[Patrick McGilligan]Alfred Hitchcock A Life in Darkness and Light(epub){Zzzzz}

In a career that spanned six decades and more than sixty films, Alfred Hitchcock was the dominant figure in the first century of cinema. His films -- from The 39 Steps to The Birds, from Rear Window to Vertigo, from Notorious to Psycho -- set new standards for cinematic invention and storytelling élan. He was both visionary artist and consummate entertainer ... and became the most widely recognized director who ever lived.

In the decades since his death, the public image of Hitchcock has crystallized into a series of iconic images: the macabre Englishman, the sexual obsessive, the Master of Suspense. But this remarkable new biography -- the first in a quarter-century -- draws on prodigious new research to restore Hitchcock the man, in all his three-dimensional glory. Here is the comprehensive film craftsman, forever pushing forward the boundaries of his art. Here is the passionate collaborator, who cheekily referred to actors as "cattle" but invigorated the careers of Cary Grant, James Stewart, Ingrid Bergman, and Grace Kelly. Here is the insatiable provocateur, testing the limits of his audience with his cocktails of sex and violence. And here, too, is the private man: dedicated romantic, constant trickster, impotent voyeur, devoted husband, a man who sacrificed his life, again and again, for his work.

Like the best Hitchcock films, Patrick McGilligan's life of Hitchcock is a drama full of fresh revelation, graced by a central love story, dark humor, and cliff-hanging suspense: a definitive portrait of the most creative, and least understood, figure in film history.

Product Description
From Booklist
The author of the useful George Cukor (1991) and Fritz Lang (1997), biographies of film directors less documented than Hitchcock, now turns to that perhaps most-written-about filmmaker of all. Of course, the last major biography (as opposed to various kinds of studies) came 20 years ago, and McGilligan's effort incorporates many significant findings made since. It also serves as a corrective to Donald Spoto's Dark Side of Genius (1983), which focused unduly on Hitchcock's baser qualities. McGilligan portrays Hitchcock as driven by his neuroses, but also as a devoted husband and father and a clear-headed businessman. Still, the gist of the volume focuses on its subject's inventive filmmaking in detailed accounts on the making of each of his 60 movies, with particular attention paid to the screenwriters, many of them relative tyros, with whom Hitchcock collaborated. McGilligan's valuable discoveries include short fiction by a 19-year-old Hitchcock; his insights, illumination on Hitchcock's flawed final films. So detailed and readable that it is hard to imagine another Hitchcock biography will be needed 20 years hence. Gordon Flagg


Review
“Staggering. . . . Illuminating. . . . The Master of Suspense finally gets an authoritative life.” (—Kirkus Reviews (starred))

“Enthralling, scholarly, and candid.” (—Publishers Weekly)

Publisher: It Books; 1 edition (30 September 2003)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 006039322X
ISBN-13: 978-0060393229

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

Exceptional biography 1 December 2003
By Phillip O. -
Exhaustive, rich and incredibly detailed, this is sure to please the film enthusiast who enjoys scholarly film biographies. The text is over 700 pages and each film of Hitchcock's career is covered in detail, with particular attention to his relationships with his collaborators (screenwriters, costumers, musicians, actors, etc.). Hitckcock's creative genius was unique - he could visualize his film down to the most minute detail before the cameras even rolled (indeed after the script was completed he felt that filming the work was the most boring aspect of it). Script conferences were lengthy and detailed and Hitchcock's mulling and proscrastination often drove many screenwriters to distraction. Those who perservered however, earned respect and dedication from Hitchcock. Despite the book's meticulous attention to detail (some readers might find the analysis of Hitchcock's contract details with David Selznick exasperating), the personal character of Hitchcock shines through. He was a devoted family man, faithful and respectful of his wife Alma Reville, whose opinion he valued above all others when it came to criticism of his work. But he was also a passive admirer of beautiful actresses, often becoming obsessive with them, with sometimes devastating results. He was also a highly sensitive man and despite his own tendency to be unforgiving when crossed and boorish on the set, he was easily hurt by comments about his weight, habits, etc. And he loved animals and would not watch a film that depicted cruelty to animals (one of his favorite films was "Benji".) A lover of life, travel, good food and wine but most of all his work, his life is shown here as an exuberant one and not as dark as depicted in Donald Spoto's earlier biography. A wonderful read and highly recommended!

Another Hitch bio? Well, this is THE bio. 7 January 2004
By Lee Hill -
As with John Ford, Orson Welles and a few other monument-like auteurs, one wonders if there is anything else to add when library shelves already groan under the weight of books about these great directors. In the case of Alfred Hitchcock, a proverbial household name, the challenge for a writer seems to double. And yet McGilligan as he did with Fritz Lang, Jack Nicholson and Clint Eastwood has pulled it off. In addition to seamlessly blending new research with a compelling narrative, this biography allows the reader to rediscover the familiar. McGilligan humanizes the director in the best way. Hitchcock is neither the repressed almost deviant sadist that Donald Spoto painted back in his controversial bio nor a droll, almost Santa Claus-like teller of ripping yarns, as mytholgized in Time-Life articles, but a highly talented man, a flawed, but essentially decent husband and father, and a complex artist caught between serving the demands of mainstream Hollywood and fulfilling his creative instincts. This is a big book, but it reads as briskly as one of Hitch's best films. Essential for any serious film book library.

Sir Alfred Hitchcock; The Master of Suspense is Examined! 25 October 2003
By C. M Mills -
Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was enigmatic, complex, artistic, sexually impotent and a potent force in 20th ca. film, From his days as Paramount-Famous Players in his native London this cockney genius spun his web of mystery, suspense, high fashion,
laughter and the peculiarities of humanity with wit, charm,
beauty and a superb storytelling sense. Hitchcock is my favorite director; in this insightful new biography my McGilligan the master of suspense's career is carefully delineated.
McGilligan will give the reader the details on all of "Hitch's
films including fascinating behind the scene anecdotes of such stars in the Hitchcock heaven as Cary Grant, James Stewart, Grace Kelly and Tippi Hedren.
This past year I've read several biographies of Hitchcok. The reader will want to put this one next to Donald Spoto's work. In fact, I prefer this one to Spoto's biography which tends to put Hitch on the psychiatric couch.
If you want the best one volume biography of Sir Alfred this is the book you should purchase.
The biography is well researched, written and includes several candid photos from Hitchcock's long and distinguished career.
I recommend this volume to everyone from general reader to one who like myself snatches up everything about one of the masters of the medium. Excellent!

Excellent Analysis 28 May 2012
By wnesbitt -
Thoroughly loved this mixture of the personal and the public life of this movie genius. I really appreciated the in-depth look at Hitchcock's filming techniques. Brought home the innovation, and imaginative pioneering he brought to his work and the industry. Hitchcock is revealed as a complex and at times unsettling character, but ultimately very human, and perhaps all the more remarkable for his achievements. The early biographical material on the silent movie era will be unfamiliar ground to current generations but important in gaining a full picture of where Hitchcock cut his filmic teeth.

My only disappointment with this Kindle edition is no photographs or pictures. The book is incomplete as a result and if the 'real' book included illustrations Kindle ought to have indicated this serious omission and reduced the price considerably.