Alfred Hitchcock once said “The only way to get rid of my fears is to make films about them.” Mr. Hitchcock’s obvious fears? Heights. Birds. Showers. Join COCC Professor Greg Lyons for a closer look at two of Hitchcock’s classic films during the Know Clue series at Deschutes Public Libraries during the month of February. The screenings are free and open to the public.

February 21, 2013 • 5:30 p.m.
Screening I Confess
Tin Pan Theater

February 26, 2013 • 5:30 p.m.
Screeing Rear Window
Redmond Public Library

According to Lyons, Hitchcock films continue to appeal to new audiences. “His themes of guilt and innocence are universal.” Hitchcock was a master of the roller-coaster of expectation and release and structured his dramas around cycles of entrapment and escape, of deception and revelation, of madness and rationality. “His extensive body of work in the suspense genre still inspires many contemporary film-makers,” concluded Lyons.

“Hitchcock often placed his characters in moral conflicts which revealed the complications of the human psyche living in a changing world,” says Lyons. I Confess stars Montgomery Clift as Father Michael Logan. The secrets that Father Logan must keep due to the seal of confession make him the prime suspect in a murder. The film, made in 1953, is based on a 1902 French play by Paul Anthelme called Nos Deux Consciences. The film screens at Tin Pan Theater on February 21 at 5:30 p.m. Concessions will be available for purchase.

Rear Window stars Jimmy Stewart as the photographer Jeff Jefferies and Grace Kelly as his girlfriend Lisa Freemont. Jeff, recovering from an injury and bound to a wheelchair, begins to suspect that the man across the courtyard may have murdered his wife. Filmed in 1954 Rear Window is considered by many to be one of Hitchcock’s finest films. Pizza will be provided at the 5:30 p.m. screening on February 26 at the Redmond Public Library.

Greg Lyons, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus at COCC after teaching there for 22 years. He has published Literature of the American West (2003) and a composition reader, Body and Culture (2006), besides presenting a dozen talks at Popular Culture Association meetings on film noir, westerns, mystery and travel writing.

For more information about this or other library programs, please visit the library website at www.deschuteslibrary.org. People with disabilities needing accommodations (alternative formats, seating or auxiliary aides) should contact Liz at 312-1032.