Today is Alfred Hitchcock Day, March 12th. I have several books to commemorate Alfred Hitchcock. I have always enjoyed seeing Hitchcock movies whenever I can, and this first book gives me some background to the movies, “The Films of Alfred Hitchcock” by Robert A. Harris and Michael S. Lasky, 1979. It is a good book about Hitchcock. There is a brief discussion of his life, then it breaks into the chronography of his movies. Each movie is given six or seven pages of photo shots, and written description of that movie. The last page of the book gives us comments of his cameos, and where to look.
The second book is an unsung good book, “Alfred Hitchcock The Master of Suspense, A Pop-up Book” 2006. It has five pop-ups that move colorfully while opening. It is very inexpensive in the world of pop-ups, but yet carries great emotion on the pages. If one likes Hitchcock, and or pop-ups, this would be a quick purchase.
When the pop-up page is opening for Vertigo, the stairs are moving, along with the spinning vertigo dial. Whew. In the movie, Hitchcock zoomed a camera while moving the dolly, creating the dizzying effects.
Frenzy is one of the last movies Hitchcock made. In this pop-up, the hands and tie move, tightening around her neck. Frenzy has a great Hitchcock scene in the movie, where Babs is invited into a room, and the door closes. The camera backs up from the door, down the stairs, in quietness, as we wait for a scream that we know is going to happen. But as the camera, still backing up into the street, we slowly are made to listen to the hustle and bustle of the normal street growing louder. We don’t get to hear that scream. It is a chilling scene.
I have been taking my eldest granddaughter to the Peoria Museum on Classic Movie nights to see old movies, some which were hosted by Marc Eliot, author of biographies of several actors. Together, between that big screen, and on a TV, we have seen some good Hitchcock movies: North by Northwest, Rear Window, To Catch a Thief, Rebecca, Strangers on A Train, The Birds, and The Man Who Knew Too Much.
We had a book signed by Marc Eliot, after we saw The Man Who Knew Too Much. He signed it “to Super Grandpa and Nat”. He was happy seeing young people studying and enjoying classic movies.
There is a curious background to an early scene of The Man Who Knew Too Much, where Louis is dying, and in brownface to look Moroccan. The scene has Ben (Jimmy Stewart) brushing his face, and some of the brown comes off, and you see streaks of his white face. The trouble was that the brownface would not easily wipe off. To make it look right, Jimmy Stewart has the white (pinkish) makeup on the back of his hand. When he wipes Ben’s face, the white makes a streak, having everyone think the brown is coming off, when in reality, the white is going on. It is a great illusion.
After we watched the movie Rebecca, I wondered if my granddaughter would like the movie or the book better. I gave her the book by Daphne DuMaurier to read. I now feel like that teacher trying to keep order with seniors in the last week of school. She is a senior, and there are now other things besides hanging out with Super Grandpa, that are pressing and vying for her time. That book is collecting dust in her room. Is the book better? She may never know.
You can lead a horse to water, but can’t make them drink.
Teachers can open doors, but you have to walk through yourself.
Oh, well. Try to keep reading. A librarian’s work is never done…
Librarytomes 