Spending quality time with the Master of Suspense

By Susan King

Aug. 16, 2007 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

THE American Cinematheque’s Aero Theatre salutes Alfred Hitchcock starting tonight, and it’s no surprise that there will be plenty of classics -- but there’s even one misstep from the Master of Suspense as well.

The thrills commence with Hitchcock’s only R-rated film, 1972’s “Frenzy,” a nail-biter about a man unjustly accused of committing a series of vicious murders of women. The killer’s modus operandi? He strangles his victims with his necktie.

Also on the bill is Hitch’s offbeat 1956 production “The Wrong Man,” which revolves around the true story of a New York jazz musician (Henry Fonda) who is accused of a crime and innocent but finds himself trapped in a vortex of circumstantial evidence.

Scheduled for Friday is a new 35-millimeter print of his uneven 1948 thriller “Rope,” based on the Broadway play about a Leopold and Loeb-esque thrill murder by two young men (Farley Granger, John Dall). The film was shot in a series of 10-minute takes and also marks Hitchcock’s first collaboration with James Stewart.

Rounding out the bill is Hitchcock’s riveting 1944 film “Lifeboat,” about eight survivors of a ship bombed by Germans who end up rescuing a ninth passenger -- a Nazi (Walter Slezak). Glen MacWilliams supplied the Oscar-nominated black-and-white cinematography. And just guess where Hitchcock appears in his cameo?

Also in the festival are “The Man Who Knew Too Much” and “Dial M for Murder” on Saturday, “Suspicion” and “Saboteur” on Sunday and “Vertigo,” scheduled for Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Cinematheque’s Egyptian Theatre continues its seventh annual sci-fi, horror and fantasy festival on Saturday with a restored, uncut print of Joseph Losey’s 1963 sci-fi thriller “These Are the Damned,” starring Macdonald Carey, Shirley Anne Field, Oliver Reed and Alexander Knox. The film, which concerns a secret government project in England to breed children to survive a nuclear holocaust, was originally cut by 10 minutes when released in the United States. A party follows the screening.

On Friday, the UCLA Film & Television Archive’s expansive film preservation festival features two classics beautifully restored by the George Eastman House: King Vidor’s landmark 1925 World War I drama “The Big Parade,” starring John Gilbert in his superstar-making performance as a wealthy young man who enlists, and Nicholas Ray’s scrumptious 1950 noir “Born to Be Bad,” starring Joan Fontaine as the temptress who seduces her cousin’s wealthy fiancé (Zachary Scott) and a macho novelist (Robert Ryan).

Elsewhere: With the 81st anniversary of Rudolph Valentino’s death coming Aug. 23, Hollywood Heritage Museum’s Evenings@the Barn screening series presents a special afternoon event Saturday. “Stolen Moments” will be screened along with a new seven-minute documentary, “Valentino Forever.” The festivities at the museum in the Lasky-DeMille Barn will also include the unveiling of a permanent exhibit on the first male movie superstar.

For those with more contemporary tastes, this Sunday the Echo Park Film Center presents “I Pity the Fool,” a documentary about Detroit’s efforts to improve its image in 2005 when the Motor City hosted the Super Bowl. Filmmaker Brent Coughenour will appear.

And the Goethe-Institut Los Angeles is holding a Wednesday screening of films made by the students from the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg in Germany, who spent the summer attending class at the institute here.

susan.king@latimes.com

Screenings

American Cinematheque

“Frenzy” and “The Wrong Man”: 7:30 tonight, Aero Theatre

“Rope” and “Lifeboat”: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aero

“The Man Who Knew Too Much” and “Dial M for Murder”: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aero

“Suspicion” and “Saboteur”: 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Aero

“Vertigo”: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aero

“These Are the Damned”: 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Egyptian Theatre, www.americancinematheque.com

UCLA Preservation Festival

“The Big Parade” and “Born to Be Bad”: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Billy Wilder Theater, www.cinema.ucla.edu

Elsewhere