a great fan of the often-underestimated "Marnie," I'm glad I read the book, but I wouldn't rank it on par with the Rebello and Auiler books.

We're all of us big Marnie fans on this site, though sometimes I think it would have been a better movie if there were more people in it! Tony Lee Moral provides us with an inside glimpse into the making of Marnie and shows that, at least as filmed, there were more scenes for Martin Gabel and especially for Diane Baker, who gives a gracious enough interview here but must still be fuming at the way her part was so truncated.

We get the impression that Alma Reville, though not technically credited as an editor on the film, was always Hitch's backstage editor and that she was responsible for many of the odd gaps in the film. (The credited editor, George Tomasini, died of a heart attack the year MARNIE was finally released, worn out by the stress.) The Hitchcocks had wanted Grace Kelly--sort of--they don't seem overly upset when she quit the project--and thus Hitchcock went back to Tippi Hedren, whom he had discovered on a TV commercial and who had made her debut on THE BIRDS. The world knows the Tippi Hedren story and hos Hitch put her into the deep freeze early in the shooting of MARNIE, terribly sad, but he had made himself into a god and sometimes gods stumble and humans suffer. It was a little unnnerving hearing Louise Latham who played Marnie's mother, describe the way Hitch told her that he had Jessica Tandy in reserve if she, Latham, didn't shape up! As for Sean Connery, yes, perhaps MARNIE is better because Rod Taylor isn't in it, but it's a close call, too close for me to make.

Does the book make sense? It is close as we will ever get to discovering the truth about what happened to Grace, and what happened between Hitchcock and Tippi Hedren. What a shame that, one of ths screen's strongest and most powerful and lovely actresses was, for whatever reason, kept off the screen due to her owner's whims for many years, and when she came back, it was for the sort of parts that were beneath her. Apparently the higher ups didn't want to offend Hitch by employing her, so she was on an unofficial graylist, broken only by Chaplin who could have cared less what young Hitchcock thought, in A COUNTESS FROM HONG KONG, itself a film of many mysteries and a controversial reputation. Mr. Moral has done his homework and has convinced me, at any rate, that that flattery of Truffaut, Godard etc had turned Hitchcock's head into believing that he was making some sort of nouvelle vague love slash art film in which the artificial was to attain a primacy hitherto reserved for suspense in his oeuvre. Does the movie work, oh my God of course, even with just a handful of characters and that red thing going on.

At last! A behind the scenes look at one of my favourite movies. I loved the well researched facts and
backstage gossip of one of cinema's most troubled movies.
The rare black and white photographs were a treat as well.
Well done!