Book Review: "The Dark Side of Genius" by Donald Spoto

There is a certain fear in imprisonment that Alfred Hitchcock surely had, Donald Spoto observes. There is a certain fear of being isolated that was explored in his films and of course, there was something about autobiography that his movies were observed for. Loner, outsider, stranger - Sir Alfred Hitchcock was a man of many sides and his darker parts were worked into the storylines of his motion pictures. Donald Spoto explores the history of Alfred Hitchcock, opening with him receiving a lifetime achievement award and moving all the way backwards into his early life. Each step of the way, we get clues as to how the master of suspense turned out to be such a genius, yet also so dark and awkward in persona.

First of all, we have the landscape of England when Hitchcock was being raised. We see how he was from a family of some religious push and pull, and how the budding of cinema made its way towards Hitchcock's own life. He was definitely more of a visual man, and so we get to learn a bit about the history of film - looking at the opening of Paramount Pictures and how that made a huge impact on the way cinema was being viewed in the 20s. We get access to the behind-the-scenes footage of his marriage and exactly how removed from normal society Hitchcock was. Honestly, it is quite strange how little he knew about women at all. By the time he gets married, we see that the reason the marriage worked was because his wife was basically keeping everything afloat whilst the movie maker just made his movies. I like how much attention the book gives to Alma and her career, the way she knew the filmmaker and how to keep him in check.

We go through all the troubles it took to get his movies made, how many things were shelved, Hollywood rivalries start to unfold and Aflred Hitchcock seems too sure of himself too quickly. Eventually, we start to see what led him to the bigger pictures: the themes of voyeurism, ideas regarding isolation and of course, the famed 'Hitchcock Blonde' in which he tried to subvert what was known in the 19th century as the 'dumb blonde' - creating something else of her entirely. Just take a look at Mario Crane from Psycho, she was capable of horrifying things - a whole woman on her own. Donald Spoto definitely lays the groundwork for Hitchcock's life and also explains why almost no letters or diaries survive of the director despite him dying less than 50 years' ago. Could a lot of these themes of ideas regarding voyeurism and isolation be based within his real life? We can only assume.

After this, we of course get a new focus into the years in which Hitchcock was most active. We see his movie sets, his writing, the way the 'talkies' changed things for everyone and how British cinema first hit rock bottom before climbing up a little. As Hollywood progressed, Hitchcock brought with him a sense of British sensibility which was met with the desire and lurking want to do something scandalous. He also brought a German influence to the industry which was again, still getting used to it all. Donald Spoto records that even though Hitchcock was active, he was experiencing some oddities that even we today would find strange. For example: he didn't like vomiting and would often blame it on some phobia or anxiety he had socially instead of brash over-eating and over-indulgence which was probably more likely the case. Hitchcock's mother proved to be a great influence on his life and marriage too, possibly inspiring something in his socially abnormal male protagonists, especially that of Norman Bates.

Donald Spoto's book is filled with great and wonderful facts that few would know about Hitchcock but I will say that even though I would not have liked to meet the man myself under any circumstance ever (the very thought of that scares me), I do like learning more about him and his ways. You can call it what you feel like but I think that we all have that bit of Hitchcock within us - a morbid curiosity, a fascination with the strange and the frightening.