Good evening. Tonight’s reading is one of mystery, mayhem and murder. Normally someone who has been stabbing, maiming, shooting, poisoning, strangling, and pushing people down stairs is labeled a killer or psychopath. However, this particular subject is not only praised for it, he’s often seen as one of the great architects of modern cinema.
Of course, I’m talking about none other than the master of suspense himself, Alfred Hitchcock.
And this year the 4th Annual Alfred Hitchcock Festival is celebrating 100 years of Hitchcock to mark the opening of his very first film–1925’s silent movie, The Pleasure Garden.From Friday, March 6 to Sunday, March 8 cinefiles, history buffs or anyone who just enjoys a good thrill will be able to see not only Hitchcock’s first film–accompanied by live music from pianist Kylan DeGhetaldi–but also his final, 1976’s The Family Plot, along with 1959’s North By Northwest, and 1948’s Rope.
“I don’t think there’s any doubts about his genius as a filmmaker,” says Tony Lee Moral, an author and fellow filmmaker. Moral will be presenting a lecture on his new book, A Century of Hitchcock: The Man, The Myths, The Legacy at the festival. Twenty-five years in the making, Moral’s book takes a deep dive into the reported darker sides of Hitchcock’s reputation. Along with interviews, Moral also found new, primary sources and documents that suggest some of the rumors came from people who had an axe to grind with the director, particularly biographer Donald Spoto.
“Hopefully it’s going to be a game changer and students will pick it up and realize that they can’t believe everything they read in the papers or biography,” Moral says. “And how a biography and personal grievances can quickly become public narrative.”
Throughout the three-day weekend, organizers have panels and lectures planned from opening night with Hitchcock’s granddaughter Terre Carruba, Moral’s discussion on the myths surrounding Hitchcock compared to the actual man and a discussion from Hitchcock enthusiast, Rick Karat.
“The history of Mr. Hitchcock’s 53 films is really the history of cinema,” says Karat. “He got started in the silent film era and his movie Blackmail [1929] was one of the first sound films in London. So he was right there at the cutting edge of sound as it came in.”
Karat is currently in the final stages of writing a book showcasing famous film locations from all of Hitchcock’s 53 movies. It’s a project he started in the year 2000 after moving to San Francisco. He decided to learn about his new home through the eyes of Hitchcock films and visited iconic places like Coit Tower, Mission Dolores and the Palace of the Legion of Honor (all seen in Vertigo) with friends. A few years later he moved to Los Angeles and did the same thing. He quickly decided on the goal of visiting certain locations from all of Hitchcock’s 53 films and even 20 TV episodes from shows like Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
“Sometimes you cannot find the location because so much has changed and it’s not there anymore,” he says, adding that there are still plenty of locations that exist today as they once were.
“I was in Marrakesh in Morocco where Hitchcock and crew were for the remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much, and that was incredible,” Karat says. “Given the cultural differences and seeing the locations from the film led to a certain feeling of, ‘Oh I’ve been here before.’”
This year’s festival also features a first for it–the 48 Hour Film Festival Presentation. On Sunday Amy Shiovitz–the Digital Arts teacher at Scotts Valley High School–will present two short films made by local students and amateur filmmakers. Each team was given three guidelines: they had to use the phrase, “Why would you say that?,”; they must use the famous Hitchcock Vertigo Shot (a zoom technique he created with a dolly) and they were only given 48 hours to write, produce and edit their films.
“Good storytelling is good storytelling whether it’s done 100 years ago or on TikTok,” Shiovitz says. “Hitchcock was a master of using the [film] medium as a way to communicate. He pioneered film techniques that are inherent in filmmaking today.”
Along with the Vertigo shot, other Hitchcock techniques included framing and a variety of close-ups or wide angles to create emotion, treating the camera as a character within the film to engage the audience, and using sound and silence to build suspense. These were so different for the time–and have become so ingrained in our culture today–that they even were used to coin a new term, “Hitchcockian.”
“I don’t even think some filmmakers think of them as Hitchcock techniques, it’s just what you do,” she says. “It’s the lexicon of film.”
It’s this lexicon that makes Hitchcock’s film timeless and enjoyable to audiences of all ages in the 21st Century and possibly–probably–for another hundred years.
“If you look at modern filmmakers today from Park Chan-wook (Oldboy) to Bong Joon Ho (Parasite) to Christopher Nolan you can see the Hitchcock techniques and inspiration,” Moral explains. “The take home message about Hitchcock is he will always be relevant.”
The Scotts Valley Hitchcock Festival runs Friday through Sunday. For details: hitchcockfestival.com
PULL QUOTE
“Hopefully it’s going to be a game changer and students will pick it up and realize that they can’t believe everything they read in the papers or biography,” Moral says. “And how a biography and personal grievances can quickly become public narrative.”
