Chapters 1-3 Summary and Analysis

"Hitchcock" by François Truffaut is a series of interviews between Truffaut and Alfred Hitchcock, which took place during a 50-hour period. Truffaut is a former film critic and a cinematic expert, making the author an outstanding choice to interview the Master of Suspense.

Alfred Hitchcock was born on August 13, 1899 in London, England. Chapter one begins with Truffaut asking Hitchcock about his childhood, a topic on which very little has been written. Hitchcock recalls an early incident when his father had taken him to a police station as a form of punishment. The police locked the small boy in a cell for five or ten minutes to make the five-year-old understand that is what happens to naughty boys. Hitchcock has no idea what he did to deserve the punishment, but the incident instilled a lifelong fear of police. Hitchcock...