The Films of Alfred Hitchcock

Alfred Hitchcock is one of the few filmmakers to combine a strong reputation for high-art filmmaking with great mass-audience popularity. This introduction to his oeuvre provides an overview of a long and prolific career. David Sterritt examines, among other issues, the varied influences on his work; the themes that run through many of his films; the overlooked importance of his presence within his films, including his famous cameo appearances and the characters who "represent" him within the story; his fascination with performance and the ambiguities of illusion and reality; and the question of viewing the filmmaker and his work through the auteur theory. Also discussed is the relationship between Hitchcock as a serious, even tormented, artist and Hitchcock as a magician with a weakness for cinematic practical jokes. Sterritt then provides in-depth analysis of key Hitchcock films: Blackmail, his first talkie; Shadow of a Doubt, one of his personal favorites; The Wrong Man, which questions the nature of guilt and innocence; Vertigo, arguably his most profound work; Psycho, his most savage look at the nature of evil; and The Birds, his last masterpiece and one of his most widely misunderstood films.