Customer Reviews

Hitchcock's Notebooks:: An Authorized And Illustrated Look Inside The Creative Mind Of Alfred Hitchcook

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Having been an armchair Hitchcock fan for a few years now, I was eager to read about his creative process to find out just how much he meant to put into making his films. Admittedly, I had read only two other books on Hitchcock before, Donald Spoto's "The Art of Alfred Hitchcock" (after I watch one of Hitch's flicks I crack open that book and read the chapter for said movie...great analysis)and "Psycho" by Stephen Rebello (great inside stiff - er, stuff - and a cool new cover, no less). This book, tho, was different because it is well illustrated with storyboards, (drawings of the crows attacking the schoolkids and the crop duster scene from North by Northwest among others - come on, that's cool stuff!) photostatted letters from the Master himself (was not the master of sus-'pens', I'll tell you, you can barely read what he writes...but worth the closer read). There is a plethora of script stuff in here that handily contributes to the book's heft...I found some of that to be a little much, but the more serious Hitchcock fan (bidding on original Hitchcock posters on Ebay, for example) might be more into the subtle (insightful, mind you) variations in some of "Rebecca's" dialogue, for instance. Dan Auiler did a nice job sifting through what must have been a lot of, well, 'stuff' to get to the really neat-o plot development on movies such as "The Birds" and "Marnie" and he also includes some cool backstory on a film Hitchcock had to abandon because the studio practically forced him to make "Topaz." Supposedly this unmade film could have been a real career boost, as well as possibly helped to reshape 1960s cinema. Buy this book if you love movies and want an inside look at a master's methods.

This thick book contains plot treatments for many of his best films, including marked up scripts and Hitchcock's sketches of what he wanted his films to look like. This is one of the best books I've ever found for students of movies.

You may feel like you are about to go blind as you read through the handwritten letters and edits to scripts and treatments, but the book really gave me a good idea of who Alfred Hitchcock was and what it means to direct a movie. The book ably shows how Hitchcock was involved in every minute detail of the projects (especially during his "best" years of the 1950s) and how he was able to "Wheel and Deal" with the studios on their own terms.

What struck me the most was Hitchcock's intimate work on areas that I felt were reserved for the Producers, Writers, Director of Photography and Gaffers. Hitchcock seemed to be able to stick his nose in every aspect of the film making process and not only created such masterpieces as "North by Northwest" and "Psycho", but seemed to be well liked and respected by those around him.

I'm now looking forward to reading Dan's book on Vertigo!

This review refers to "Hitchcock's Notebooks..An Authorized and Illustrated Look Inside the Creative Mind Of Alfred Hitchcock" by Dan Auiler....

The title of this book says it all. It is exactly that. A look into the creative mind of "The Master"..Alfred Hitchcock.
Although geared largely toward the aspiring film maker, it is also a wonderful treasure for film buffs and huge fans(like myself).

Each chapter gives detailed information and documents on Hitch's genius at the making of his films. Not just the blockbusters, but all of them.(Even the ones that never saw an audience.) From the First chapter, "Beginnings", where you may see many photographs of the young director working on the set of his earliest completed work "The Mountain Eagle" which has disappeared and is one of the world's most sought after films, through the last chapter "Fade Out". which describes his marketing techniques(i.e. not letting anyone in the theatre after "Psycho" had started) once the films were wrapped up, you will find that Mr.Auiler has done extensive research and enlightens us on Hitch's methods.

Very detailed accounts of scripts from "Rebecca", "The Paradine Case" and Suspicion" may be found in the chapter entitled "Building The Screenplay", correspondance, notes, and letters in Hitch's own handwriting in refrence to "Shadow of a Doubt" may also be found here. This is a very technical chapter, but Auiler gives an easy understanding of the production processes used.

In "Preparing the Visual" you'll find lots of sketches, drawings, and Hitch's famous story boards for movies like "Lifeboat", "North by Northwest" and "Vertigo" are shown as well. In "Production Gallery" there are many stills of Hitch and the actors on the sets of works going as far back as "The Farmer's Wife" and "Number 17"(an experimental film, which was never completed), the "Thirty Nine Steps", Sabatoge","Strangers on a Train" and much more.

Auiler fills this 559 page book with fascinating facts and memorabia that any Film buff would love. There are even taped conversations(in which Hitch does almost all the talking), one with Tippy Hedron on exactly how he wants her to act in "The Birds" among them.

I loved it and could not put it down!.....enjoy....Laurie

also recommended:
Inside Oscar, 10th Anniversary Edition
The Movies: A Picture Quiz Book
Rebels on the Backlot Six Maverick Direc

EDIT: I guess this deserves two stars rather than one; after all you can't get this stuff anywhere else. I was feeling a bit shirty when I gave it one star. Now, on with the review! - - -

First of all let it be known that the so-called "notebooks" of the title are a fiction. The title implies that during the making of his greatest films Sir Alfred sat down, licked the end of his pencil, and committed to paper all his magic in black and white for the indy filmmakers of posterity to read and emulate.

Well, sadly, there are no long lost secret "notebooks". The creative genius of Hitchcock, much like the plans in The 39 Steps, resided in that little man's head.

What we have instead is distressingly prosaic, and not very educational at all. We get memos, telegrams, more memos, lengthy side by side script draft comparisons, transcripts of conversations, still more memos, and a few storyboards that can be found elsewhere.

And if, upon hearing the name Hitchcock, you think of titles like Psycho, Vertigo, Rear Window, Rebecca, Notorious, and North by Northwest, then prepare to be disappointed. They aren't discussed. Instead we're referred to the author's other books for the first two films and the Criterion laserdisks for the rest. (Laserdisks! Do they even make those anymore? Thanks for nothing, guys.)

We do get a gobsmackingly large amount of stuff about Marnie, though.

But wait, there's more:

We get a thrilling exchange of telegrams discussing whether or not Suspicion is a boring title for a film. (Hitch says yes, his producer says no, then Hitch says yes again, and his producer repeats no. How's that for a look into the mind of a genius?)

We get lengthy memos from people like Hume Cronyn talking about how scene 423 of a second draft of a script that we never have seen nor never will see needs to be revised in some unspecified way.

We learn that the character development in The Birds was a little below par. There's a series of four or five lengthy letters, all saying the same thing, and capped off with this brilliant editorial comment from our learned author: "Of course, the consistent complaint here is the weakness in the character development, something that was never worked out." Thanks, Professor.

We get fuzzy reproductions of the blueprints for the bookshop in Vertigo, should you want to build one of your own.

We get twenty pages of reproduced letters in Hitchcock's illegible handwriting discussing whether or not 3-D is a good idea. At least that's all I could make out.

We get the first draft treatment of Shadow of a Doubt in Thornton Wilder's handwriting. Alas, it too is illegible.

We get pages and pages and pages and pages of material about Marnie. It seems that half the damn book is about Marnie.

We get not one, not two, but three letters from some guy named Otis Guernsey telling Hitch he's welcome to use his germ of an idea for North By Northwest.

We get not just the film-related parts of letters, but the whole blessed thing: paragraph after paragraph of "How's Alma?" and "Drop by the next time you're in town" and letterheads for the Herald Tribune, all taking up valuable space.

We read a memo asking that the dialogue for The Birds needs to be punched up "on pages 6-10, 27-29, 37, 40, 48, 49, 50, 53, 54, 65, 74, 132, 188, and 194."

And so on. Basically, the book seems to have been assembled by dipping at random into Hitchcock's old file cabinets, running every other scrap of paper through a scanner, then presenting the whole pile sans comment. There's a definite rummage sale vibe about the whole thing - the very occasional gem amid lots and lots and LOTS of hooey.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, this one's for the completist.

Anyone who would like to get an insight into the creative thought processes of Hitchcock would be best served by the Truffaut interview book.

As for the rest of you, well, I hope you liked Marnie.

It's obvious HE didn't appreciate the reality of this book. Sure, there are a lot of memos, telegrams, and transcripts of conversations - but it gives an inside look into the life of Hitchcock. Life and character are made up and discovered through little things like this. Sure, I agree that some of the side-by-side script and plot comparisons were a bit dull. But I read this entire book, so it can't have been THAT bad. The writing concerning Shadow of a Doubt is a bit hard to decipher, but who wants to read if there's no challenge to it? That chickenscratch masks some excellent writing.

As for the films discussed not being the classics Brian from NYC referred to, I get tired of hearing about Rear Window, Psycho, Vertigo exclusively. There is a wealth of information and books on those films - and I want to know about them all. So I was glad that this book dealt more with the less-discussed films. And I am a great fan of Marnie, so I read and re-read all that was said about Marnie.

This book isn't for someone looking for a fast-moving read. "The Art of Alfred Hitchcock" by Donald Spoto is an excellent one to begin with - not "Hitchcock's Notebooks". Save this one until you know you like Hitchcock enough to appreciate it.

A rather confusing recollection of the Hitchcock notes about his most famous film. I miss a more ellaborate work by the author so this notes could be fully understood. Anyway there are some gems to those hungry for extras. For example, the transcript of the conversations between Tippi Hedren and Hitchcock while making The Birds. Interesting!

There were many interesting elements in this book, but at a whole not as informative or useful as I might have hoped. Maybe a good book for a Hitchcock collector who is trying to find everything out about Hitchcock...

"Hitchcock's Notebooks" is a fascinatining book from page one right up to the end. The book goes to great depth and detail concerning Hitch's involvement with his films (giving examples from some of the more popular ones.
It's very interesting for me, a Screenwriter (especially the chapter titled "PREPARING THE SCREENPLAY"). In it, are treatments (outlines for screenplays), both script and scene revisions (hand-written and typed). This wonderful book even talks a little about Alma, Hitch's wife -- a screenwriter.
So if you are as big a fan of Hitchcock as I am, don't just watch his movies, read this book. It's as close as you or I will ever get to learning about "The Master of Suspence" at work.

This book gives the reader an intimate look into how Hitchcoch planned his films first in his head and then drew them out in wonderful illustrations - a true genius film director who still amazes to this day. Along with Welles, Fellini, and Truffaut, he represents pure cinema.