The International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) will open on December 7 with the screening of master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock’s The Ring , first released in 1927.
The screening here will be followed by a live orchestral performance by the British jazz sensation Soweto Kinch and his orchestra.
The Indian premiere of the restored film will be a visual and a musical treat. The venue Nishagandhi auditorium will be dressed up in the old theatrical style of the 1920s. The screening coincides with the 75th anniversary of the first Malayalam silent film ‘Balan.’
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Musicians Paul Booth, Richard Henry, Robert Mitchell, Shaney Forbes, Jay Phelps, and Karl Oloniluyi-Abel will accompany Soweto Kinch in the 116-minute live orchestra. The same group of musicians had played the live score when the movie was earlier screened in Britain.
The Ring is a love triangle set in the world of boxing, a milieu that fascinated Hitchcock. The title of the film refers not only to the boxing ring, but also the wedding ring that unites protagonist Jack Sander (Carl Brisson) and his girlfriend Mabel (Lillian Hall Davis), and the threat to their relationship symbolised by an arm bracelet given to Mabel by Jack’s boxing rival Bobo Corby.
The film, widely considered a minor work of the director, employs photographic tricks. It is the only one of Hitchcock’s films for which he has sole writing credit.
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The restoration was done on what was nearly a ‘lost film’ as part of the British Film Institute’s larger restoration project. The original film was produced by John Maxwell for the British International Pictures in 35mm film and its maiden release was on October 1, 1927, in the U.K.
The ‘live-play’ of the 1920s film using latest technology is expected to be a nostalgic and memorable occasion for the audience.