'Hitchcock's Music' Scores Big on Suspense Film director Alfred Hitchcock was a master of suspense. A new book, Hitchcock's Music, by Jack Sullivan, examines the music in his films and how it conveys emotion in ways images cannot.

'Hitchcock's Music' Scores Big on Suspense

'Hitchcock's Music' Scores Big on Suspense

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The book jacket for Hitchcock's Music by Jack Sullivan features Farley Granger and Alfred Hitchcock in Strangers on a Train. Sunset Boulevard/Corbis hide caption

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Sunset Boulevard/Corbis

The book jacket for Hitchcock's Music by Jack Sullivan features Farley Granger and Alfred Hitchcock in Strangers on a Train.

Sunset Boulevard/Corbis

Sounds of Hitchcock

'Main Theme'

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'North by Northwest'

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'Rebecca'

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'Vertigo'

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Scroll down to read an excerpt.

Hailed as the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock knew that music can convey emotion in ways images cannot.

The soundtracks to many of his films take on a role of their own, becoming deeply compelling characters.

American Studies professor Jack Sullivan examines the celebrated director's relationship to sound in his new book, Hitchcock's Music.

Hitchcock's fruitful and sometimes volatile collaboration with such composers as Bernard Herrmann (Psycho, Vertigo, North by Northwest) and Miklos Rozsa (Spellbound) created some of the most gripping scores of all time.

Sullivan tells Scott Simon about some favorite musical moments, notes Hitchcock's fondness for waltzes and discourses on how his use of music has influenced generations of filmmakers.

Hitchcock's Music
By Jack Sullivan

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Title
Hitchcock's Music
Author
Jack Sullivan

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