Hitchcock, Melodrama and the Catholic Imagination
HitchCon '23: Hitchcock Unbound
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52m
Alfred Hitchcock's "I Confess" (1953) is a mixture of Hollywood melodrama and sublime Christianity, and as secrets unravel and moral dilemmas unfold, Hitchcock's camera traces the intersection of faith, morality and human frailty. In this talk, City University, Hong Kong, professor Richard Allen leads viewers through the passion play-like steps of a Catholic priest, Father Logan (Montgomery Clift)—whose silence echoes Christ's suffering—to highlight the Catholic traditions that underlie melodrama. This thought-provoking analysis challenges the very institutions it portrays, priming Hitchcock fans to return to Hitchcock's nuanced, multi-layered masterpiece.
Learn more about Richard Allen.
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