Alfred Hitchcock : a brief life / Peter Ackroyd.
2016
PN1998.3.H58 A675 2016 (Mapit)
Available at General Collection
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Details
Title
Alfred Hitchcock : a brief life / Peter Ackroyd.
Edition
First United States edition.
ISBN
9780385537414 (hardcover)
0385537417 (hardcover)
9780385537421 (electronic book)
0385537417 (hardcover)
9780385537421 (electronic book)
Published
New York : Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, 2016.
Copyright
©2015
Language
English
Description
276 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
Call Number
PN1998.3.H58 A675 2016
Dewey Decimal Classification
791.4302/33092 B
Summary
"Alfred Hitchcock was a strange child. Fat, lonely, burning with fear and ambition, his childhood was an isolated one, scented with fish from his father's shop. Afraid to leave his bedroom, he would plan great voyages, using railway timetables to plot an exact imaginary route across Europe. So how did this fearful figure become the one of the most respected film directors of the twentieth century? As an adult, Hitch rigorously controlled the press's portrait of him, drawing certain carefully selected childhood anecdotes into full focus and blurring all others out. In this quick-witted portrait, Ackroyd reveals something more: a lugubriously jolly man fond of practical jokes, who smashes a once-used tea cup every morning to remind himself of the frailty of life. Iconic film stars make cameo appearances, just as Hitch did in his own films: Grace Kelly, Cary Grant, and James Stewart despair of his detached directing style and, perhaps most famously of all, Tippi Hedren endures cuts and bruises from a real-life fearsome flock of birds. In [this book], Peter Ackroyd wrests the director's chair back from the master of control and discovers what lurks just out of sight, in the corner of the shot,"--Amazon.com.
Fat, lonely, burning with fear and ambition-- Hitchcock's childhood was an isolated one. As an adult, Hitch rigorously controlled the press's portrait of him, drawing certain carefully selected childhood anecdotes into full focus and blurring all others out. Ackroyd reveals a jolly man fond of practical jokes, who smashes a once-used tea cup every morning to remind himself of the frailty of life. The result is a gripping biography of one of the most respected directors of the twentieth century.
Fat, lonely, burning with fear and ambition-- Hitchcock's childhood was an isolated one. As an adult, Hitch rigorously controlled the press's portrait of him, drawing certain carefully selected childhood anecdotes into full focus and blurring all others out. Ackroyd reveals a jolly man fond of practical jokes, who smashes a once-used tea cup every morning to remind himself of the frailty of life. The result is a gripping biography of one of the most respected directors of the twentieth century.
Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references (pages 261-264) and index.
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Table of Contents
The child who never cried
I'll do it
Sound, please
I was grey
At home
Fake it
Oh dear
I am typed
Good evening
Birds and beasts
Back to basics.
I'll do it
Sound, please
I was grey
At home
Fake it
Oh dear
I am typed
Good evening
Birds and beasts
Back to basics.