Ferbuary 10th thru March 1st
 

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ALFRED HITCHCOCK CONTEST
In 1953, Alfred Hitchcock stayed at the Château Frontenac while shooting the film I Confess.

FIRST PRIZE:
WIN ONE NIGHT FOR TWO IN ALFRED HITCHCOCK’S SUITE AT THE FAIRMOUNT LE CHÂTEAU FRONTENAC IN QUÉBEC CITY !

SECOND PRIZE :
WIN ONE OF FRED JOURDAIN’S ALFRED HITCHCOCK LIMITED EDITION POSTERS, SIGNED BY THE ARTIST!



Write your name and phone number (and e-mail) on the back of your movie ticket for any of the films during the Hitchcock Retrospective, to be held from February 10th to March 1st, and drop it in the box in the Cinéma du Parc lobby. Come often to increase your chances of winning. The drawing will take place on March 1st at 9:15pm.

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After a huge success with the Alfred Hitchcock Halloween special last October, Cinema du Parc strikes again, this time with a stronger-than-ever programming dedicated to the uncontested master of suspense. Be ready for 24 of Hitchcock’s best feature films, half of which will be in 35mm. From The 39 Steps to Frenzy, including Rebecca, Notorious, I Confess, Rear Window and Psycho, our special programming will feature all of Hitchcock’s masterpieces as well as some underrated gems. This is a one-off event organized in exclusivity by Cinema du Parc. Be sure not to miss it!

The Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, is one of the most influential, successful, and recognized film producers and directors of all time. Even today, he is among the golden age filmmakers immediately recognizable to non-connoisseurs. His films are equally celebrated by casual viewers, middlebrow film buffs, and the most rigorous academics. Hitchcock told his stories through intelligent plots, witty dialogue and a spoonful of mystery and murder. In doing so, he inspired a new generation of filmmakers and revolutionized the thriller genre, making him a legend around the world.

In North America, Hitchcock’s films have not been shown on the big screen for quite some time. This is why Cinéma du Parc has decided to offer you an exclusive retrospective including more than twenty films from the grand master of suspense. This is the occasion to introduce younger audiences to his work and to rekindle the flame of the older crowd.

SCHEDULE

VERTIGO
Friday February 10th, 9:15pm
Saturday February 11th, 5:15pm
Sunday February 12th, 7pm
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USA. 1958. Dir.: Alfred Hitchcock. 35mm. 128 min. With: James Stewart, Kim Novak and Barbara Bel Geddes.
Original English version
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San Francisco police detective Scottie Fergusson develops a fear of heights when a colleague falls to his death during a chase and is forced to retire. An old college friend (Gavin Elster) hires Scottie to watch his wife Madeleine who has reportedly become possessed by her ancestor's spirit named Carlotta. Scottie follows her around San Francisco and is drawn to Madeleine and her obsession with death. He unwittingly becomes a figure in a complex plot, and is determined to discover the truth behind it all. Vertigo is one of Alfred Hitchcock's most powerful, deep, and stunningly beautiful films. It is a film noir that functions on multiple levels. At the time of the film's release, it was not a box-office hit, but has since been regarded as one of the greatest films ever made. The work is a mesmerizing romantic suspense/thriller about a macabre, doomed romance - a desperate love for an illusion.

THE WRONG MAN
Saturday February 11th, 3pm
Monday February 13th, 7pm
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USA. 1956. Dir.: Alfred Hitchcock. Digital projection. 105 min. With: Henry Fonda, Vera Miles and Anthony Quayle.
Original English version with French subtitles
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Christopher Emmanuel Balestrero - Manny to his friends - is a string bassist, a devoted husband and father, and a practicing Catholic. His $85 a week gig playing in the jazz combo at the Stork Club is barely enough to make ends meet. The Balestreros' lives will become a little more difficult with the major dental bills his wife Rose will be incurring. As such, Manny decides to see if he can borrow off of Rose's life insurance policy. But when he enters the insurance office, he is identified by some of the clerks as the man that held up the office twice a few months earlier. Manny cooperates with the police as he has nothing to hide. However, he eventually learns that he is a suspect in not only those hold ups, but a series of other hold ups in the same Jackson Heights neighborhood in New York City where he lives. The more that Manny cooperates, the guiltier he appears to the police...The film is based on a true story of an innocent man charged for a crime he did not commit. Hitchcock even filmed the scenes using the same locations of the real drama. The Wrong Man has had a significant influence on many directors, notably on Martin Scorsese when making Taxi Driver.

THE 39 STEPS
Saturday February 11th, 7:30pm
Sunday February 12th, 5:15pm
Tuesday February 14th, 9:15pm
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UK. 1935. Dir.: Alfred Hitchcock. Digital projection. 86 min. With: Robert Donat, Madeleine Carroll and Lucie Mannheim.
Original English version
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The 39 Steps is one of the earlier Alfred Hitchcock British spy-chase thrillers. Considered his first real masterpiece, it is both a crowd-pleasing box-office success and an extremely influential film. The film's tightly-plotted screenplay was loosely based on the 1915 novel of the same name by Scottish author John Buchan. This civilized spy yarn follows the escapades of Richard Hannay (Robert Donat), who stumbles into a conspiracy that involves him in a hectic chase across the Scottish moors—a chase in which he is both the pursuer and the pursued. This classic Hitchcock “wrong man” thriller encapsulates themes that anticipate the director’s biggest American films (especially North by Northwest), and is a standout amongst his early works.

SABOTAGE
Saturday February 11th, 9:15pm
Sunday February 12th, 3pm
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UK. 1936. Dir.: Alfred Hitchcock. Digital projection. 76 min. With: Sylvia Sidney, Oskar Homolka and Desmond Tester.
Original English version
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Verloc (Oskar Homolka) is the owner of a small cinema in London. He is also a saboteur. His wife Sylvia (Sylvia Sidney) and her young brother, Stevie (Desmond Tester) are unaware of his extracurricular activities. Scotland Yard has its suspicions and assigns detective Ted Spencer (John Loder) to work undercover as a clerk for the grocery next door to Verloc's Bijou Theater. An unfortunate event unravels Verloc’s illegal activities to Sylvia whose reaction ends up being fatal for one of them. Sabotage, also released as The Woman Alone, is based on Joseph Conrad's novel The Secret Agent. It should not be confused with Hitchcock's film Secret Agent released the same year, or his 1942 film Saboteur.

FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT
Sunday February 12th, 9:15pm
Wednesday February 15th, 7pm
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USA. 1940. Dir.: Alfred Hitchcock. Digital projection. 120 min. With: Joel McCrea, Laraine Day, Herbert Marshall and Albert Bassermann.
Original English version with French subtitles
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Foreign Correspondent tells the story of an American reporter who tries to expose enemy spies in Britain during a series of events involving a continent-wide conspiracy that eventually leads to the events of a fictionalized World War II. The film was Hitchcock's second Hollywood production since leaving the United Kingdom in 1939 (the first was Rebecca) and had the unusually large number of 10 writers of which only Bennett, Benchley, Harrison and Hilton are credited in the finished film. It was based on Vincent Sheean's political memoir Personal History (1935). Foreign Correspondent was one of two Hitchcock films nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1941, the other being Rebecca, which went on to win the award. Foreign Correspondent was nominated for six Academy Awards, including one for Albert Bassermann for Best Supporting Actor.

SUSPICION
Monday February 13th, 9:15pm
Thursday February 16th, 7pm
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USA. 1941. Dir.: Alfred Hitchcock. Digital projection. 99 min. With: Cary Grant, Joan Fontaine and Cedric Hardwicke.
Original English version with French subtitles
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Johnny Aysgarth is a handsome gambler who seems to be living on borrowed money from friends. He meets shy Lina McLaidlaw on a train while trying to travel in a first class carriage with a third class ticket. He begins to court Lina and, before long, they are married. It is only after the honeymoon that Lina discovers Johnny’s true character. She becomes suspicious when Johnny's friend and business partner, Beaky, is killed mysteriously. This film is Hitchcock’s second collaboration with Joan Fontaine, whom he first revealed in Rebecca. Fontaine was 24 years old when Suspicion was shot and her role as a frightened young woman got her the Academy Award for best female actress in 1942.

SABOTEUR
Tuesday February 14, 7pm
Thursday February 16th, 9:15pm
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USA. 1942. Dir.: Alfred Hitchcock. 35mm. 109 min. With: Priscilla Lane, Robert Cummings and Otto Kruger.
Original English version
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Los Angeles aircraft worker Barry Kane evades arrest after he is unjustly accused of sabotage. Following leads, he travels across the country to New York trying to clear his name by exposing a gang of fascist-supporting saboteurs led by the seemingly respectable Charles Tobin. Along the way, he involves Pat Martin, eventually preventing another major act of sabotage. They finally catch up with Frank Frye, the man who actually committed the act of sabotage at the aircraft factory. Saboteur is a top-notch espionage thriller with a jaw-dropping finale atop the Statue of Liberty.

REBECCA
Wednesday February 15th 9:15pm
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USA. 1940. Dir.: Alfred Hitchcock. Digital projection. 130 min. With: Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine and George Sanders.
Original English version with French subtitles
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“Last night, I dreamt I went to Manderley again.” Rebecca’s haunting opening line conjures the entirety of Hitchcock’s romantic, suspenseful film. A young woman (Joan Fontaine) believes her every dream has come true when her whirlwind romance with the dashing Maxim de Winter culminates in marriage. But she soon realizes that Rebecca, the late first Mrs. de Winter, haunts both the temperamental, brooding Maxim as well as the de Winter mansion, Manderley. In order for Maxim and the new Mrs. de Winter to have a future, Rebecca’s spell must be broken and the mystery of her violent death unraveled. The first collaboration between producer David O. Selznick and Hitchcock, Rebecca was adapted from Daphne du Maurier’s popular novel and won the 1940 Academy Award for Best Picture and Cinematography.

SPELLBOUND
Friday February 17th, 7pm
Saturday February 18th, 9:15pm
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USA. 1945. Dir.: Alfred Hitchcock. Digital projection. 111 min. With: Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck and Michael Chekhov
Original English version with French subtitles
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Dr. Murchison, the head of the Green Manors mental asylum, is retiring and will be replaced by Dr. Edwardes, a famous psychiatrist. Edwardes arrives and is immediately attracted to the beautiful but cold Dr. Constance Petersen. However, it soon becomes apparent that Dr. Edwardes is in fact a paranoid amnesiac impostor. He goes on the run with Constance who tries to help his condition and solve the mystery of what happened to the real Dr. Edwardes. The screenplay is an adaptation of the novel The House of Dr. Edwardes (1927) by Hilary Saint George Saunders and John Palmer (writing as "Francis Beeding"). Shot just after the war, Spellbound is a true success in terms of intrigue, cinematographic research and acting. The scenes of John Ballantine’s dreams were directed under the supervision of Salvador Dali and are visually outstanding.

REAR WINDOW
Friday February 17th 9:15pm
Saturday February 18th, 5pm
Sunday February 19th, 7:15pm
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USA. 1954. Dir.: Alfred Hitchcock. 35mm. 112 min. With: James Stewart, Grace Kelly and Wendell Corey.
Original English version
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Rear Window is an intriguing, brilliant, macabre Hitchcockian visual study of obsessive human curiosity and voyeurism. John Michael Hayes' screenplay was based on Cornell Woolrich's (with pen-name William Irish) original 1942 short story, It Had to Be Murder. Professional photographer L.B. "Jeff" Jeffries breaks his leg while getting an action shot at an auto race. Confined to his New York apartment, he spends his time looking out of his rear window observing the neighbors. He begins to suspect that a man across the courtyard may have murdered his wife. Jeff enlists the help of his high society fashion-consultant girlfriend Lisa Freemont and his visiting nurse Stella to investigate. This film - one of Hitchcock's greatest thrillers - received four Academy Award nominations: Best Director, Best Screenplay (John Michael Hayes), Best Color Cinematography (Robert Burks), and Best Sound Recording.

NOTORIOUS
Saturday February 18th, 3pm
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USA. 1946. Dir.: Alfred Hitchcock. Digital projection. 101 min. With: Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman and Claude Rains
Original English version with French subtitles
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Following the conviction of her German father for treason against the U.S., Alicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman) is keen on drinking and on men. She is approached by a government agent, T.R. Devlin (Cary Grant), who asks her to spy on a group of her father's Nazi friends operating out of Rio de Janeiro. A romance develops between Alicia and Devlin, but she starts to get too involved in her work. Notorious marks a watershed for Hitchcock artistically, and represents a heightened thematic maturity. His biographer, Donald Spoto, writes that "Notorious is in fact Alfred Hitchcock's first attempt—at the age of forty-six—to bring his talents to the creation of a serious love story, and its story of two men in love with Ingrid Bergman could only have been made at this stage of his life."

THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
Saturday February 18th, 7pm
Sunday February 19th, 5pm
Tuesday February 21st, 9:15pm
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USA. 1956. Dir.: Alfred Hitchcock. 35mm. 120 min. With: James Stewart, Doris Day and Brenda De Banzie.
Original English version
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Dr. Ben McKenna, his wife Jo, and their son Hank, are on a touring holiday in Africa when they meet the mysterious Louis Bernard on a bus. The next day Bernard is murdered in the local marketplace, but before he dies he manages to reveal details of an assassination about to take place in London. Fearing that their plot will be revealed, the assassins kidnap Hank in order to keep the McKennas silent. Ben and Jo go to London and take matters into their own hands. Alfred Hitchcock directed this color remake of his own 1934 original. The film won an Academy Award for Best Song for "Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)," sung by Doris Day at several points in the action.

THE PARADINE CASE
Sunday February 19th, 2:45pm
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USA. 1947. Dir.: Alfred Hitchcock. Digital projection. 125 min. With: Gregory Peck, Alida Valli, Charles Laughton.
Original English version with French subtitles
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When the arrestingly attractive Elena Paradine is charged with poisoning her husband, she hires famous London barrister Anthony Keane (Gregory Peck) to defend her. But as Keane unravels Elena's exotic past, the young attorney becomes hopelessly infatuated with his captivating client. Allowing his heart to rule his head, Keane's blind obsession could cost him the case -- and his marriage -- as the shocking truth is revealed in a sensational courtroom climax. With all the skill in presentation for which both gentlemen are famed, David O. Selznick and Alfred Hitchcock have put upon the screen a slick piece of static entertainment in their garrulous The Paradine Case. Call it a mystery melodrama — although that doesn't fully wrap it up, any more than it wrapped up Rebecca, a previous smash production by these two. Call it a courtroom tragi-romance or a husband-wife problem play. Call it a social satire and you won't be entirely wrong. For it is all of these things rolled together in one fitfully intriguing tale, smoothly told through a cultivated camera.

ROPE
Sunday February 19th, 9:15pm
Monday February 20th, 7pm
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USA. 1948. Dir.: Alfred Hitchcock. 35mm. 80 min. With: James Stewart, John Dall and Farley Granger.
Original English version
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Brandon and Philip are two young men who share a New York apartment. They consider themselves intellectually superior to most, and their nihilistic ideals lead them to murder their friend David Kentley. Together they strangle David with a rope and, placing the body in an old chest, they proceed to hold a small party. The guests include David's father, his fiancée Janet and their old schoolteacher Rupert from whom they mistakenly took their ideas. As Brandon becomes increasingly more daring, Rupert begins to suspect the truth. Rope was Hitchcock's first color film. It may also be noted that the play itself was based on a true story. However, what makes the film stand out most is the way it was shot. The scenes throughout Rope are no more than a series of roughly 10-minute takes, edited together to create the appearance of one continuous shot throughout the entire picture. There are only three deliberately noticeable cuts throughout the entire film. This particular method lends itself incredibly well to this particular film, as the real-time effect boosts the sense of urgency, as well as the level of suspense in the film.

UNDER CAPRICORN
Monday February 20th, 9:15pm
Tuesday February 21st, 7pm
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USA. 1949. Dir.: Alfred Hitchcock. Digital projection. 117 min. With: Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten and Michael Wilding.
Original English version with French subtitles
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In 1831, Irishman Charles Adare travels to Australia to start a new life with the help of his cousin who has just been appointed governor. When he arrives he meets powerful landowner and ex-convict Sam Flusky, who wants to do a business deal with him. Whilst attending a dinner party at Flusky's house, Charles meets Flusky's wife Henrietta who he had known as a child back in Ireland. Henrietta is an alcoholic and seems to be on the verge of madness. On a technical level, Under Capricorn is distinguished by the same "ten-minute takes" that Hitchcock had utilized in Rope; particularly effective is an uninterrupted dialogue sequence, played against the backdrop of a spectacular Technicolor sunset.

STRANGERS ON A TRAIN
Wednesday February 22nd, 7pm
Thursday February 23rd, 9:15pm
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USA. 1951. Dir.: Alfred Hitchcock. Digital projection. 101 min. With: Farley Granger, Robert Walker and Ruth Roman.
Original English version with French subtitles
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Bruno Antony thinks he has the perfect plot to rid himself of his hated father, and when he meets tennis pro Guy Haines on a train ride, he thinks he's found the partner he needs to pull it off. His plan is relatively simple. Two strangers each agree to kill someone the other person wants disposed of. For example, Guy could kill his father and in return he could get rid of Guy's wife Miriam, freeing him to marry Anne Morton, the beautiful daughter of a U.S. Senator. Guy dismisses it all, but but Bruno goes ahead with his half of the 'bargain' and disposes of Miriam. When Guy balks, Bruno makes it quite clear that he will plant evidence to implicate Guy in her murder if he doesn't get rid of his father. Guy had also made some unfortunate statements about Miriam after she had refused him a divorce. It all leads the police to believe Guy is responsible for the murder, forcing him to deal with Bruno's mad ravings.

I CONFESS
Wednesday February 22nd, 9:15pm
Thursday February 23rd, 7pm
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USA. 1953. Dir.: Alfred Hitchcock. Digital projection. 95 min. With: Montgomery Clift, Anne Baxter and Karl Malden.
Original English version with French subtitles
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Otto Kellar and his wife Alma work as the caretakers and housekeepers of a Catholic church in Quebec. Whilst robbing a house where he sometimes works as a gardener, Otto is caught and kills the owner. Racked with guilt he heads back to the church where Father Michael Logan is working late. Otto confesses his crime. When the police begin to suspect Father Logan he cannot reveal what he has been told in the confession. The movie was largely filmed on location in Quebec City with numerous shots of the city landscape, the interiors of its churches and other emblematic buildings, such as the Château Frontenac. Moreover, I Confess inspired Robert Lepage when he directed Le Confessional in 1995. Robert Lepage’s feature is filled with concrete references to Hitchcock’s earlier film.

DIAL M FOR MURDER
Friday February 24th, 7pm
Saturday February 25th, 3pm
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USA. 1954. Dir.: Alfred Hitchcock. Digital projection. 105 min. With: Ray Milland, Grace Kelly and Robert Cummings.
Original English version with French subtitles
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A suave tennis player (Ray Milland) plots the perfect murder: the dispatching of his wealthy wife (Grace Kelly), who is having an affair with a writer (Robert Cummings). Amazingly, the wife manages to stave off her attacker, a twist of fate that challenges the hubby's talent for improvisation. Alfred Hitchcock wisely stuck to the stage origins of Dial M for Murder, ignoring the temptation to "open up" the material from the home of the unhappy couple.

THE BIRDS
Friday February 24th, 9:15pm
Saturday February 25th, 5pm
Sunday February 26th, 2:45pm
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USA. 1963. Dir.: Alfred Hitchcock. 35mm. 119 min. With: Rod Taylor, Tippi Hedren and Suzanne Pleshette.
Original English version
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Melanie Daniels is a modern rich socialite, a part of the jet-set who always gets what she wants. When lawyer Mitch Brenner sees her in a pet shop, he plays something of a practical joke on her, and she decides to return the favor. She drives about an hour north of San Francisco to Bodega Bay, where Mitch spends his weekends with his mother Lydia and younger sister Cathy. Soon after her arrival, however, the birds in the area begin to act strangely. Soon, birds in the hundreds and thousands are attacking anyone they find out of doors. There is no explanation as to why this might be happening, and as the birds continue their vicious attacks, survival becomes the priority. One of Alfred Hitchcock's most famous (and scariest) films, The Birds is rich with wit and subtlety as well as suspense thrills. On the one hand, it lampoons its characters, mocking their pettiness and, later, their helplessness. On the other, it plays off our natural human fear of the unknown. That the film doesn't even attempt to explain the rationale behind the birds' aggression is to its credit. The way The Birds is shot is the stuff of legend, and its stunning photography is essential viewing for anyone.

PSYCHO
Saturday February 25th, 7:15pm
Monday February 27th, 7pm
Thursday March 1st, 9:15pm
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USA. 1960. Dir.: Alfred Hitchcock. 35mm. 109 min. With: Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh and Vera Miles.
Original English version
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Phoenix office worker Marion Crane (Leigh) steals $40,000 from her employer in order for her and her lover, Sam (Gavin), to start a new life. Fearing a police officer who has been following her from Phoenix to California, she gets caught in a storm and pulls off the highway into The Bates Motel. The motel is managed by a quiet young man called Norman Bates (Perkins) who seems to be dominated by his ill mother. Meanwhile, Sam and Marion’s sister, Lila (Miles), begin to worry about the whereabouts of Marion and hire a detective to search for her. He leads them to The Bates Motel. The plot, musical score, characters and that shower scene have made Psycho Hitchcock’s most loved work to date. He adapted the story with his distinctive dark humor, culminating in one of the best horror films ever made. It established a number of conventions that have been replicated by contemporary filmmakers and continue to influence both television and film. Despite its lasting appeal, the film's four Academy Award nominations failed to win Oscars.

NORTH BY NORTHWEST
Saturday February 25th, 9:15pm
Sunday February 26th, 4:45pm
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USA. 1959. Dir.: Alfred Hitchcock. Digital projection. 131 min. With: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason.
Original English version with French subtitles
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New York advertising executive Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) is lunching with clients in the Plaza Hotel when a pageboy calls for George Kaplan; Thornhill’s wave at the waiter is mistaken for a reply by two henchmen waiting to kidnap Kaplan, and the adventure begins. Thornhill is dragged across America and as he is trying to get away, he is seduced by Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint) on a beautiful train ride, only to be betrayed. The pursuing villain, Phillip Vandamm (James Mason), is part of the cold war furniture, aided by Leonard (Martin Landau), who has taken the secret agency bait – planted by The Professor (Leo G. Carroll) that Kaplan is a master spy, and is trying to get rid of him. But Eve Kendall is a double agent, and Thornhill is a naive innocent. The game is dangerous and ends in a climactic chase at Mt Rushmore, across the heads of America’s first presidents. North by Northwest is a suspenseful, classic Alfred Hitchcock caper thriller. This box-office hit film is one of the most entertaining movies ever made and one of Hitchcock's most famous suspense/mystery stories. One of the film's posters advertised: "Only Cary Grant and Alfred Hitchcock ever gave you so much suspense in so many directions." The film paired debonair Cary Grant with director Hitchcock for the fourth and last time.

TO CATCH A THIEF
Monday February 27th, 9:15pm
Tuesday February 28th, 7pm
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USA. 1955. Dir.: Alfred Hitchcock. 35mm. 105 min. With: Cary Grant, Grace Kelly.
Original English version
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To Catch A Thief is a lush, entertaining comedy/thriller. Grant is John "The Cat" Robie, an American living on the French Riviera, now retired from being one of the world's most notorious burglars. When a rash of new burglaries happens in the area, Robie becomes the prime suspect. To clear his reformed name, Robie decides to try to nab the thief himself. Scoping out potential gigs, he encounters a rich American mother and daughter, the younger of which has her heart set on catching a man of her own. The stylish film's screenplay, by John Michael Hayes (in his second project with Hitchcock), was based on the novel of the same name by David Dodge. Hitchcock's film was nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Color Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Color Costume Design (Edith Head), and its sole winning category - Best Color Cinematography (Robert Burks). The shooting of To Catch a Thief is an historical event since it was there that Grace Kelly met the Prince Rainier of Monaco for whom she later quit acting.

MARNIE
Tuesday February 28th, 9:15pm
Wednesday February 29th, 7pm
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USA. 1964. Dir.: Alfred Hitchcock. 35mm. 130 min. WIth: Tippi Hedren, Sean Connery and Diane Baker.
Original English version
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Marnie is a 1964 psychological thriller based on the novel of the same name by Winston Graham. Marnie Edgar is a pathological liar and thief who has a habit of getting a job as a secretary and robbing her employers after a few months, usually of several thousand dollars. When she gets a job at Rutland's, she also catches the eye of the handsome owner, Mark Rutland. He prevents her from stealing and running off, as is her usual pattern, but also forces her to marry him. Their honeymoon is a disaster as she cannot stand to have a man touch her. On their return home, Mark has a private detective look into her past. When he learns the details of what happened in her childhood, he arranges a confrontation with her mother realizing that reliving the terrible events that occurred in her past and bringing out those repressed memories is the only way to save her.

FRENZY
Wednesday February 29th, 9:15pm
Thursday March 1st, 7pm
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UK. 1972. Dir.: Alfred Hitchcock. 35mm. 105 min. WIth: Jon Finch, Barry Foster and Alec McCowen.
Original English version
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London is terrorized by a vicious sex killer known as the Neck-Tie Murderer. Following the brutal slaying of his ex-wife, down-on-his-luck Richard Blaney is suspected by the police of being the killer. He goes on the run, determined to prove his innocence. Frenzy is the penultimate feature film of Hitchcock’s extensive career which is based upon the novel Goodbye Piccadilly, Farewell Leicester Square by Arthur La Bern, and was adapted for the screen by Anthony Shaffer. The film is a near-masterpiece, not only as a genre film, but it is the rare Hitchcock film that probes its characters’ psychological depths with a modern realism. Murder was a common theme in Hitchcock movies, but there's more to it in Frenzy. The Neck-Tie Murderer is a sexual deviant, who kills purely for pleasure. His perversion makes the crime particularly revolting. This is most apparent in the scene where Bob Rusk (Foster) rapes and strangles Brenda Blaney (Leigh-Hunt). Hitchcock forces the audience to confront the brutality of the murder with an orchestrated series of shots which culminates with the close-up of the victim's torn clothes leaving her breasts exposed. Frenzy is the only Hitchcock film ever to earn an "R" rating, and there is no doubt that this scene was partly responsible.

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