BRATTLEBORO — Latchis Arts presents an informative and entertaining weekend of film and discussion highlighting the films of Alfred Hitchcock on Saturday and Sunday, July 30 and 31.
The Alfred Hitchcock Weekend features screenings at the Latchis Theatre of “North By Northwest” on Saturday, July 30, and “Vertigo” on Sunday, July 31. Both screenings will be held at 4 p.m., and admission is by donation.
Following the screenings, audiences will have a chance to meet and hear from Hitchcock scholars Dr. Walter Raubicheck and Dr. Walter Srebnick, college English professors who have both written and lectured extensively on Hitchcock.
Raubicheck and Srebnick co-authored “Scripting Hitchcock” in 2011, a critically acclaimed look at Hitchcock's creative process for “Psycho,” “The Birds,” and “Marnie.” They gave a presentation about that book at the Brooks Memorial Library.
This time they return to Brattleboro to guide viewers in a look at two of Hitchcock's other masterpieces - 1958's “Vertigo” and 1959's “North by Northwest” - and talk about Hitchcock's artistry and his enduring legacy.
“What makes Hitchcock historic is that he always had an interesting story to tell, and he told it in a way that was interesting,” said Raubicheck, a professor of English at Pace University. “There's 'Hitchcock The Entertainer' and then there's 'Hitchcock The Artist.'”
Latchis Arts and the Positive Geek Store will team up to host a post-film discussion after the 4 p.m. showing of “North By Northwest” on Saturday, July 30. The discussion will be held in the Positive Geek store in the Latchis Memorial Building on Flat Street.
The 4 p.m. showing of “Vertigo” on Sunday, July 31, will be followed by a special reservation-only dinner at Duo Restaurant, featuring a Hitchcock-inspired menu. Seating is limited. For reservations to the dinner, call Duo at 802-254-4141.
A prodigious filmmaker whose career spanned 50 years, Alfred Hitchcock made more than 50 films, beginning in the silent film era and continuing until just a few years before his death in 1980.
Four of his films were named to the American Film Institute's list of the 100 Greatest Movies of All Time in 1998 - “Vertigo” (#9), “Psycho” (14), “Rear Window” (48) and “North By Northwest” (55).
Earlier this year, “Vertigo” was voted the best film of all-time by the British Film Institute's Sight & Sound, topping Orson Welles' “Citizen Kane,” which had held the top spot for years.