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Hitchcock's Films Revisited

By: R Wood
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231126956
ISBN-13: 9780231126953
Released: 12 Oct 2008
RRP: £17.50
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Customer Reviews

very intersting - By: , 03 Sep 2001
this is an extremily readable book that looks at many of hitchcock's greatest films. the writer enters deeply into the world of hitchcock on an engaged & psychological level he uses psychoanalytic & archetypal ideas to think about what hitch is doing & how he succeedes. a very readable attempt at looking at the symbolism in a psychological sence in these films. but not necessarily freudian & reductionist.....highly rated
A thorough and academic trawl through the master - By: , 30 Jul 2001
This book is one of Robin Wood's better known works & stands as both one of the best pieces of Hitchcock criticism ever penned, & as a model of auteur analysis in general [an area Wood has consistently been aligned with since his involvement with the magazine MOVIE in the 1960's]. It contains very detailed readings of Hitch's most famous & revered films, from Strangers On A Train through to Torn Curtain & encompassing Rear Window, Vertigo, North By Northwest, Psycho, The Birds, Marnie et al. And also a second section which contains some broader ranging pieces on things like Shadow Of A Doubt [and Its A Wonderful Life] & American Ideology, Hitchcock & homosexuality [a very revealing piece on Rope] & a fascinating psychoanalytical reading of Vertigo. As well as pieces on some of Hitch's lesser known & British films. The one big problem with Wood, as with many British critics [and autuerists] of his generation like V.F Perkins [who also wrote for MOVIE], is his often self-consciously highbrow approach, too often too eager to validate cinema as art by comparing it to other art forms [ for example there is a piece in Wood's latest, & indeed last book Sexual Politics And Narrative Film comparing Renoir & The Rules Of The Game to Mozart]. But this is far less prominent in this book, as he concerns himself primarily with just analyising & interpreting the works in question. His writing here is as lucid, beautifully constructed & insightful as always & his interst in & passion for Hitchcock in particular & the cinema in general is evident in every paragraph. As mentioned this is less pretentious than some of Wood's other works, it is nevertheless still too scholarly for the passing film fan. But for the serious film buff & especialy the film student, this is an indispensible work that should prove useful & certainly insightful again & again. And will no doubt enrich your understanding of Hitchcock's films.