Alfred Hitchcock: A Brief Life by Peter Ackroyd

Alfred Hitchcock: A Brief Life by Peter Ackroyd
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

ebook, 288 pages
Published April 2nd 2015 by Chatto & Windus
American publication to come: October 25th 2016 by Nan A. Talese
Source: egalley via edelweiss

A Brief Life series


Superb! I am a huge Hitchcock fan and have read much about his movies and life. Yet I still knew I must read Ackroyd's "Brief Life" of the director because of the enjoyment I got out of his brief life take on Poe. This is not an extensive biography, hence the name of Ackroyd's biographical series "A Brief Life", however, it is tremendously full and detailed. Ackroyd takes the "auteur" approach of a director by telling Hitchcock's life story chronologically movie by movie. It is as much a history of his work as it is of himself. Written in an engaging narrative the author manages to give detailed information on every movie Hitchcock made always including screenwriter, what book (story) if any it was based on, cameraman, music writer and actors. Starting with a brief section on his early life from birth, it doesn't take long until the book moves on to Hitch's first movie. The information is comprehensive and does give spoilers on plot for every movie and most books. Through reading this I've found that I've seen every Hitchcock movie, at least once, except for one silent film and one early British movie which didn't ring any bells for me either by name or plot. Even if you know a lot about Hitchcock already this is a must read for fans as it includes fantastic information on his personal life, relationship with daughter and wife and his many obsessive relations with some of his female stars.


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