Right from the Start: Tests of Love in The Pleasure Garden
HtichCon '21: What’s It All about, Alfie?
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17m
In the director’s premier film, 1925’s silent "The Pleasure Garden," we indeed learn something useful, even meaningful, about life and love as Hitchcock’s protagonists turn travails into opportunities, not for greed and covetousness, but for emotional growth—and perhaps even love.
Marc is Professor Emeritus in the Dobbins Conservatory of Theatre and Dance, Holland College of Arts & Media, Southeast Missouri State University and author of "Alfred Hitchcock’s Silent Films" (2004; McFarland), "Hitchcock’s Objects as Subjects: The Significance of Things on Screen" (2016; McFarland) and, most recently, "Discovering Musicals: A Liberal Arts Guide to Stage and Screen" (McFarland; 2019). His forthcoming book about Hitchcock’s effect on audience emotion, is due out June 2023. He and his artist wife, Sarah Riley, are retired and live on the Outer Cape of Massachusetts with their mini-schnauzer Gracie.
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Hitchcock’s villains often contrast, deepen and clarify the characters of his protagonists and their embodiment—often attained during the film—of true love. As these antagonists illustrate negatively, love has to do with giving, not taking; with self-abnegation rather than assertion of ego.
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Friday Morning Q&A
Thomas Leitch moderates audience Q&A with presenters Joel Gunz, Marc Strauss, and Lesley Brill.
Thomas Leitch is the author of "Find the Director and Other Hitchcock Games" and "The Encyclopedia of Alfred Hitchcock," co-editor of "The Companion to Alfred Hitchcock." Professor of English and Unid...
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Alfred Hitchcock's Body of Work
Publicly, Hitch joked about his rotund figure, even integrating it into his personal brand. But privately, his weight was a source of lifelong distress. He once expressed these feelings to a biographer, and this film brings his words to life, contrasting them with rarely-seen Hitchcock family hom...
