New Book Due in June: "Hitchcock's Blonde" by John Hamilton

According to Kenneth Anger's "Hollywood Babylon II," Alfred Hitchcock once convinced Grace Kelly to do a striptease from a mile away while he watched her through a telescope. Hmmmm... kinky. But it also kind of takes the notion of safe sex to its extreme. If that juicy story isn't titillating enough, "Hitchcock's Blonde" promises to dish out even more details about the director's close, yet bizarre relationship with Ms. Kelly. The blurb from the publisher seems to indicate that "Hitchcock's Blonde" will be a mix of fanzine fluff and serious thought. It says:

"He was the most celebrated director of his generation, but his murder mysteries and thrillers hid the secrets of his own sexual repression. She was the most beautiful female star of her day, known on-screen for her glacial aloofness and off-screen for her sexual appetites. Together, they made three celebrated movies and Grace Kelly’s influence on Alfred Hitchcock was as profound as it was disturbing. For the first time in print, their work together is examined in detail, their relationship with each other is explored in depth and Hitchcock’s darkest fantasies are revealed."

Comments

Dave Pattern said…
I'll try and blog about this in more detail, but by using the "1000 Frames" I've been trying to work out roughly how much screen time each actor gets in each film.

In each of her 3 films, Grace Kelly gets between 27% to 28% of the total screen time (e.g. I reckon she is on-screen for around 28 minutes in "To Catch a Thief").

Given the different nature of all 3 films, the consistency of percentage screen time given to Kelly is quite interesting.
Joel Gunz said…
Interesting point. That's a lot of screen time - not that I'm complaining! That surprises me about DIAL M, though, considering that Ray Milland occupies so much of the film without her - e.g., his extended conversation with Lesgate and his time during and after her conviction.