Three Philosophical Filmmakers : Hitchcock, Welles, Renoir

Although Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles and Jean Renoir do not pontificate about "eternal verities or analytical niceties," as Irving Singer remarks in Three Philosophical Filmmakers, each expresses, through his work, his particular vision of reality.

In this study of these great directors, Singer examines the ways in which meaning and technique interact within their different visions.

Singer's account reveals Hitchcock, Welles and Renoir to be not only consummate artists and inspired craftsmen but also sophisticated theorists of film and its place in human experience.

They left behind numerous essays, articles and interviews in which they discuss the nature of their own work as well as more extensive issues.

Singer draws on their writings, as well as their movies, to show the pervasive importance of what they did as dedicated filmmakers.

Hitchcock used his mastery of contrived devices not as mere formalism divorced from content, Singer notes, but in order to evoke emotional responses that are meaningful in themselves and that matter greatly to millions of people.

Singer's discussion of Hitchcock's work analyses, among other things, his ideas about suspense, romance and the comic.