The Paris Theater is proud to present HITCH! The Original Cinema Influencer, a six-week series running from May 16 through June 29, featuring nearly 60 films—36 directed by the Master of Suspense himself, along with many that trace the stylistic influences behind Hitchcock’s filmmaking, and more than a dozen others that stand as homages to his legacy.
 

As horror and thrillers continue to dominate the box office, spawning ever more lucrative franchises, it’s worth tracing the roots of this enduring appeal. Alfred Hitchcock, the Master of Suspense, didn’t single-handedly invent the horror genre, but the influences he drew from and the techniques he pioneered during his career still cast a long shadow over modern audiences’ ever-growing thirst for thrills and chills.

HITCH! The Original Cinema Influencer will chart the progression of Hitchcock’s technique and influence chronologically, beginning with his early films made in England such as the silent film Blackmail, as well as spy thriller The Lady Vanishes. The latter was an early indicator of Hitchcock’s ability to take root in popular culture, as the performances of Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne as Charters and Caldicott proved so popular, the actors would go on to reprise their roles in five more films – including Carol Reed’s Night Train to Munich, which will play in special double feature shows with The Lady Vanishes. We’ll also showcase films by some of the German expressionist masters, including F.W. Murnau and Fritz Lang, whose work Hitchcock studied during his time in the German film industry. Their inventive approach to visual storytelling—relying less on title cards or excessive dialogue—became a guiding principle in Hitchcock’s own filmmaking.

Hollywood would soon come calling for Hitchcock, pairing incredible star power with his increasingly virtuosic directorial style. This era would see him win his only Best Picture Oscar - for 1940’s Rebecca - and would be heavily influenced by World War II, seen clearly in spy thrillers like Foreign Correspondent, Saboteur, and Lifeboat, as well as two rarely-screened short films (Bon Voyage and Aventure Malgache) made by Hitchcock to aid in the war effort, but shelved by government officials for being “inflammatory”.

The 1950s saw Hitchcock in peak form, with internationally beloved movie stars like Grace Kelly, James Stewart, Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Montgomery Clift, and Marlene Dietrich all lining up to headline some of the director’s most universally praised classics – from the pulse-pounding thriller Rear Window, to the psychological labyrinth of Vertigo, which frequently polls as one the greatest films ever made. But despite acclaim and success, Hitchcock’s appetite for grit, experimentation and boundary-pushing never waned, well into the 1960s where he completely upended audience expectations and helped launched horror as the popular genre it is today with the legendary Psycho, and delivered a vision of apocalyptic doom with The Birds.
 

As his career drew to a close, Hitchcock continued to deliver surprises— through the entertainingly vicious Frenzy and the dark comedy of his final film, Family Plot. This period also saw a new generation of filmmakers producing work clearly indebted to the Master of Suspense—from the overt thrills of Truffaut’s The Bride Wore Black to the affectionate parody of Mel Brooks’ High Anxiety. Over two decades later, Robert Zemeckis offered his own Hitchcockian thriller with What Lies Beneath—a tradition that continues to this day, as many of today’s horror auteurs trace their cinematic lineage back to Hitchcock.
 

Thirty-five films in this series will have showings in 35mm, including Hitchcock classics like Rear Window, Vertigo, North by Northwest, and The Lady Vanishes, as well as enduring masterpieces like Francois Truffaut’s The Bride Wore Black, Fritz Lang’s M, and Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Diabolique, screening on an imported 35mm print courtesy of Institut Français. We’ll also have special treats like two episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents, featuring memorable small screen roles for stars like Steve McQueen and Peter Lorre and the directing prowess of multi-hypenate Ida Lupino. And those curious to learn more about the filmmaker’s history can take in two featured documentaries: Kent Jones’ Hitchcock/Truffaut, and My Name is Alfred Hitchcock by Mark Cousins.
 

Featuring 35mm shows of:
 

The 39 Steps
The Birds
Blackmail
Bon Voyage and Aventure Malgache
Dial M For Murder
Family Plot
Frenzy
I Confess
The Lady Vanishes
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
Marnie
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
North By Northwest
Rear Window
Rope
Sabotage
Saboteur
Shadow of a Doubt
Stage Fright
Strangers on a Train
Suspicion
To Catch a Thief
Torn Curtain
The Trouble with Harry
Vertigo
Young and Innocent

Bad Education

The Bride Wore Black
Diabolique (courtesy of Institut Français)

Frantic

M
Swoon

What Lies Beneath

Showtimes for Cape Fear (1991, 35mm) and Peeping Tom to be announced. Luis Buñuel's Un Chien Andalou will screen will Spellbound on Saturday May 24 at the 9:30 PM screening. Looney Tunes' “The Last Hungry Cat” will screen with Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Bon Voyage and Aventure Malgache.

Plus, a collection of classic Hitchcock films will be available to stream on Netflix in the US featuring some of his most iconic works starting June 1.