Hitchcock’s Heroines
by Caroline Young
Published Insight Editions 2018
Pages 192 Price $29.99

This magnificent book explores Alfred Hitchcock’s greatest films and his fascination with his leading ladies. The photographs are breathtaking. They include the following images: Grace Kelly, Ingrid Bergman, Eva Marie Saint, Janet Leigh, Tippi Hedren, Kim Novak, Marlene Dietrich, Tallulah Bankhead, Joan Fontaine, Carol Lombard, Madeleine Carroll and many more.

Hitchcock was a gifted director and producer of some of the greatest classics of the Golden Age of films between 1930 and 1975. His great strengths were his ability to capture beauty, create suspense, work with photography by capturing angles complimentary to women, and his ability to make a script come alive. His greatest weakness was that he fell in love with all his leading ladies and he preferred blonds with classic looks. He liked elegance and understatement but always sex appeal too. In 2018 he might be called a womanizer. In his day, he got away with a lot of favors from women, but no one knows exactly whom.

The author, Caroline Young, focuses on Hitchcock’s leading ladies as well as his wonderful films. In discussing the film, “North by Northwest,” Young states, “Under Hitchcock’s guidance Eva Marie Saint was transformed from being a trifle on the mousy side to sparking with sex appeal.” Hitchcock saw in her a fine method actress who played downtrodden figures like Edie Doyle in the film “On the Waterfront,” and molded her into a glamorous lover of Cary Grant in “North by Northwest.”

Not only was Hitchcock interested in creating illusions and mystery in his films through photography and glamorous actresses, he was interested in the style of their clothes to carry out the theme of what he was trying to express. His favorite costume designer was Edith Head. Her sketches of suggested gowns, suits, coats, blouses, hats and scarfs had to be approved by him. Many of these sketches can be seen in this book and are fascinating. Clothes in a film not only set the atmosphere of the story, but they also set the style of clothes for women in real life. Edith Head was a designer who set styles in America, but was only known inside the film world.

This book includes chapters on the major Hitchcock films: “Rebecca,” “Suspicion, “Spellbound”, “Notorious,” ”Rear Window,” “To Catch a Thief,” ”Vertigo”, “Psycho,” ”Marnie,” and many more.

Why are films important? Films are important because they educate as well as entertain. They change public attitudes. Films reach more people than books. Films transport us emotionally. Theater is wonderful but films allow us a more intimate image than stage performances. We can see the expression on a face before words are expressed from a script. Films combine many forms of art: photography, acting, directing, music, costume design, and of course most important of all, the script; the printed word, a topic that leads us back to books.

The strength of a book is that it brings us to the printed word directly from the author. There is no scriptwriter in between or an actress or actor interpreting the script. Each person reading a book gets to create their own image of the story and its characters. This special book brings to the reader the process of creating some of the greatest classic films of our time. It gives comments on the background of the actresses, as well as the preparation taken to create each film. Its photos capture behind- -the- scene activities and show glamorous shots, but also show spontaneous photos of actresses in bathrobes sitting in chairs, waiting for their scenes to come up.

This book is for film lovers who love Alfred Hitchcock films; mystery, beauty, and romance. I recommend it highly.

***

The Chef
by James Patterson with Max Dillalo
Published by Little, Brown Co. 2019
Pages 382 Price $28

“The Chef “ is a new trendy novel about Detective Caleb Rooney of the New Orleans Police Department who is being investigated by a review board for the necessity of the use of lethal force in the killing of a drug dealer, Larry Grant. He is fighting to keep his badge, gun, and job, but representing himself, without a lawyer, which is not a wise thing to do.

However, Rooney is not your average detective. He moonlights as an award-winning chef in a popular food truck in New Orleans in his spare time.The name of the food truck is “Killer Chef.”The food truck as one of the themes is not as exciting as a sophisticated restaurant/cabaret as seen in the film Casablanca, but I was willing to give the book a chance because the character of Caleb Rooney interested me. Headlines in the local newspaper in the story refer to Detective Rooney as “Killer Chef,” “Killer Cop.”

Although the investigation is a routine procedure in all violent interactions on the police force, when a policeman has to use his firearm, it is a nerve wracking experience. Detective Rooney feels that he is being treated like a criminal, rather than a hero who protected the community, and Rooney resigns. The author states, “After cops leave the force, most cops like to hit the links or the bottle, or maybe get a little place on the Gulf Coast and do some fishing and take it easy.”

“Not me,” says  Detective Caleb Rooney. “I got rid of my NOPD uniform, threw on a fresh black T shirt and apron, and went straight back to work at the “Killer Chef  food truck.” (He runs  the food truck with his ex-wife, Marlene, part time.) They fight with each other like always, but run the food truck well together, and have become friends.

One wonders why this book is on the New York Times Best Seller List, but its short sentences and lively humor gave me courage to continue reading it. I also am intrigued by Detective Rooney, who is a very smart guy, and has some great one- liners which made me laugh and sounded accurate.

While Caleb likes to cook, he is sharply aware of unusual  activities going on at Carnival time in New Orleans this year. His astute attention to details because of his job of being a detective over the years alerts him to the strange activities happening.

In a surprise twist in the plot, the police chief comes to Caleb for help. The FBI has moved in because of a terrorist threat and has bossed the local police around giving strict orders which makes the chief powerless. Since Caleb is no longer part of the police force, but has worked for it many years as a detective, will he help find the terrorists and save his beloved city?

Caleb says, “Chief, you want me to interfere with a federal  terrorism investigation as a civilian?” They shake hands and both agree wordlessly that Rooney will help.

If you want to find out if Caleb Rooney outsmarts the FBI, works with the New Orleans Police Department secretly, and  competes like hell with both organizations, in finding out who the leader of the terrorist group is, you will have to read the story.

As a double benefit for reading the book there are several New Orleans recipes at the end of the book from the Killer Chef food truck; Blackened Catfish Sandwich, Duck-fat fries, and Crab Gumbo, are included among a few other Southern Creole dishes available.

— Pat Davidson Reef is a graduate of Emerson College in Boston. She received her Masters Degree at the University of Southern Maine.She taught English and Art History at Catherine McAuley High for many years.She now teaches at the University of Southern Maine in Portland in the  Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Classic Films. She recently wrote a children’s book,”Dahlov Ipcar Artist, and is now writing another children’s book “Bernard Langlais Revisited.”

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