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markk's review
informative
medium-paced
3.75
Over the course of his long career, Alfred Hitchcock directed over sixty films, many of which are regarded as among the greatest in the history of cinema. Pride of place in these assessments is given to the works he produced during his time in Hollywood, which enjoy a wide distribution and define his oeuvre for most people familiar with his work. Overlooked in the process, however, are the many films he directed during his pre-Hollywood period as a director in Great Britain, during which he perfected his craft and established the style for which he became famous.
It is this period of Hitchcock’s career which is the focus of Charles Barr’s fine book. In it, he describes the influences on the budding filmmaker and how they were reflected on the 23 films he directed from 1922 until 1939. While much of this has been explored by others, Barr concentrates on the English literary and theatrical contribution to this process, noting how this is too oven overshadowed by the more traditional focus on the roles played by American, German and Soviet filmmaking styles in the formation of his signature techniques. This focus on the literary rather than the cinematic serves as a useful segue into a more detailed assessment of Hitchcock’s relationships with the writers of his films, the extent of the contribution of which has often been overlooked.
It is this period of Hitchcock’s career which is the focus of Charles Barr’s fine book. In it, he describes the influences on the budding filmmaker and how they were reflected on the 23 films he directed from 1922 until 1939. While much of this has been explored by others, Barr concentrates on the English literary and theatrical contribution to this process, noting how this is too oven overshadowed by the more traditional focus on the roles played by American, German and Soviet filmmaking styles in the formation of his signature techniques. This focus on the literary rather than the cinematic serves as a useful segue into a more detailed assessment of Hitchcock’s relationships with the writers of his films, the extent of the contribution of which has often been overlooked.
These themes shape Barr’s analysis of the films themselves. Barr groups his examination based on the scenarists and writers, with whom he collaborated in sustained stretches. Perhaps the most fruitful of these was Eliot Stannard, with whom Hitchcock worked at the start of his directing career. Describing their collaboration is no easy task for Barr, as Stannard left virtually no record of his long career. Nevertheless, Barr makes a good argument for regarding the writer as a valuable collaborator for the inexperienced Hitchcock, helping him to develop what would become some of his signature themes and strategies.
With the adoption of sound the now-experienced Hitchcock moved on to work with other writers. The films of this era form the core of Barr’s book, as he examines them in detail to describe the characteristics they displayed of Hitchcock’s style. This includes obscure and less-regarded works such as The Skin Game, Number Seventeen, and Jamaica Inn, as well as the movies from this era which established Hitchcock’s reputation, such as The 39 Steps, Sabotage, and The Lady Vanishes. It was the last of these which enabled Hitchcock to transition from England to Hollywood, ending a profitable association on the eve of one of the great eras of British filmmaking, one to which Hitchcock’s possible contribution can only be speculated rather than studied.
Barr is a passionate advocate for British film, and this advocacy is evident on every page. He does an admirable job of analyzing Hitchcock’s work, illuminating aspects of it that might have eluded even the most diligent fan of the filmmaker. Supplemented with an extensive collection of stills and other images from the era, this is a book that Hitchcock fans and film students more generally should read to best appreciate the development of a master filmmaker and how that development can be traced through the many early works of his career.
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