Edgar Award Winner: This lively account of the director’s battles with the Code Office is “an essential addition to any Hitchcock shelf” (Mystery Scene Magazine). From 1934 to 1968, the Motion Picture Production Code Office controlled the content and final cut on all films made and distributed in the United States. Code officials protected sensitive ears from standard four-letter words, as well as a few five-letter words like tramp and six-letter words like cripes. They also scrubbed “excessively lustful” kissing from the screen and ensured that no criminal went unpunished. Thus, throughout his career, Alfred Hitchcock had to deal with a wide variety of censors attuned to the slightest suggestion of sexual innuendo, undue violence, toilet humor, religious disrespect, and all forms of indecency, real or imagined. During their review of Hitchcock’s films, the censors demanded an average of 22.5 changes, ranging from the mundane to the mind-boggling, on each of his American films. Code reviewers dictated the ending of Rebecca, absolved Cary Grant of guilt in Suspicion, edited Cole Porter’s lyrics in Stage Fright, decided which shades should be drawn in Rear Window, and shortened the shower scene in Psycho. In Hitchcock and the Censors, John Billheimer traces the forces that led to the Production Code and describes Hitchcock’s interactions with code officials on a film-by-film basis as he fought to protect his creations, bargaining with code reviewers and sidestepping censorship to produce a lifetime of memorable films. Despite the often-arbitrary decisions of the code board, Hitchcock still managed to push the boundaries of sex and violence permitted in films by charming—and occasionally tricking—the censors and by swapping off bits of dialogue, plot points, and individual shots (some of which had been deliberately inserted as trading chips) to protect cherished scenes and images. By examining Hitchcock’s priorities in dealing with the censors, this work highlights the director’s theories of suspense as well as his magician-like touch when negotiating with code officials.
Preparing to leave the town of Barkley, West Virginia, Owen Allison becomes involved in the investigation of a broken dam that has released coal mining pollution throughout the town.
Most baseball fans know what links Fred Merkle, Fred Snodgrass, Mickey Owen and Bill Buckner. It's a pantheon of public failure. They would be harder put to say what links Eric Byrnes, Tony Fernandez, and Babe Ruth, though these players made misplays every bit as egregious. In this smart, highly readable history of scapegoating, John Billheimer identifies the elements that combine to condemn one player to a life sentence while another gets a wrist slap for the same offense. As it turns out, the difference between a lower-case e in some forgotten box score and a lifetime of ignominy can hinge on a number of factors, including timing, geography, reputation, misunderstanding, media bias, and just plain bad luck.
Transportation Inspector Owen Allison catches another offbeat case in the hills of West Virginia when his Aunt Lizzie grabs her rifle and sets out to stop a new real estate development threatening the town.
Contrary, West Virginia, a sleepy town with failing coal mines, has an urgent need for revenue. A federal grant for a non-existent bus system meets that need, until a government auditor consumes too much white lightning and dies under mysterious circumstances. When the Department of Transportation sends Owen Allison to sort things out, Owen decides to let the phony bus subsidy continue until another body surfaces and Owen fears that he may be the next to die. This Mystery Company edition restores to print the first novel in the Owen Allison series.
Not much happens in Contrary, West Virginia -- a sleepy town with failing coal mines, a few old moonshine stills, and an urgent need for revenue. A federal grant for a nonexistent bus system seemed just the ticket . . . if only the government auditor, sent to look things over, hadn't drunk too much white lightning. And ended up dead. Now his successor, Owen Allison, has come down from D.C. to check out the situation. Disgruntled with his life inside the Beltway, Owen is willing to give Contrary's officials the benefit of the doubt -- and himself some time to romance Mary Beth, the alluring town controller. He soon feels like seventeen different kinds of fool. Because something has long been fermenting in Contrary besides corn mash. Another body has been found. And Owen may be the next . . . unless he uncovers the big secrets hidden in the hearts of a small Appalachian town.
When a dam in West Virginia suspiciously breaks and kills four local people, Owen Allison's plans to return to California are halted. Hired to uncover what really happened, Owen discovers a dirty game of corruption and greed--with someone going to murderous lengths to hide an ugly truth. Martin's Press.
Transportation Inspector Owen Allison catches another offbeat case in the hills of West Virginia when his Aunt Lizzie grabs her rifle and sets out to stop a new real estate development threatening the town.
Thank you for visiting our website. Would you like to provide feedback on how we could improve your experience?
This site does not use any third party cookies with one exception — it uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyze traffic.Learn More.