The so-called ‘Hitchcock 9′, made from 1925 to 1929, have been newly restored by the British Film Institute and are set to screen in several U.S. cities. The tour will kick off in San Francisco’s Castro Theatre as part of the Silent Film Festival June 14-16. The next stop is the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences’ Goldwyn Theater in Los Angeles on June 18, then BAMcinématek, June 29-July 5, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Steinberg Screen in the Harvey Theater. The touring festival is a joint venture of the BFI, Park Circus/ITV Studios, and Rialto Pictures/Studiocanal. The nine new BFI restorations include the director’s very first film, The Pleasure Garden, and such rarities as Downhill, Easy Virtue, Champagne, and The Farmer’s Wife. The familiar Hitchcock style begins to emerge strongly in at least four of the films: Blackmail, The Ring (seen at right), The Manxman, and The Lodger, which the director himself dubbed “the first true Hitchcock picture” (it also features his first cameo appearance). One early Hitchcock, The Mountain Eagle, is lost. The nine early Hitchcocks are also set to screen in Washington, D.C., Berkeley, Chicago, Seattle, Houston, Boston, and other American cities.

Photo Credits: BFI