Cover Page -- Title Page -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- Part I Hitchcock, Motifs and Melodrama -- Introduction -- Three motifs -- Home movies -- Cigarette case/lighter -- Milk -- Melodrama and Hitchcockߡs 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 -- Blondes versus brunettes -- Blond allure/blond iconography -- Blondes, brunettes and violence -- Blondes, brunettes and the police -- 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 Awindow -- 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 -- References -- Filmography -- List of illustrations -- Index of Hitchcock's films and their motifs -- General Index -- Film Culture in Transition.