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pbraue13's review against another edition
3.0
While I do prefer some of Spoto's earlier work on the famous filmmaker, this book was by no means a slog to get through. I was interested the entire time in seeing the evolution of Hitchcock's relationship with his leading ladies to the eventual weird obsession he had for Tippi Hedren. The book did, at some points, feel like a cliffsnotes version of the actual book as Spoto seemed to really want to rush to get to the relationship between Hedren and Hitchcock. It was a good read over all, a 3.5/5.
judyward's review
3.0
This is the final book in the author's trilogy about Alfred Hitchcock and documents fifty years of the director's attitudes about and behavior toward the female leads in his films. Calling himself "Svengali Hitch", he attempted to control every aspect of the lives of many of his starring actresses culminating in his physical and emotional abuse of Tippi Hedren (for example, he kept her chained to live birds for five days before she collapsed in hysteria). The author documents Hitchcock's negative attitude toward actors, calling them "cattle" and "stupid children" and his propensity toward telling his lead actresses vulger jokes before taping a scene and telling them how unpopular they were viewed both by the other actors on the set and by the critics. The author relied on hundreds of hours of interviews with both Hitchcock and people who worked on his films. The portrait painted of [b:Alfred Hitchcock|2014794|The Thirty-nine Steps.|John Buchan|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51JYVWNH8DL._SL75_.jpg|2422487] reveals a talented, but ultimately pathetic human being.
princessleia4life's review
5.0
It is a great book that really gives you a lot of info on the perverted side of Hitch. You see how mean he was to women and how awful he treated them. However, I still love his films and genius in them.
cinephilegirl_'s review against another edition
4.0
Es muy difícil leer que alguien que vos admiras mucho como artista no es más que un acosador glorificado por un sistema que no permitía que sus estrellas denunciaran abusos. Lo de Tippi Hedren es terrible y no hay manera de suavizarlo con nada ni "es el humor inglés " o así es Hitchcock. La historia de un hombre atormentado por sus propias obsesiones que resulta ser un genio adiovisual.
esselleayy's review
3.0
I always knew Hitchcock had issues with women and had a bit of a shoe fetish, but I never knew just how awful he could be. I have a whole new respect for Tippi Hedren.
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