Phantom Lady
Hollywood Producer Joan Harrison, the Forgotten Woman behind Hitchcock
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Phantom Lady
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Narrated by:
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Gabra Zackman
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By:
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Christina Lane
About this listen
Phantom Lady chronicles the untold story of Hollywood’s most powerful female writer-producer of the 1940s. In 1933 Joan Harrison was a 26-year-old former salesgirl with a dream of escaping her stodgy London suburb and the dreadful prospect of settling down with one of the local boys. A few short years later, she was Alfred Hitchcock’s confidante and the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of his first American film, Rebecca. Harrison had quickly grown from being the worst secretary Hitchcock ever had to one of his closest collaborators, critically shaping his brand as the “master of suspense.”
Forging an image as “the female Hitchcock,” Harrison went on to produce numerous Hollywood features before becoming a television pioneer as the producer of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. A respected powerhouse, she acquired a singular reputation for running amazingly smooth productions - and defying anyone who posed an obstacle.
Author Christina Lane shows how this stylish, stunning woman, with an adventurous romantic life, became an unconventional but impressive auteur - one whom history has overlooked.
©2020 Christina Lane (P)2020 Blackstone PublishingListeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about Phantom Lady
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Dr. Judith Frith
- 14-09-20
Great story, but....
This fabulous story about one of the great unsung women in Hollywood history is weighed down by robotic narration - I actually check to see if it was being done by AI as opposed to a human narrator - and heavy-handed feminist rhetoric that sounds like the author is halfway through her sophomore year at an overpriced liberal arts college.
Joan Harrison is, or should be, an icon. Her story doesn't require a lot of condescending verbiage about women's ongoing oppression. I fast-forwarded several times during this audiobook when the author (and narrator robot) got going with this type of lecture.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Lucinda42
- 24-06-21
Superb biography
Perfectly good narration, but a British actor would have provided much clearer context... slightly baffled that they didn’t think that through. It’s so central. Still, a fascinating and valiant life.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- D. Baker
- 11-09-23
Great book, some iffy narration
It’s great that the often overlooked Joan Harrison now gets a biography - and Hitch fans will enjoy the first part of the book, where he also features heavily.
Once Joan and Hitch part ways, there’s still much of interest uncovered- it’s pointed me towards many films that I will enjoy tracking down.
The narrator’s voice is fine, but there are some real clangers where words are not pronounced in the usual way.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Nettlewine
- 08-02-22
From a Hitchcock perspective: excellent
I'm coming at this book as a Hitchcock student of three decades, and I have to say Joan Harrison was to me little more than a name before. This isn't, as Lane points out, strictly my fault: almost all of Hitchcock's biographers have completely missed Harrison's involvement in the Hitchcock oeuvre.
Even a cursory reading of this nutritious book shows that to be a serious omission. Harrison's apprenticeship with Hitch brought much-needed tailoring to his material, and saw her fly through the ranks of the Hollywood movie-making machine. After which... well, there was no infrastructure to support her further, was there?
That's why, as they say, women have so often had to be twice as good at what they do; and indeed, this book is twice as good as many recent Hitchcock-themed efforts.
Author Christina Lane handles her subject in a deft and sophisticated way that is often lacking in books attached to the lucrative Hitchcock name. I've read too many filler-stuffed tomes starting at The Pleasure Garden, ending at Family Plot and offering precious little in the way of insight in between. But Lane's intelligent selection and corroboration of evidence -- and unfakeable immersion in the subject -- means she needs to assume very little, and makes persuasive arguments for Harrison's place in the movie-making firmament. No filler here.
I hope Lane has some other projects bubbling away, because I'll be looking out for any future books by her, in the fullness of time.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Sandra
- 12-02-20
A Beautiful Book
A beautiful book about an unconventional woman - a trailblazer in film making by female producers.
The book tells the story of a woman who was so much more than Hitchcock's 'secretary'.
She was an empowered, creative and free thinking woman. Her own person. Really, enjoyed the book!
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