Organist creates original score for Hitchcock film

Halloween spirit filled the IU Auditorium on Thursday when alumnus Dennis James performed his original theater pipe organ composition to Alfred Hitchcock’s silent film “Blackmail.”

Upon entering the auditorium, students and Bloomington residents were met with a wide array of costumes worn by both auditorium staff and the audience.

People of all ages dressed in their finest Halloween costumes, which ranged from the three blind mice to vampires.

“We decided to be nerdy Siamese twins,” said Sarah Young, Tri-North Middle School eighth-grade student.

She and her best friend and classmate Bailey Catt purchased their plaid green and black dress and sweater at Goodwill. Their costume centered around their alter egos, Stacy and Francesca.

“We have been coming every year since he has been back,” Catt said. “I really like seeing the different shows he does each year.”

Young said that since her father is a pipe organ professor at IU, she looked forward to hearing the organ. Though she does not play the organ like her father, she said she still enjoys listening to him and others play.

B97’s radio host Brandon announced the station’s costume contest before the show. Twenty people competed for the coveted titles of scariest, most creative and best costume. The winners of each were Mr. Skull Man, the Siamese Twins and Link, respectively.

The crowd cheered enthusiastically cheered for James as he came out in a flurry of smoke decked out in a costume complete with a gray mask and black cape. He educated the audience on the history of the film and the beginning of “talkie” films.

Each year, James performs at IU and composes an original score for a different silent film.

“It’s the 40th anniversary of the show,” James said. “I first started in 1969 as a sophomore prank.”

The plot centers around a woman named Alice White who flirts with an artist in front of her police officer boyfriend Frank Webber, which then leads to the artist’s fatality.

The film contains many of the same motifs common in most of Hitchcock’s movies: a director cameo, a chase near a famous landmark, a murder, a policeman, a blond bombshell and suspense.

Critics deemed “Blackmail” as the first all-talkie film, though it was also released as a silent film.

As James began to play, the auditorium shook from the power of the massive organ. From then on, the audience watched anxiously as the drama of the film began to unfold.

Sophomore and usher Ronald AngSiy said he hadn’t seen the performance before and decided to attend because James provides an opportunity for unique entertainment.

“Nowadays, you don’t see many silent films,” he said. “It’s a dying breed.”