Film Course: Alfred Hitchcock and the Audience Who Knew Too Much

Tue 18 Mar – Tue 13 May
This eight-week course explores the cinema of Alfred Hitchcock, tracing his career from silent film and British cinema to his late Hollywood masterpieces. Throughout the sessions we will examine Hitchcock’s distinctive visual style, as developed through early silent films such as The Lodger (1927), and his important contributions to British cinema during the 1930s, including a course screening The Thirty Nine Steps (1935).   

We will examine Hitchcock’s work with key collaborators, actors and composers, as well as taking feminist approaches to Hitchcock’s representation of gender, looking at films such as Notorious (1946), Vertigo (1958) and drawing on key thinkers such as Tania Modleski. 

As the course continues, we will delve into queer readings of Hitchcock’s films, considering how desire, repression, and performance shape works like Rope (1948) and Psycho (1960).   

By the end of the course, participants will have developed a deeper understanding of Hitchcock’s films and their complex engagement with cinematic form, performance and identity.  

This eight-week course includes two feature-length film screenings. 

Beginners’ level, no prior knowledge necessary. 

Tue 18 Mar – Lecture 1  

Tue 25 Mar – Lecture 2  

Tue 1 Apr – Break   

Tue 8 Apr – Screening 1 (The 39 Steps)   

Tue 15 Apr – Lecture 3  

Tue 22 Apr – Lecture 4  

Tue 29 Apr – Lecture 5  

Tue 6 May – Screening 2 (Psycho)   

Tue 13 May – Lecture 6  

All lectures will be 2 hours long 18:30 – 20:30 (including a short break)