Hitchcock: The Making of a Reputation
- ISBN-10
- 0226424898
- ISBN-13
- 9780226424897
- Series
- Hitchcock
- Category
- Performing Arts
- Pages
- 313
- Language
- English
- Published
- 1992
- Publisher
- University of Chicago Press
- Author
- Robert E. Kapsis
Description
From the beginning of his career, Alfred Hitchcock wanted to be considered an artist. Although his thrillers were immensely popular, and Hitchcock himself courted reviewers, he was, for many years, regarded as no more than a master craftsman. By the 1960s, though, critics began calling him an artist of unique vision and gifts. What happened to make Hitchcock's reputation as a true innovator and singular talent? Through a close examination of Hitchcock's personal papers, scripts, production notes, publicity files, correspondence, and hundreds of British and American reviews, Robert Kapsis here traces Hitchcock's changing critical fortunes. Vertigo, for instance, was considered a flawed film when first released; today it is viewed by many as the signal achievement of a great director. According to Kapsis, this dramatic change occurred because the making of the Hitchcock legend was not solely dependent on the quality of his films. Rather, his elevation to artist was caused by a successful blending of self-promotion, sponsorship by prominent members of the film community, and, most important, changes in critical theory which for the first time allowed for the idea of director as auteur. Kapsis also examines the careers of several other filmmakers who, like Hitchcock, have managed to cross the line that separates craftsman from artist, and shows how Hitchcock's legacy and reputation shed light on the way contemporary reputations are made. In a chapter about Brian De Palma, the most reknowned thriller director since Hitchcock, Kapsis explores how Hitchcock's legacy has affected contemporary work in—and criticism of—the thriller genre. Filled with fascinating anecdotes and intriguing excerpts, and augmented by interviews with Hitchcock's associates, this thoroughly documented and engagingly written book will appeal to scholars and film enthusiasts alike. "Required reading for Hitchcock scholars...scrupulously researched, invaluable material for those who continue to ask: what made the master tick?"—Anthony Perkins
Get the book
Other editions
Similar books
-
Hitchcock
By Alfred Hitchcock, Francois Truffaut... and Denny Bartlett, Len Hendry, Mike Mahoney, Alan Lee, Anthony Warde, Harry Landcrs, Dick Simmons, Fred Graham, Edwin Parker, M. English, Kathryn Grandstaff, Havis Davenport, Iphigenie Castiglioni, Sara Berner, Frank Cady.
-
Who Was Alfred Hitchcock?
By Who HQ, Pam Pollack, Meg BelvisoProfiles the life and accomplishments of the British filmmaker known for his distinctive style of directing and his films that featured suspenseful and surprising plots.
-
The Art of Alfred Hitchcock: Fifty Years of His Motion Pictures
By Donald SpotoThe Albert Hall sequence is perfectly balanced and in fact fulfilled by the episode at the embassy which follows immediately; in Man-1, the concert was followed by an annoyingly anticlimactic shoot-out. Herc, Hank is locked in an ...
-
Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light
By Patrick McGilliganIn a career that spanned six decades and more than sixty films, Alfred Hitchcock became the most widely recognized director who ever lived.
-
Hitchcock's Films Revisited
By Robin WoodThis revised edition of Hitchcock's Films Revisited includes a substantial new preface in which Wood reveals his personal history as a critic -- including his coming out as a gay man, his views on his previous critical work, and how his ...
-
Alfred Hitchcock
By Nicholas Haeffnerthemes that interested him« (Sterritt, 1993, p. ... The presence of these expressionistic elements has led to the film«s frequent categorisation as a film noir (for example, Hirsch, 1981; Silver and Ward, 1980) However, the elements ...
-
Alfred Hitchcock
By Peter AckroydPeter Ackroyd turns his gimlet eye to one of the twentieth century's most revered directors.Alfred Hitchcock was a strange child.
-
The Alfred Hitchcock Encyclopedia
By Stephen WhittyFor this book, Whitty draws on primary-source materials such as interviews he conducted with associates of the director—including screenwriter Jay Presson Allen (Marnie), actresses Eva Marie Saint (North by Northwest) and Kim Novak ...
-
Hitchcockês Objects as Subjects: The Significance of Things on Screen
By Marc Raymond StraussEarly in Blackmail, Hitchcock shoots the scene of Frank Webber, the detective (John Longden in his first of five films for the director), and his girlfriend Alice White (Anny Ondra) fighting through crowds to get dinner seats.
-
The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock: An Anatomy of the Master of Suspense
By Edward WhiteIn The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock, Edward White explores the Hitchcock phenomenon—what defines it, how it was invented, what it reveals about the man at its core, and how its legacy continues to shape our cultural world.