Reference Reviews (2012) - A Companion to Alfred Hitchcock
Details
- book review: A Companion to Alfred Hitchcock
- author(s): Eric Jukes
- journal: Reference Reviews (2012)
- issue: volume 26, issue 3, page 46
- journal ISSN: 0950-4125
- publisher: Emerald Group Publishing, Limited
- keywords: "A Companion to Alfred Hitchcock" - edited by Thomas Leitch and Leland Poague, Alfred Hitchcock, Blackmail (1929), Book reviews, Motion picture directors & producers, Motion pictures, Nonfiction, Psycho (1960), Reference books
Links
Abstract
Jukes reviews A Companion to Alfred Hitchcock edited by Thomas Leitch and Leland Poague.
Article
When I first looked at the dust jacket of "A Companion to Alfred Hitchcock" and saw the excellent photograph of Hitchcock in his typical pose known to TV viewers and film goers alike, I formed an instant impression of the book. I just knew it was going to be one of those cosy books which would go through each of the master's films from "Blackmail" onwards, full of film stills and pictures of the well-known actors and actresses with whom he worked. How wrong I was! There is not a single photograph in this large (624 pages) book and any fan expecting to be able to easily go through each of Hitchcock's film titles is in for a shock. "A Companion to Alfred Hitchcock" forms part of the Wiley-Blackwell "Companions to Film Directors" series which already features Michael Haneke and Rainer Fassbinder. The series surveys key directors whose work together constitutes what the editors refer to as the Hollywood and world cinema canons. Each volume in the series comprises 25 or more new essays written by leading experts exploring a canonical, contemporary and/controversial auteur in a sophisticated, authoritative, and multi-dimensional capacity.
Leitch and Poague, editors of Hitchcock, begin with a reasonably substantial introduction (and they also contribute to the main body of the work). They observe that there is a rich tradition of Hitchcock commentary in hundreds of books and essays. Alfred Hitchcock and his films have been the subject of biographies, thematic surveys of hi...
