Alfred Hitchcock thread

I know that Alfred Hitchcock is a great director , he is one of the best and i think that many of you would agree with this statement. I want to know what your favourite movies are? I can't say that i've seen all of his movies (that's why i'm asking you what would you suggest), but i'm working on it i've seen such movies as: "The man who knew too much"(remake), "Vertigo", "Saboteur","Psycho"," The Birds ","North by Northwest" and "Rope".

 

North By Northwest is my favorite movie ever...that's the one movie I've lost count of how many times I've seen (including once in college on the big screen).

 

Psycho
Vertigo
The 39 Steps (watch out for the blinking drummer)

 

Oops sorry boss my bad......blinking cheek of me !

 

"Marnie" (Tippi Hedren, Sean Connery, Bruce Dern) - I saw this as a child and it scared me!

 

39 Steps (The best of his early pictures)
Vertigo
North By Northwest
To Catch A Thief
I used to love his movies as a kid. But as an adult, I see huge plot holes in many of the stories. Even my favorite, Vertigo, has mutiple plot holes that almost destory the film for me. Make sure you avoid this version of Vertigo because they remixed the movie into stereo and readded digital effects that were never in the the original film
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/07...1391315-3388748?_encoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=130
The vertigo in this boxset has the correct mono audio for the film, so try to see it that way:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0..._1_2/104-1391315-3388748?s=dvd&v=glance&n=130

 

My three favourites are:

Rope
North by Northwest
Psycho

 

My faves...

North by Northwest
Notorious
Rear Window
Strangers on a Train
Psycho
The 39 Steps
Rope
Rebecca
Lifeboat
The Lady Vanishes

...and pretty much in that order, with NXNW being my fave.

Don't ask about Vertigo, but yes, I've seen it, and it does not make my list.

Shalom, y'all!

L. Bangs

 

One film that hasn't been mentioned yet is 'Shadow of a Doubt' (1943), starring Joseph Cotten and Teresa Wright. IMO, one of Hitchcock's best, although it is often overlooked.

 

I don't think it helped that it was out of circulation for a long, long time...

I do like that one quite a bit. I love Cotten.

Shalom, y'all!

L. Bangs

 

NOVA PILBEAM!

Oh I'm sorry, where was I...

Young and Innocent is an interesting early one (1936, I think) with that long zoom shot that's duplicated in Notorious. It's also got some great set pieces. I really like the 1934 version of The Man Who Knew Too Much, it's far better than the remake for my tastes.

The Trouble With Harry is an odd one, as is Rope, but I like 'em both when I'm in an odd mood. The Birds will leave you forever suspicious of flocks of birds perched anywhere.

Favorites:

North By Northwest
Psycho
Vertigo
Rear Window
The 39 Steps
The Lady Vanishes
Saboteur
Sabotage

There are still a number I haven't seen, like Torn Curtain, and I'm always anxious to see a Hitchcock film I don't know.

Jason

 

Frenzy (1972).
Brilliant performances, especially Barry Foster.




My favorites:

Shadow of a Doubt
Rope
Strangers on a Train
Dial M for Murder
Rear Window
To Catch a Thief
The Trouble with Harry
Vertigo
North by Northwest
Psycho
Frenzy

 

..............Yeah Strangers on a Train is the favorite Hitchcock of my wife and myself. Wev'e probably watched it a couple dozen times together and find something new and interesting in it every time. Closely followed by Vertigo and North by Northwest.

 

'Veritgo' is by far my favorite.

I recently got that big 15 disc box of the DVDs, but I haven't watched them all yet. I hightly recommend this purple velvet "Masterpiece" box. It has the best quality DVD transfers, and includes some of his most famous movies.

 

A good Hitchcock book is this one:

The Art of Alfred Hitchcock : Fifty Years of His Motion Pictures

It opened my eyes about what Hitchcock was trying to accomplish in these pictures (plot devices, the "MacGuffin", metaphors, etc.). I was able to read the write-ups of the movies within and get more out of them the next time I watched them.

I still come back to North by Northwest as my favorite. Other favorites:

Vertigo
Notorious
Rear Window
To Catch A Thief
Strangers On A Train
Shadow Of A Doubt

Actually, it's easier to list the few that I don't like. Family Plot never did anything for me, for instance.

And I still have a handful of his films to watch all the way through (don't own them yet): Marnie, The Birds, Topaz, Frenzy, etc. I also have a box set of some really old Hitchcock films that I haven't watched yet--I've seen 39 Steps, but wish I had a way to slow the dialog down.

 

I can't recall having seen Marnie, and it was just mentioned in a review of the 20th anniversary showing of Blue Velvet as having similar psychosexual undercurrents. Gotta order it from Netflix. My personal favorites are North by Northwest, Rear Window, Psycho, The Birds, and Vertigo.

 

The 39 Steps
Foreign Correspondent
Rear Window
Shadow Of A Doubt
North By Northwest
Strangers On A Train
The Lady Vanishes
Stage Fright
Suspicion (Joan Fontaine is gorgeous. Too bad they didn't film the "real" ending. Ah, the studio system)

And

Mr. and Mrs. Smith (not the best screwball comedy, but it has it's moments - Carole Lombard had never looked better. I bet that If she hadn't died she would have been a "Hitchcock blonde" in one of his thrillers)

EDIT: I'll add Rebecca and Psycho. I never think of them as favorites, but do enjoy them when I do see them on TV

 

I picked up the 2 disc version with the British and American versions. At the moment I can't remember what the differences are.

I have a problem with "Vertigo". Jimmy Stewart comes off as an obsessive stalker, so I don't have any sympathy for him.

 

His character is definitely (and purposely) flawed to the point of creepy obsession and guilt.

 

Forgive me for a stupid question but is the new Mr and Mrs Smith a remake of Alfred Hitchcock's 1941 movie? I mean I haven't seen either.

 

No. The Hitchcock version is a screwball comedy in which the couple find out that, through a technicality, they are not really married. Hillarity ensues. Dated, but fun. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033922/

The latest film is an action flick about a husband and wife who don't know each other is secretly an assassin - until they are hired to kill each other (something like that)