The images above belong to theor reapective owners, not me
Here it is, our first
Christmas crossover between The Bored Enthusiast blog and the Only in the Movies blog and
I’m happy to be a guest writer here to give you a review of a book I really
enjoyed.
Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light was written by Patrick
McGilligan and published in 2003. For any of you who may be regular visitors to
my blog, you already know that I’m a huge Hitchcock fan, but for those of you
who don’t I’ll leave a few links to some of my film reviews at the bottom. (You can also check out my ’10 Alfred
Hitchcock Movies Everyone Should See’ list by clicking here)
Patrick McGilligan is
a solid biography writer and has also written books on James Cagney, Clint
Eastwood, Fritz Lang and others. Focusing just on this one though, I was
surprised how much of a page-turner it was. At just under 700 pages (if you don’t
count the index, filmography, notes, and sources and acknowledgements) it’s a
compelling book and a great comprehensive look at the life of one of the greatest
Directors in the history of cinema.
The book is broken up
into seven parts, each one focusing in different stages of his life and career.
From Part 1 ‘London: The Enjoyment of Fear’ which focuses on Hitchcock early
years growing up in London during the early 20th century, the book
takes us all the way through his career in England, Germany, his move to
Hollywood and ending, of course, with his death in 1980. Alfred Hitchcock’s ups
and downs, his trouble with censorship, his wife Alma’s role in the filmmaking process,
problems with actors and studios, innovations in filmmaking, his television
show ‘Alfred Hitchcock Presents’, behind the scenes stories from some of
history’s best films… It’s all there and it’s a really good read.
If you’re a fan of
Alfred Hitchcock’s work or just a fan of classic films in general, then I definitely
recommend checking out this book.
I give it 8.5 out of
10.
For some of my Alfred Hitchcock movie reviews
click the links below:
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