The Master of Suspense at Home: Alfred, Alma, and Patricia between the 1920s and 1930s. This is how we encounter Alfred Hitchcock in this previously unseen selection of home movies, donated by the Hitchcock Estate and restored by the Academy Film Archive and The Film Foundation, with support from the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation.
The programme will be presented in preview at the 40th edition of Il Cinema Ritrovato tomorrow, Tuesday 23 June, at 9:45 pm in Piazza Maggiore, Bologna.
“Following the birth of their only child, Patricia, in 1928,” explains Tessa Idlewine of the Academy Film Archive, “Alfred Hitchcock and his wife Alma Reville purchased a 16mm camera and began documenting their lives as parents, much as many young families do. Their home movies follow familiar patterns of family filmmaking: birthday parties, playing with the dogs, posing in front of the Trevi Fountain. In these images, one of the most influential figures in cinema history and his closest collaborator and confidante are revealed in intimate portraits, offering a rare glimpse of the Master of Suspense.
The programme presents a selection drawn from three recently restored reels of home movies dating from 1928 to 1936, donated to the Academy Film Archive by the Hitchcock Estate. These films bring the Hitchcocks and their circle of friends and relatives vividly back to life. Revealing a more playful side of the man known as Hitch, the camera captures the affectionate bond between him and his family, as well as appearances by notable figures including screenwriter Benn Levy and actors Cyril Ritchard, Edna Best, Herbert Marshall, and others.”