The Master of Suspense

Alfred Hitchcock directed more than fifty films. His career began in the silent era and ended in the age of cable and satellite television—a far cry from his parents’ greengrocer’s shop in East London.  This lecture analyses his films in the context of his life and considers just why Hitchcock’s films have endured so successfully for so long.

He was an innovator with a distinctive individual style. There have been many directors who have tried to emulate Hitchcock but none have surpassed him in the genre of suspense which he defined. His astonishing career started with his British films The Lodger and The Lady Vanishes, flourished through his Hollywood triumphs of Rebecca, Notorious, Rear Window and Vertigo and concluded with Psycho and the slow decline that began thereafter.

Dr Colin Shindler has been lecturing on American and British social and cultural history for over 30  years, including 20 years at Cambridge University, exploring film history’s relationship to modern British and American social and cultural history. He has also had a wide-ranging career as a writer and producer in television, radio and film. He won a BAFTA award for his production of A Little Princess. His production of Young Charlie Chaplin was nominated for a US Prime Time Emmy. He wrote the screenplay for the feature film Buster and was the producer of various television dramas such as Lovejoy and Wish Me Luck. He is best known for his childhood memoir Manchester United Ruined My Life which was short listed for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award. 

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