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Hitchcock's Partner in Suspense: The Life of Screenwriter Charles Bennett
With a career that spanned from the silent era to the 1990s, British screenwriter Charles Bennett (1899--1995) lived an extraordinary life. His experiences as an actor, director, playwright, film and television writer, and novelist in both England and Hollywood left him with many amusing anecdotes, opinions about his craft, and impressions of the many famous people he knew. Among other things, Bennett was a decorated WWI hero, an eminent Shakespearean actor, and an Allied spy and propagandist during WWII, but he is best remembered for his commercially and critically acclaimed collaborations with directors Sir Alfred Hitchcock and Cecil B. DeMille.
The fruitful partnership began after Hitchcock adapted Bennett's play Blackmail (1929) as the first British sound film. Their partnership produced six thrillers: The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), The 39 Steps (1935), Sabotage (1936), Secret Agent (1936), Young and Innocent (1937), and Foreign Correspondent (1940). In this witty and intriguing book, Bennett discusses how their collaboration created such famous motifs as the "wrong man accused" device and the MacGuffin. He also takes readers behind the scenes with the Master of Suspense, offering his thoughts on the director's work, sense of humor, and personal life.
Featuring an introduction and additional biographical material from Bennett's son, editor John Charles Bennett, Hitchcock's Partner in Suspense is a richly detailed narrative of a remarkable yet often-overlooked figure in film history.
The fruitful partnership began after Hitchcock adapted Bennett's play Blackmail (1929) as the first British sound film. Their partnership produced six thrillers: The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), The 39 Steps (1935), Sabotage (1936), Secret Agent (1936), Young and Innocent (1937), and Foreign Correspondent (1940). In this witty and intriguing book, Bennett discusses how their collaboration created such famous motifs as the "wrong man accused" device and the MacGuffin. He also takes readers behind the scenes with the Master of Suspense, offering his thoughts on the director's work, sense of humor, and personal life.
Featuring an introduction and additional biographical material from Bennett's son, editor John Charles Bennett, Hitchcock's Partner in Suspense is a richly detailed narrative of a remarkable yet often-overlooked figure in film history.
- GenresFilm
328 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2014
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
April 19, 2025
The Fat Man's Favorite Blonde:
Hitchcock's Secret Lady: "She was a lady whose for-a-while sensational film career was built on nothing more than Hitch's sexual interest in her. A lot of us know the inside story. Its revelation could sell books like hotcakes, but none of us wants to be sued off the face of the earth for telling the truth."
I like to study film credits, knowing that some are bogus or cheats. For years I saw the name of Joan Harrison (1907-1994) associated as a "screenwriter" w Hitch; she even picked up Oscars for Rebecca and Foreign Correspondent. Mm, not bad ! She also produced her own films and then "ran" Hitch's TV series. No one knows anything about her: who did she see socially, sexually all those years in Hollywood...(men, women) ?.... Until she married writer Eric Ambler late in life, Joan Harrison was Hitch's secret lady. Memoirist Charles Bennett (1899-1995) is a gallant man: he doesnt name her. But anyone who has read Hitch bios and connects a few dots can figure it out.
Actor, playwright, screenwriter, director, Charles Bennett is the forgotten man in Hollywood history -- a Brit already successful when he met Hitch in London, Bennett wrote scripts for him there and here, and also for Cecil B DeMille as well as other directors. Resentment and jealousy were big components in Hitch's personality; he never liked to commend his writers -- his publicized persona always dominated theirs. Critical comment through the years marginalized Bennett's talent that cued inventive plotting on Hitchcock films he wrote (39 Steps, Man Who Knew Too Much, Secret Agent, Foreign Correspondent, Sabotage and so on). Pauline Kael, a wise anti-auteurist, would have had another humdinger book w the Bennett story, but she died in 2001.
Bennett's unfinished memoir -- and his treasury of scripts, papers -- were discovered by his son John after Bennett's death. This rare book, published in 2014, is the unforgettable result. It has not gotten the scholarly mainstream movie attention it deserves, because most of the press (film or otherwise) is lazy and doesnt examine mythical personalities like Hitchcock. "Hitch could come up with great ideas but he was hopeless on story line. The problem for a writer was incorporating Hitch's ideas without messing up story progression." Bennett, who was signed to a Hollywood contract before Hitch, had been praised as the best constructionist, scenarist, scenario writer around -- all of which Hitch recognized.
When the Hitchcock family finally did move to LA, Hitch insisted that his cool blonde secretary, Joan Harrison, accompany them. (Her pix are on Google)...he became increasingly "devoted" to her. And if she thought of an aside or a bit of dialogue, he awarded her a co-screenplay credit as he did w various friends and his wife, little mouse Alma. So, after Joan's LaLa arrival, she was suddenly clutching an Oscar for co-scripting Rebecca! ~ In fact, she was his office factotum who read scripts and books, and did some typing. Over the years she naturally learned how to handle other duties.
There is nothing bitter or indiscreet in this memoir. (Actually, Hitch only takes up a few pages as the author introduces various personalities, like Errol Flynn, and discusses his own W2 spy work). With a deft hand, light of touch, Bennett disentangles what making films in Hollywood was like. Charm is the dominant quality of this observant book from a man who spent 6 decades there. (His son John supplements some material and records the tragic breakdown of his mum, Bennett's 2d wife).
What Bennett does not say is withering. In 2 lines he dismisses the vulgarian Harry Cohn, who ruled Columbia Pictures. We also learn that, yes, there were Commies in Hollywood -- DeMille, "a kind, gentle man who respected true talent" -- tried to keep the Coms from taking over the Director's Guild, which vexed lefty Dore Schary, and we confront the swollen head of disaster pic producer Irwin Allen who feared the brainless actor Victor Mature, who always had a crank about something or other. Bennett chooses his words delicately.
His memoir, written w style, is far superior to Salka Viertel's "The Kindness of Strangers," for he never loses his esprit. It's even there in a finale flash: "The worst thing in the world for a writer is to come to Hollywood. It destroys you."
Hitchcock's Secret Lady: "She was a lady whose for-a-while sensational film career was built on nothing more than Hitch's sexual interest in her. A lot of us know the inside story. Its revelation could sell books like hotcakes, but none of us wants to be sued off the face of the earth for telling the truth."
I like to study film credits, knowing that some are bogus or cheats. For years I saw the name of Joan Harrison (1907-1994) associated as a "screenwriter" w Hitch; she even picked up Oscars for Rebecca and Foreign Correspondent. Mm, not bad ! She also produced her own films and then "ran" Hitch's TV series. No one knows anything about her: who did she see socially, sexually all those years in Hollywood...(men, women) ?.... Until she married writer Eric Ambler late in life, Joan Harrison was Hitch's secret lady. Memoirist Charles Bennett (1899-1995) is a gallant man: he doesnt name her. But anyone who has read Hitch bios and connects a few dots can figure it out.
Actor, playwright, screenwriter, director, Charles Bennett is the forgotten man in Hollywood history -- a Brit already successful when he met Hitch in London, Bennett wrote scripts for him there and here, and also for Cecil B DeMille as well as other directors. Resentment and jealousy were big components in Hitch's personality; he never liked to commend his writers -- his publicized persona always dominated theirs. Critical comment through the years marginalized Bennett's talent that cued inventive plotting on Hitchcock films he wrote (39 Steps, Man Who Knew Too Much, Secret Agent, Foreign Correspondent, Sabotage and so on). Pauline Kael, a wise anti-auteurist, would have had another humdinger book w the Bennett story, but she died in 2001.
Bennett's unfinished memoir -- and his treasury of scripts, papers -- were discovered by his son John after Bennett's death. This rare book, published in 2014, is the unforgettable result. It has not gotten the scholarly mainstream movie attention it deserves, because most of the press (film or otherwise) is lazy and doesnt examine mythical personalities like Hitchcock. "Hitch could come up with great ideas but he was hopeless on story line. The problem for a writer was incorporating Hitch's ideas without messing up story progression." Bennett, who was signed to a Hollywood contract before Hitch, had been praised as the best constructionist, scenarist, scenario writer around -- all of which Hitch recognized.
When the Hitchcock family finally did move to LA, Hitch insisted that his cool blonde secretary, Joan Harrison, accompany them. (Her pix are on Google)...he became increasingly "devoted" to her. And if she thought of an aside or a bit of dialogue, he awarded her a co-screenplay credit as he did w various friends and his wife, little mouse Alma. So, after Joan's LaLa arrival, she was suddenly clutching an Oscar for co-scripting Rebecca! ~ In fact, she was his office factotum who read scripts and books, and did some typing. Over the years she naturally learned how to handle other duties.
There is nothing bitter or indiscreet in this memoir. (Actually, Hitch only takes up a few pages as the author introduces various personalities, like Errol Flynn, and discusses his own W2 spy work). With a deft hand, light of touch, Bennett disentangles what making films in Hollywood was like. Charm is the dominant quality of this observant book from a man who spent 6 decades there. (His son John supplements some material and records the tragic breakdown of his mum, Bennett's 2d wife).
What Bennett does not say is withering. In 2 lines he dismisses the vulgarian Harry Cohn, who ruled Columbia Pictures. We also learn that, yes, there were Commies in Hollywood -- DeMille, "a kind, gentle man who respected true talent" -- tried to keep the Coms from taking over the Director's Guild, which vexed lefty Dore Schary, and we confront the swollen head of disaster pic producer Irwin Allen who feared the brainless actor Victor Mature, who always had a crank about something or other. Bennett chooses his words delicately.
His memoir, written w style, is far superior to Salka Viertel's "The Kindness of Strangers," for he never loses his esprit. It's even there in a finale flash: "The worst thing in the world for a writer is to come to Hollywood. It destroys you."
Displaying 1 of 1 review