Hitchcock's Films

by Robin Wood

1969, 2nd enlarged hardcover edition, reprint, Castle Books, NY. 204 pages. B&W stills throughout. The author contends that Hitchcock should be seen as a Shakespeare of cinema. With this in mind, he focuses on some sensationally good hours of cinema, 8 films in all, Strangers on a Train, Rear Window, Vertigo, North by Northwest, Psycho, The Birds, Marnie, and Torn Curtain. Other films from the master are briefly considered.

Genres: Film, Nonfiction, Criticism

204 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

Robert Paul Wood, known as Robin Wood, was an English film critic and educator who lived in Canada for much of his life. He wrote books on the works of Alfred Hitchcock, Howard Hawks, Satyajit Ray, Ingmar Bergman, Michelangelo Antonioni, and Arthur Penn. Wood was a longtime member - and co-founder, along with other colleagues at Toronto's York University - of the editorial collective which publishes CineACTION!, a film theory magazine. Wood was also York professor emeritus of film.[2]

Robin Wood was a founding editor of CineAction! and author of numerous influential works, including new editions published by Wayne State University Press of Personal Views: Explorations in Film (2006), Howard Hawks (2006), Ingmar Bergman (2013), Arthur Penn (2014) and The Apu Trilogy (2016). He was professor emeritus at York University, Toronto, and the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society for Cinema and Media Studies.

Reviews

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first really intelligent book of film criticism that I ever read.

Robin Wood wrote for the British auteurist magazine Movie, and this book was the first book devoted to the work of Alfred Hitchcok to be published in English.

Wood drew my attention to the unique properties of film: camera placement, cutting, composition, color scheme, mise-en-scene. He showed me how these elements are brought together by a particular director of popular cinema to create works of art that possess depth, subtly and finesse.

[Niall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extraordinarily persuasive. One of the best books of film criticism I've had the pleasure of reading.

[Orhan Gülek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eser, Hitchcock gelişimini gayet iyi özetlemiş

[Phillip · Rating 3 out of 5]

worth reading for you hitchcock fans that feel we need to read everything about the films, but not my favorite. from the opening statements, the writer seems to feel the need to defend hitchcock, and since it was written in the mid-70's, it's possible to see why he may have felt the need.

the book covers mostly the later stuff, starting with STRANGERS ON A TRAIN and wrapping up with FRENZY. yeah, that's a strange period - there are a few great films in there, but there are also movies like TOPAZ ... 'nuff said.

in the end, the analysis of the films are not particularly fascinating or instructive. nevertheless, i'm glad i read it, because there are discussions on some films that are not covered in the HITCHCOCK/TRUFFAULT book, or the spotto biography of the director. but there are better books out there on the subject.