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A review by jacobg
Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho by Stephen Rebello
5.0
Alfred Hitchcock is quite a famous person. You may have heard of him. He has made somewhere around 50 films, a fair amount of them considered classics. As great as most of his films are, there is one in particular that was so great that it changed the world forever. If you can’t figure it out, I’m talking about the almighty Psycho.
Psycho is a brilliant film. This film is a prime example of why Hitchcock was called the Master of Suspense, with its plot twists, drama filled scenes, breath taking moments and downright horror, as well as some of the most famous bits in movie history. Yes I am talking about the Shower Murder scene. But Hitchcock went through a lot of trouble to make this film, and that is exactly what this book is about.
This book is not so much about Hitchcock himself, but more about the process and trouble he went through to make Psycho. Because imagine making a movie about a killer who dresses up as his mother in 1959, a time where little things like showing a toilet get flushed made the censors scream. It’s not going to be easy, but Hitch did it and boy did he do a good job.
A quick, easy and above all interesting read. I would have preferred some bits about how Hitchcock was going mentally, like in the film Hitchcock (based on this book and some other books about Hitchcock) but what I got was perfectly fine. It goes through every single bit of work that went into Psycho and helps you learn how they made films back then.
I did found it interesting how Hitchcock got rid of most of his filming problems by having every scene planned to the finest detail and the process he went through to get the film past the censors. I also like the small bit towards the end how it’s talking about Hitch never being able to live up to the hype of Psycho and his films started to become crap and not make any money (although the film he made after Psycho, The Birds, is a very good film) which you could tell made him depressed.
R.I.P Sir Alfred Hitchcock. You were a genius and it’s sad to hear your greatest work was you undoing. But if you didn’t make Psycho, the world would be such a different place.
I loved the book, if you care even the slightest bit about films you should read this, just so you can learn how ground breaking Psycho was. And then you can watch the film, realise how great it is, then you can go watch more Hitchcock films, which will create one more Hitchcock fan, which is never a bad thing.
Psycho is a brilliant film. This film is a prime example of why Hitchcock was called the Master of Suspense, with its plot twists, drama filled scenes, breath taking moments and downright horror, as well as some of the most famous bits in movie history. Yes I am talking about the Shower Murder scene. But Hitchcock went through a lot of trouble to make this film, and that is exactly what this book is about.
This book is not so much about Hitchcock himself, but more about the process and trouble he went through to make Psycho. Because imagine making a movie about a killer who dresses up as his mother in 1959, a time where little things like showing a toilet get flushed made the censors scream. It’s not going to be easy, but Hitch did it and boy did he do a good job.
A quick, easy and above all interesting read. I would have preferred some bits about how Hitchcock was going mentally, like in the film Hitchcock (based on this book and some other books about Hitchcock) but what I got was perfectly fine. It goes through every single bit of work that went into Psycho and helps you learn how they made films back then.
I did found it interesting how Hitchcock got rid of most of his filming problems by having every scene planned to the finest detail and the process he went through to get the film past the censors. I also like the small bit towards the end how it’s talking about Hitch never being able to live up to the hype of Psycho and his films started to become crap and not make any money (although the film he made after Psycho, The Birds, is a very good film) which you could tell made him depressed.
R.I.P Sir Alfred Hitchcock. You were a genius and it’s sad to hear your greatest work was you undoing. But if you didn’t make Psycho, the world would be such a different place.
I loved the book, if you care even the slightest bit about films you should read this, just so you can learn how ground breaking Psycho was. And then you can watch the film, realise how great it is, then you can go watch more Hitchcock films, which will create one more Hitchcock fan, which is never a bad thing.