Description
Book SynopsisOriginally published in 1977 and long out of print, Maurice Yacowar's Hitchcock's British Films was the first volume devoted solely to the twenty-three films directed by Alfred Hitchcock in his native England before he came to the United States. As such, it was the first book to challenge the assumption that Hitchcock's mature period in Hollywood, from the late 1940s to the early 1960s, represented the director's best work. In this traditional auteurist examination of Hitchcock's early work, author Maurice Yacowar considers Hitchcock's British films in chronological order, reads the composition of individual shots and scenes in each, and pays special attention to the films' verbal effects. Yacowar's readings remain compelling more than thirty years after they were written, and someon Downhill, Champagne, and Waltzes from Viennaare among the few extended interpretations of these films that exist. Alongside important works such as Murder!, the first The Man Who Knew Too Much, Secret Ag
Trade ReviewFor anyone interested in Alfred Hitchcock this is a must for the collection and will invite a new look at those rarer and the lesser known of his films...""- Chris Hick,
Filmwerk;
""
Hitchcock's British Films remains the most illuminating and comprehensive discussion of Hitchcock's work before he moved to California. It is lucid, well balanced in its understandings of the films, informative (especially regarding Hitchcock's use of the novels and plays that were sources of most of his screenplays), and comprehensive.""- Lesley Brill, professor of English at Wayne State University and author of
The Hitchcock Romance: Love and Irony in Hitchcock's Films and
Crowds, Power, and Transformation in Cinema (Wayne State University Press, 2006);
""How welcome to see
Hitchcock's British Films back in print. For a long time it was the only full-length treatment of Hitchcock's formative period, and Yacowar's analyses of specific films remain so well judged, articulate, and penetrating that his book has scarcely dated since the day it was published over thirty years ago.""- Thomas Leitch, professor of English at the University of Delaware, co-editor of the forthcoming
A Companion to Hitchcock Studies, and author of
Perry Mason (Wayne State University Press, 2005)
