Without question, legendary director Alfred Hitchcock is among the very best filmmakers in history, and in my opinion the greatest British directing talent of all time. The Master of Suspense enjoyed a long and hugely influential career across six decades, beginning in the silent era and leading to a dominance of British cinema and celebrated Hollywood career. In this time Hitchcock produced a number of cinematic masterpieces, demonstrating true genius of his craft, and his body of work includes enough quality movies to fill several of these lists.
Alas, there can be only five, so here (after much struggle) are what I consider to be the Essential Films of Alfred Hitchcock...
5. Shadow of a Doubt (1943)With the next four entries unquestionable, the decision of what to include in fifth place (and therefore, what to exclude) proved most difficult. Shadow of a Doubt makes it due to Joseph Cotten’s performance as Uncle Charlie, a.k.a. the Merry Widow Murderer, who seeks refuge from the police with his sister’s family in small-town America. Hitchcock’s personal favourite, the film is filled with suspense as niece Charlie (Teresa Wright) comes to suspect her uncle, who then sets about to make her his next victim. Perhaps a little dated, but with nail-biting tension through-out.
4. Vertigo (1958)Based on Boileau-Narcejac’s novel D’entre les morts (The Living and the Dead), Vertigo stars James Stewart as retired police detective ‘Scottie’ Ferguson, who happens to suffer from a fear of heights. Scottie is approached by a former acquaintance Gavin Elster to investigate the bizarre behaviour of his wife, Madeleine (Kim Novak). Scottie falls in love with Madeleine but believes she has committed suicide until he meets another young woman, Judy, who bears a striking resemblance to the deceased. Packed with twists and turns and a genuinely shocking ending, Vertigo initially failed to meet with critical and commercial success but is now recognised as one of Hitchcock’s finest mysteries.
3. Rear Window (1954)I found it immensely challenging to decide the order between Vertigo and Rear Window, as James Stewart provides another captivating performance as L.B. Jeffries, a photographer confined to his apartment due to a broken leg. Stewart – in addition to Hitchcock’s masterful direction - thoroughly engages the viewer into Jeffries’ voyeuristic world as he spies on his neighbours, and comes to suspect that a salesman in the opposite apartment may have murdered his wife. Grace Kelly co-stars as Stewart’s sceptical love interest. Gripping from start to finish, and it is a testament to Hitchcock’s overall body of work that this film is not higher.
2. North by Northwest (1959)Hitchcock had been playing with and refining the ‘chase’ through-out his career, and by 1959 he had the formula tweaked to perfection. North by Northwest was Hitchcock’s fourth and final collaboration with star Cary Grant, and the screen legend delivers a classic performance as the innocent man caught up in a MacGuffin that sees him pursued across the country. The movie expertly blends action, suspense and humour, and includes one of the most famous and iconic scenes in cinema history as Grant is chased by a crop-dusting plane, in addition to a memorable finale on Mount Rushmore. A true classic in every sense of the word.
1. Psycho (1960)After the double-header of Vertigo and North by Northwest, Hitchcock wanted to make a small, low-budget film using the crew from his television show Alfred Hitchcock Presents. The result is Psycho (based upon Robert Bloch’s novel of the same name), a chilling film that shocked audiences worldwide and ultimately revolutionised the horror genre. Hitchcock’s fascination with the ‘mother-son relationship’ is taken to the extreme with Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), a disturbed young motel proprietor with a murderous split personality and penchant for drag. Quite simply, one of the greatest films of all time.
Read more of my Psycho thoughts here.
Final Thoughts
As I said in the introduction to this list, narrowing Hitchcock’s best movies into such a small number is a near-impossible task, and solely dependent on personal taste. While I think my selection provides a good cross-section of his filmography, I’m also 100% sure there are many who would disagree.
Honourable mentions have to go to other classics such as The 39 Steps (1935), Rope (1948), Strangers on a Train (1951), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), and The Birds (1963). I’ve also got a soft spot for Lifeboat (1944) and The Trouble With Harry (1955), but now I’m just being greedy.
Agree? Disagree? We'd love to hear your comments on the list...
Gary Collinson
Essentials Archive
Spellbound? And Notorious?
ReplyDeleteBoth good films but what could I take out? For me, those five are all quite a lot better, but I know a lot of people enjoy Notorious in particular.
ReplyDeleteI would have put in Rope at #5 and mixed the order a bit, but altogether not a bad list.
ReplyDeleteSolid list but I still maintain Psycho is his most overrated. It's not really one of his movies which benefits from repeat viewings. Just my opinion though..
ReplyDeleteI would definetly have Notorious in there and perhaps Strangers on A Train.
Strangers on a Train is in my top 5 - the soft-spoken, well-dressed man who is thoroughly and irretrievably insane, and all the more frightening because he looks harmless. I would replace Shadow of a Doubt with Strangers on a Train.
ReplyDeleteAnd then, of course, there's Frenzy - Hitchcock's last masterpiece. Why wasn't this one even mentioned?
The Lady Vanishes would make my top four, with Vertigo, Rear Window, and Psycho. I'd have a hard time picking between North By Northwest and Strangers On A Train for the fifth slot. Five is hardly enough for the Hitch.
ReplyDeleteTo me, Rear Window has always been my favorite but I also love one that doesn't get mentioned at all: Torn Curtain. I was on pins and needles the entire time during that movie!
ReplyDeleteI would dial m for murder in my top five, that's one of my favorites. Also I agree with what was said above about replacing Shadow of a Doubt with Strangers on a Train.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I'd go with Notorious over North by Northwest. Both are exellent but the former embodied his directorial philosophy more in my opinion, not to mention has the emotional depth that's the trademark of his very best work.
ReplyDeleteTo me, Vertigo is and will always be number 1. I can understand arguments for both Rear Window and Psycho in the position even those masterpieces can't match the indelible aura Vertigo about it.
I prefer The Lady Vanishes over Shadow of a Doubt: more buoyant, better rhythm, plus there has to be a British movie in the selection. Strangers on a train also has its place here, but I'd rather have a more comic Hitchcock to give a large approach of his skills. Now your top 5 is perfect!
ReplyDeleteI also have a soft spot for Notorious, Trouble with Harry, Rope, Frenzy or even East of Shanghai... anyway an unranked list of the 20 best from his 50+ movies would not be ridiculous.
That some think of Psycho as his most overrated still eludes me. Sure you can only discover it once then feel a bit impatient for the shower scene to come, yet you can deny Hitch topped himself there. How many movies have such an impact on people (not just film buffs)? And this is not shock/exploitation cinema.
The Birds is clearly his most overrated flick. It has great scenes but the humans are dull. As William Goldman said, the intellectual praise of the French New Wave was beginning to wear on him and he started to make self-concious Hitchcock movies.
Eventually, no wonder you conoisseurs did not mention Rebecca, a path he fortunately didn't follow in the hope of racking up a personal acamdemy award.
Shadow of a Doubt is a good pick since Hitchcock considered it his favourite film of his own; and it's also it first purely American film even tough Rebecca was shot in the states first.
ReplyDeleteShow me some love for Frenzy.
ReplyDeleteCan't fault you for your picks as limiting it to five Hitchcock films is simply not fair. Having said that, how can you exclude "Rebecca" "Notorious" and "Spellbound" from even the honorable mentions?
ReplyDeleteI would have even replaced "NbyNW" with "Notorious"
Clearly, the problem here was your decision to limit the list to five. I would have no trouble naming my ten favorites, but have to reject any list that doesn't include Notorious (or Rebecca). Great post, at any rate.
ReplyDeleteHi guys,
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the comments - as a few of you have said, it is a (very) difficult task trying to get even close to five with so many great movies to choose from!
These are just my personal favourites; as for some of the other films mentioned in the comments I do enjoy Rebecca and Notorious but I've never really been a big fan of Frenzy. To be fair, it's a while since I've seen it and I think perhaps it's time to give it another watch to re-evaluate my opinion.
As for North by Northwest, I opted for this as I wanted to include a chase film and for me, this is the best. I did want to include a British film but I just don't feel that any of them are as good as his Hollywood efforts...
How about ten?
ReplyDelete10. The Man Who Knew Too Much
9. Shadow of a Doubt
8. Rebecca
7. The Lady Vanishes
6. Spellbound
5. North by Northwest
4. Psycho
3. Notorious
2. Rear Window
1. Vertigo
I am glad that you gave Lifeboat a shout out, though i may have put it where Shadow of a Doubt was
ReplyDeleteAs others have said, Notorious definitely belongs on a list of Hitch's best. Also, though Psycho has rightfully won great acclaim, I think that the Master's masterpiece was Vertigo.
ReplyDeleteHonorable mentions from me: The Lodger, Rebecca, Strangers on a Train, Saboteur, The 39 Steps and Blackmail. Let us not forget that Hitch's British films were great, too. Other than NbNW, though, I agree with all your picks.
I think I prefer The Birds over Psycho.
ReplyDeleteGreat list, pretty much agree with it (not fond of Vertigo) and def agree with Psycho at the top spot.
ReplyDeleteA big congrats to making front page on IMDB
NOTORIOUS
ReplyDeletei would have to replace "shadow of a doubt" and "psycho" with "strangers on a train" and "notorious", with honorable mentions going to "psycho" "the birds" "the 39 steps" "lifeboat" and "the lady vanishes". it's hard to choose only five!
ReplyDeleteD'entre les morts means: "From among the Dead", NOT "The Living and the Dead"
ReplyDeleteGood list, though I'd probably choose "Strangers.." over "Shadow...," but that's just me.
ReplyDeleteI would put Foreign Correspondent in there somewhere. Great scenes-umbrellas, windmill and the plane crash. I also love The Lady Vanishes. Never liked Vertigo very much, but that is just me.
ReplyDeleteIt is not just you -- I have never understood why anybody thinks Vertigo is so great. To me it is 1) not credible in part or in whole, 2) overdone, repetitious camera effects, and 3) not about vertigo at all. Call it "obsession," or "fear of heights," but don't call it vertigo.
ReplyDeleteCan anybody explain what they think is good about this movie?
Great list! Inspired by this posting, I have assembled my own "Essential Hitchcock" list. Take a look at: www.filmaniac.ca
ReplyDeleteI agree except for the omission of Rebecca.
ReplyDeleteBarely anyone ever talks about it, but I think "I Confess" deserves at least a shout out! Amazing cast with Montgomery Clift and Ann Baxter. Hitchcock also portrayed the inner struggle of the preist dealing with a power out of his hands perfectly. I don't know why it's not more famous.
ReplyDeleteI think thats a pretty good list Gary - a solid five - no matter what you do youre going to get mauled. I reckon Rebecca might sneak into my own top five, its such a creepy movie without ever resorting to cheap scares. It would be hard to argue with anyone who put Psycho, Rear Window or Vertigo at the top.
ReplyDelete39 Steps did receive an honorable mention from you, but I see through the comments that hardly anyone mentions it.
ReplyDeleteFor me, even though it's not in Hitchcock's very debatle top five, it's highly amusing, ever-suspenseful and defintely groundbreaking (technically and story wise... pairing a man vs. a "self suficient" woman was easily something new for audiences back then).
Valdez Lopez - Monterrey, Mexico
Thanks everyone for the comments, it's great to get so many opinions and I'm certainly going to have to go back and rewatch a few - particularly Notorious, and I might even give Frenzy another try!
ReplyDeleteOn the subject of his British films, Sabotage is quite interesting, although it's rare to hear much about it. An important film in shaping Hitchcock's opinion on how to handle suspense (without giving away any spoilers)!
I can't believe that I'm the only person who thought of "lifeboat". I love that film and think it's one of the best "one room" scripts ever. A bit difficult to find however and that may be it's biggest trouble.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Shadow of the doubt is one of my favorite hitchcock's movie, but, for me is more essencial Strangers than Shadow... It;s a classic. Also I would add to the list:
ReplyDeleteDial M for Murder
To Catch a Thief
Suspicion
You definitely picked the films that get the higher ratings. Rebecca should definitely have a mention or be in the top 5. I am not a fan of Jimmy Stewart. The casting of certain actors can ruin a film for me, no matter how good it's made. My favorites are easily Psycho and The Birds. I have yet to see Suspicion or Lifeboat, but they are on my list. Strangers on a Train is also in my collection :-)
ReplyDeleteCan't believe 'The Wrong Man' doesn't get a mention.
ReplyDeletestrangers on a train is my favoritebecause Robert Walker was a much better actor than most people thought he was
ReplyDelete5. FRENZY
ReplyDelete4. STRANGERS ON A TRAIN
3. VERTIGO
2. PSYCHO
1. SHADOW OF A DOUBT
I agree wholeheartedly about SHADOW OF A DOUBT, except it's my favorite Hitchcock film I've seen to date. The others are pretty much a tie for runner-up. And there ARE so many others to include...
Going to ten:
ReplyDelete1. Psycho
2. Shadow of a Doubt
3. The Birds
4. North by Northwest
5. The 39 Steps
6. Rear Window
7. Strangers on a Train
8. Vertigo
9. Notorious
10. The Wrong Man
In like Vertigo, but I couldn't keep it in the top 5. The Birds is really remarkable; it's almost surrealist. And the 39 Steps I think holds up as one of the really great romantic thrillers, neck and neck with N by NW. I also felt like giving props to The Wrong Man, an understated, very underrated movie.
I think Notorious is much better than most of the films on this list; more intense than North by Northwest, more put-together than Psycho, and with a climax far superior to the weak end of Shadow of a Doubt. I also prefer Lady on the Train to The 39 Steps, as far as '30s Hitchcock goes.
ReplyDeleteKen said
ReplyDeleteglad you added lifeboat found it on dvd my second favourite. first is rear window. forgot about Shadow of a Doubt have seen it once like to see it again'
vertigo
ReplyDeletemarnie
shadow of a doubt
notorious
north by northwest
1. Strangers on a Train
ReplyDelete2. Shadow of a Doubt
3. Saboteur
4. Lifeboat
5. Mr. and Mrs. Smith
Honorable mentions: The Birds, Psycho, The Trouble with Harry, The Lady Vanishes, Rebecca. I have always found Marnie utterly predictable, Notorious somewhat tawdry (the Grant/Bergman romance always struck me as terribly juvenile, not at all as sophisticated as the film pretends it is), and Vertigo horribly overrated (Scotty is the creepiest thing in the film: an aging stalker trying to coerce a woman half his age to pretend to be his believed-dead adulterous crush; Rear Window isn't much less uncomfortable to watch).
(Sorry, hit post too soon) North by Northwest is essentially an overblown remake of Saboteur, but in his ardor to depict his characters as sexual urban sophisticates, Hitchcock forgot to make them into people we can actually identify with. I have a much easier time making that connection with a nice-guy everyman and his same-aged former antagonist-cum-girlfriend than I do with a middle-aged wealthy playboy and his twentysomething chance sexual encounter. Both films have the same essential plot, but several of the plot details and twists in the later film are simply ludicrous; it plays more like a Bond film than good Hitchcock. With the exception of cinematography, Saboteur is the better film, blow for blow.
ReplyDeleteFive great films from Hitchcock is not enough! I would choose ten: a few older British films like The 39 Steps and The Lady Vanishes, the five you chose, and Strangers on a Train. The last two could be any of Notorious, Spellbound, Frenzy, Rebecca, Dial M for Murder, Suspicion, To Catch a Thief, or The Birds.
ReplyDeleteStrangers on a Train is my fifth ... and by the way, D'entre les Morts means Between Deaths, not The Living and the Dead. It's about what happens between the two deaths suffered by Madelaine and Judy .
ReplyDeleteApologies for the translation error, but the version of the book I have is called "The Living and the Dead". Perhaps the publisher altered the title for some reason. Worth a read anyway, with an even better ending than the film in my opinion.
ReplyDeletePlease lose Vertigo. Way overrated. Substitute Notorious, with a great Claude Rains performance.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Shadow of the doubt is one of my favorite hitchcock's movie, but, for me is more essencial Strangers than Shadow... It;s a classic. Also I would add to the list:
ReplyDeleteDial M for Murder
To Catch a Thief
Suspicion
Clearly, the problem here was your decision to limit the list to five. I would have no trouble naming my ten favorites, but have to reject any list that doesn't include Notorious (or Rebecca). Great post, at any rate.
ReplyDelete