Description
Book SynopsisNeil Hurley demonstrates Hitchcock''s covert preoccupation with spiritual themesconscience, guilt, false accusation, crises as catalysts of character development, personal romance, the salvation of nations, and the unjustly accused. This last theme is linked in profound ways to Hitchcock''s secular Christ types, who find purpose and undiscovered courage and companionship in having to disprove falsely imputed guilt in I Confess, The Wrong Man, Veritgo, North by Northwest, Psycho, The Birds, Marnie, and Frenzy. (The last three also feature feminine Christ parallels who undergo Passion/Resurrection experiences marked with visual religious clues.)
Trade ReviewHurley...puts a different spin on Hitchcock. Soul in Suspense is an unusual book, a careful, thoughtful, different look at the man who made films that stand up th anything being made today, movies that were very special, indeed. * Coast Book Review Service *
...illuminated the subtext of Hitch's work with a depth that the customary glib Catholic=guilt=the movies formulation doesn't reach....book becomes a reference point on Hitchcock that no one interested in him or writing about his work can afford to overlook.... -- Charles Champlin
...demonstrate[s] detailed knowledge of the films, mature (vs. trendy) insightfulness, and, above all, a devotion that reveals itself in lucid prose. * Hitchcock Annual *
...has a valued place in the extensive research on film director Alfred Hitchcock....This book is valuable to the serious student both through the text's commentary on Hitchcock's many films...as well as through its data. * CHOICE *
Anyone who is interested in Hitchcock's works will find plenty to ruminate upon in Soul in Suspense. * American Cinematographer *
...it is a riveting study which, almost impossibly, finds original comments to make on the work of a director who has been over-analyzed. Adding value to the book are a 1972 interview with Hitchcock in which he discusses his early years; the comments of the priest who taught the boy Hitchcock... * Classic Images *
...a reference point on Hitchcock that no one interested in him or writing about his work can afford to overlook. * L A Times *
