Foreign Correspondents: Deeper into Hitchcock Foreign Correspondents

Hitchcock in Quebec! "I Confess" stars Method actor Montgomery Clift in one of his most restrained performances as a handsome, innocent priest accused of murder. The most overtly "Catholic" of Hitch's movies, "I Confess" is also one of the lesser appreciated gems in the director's stellar 1950s output. Join us as we explore the movie and its Holocaust undertones with our special guest James Bogdanski who teaches film at Long Beach City College and El Camino College in southern California.

Patricia Highsmith, Raymond Chandler, Robert Walker and Robert Burks: these are only several of the extremely talented people who contributed to Hitchcock's "Strangers on a Train," a film which officially opens the master's most glorious and successful decade. At once taut and dreamlike, cruel and perversely sensual, the movie begins with a chance encounter that leads to nightmarish consequences. Join us as we explore one of the most famous and cherished of Hitchcock's films: a genuine cult classic, and a queer one at that.

Both breezy and unexpectedly weird, "Stage Fright" features the famous "false flashback" sequence and takes us on a ride through post-war London. Jane Wyman stars as a naive young actress who spies on a diva (Marlene Dietrich at her juiciest) to clear her friend's name. We explore this underappreciated gem directed by Alfred Hitchcock with our special guest, Darragh O'Donoghue – an archivist at Tate and a contributing writer for "Cineaste".

"Under Capricorn" is a true oddity: an old-fashioned Gothic melodrama which experiments with long takes; a movie set in Australia but visibly shot in a studio; a financial failure that is claimed by some to be one of the master's greatest works. Join us as we explore the film with our special guest Andrei Gorzo - one of Romania's most brilliant film critics and scholars, and a professor at the University of Theatre and Film in Bucharest. His newest book, co-authored with Veronica Lazăr and titled "Beyond the New Romanian Cinema: Romanian Culture, History, and the Films of Radu Jude", will be released this year.

Hitchcock's singular achievement – his first film in color, his first independently produced Hollywood picture and a narrative composed exclusively of long takes – is also his boldest adventure with homosexual themes (which appear, as is obvious for 1948, in a coded form). “Rope” continues to be a fascinating, taut thriller with many secrets, unforgettable lines and an atmosphere of postwar nihilism. It also features James Stewart in what was his debut in a Hitchcock film. Join us as we explore “Rope” and ask ourselves if we would rather live in Brandon & Philip’s apartment or in the studio from “Rear Window”?

Alfred Hitchcock's last collaboration with David O. Selznick was not fondly remembered by the most important parties involved (Gregory Peck reportedly hated the film), but it is still a fascinating example of the power dynamics in classical Hollywood, embodying the tensions between the director and the producer. "The Paradine Case" was an absurdly expensive venture with a budget which rivaled that of Selznick's epic "Gone with the Wind". Will we defend this troubled production? Tune in to find out!