There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.
-Alfred Hitchcock
Now it’s time for the Facebook/Blog version of our Alfred Hitchcock: A Brief Life giveaway contest, courtesy of Doubleday/Nan A. Talese. That said, we’ll be giving away TWO COPIES of the book this time. And don’t forget, we’re also giving away TEN MORE copies of the book via Twitter this month as well, so you can enter that contest too for even more chances to win…
In order to qualify for this Facebook/Blog contest giveaway, you must complete the below entry task by Saturday, December 3 at 9PM EST. We will pick two winners via a random drawing and announce them on Facebook or this Blog (depending on how you entered) the day after the contest ends (Sunday December 4).
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ENTRY TASK to be completed by Saturday, December 3 at 9PM EST…
Answer the below question via the comment section at the bottom of this blog post
THE QUESTION:
In your opinion, what is it about Alfred Hitchcock that makes him The Master of Suspense?
NOTE: if for any reason you encounter a problem commenting here on this blog, please feel free to tweet or DM us, or send an email to classicmoviehub@gmail.com and we will be happy to create the entry for you.
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About the Book: Alfred Hitchcock was a strange child. Fat, lonely, burning with fear and ambition, his childhood was an isolated one, scented with fish from his father’s shop. Afraid to leave his bedroom, he would plan great voyages, using railway timetables to plot an exact imaginary route across Europe. So how did this fearful figure become the one of the most respected film directors of the twentieth century? As an adult, Hitch rigorously controlled the press’s portrait of him, drawing certain carefully selected childhood anecdotes into full focus and blurring all others out. In this quick-witted portrait, Ackroyd reveals something more: a lugubriously jolly man fond of practical jokes, who smashes a once-used tea cup every morning to remind himself of the frailty of life. Iconic film stars make cameo appearances, just as Hitch did in his own films: Grace Kelly, Cary Grant, and James Stewart despair of his detached directing style and, perhaps most famously of all, Tippi Hedren endures cuts and bruises from a real-life fearsome flock of birds. Alfred Hitchcock: A Brief Life wrests the director’s chair back from the master of control and discovers what lurks just out of sight, in the corner of the shot.
About the Author: Peter Ackroyd is the award-winning author of London: The Biography, Albion: The Origins of the English Imagination, Shakespeare: The Biography, and Thames: The Biography. He has written acclaimed biographies of T. S. Eliot, Dickens, Blake, and Sir Thomas More, as well as several successful novels.
Click here for the full contest rules.
Please note that only Continental United States (excluding Alaska, Hawaii, and the territory of Puerto Rico) entrants are eligible.
And — BlogHub members ARE eligible to win if they live within the Continental United States (as noted above).
And if you can’t wait to win the book, you can purchase it on amazon via the below link (click on image):
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I just love Alfred Hitchcock’s movies because they have just enough terror and suspense. He never went over the top with his suspense.
Yes, just enough to keep you on the edge of your seat! Thanks for entering and Good Luck 🙂
He takes regular, everyday people, who begin their mundane day as usual. Then gradually, before you see it coming, turns their world upside down and they have to use their wits to survive. He’s brilliant!
Nicely put! Thanks for entering and Good Luck 🙂
Congratulations, you just won a copy of the book! I just emailed you, if you don’t receive the email, please let me know. Thanks!
I’ve always thought that it was the way he mixed dark humor into his films. No matter how thrilling the scene was, there was always some sort of comic undertone that would usually come up towards the end of a scene. For example, North by Northwest (Spoilers) ended with the villain being shot and falling off a cliff before being able to kill Cary Grant. One of the people who came to the rescue comments that using real bullets “wasn’t very sporting”. That’s what set him apart from everyone else doing suspense- his dark sense of humor.
One of my favorite Hitch films! Thanks for entering and Good Luck 🙂
I think he is considered the master because he was successful at making suspenseful films in so many forms, from dark comedy to horror to tense drama. Unlike some directors he was able to reinvent the genre each time and make it work. In that sense, he is indeed the master.
Always on the edge of my seat watching Hitch films! Thanks for entering Chris, and Good Luck 🙂
Congratulations, you just won a copy of the book! I just emailed you, if you don’t receive the email, please let me know. Thanks!