The Alfred Hitchcock Story

Ken Moog

Titan Books 2008

Bookwise Australia

"Lavishly illustrated throughout with rare stills and behind the scenes photos... it is both a treat to look at and a pleasure to read”.

Book of the Month Film Review

The Alfred Hitchcock Story is one of the best volumes of the life and work of Alfred Hitchcock on the market today. Originally published in 1999, it has been revised in 2008 and can be considered the definitive book on the Master of Suspense.

The book is divided into segments: The Early Years (1899-1933), Classic British Movies (1934-1939), Hollywood (1940-1950), The Golden Years (1951-1964), and Languishing (1965-1980). There is comprehensive coverage of all of Hitchcock’s films offering plot summations, running times, the production company, and the date of the first screening. It works right through from his early silent films such as The Lodge, through his classic British period of The 39 Steps, to the Hollywood success of Rear Window, Vertigo, North by Northwest, Psycho and beyond.

Accompanying these are production shots, and poster art including many rare posters, lobby cards and ephemera. Indeed, in many ways the Alfred Hitchcock story documents the marketing of the Hitchcock films as much as the man and his work.

On one level the Hitchcock story is primarily a filmography and focuses on the films and the unique direction and production Hitchcock brought to each film rather than too much on the man himself and that keeps it a reasonable size. At the same time Mogg has undertaken an incredible amount of research and distilled the flood of information down into a concise and entertaining form so it is quite astounding just how much information is included in this volume with a reasonable coverage of all aspects of Hitchcock’s life and career while keeping the work focused.

There is also a lot of rare and unusual research into the experiences of those working on the Hitchcock films, for example, we find out the story behind the song the children are singing in “The Birds” as the birds are massing outside in the playground.

Mogg also makes good use of scholars and film critics to assist us come to understand Hitchcock’s unique approach to filmmaking and his vision of “pure cinema”. There is also some interesting insight into Hitchcock’s philosophical worldview and the works that influenced the way in which he created his films.

The volume opens with an excellent article by Janet Leigh and is followed with an essay by Dan Auiler on Hitchcock’s background.

This is a superb book, beautiful to look at, filled with posters, productions stills and ephemera and offers a superb film by film guide to the canon of one of the world’s greatest filmmmakers.