"Hitchcock/Truffaut", François Truffaut

If nowadays the english filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980) is regarded as one of the greatest directors off all-time, much is owed to this book. At the time, the "master of suspense" was seen more as an entertainer than a serious artist, although he was strongly supported by the french film critics of the movie magazine Cahiers du Cinéma. It was in 1962 that one of them, the then-young filmmaker François Truffaut (1932-1984), decided to make a series of interviews, covering the whole Hitchcock's career, with the english filmmaker, that would make people "realize at last that he is the greatest film director in the world" [1]. 

The book that resulted from those eight days in offices at Universal Studios (with translations by Helen G. Scott) was published in 1966 and became, not only the most relevant guide to the Hitchcock's oeuvre, but also one of the most important books on cinema. Its biographical, historical and critical aspects, showed an artist that constantly presented  his personal vision of the world and, at the same time, a man always searching and inventing new technical ways for its expression.

Excerpt:
"Alfred Hitchcock The ability to shorten or lengthen time is a primary requirement in film-making. As you know, there's no relation whatever between real time and filmic time.

François Truffaut Of course, that's one of the fundamentals that one learns with one's first picture. For instance, a fast action has to be geared down and stretched out; otherwise, it is almost imperceptible to the viewer. It takes considerable experience and know-how to handle the flux of time properly."

Link to the complete book in PDF:

François Truffaut and Alfred Hitchcock during one of the interviews.

[1] This excert is from a letter written by Truffaut to Hitchcock in which he presents the project for this book. Available at http://www.newwavefilm.com/interviews/truffaut-hitchcock-interview.shtml

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