To Catch a Thief. Poster of the 1955 movie and cover of the 1952 book, To Catch A Thief
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To Catch A Thief
David Dodge, 1952
movie vs book
Alfred Hitchcock, 1955

The pattern of a string of jewel robberies on the French Riviera causes the police to believe that the infamous jewel thief John ‘The Cat’ Robie has left his comfortable retirement of growing grapes and flowers. The staff is his old gang, paroled for their work in the French Resistance during World War II as long as they keep clean.


Frenzy. Poster of the 1972 movie and cover of the 1966 book, Goodbye Piccadilly, Farewell Leicester Square
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Goodbye Piccadilly, Farewell Leicester Square
Arthur La Bern, 1966
movie vs book
Alfred Hitchcock, 1972

Set in the early 1970s, the plot centres on a serial killer terrorizing London by raping and then strangling women with a necktie. Bob Rusk, a Covent Garden wholesale produce merchant, is the murderer. However, circumstantial evidence, partially engineered by Rusk, will implicate Rusk’s friend Richard Blaney, who becomes a fugitive attempting to prove his innocence.


Marnie. Poster of the 1964 movie and cover of the 1961 book
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Marnie
Winston Graham, 1961
movie vs book
Alfred Hitchcock, 1964

Marian Holland charmed Sidney Strutt, head of a tax consulting company, into hiring her without references. Some months later, she steals nearly $10,000 from the company safe and flees. Changing her appearance and identity, Marian, travels to Virginia, where she stables a horse named Forio.


The Trouble with Harry. Poster of the 1955 movie and cover of the 1949 book
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The Trouble with Harry
Jack Trevor Story, 1949
movie vs book
Alfred Hitchcock, 1955

The quirky but down-to-earth residents of the small hamlet of Highwater, Vermont, are faced with the freshly dead body of Harry Worp, which has inconveniently appeared on the hillside above the town. The problem of who the person is, who was responsible for his sudden death, and what should be done with the body is #the trouble with Harry.


The Crystal Trench. Poster of the 1959 movie and cover of the 1915 book
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The Crystal Trench
A.E.W. Mason, 1915
movie vs book
Alfred Hitchcock, 1959

While staying at an Alpine ski resort, English mountain climber Mark learns that a fellow Englishman, a young climber, has perished on a nearby mountain, his body awaiting retrieval. Mark breaks the news to the dead man’s pretty young widow, Stella, before setting off to recover the corpse. The attempt to fetch the body is botched, the corpse falling from the mountain deep into a crevasse below, making it irrecoverable.


Hitchcock. Poster of the 2012 movie and cover of the 1990 book, Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho
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Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho
Stephen Rebello, 1990
movie vs book
Sacha Gervasi, 2012

In 1959, Alfred Hitchcock opens his latest film, North by Northwest, to both critical and commercial success, but is troubled by a reporter’s insinuation that he should retire. Gein appears in sequences throughout the film, in which he seems to prompt Hitchcock’s imagination regarding the Psycho story, or act as some function of Hitchcock’s subconscious mind.


Jamaica Inn. Poster of the 1939 movie and cover of the 1936 book
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Jamaica Inn
Daphne du Maurier, 1936
movie vs book
Alfred Hitchcock, 1939

In Cornwall, 1819, a young orphan, Mary, is sent to live with Aunt Patience and Uncle Joss who are landlords of the Jamaica Inn. Mary soon realises her uncle’s inn serves as the base for a gang of ship wreckers – who lure ships to their doom on the rocky coast, and Mary begins to fear for her life.


The Girl. Poster of the 2012 movie and cover of the 1992 book, Spellbound by Beauty
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Spellbound by Beauty
Donald Spoto, 1992
movie vs book
Julian Jarrold, 2012

The film is a partially fictionalised account of the relationship between Alfred Hitchcock and Tippi Hedren. In 1961, Hitchcock notices Hedren in a television commercial for a diet drink. He wants to turn her into the next Grace Kelly, with whom he had worked extensively during the 1950s. Hedren passes her screen test and is groomed for the starring role in Hitchcock’s latest film, The Birds.