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'''Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock''' (13 August 1899–29 April 1980) was a British [[film ]] director and producer, a [[master ]] of the suspense thriller genre. He began directing in the United Kingdom before [[working ]] mostly in the [[United States ]] from 1939 onwards, taking out [[dual ]] [[citizenship ]] in 1956. The "Master of Suspense" and his [[family ]] lived in a mountaintop estate high above Scotts Valley, California, for 32 years, from 1940 to 1972. He directed more than fifty feature [[films ]] in a career spanning six decades, from the silent film era, through the invention of talkies, to the color era. Hitchcock remains one of the best known and most popular directors of all [[time]], famous for his expert and largely unrivaled [[control ]] of pace and suspense throughout his movies.

Hitchcock's films draw heavily on both [[fear ]] and [[fantasy]], and are known for their droll humour. They often portray innocent [[people ]] caught up in circumstances beyond their control or [[understanding]]. This often involves a [[transference ]] of [[guilt ]] in which the "innocent" [[character]]'s failings are transferred to [[another ]] character, and magnified. Another common theme is the basic incompatibility of men and [[women]]; Hitchcock's films often take a cynical view of traditional romance.

Rebecca was the only one of his films to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, although four [[others ]] were nominated. Hitchcock never won the Academy Award for Best Director. He was awarded the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award for lifetime [[achievement ]] in 1967, but never personally received an Academy Award of Merit.

Until the later part of his career, Hitchcock was far more popular with film audiences than with film critics, especially the [[elite ]] British and American critics. In the late 1950s the [[French ]] New Wave critics, especially Éric Rohmer, [[Claude Chabrol]], and François Truffaut, were among the first to see and promote his films as artistic masterworks. Hitchcock was one of the first directors to whom they applied their auteur [[theory]], which stresses the artistic [[authority ]] of the director in the film-making [[process]].

Through his fame, [[public ]] persona, high degree of creative control and frequent [[return ]] to favored themes, Hitchcock transformed the [[role ]] of the director, which had previously been eclipsed by that of the producer. He is seen today as a director who managed to combine art and entertainment in a way very few have ever matched. His innovations and [[vision ]] have influenced a great [[number ]] of filmmakers, producers, and actors.

<!--- The following is okay, with more biographical [[material]], some trimming of minor films, and less of a "laundry-[[list]]" exposition --->

Alfred Hitchcock was [[born ]] on [[August 13]], [[1899]], in [[Leytonstone]], [[London]], the second son and youngest of the [[three ]] [[children ]] of William Hitchcock, a greengrocer, and his wife, Emma Jane Hitchcock (née Whelan). His family was mostly [[Irish Catholic]]. Hitchcock was sent to [[Catholic ]] boarding [[schools ]] in London. He has said his [[childhood ]] was very lonely and sheltered.

At an early age, after acting childishly, Hitchcock claimed that his [[father ]] sent him to the local police station carrying a note. When he presented the police officer on [[duty ]] with the note, he was locked in a cell for a few moments, petrifying the young [[child]]. This was a favorite anecdote of his, one which is often suggested to be the [[cause ]] for the theme of distrust of police which runs through many of his films.

At 14, Hitchcock lost his father and [[left ]] the Jesuit-run [[St Ignatius' College]] in [[Stamford Hill]], his [[school ]] at the time, to study at the School for Engineering and Navigation. After graduating, he became a [[technical drawing|draftsman]] and [[advertising]] designer with a cable company.

[[About ]] that time, Hitchcock became intrigued by [[photography]] and started working in film in London. In 1920, he obtained a [[full]]-time job at Islington Studios under its American owners, [[Famous Players Film Company|Famous Players]]-Lasky, and their British successors, [[Gainsborough Pictures]], designing the titles for silent movies.

As a major talent in a new industry with plenty of opportunity, he rose quickly. In 1925, [[Michael Balcon]] of Gainsborough Pictures gave him a [[chance ]] to direct his first film, ''[[The Pleasure Garden (1925 film)|The Pleasure Garden]]'', made at the [[Universum Film AG|Ufa studios]] in Germany. However, the commercial failure of this film, and his second, ''[[The Mountain Eagle]]'', threatened to derail his promising career, until he attached himself to the thriller genre. The resulting film, ''[[The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog]]'', was released in [[1927 in film|1927]] and was a major commercial and critical success. Like many of his earlier works it was influenced by [[German Expressionism|Expressionist]] techniques he had witnessed firsthand in Germany. In it, attractive blondes are strangled and the new lodger ([[Ivor Novello]]) in the Bunting family's upstairs apartment falls under heavy suspicion. This is the first truly "Hitchcockian" film, incorporating such themes as the "wrong man".

Following the success of ''The Lodger'', Hitchcock began his first efforts to promote himself in the [[media]], and hired a publicist to cement his growing reputation as one of the British film industry's rising stars. In 1926, he was to marry his assistant director [[Alma Reville]]. They had a daughter, [[Patricia Hitchcock|Patricia]], in 1928. Alma was Hitchcock's closest collaborator. She wrote some of his screenplays and (though often uncredited) worked with him on every one of his films.

In 1929, he began [[work ]] on ''[[Blackmail (1929 film)|Blackmail]]'', his tenth film. While the film was in production, the studio decided to make it one of [[Britain]]'s first sound pictures. With the climax of the film taking [[place ]] on the dome of the [[British Museum]], ''[[Blackmail]]'' also began the Hitchcock [[tradition ]] of using famous landmarks as the backdrop to a story.

In 1933, Hitchcock was once again working for Michael Balcon at Gaumont-British Picture Corporation. His first film for the company, ''[[The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934 film)|The Man Who Knew Too Much]]'' (1934), was a success, while his second, ''[[The 39 Steps (1935 film)|The 39 Steps]]'' (1935), is often considered one of the best films from his early period. It was also one of the first to introduce the [[concept ]] of the "[[MacGuffin]]", a plot device around which a [[whole ]] story would revolve. In ''The 39 Steps'', the MacGuffin is a stolen set of blueprints.

His next major success was in 1938, ''[[The Lady Vanishes]]'', a clever and fast-paced film about the [[search ]] for a kindly old Englishwoman ([[Dame May Whitty]]), who [[disappears ]] while on board a train in the fictional country of Vandrika (a thinly-veiled version of [[Nazism|Nazi]] [[Germany]]).

By the end of the 1930s, Hitchcock was at the top of his [[game ]] artistically, and in a [[position ]] to [[name ]] his own [[terms ]] when [[David O. Selznick]] managed to entice the Hitchcocks to Hollywood.

Hitchcock's ''[[gallows humour]]'' continued in his American work, together with the suspense that became his trademark. However, working arrangements with his new producer were less than optimal. Selznick suffered from perennial [[money ]] problems and Hitchcock was often unhappy with the amount of creative control demanded by Selznick over his films. Consequently, Selznick ended up "loaning" Hitchcock to the larger studios more often than producing Hitchcock's films himself.

With the prestigious Selznick picture ''[[Rebecca (film)|Rebecca]]'' in 1940, Hitchcock made his first American movie, although it was set in England and based on a novel by [[English ]] [[author ]] Dame [[Daphne du Maurier]]. This [[Gothic novel|Gothic]] [[melodrama]] explores the fears of a naïve young bride who enters a great English country home and must grapple with a distant husband, a predatory housekeeper, and the legacy of her husband's late wife. It has also subsequently been noted for the lesbian undercurrents in [[Judith Anderson]]'s performance. The film won the [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]] for [[Academy Award for Best Picture|Best Picture]] of 1940. Hitchcock's second American film, the European-set thriller ''[[Foreign Correspondent]]'' was also nominated for Best Picture that year.

Hitchcock's work during the 1940s was diverse, ranging from the romantic [[comedy]], ''[[Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941 film)|Mr. & Mrs. Smith]]'' (1941) and the courtroom drama ''[[The Paradine Case]]'' (1947), to the dark and disturbing ''[[Shadow of a Doubt]]'' (1943).

''[[Shadow of a Doubt]]'', his personal favorite, was about young Charlotte "Charlie" Newton ([[Teresa Wright]]), who suspects her [[beloved ]] uncle Charlie Spencer ([[Joseph Cotten]]) of [[murder]]. In its use of overlapping characters, dialogue, and closeups it has provided a generation of film theorists with [[psychoanalytic ]] potential, including [[Jacques Lacan]] and [[Slavoj Žižek]]. The film also hearkens to one of Cotten's better known films, ''[[Citizen Kane]]''.

''[[Spellbound (1945 film)|Spellbound]]'' explored the then very fashionable [[subject ]] of [[psychoanalysis]] and featured a [[dream ]] sequence which was designed by [[Salvador Dalí]]. The actual dream sequence in the film was considerably cut from the original planned [[scene ]] that was to run for some minutes but proved too disturbing for the finished film.

''[[Notorious]]'' (1946) marked Hitchcock's first film as a producer as well as director. As Selznick failed to see the subject's potential, he allowed Hitchcock to make the film for [[RKO]]. From this point on, Hitchcock would produce his own films, giving him a far greater degree of [[freedom ]] to pursue the projects that interested him. Starring [[Ingrid Bergman]] and Hitchcock regular [[Cary Grant]], and featuring a plot about [[Nazis]], uranium, and South America, ''[[Notorious]]'' was a huge box office success and has remained one of Hitchcock's most acclaimed films. Its inventive use of suspense and props briefly led to Hitchcock [[being ]] under surveillance by the [[CIA]] due to his use of [[uranium]] as a plot device.

''[[Alfred Hitchcock's Rope|Rope]]'' (his first color film) came next in [[1948]]. Here Hitchcock experimented with marshalling suspense in a confined [[environment]], as he had done earlier with ''[[Lifeboat (film)|Lifeboat]]''. He also experimented with exceptionally long takes — up to ten minutes (see [[Alfred Hitchcock#Themes and devices|Themes and devices]]). Featuring [[James Stewart (actor)|James Stewart]] in the leading role, ''Rope'' was the first of an eventual four films Stewart would make for Hitchcock. Based on the [[Leopold and Loeb]] [[case ]] of the 1920s, ''Rope'' is also among the earliest openly gay-themed films to emerge from the [[Hays Office]]–controlled Hollywood studio era.

''[[Under Capricorn]]'', set in nineteenth-century Australia, also used this short-lived [[technique]], but to a more limited extent. For these two films he formed a production company with Sidney Bernstein, called Transatlantic Pictures, which folded after these two unsuccessful pictures.

With ''[[Strangers on a Train]]'' (1951), based on the novel by [[Patricia Highsmith]], Hitchcock combined many of the best elements from his preceding British and American films. Two men casually meet and speculate on removing people who are causing [[them ]] difficulty. One of the men, though, takes this banter entirely seriously. With [[Farley Granger]] reprising some elements of his role from ''Rope'', ''Strangers'' continued the director's interest in the [[narrative ]] possibilities of [[homosexual ]] blackmail and murder.

Three very popular films, all starring [[Grace Kelly]], followed. ''[[Dial M for Murder]]'' was adapted from the popular [[stage ]] play by Frederick Knott. This was originally another experimental film, with Hitchcock using the technique of [[3-D film|3D]] cinematography, although the film was never released in this format. ''[[Rear Window]]'', starred [[James ]] Stewart again, as well as [[Thelma Ritter]] and [[Raymond Burr]]. Here the wheelchair-bound Stewart observes the movements of his neighbours across the courtyard and becomes convinced one of them has murdered his wife. Like ''[[Lifeboat]]'' and ''[[Rope]]'', the movie was photographed almost entirely within the confines of a small [[space]]: Stewart's tiny studio apartment overlooking the massive courtyard set. ''[[To Catch a Thief]]'', set in the French Riviera, starred Kelly and [[Cary Grant]].

In 1956, Hitchcock made ''[[The Wrong Man]]'', based on a [[real]]-[[life ]] case of mistaken [[identity]], his only film to star [[Henry Fonda]], and also remade his 1934 film ''[[The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956 film)|The Man Who Knew Too Much]]'', this time with James Stewart and [[Doris Day]], who sang the theme song, "[[Whatever Will Be (Que Será, Será)]]".

Hitchcock followed ''[[Vertigo]]'' with three very different films, which were all massive commercial successes. All are also recognised as among his very best films: ''[[North by Northwest]]'' (1959), ''[[Psycho]]'' (1960), and ''[[The Birds (film)|The Birds]]'' (1963). The latter two were particularly notable for their unconventional soundtracks, both by [[Bernard Herrmann]]: the screeching strings in the murder scene in ''Psycho'' pushed the limits of the time, and ''[[The Birds]]'' dispensed completely with conventional instruments, using an electronically produced soundtrack. These were his last great films, after which his career slowly wound down (although some critics such as [[Robin Wood ]] and Donald Spoto contend ''[[Marnie]]'', from 1964, is first-[[class ]] Hitchcock). In 1972 Hitchcock returned to [[London]] to film ''[[Frenzy]]'', his last major success. For the [[first time]], Hitchcock allowed nudity and profane [[language]], which had before been [[taboo]], in one of his films.

''[[Family Plot]]'' (1976) was his last film. It related the escapades of "Madam" Blanche Tyler played by [[Barbara Harris (actress)|Barbara Harris]], a fraudulent spiritualist, and her taxi [[driver ]] lover [[Bruce Dern]] making a [[living ]] from her phony powers. [[William Devane]], [[Karen Black]] and [[Katherine Helmond]] co-starred.

Alfred Hitchcock died from [[renal failure]] in his [[Bel-Air]], [[Los Angeles]], home aged 80, and was survived by his wife [[Alma Reville]], and their daughter, [[Patricia Hitchcock|Patricia Hitchcock O'Connell]]. His [[body ]] was cremated, and apparently there was no public funeral or memorial service.

Hitchcock preferred the use of suspense over surprise in his films. In surprise, the director assaults the viewer with frightening things. In suspense, the director tells or shows things to the audience which the characters in the film do not [[know]], and then artfully builds tension around what will happen when the characters finally learn the [[truth]].

Further blurring the [[moral ]] [[distinction ]] between the innocent and the [[guilty]], occasionally making this indictment inescapably clear to viewers one and all, Hitchcock also makes voyeurs of his "respectable" audience. In ''Rear Window'' ([[1954 in film|1954]]), after L. B. Jeffries (played by James Stewart) has been staring across the courtyard at him for most of the film, Lars Thorwald (played by [[Raymond Burr]]) confronts Jeffries by saying "What do you [[want ]] of me?" Burr might as well have been addressing the audience. In fact, shortly before asking this, Thorwald turns to face the camera directly for the first time &mdash; at this point, audiences often gasp.

One of Hitchcock's favourite devices for driving the plots of his stories and creating suspense was what he called the "[[MacGuffin]]." The plots of many of his suspense films revolve around this device: a detail which, by inciting curiosity and [[desire]], [[drives ]] the plot and motivates the actions of characters within the story, but whose specific identity and [[nature ]] is unimportant to the [[spectator ]] of the film. In ''[[Vertigo (film)|Vertigo]]'', for [[instance]], "Carlotta Valdes" is a MacGuffin; she never appears and the details of her [[death ]] are unimportant to the viewer, but the story about her [[ghost]]'s haunting of Madeleine Elster is the spur for Scottie's investigation of her, and hence the film's entire plot. In ''[[Notorious]]'' the uranium that the main characters must recover before it reaches [[Nazi ]] hands serves as a similarly [[arbitrary ]] motivation: any dangerous [[object ]] would suffice. And [[state ]] secrets of various kinds serve as MacGuffins in several of the spy films, like ''[[The 39 Steps (1935 film)|The 39 Steps]]''. In [[Psycho]], an obvious MacGuffin at the beginning of the film (a package containing $40,000 in stolen money) is actually a [[red herring]].

Most of Hitchcock's films contain [[cameo role|cameo]] [[List of Alfred Hitchcock cameo appearances|appearances by Hitchcock himself]]: the director would be seen for a brief [[moment ]] boarding a bus, crossing in front of a building, standing in an apartment across the courtyard, or appearing in a [[photograph]]. This playful gesture became one of Hitchcock's signatures. As a recurring theme he would carry a musical [[instrument ]] &mdash; especially memorable was the large [[double ]] bass case that he wrestles onto the train at the beginning of ''[[Strangers on a Train]]''.

In his earliest appearances he would fill in as an obscure extra, standing in a crowd or [[walking ]] through a scene in a long camera shot. But he became more prominent in his later appearances, as when he turns to see [[Jane Wyman]]'s disguise when she passes him on the street in ''[[Stage Fright (film)|Stage Fright]]'', and in stark silhouette in his final film ''[[Family Plot]]''. (See a [[list of Hitchcock cameo appearances]].)

Hitchcock includes the consumption of brandy in nearly every sound film. "I'll get you some brandy. Drink this down. Just like [[medicine ]] ..." says James Stewart's character to [[Kim Novak]], in ''Vertigo.'' In a real life incident, Hitchcock dared Montgomery Clift at a dinner party around the filming of ''[[I Confess]]'' to swallow a carafe of brandy, which caused his lead actor to [[pass ]] out almost immediately. This near [[obsession ]] with brandy remains unexplained.

Another almost inexplicable feature of any Hitchcock film is the inclusion of a staircase. Of course, stairways inspire many suspenseful moments, most notably [[Farley Granger]]'s character visit to the murderer in ''[[Strangers On A Train]]'' or the detective's demise in the Bates' mansion in ''Psycho.'' However, a completely nonfunctional staircase adorns the apartment of the James Stewart character in ''[[Rear Window]]'', as if Hitchcock feels compelled to its inclusion by some unspoken [[superstition]].

Hitchcock seemed to delight in the technical challenges of filmmaking. In ''[[Lifeboat]]'', Hitchcock sets the entire [[action ]] of the movie in a small boat, yet manages to keep the cinematography from monotonous [[repetition]]. His trademark cameo [[appearance ]] was a dilemma, given the claustrophobic setting; so Hitchcock appeared on camera in a fictitious newspaper ad for a weight [[loss ]] product.

''Rope'' (1948) was another technical challenge: a film that appears to have been shot entirely in a single take. The film was actually shot in eight takes of approximately 10 minutes each, which was the amount of film that would fit in a single camera reel; the transitions between reels were hidden by having a dark object fill the entire [[screen ]] for a moment. Hitchcock used those points to hide the cut, and began the next take with the camera in the same place.

His 1958 film ''Vertigo'' contains a camera trick that has been imitated and re-used so many [[times ]] by filmmakers, it has become known as the [[Hitchcock zoom]].

Although famous for inventive camera angles, Hitchcock generally avoided points of view that were physically [[impossible ]] from a [[human ]] perspective. For example, he would never place the camera [[looking ]] out from [[inside ]] a refrigerator. This helps to draw audience members into the film's action.

Regarding Hitchcock's sometimes less than pleasant [[relationship ]] with actors, there was a persistent rumor that he had said that actors were cattle. Hitchcock later denied this, typically [[tongue-in-cheek]], clarifying that he had only said that actors should be treated like cattle. [[Carole Lombard]], tweaking Hitchcock and drumming up a little publicity, brought some cows along with her when she reported to the set of ''[[Mr. and Mrs. Smith]]''. For Hitchcock, the actors, like the props, were part of the film's setting.

Hitchcock often dealt with matters that he felt were sexually [[perverse ]] or kinky, and many of his films aimed to subvert the restrictive [[Production Code|Hollywood Production Code]] that prohibited any mention of [[homosexuality]].

In many Hitchcocks movies, an ordinary person is thrust into an extraordinary [[situation]]. In ''[[The Man Who Knew Too Much]]'' (1956) Dr. Ben McKenna is an ordinary man from Indianapolis who is on a vacation in Morrocco and he winds up with his son getting kidnapped. This entangling of an ordinary protagonist in peril and guilt is also evident in ''Strangers on a Train'', ''I Confess'', ''Rear Window'', ''To Catch a Thief'', ''The Wrong Man'', ''Vertigo'', ''North By Northwest'', ''Psycho'', ''The Birds'' and others.

Hitchcock's films sometimes feature [[male ]] characters struggling in their relationships with their mothers. In ''[[North by Northwest]]'' (1959), Roger Thornhill ([[Cary Grant]]'s character) is an innocent man ridiculed by his [[mother ]] for insisting that shadowy, murderous men are after him (in this case, they are). In ''[[The Birds (film)|The Birds]]'' (1963), the [[Rod Taylor]] character, an innocent man, finds his [[world ]] under attack by vicious birds, and struggles to free himself of a clinging mother ([[Jessica Tandy]]). The killer in ''[[Frenzy]]'' (1972) has a loathing of women but idolizes his mother. The villain Bruno in ''[[Strangers on a Train]]'' hates his father, but has an incredibly close relationship with his mother (played by [[Marion Lorne]]). Norman Bates' troubles with his mother in ''[[Psycho]]'' are infamous.

Hitchcock heroines tend to be lovely, cool blondes who seem proper at first but, when aroused by [[passion ]] or [[danger]], respond in a more sensual, [[animal]], or even criminal way. As noted, the famous victims in ''The Lodger'' are all blondes. In ''[[The 39 Steps (1935 film)|The 39 Steps]]'', Hitchcock's glamorous blonde star, [[Madeleine Carroll]], is put in handcuffs. In ''[[Marnie]]'' (1964), glamorous blonde [[Tippi Hedren]] is a [[kleptomania]]c. In ''[[To Catch a Thief]]'' (1955), glamorous blonde [[Grace Kelly]] offers to [[help ]] someone she believes is a cat burglar. In ''Rear Window'', Lisa risks her life by breaking into Lars Thorwald's apartment. And, most notoriously, in ''Psycho'', [[Janet Leigh]]'s character steals $40,000 and gets murdered by a young man named [[Norman Bates]] (played by [[Anthony Perkins]]) who [[thought ]] he was his own mother. Hitchcock's last blonde heroine was French actress [[Claude Jade]] as the [[secret ]] [[agent]]'s worried daughter, Michele, in ''[[Topaz (1969 film)|Topaz]]'' (1969).

Most critics and Hitchcock scholars, including Donald Spoto and Roger Ebert, agree that ''[[Vertigo (film)|Vertigo]]'' represents the director's most personal and revealing film, dealing with the obsessions of a man who crafts a [[woman ]] into the woman he desires. ''Vertigo'' explores more frankly and at greater length his interest in the relation between sex and death than any [[other ]] film in his filmography.

However much of Hitchcock's [[hatred ]] of actors has been overhyped. Hitchcock simply did not tolerate the [[method acting|method]] approach as he believed that actors should only concentrate on their performances and leave work on script and character to the directors and screenwriters. In a [[Sight and Sound]] interview, he stated that, ' the method actor is OK in the theatre because he has a free space to move about. But when it comes to cutting the face and what he sees and so forth, there must be some [[discipline]]'.[http://www.bfi.org.uk/features/interviews/hitchcock.html#actors] During the making of ''Lifeboat'', [[Walter Slezak]] who played the [[German ]] character stated that Hitchcock knew the mechanics of acting better than anyone he knew [Source - Alfred Hitchock's 2003 biography by Patrick McGilligan]. Several critics have observed that despite his reputation as a man who disliked actors, several actors who worked with him gave fine, often brilliant, performances and these performances contribute to the film's success.

The [[Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences]] awarded Hitchcock the [[Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award]], in 1967. However, despite six earlier nominations, he never won an [[Academy Awards|Oscar]] in a contested [[category]]. His unsuccessful Oscar nominations were:

From [[1955 in television|1955]] to [[1965 in television|1965]], Hitchcock was the host and producer of a long-running [[television]] series entitled ''[[Alfred Hitchcock Presents]]''. While his films had made Hitchcock's name strongly associated with suspense, the TV series made Hitchcock a celebrity himself. His [[irony]]-tinged [[voice]], [[image]], and mannerisms became instantly recognizable and were often the subject of parody. He directed a few episodes of the TV series himself and he upset a number of movie production companies when he insisted on using his TV production crew to produce his motion picture ''[[Psycho]]''. In the late 1980s, a new version of ''Alfred Hitchcock Presents'' was produced for television, making use of Hitchcock's original introductions.

Alfred Hitchcock is also immortalised in print and appeared as himself in the very popular juvenile detective series, ''Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators''. The long-running detective series was clever and well written, with characters much younger than the [[Hardy Boys]]. In ghost-written introductions, "Alfred Hitchcock" formally introduced each case at the beginning of the book, often giving them new cases to solve. At the end of each book, Alfred Hitchcock would discuss the specifics of the case with Jupiter [[Jones]], Bob Andrews and Peter Crenshaw and every so often the three boys would give Alfred Hitchcock mementos of their case.

At the height of Hitchcock's success, he was also asked to introduce a set of books with his name attached. The series was a collection of short stories by popular short story writers, primarily focused on suspense and thrillers. These titles included ''Alfred Hitchcock's Monster Museum'', ''Alfred Hithcock's Supernatural Tales of [[Terror ]] and Suspense'', ''Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbinders in Suspense'', ''Alfred Hitchcock's Witch's Brew'', ''Alfred Hitchcock's Ghostly Gallery'' and ''Alfred Hitchcock's Haunted Houseful.'' Hitchcock himself was not actually involved in the [[reading]], reviewing, editing or selection of the short stories; in fact, even his introductions were ghost-written. The entire extent of his involvement with the [[project ]] was to lend his name and collect a check.

<blockquote><ref>Žižek, S. (2000) [[The Fragile Absolute]], or Why the [[Christian ]] Legacy is Worth Fighting For, London and New York: Verso. p. 20-21</ref></blockquote>

*''[[Elstree Calling]]'' (1930), made jointly with Adrian Brunel, Andre Charlot, Jack Hulbert and [[Paul ]] Murray

*''[[Sabotage (film)|Sabotage]]'' (aka ''A Woman Alone'') (1936), adapted from [[Joseph Conrad]]'s ''[[The Secret Agent]]''

*''[[Aventure Malgache]]'' (1944), a [[French language ]] short made for the British Ministry of Information