Vertigo: The Making of a Hitchcock Classic by Dan Auiler
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Book Reviews of Vertigo: The Making of a Hitchcock Classic
Book Review: Harper's Bazaar review
Summary: 5 Stars
In the January issue of Harper's Bazaar, Dan Auiler's Vertigo is listed as one of the top ten films books of 1998.Book Review: Hitch...
Summary: 5 Stars
I am a big hitch fan, this book on his best work didn't disappoint me.Book Review: Nine-Tenths of a Great Book- More or Less
Summary: 4 Stars
As soon as I learned of Dan Auiler's book on the making of 'Vertigo', I bought it, and devoured it. I came away curiously hungry, and it took me about a year of ownership before I figured out what the problem was. Auiler has constructed his book on the basis of the production records that still survive, and they do give many insights into what was done when during 'Vertigo's' shooting schedule. What he didn't get- or give to us- were the interviews with surviving participants that would have fleshed out his calendar of events. There's not a word from Barbara Bel Geddes, and not any new info from Kim Novak. What I would have liked to see from this book was a definitive interview with Miss Novak about her experiences making the movie. How did she feel about this scene- or that one? What were the inner resources she drew on to find the characters of Madeleine and Judy inside her? Unfortunately, Auiler quotes only from extant Kim Novak interviews, and that sparingly. I realise that Kim Novak is perhaps the most difficult person to secure for an interview since Greta Garbo, but to have NOTHING new with her in a 'Vertigo' book meant to be definitive is a crying shame. There's also a certain skimpiness in the photo sections; there are some handsome frames from the 1996 restoration of the movie, but not anything like enough material showing shooting in progress. One nice touch is when Auiler shows us the actual hotel room used to plan the set of Judy Barton's room in the Empire Hotel; I wish he'd done this for each of the major sets, such as Ernie's, Scottie's apartment on Lombard Street, and Ransohoff's.There is a way for readers to cure this book's problems; this book needs to be purchased along with a copy of the movie in letterbox format. At the end of the movie, there's a terrific little American Movie Classics special on the making of 'Vertigo'; it shows much of the photo material Auiler's book lacks, and has an interview with Kim Novak to boot. Novak's interview is short, but I got a lump in my throat when I saw what she was holding in her hands while talking- the original green knit dress she wore forty years earlier in the movie. The special also shows many of the original set drawings for the film, and some amateur 'home movie' footage of the shooting done at the mission at San Juan Bautista.
Despite my reservations, I do think that any Hitchcock or 'Vertigo' fan should definitely buy this book- but I think that AMC special on the video of the movie is the only way you'll ever get any of the info Auiler doesn't provide.
Book Review: Nine-Tenths of a Great Book- More or Less
Summary: 4 Stars
As soon as I learned of Dan Auiler's book on the making of 'Vertigo', I bought it, and devoured it. I came away curiously hungry, and it took me about a year of ownership before I figured out what the problem was. Auiler has constructed his book on the basis of the production records that still survive, and they do give many insights into what was done when during 'Vertigo's' shooting schedule. What he didn't get- or give to us- were the interviews with surviving participants that would have fleshed out his calendar of events. There's not a word from Barbara Bel Geddes, and not any new info from Kim Novak. What I would have liked to see from this book was a definitive interview with Miss Novak about her experiences making the movie. How did she feel about this scene- or that one? What were the inner resources she drew on to find the characters of Madeleine and Judy inside her? Unfortunately, Auiler quotes only from extant Kim Novak interviews, and that sparingly. I realise that Kim Novak is perhaps the most difficult person to secure for an interview since Greta Garbo, but to have NOTHING new with her in a 'Vertigo' book meant to be definitive is a crying shame. There's also a certain skimpiness in the photo sections; there are some handsome frames from the 1996 restoration of the movie, but not anything like enough material showing shooting in progress. One nice touch is when Auiler shows us the actual hotel room used to plan the set of Judy Barton's room in the Empire Hotel; I wish he'd done this for each of the major sets, such as Ernie's, Scottie's apartment on Lombard Street, and Ransohoff's.There is a way for readers to cure this book's problems; this book needs to be purchased along with a copy of the movie in letterbox format. At the end of the movie, there's a terrific little American Movie Classics special on the making of 'Vertigo'; it shows much of the photo material Auiler's book lacks, and has an interview with Kim Novak to boot. Novak's interview is short, but I got a lump in my throat when I saw what she was holding in her hands while talking- the original green knit dress she wore forty years earlier in the movie. The special also shows many of the original set drawings for the film, and some amateur 'home movie' footage of the shooting done at the mission at San Juan Bautista.
Despite my reservations, I do think that any Hitchcock or 'Vertigo' fan should definitely buy this book- but I think that AMC special on the video of the movie is the only way you'll ever get any of the info Auiler doesn't provide.
Book Review: Ken Mogg's review from The MacGuffin
Summary: 4 Stars
Congratulations to Dan Auiler, film collector, teacher, and Buddhist, living in Los Angeles, whose book on the phenomenon that is Hitchcock's Vertigo has the breadth and grasp that were needed...Not a critical text, and with nary a footnote for unwary readers to stumble over, 'Vertigo: The Making of a Hitchcock Classic' nonetheless is both amply-researched and evocative. Auiler accessed the Hitchcock production files and interviewed key surviving personnel who had worked on the film (and, in a final chapter, Messrs Harris and Katz, who restored it on 70mm in 1996)....A final note says: 'In all of the interviews and conversations that went into the preparation of this book, those who worked with Hitchcock were consistent in [projecting] ...an overall admiration for the man and the artist'. For Hitchcock's healthy approach to working with his writers (alternating 'work' and 'play'), see p. 37. My impression is that the book is itself a healthily-conceived and written one. Auiler is entitled to conclude: 'Those of us who are "healthy" do not wander the old places, looking for ghosts. But the film expresses a truth that may be dark but is unavoidable ... In [a] sense, we all stand with Scottie in the tower.'