April’s Time Warp Drive-In presents the films of the greatest suspense director of all time: Alfred Hitchcock.
The term”auteur” was literally coined to describe Hitch. Francois Truffaut, film critic turned director, identified Hitchcock and Howard Hawks as two individuals who were able to put their distinctive stamp on the films they made. They were “authors” (auteurs) of the films rather than just “stagers” (metteur en scene) of the story. By 1962, when Truffaut interviewed Hitchcock, there was plenty of films for the two to analyze. Hitchcock had his first hit film in 1927, and later directed the first British picture with sound.
Psycho, which debuted in 1960, would become his most notorious film. Hitch made his bones with murder mysteries, but Psycho is something different — the moment “thriller” tipped over into “horror.” Sometimes called the beginning of the slasher genre, its unconventional structure and stark imagery set it apart from everything in theaters at the time.
And then there’s the famous shower scene. Psycho was shot very quickly. By this time, Hitch was churning out thrillers for his TV show at an industrial scale, so he knew what he was doing. But the shower scene took a week. The result is probably the most-studied 4 minutes of film ever produced.
Next on the Time Warp menu is Vertigo. Considered a flop upon its 1958 release, the film finally overtook Citizen Kane in the #1 spot of the decadal Sight + Sound poll of film critics in 2012. Personally, I disagree. Vertigo isn’t even the best film Hitchcock ever did — that would be Rear Window. But there’s no doubt this story of obsession starring Jimmy Stewart as a police detective haunted by fear and failure, and Kim Novak as a mysterious woman who may or may not be a ghost, is a masterpiece. It shows Hitch at his most experimental, including the invention of the dolly zoom, and this dream sequence designed by abstract expressionist painter John Ferren.
The third film of the evening is Dial M for Murder. Originally shot in 3D, but rarely seen in stereoscopic vision because of the janky, proprietary process used in the early 50s, Dial M for Murder’s biggest attraction is Grace Kelly, who stars as a woman unaware she’s about to be offed by her husband, Ray Milland, and who later ends up framed for what was intended to be her own murder. This one’s got more twists and turns than five M. Night Shyamalan movies.
Time Warp Drive-In, presented by Black Lodge and Malco Theaters, starts at sundown on Saturday, April 10 at the Summer Drive-In.