Screen Treat For Hitchcock Fans

The BFI is to bring the master of movie suspense to audiences on a truly Olympian scale, with gala events of rarely seen early films and a major season at BFI Southbank.
As part of the London 2012 Festival, the BFI is staging a series of spectacular one-off screenings of Hitchcock’s British silent films from the 1920’s, restored by the BFI National Archive, and brought to life for audiences with newly commissioned scores from the best of British contemporary musical talent.
The BFI will also be holding a full retrospective of Hitchcock’s work from his entire career at BFI Southbank from August - October 2012.
Nitin Sawhney, one of the world’s most distinctive and versatile musical voices, is writing a score to accompany The Lodger: A Tale of the London Fog (1926) at the Barbican Hall, 7.30pm, Saturday 21st July 2012.
The score will be performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and is commissioned by independent film distributor Network Releasing in partnership with the BFI. Ticket prices from £15.
Early booking is recommended as tickets sold out very quickly for The Pleasure Garden (1925) which will have a new score from promising young composer and recent graduate from the Royal Academy of Music Daniel Patrick Cohen to be performed by The Royal Academy of Music’s Manson Ensemble at Wilton’s Music Hall, E1, on Thursday 28 June and Friday 29 June, 7.30pm both nights. The Pleasure Garden, Hitchcock’s first film as director, also marks Daniel Patrick Cohen’s first commissioned score. Ticket price £20. Check website for returns only.
Regarded as a creative genius and for many one of the greatest film directors of all time, Hitchcock was born and bred in East London in 1899 - the home of the London Olympic park - and he continues to inspire and influence still, 31 years after his death. Thanks to the BFI’s fundraising campaign ‘Rescue the Hitchcock 9’ new restorations of the films have begun by the world leading experts at the BFI National Archive in the biggest and most complex archival restoration project undertaken by the BFI. However, more funds are still needed if the BFI is to achieve its ambition to restore even more of these early works (1925-29) to their former glory and bring them to life on the big screen and with new scores for the 2012 celebrations.
Hitchcock’s nine silent films were made in the silent era and he was very early on hailed as a genius by reviewers.
Audiences and critics were captivated by his daring mix of European editing styles combined with dramatic composition and a powerful mixture of humour laced with high drama.
Anyone who has thrilled to Hitchcock’s later Hollywood classics such as Vertigo, The Birds or Psycho will recognise elements of the Hitchcock touch in his earliest works.
Hitchcock’s The Mountain Eagle – the tenth of his silent films - is still missing and top of the BFI's Most Wanted list.
(BMcC)