“Logic is dull” – The Thrill Rides of Alfred Hitchcock at HOME

To accompany Emma Rice’s reimagined version of North by Northwest — coming soon to HOME’s Theatre 1 —  the arts centre has selected a nail-biting selection of Alfred Hitchcock thrillers to light up their cinema screens this April and May. Dubbed “Logic is dull” – The Thrill Rides of Alfred Hitchcock the film season encompasses some of the Master of Suspense’s greatest hits alongside some deeper cuts and underrated masterpieces.

The director made dozens of films, working with the top stars of his day on plots that combine wit and elegance with espionage and murder. At his best, Hitchcock’s rigorous technique — nobody is better at directing (or misdirecting) the audience’s gaze — is used to complicate the viewer’s relationship with the darkness onscreen. Indeed, we’re still coming back to these edge-of-your-seat thrillers so many decades later, not just because of the breathtaking set pieces, or stunning sequences of suspense, but because they ask questions of us, revealing and reveling in the moral murkiness of our species.

we’re still coming back to these edge-of-your-seat thrillers so many decades later, not just because of the breathtaking set pieces, or stunning sequences of suspense

There are eight films in total screening  as part of the season at HOME, starting with Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman in 1946’s superb Notorious on Saturday 5 April. The film is the second of Hitchcock’s four collaborations with Grant, who plays a US agent handling a a young woman (Bergman) who goes undercover to seduce an old flame who is collaborating with the Nazis. Bergman and Grant’s characters fall for each other of course, but the tension of the situation and the necessities of wartime lead to jealousies, mistrust and a certain emotional viciousness that makes Notorious particularly compelling.

Next, there’s a series of Hitchcock’s early British films released in the 1930s. On Tuesday 8 April, 1935’s The 39 Steps is quintessential Hitchcock, as Robert Donat stars as a man on the run (the wrong man being a recurring motif throughout filmmaker’s oeuvre) after a young woman is mysteriously found dead in his flat. The director would later remake The Man Who Knew Too Much (Wed 16 April) in Hollywood, but the 1934 version screening at HOME is no slouch, and notably stars Peter Lorre as a memorable villain. While on Sunday 20 April, 1938’s The Lady Vanishes introduces some (stationary) locomotive action at last as two passengers attempt to solve the mystery of a disappeared woman that nobody will admit is missing.

1943’s Shadow of a Doubt (Sat 26 April) is famous for being the director’s favourite of his films. A tale of darkness upending small town domesticity, the film stars Teresa Wright as a bored teenager who is surprised and delighted when her favourite uncle comes to town — only Uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotten) is acting strangely and the newspapers are filled with reports about a mysterious serial killer on the loose. Playing with similar themes, Hitchcock’s adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s Strangers on a Train (Thu 1 May) sees two strangers agree to commit a murder for each other, but while one man assumes the pact is a joke, the other is deadly serious.

The final two films in HOME’s Hitchcock season are perhaps the best of the bunch. On Tuesday 6 May, Psycho (1960) surely needs no introduction. A straight-up, genre-defining horror, the movie remains endlessly influential and is yet unmatched. Meanwhile, 1964’s forever underappreciated Marnie (Wed 14 May) is amongst Hitchcock’s most devastating studies of criminality. Tippi Hedren stars as a habitual thief, and Sean Connery the wealthy man who uses her lawlessness to blackmail her into a gilded cage. It’s a psychosexual thriller that manages to be provocatively fuzzy at the edges, implicating both director and audience in the horrors within.