The Hitchcock Romance: Love and Irony in Hitchcock's Films

by Lesley Brill

Overview

Was Alfred Hitchcock a cynical trifler with his audience's emotions, as he liked to pretend? Or was he a profoundly humane artist? Most commentators leave Hitchcock's self-assessment unquestioned, but this book shows that his movies convey an affectionate, hopeful understanding of human nature and the redemptive possibilities of love. Lesley Brill discusses Hitchcock's work as a whole and examines in detail twenty-two films, from perennial favorites like North by Northwest to neglected masterpieces like Rich and Strange.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691218137
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	09/01/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	312
File size:	2 MB

Table of Contents

	Frame Enlargements	ix
	Acknowledgments	xi
	Introduction	xiii
1.	North by Northwest and Romance	3
2.	Young and Innocent: Comic Romances of False Accusation (Young and Innocent, The 39 Steps, Saboteur, To Catch a Thief)	22
3.	Mixed Romances (Strangers on a Train, The Lodger, I Confess, The Wrong Man, Frenzy)	70
4.	Do Not Presume: Irony (Blackmail, Rich and Strange, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Topaz)	147
5.	"I Look Up, I Look Down" (Vertigo and Psycho)	199
6.	Bygones be Bygones (Spellbound, Under Capricorn, Marnie)	238
7.	"Love's Not Time's Fool" (The Trouble with Harry)	283
	Index	293

Editorial Reviews

"Brill argues his case ingeniously and goes a long way to explaining why Hitchcock was such a tease: he loved to scare us before leading us by the hand back to a world where dragons do not exist—except in the dark of the cinema."—-David Coward, The [London] Times Literary Supplement

"Brill argues his case persuasively in a knowledgeable analysis of Hitchcock's work."—-George L. George, American Cinematographer

From the Publisher

"Deserves a place alongside the most provocative and incisive Hitchcock criticism of the decade."

Choice

Brill argues his case persuasively in a knowledgeable analysis of Hitchcock's work.

American Cinematographer - George L. George

Brill argues his case ingeniously and goes a long way to explaining why Hitchcock was such a tease: he loved to scare us before leading us by the hand back to a world where dragons do not exist—except in the dark of the cinema....

The [London] Times Literary Supplement - David Coward

Brill argues his case persuasively in a knowledgeable analysis of Hitchcock's work.
— George L. George

American Cinematographer

Brill argues his case ingeniously and goes a long way to explaining why Hitchcock was such a tease: he loved to scare us before leading us by the hand back to a world where dragons do not exist—except in the dark of the cinema....
— David Coward

The [London] Times Literary Supplement