Alfred Hitchcock

This provocative study traces Alfred Hitchcock's long directorial career from Victorianism to postmodernism. Paula Marantz Cohen considers a sampling of Hitchcock's best films-Shadow of a Doubt, Rear Window, Vertigo, Psycho-as well as some of his more uneven ones-Rope, The Wrong Man, Topaz-and makes connections between his evolution as a filmmaker and trends in the larger society.Drawing on a number of methodologies including feminism, psychoanalysis, and family systems, the author provides an insightful look at the paradox of a Victorian-style gentleman who evolved into one of the leading masters of the modern medium of film. Cohen posits that Hitchcock's films are, in part, a masculine response to the domestic, psychological novels that had appealed primarily to women during the Victorian era. His career, she argues, can be seen as an attempt to balance "e;the two faces of Victorianism"e;: the masculine legacy of law and hierarchy and the feminine legacy of feeling and imagination.Cohen asserts that Hitchcock's films reflect his Victorian legacy and serve as a map for ideological trends. She charts his development from his British period through his classic Hollywood years into his later phase, tracing a conceptual evolution that corresponds to an evolution in cultural identity-one that builds on a Victorian inheritance and ultimately discards it.