Magic. Telepathy. Spirit possession. Angels, demons and vampires. They show up again and again in Hitchcock's films, only to be explained away. Or are they? Tonight, we'll peer into the eldritch aspects of Hitchcock's films to divine their possible meaning for him and for you. Won't you join the...

In North by Northwest, what begins as a bumpy ride aboard a speeding train evolves into something more profound and lasting. How'd that happen, and what can we learn from it? Join filmmaker and HitchCon host Joel Gunz as he cracks open his secret briefcase full of slides, rare photos and film cli...

Extremely rare recording catches Hitchcock at his most relaxed in this never-before-broadcast episode from 1955.

Inspired by ideas from Victor Frankl (Man's Search for Meaning) to the Eleusinian mysteries, Joel surveys the master's films to investigate the key philosophical question of the ages: What is the meaning of life? Ever one to hedge his bets, Hitchcock never offers one final answer, yet film after ...

Alfred Hitchcock's "The 39 Steps" was a huge influence on cinema—without it, we might not know James Bond on screen. In this talk from 2018, I delve into its impact on pop culture—and its historical significance at a turning point in history in 1935.

Joel Gunz introduces Alfred Hitchcock's final film at HitchCon Monthly Events. Sign up for free events at hitchcon.org

Hitchcock tapped Henry Mancini to score his Jack-the-Ripperesque thriller Frenzy (1972). Unfortunately, the collaboration didn't succeed. Mancini was replaced by Ron Goodwin, whose music made it into the final cut. Meanwhile, Mancini's full recording languished in storage until it was finally rel...

In our last talk, "Hitchcockian Portals: Shadows, Silhouettes and the Uncanny Threshold", we delved into the shadowy figures that haunt so many of Hitchcock’s uncanny doorways. Now we’re heading out to discuss that most ancient, mystical and transcendent of symbols: The Bridge. We’ll be looking a...

From the silent era to the ‘70s, Hitchcock’s films are haunted with one oft-overlooked, recurring scene that lasts just long enough to make your heart skip one beat: the sudden appearance of a shadowy figure in a darkened doorway. The image conjures up Jung’s Unconscious—the Shadow—not to mention...

Hitchcock junkies are well aware of the transmigratory nature of the director’s characters: some of them pop up again and again, in film after film, in various guises. This is the Hitchcock Universe. However, the director's long-running TV series also reincarnates his characters into alternative ...

Alfred and Alma Hitchcock owned three works by famed Bauhaus artist Paul Klee, and a few years ago I explored the connections between them and his films in a chapter for Critical Insights: Alfred Hitchcock (edited by Hitch scholar and HitchCon speaker Doug Cunningham, 2017). Since then, new evide...

Wednesday, March 29, 2023
Join the author of "A Heart at Fire’s Center: The Life and Music of Bernard Herrmann." Based on deep research and extensive interviews with many of the composer’s colleagues, this literary classic is the definitive biography of cinema’s greatest composer.