my favorite Hitchcock films
by blue_sock_monkey | created - 12 Dec 2012 | updated - 20 Jun 2013 | PublicWith my ratings & favourite scenes (yes, I used spoiler tags.)
I've seen more than 40 films directed by Hitch, and have a special fondness for the under-appreciated British period. My favorite tends to be whichever one I've watched most recently.
Please note that I am stingy with stars, and try to rate based on criteria more objective than simply "I loved/hated it"--a movie has to be really outstanding to earn an 8 or higher from me.
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1. Rear Window (1954)
PG | 112 min | Mystery, Thriller
A wheelchair-bound photographer spies on his neighbors from his Greenwich Village courtyard apartment window and, despite the skepticism of his fashion-model girlfriend, becomes convinced one of them has committed murder.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey, Thelma Ritter
Votes: 522,004 | Gross: $36.76M
10/10 Favourite sequence: All of them. This one is perfect from start to finish.
2. The 39 Steps (1935)
Approved | 86 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
A man in London tries to help a counter-espionage agent, but when the agent is killed and the man stands accused, he must go on the run to save himself and stop a spy ring that is trying to steal top-secret information.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Robert Donat, Madeleine Carroll, Lucie Mannheim, Godfrey Tearle
Votes: 61,532
10/10
Favourite sequences: The scenes at the inn, especially when Hannay tells Pamela about his sordid past.
Oh--and everything between Hannay and Annabella Smith.
3. Vertigo (1958)
PG | 128 min | Mystery, Romance, Thriller
A former San Francisco police detective juggles wrestling with his personal demons and becoming obsessed with the hauntingly beautiful woman he has been hired to trail, who may be deeply disturbed.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes, Tom Helmore
Votes: 426,856 | Gross: $3.20M
9/10 My favourite sequence: the Wizard of Oz homage as we move from sepia tones to the vivid colour & tile floor surprise in the flower shop--which also serves a thematic purpose, illustrating clearly that Scottie is entering a dream world.
4. Dial M for Murder (1954)
PG | 105 min | Crime, Thriller
A former tennis star arranges the murder of his adulterous wife.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, Robert Cummings, John Williams
Votes: 188,775 | Gross: $0.01M
8/10 My favourite sequence: The long scene during which Tony inveigles Lesgate into agreeing to to commit murder. The meaningful camera angles and cuts make this fly by--and at the end, I was prepared to strangle poor Margot.
5. Blackmail (1929)
Not Rated | 85 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
After killing a man in self-defense, a young woman is blackmailed by a witness to the killing.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Anny Ondra, John Longden, Sara Allgood, Charles Paton
Votes: 11,955
7/10
Favourite sequence: Alice's guilty walk through London. It's like a dress rehearsal for future "Lewton walks."
Also: Alice's frustration about being unable to hear the telephone call--this shows perfect understanding that, when movies have sound, silence can be significant.
6. North by Northwest (1959)
Approved | 136 min | Action, Adventure, Mystery
A New York City advertising executive goes on the run after being mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies, and falls for a woman whose loyalties he begins to doubt.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Jessie Royce Landis
Votes: 346,119 | Gross: $13.28M
9/10 Favourite sequence: Dinner on the train.
7. Strangers on a Train (1951)
PG | 101 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A psychopathic man tries to forcibly persuade a tennis star to agree to his theory that two strangers can get away with murder by submitting to his plan to kill the other's most-hated person.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Farley Granger, Robert Walker, Ruth Roman, Leo G. Carroll
Votes: 140,993 | Gross: $7.63M
9/10 Favourite sequence: The entire lead-up to the murder at the amusement park--especially when Bruno pops that kid's balloon.
8. The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)
Approved | 75 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
An ordinary British couple vacationing in Switzerland suddenly find themselves embroiled in a case of international intrigue when their daughter is kidnapped by spies plotting a political assassination.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Leslie Banks, Edna Best, Peter Lorre, Frank Vosper
Votes: 21,157
7/10 Favourite sequence: The siege--it's all somehow so low-key in its intensity. The moment when Abbott realizes Nurse Agnes is dead is terrific.
9. Notorious (1946)
Not Rated | 102 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Romance
The daughter of a convicted German spy is asked by American agents to gather information on a ring of German scientists in South America. How far will she have to go to ingratiate herself with them?
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, Louis Calhern
Votes: 107,270 | Gross: $10.46M
9/10 Favourite sequence: That walk down the staircase at the end--and Claude Rains left helpless at his own front door.
10. Psycho (1960)
R | 109 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A Phoenix secretary embezzles $40,000 from her employer's client, goes on the run and checks into a remote motel run by a young man under the domination of his mother.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, Vera Miles, John Gavin
Votes: 718,195 | Gross: $32.00M
9/10 Favourite sequence: The clean-up after Marion's murder, especially when the car fails to sink immediately in the swamp.
11. Rebecca (1940)
Approved | 130 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
A self-conscious woman juggles adjusting to her new role as an aristocrat's wife and avoiding being intimidated by his first wife's spectral presence.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders, Judith Anderson
Votes: 146,696 | Gross: $4.36M
9/10 Favourite sequence: That painful scene where the 2nd Mrs de W admits she broke the ugly statuette, Mr de W is sophisticatedly obtuse, Mrs D is wickedly delighted--and the happy home movies of their honeymoon play mockingly in the background.
12. Sabotage (1936)
Not Rated | 76 min | Crime, Thriller
A Scotland Yard undercover detective is on the trail of a saboteur who is part of a plot to set off a bomb in London. But when the detective's cover is blown, the plot begins to unravel.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Sylvia Sidney, Oscar Homolka, Desmond Tester, John Loder
Votes: 18,739
7/10 Sylvia Sidney holding that knife. <shiver>
13. Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
Passed | 108 min | Film-Noir, Thriller
A teenage girl, overjoyed when her favorite uncle comes to visit the family in their quiet California town, slowly begins to suspect that he is in fact the "Merry Widow" killer sought by the authorities.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Teresa Wright, Joseph Cotten, Macdonald Carey, Henry Travers
Votes: 70,494
8/10 Favourite sequence: The horribly uncomfortable bar scene. And of course any moment when Henry & Herbie discuss murder.
14. The Lady Vanishes (1938)
Not Rated | 96 min | Mystery, Thriller
While travelling in continental Europe, a rich young playgirl realizes that an elderly lady seems to have disappeared from the train.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Margaret Lockwood, Michael Redgrave, Paul Lukas, May Whitty
Votes: 57,150
8/10 Favourite sequence: The fight in the baggage car. And of course the shoot-out in the forest; I love how Caldicott & Charters unexpectedly come up trumps.
15. Foreign Correspondent (1940)
Passed | 120 min | Action, Romance, Thriller
On the eve of World War II, a young American reporter tries to expose enemy agents in London.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Joel McCrea, Laraine Day, Herbert Marshall, George Sanders
Votes: 23,715 | Gross: $3.48M
8/10 Favourite sequence: Creeping around the inside of the windmill. I also love the bit where Van Meer is tortured with jazz music.
16. Rope (1948)
Approved | 80 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Two men attempt to prove they committed the perfect crime by hosting a dinner party after strangling their former classmate to death.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: James Stewart, John Dall, Farley Granger, Dick Hogan
Votes: 153,607
7/10 Favourite sequence: The conversation between that actress what's-her-name and that actor--oh, you know the one I mean, not the tall one, the other one.
17. The Trouble with Harry (1955)
PG | 99 min | Comedy, Mystery
Harry's dead and, while no one really minds, everyone feels responsible. After Harry's body is found in the woods, several locals must determine not only how and why he was killed but what to do with the body.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: John Forsythe, Shirley MacLaine, Edmund Gwenn, Mildred Natwick
Votes: 41,269
8/10 Favourite sequence: Miss Gravely hosting Capt. Wiles at her home.
18. Frenzy (1972)
R | 116 min | Thriller
A serial murderer is strangling women with a necktie. The London police have a suspect, but he is the wrong man.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Jon Finch, Barry Foster, Barbara Leigh-Hunt, Anna Massey
Votes: 49,405 | Gross: $12.60M
8/10 Favourite sequence: I'm torn between the intensity of the potato truck search, and the warped humour of Mrs Oxford snapping that breadstick.
19. The Birds (1963)
PG-13 | 119 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A wealthy San Francisco socialite pursues a potential boyfriend to a small Northern California town that slowly takes a turn for the bizarre when birds of all kinds suddenly begin to attack people.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Rod Taylor, Tippi Hedren, Jessica Tandy, Suzanne Pleshette
Votes: 204,486 | Gross: $11.40M
7/10 Favourite sequence: The birds gathering on the playground equipment. How could it be anything else?!
20. Secret Agent (1936)
Not Rated | 86 min | Mystery, Thriller
After three British Agents are assigned to assassinate a mysterious German spy during World War I, two of them become ambivalent when their duty to the mission conflicts with their consciences.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: John Gielgud, Madeleine Carroll, Robert Young, Peter Lorre
Votes: 9,042
6/10 Not a great film, to be sure. But it deserves more love than it gets--where else can you see Peter Lorre throwing a tantrum whilst flinging toilet tissue around?
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