Psychos & Strings

A couple of weeks ago we at Bristol Whipped were lucky enough to take a trip to Colston Hall to catch the performance of Psycho Live! - a screening of Alfred Hitchcock's classic thriller with a live accompaniment from the British Sinfonietta performing the iconic Bernard Herrmann score.

From the first swirling notes of the opening credits to the spine-tingling shower scene the band performed to a tee! It was hard to believe that they would be able to stay so perfectly in sync with the drama, but the timing was impeccable (despite quite a distracting skirmish from the balcony at one point) & by the end not a soul could find fault!

In fact, the music was so much part of the performance that it was easy to momentarily forget that the band were even there as you got further and further wrapped up in the spectacle of the show. Although of course this was not only down to the excellent display of the musicians but also the masterpiece storytelling of Alfred Hitchcock.

These days it's easy to look over older pieces of cinema, especially black & white film - but Psycho is just one example of how much of a travesty this would be! The suspense and intrigue created in the story of Psycho are something often missed in many films of today, let alone the brilliant score that facilitated an evening such as this - appreciated more than 50 years after it's initial release.

So bravo to Hitchcock and his iconic tale of suspense and family issues that even Freud would balk at, and congratulations to the British Sinfonietta for bringing this piece to life with such sophistication!

Highlight - how wonderfully the action of the violin bow reflected the action of the knife on screen!

If you missed out on this then make sure you give Psycho a watch - ok so there won't be any live band (unless you can badger your more musical housemates into performing along), but it's definitely worth seeing! And if you're interested in more examples of b&w cinema then you might like to check out some of these:

- Some Like It Hot - Marilyn Monroe & cross dressing, what more could you want?!
- Dr. Strangelove - not the same era as most b&w but still a really interesting example
- It's A Wonderful Life - *sob*
- The Third Man - if any film was made for the mystery of b&w then this is it!
- Casablanca 

Let me know your favourite classics!