Alfred Hitchcock: Interviews

Conversations With Filmmakers Series

by Sidney Gottlieb (Editor)

Even twenty years after his death and nearly fifty or more years after his creative peak, Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980) is still arguably the most instantly recognizable film director in name, appearance, vision, and voice. Long ago, through a combination of timing, talent, genius, energy, and publicity, he made the key transition from proper noun to adjective that confirms celebrity and true stature. It is a rare film watcher indeed who cannot define "Hitchcockian."

As the director of such films as Psycho, North by Northwest, Spellbound, Vertigo, Rear Window, To Catch a Thief, Notorious, and The Birds, Hitchcock has become synonymous with both stylish, sophisticated suspense and mordant black comedy. He was one of the most interviewed directors in the history of film. Among the hundreds of interviews he gave, those in this collection catch Hitchcock at key moments of transition in his long career--as he moved from silent to sound pictures, from England to America, from thrillers to complex romances, and from director to producer-director.

These conversations dramatize his shifting attitudes on a variety of cinematic matters that engaged and challenged him, including the role of stars in a movie, the importance of story, the use of sound and color, his relationship to the medium of television, and the attractions and perils of realism.

His engaging wit and intelligence are on display here, as are his sophistication, serious contemplation, and playful manipulation of the interviewer.

Genres: Film, Nonfiction, Biography

274 pages, Paperback

First published April 15, 2003

Reviews

[ZaRi]

هیچکاک در تمام طول عمر خود آدمی زبان ¬باز، بذله گو و به یک معنا بسیار فرهیخته بود. او بارها تآکید کرده بود که سینما باید بیشتربر تصویر تأکید کند تا کلام، و مشهورترین شیوه ی امضای پای آثارش هم از طریق حضور بسیار کوتاه (و بدون کلام) او در فیلم هایش و در کاریکاتورهایی که به خوبی معرف او هستند. اما هیچکاک در اوقات دیگر عمیقاً اهل حرف و بحث بود و کلام مکتوب و شفاهی را به خوبی به کار گرفت و از آن لذت می برد...
اما این کتاب حرفاً، یا حتی عمدتاً، برای محققان و منتقدان نوشته نشده است. هیچکاک فیلمسازی غیر متعارف بود، اما همواره خود را هنرمندی می دانست که برای آنچه خود «تماشاگری عادی» می خواند، فیلم می سازد.
بنابراین هم تماشاگرانی که از سر تفنن به تماشای فیلمی می روند و هم مخاطبان جدی تر هنر سینما درخواهند یافت که هیچکاک در این مطالب، نکته های جالبی از پشت صحنه ی فیلم سازی، حرف های جالب و بامزه ای در مورد فیلم ها، خاطرات گذشته با هدف روشنگری و سرانجام تفکر عمیق و همه جانبه در مورد درک و دریافت فیلم و تاریخ سینما به طور کلی و فیلم های خود او به طور خاص، یعنی همه ی آن پنجاه و سه برش غیر قابل مقایسه عرضه می دارد که خود او اصرار داشت آن ها را نه برشی از زندگی بلکه برشی از کیک بخواند.

[Mark Mullicane · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is very simply a collection of interviews of Alfred Hitchcock and nothing else. Take that for what you will good and bad. The good is that he was a fascinating character and had a very good recollection of his films and the time. Interviewers seem very excited to be questioning him and don't seem to hold back. The bad is that having no separation or authorial input makes it dry and sometimes repetitive. He mentions some stories three or four times throughout the book.

I would recommend the book to Hitchcock fans but you have to have seen more than your Vertigo, Psycho and Rear Windows. Though all three are covered smaller films like Topaz have a lot of say too. I enjoyed my experience but you must have an extensive previous knowledge of Hitchcock's work and I wanted something between the chapters analyzing what he covered or even just a basic idea of what happened in his life in the time that took place between the different interviews.