This fortnight, as part of the ‘Alfred Hitchcock: A Retrospective’, the Gallery’s Australian Cinémathèque presents Alfred Hitchcock’s most celebrated films: North by Northwest, The Birds, Rope, Rear Window and Psycho. A veritable who’s who from Hitchcock’s filmography, these films will be screening on immaculate 35mm archival prints from the Universal Studios vaults in Los Angeles. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to see the most beloved films of this master craftsman with the best screening materials available internationally.

Also screening is Heinz Bütler’s moving insight into Henri Cartier–Bresson’s working processes, filmed in the year before his death. It features a rare interview in which the photographer discusses his travels and career while leafing through photographic albums.

This program screens in conjunction with ‘Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Man, The Image & The World’ 27 August — 27 November 2011 at the Queensland Art Gallery.

Hitchcock Lounge

Join us each Friday night from 5.30pm in the Hitchcock lounge for cocktails, a light supper and music entertainment by Honky Kong DJ’s. From the lush sounds of Alice Coltrane’s harp, Martin Denny’s adventures into the exotic or Oscar Peterson’s mellow gospel–infused piano, Honky Kong’s evocative DJ mix responds to Hitchcock’s most–celebrated films. Read more

Every Sunday, Hitchcock’s silent films will be accompanied by musicians-in-residence The Quadratic Contingency. This post-jazz ensemble of piano, drums, clarinet and double bass will draw on classical and traditional jazz music to create evocative live scores for Hitchcock’s earliest films. Read more

The Birds 1963 PG

DIRECTOR: Alfred Hitchcock
PROGRAM: Alfred Hitchcock: A Retrospective
WHEN: Wed 2 Nov 6.00pm (114 mins)
WHERE: Cinema A, GoMA

‘The Birds contains some of Hitchcock’s most sophisticated technical achievements in the creation of sheer, seemingly inexplicable tension. Structured around an alternating series of conversations about being abandoned and the violent, inexplicable bird attacks that represent and actualise that terror, the film is a darkly lyrical puzzle-poem about human need, the nature of the universe, and the possibility of salvation.’ Read more

Rope 1948 PG

DIRECTOR: Alfred Hitchcock
PROGRAM: Alfred Hitchcock: A Retrospective
WHEN: Wed 2 Nov 8.00pm (80 mins)
WHERE: Cinema A, GoMA

‘Rope was the first film Hitchcock produced himself and over which he had complete creative control. The result is a disturbing story (two young men strangle a friend and stuff his body into a chest, on which they serve dinner to his family and fiancée) as well as Hitchcock’s famous experiment in film form. Rope appears to be shot in one continuous take with no cuts — like an unbroken rope. Except for avant-garde filmmakers like Andy Warhol, no one has attempted to make a film like Rope again.’ Read more

Notorious 1946 M

DIRECTOR: Alfred Hitchcock
PROGRAM: Alfred Hitchcock: A Retrospective
WHEN: Fri 4 Nov 6.00pm + Sun 6 Nov 3.00pm (101 mins)
WHERE: Cinema A, GoMA

‘Cary Grant is in love with Ingrid Bergman, but his job as an intelligence agent demands that he let her marry another man. Bergman, who undertakes the expiation of her guilt for her Nazi father's treason, suffers a similar conflict. In this film Hitchcock hit his stride, using camera movements and editing to direct not his actors but his audience, and tapping into cinema's full expressiveness.’ Pacific Film Archive. Read more

Rear Window 1954 PG

DIRECTOR: Alfred Hitchcock
PROGRAM: Alfred Hitchcock: A Retrospective
WHEN: Fri 4 Nov 8.15pm + Sat 12 Nov 4.00pm (112 mins)
WHERE: Cinema A, GoMA

‘An intriguing study of obsession, Rear Window tells the story of a temporarily wheelchair-bound photographer who uses his convalescent time to spy on the tenants of other apartments on his block through his own rear window. Amid a growing suspicion that one of his neighbours has committed murder, he enlists his girlfriend and maid to gather evidence, with near-tragic results.’ Harvard Film Archive. Read more

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Program 5 (Ages 12+)

DIRECTOR: Alfred Hitchcock
PROGRAM: Alfred Hitchcock: A Retrospective
WHEN: Sat 5 Nov 12.00pm (60 mins)
WHERE: Cinema A, GoMA

This program of Alfred Hitchcock Presents showcases selected episodes from the master of suspense at his most fiendish. In Banquo’s Chair, a retired Scotland Yard detective employs some decidedly ghostly tools to spook a confession. In Arthur, a chicken farm proprietor becomes the prime suspect when his girlfriend goes missing. Read more

The Paradine Case 1947 PG

DIRECTOR: Alfred Hitchcock
PROGRAM: Alfred Hitchcock: A Retrospective
WHEN: Sat 5 Nov 2.00pm (119 mins)
WHERE: Cinema A, GoMA

‘Maddalena Paradine is accused of the murder of her husband, and engages a young barrister, Anthony Keane, to defend her. He becomes infatuated with her and blinds himself to the bizarre developments which appear in the case.’ British Film Institute. Read more

Under Capricorn 1949 All Ages

DIRECTOR: Alfred Hitchcock
PROGRAM: Alfred Hitchcock: A Retrospective
WHEN: Sat 5 Nov 4.00pm (117 mins)
WHERE: Cinema A, GoMA

‘One of Hitchcock’s few historical subjects set in colonial Australia, with Ingrid Bergman suffering as a social outcast, staunchly supported by her husband, Joseph Cotten.’ British Film Institute. Read more

Stage Fright 1950 G

DIRECTOR: Alfred Hitchcock
PROGRAM: Alfred Hitchcock: A Retrospective
WHEN: Sat 5 Nov 6.00pm + Wed 9 Nov 8.00pm (110 mins)
WHERE: Cinema A, GoMA

‘A drama student is suspected of murder when the husband of an actress is found murdered. Unjustly neglected, enjoyable thriller shot in England and featuring Hitchcock’s controversial use of a false or lying flashback.’ Hollywood Classics. Read more

The Farmer's Wife 1928 All Ages

DIRECTOR: Alfred Hitchcock
PROGRAM: Alfred Hitchcock: A Retrospective
WHEN: Sun 6 Nov 11.00am (94 mins)
WHERE: Cinema A, GoMA

‘A middle-aged widowed landowner decides to marry again. With the aid of his faithful housekeeper he draws up a list of all the eligible women in the neighbourhood, each of whom in turn rejects him.’ British Film Institute

Screening presented with live musical accompaniment by musicians–in–residence The Quadratic Contingency. Read more

I Confess 1953 PG

DIRECTOR: Alfred Hitchcock
PROGRAM: Alfred Hitchcock: A Retrospective
WHEN: Sun 6 Nov 1.00pm (95 mins)
WHERE: Cinema A, GoMA

‘A priest hears a confession of murder but cannot divulge it to the police even though he is a suspect. Filmed starkly in Quebec City, this is one of Hitchcock’s more overtly serious films, using his favoured wrong man theme.’ Hollywood Classics. Read more

Shadow of a Doubt 1943 PG

DIRECTOR: Alfred Hitchcock
PROGRAM: Alfred Hitchcock: A Retrospective
WHEN: Wed 9 Nov 6.00pm (108 mins)
WHERE: Cinema A, GoMA

‘Hitchcock had reason to consider Shadow of a Doubt his personal favourite among his films. In structure the film is perfection; in theme it is radically disturbing. Joseph Cotten is the urbane Uncle Charlie, hiding out in the small-town home of his sister Emma. Is he the Merry Widow Killer hunted by the police, or is he innocent as he claims?’ Pacific Film Archive. Read more

Strangers on a Train 1951 M

DIRECTOR: Alfred Hitchcock
PROGRAM: Alfred Hitchcock: A Retrospective
WHEN: Fri 11 Nov 6.00pm (101 mins)
WHERE: Cinema A, GoMA

‘A chance encounter between tennis champion Guy and psychopath Bruno on a train triggers an unstoppable race toward double murder. Hitchcock’s classic thriller is a finely-tuned engine of suspense, taking barely a breath as it steams through a spine-tingling story of fate, coincidence, guilt and psychopathology.’ America Cinémathèque. Read more

North by Northwest 1959 M

DIRECTOR: Alfred Hitchcock
PROGRAM: Alfred Hitchcock: A Retrospective
WHEN: Fri 11 Nov 8.15pm (131 mins)
WHERE: Cinema A, GoMA

‘Hitchcock dubbed this exhilarating comedy-thriller “my final word on the chase film.” Cary Grant's Roger O. Thornhill is your basic grey-flannel-suited ad-man, until he is mistaken by the police for an assassin and by an international spy ring for a double agent. The ensuing chase carries him across the American landscape, where an effort to expunge him like just one more rural insect makes him fighting mad.’ Pacific Film Archive. Read more

Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Program 6 (Ages 12+)

DIRECTOR: Alfred Hitchcock
PROGRAM: Alfred Hitchcock: A Retrospective
WHEN: Sat 12 Nov 12.00pm (60 mins)
WHERE: Cinema A, GoMA

This program of Alfred Hitchcock Presents shows two of Hitchcock’s macabre creations for the small screen. In The Crystal Trench, Stella’s husband meets an untimely demise climbing the Alps and in Mrs Bixby and the Colonel's Coat, Mrs Bixby’s bi-monthly trips to Baltimore raise her husband’s suspicions. Read more

The Trouble with Harry 1955 PG

DIRECTOR: Alfred Hitchcock
PROGRAM: Alfred Hitchcock: A Retrospective
WHEN: Sat 12 Nov 6.00pm (99 mins)
WHERE: Cinema A, GoMA

‘A very enjoyable black comedy set in rural New England where, for various reasons, Harry’s body obstinately refuses to stay buried.’ Hollywood Classics. Read more

‘Despite her totally innocent role in the events that led to it, divorce turns Larita Filton into a social outcast — and despite the love and support of her new husband she is constantly threatened by malicious gossip. Easy Virtue shows one of Hitchcock’s favourite themes — an innocent forced to become an outsider because of universally presumed guilt.’ British Film Institute.

Screening presented with live musical accompaniment by musicians–in–residence The Quadratic Contingency. Read more

Psycho 1960 M

DIRECTOR: Alfred Hitchcock
PROGRAM: Alfred Hitchcock: A Retrospective
WHEN: Sun 13 Nov 1.00pm (105 mins)
WHERE: Cinema A, GoMA

‘The quintessential Hitchcock film, Psycho tells the story of Marion Crane, a young secretary driven to desperation by a floundering love affair. After stealing $10,000 from her employer, Marion goes on the run, but with the police on her tail her behaviour becomes increasingly erratic. During a violent rainstorm, she pulls into a roadside hotel run by a shy young man named Norman Bates, who may be hiding secrets of his own.’ Harvard Film Archive. Read more

Topaz 1969 M

DIRECTOR: Alfred Hitchcock
PROGRAM: Alfred Hitchcock: A Retrospective
WHEN: Sun 13 Nov 3.00pm (143 mins)
WHERE: Cinema A, GoMA

Topaz is a Hitchcock’s fascinating exploration of art–house cinema.

‘The globetrotting spy thriller (Copenhagen, Paris, New York), adapted from the novel by Leon Uris, is set in 1962 when the CIA enlists a French agent to break up a Russian spy ring.’ Hollywood Classics Read more

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Until 26 November 2011
Free admission (Film program only)

Renowned French photojournalist Henri Cartier-Bresson made six documentary films throughout his working life, five of which are presented in this program. Interested in the power of film early in his career, Cartier-Bresson studied documentary filmmaking in New York, later apprenticing to the acclaimed French director Jean Renoir.

Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Impassioned Eye 2003 Ages 15+

DIRECTOR: Heinz Bütler
PROGRAM: Henri Cartier–Bresson
WHEN: Sat 5 Nov 2.30pm + Sat 12 Nov 2.30pm (52 mins)
WHERE: Cinema B, GoMA

Made the year before his death, this insight into Cartier-Bresson’s working processes features a rare interview in which the photographer discusses his travels and career while leafing through photographic albums. A selection of Cartier-Bresson’s portrait subjects, including French actress Isabelle Huppert and author Arthur Miller, relate their experiences of working with the photographer. Read more