Alfred Hitchcock has long been examined biographically, aesthetically, ethically and from every other possible angle. Dan Callahan’s new book The Camera Lies (published by Oxford University Press) doesn’t discover any new themes but puts the contemporary light of understanding onto a subject that has already been thoroughly explored. He makes many points along the way that are worth repeating.
“Hitchcock seeks to emotionally involve his audience and make them identify with all sorts of people, and he wants the audience to emote, not the actors,” Callahan writes. The Camera Lies examines in some depth performances by Cary Grant, Janet Leigh, Grace Kelly, Jimmy Stewart and many others. Hitchcock preferred to work with actors whose range was limited but who presented a persona. He didn’t want them to act as much as simply to be.
This perhaps explains the director’s notorious disinterest while shooting scenes. He sometimes dozed-off or feigned boredom as the cameras rolled. Callahan quotes Jimmy Stewart. “He didn’t believe in rehearsals. He preferred to let the actor figure things out. He referred to his method as ‘planned spontaneity.’” For Hitchcock, the fun was in planning the storyboards, shaping the script and choosing the cast.
Callahan explores Hitchcock and his actors through perceptive, succinct descriptions of his major and minor films.
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