Ongoing Cultural Center series helping movie fans rediscover Hitchcock’s genius on the big screen

When the lights dim and the screen goes down to show the Alfred Hitchcock film “Marnie” Friday at the historic Camelot Theatre, it will be the 10th in a monthly series of the famed director’s films that started in March. It will also be the second in what organizers are calling the second phase of the series — starting with “Rebecca” in November – and a precursor to even bigger things in 2025.

Sponsored by the Palm Springs Cultural Center, the Hitchcock screenings will continue every month on the first Friday in the coming year, and be accompanied by introductions and discussions led by scholars of Hitchcock’s work, Richard Edwards and Steven Smith.

Hitchcock, regarded as one of the great names in movie history, was a multifaceted character whose many talents combined to produce films which entertained, shocked, and continually surprised their audiences.

Edwards, executive director of XCITE at UC Riverside, emphasizes that Hitchcock intended his work to be enjoyed by a community of viewers in an audience.

“The fear is heightened, the laughter is fuller, the speed and pace of how we consume these films is different,” he says.

Tim Rains, public relations director at the Cultural Center, has first-hand experience with just such an experience. 

“I remember watching one of [Hitchcock’s] films when my partner suddenly grabbed my arm,” Raines recalls. “I screamed, then everybody else in the theater started screaming.”

Steven Smith, a four-time Emmy-nominated producer and award-winning author, who has interviewed many of Hitchcock’s collaborators, emphasizes the lasting impact of Hitchcock’s films. 

“I want people to be reminded that it’s possible to be wildly entertained while you’re also provoked, unnerved, disturbed, excited, left thinking about things, haunted by them,” he says. “And it’s also something you can take home with you and talk about with people for the rest of your lives.”

Smith quotes Hitchcock on his approach to suspense in movies:

“Hitchcock said, ‘If you have a scene where there’s a bomb planted [in] a room, and you have two men sitting in that room talking to each other, you could do it two ways. You could have them talking and suddenly a bomb goes off and everyone in the theater jumps. That’s not the way I make movies.’

“In Hitchcock’s version, you see the bomb first, then wait anxiously for the bomb to go off as the two men engage in small talk.”

Although Hitchcock is associated with suspense, he appeared in many of his own movies in cameo roles, and enjoyed injecting moments of comedy into his movies. 

Edwards says the director “understood that if you’re going to heighten tension, you also had to have a strategy for ratcheting it down. He was very clear on the rhythm of his films. I think there are too many films … they’re just– especially action thrillers nowadays – done at a certain speed.”

A man who loathed and detested confrontation, unpredictability, and chaos, Hitchcock used the anxiety caused by these to inspire many of his greatest films. 

“His image of an outwardly genial droll fellow who could discuss the details of murders as casually as others might discuss the weather,” says Smith, “is the Hitchcock we know from his hosting of his TV series.” 

However, in private he was a reserved man, devoted to his wife Alma and his daughter Pat. Gaining Alma’s approval of his work meant more to him than any printed review.

The retrospective in Palm Springs  offers audiences the opportunity to experience these classic works as they were meant to be seen – on the big screen, in a communal setting. When attending the screenings throughout the months, audiences can look forward to not only being entertained, but also acquiring a deeper understanding of Hitchcock’s enduring influence on cinema.

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Details: Tickets to Friday’s screening of ‘Marnie’ start at $13.65 and are available for pre-purchase here.

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