A Hitchcock Halloween

Happiness is a Hitchcock film. Add to that Halloween evening, a live symphony, and clips from some of his most known movies and I'm in seventh heaven. Last night, I had the pleasure of listening to the local symphony pops play Hitchcock snippets as scenes played on a screen above. The music was so sharp and seamless, at times I forgot they were there.

The 2 hour event started with the theme to Psycho, sans movie clips. It didn't bother me - this gave you the opportunity to watch the violinists get into the murder scene with their bows. One minute it was movie music, the next was murder by musical instrument - the crowd loved it.

The music for To Catch a Thief had to be the least memorable in my mind. For this film, the beginning credits through Cary Grant meeting Hitch on the bus was shown.

I was happy to see some time dedicated to Strangers on a Train, the oldest and only black & white film featured. To start, the credits through the meeting on the train was played. Following, the scene where Guy slips into Bruno's home to kill his father. Next, the tennis match where it flips between Guy playing and Bruno dropping the cigarette lighter down the storm drain. The final scene was the carousel going out of control through the end - the American version of the end.

The North By Northwest trailer presented was intermixed with Hitch's home movies and his trademark Funeral March of a Marionette song in the background.

Dial M For Murder started with the beginning credits through Mark Halliday arriving on the Queen Mary. That was followed by the murder scene, then ending with everyone catching Tony with the spare key. My personal favorite wasn't the murder itself but the minutes up to it where the murderer and Tony keep looking at their watches, waiting for 11 p.m. - the music turned into the ticking of the clocks.

The theme to North By Northwest was hair-raising - very cool if I may say. For that film they presented the beginning credits, the "funny drunk" scene (as they dubbed it), ROT escaping the hospital to the home in the hills, and the chase on Mt. Rushmore through the end.

Even though the music may not be as memorable, it'd be great to see his less popular, older films presented in this format!