Partners in Suspense: Critical Essays on Bernard Herrmann and Alfred Hitchcock Steven Rawle 9781526139528

This volume of spellbinding essays explores the tense relationship between Alfred Hitchcock and Bernard Herrmann, providing new perspectives on their collaboration. Featuring chapters by leading scholars of Hitchcock's work, including Richard Allen, Charles Barr, Murray Pomerance, Sidney Gottlieb and Jack Sullivan, the collection examines the working relationship between the pair and the contribution that Herrmann's work brings to Hitchcock's idiom.

Examining key works, including The Man Who Knew Too Much, Psycho, Marnie and Vertigo, the essays explore approaches to sound, music, collaborative authorship and the distinctive contribution that Herrmann's work with Hitchcock brought to this body of films, examining the significance, meanings, histories and enduring legacies of one of film history's most important partnerships. By engaging with the collaborative work of Hitchcock and Herrmann, the book explores the ways in which film directors and composers collaborate, how this collaboration is experienced in the film text, and the ways in which such partnerships inspire later work.

Steven Rawle is Associate Professor in Film and Media at York St John University


K. J. Donnelly is Professor of Film and Film Music at the University of Southampton

'As well as the intrinsic interest of the subject-matter, the book is indispensable on account of the quality of the contributors and their contributions. Some of the leading scholars of Hitchcock and Herrmann studies have been assembled for this volume, with the result that the text is not only authoritative but brimming with recent discovery. It is a book at the cutting-edge of current research on film authorship and a re-consideration of the relationship between image and soundtrack.'
Neil Sinyard, Emeritus Professor of Film Studies, University of Hull