I’ve read several books on Alfred Hitchcock over the years–and seen a couple dozen of his movies and TV shows. Alfred Hitchcock All the Films: The Story Behind Every Movie, Episode, and Short (2024) is at the top of the Best list for me. It covers all of Hitchcock’s films and provides useful information and analysis.
Organized chronologically and covering every short film, television episode, and classic film, Alfred Hitchcock All the Films explores Hitchcock’s relationships with costume designer, Edith Head, title designer Saul Bass, and composer Bernard Herrmann. I also was intrigued by the details of the creative processes that went into the making of films like Vertigo, The Birds, Psycho, Rear Window, North By Northwest, and To Catch a Thief.
This 648 page tome covers casting for each movie, episode, and short film. Details about screenplays, settings, and the nuts-and-bolts of movie-making are revealed.
If you’re a Hitchcock fan, you really need to check Alfred Hitchcock All the Films out. Do you have a favorite Hitchcock movie? GRADE: A
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Alfred Hitchcock, a Life in the Making 9
Hitchcock Before Hitchcock (1899-1925) 14
1920S
The Pleasure Garden 31
The Mountain Eagle 41
The Lodger 47
Downhill 57
Easy Virtue 61
The Ring 65
The Farmer’s Wife 75
Champagne 79
The Manxman 83
Portrait: Alma Revilie, a Well-Guarded Secret 86
Blackmail 89
Juno and the Paycock 99
An Elastic Affair 104
1930S
Elstree Calling106
Murder! / Mary 109
The Skin Game 121
Rich and Strange 125
Number Seventeen 135
Waltzes from Vienna 139
Portrait: Michael Balcon, the Man Who Knew a Lot 142
The Man Who Knew Too Much 145
Focus: The MacGuffin, a Very Ridiculous Secret 154
The 39 Steps 157
Secret Agent 169
Sabotage 181
Young and Innocent 193
Portrait: Albert Whitlock, the Illusionist 202
The Lady Vanishes 205
Jamaica Inn 215
Portrait: David 0. Selznick, or the Perfect Disharmony 222
Rebecca 225
1940S
Foreign Correspondent 235
Mr. & Mrs. Smith 245
Suspicion 249
Focus: Hitchcock at War 258
Saboteur 261
“Have You Heard?” A Photo-Story by Alfred Hitchcock 270
Shadow of a Doubt 277
Lifeboat 289
Bon voyage 300
Aventure malgache 302
Focus: Psychoanalysis According to Hitchcock 304
Spellbound 307
Focus: Storyboards, Films on Paper 316
Memory of the Camps / German Concentration Camps Factual Survey 321
Notorious 329
Focus: “Mother!” The Hitchcock Matriarchs 340
The Paradine Case 343
Rope 347
Under Capricorn 357
Portrait: Ingrid Bergman, the Cornerstone 366
Stage Fright 369
1950S
Strangers on a Train 373
Portrait: Robert Burks, the Man Who Could Do Anything 382
I Confess 385
Dial M for Murder 395
Rear Window 405
Portrait: Grace Kelly, the “Hitchcock Blonde” 414
To Catch a Thief 417
Portrait: Cary Grant, Haute Couture 426
The Trouble with Harry 429
Portrait: Bernard Herrmann, the Musical Subconscious 432
The Man Who Knew Too Much 435
Portrait: James Stewart, or the Shadow of War 444
Landmark: Alfred Hitchcock and Television (1955-1965) 446
“Revenge” (TV) 452
“Breakdown” (TV) 454
“The Case of Mr. Pelham” (TV) 456
“Back for Christmas” (TV) 458
The Wrong Man 461
“Wet Saturday” (TV) 470
“Mr. Blanchard’s Secret” (TV) 472
“One More Mile to Go” (TV) 474
“The Perfect Crime” (TV) 476
“Four O’clock” (TV) 478
Vertigo 481
Portrait: Edith Head, Supreme Elegance 492
“Lamb to the Slaughter” (TV) 494
“Dip in the Pool” (TV) 496
“Poison” (TV) 498
North by Northwest 501
Focus: Monuments, at the Summit of the Drama 512
“Banqno’s Chair” (TV) 514
Focus: Four Films with Alfred Hitchcock 516
“Arthur” (TV) 518
“The Crystal Trench” (TV) 520
1960S
Psycho 525
Focus: 78 Shots and 45 Seconds that Changed the History of Cinema 534
Portrait: Saul Bass, the Art of the Opening Sequence 540
“Incident at a Corner” (TV) 544
“Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel’s Coat” (TV) 546
“The Horse Player” (TV) 548
“Bang! You’re Dead” (TV) 550
Portrait: Lew Wasserman, the Great Strategist 552
The Birds 555
Focus: Alfred Hitchcock, a French Invention? 566
“I Saw the Whole Thing” (TV )568
Focus: A Genius for Publicity: Hitchcock at the Helm 570
Marnie 573
Focus: Blondes, Mirage-Image 584
Torn Curtain 587
Focus: Unrealized Projects 596
Topaz 599
1970S
Frenzy 603
Family Plot 615
Landmark: Hitchcock After Hitchcock (Legacy) 620
Glossary 625
Notes 628
Select Bibliography 633
Index 636
Acknowledgments 646
Photo Credits 647
About the Authors 648
Wow—that’s comprehensive. Roku TV has an entire channel devoted to Alfred Hitchcock Presents. As far as I can tell, the only episodes that they do not air are the four either written by or adapted from works by Roald Dahl and two that feature Steve McQueen. I’m guessing those are tangled up in rights issues. I’m putting this on the potential Father’s Day gift list for John.
Deb, John (and you!) will love ALFRED HITCHCOCK: ALL THE FILMS! Very comprehensive and readable.
39 STEPS, THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (the first, Leslie Banks/Peter Lorre version), SECRET AGENT, even TOPAZ..
Fred, excellent list! I need to rewatch TOPAZ!
I have a half-dozen books on Hitch including McGilligan’s biography which is excellent. I’ve looked at this new book but have held off. I’ll give it a second look. I actually just finished Steven Smith’s fine biography of Bernard Herrmann that spends a fair amount of pages on his years working with Hitch and their subsequent falling out. I see that Smith has a new book coming out later this year that focuses solely on the Hitch/Herrmann partnership so that’s already on my list. Christina Lane’s biography of Hitch collaborator, producer Joan Harrison, (who guided his TV shows) is also worth a look.
As far as favorite films go it’s “Shadow Of A Doubt,” which was also Hitch’s personal favorite, followed by “North By Northwest ” and “Strangers On A Train.”
When I visited Santa Rosa years back I went out of my way to visit the house Hitch filmed location shots around for “Shadow,” which is just across the street from the house Disney used for “Pollyana” (and but a few miles from the Charles Schultz home/museum).
I’ve seen a good chunk of the “Afred Hitchcock Presents” and “Alfred Hitchcock Hour” episodes. “Lamb to the Slaughter,” the Vincent Price one and a few of the Ray Bradbury episodes of which “The Life Work of Juan Diaz” (featuring a score by Herrmann) were the standouts. I actually think Hitch’s best work for television was the short-lived “Suspicion.” It was noticeably more intense and cinematic than his other shows which seem rather stagey by comparison. It also featured a very good adaptation of William Hope Hodgson’s creepy/tragic “A Voice In The Night.”
Byron, my favorite Hitchcock movie is REAR WINDOW. I also have a wonderful CD around here of Bernard Herrmann’s music. Just wonderful!
This sounds like a must have for me too, particularly for the TV shows. Favorite movies varies over time, but going by “which are you most likely to re-watch” it would be NORTH BY NORTHWEST.
Jeff, NORTH BY NORTHWEST is a brilliant film! I have a DVD copy of it around here somewhere.
I enjoyed many Hitchcock films, my favourites were North by Northwest too and as a Eoropean of course The Man who knew too much and To catch a Thief.
I even went to Southern France on holiday to have a look at the places in the film …
Wolf, I like your Hitchcock choices! Great films!
Love the book and doc TRUFFAUT and HITCHCOCK.
My favorite is REAR WINDOW, followed by NORTH BY NORTHWEST.
Patti, I’m with you on REAR WINDOW. It’s my favorite Hitchcock film, too! Many of my friends like VERTIGO.
THE MANXMAN and FRENZY. (I kid.)
Your blog, mine, and Frank Babics’s CASUAL DEBRIS have been among those that have dealt to some notable degree with the books and magazines he licensed his name to, for me not so much (nor at all) the Three Investigators, but instead Robert Arthur’s other projects with Random House, the YA and adult AH PRESENTS: anthologies…along with other similar projects edited by Don Ward, Harold Q. Masur, someone deeply hidden at AH’S MYSTERY MAGAZINE or nearby, and so on–Patricia Hitchcock apparently edited one of the early YAs for her father. They were key to my early reading, and certainly got me reading more crime fiction than I might’ve otherwise. Jack Seabrook at the BARE BONES the blog has been assiduously covering AH PRESENTS the series episode by episode, taking close note of their literary sources.
Memory slip…PH gets the backdoor editorial credited for the adult-targeted MY FAVORITES IN SUSPENSE.
https://the.hitchcock.zone/wiki/Alfred_Hitchcock_Presents:_My_Favorites_in_Suspense_(book)
Todd, like you I grew up reading THE THREE INVESTIGATORS and later all the ALFRED HITCHCOCK anthologies, mostly in DELL format, with Hitchcock on the covers.
Todd, I owned and read a copy of MY FAVORITES IN SUSPENSE back in the day!
Many years ago, when we had an excellent (and I mean excellent!) independent video rental shop, we watched most of the Hitchcock movies, one a month, in chronological order.