More on Hitch Fest Down Under
The late British filmmaker will be celebrated at the gallery's Cinematheque from today to November 27.
Alfred Hitchcock: A Retrospective brings together the best available screening materials with films sourced from international film archives, studio vaults and distributors, many of which are rarely seen in Australia.
Slack-Smith says Hitchcock's contribution to the art of cinema cannot be over-estimated.
"I don't think there is a suspense film made that has not been directly influenced by him," she says.
"He has had that big an impact on filmmaking.
"But above all, he's just really entertaining."
Sourcing prints of the prolific director's 52 titles was almost as complex as a classic Hitchcock plot line, Slack-Smith says.
"It's an unusual thing to be able to bring something of this size together at one time. He's so extensive that trying to find the time where we can actually put aside eight weeks (in the cinema), but also get all the film prints from around the world into one place at the one time was quite difficult," she says.
"(But) it's definitely something the cinematheque people have been wanting to do for some time now."
Other challenges included creating their own English subtitles for the German-language Mary and sourcing and rehearsing a four-piece jazz ensemble, the Quadratic Contingency, to accompany the eight silent films included in the program.
Slack-Smith says it is a rare opportunity for cinema buffs and casual movie-goers to either fill in the gaps or experience the director's work for the first time.
"I'm hoping that people will take the opportunity to see the films they haven't seen before," she says.
"There are directors who would be quite happy to have one Rear Window in their canon of works or one Psycho, and of course he's got all these.
"His other titles tend to be forgotten because of the big, big hits that he had, but they are good solid films to see."
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