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Summary
Offers new and compelling perspectives on the deeply moral nature of Hitchcock’s films.
In his essays and interviews, Alfred Hitchcock was guarded about substantive matters of morality, preferring instead to focus on discussions of technique. That has not, however, discouraged scholars and critics from trying to work out what his films imply about such moral matters as honesty, fidelity, jealousy, courage, love, and loyalty. Through discussions and analyses of such films as Strangers on a Train, Rear Window, Vertigo, North by Northwest, and Frenzy, the contributors to this book strive to throw light on the way Hitchcock depicts a moral—if not amoral or immoral—world. Drawing on perspectives from film studies, philosophy, literature, and other disciplines, they offer new and compelling interpretations of the filmmaker’s moral gaze and the inflection point it provides for modern cinema.
“This is an indispensable contribution to Hitchcock studies … Highly recommended.” — CHOICE
“…a compelling collection of 15 essays.” — PopMatters
R. Barton Palmer is Calhoun Lemon Professor of Literature at Clemson University. His previous books include Invented Lives, Imagined Communities: The Biopic and American National Identity (coedited with William H. Epstein) and Hitchcock at the Source: The Auteur as Adaptor (coedited with David Boyd), both also published by SUNY Press. Homer B. Pettey is Professor of Film and Literature at the University of Arizona. His previous books include Film Noir and International Noir, both coedited with R. Barton Palmer. Steven M. Sanders is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Bridgewater State University. He is the author or editor of many books, including The Philosophy of Michael Mann (coedited with Aeon J. Skoble and R. Barton Palmer) and The Philosophy of Steven Soderbergh (coedited with R. Barton Palmer).
Table of Contents
Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction R. Barton Palmer and Steven M. Sanders
Skepticism
1. Jealousy and Trust in The Lodger Graham Petrie
2. Fun with Suspicion Thomas Leitch
3. Heroic Satans and Other Hitchcockian Heresies Nick Haeffner
4. “Guilt, Confession, and . . . Then What?”: The Paradine Case and Under Capricorn Brian McFarlane
5. The Forgotten Cigarette Lighter and Other Moral Accidents in Strangers on a Train George Toles
Immorality
6. Hitchcock’s Immoralists Steven M. Sanders
7. Hitchcock the Amoralist: Rear Window and the Pleasures and Dangers of Looking Sidney Gottlieb
8. Voyeurism Revisited Richard Allen
Moralizing
9. Alfred Hitchcock as Moralist Murray Pomerance
10. The Deepening Moralism of The Wrong Man R. Barton Palmer
11. Hitchcock and the Philosophical End of Film Jerold J. Abrams
Moral Acts
12. The Dread of Ascent: The Moral and Spiritual Topography of Vertigo Alan Woolfolk
13. The Philosophy of Marriage in North by Northwest Jennifer L. Jenkins
14. “The Loyalty of an Eel”: Issues of Political, Personal, and Professional Morality in (and around) Torn Curtain Neil Sinyard
15. Hobbes, Hume, and Hitchcock: The Case of Frenzy Homer B. Pettey
Bibliography
Alfred Hitchcock Selected Filmography
Contributors
Index
