The Observer (01/Jul/2007) - A late Hitch

(c) The Observer (01/Jul/2007)

A late Hitch, by Jason Solomons

A new biographer of Alfred Hitchcock has unearthed a lost film. The 16-minute work, called "The Westcliff Cine Club Visits Mr Hitchcock", was made in 1963 following a cheeky letter from the eponymous Essex film club, inviting the county's famous son to become a patron. The director sent them a surprise response - a 35mm colour short film, set on the Universal lot, where a fictional representative from Westcliff is treated to an audience with the great man himself, reminiscing about the London-Southend railway and 'dreary' days on the Thames. Hitch then gives the man a guided studio tour and ends with a plug for his next film, "The Birds". The Westcliff film was given its premiere in June 1963 in neighbouring Southend, because it actually had a cinema. Biographer Quentin Falk, who discovered it, tells me: "The film has been kept in an attic all these years but at least the owner transferred it to VHS several years ago."