Interesting review of the new Hitchcock bio in today's Washington Post, written by Robert Sklar, a film studies professor at NYU. The book is Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light by Patrick McGilligan (ReganBooks, $39.95). Apparently McGilligan goes to great pains to discredit and refute Donald Spoto's trashy Hitchcock book, Dark Side of Genius, which was mostly concerned with Hitch's sexual proclivities (as if anyone would care). It's good to see the man get a decent book about his life and work, since he was one of the most important figures in film. Nobody has ever been able to do suspense the way Hitch did. It's hard to imagine any director today creating as many big films as he did, nevermind as many good ones. The book's on my shelf, although I don't know if I have the stomach to digest all 850 pages of it.