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Distributed for University of Wales Press

Hitchcock’s Magic

Decades after Alfred Hitchcock’s death, his work continues to draw passionate responses and critical acclaim. With Hitchcock’s Magic, Neil Badmington takes a new look at Hitchcock’s body of work to try to figure out just what it is that makes them so lasting—and why their influence has been so pervasive. Featuring detailed analyses of a number of Hitchcock’s most successful films, including Psycho, Rear Window, and The Birds, and drawing on the insights of poststructuralist theory, Hitchcock’s Magic is an innovative contribution to the never-ending discussion of the master of suspense.


224 pages | 7 halftones | 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 | © 2011

Film Studies

Literature and Literary Criticism: American and Canadian Literature


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Reviews

“If you’re wondering whether the world needs another book on Hitchcock’s films, the answer is a resounding yes. Hitchcock’s Magic is a lively and engaging return to Hitchcock’s corpus. Through detailed readings of both major and minor films, Badmington demonstrates a playful ability to re-enchant them for us as objects of continuing fascination. His rejection of psychoanalysis and creative re-engagement with the work of Barthes and Derrida helps to open these texts to new and sometimes surprising interpretations that send us back to the films themselves with renewed admiration for their magic touch.”

Nick Haeffner, London Metropolitan University

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
List of Illustrations
Introduction: Hitchcock’s Magic; or, How I Starred in Saboteur

1. Ps/zycho
2. Frame Tale: Rear Window and the Promise of Vision
3. SpectRebecca
4. Stories of ‘O’: North by Northwest and The Man Who Knew Too Much
5. The Animals Who Knew Too Much: The Zoopoetics of The Birds

Postscript: Into the Mystery
Appendix: The Films of Alfred Hitchcock
Notes
Bibliography
Index

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