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Books Related to The Dark Side of Genius Donald Spoto - ISBN: 0859652130
"an extremely unpleasant book" - Rated
For a one line summary of this work I am hard pressed to find anything better than Robin Wood's summary in his superb 'Hitchcock's Films Revisited'. Spoto's book is, without question well researched (although does include a large amount of material already contained in John Russel Taylor's authorised biography). But the style of the book makes it incredibly hard to read. I will constrict myself to just two of the major sins of this book. Firstly Spoto looks at every fact or event and puts the most nasty spin he can find on it, leading to incredibly spurious interpretations of Hitchcock's life, and due to the lake of validity makes for very dull reading. The second point is that many of Spoto's readings of the films lead to a set list of doubles which appear in the film, these end up taking large amounts of space for very little gain, again drawing your attention to how little enjoyment you are gaining from the book.
There are some plus sides, as already mentioned, the book is very well researched, and there are a few nuggets of interesting information. But all in all not a very interesting or pleasant book, and all I can say is that we are still waiting for the definitive Hitchcock biography.
Hitchcock revealed - Rated
Spoto's brilliantly researched and compelling biography may be several years old but it rewards the reader every time. Controversial on its publication, it reveals much about the British-born and notoriously private director through analysis of his movies and extensive interviews with his collaborators. What emerges is a man overwhelmed by guilt and lusts he could not satisfy in his private life - who acted out his fantasies in his scripts and through his bizarre treatment of some of his leading ladies. Spoto's account of Tippi Hedren's ordeal during the making of The Birds is but one of the particularly gripping, and disturbing, chapters. True, much of what Spoto writes can only be considered conjecture and many have challenged his conclusions but there is no denying the author's convictions. This is a fine book not just for fans of Hollywood biography but for students of film production and criticism.
