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In September 1935, Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps screened at Taliesin, promoted by Fellowship member Cornelia Brierly as “a tale of international intrigue that will fascinate every lover of mystery stories.” She described the film as one that “gathers dash and speed and suspense until it has you jittery,” assuring readers they “won’t be disappointed with the ending—a rare occurrence.” Brierly praises Hitchcock’s “uncanny gift for cold chills and suspenseful thrills,” noting his previous success with The Man Who Knew Too Much, and credits lead actor Robert Donat with the power “to hold you enthralled.”

The advertisement appeared in a weekly column depicting life on the estate; set against a backdrop of busy activity with “boys [sic] working with Mr. Wright to rebuild the dam.” Nearly 90 years later, that same dam has just been restored. (Some plotlines, it seems, are too good not to repeat.) And with timing worthy of Hitchcock himself, we’re reviving another tradition too: summer thrillers on the Hillside screen.

This year, we’re celebrating suspense in a setting shaped by Wright’s vision with a Hitchcock mini-series at Hillside Theater, presented in partnership with River Valley Film Club and American Players Theatre, performing a theatrical adaptation of The 39 Steps this fall.

We begin with Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps on Monday, July 14, returning to the film that once captivated the Fellowship. The series continues August 11 with Strangers on a Train (1951, first screened at Hillside in 1952); and we close on September 8 with North by Northwest (1959, first screened at Hillside 1960), a sleek espionage featuring one of Hitchcock’s most iconic set pieces: the cliffside lair of the villain, known as the Vandamm House.

Often mistaken for a Frank Lloyd Wright design, the Vandamm House was in fact a fictional structure created by production designer Robert Boyle, who drew direct inspiration from Fallingwater. Hitchcock had hoped to commission Wright himself, but reportedly could not afford his fee. Nevertheless, the house—with its cantilevers, native stone, and integration into the landscape—echoes Wright’s principles and reinforces how his modernism shaped Hollywood’s visual language.

North by Northwest helped solidify modernist design as a cinematic shorthand for wealth, sophistication, and danger—a legacy that points unmistakably back to Wright, even without his direct involvement.