Chicago's Music Box Theatre Presents 'The Hitchcock 9' Restored Silent Films, Now thru 8/13

Music Box Theatre announces a program of Alfred Hitchcock's silent films, jointly presented by the British Film Institute, Park Circus/ITV and Rialto Pictures. The Hitchcock 9, comprising all of Alfred Hitchcock's surviving silent films from the 1920s, will be shown today, August 9-13 at Chicago's Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport with newly composed scores performed live by Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra on opening weekend. Additional screenings will be accompanied by Dennis Scott on the Music Box organ.

The restoration of Hitchcock's nine surviving silent films has been the biggest and most complex restoration project undertaken by the BFI National Archive to date: decades of damage and wear have been removed; the sharpness of the image improved; new shots discovered and intertitles and tinting restored. Hitchcock's distinctive and trademark directorial styles are infused in these nine classic silent films that range from charming comedies to dark, backbiting dramas with a twist ending.

As the opening night event for The Hitchcock 9, Blackmail, The Lodger and The Ringwill be screened with live musical accompaniment by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, a five-piece chamber ensemble that revives the repertoire and scoring techniques of the orchestras in movie theaters during the silent film era. The New York Times says, "The results are often breathtakingly beautiful and always in the strict service of the film on the screen." Mont Alto Orchestra was formed in Colorado in 1989, and has scored more than 100 silent films using historic orchestrations, recording more than 20 film scores for releases on DVD, Blu-ray and Turner Classic Movies. Mont Alto Orchestra is a regular at the Telluride Film Festival, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, the Silent Film Society of Chicago and the Kansas Silent Film Festival, and has toured around the United States from Films at Lincoln Center in New York to Grauman's Egyptian Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard.

Tickets for most screenings are $10 adults/$8 students. Tickets for screenings with Mont Alto Orchestra accompaniment are $12 adults/$10 students. For complete info on The Hitchcock 9 at Music Box Theatre, visit www.musicboxtheatre.com/collections/the-hitchcock-9