W. W. Norton & Company The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock: An Anatomy of the Master of Suspense

My shelf teems with about thirty books on Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980). He is my favorite film director whose 53 movies have entertained millions of fans. Among his hits are Vertigo, The Man Who Knew Too Much (both versions), North By Northwest, Psycho, Spellbound, Rebecca, Jamaica Inn. The Wrong Man, To Catch a Thief, Dial M for Murder, The 39 Steps and many others. Edward White is a British critic who looks at the master of suspense by focusing on twelve areas of this complicated man's long life. Those dozen aspects of Hitchcock examined are: The Boy Who Could Not Grow Up; The Murderer; The Auteur; The Womanizer; The Fat Man (a fun chapter on how Hitchcock dealt with his obesity); The Dandy; The Family Man (his wife and collaborator was Alma; they had one child Pat who acted in a few of her Dad's films); The Voyeur (a good essay on Rear Window); The Entertainer (looks at Hitchcock's Alfred Hitchcock Presents work on TV and his ability at self promoting himself and his films); The Pioneer (a genius who used technical innovations-I enjoyed the material on his The Birds, Marnie and other movies) The Londoner and The Man of God (Hitch was trained in a Jesuit school and was a Roman Catholic). The book is jargon free and easy to read. This 400 page book will give you a good understanding of Alfred Hitchcock. Recommended.

I am somewhat of a Hitchcock biography junkie and this is the best one I’ve ever read. Not only is it the best Hitchcock bio, it is one of the best bios in general!Most biographies tend to follow a chronological template and while there’s nothing wrong with that, they often neglect the subject’s later life. They focus on the formative and exciting ‘hot’ years when the subject accomplished their claim to fame. The subject’s life is dutifully followed through whatever tragedy or triumph is most interesting for a time, and if a catharsis is included then that is obviously showcased, but often a healthy chunk of their life is just glossed over (the ‘unexciting’ part). And by doing this the subject’s life often comes off unfairly as depressing to the reader especially in the last chapters.When bios do it right they give the subject’s WHOLE life, even the later years, full consideration. Two film bios in the past year about music artists did just that: Tina and Zappa. These gave wonderful attention to the artist’s FULL lives.White’s solution/innovation is to approach the subject’s life in a non-chronological fashion and focus on different aspects that round out the person. In Hitchcock’s case White writes about “twelve lives” such as: “Tho Boy Who Couldn’t Grow Up,” “The Auteur,” “The Womanizer,” “The Dandy,” “The Pioneer.”These angles overlap each other and flesh out a more complete picture of Hitchcock and his ENTIRE life. The good and the bad have better context.As White writes in the intro, “…contradictions have encouraged astonishingly diverse interpretations of Hitchcock. The reading of him as lecherous ogre competes with the image of Hitchcock the uxorious husband. Hitchcock the brooding artist is countered by Hitchcock the vaudevillian. The dyspeptic misanthrope identified by some contrasts with the hopeless romantic that others recognize when they delve into Hitchcock’s filmography.”His mythology, his genius, his flaws become more human when you deal with him as different components that make up a whole. You come away knowing him as a full human being, and that’s exactly what a biography should do.Most surprisingly though, this approach also allowed a freer and deeper exploration into the details/technique of Hitchcock’s craft as a director (something many other bios have failed at).I am excited for other biographers to follow White’s approach. It seems to be a much better and more satisfying way to write a biography.

The book is certainly well researched. But from the description and titles of the chapters, I expected to be somewhat entertained? Rather, it reads like a series of "research papers," and reminds me of papers I wrote in graduate school. I'll read all of it but I took a break after a few chapters to read something else instead.

They were plenty of interesting tidbits regarding AH, but much of the book is too gossipy for me. For example, many paragraphs lead with suppositions that only imagine what may have taken place instead of the actual truth. The photos are great although not related to the text to which they're inserted. With all the acknowledgments in the back matter, I expected a factual treatment of AH's life and times but this ain't it.

After accidentally happening upon, and then binging Alfred Hitchcock Presents recently, seeing this book released made it a must-have.Im sure for some readers, the non-linear narrative will be distracting. But I found it very useful in cross-referencing Hitchcock's works, influences etc. What is distracting is the sheer volume of psychological supposition the author projects onto his subject.It's a lot. Like...really a lot.Yet, the book's perspective made me go back and rewatch both Vertigo and The Birds and I found that the author's perspective heightened my enjoyment of both films, which I'd seen several times previously.If youre a fan of the legendary director, or a film buff at all, I'd suggest this work is a necessary addition to your library.