Includes bibliographical references (pages 421-429) , filmography (p. 431-462) , and index
Part I. - Hitchcock, Motifs and Melodrama - Introduction -- - Three motifs - Home movies -- - Cigarette case/lighter -- - Milk -- - Melodrama and Hitchcock's motifs -- - An elaborated motif: the Bed Scene in Rebecca and Marnie -- - A melodramatic motif: hands -- - Diagrammatic representations -- - Overview of the key motifs -- - Part II. - The Key Motifs - BED SCENE -- - Couples and beds -- - Beds and the police -- - BLONDES AND BRUNETTES -- - CAMEO APPEARANCES -- - Cameos and the police -- - CHILDREN -- - Children's cameos -- - Family members -- - Children and violence -- - Children and the police -- - CONFINED SPACES -- - Bathrooms and washrooms -- - Confinement and concealment -- - Cages and bars: fears of imprisonment -- - Washrooms and the police -- - THE CORPSE -- - The heroines -- - The heroes -- - The villains -- - Corpses and the police -- - DOGS AND CATS -- - Dogs and the police -- - DOUBLES -- - Doubles and the police -- - ENDINGS AND THE POLICE --
- ENTRY THROUGH A WINDOW -- - Entry through a window and the police -- - EXHIBITIONISM / VOYEURISM / THE LOOK -- - EXHIBITIONISM / VOYEURISM -- - SPY FILMS / THE LOOK -- - Exhibitionism, voyeurism and the police -- - FOOD AND MEALS -- - Food and marriage -- - Food and sex -- - Food and murder -- - Food and guilt -- - Chickens and eggs -- - Table talk and fascism -- - Food and the police -- - GUILTAND CONFESSION -- - Catholic overtones -- - Guilt and Hitchcock's villains -- - Transference of guilt -- - Guilt, confession and the police -- - HANDCUFFS AND BONDAGE -- - HANDS -- - Male hands/female hands -- - Held wrists -- - Damaged hands -- - Holding hands -- - Hands and the police -- - HEIGHTS AND FALLING -- - Heights, falling and the police -- - HOMOSEXUALITY -- - Critical positions -- - Gay undercurrents -- - Espionage and the look -- - Ivor Novello -- - Homosexuality and the police -- - JEWELLERY -- - Greed -- - Status -- - Female desire -- - Female beauty/male power --
- Male murderousness -- - Jewellery and the police -- - KEYS AND HANDBAGS -- - KEYS -- - Keys and handbags -- - HANDBAGS -- - Handbags and keys -- - Keys, handbags and the police -- - LIGHT(S) -- - Vampires and blinding -- - Murder and homosexuality -- - Lights and the police -- - THE MACGUFFIN -- - The MacGuffin and the police -- - MOTHERS AND HOUSES -- - Mothers and the police -- - PORTRAITS, PAINTINGS AND PAINTERS -- - PORTRAITS -- - PAINTINGS -- - Modern art -- - PAINTERS -- - Portraits, paintings and the police -- - PUBLIC DISTURBANCES -- - Public disturbances and the police -- - SPECTACLES -- - Spectacles and the police -- - STAIRCASES -- - Hitchcockian levels -- - Political variations -- - Sinister staircases -- - Freudian overtones -- - Couples and staircases -- - Staircases and the police -- - TRAINS AND BOATS / PLANES AND BUSES -- - TRAINS -- - BOATS -- - PLANES -- - BUSES -- - Trains and boats and the police -- - WATER AND RAIN -- - WATER -- - RAIN --
- Water and the police -- - Appendix I - TV Episodes - BED SCENE -- - CHILDREN -- - CONFINED SPACES -- - THE CORPSE -- - DOUBLES -- - FOOD AND MURDER / ENDINGS AND THE POLICE -- - LIGHTS -- - BOATS -- - Appendix II - Articles on Hitchcock's motifs -- - Appendix III - Definitions - Diegesis -- - Point-of-view editing