Hitchcock’s name figures on any list of the greatest films of all time. His distinctive appearance makes him a sort of pop culture icon, and his movies live on in the memory of audiences worldwide.
But Hitchcock was the name of two extraordinary characters: Alfred and his wife Alma.
He was the celebrated director, she was in the background, working as editor and screenwriter.
They were born one day apart, fell madly in love on set, and through their relationship, developed their own art of storytelling, of voyaging, of staging, and negotiation – in short, a complicity that would lay the groundwork for a unique body of work.
They are the least-known yet most romantic couple in the history of cinema, and a story that has been little told.
From asking for her hand in marriage in the cabin of a ship sailing to Hollywood, to decline and sickness, the war years when they were a pair of discreet heroes, and the storm clouds of Alfred’s passion for certain actresses late in life, no one can say who out of Alfred and Alma was mentor to the other; who was manipulator and who manipulated, just like in the best thrillers…