Stage Fright (1950)

WHO: Alfred Hitchcock directed, and Jane Wyman stars. Both are pictured in the screen capture above. (The moment of Hitchcock's customary cameo, naturally- though they're rarely two-shots with the star, like this one is).

WHAT: Few would place Stage Fright on a list of Hitchcock's greatest films. But that doesn't mean it isn't a grand entertainment that probably deserves a place on a list of his most underrated ones. The fine cast includes Wyman, Marlene Dietrich, Richard Todd, Alastair Sim, and (in her first on-screen role) Hitchcock's daughter Patricia. And the theatrical backstage setting seems to free the director to create an anything-goes universe for his characters and make some sly meta-commentary on his feelings about two subjects he thought quite a lot about: acting and illusionism. To see it in a theatre, where the permeability of the worlds before and behind the proscenium is accentuated, is to enjoy the kind of heightened experience Hitchcock was trying to create for his audience.

WHERE/WHEN: Screens at 5:30 and 9:40 PM tonight only at the Stanford Theatre.

WHY: Though the Stanford's latest Hitchcock series ended last week, the venue is squeezing one last film in this Spring, a perfect segue into its new calendar devoted to the 1950s. This is one of two films the Master of Suspense made during that decade (the other being The Trouble With Harry) which appeared neither in the Stanford's recent selection, nor in the Pacific Film Archive's closer-to-complete series, which still has a few more titles to run. Stage Fright was not announced to play the Stanford until after my latest Hitchcock round-up two weeks ago, and there are a few other updates worth mentioning. 

It turns out tonight's Castro screening of The Birds is not just a 50th anniversary for the film, but a celebration of the new issue of Zoetrope All-Story, which will include in its pages the original story by Daphne du Maurier which inspired that film. Finally the page for the San Francisco Silent Film Festival's June 16th presentation of Hitchcock's silent version of Noel Coward's play Easy Virtue no longer indicates an organ accompaniment, but simply says "Musical Accompaniment To Be Announced!" This, to me, underlines the urgency of aiding the SF Castro Organ Devotees Association's current drive to raise funds to purchase the theatre's Wurlizter from its current owner, who is planning an imminent move away from the Bay Area and just might take his instrument with him. It's hard to imagine attending a full weekend of silent films at that venue without hearing the wind pushed through those pipes at least once or twice.

I must admit the announcement of the new Stanford calendar has me wondering whether I'll make it to  all nine Hitchcock silents during that June weekend. I'd love to see them all in that theatre with some of the best live musical accompanists around performing, but the Stanford has picked June 15 and 16 for four marathon screenings of Cecil B. DeMille's 1956 The Ten Commandments, a television staple that nobody else seems likely to play in 35mm anymore. It's just the sort of epic I've never had interest in seeing on a small screen, which over time has created an increasingly strong pent-up desire to see it projected the way it was created: on film. If the rumors that the SFSFF's Hitchcock silents will all be shown via DCP prove to be true, you may see me skipping a couple films (most likely The Pleasure Garden and The Lodger) in order to be in Palo Alto with Moses and Pharaoh and all the rest.

Between now and then there are quite a few Stanford programs tempting me: films made by Vincente Minnelli and Frank Tashlin are especially mouth-watering. I'm also lured by a pair of Hitchcock-esque  films screening together on May 9th & 10th: Henry Hathaway's 1953 Niagara and A Kiss Before Dying, directed in 1956 by Gerd Oswald, a figure rather unknown to me other than for his direction of the terrific noir Crime of Passion a year later.

HOW: Stage Fright plays on a Marlene Dietrich-themed double-bill with Witness For the Prosection, both films screening in 35mm as always at this venue. 

Notorious (1946)

WHO: Alfred Hitchcock

WHAT: This is probably the most highly-regarded of Hitchcock's 1940s films. Though the decade may not match the 1950s or (arguably) even the 1930s or the 1960s in sheer number of masterpieces,, Notorious stands with just about anything he ever made as a fully-assured, controlled, work of entertainment and art. Here's part of what the director said about the film to Peter Bogdanovich in 1963, the year the latter helped MOMA put together the first (essentially) complete retrospective of Hitchcock films in the United States:

This is the old love-and-duty theme. Grant's job is to get Bergman in bed with Rains, the other man. It's ironic, really, and Grant is a bitter man all the way through. Rains was sympathetic because he's the victim of a confidence trick and we always have sympathy for the victim, no matter how foolish he is. Also I would think Rains' love for Bergman was very much stronger than Grant's.

WHERE/WHEN: Screens tonight at the Stanford Theatre in Palo Alto at 5:35 & 10:00 PM, and at 7:00 PM on Monday, April 8th at the Sebastiani Theatre in Sonoma, California.

WHY: As the Stanford's Alfred Hitchcock series winds down (after tonight, there's only next weekend's double-bill of Psycho and The Birds left at that venue) it's time to get ready for the next phase in 2013's celebration of the Master of Suspense.

First of all, the Castro includes a Hitchcock film on it's April calendar: The Birds, which as of this week has been giving avian nightmares for fifty years now, and which will screen there on April 14th.

The excitement is building for the US premiere of new restorations of nine of Hitchcock's silent films, also happening at the Castro thanks to the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. The festival website has been updated to include all the showtimes and musicians expected to perform for this mid-June event. Only the identity of the organist expected to accompany Easy Virtue on Sunday afternoon on June 16th has yet to be revealed, perhaps because the fate of the Castro's Wurlitzer is currently up in the air. Or that may be a coincidence.

After the Castro screenings, these silent features will tour cinemas around the country, and among the stops will be Berkeley's Pacific Film Archive, which still has seven talkies to go in its own retrospective.

The Lodger will return to San Francisco on October 31st, where it will screen at Davies Symphony Hall accompanied by organist Todd Wilson. This is part of a musical-minded Hitchcock week at the venue that also includes an October 30th screening of Psycho with the San Francisco Symphony (albeit presumably just the string section) performing Bernard Herrman's score live on stage to a version of the film with only sound effects and dialogue audible, a similar treatment of Vertigo (this time presumably not just the string section- gotta have those flutes and horns) November 1st, and a November 2nd set of "short films", by which I presume the Symphony staff means excerpts from other Hitchcock features from the period of his collaboration with Herrmann (from 1955-1964).

HOW: Notorious screens tonight on a 35mm Stanford double-bill with North By Northwest. The screening at the Sebastiani is a solo screening, and I've been unable to learn whether it will be a 35mm one, though I know the theatre still has the capability to run such prints.

UPDATE 4/4/2013: I have just received confirmation that the Sebastiani Theatre screening will indeed be in 35mm!

The Wrong Man (1956)

WHO: Alfred Hitchcock directed this, and also appeared on screen to introduce it in lieu of his usual cameo appearance. That's him in the image above.

WHAT: Although Hitchcock famously said he preferred to make "slice of cake" films rather than "slice of life" films, in fact a number of his features, including some of his aesthetic milestones (The Lodger, Foreign Correspondent and Rope) were rooted in true stories. But none of those took as many pains to present themselves as true to their real-life inspirations as The Wrong Man does, most explicitly in Hitchcock's introductory sequence, where he says:

"This is a true story, every word of it, and yet it contains elements that are stranger than all of the fiction that has gone into many of the thrillers I've made before."

Clearly by this point in his career the director had seen examples of Italian neorealist film, and was interested in trying his hand at something new, as The Wrong Man takes on a far bleaker tone than any of his previous films, while retaining many of Hitchcock's thematic considerations and stylistic flourishes. I wonder if, had the prologue been removed and his name left off the credits, this film would be considered a noir masterpiece on its own terms rather than an oddity amidst Hitchcock's more enduring and entertaining films.

WHERE/WHEN: At the Stanford Theatre in Palo Alto tonight through Sunday at 5:35 and 9:40 each evening. Also screens at the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley on April 5th.

WHY: Somehow Vertigo and The Wrong Man feel connected to each other; they're clearly two of Hitchcock's greatest achievements, one coming right after the other to launch the hottest artistic streak in his filmography. If Vertigo can be read as a wrestling with the futility of recreation through filmmaking (the more Scottie tries to remold Judy into Madeline, the less of her essence he has in his grasp) then might it be spurred by Hitchcock's frustrations while making The Wrong Man, his most complete attempt at lifelike verisimilitude in his career? Regardless, it seems instructive for anyone who took my advice and saw Vertigo yesterday, or who plans to tonight or next week, to fit in a big screen viewing of The Wrong Man sometime in the next few days as well.

HOW: The Stanford screens this on a 35mm Hitchcock double-bill with the other film he debuted in 1956, the Hollywood remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much. The PFA will also use a 35mm print.

The Paradine Case (1947)

WHO: Alfred Hitchcock

WHAT: I've never seen The Paradine Case. It stars Gregory Peck, one of the truly beloved actors I've yet to become much of a fan of (having seen only a handful or so of his films. perhaps the wrong ones), and I understand it contains a trial scene- one of my least favorite cinematic tropes. You'd think I've been avoiding the picture. But no, I've just been lying in wait. At some point several years ago (after a DVD viewing of Under Capricorn come to think of it) I decided not to watch any more Hitchcock films on home video without having seen them on the big screen somewhere first. Hitchcock films feature the whole package for audiences: they almost invariably feature stunning compositions, impeccable timing, and splashes of humor that frequently cannot translate when watching at home unsurrounded by an engrossed crowd. He can even make trial scenes (as The Wrong Man testifies) completely riveting sometimes.

The Paradine Case is rarely mentioned among Hitchcock's masterpieces, but perhaps that's because it screens in cinemas so rarely. Take advantage of a rare opportunity while it's here! I plan to.

WHERE/WHEN: Tonight only at the Pacific Film Archive at 7:00.

WHY: As I've noted before, the first half of 2013 is offering myriad opportunities for Hitchcock immersion, some of them more unique than you might realize. For instance, I've recently been alerted to the fact that next week's PFA showing of Vertigo will use an IB Technicolor print, meaning those who wish the film's 1996 restoration hadn't made changes to the sound track that they find objectionable, should make sure to come out for a rare screening not sourced from that restoration. I haven't yet been able to learn whether Vertigo's screenings at the Stanford Theatre the following week will also utilize the IB Tech print or one with the 1996 sound track. 

HOW: 35mm print from the distributor Swank Motion Pictures.

Secret Agent (1936)

WHO: Alfred Hitchcock directing.

WHAT: It's not one of Hitchcock's absolute masterpieces, but this adaptation of a Somerset Maugham novel is still an essential film for anyone interested in the Master of Suspense, or, indeed, in cinema itself. Peter Lorre's performance in the film is over-the-top even for him.

WHERE/WHEN: Today is its final day playing at the Stanford Theatre, where it has two showtimes: 5:55 and 9:05.

WHY: I've never seen an Alfred Hitchcock film that wasn't worth seeing, although I do still have quite a few gaps in my viewing history. For instance I've yet to see Young and Innocent which plays with this tonight as part of the Stanford's double-bill. And I've never seen The Paradine Case or Rich and Strange or even Foreign Correspondent, which is why I'm excited they're being brought to the Pacific Film Archive over the next couple months. One day I may break down and find DVD copies of the Hitchcock films I've never seen (which also include Topaz and Jamaica Inn and a good portion of his pre-1935 work). But I certainly don't want to do that with his silent films, which absolutely deserve to be seen in cinemas with top-class musical accompaniment, and not in the video copies with terrible image quality that circulate in DVD bargain bins and online. With new restorations of Hitchcock silent films recently made available to international festivals, I had a feeling that the San Francisco Silent Film Festival might bring one or two of them as part of its July film festival. What a pleasant surprise to learn at yesterday's Silent Winter extravaganza that they'll be bringing all nine of the restorations to the Castro Theatre June 14-16! I couldn't be happier with this news. Having seen films like Blackmail and Downhill in cinemas with live accompaniment I know that this is going to be quite a treat for all silent film lovers and Hitchcock fans.

HOW: Secret Agent and Young and Innocent screen in 35mm prints tonight.

The 39 Steps (1935)

WHO: Alfred Hitchcock directed.

WHAT: The 39 Steps is one of Hitchcock's most celebrated films, and perhaps the most celebrated of all the films made during his "British period" before he moved to Hollywood. If you've only seen it on home video, alone, it might be difficult to understand why this has been true. Sure, it has a perfectly acceptable spy-thriller plot and fine performances from its cast, but what distinguishes it from all the other well-crafted films he made in the 1930s? Seeing it on a big screen makes its reputation understandable. Surrounded by an audience, one is more likely to appreciate how this is not just a thriller but also one of Hitchcock's funniest films, and how its treatment of male-female relationships mirrors the developments in the screwball comedies of Hollywood of the same era. One also realizes how Hitchcock employs no fewer than three separate scenes to explore ideas about performers and audiences (as he later would in The Man Who Knew Too Much's remake, North By Northwest and elsewhere), making this one of his first, and most powerful, meta-cinematic films.

WHERE/WHEN: At 5:55 PM and 9:15 PM at the Stanford Theatre tonight and tomorrow night only.

WHY: Every few years the Stanford programs a month or two of Alfred Hitchcock films. This year's collection includes 18 films, all on double-bills (The 39 Steps is paired with the equally-excellent The Lady Vanishes) and runs from this last Thursday until April 7th. It's not as extensive as the Pacific Film Archive's current Hitchcock series, which has 28 features and a short, with more on the way. But the PFA is only showing each film one time apiece, while the Stanford shows each of its selections six or eight times per week. If you haven't been attending the PFA series it's possible to see all but two (the frequently-confused Sabotage and Saboteur) of the films you missed at the Stanford.

HOW: 35mm prints only in this series.

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)

WHO: Alfred Hitchcock is definitely the director here, and quite probably making one of his celebrated cameos in this image as well.

WHAT: The only film that Hitchcock made twice, once each in both the British and American phases of his career. Long available mostly in poor copies, this British version is about to be released on DVD/Blu-Ray by Criterion. Thanks to Bill Chambers of Film Freak Central for supplying the above Blu-Ray screen capture to illustrate this post. Looks pretty great, but there's nothing like seeing Hitchcock films in a cinema.

WHERE/WHEN: 6:30 PM at the Pacific Film Archive.

WHY: Just about every January in recent memory the PFA picks a different director known for films about crime to spotlight with a juicy retrospective; recent choices have included Henri-Georges Clouzot, Claude Chabrol, and Josef Von Sternberg. This winter it's an Alfred Hitchcock series. These series always create decisions for fans of the Castro's Noir City festival who also like to attend PFA programs pertaining to film noir. The bad news is it's impossible to catch every Noir City program and also see all the Hitchcock films the PFA is bringing. The good news is that the overlap is comparatively minimal this year, so the two ostensibly-competing cinephile attractions can in fact enrich each other. The PFA series is roughly chronological, so it's possible to take a look at a number of the pre-1941 Hitchcocks, including The Man Who Knew Too Much, in the period before Noir City begins on January 25th. And if the Noir City opening night presentation of Gun Crazy with its star Peggy Cummins in person sells out in advance (as such an opportunity should, though I wonder if the singeing topicality of the 1950 movie to our current national gun debate is more likely to bring in or turn off potential ticket buyers) it'll be nice to know that a print of Rear Window is showing just across the bay. And though Noir City ends February 3rd, the PFA Hitchcock series continues on after that through April 24th with 19 more films announced, mostly from the classic noir era. They also promise a silent Hitchcock series co-presented with the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, which has yet to show a Hitchcock silent at its regular venue the Castro. Will 2013 be the summer?

HOW: 35mm print from the Library of Congress.