'The best book ever written about my father!' yells the attention-grabbing blurb from Patricia Hitchcock on the cover of Charlotte Chandler's It's Only A Movie, subtitled Alfred Hitchcock: A Personal Biography. This is the sort of thing that makes you sit up and take notice, even if you consider blurbs worthwhile only for their entertainment value.
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There have been dozens of books on Hitchcock, and, as a fanatic of his work, I have read many of them. So my instinctive response to a new biography is 'ho-hum, what's left to be said?' But Chandler's work is notably different from most other in-depth studies.
Firstly, she doesn't discuss Hitchcock's films at great length, or try to bring a critical perspective to them. Instead, she follows a set format, moving chronologically from one film to the next, providing a short synopsis and -- here is the meat of the book -- recording quotes and observations from cast and crew members involved in the making of each film (including Hitchcock himself, on occasion). No attempt is made at thematic linking.
This might sound tedious; if you're inclined towards cynicism, it can be dismissed as a lazily strung together effort. But that would be missing the point. Chandler's approach may seem unstructured and messy at first, but gradually, as the quotes add up and we move through a career that spanned over 50 years, from the silent era to the late 1970s, a portrait of the man begins to emerge.
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Importantly, it isn't a distinct portrait but a kaleidoscopic one, for Hitchcock was many things to many people, and by speaking to so many respondents, Chandler has brought out different sides of his personality.
Most actors, for instance, have ambivalent (if not downright unpleasant) memories of working with him -- not surprising given the director's famous dismissal of performers as 'cattle', or chess pieces to be moved around. But a few actors (not just his favourite blondes) also remember him as uncommonly generous and non-intrusive. 'He wasn't a backseat actor,' recalls Hume Cronym. 'He expected us to know our jobs. I don't consider that being unconcerned with your actors.'
Some things about Hitchcock are indisputable though -- notably that he enjoyed playing macabre practical jokes, like stepping into a crowded elevator with a friend and loudly saying 'I hope you got all the blood off the knife' just as they had reached their floor and were about to get off.
Or his proclivity for wordgames that would confuse his crew when he gave them instructions: 'Dog's feet' was his code for 'pause' ('paws') and 'don't come a pig's tail' translated meant 'don't come twirly' = 'too early.'
Then there were his ribald little jokes, all the more effective for being delivered in a deadpan tone, and when they were least expected. 'There's hills in them thar gold!' he whispered to Grace Kelly once, referring to the actress' low-cut golden gown.
The most notable thing about this book, as mentioned earlier, is the sheer number of people Chandler has spoken to. A professional biographer (she has written on Billy Wilder, Groucho Marx and Federico Fellini before), her style of working is remarkable -- it appears she either has a photographic memory or takes notes assiduously at every meeting.
While she did naturally interview many respondents especially for this project, many quotes are drawn from casual dinner meetings with people from decades earlier! Some of the most rewarding interviews are with the bit-players: with Georgine Darcy, for instance, who played the tiny role of the bouncy 'Miss Torso', one of the many people James Stewart looks at through his binoculars in Rear Window.
I can't completely agree with the Patricia Hitchcock blurb, but this is the cosiest and most personal Hitchcock book I have read to date. It's certainly a welcome relief from the surfeit of tomes that dissect and over-analyse his films. As Hitch would often say when people started taking things too seriously, 'It's only a movie.'
