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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 18, 2008
Contact:
, Austin Public Library, (512) 974-7379
Fax: (512) 974-7379
50 Years of Hitchcock
Join us for 50 Years of Hitchcock this fall at the Hampton Branch of the Austin Public Library at Oak Hill, 5125 Convict Hill Rd. at 6:00 p.m. on the second and fourth Mondays to celebrate five of his finest films from the 1930's to the 1970's. The screenings are free and open to the public. For more information please call 512-892-6680 or visit www.cityofaustin.org/library.
About the Filmmaker
Alfred Hitchcock (b. 1899, d. 1980) is best known as the master of suspense. Hitchcock directed more than fifty feature films, in a career spanning six decades, from the silent era, through the invention of sound films, and beyond techicolor. His filmmaking defined the thriller genre and continues to inform how movies are made today. He is know for his droll humour and witticisms. His cinematic works often portray innocent people caught up in circumstances beyond their control or understanding.
September 8
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The Lady Vanishes (1938)
Travellers on a trans-European train are delayed for a night due to bad weather in a small fictional country called Mandrika. The passengers cram into the small village hotel where socialite Iris Henderson meets an old governess called Miss Froy. Shortly after the journey restarts, Miss Froy disappears.
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September 22
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Notorious (1946)
Following the conviction of her German father for treason against the U.S., Alicia Huberman takes to drink and men. She is approached by a government agent (T.R. Devlin) 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.
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October 13
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North by Northwest (1959)
New York advertising executive Roger Thornhill is kidnapped by a gang of spies led by Philip Vandamm, who believe Thornhill is CIA agent George Kaplan. Thornhill escapes, but must find Kaplan in order to clear himself of a murder it is believed he committed. Following Kaplan to Chicago as a fugitive from justice, Thornhill is helped by beautiful Eve Kendall. In Chicago, she delivers a message to Kaplan that almost costs Thornhill his life when he is chased across a cornfield by a crop-dusting plane.
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October 27
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The Birds (1963)
Spoiled socialite and notorious practical joker Melanie Daniels is shopping in a San Francisco pet store when she meets Mitch Brenner. Mitch is looking to buy a pair of love birds for his young sister's birthday; he recognizes Melanie but pretends to mistake her for an assistant. She decides to get her own back by buying the birds and driving up to the quiet coastal town of Bodega Bay, where Mitch spends his weekends with his sister and mother. Shortly after she arrives, Melanie is attacked by a gull, but this is just the start of a series of attacks by an increasing number of birds.
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November 10
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Family Plot (1976)
Fake medium Madam Blanche (Barbara Harris) and her taxi driver boyfriend George (Bruce Dern) make a living by scaming people with her phoney powers. They are hired by an aging widow, Julia Rainbird, to find her nephew who was given away for adoption many years earlier following a family scandal. Meanwhile, an extremely clever couple, diamond merchant Arthur Adamson (William Devine) and his attractive girlfriend Fran (Karen Black), are behind a series of kidnappings of various VIPs in the San Francisco area. The two couples paths soon cross and chaos results in Hitchcock's last film.
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