The inspiration behind BBC2's The Girl starring Toby Jones and Sienna Miller, Spellbound by Beauty examines Hitchcock's relationship with his leading ladies including Tippi Hendren and Grace Kelly. Hitchcock is also the subject of an upcoming film, Hitchcock, starring Anthony Hopkins and Helen Mirren due for release in 2013. Spellbound by Beauty examines Alfred Hitchcock's well known collaborations with the leading ladies of his day, and, in so doing, delves into his creative life and his uniquely curious professional and personal relationships. The result is a singular kind of life story - a book about film and film stars; business and power; sex and fantasy; romance and derailed psychology. Drawing on explosive, never-before-published material and details gleaned through his friendship with Hitchcock, along with archival material and personal collections only recently made available, Donald Spoto casts a new light on this most famous of directors. He traces Hitchcock's professional and social rise and deals frankly with his strange marriage to Alma Reville, his distance from his daughter, Patricia, and his obsessive relationships with a number of his leading ladies from Grace Kelly and Kim Novak to Tippi Hedren.
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Fascinating insight into what Hitch's leading ladies went through in the course of making the films that define his genius, and their talent, as well as a skimming of his psychological profile that made him and his films the successes, and failures, that they were.
Too repetitive, though, which could be expected from the third book by this particular author on Hitch and his life and works. Seems that Spoto started with a wide angle shot and kept getting closer with his successive examinations of HItch, and this third didn't quite hit the mark. The overuse of those ten-dollar words (sometimes employing the same word multiple times on the same page, mercy!) and constant reiteration of his thesis made for a bit of a drag at times.
Nevertheless, a must read for the Hitchcock addict. At least it's a breezy read.
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