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The British Hitchcock: Epistemologies of Nation, Gender and Detection

The British Hitchcock: Epistemologies of Nation, Gender and Detection Susan McCabe From 1929 to 1939, before launching his Hollywood career, Alfred Hitchcock directed sixteen sound films in Britain. While Hitchcock fans and film scholars lavish more attention on his later work, many of his themes, motifs, and techniques emanate from this decade. Moreover, during this politically pitched era, England collectively suffered from the post-traumatic shock of the First World War, and turned a deaf ear to the growing signs of international upheaval. Quite naturally, the country was caught up in the economic and social fallout of the Depression. A decline of the Empire and an erosion of a Victorian way of life had begun to sink in. By 1935, knowledge of both Germany’s massive rearmament and its atrocities against Jews and other ‘undesirables’ became commonplace. Bewailing the ‘unteachability of mankind’, Churchill urged without effect for the House of Commons to work with other European nations ‘to build up an adequate deterrent force’.1 Danger as well as apathy heightened as the decade went on. The fantasy that England was safely insulated persisted alongside the fears of those like Hitchcock who imagined more uncomfortable scenarios, such as violent incursions into the British Isles, from the twin threats of communism http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Modernist Cultures Edinburgh University Press

The British Hitchcock: Epistemologies of Nation, Gender and Detection

Modernist Cultures , Volume 5 (1): 127 – May 1, 2010

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Publisher
Edinburgh University Press
Copyright
© Edinburgh University Press 2010
Subject
Articles; Film, Media and Cultural Studies
ISSN
2041-1022
eISSN
1753-8629
DOI
10.3366/mod.2010.0009
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Susan McCabe From 1929 to 1939, before launching his Hollywood career, Alfred Hitchcock directed sixteen sound films in Britain. While Hitchcock fans and film scholars lavish more attention on his later work, many of his themes, motifs, and techniques emanate from this decade. Moreover, during this politically pitched era, England collectively suffered from the post-traumatic shock of the First World War, and turned a deaf ear to the growing signs of international upheaval. Quite naturally, the country was caught up in the economic and social fallout of the Depression. A decline of the Empire and an erosion of a Victorian way of life had begun to sink in. By 1935, knowledge of both Germany’s massive rearmament and its atrocities against Jews and other ‘undesirables’ became commonplace. Bewailing the ‘unteachability of mankind’, Churchill urged without effect for the House of Commons to work with other European nations ‘to build up an adequate deterrent force’.1 Danger as well as apathy heightened as the decade went on. The fantasy that England was safely insulated persisted alongside the fears of those like Hitchcock who imagined more uncomfortable scenarios, such as violent incursions into the British Isles, from the twin threats of communism

Journal

Modernist CulturesEdinburgh University Press

Published: May 1, 2010

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