Restoring Hitchcock
In the biggest restoration project they have ever undertaken, the British Film Institute has restored nine of Alfred Hitchcock’s early silent movies, and some of his least-known films.
Made between 1925 and 1929, the films are among the greatest achievements of British silent film and are considered his most ‘British’.
Sparkling new 35mm film prints, many including footage missing from previously available copies, have been created. Decades of damage and wear have been removed; the sharpness of the images improved; new shots discovered and intertitles and tinting restored.
The BFI has used elements borrowed from seven international archives in the restoration process, but film materials from the BFI National Archive – including a number of original negatives – have been central to the project. Hitchcock's silent films are essential to an understanding of his later work and these restorations now enable them to be seen afresh and discovered by new audiences across the world.