It's Only a Movie: Alfred Hitchcock, A Personal Biography (Paperback)

by Charlotte Chandler (Author) "ALFRED HITCHCOCK turned a small boy's fear into that incredible body of work, Robert Boyle, colleague and friend of Alfred Hitchcock said..." (more)
Key Phrases: Alfred Hitchcock, Cary Grant, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
As almost all of his actors and collaborators note in this well-reported biography, Hitchcock (1899–1980) was never particularly forthcoming on the subject of himself. Through canvassing a broad swath of now-deceased major stars (Grace Kelly, Janet Leigh, Cary Grant), Hitchcock's longtime technicians, his daughter, wife and the filmmaker himself, veteran Hollywood writer Chandler (Nobody's Perfect: Billy Wilder; etc.) quotes several insights into Hitchcock's technical genius, creative worldview and personality. Hitchcock meticulously planned each shot before filming began, but as his daughter recalls, "at home he said he was happy if he got 75 percent of what he'd seen in his head." Hitchcock's wife, Alma, emerges as the revered ultimate authority in her husband's life and creativity, managing and smoothing out his problems to a loving and remarkable degree (although when he proposed to her on a ship, she was "looking green" and burped instead of saying "yes"). Chandler allows her sources to reminisce at great length, and they tend to tell fascinating stories. The bio remains maddeningly inert, however, because despite the aperçus Chandler gleans, she doesn't manage to tie them together into a cohesive portrait of the filmmaker or offer any analysis of Hitchcock's personality despite her access to him. The book may be categorized as a personal biography, but its subject remains a cipher. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review
"A wonderful book full of recollections by Hitchcock, his family, his friends, and those who worked with him. I was touched by the quiet love story between Hitch and Alma."

-- Frank Oz

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Applause Books; illustrated edition edition (March 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557836922
• ISBN-13: 978-1557836922
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #409,737 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #99 in

  Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Arts & Literature > Movie Directors

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A gentle, entertaining look at the "Master of Suspense", April 2, 2005

By	Bookreporter.com (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: It's Only a Movie: Alfred Hitchcock: A Personal Biography (Hardcover)

IT'S ONLY A MOVIE: Alfred Hitchcock -- A Personal Biography is the latest (and certainly not the greatest) look at the life of the famed suspense director.

Charlotte Chandler, whose other celebrity biographies include NOBODY'S PERFECT: Billy Wilder -- A Personal Biography; I, FELLINI; and HELLO, I MUST BE GOING: Groucho and His Friends, concentrates on Hitchcock primarily as a movie maker. The aspects of his early and later life get relatively short shrift, which many readers will no doubt appreciate, wanting to get to the meat of the matter.

Chandler presents the talented "Hitch" as a visionary, creating cinematic effects and manipulating the emotions of moviegoers for more than fifty years. His classics --- The Man Who Knew Too Much (both versions), Psycho, Vertigo, Rear Window, Rebecca, Lifeboat, Spellbound, Notorious...the list of work from one person seems ridiculous and unfair --- defined fright films that endure to this day, despite the pyrotechnical toys and other gimmicks modern directors employ to get a rise out of us. Hitchcock knew how to use a patch of light or the absence of sound to set up the audience for the constant rude awakening. He was the master of the "MacGuffin," a plot device that defies conventional explanation, which Chandler describes as "something that motivates characters to take dangerous chances for something they must have.... In The 39 Steps it's a secret airplane engine design. In The Lady Vanishes and in Foreign Correspondent it's a secret diplomatic message...."

Hitchcock was a bit of an overgrown imp, she writes, not a stuffed shirt. Despite his formal bearing, he always enjoyed a good joke, particularly when it came at the good-natured expense of one of his actors. And what actors! Jimmy Stewart, Ingrid Bergman, Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, Kim Novak, James Mason, Anthony Perkins --- a veritable "who's who" of Hollywood nobility.

Although his art was complex, Hitchcock's directorial style was simple: actors should be able to get by with a minimum of instruction. Those looking for guidance learned that it must come from within. Insecurity was tolerated with great reluctance. Hitchcock had little patience for "method" actors who needed to know their motivation. Basically, he believed their motivation should be to do a good job to earn their paycheck. Chandler employs the filmmaker's catchphrase, "It's only a movie," on several occasions as evidence of Hitchcock's refusal to take anything (or anybody) too seriously.

Chandler breaks down Hitchcock's story movie by movie. Each section deals anecdotally with each film, noting the little triumphs and failures inherent in any project and including the actors' impressions of working for the master of suspense (overwhelmingly positive). Many were in awe of the legend, especially those early in their career. There are many recollections of small kindnesses, such as dinner invitations, that portray Hitchcock in an almost saintly light, despite the evil inclinations of many of his characters.

Because of its style, IT'S ONLY A MOVIE gives short shrift to the fine points that define a thorough biography, despite the title. For example, although Chandler devotes a section of the book to "The Last Years," she does not go into any substantial details about Hitchcock's own physical ailments, only that he had lost the will to live, ostensibly depressed over the illness of Alma, his beloved helpmeet.

Chandler writes in a very gossipy mien, insinuating herself into the narrative, letting the reader know that she was in with the "in crowd." One wonders what she had in mind with the subtitle "A Personal Biography." Which "person" is she talking about? It often seems to be herself. She peppers her remarks with phrases like, "He told me..." or "I said to him...." Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it can be wearing after a while.

IT'S ONLY A MOVIE may not be on a scholarly par with other Hitchcock biographies, such as Patrick McGilligan's ALFRED HITCHCOCK: A Life in Darkness and Light or THE A-Z OF HITCHCOCK: The Ultimate Reference Guide, by Howard Maxford, or the dozens of studies of specific films or groups of films (Murray Pomerance's AN EYE FOR HITCHCOCK or FRAMING HITCHCOCK: Selected Essays from the Hitchcock Annual, edited by Sidney Gottlieb and Christopher Brookhouse). But it is a gentle, entertaining look at a paradoxically gentle and entertaining man.

--- Reviewed by Ron Kaplan

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hitchcock Once Over Lightly, April 15, 2005

By	Ed Uyeshima (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: It's Only a Movie: Alfred Hitchcock: A Personal Biography (Hardcover)

It's no wonder that Alfred Hitchcock continues to fascinate a quarter century after his death as his work resonates still. Author Charlotte Chandler has written a breezy history of Hitchcock the master filmmaker. It's by no means the best one on the market, as I feel Donald Spoto wrote the authoritative biography in 1983, "The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock", and Francois Truffaut published his famous comprehensive interview with Hitchcock in 1967. I would recommend either before diving into this dishy memoir, but it's good fun about his professional life nonetheless.

Chandler breaks down Hitchcock's story movie by movie in chronological order. Each section deals anecdotally with each film, noting the little triumphs and failures inherent in any project and including the actors' impressions of working for the master of suspense. Contrary to popular belief, many were genuinely impressed by Hitchcock's genius almost to the point of genuflection, and the book is full of recollections of his kindnesses, hardly the dark portrait Spoto painted nor Hitchcock himself with the characters in his films. In fact, according to Chandler, he did not readily abandon his actors as is widely believed. Rather, everyone simply agreed he knew what he wanted and with supreme confidence, Hitchcock dictated a set like a consummate professional. To the thinner-skinned, he was an icy control freak. His no-fuss filmmaking style comes across in Chandler's colorful descriptions of the classics he directed. Sometimes, Chandler insinuates herself into the narrative to the point of being intrusive, as if she needs to validate her qualifications for writing this biography. It can get irritating, but luckily her insights offset much of the over-personalized perspective. Just reviewing his filmography in such gently provocative detail is reason enough to buy this book, whether it's "Rebecca", "Shadow of a Doubt", "Notorious", "Strangers on a Train", "Rear Window", "Vertigo'', "North by Northwest", "Psycho", "The Birds", or his earlier English pictures. An entertaining read about a true character and a deservedly legendary director.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Hitchcock Among the Quotes, July 1, 2008

By	Scott Rivers (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: It's Only a Movie: Alfred Hitchcock: A Personal Biography (Hardcover)

Charlotte Chandler's 2005 portrait of Alfred Hitchcock reads more like an extended gossip column than a traditional biography. Though occasionally insightful and entertaining, the author would have benefited from paraphrasing some of the lengthy quotes from her numerous interviews. "It's Only a Movie" may not represent the finest book on the Master of Suspense (try François Truffaut's "Hitchcock" and Patrick McGilligan's "A Life in Darkness and Light"), yet it avoids the bleak unpleasantness of Donald Spoto's "The Dark Side of Genius."