Before he was the Master of Suspense, he was a 25-year-old artist given a single, high-stakes opportunity to prove himself. Alfred Hitchcock's Debut pulls back the curtain on the forgotten story of The Pleasure Garden, the very first film directed by the legendary Alfred Hitchcock, and reveals the untold saga of its creation. Journey back to the tumultuous world of 1920s silent film production, a time of artistic revolution and immense financial risk. This definitive account explores how a young, ambitious Hitchcock navigated the treacherous waters of his first feature-an ambitious international co-production fraught with challenges. ◆ Go Behind the Scenes ◆ Discover the drama of a high-stakes international co-production. Learn the strategy behind casting American star Virginia Valli to boost box office appeal. Uncover the logistical nightmares of filming on perilous locations across Italy and Germany. ◆ Witness the First Sparks of Genius ◆ Go beyond a simple historical retelling and see the initial evidence of the techniques that would become his indelible trademarks. This book provides a close examination of: Visual Storytelling: The first signs of the visual language that would define his career. Budding Suspense: How he grappled with the melodrama genre, bending its conventions to fit his burgeoning vision. Complex Characters: The collaboration with actor Miles Mander that set a precedent for the troubled figures in his later masterpieces. Thematic Obsessions: The foundational ideas and motifs that would populate his greatest films. For any fan of Hitchcock, film history, or the magic of the silent era, this is an essential chronicle of a legend's beginning. It is the story of a debut that nearly didn't happen, a film that held the fate of a young director in its balance, and the foundational project where Alfred Hitchcock first began to master his craft.