CLASSIC CINEMA
Vertigo PG
USA | 1958 128 minutes
DIRECTED BY
Alfred Hitchcock
STARRINGJames Stewart | Kim Novak | Barbara Bel Geddes
24 June 2026 WEDNESDAY 19:30
AUDITORIUM
Tickets £10.25|£6.25 (under 26)
inclusive of fees
Alfred Hitchcock must be about the most well-known name in film history. His films are well known, too, and are regularly celebrated at the top of ‘best films’ lists. He acquired the tag ‘the Master of Suspense’ as his output has fallen mainly into the thriller category. All told, he made fifty-odd feature films. He was born in 1899, in Leytonstone, east London, where his parents had a greengrocer’s shop.
Hitchcock’s first job in the film world was as a title-card writer for Paramount Pictures, which had just opened a studio in London. This was in 1919. He gained a lot of other experience while he was with Paramount, so when the company pulled out of London in 1922, Hitchcock was well placed to be taken on as an assistant director by Michael Balcon, who took over the Paramount studio in Hoxton. He worked on a number of (silent) films during this period, including German co-productions, notably The Pleasure Garden (1926).
Hitchcock was making a name for himself in London and was an early member of the newly-formed London Film Society. His breakthrough came with The Lodger (1927), which was both a critical and commercial success. Soon after, Hitchcock made Britain’s first ‘talkie’ – Blackmail (1929). There followed a number of highly rated British films, including The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), starring Peter Lorre, The 39 Steps (1935) and The Lady Vanishes (1938).
Eventually, after many offers from various studios, David O. Selznick enticed Hitchcock to Hollywood. He left England in the summer of 1938 and found himself to be very much a celebrity in the States. His first film under contract to Selznick was Rebecca (1940), still a rather ‘British’ film, based on the novel by Daphne du Maurier. Other films released during the war years included Suspicion (1941) and Shadow of a Doubt (1943).
Hitchcock’s ‘golden period’ really got going after the war and lasted until the early 1960s. It was during this time that he made his most celebrated films, starting with Spellbound (1945), and followed by Notorious (1946). His final ‘great’ film is probably The Birds (1963). By the late 1960s, Hitchcock’s health was failing and his output decreased. His final film was Family Plot (1976). He died of kidney failure on 29 April 1980, aged 80.