Extensive meditations on silence in the films of Alfred Hitchcock.
In A Silence from Hitchcock, Murray Pomerance explores the resonating power of silence in the director’s work-its variation, its haunting temptation, and its technical power. Working from a meditative devotion to and an illuminating familiarity with the director’s work, Pomerance shines light upon six films, some of them (Notorious, The Lady Vanishes, and The Trouble with Harry) frequently, even obsessively treated, and others (Frenzy, The Wrong Man, and Topaz) less often discussed. In its strange relation to speech, memory, urbanity, guilt, mortality, and espionage, silence becomes, in these films, a dramatic protagonist in its own right. Written by a master interpreter of Hitchcock, this book offers new ways of seeing, experiencing, and thinking about the films of one of cinema’s greatest artists, as well as new ways of reflecting on our experience of cinema itself.
Table of Content
Acknowledgments
Introduction: What Is Given, What Is Not Given
1. A Notorious Way to Live
2. How a Lady Vanishes
3. Our Frenzied Life
4. For the Grace of God: The Wrong Men
5. The Trouble and Harry
6. The Dirty Truth of Topaz
Notes
Works Cited
Index
About the author
Murray Pomerance is an independent scholar living in Toronto and Adjunct Professor in the School of Media and Communication at the RMIT University, Melbourne. He is the author, coauthor, or editor of many books, including, most recently, with Matthew Solomon, The Biggest Thing in Show Business: Living It Up with Martin & Lewis (also published by SUNY Press) and Uncanny Cinema: Agonies of the Viewing Experience.
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