Review: Silver Screen, Faifax House, York

With the world fast unravelling (by the time you read this, the Labour Party will no doubt have eaten itself and Trump, well, God knows...), thank the lord for Fairfax House in York.
Cary Grant in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest.Cary Grant in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest.
Cary Grant in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest.

Just when we all needed to wallow in a world before Brexit and Brexit-plus the Georgian property unveiled its Silver Screen season, which means for a couple of hours or so we can all wind back to simpler times.

These were times when cinemas had usherettes, who who showed you to your seat by torchlight and when films had an interval so the projectionist could change the reels. Both no longer exist, but for one glorious week in York it’s like the world never moved on.

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The event is a nod to the time when the Georgian property was used as a cinema and with this year’s chosen theme of Heroes and Villains there could have been few better films to open the programme than North by Northwest.

This Alfred Hitchcock cat and mouse classic stars Cary Grant at his charming and witty best as ad executive Roger Thornhill. Mistaken for a government agent, James Mason, who is masterly as spy Phillip Vandamm, sets his henchman on the trail which begins in New York and ends in spectacular style on Mount Rushmore.

Ok, so the seats could do with a little more padding, but it’s a small price to pay for an evening with Mason and Grant.