François Truffaut’s interviews with Alfred Hitchcock offer deep insights into his cinematic methods, the history of film, and his career from silent films to Hollywood classics. Iconic, groundbreaking interviews of Alfred Hitchcock by film critic François Truffaut—providing insight into the cinematic method, the history of film, and one of the greatest directors of all time.In Hitchcock, film critic François Truffaut presents fifty hours of interviews with Alfred Hitchcock about the whole of his vast directorial career, from his silent movies in Great Britain to his color films in Hollywood. The result is a portrait of one of the greatest directors the world has ever known, an all-round specialist who masterminded everything, from the screenplay and the photography to the editing and the soundtrack. Hitchcock discusses the inspiration behind his films and the art of creating fear and suspense, as well as giving strikingly honest assessments of his achievements and failures, his doubts and hopes. This peek into the brain of one of cinema’s greats is a must-read for all film aficionados. CONTENTSPreface to the Revised EditionIntroduction1: ChildhoodBehind prison bars"Came the dawn"Michael BalconWoman to WomanNumber ThirteenIntroducing the future Mrs. HitchcockA melodramatic shooting: The Pleasure GardenThe Mountain Eagle2: The first true Hitchcock: The LodgerCreating a purely visual formThe glass floorHandcuffs and sexWhy Hitchcock appears in his filmsDownhillEasy VirtueThe Ring and One-Round JackThe Farmer's WifeThe Griffith influenceChampagneThe last silent movie: The Manxman.3: Hitchcock's first sound film: BlackmailThe Shuftan processJuno and the PaycockWhy Hitchcock will never film Crime and PunishmentWhat is suspense?MurderThe Skin GameRich and StrangeTwo innocents in ParisNumber SeventeenCats, cats everywhereWaltzes from ViennaThe lowest ebb and the comeback.4. The Man Who Knew Too MuchWhen Churchill was chief of policeMFrom "The One Note Man" to the deadly cymbalsClarification and simplificationThe Thirty-nine StepsJohn Buchan's influenceUnderstatementAn old, bawdy storyMr. MemorySlice of life and slice of cake5. The Secret AgentYou don't always need a happy endingWhat do they have in Switzerland?SabotageThe child and the bombAn example of suspenseThe Lady VanishesThe plausiblesA wire from David O. SelznickThe last British film: Jamaica InnSome conclusions about the British period.6: Rebecca: A Cinderella-like story"I've never received an Oscar"Foreign CorrespondentGary Cooper's mistakeIn Holland, windmills and rainThe bloodstained tulipWhat's a MacGuffin?Flashback to The Thirty-nine StepsMr. and Mrs. Smith"All actors are cattle"SuspicionThe luminous glass of milk7: Sabotage versus SaboteurA mass of ideas clutters up a pictureShadow of a DoubtTribute to Thornton Wilder"The Merry Widow"An idealistic killerLifeboatA microcosm of warLike a pack of dogsReturn to LondonModest war contribution: Bon Voyage and Aventure Malgache.8: Return to AmericaSpellboundCollaboration with Salvador DaliNotorious"The Song of the Flame"The uranium MacGuffinUnder surveillance by the FBIA film about the cinemaThe Paradine CaseCan Gregory Peck play a British lawyer?An intricate shotHorny hands, like the devil!9: Rope: From 7:30 to 9:15 in one shotClouds of spun glassColors and shadowsWalls that fade awayFilms must be cutHow to make noises rise from the streetUnder CapricornInfantilism and other errors in judgmentRun for cover!"Ingrid, it's only a movie!"Stage FrightThe flashback that liedThe better the villain, the better the picture10: Spectacular comeback via Strangers on a TrainA monopoly on the suspense genreThe little man who crawledA bitchy wifeI ConfessA "barbaric sophisticate"The sanctity of confessionExperience alone is not enoughFear of the policeStory of a ménage á trois11: Dial M for MurderFilming in 3-DThe theater confines the actionRear WindowThe Kuleshov experimentWe are all voyeursDeath of a small dogThe size of the image has a dramatic purposeThe surprise kiss versus the suspense kissThe Patrick Mahon case and the Dr. Crippen caseTo Catch a ThiefSex on the screenThe Trouble with HarryThe humor of understatementThe Man Who Knew Too MuchA knife in the backThe clash of cymbals12: The Wrong ManAbsolute authenticityVertigoThe usual alternatives: suspense or surpriseNecrophiliaKim Novak on the setTwo projects that were never filmedA political suspense movieNorth by NorthwestThe importance of photographic documentationDealing with time and spaceThe practice of the absurdThe body that came from nowhere13: Ideas in the middle of the nightThe longest kiss in screen historyA case of pure exhibitionismNever waste spaceScreen imagery is make-believePsychoJanet Leigh's brassière.Red herringsDirecting the audienceHow Arbogast was killedA shower stabbingStuffed birdsHow to get mass emotionsPsycho: A film-maker's film14: The BirdsThe elderly ornithologistThe gouged-out eyesThe girl in a gilded cageImprovisationsThe size of the imageThe scene that was droppedAn emotional truckElectronic soundsPractical jokes15: MarnieA fetishist loveThe Three Hostages, Mary Rose, and R.R.R.R.Torn CurtainThe bus is the villainThe scene in the factoryEvery film is a brand-new experienceThe rising curveThe situation film versus the character film"I only read the London Times"A strictly visual mindHitchcock a Catholic film-maker?A dream for the future: A film showing twenty-four hours in the life of a city16: Hitchcock's final yearsGrace Kelly abandons the cinemaMore on The Birds, Marnie, and Torn CurtainHitch misses the starsThe "great flawed films"A project that was droppedTopaz made to order for the front officeReturn to London with FrenzyThe pacemaker and Family PlotHitchcock laden down with tributes and honorsLove and espionageThe Short NightHitchcock is ill, Sir Alfred is deadThe endThe Films of Alfred HitchcockSelected BibliographyIndex of Film TitlesIndex of Names