The Moment of 'Psycho' How Alfred Hitchcock Taught America to Love Murder (Audible Audio Edition) David Thomson Jeff Woodman Audible Studios Books
Download As PDF : The Moment of 'Psycho' How Alfred Hitchcock Taught America to Love Murder (Audible Audio Edition) David Thomson Jeff Woodman Audible Studios Books
It was made like a television movie, and completed in less than three months. It killed off its star in 40 minutes. There was no happy ending. And it offered the most violent scene to that date in American film, punctuated by shrieking strings that seared the national consciousness. Nothing like Psycho had existed before, and the movie industry, even America itself, would never be the same.
In The Moment of Psycho, film critic David Thomson situates Psycho in Alfred Hitchcock's career, recreating the mood and time when the seminal film erupted onto film screens worldwide. Thomson shows that Psycho was not just a sensation in film - it altered the very nature of our desires. Sex, violence, and horror took on new life. Psycho, all of a sudden, represented all America wanted from a film and, as Thomson brilliantly demonstrates, still does.
The Moment of 'Psycho' How Alfred Hitchcock Taught America to Love Murder (Audible Audio Edition) David Thomson Jeff Woodman Audible Studios Books
The Moment of Psycho: How Hitchcock Taught America to Love Murder is a short and overpriced book on the making of a Hitchcock masterpiece. The author is the distinguished British born film historian David Thomson. I have a long library shelf of Hitchcockian books and always pick up a new one when published. Thomson's book is short with insights into the making of the film and its cultural impact. Among salient points of Thomson's sage observations are the following:1. Psycho arrived on the scene in 1960 a time of transition from the happy days of studio glory to the television age when moviemakers were seeking to increase movie revenues by putting things and dealing with subjects absent from the small TV screen at home. Psycho has been considered the first of the genre known as "slasher films."
Thomson devotes a whole chapter to these "children" of Psycho such as "Dressed in Black" "The Halloween films";
"Blue Velvet" "The Shining" and others.
2. Psycho was unique in killing off its big female star Janet Leigh only 40 minutes into the film.
3. Thomson considers the post shower scene denoument of the film a flop. He casts aspersions on the acting of Vera Miles playing Marion's sister Lilah and the wooden faced John Gavin as Marion's lover.
4. The film was the first mainline American studio film to show the flushing of a toilet, three scenes of Janet Leigh in her bra and the most violent 45 second murder in film history up until that time. Hitch had a way of working with and around the censors to get what he wanted on celluloid.
5. The eerie music by Bernard Hermann is considered classic film music even though the composer was denied an Oscar for his stellar composition.
6. Psycho made millions for Hitchcock.
7. Thomson discusses the overweight and elderly Hitchcock's infatuation for his leading ladies especially Grace Kelly, Ingrid Bergman and Tippi Heddren.
8. Hitch's later movies such as The Birds and Marnie were influenced by the new sexual freedom exhibited in Psycho.
9. Psycho was filmed in black and white by Hitch's TV crew from his popular series "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" which ran on TV for years.
10. Hitch had been influenced by Orson Welles "A Touch of Evil" starring Janet Leigh and a weird motel clerk played by Dennis Hopper.
11. The film was excellently acted by Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates and Janet Leigh as Marion Crane.
12. The movie was based on the novel by Robert Bloch dealing with a real life murder.
Psycho is set in a wasteland America which would see many tragedies in the decades ahead. American film lost its Pollyannish innocence in Psycho.
Thomson is always worth reading for his insights and love of movies. The book provides a decent bibliography of books on Psycho and Hitchcock's life and career. The book lacks any pictures from Psycho which is a detriment.
The chapters remind this reader of magazine articles on particular aspects of the production of Psycho and the strange genius lurking under the too too solid flesh of the obese cockney genius Alfred Joseph Hitchcock.
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The Moment of 'Psycho' How Alfred Hitchcock Taught America to Love Murder (Audible Audio Edition) David Thomson Jeff Woodman Audible Studios Books Reviews
Read this for a film class. It was very insightful.
This "little book" tells absolutely nothing new. It consists mostly of the author's impressions of what might have been, could have been, etc.
I got this book for a class on film. With this book, it helped me appreciate Hitchcock more than I did before. It's a pretty good book
At this stage, I guess ,there is very little under the sun. So many books, articles, papers, reviews on this masterpiece of suspense of all times when movie goers were a lot more innocent than today. But, all in all the author presents us with some good insights and good bits of information. Mother may not be herself today but this flic changed the way we chose motels and took showers.
As always, Thomson cuts to the meat of his subject in a accessible but erudite way. He uses his typical scene-by-scene dscription of the film but in a way that makes even a old familiar seem like new. And his suggestion of Psycho as a turning point in the depiction of everything obscured by nearly thirty years of the production code is revealing (pardon the pun). His analysis of the first forty minutes (the 'dull' part if you're only waiting for the shower scene) demands re-viewing. Clearly, this is the pinnacle of Hitchock before the at-first slow (The Birds, Marnie) and then precipitous (Torn Curtain, Topaz, etc.) decline of this brilliant film-maker. This book, along with the works of Donald Spoto, is a must for film lovers and especially lovers of Hitch.
AMAZING read!
I've seen both the original Psycho made in the early 60's and the remake from 1998 which I liked even though the original was better. Book is interesting reading.
The Moment of Psycho How Hitchcock Taught America to Love Murder is a short and overpriced book on the making of a Hitchcock masterpiece. The author is the distinguished British born film historian David Thomson. I have a long library shelf of Hitchcockian books and always pick up a new one when published. Thomson's book is short with insights into the making of the film and its cultural impact. Among salient points of Thomson's sage observations are the following
1. Psycho arrived on the scene in 1960 a time of transition from the happy days of studio glory to the television age when moviemakers were seeking to increase movie revenues by putting things and dealing with subjects absent from the small TV screen at home. Psycho has been considered the first of the genre known as "slasher films."
Thomson devotes a whole chapter to these "children" of Psycho such as "Dressed in Black" "The Halloween films";
"Blue Velvet" "The Shining" and others.
2. Psycho was unique in killing off its big female star Janet Leigh only 40 minutes into the film.
3. Thomson considers the post shower scene denoument of the film a flop. He casts aspersions on the acting of Vera Miles playing Marion's sister Lilah and the wooden faced John Gavin as Marion's lover.
4. The film was the first mainline American studio film to show the flushing of a toilet, three scenes of Janet Leigh in her bra and the most violent 45 second murder in film history up until that time. Hitch had a way of working with and around the censors to get what he wanted on celluloid.
5. The eerie music by Bernard Hermann is considered classic film music even though the composer was denied an Oscar for his stellar composition.
6. Psycho made millions for Hitchcock.
7. Thomson discusses the overweight and elderly Hitchcock's infatuation for his leading ladies especially Grace Kelly, Ingrid Bergman and Tippi Heddren.
8. Hitch's later movies such as The Birds and Marnie were influenced by the new sexual freedom exhibited in Psycho.
9. Psycho was filmed in black and white by Hitch's TV crew from his popular series "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" which ran on TV for years.
10. Hitch had been influenced by Orson Welles "A Touch of Evil" starring Janet Leigh and a weird motel clerk played by Dennis Hopper.
11. The film was excellently acted by Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates and Janet Leigh as Marion Crane.
12. The movie was based on the novel by Robert Bloch dealing with a real life murder.
Psycho is set in a wasteland America which would see many tragedies in the decades ahead. American film lost its Pollyannish innocence in Psycho.
Thomson is always worth reading for his insights and love of movies. The book provides a decent bibliography of books on Psycho and Hitchcock's life and career. The book lacks any pictures from Psycho which is a detriment.
The chapters remind this reader of magazine articles on particular aspects of the production of Psycho and the strange genius lurking under the too too solid flesh of the obese cockney genius Alfred Joseph Hitchcock.
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