Your Top 5 Alfred Hitchcock Movies

Impossible really.

1. Vertigo
2. Psycho
3. Rear Window
4. North By Northwest
5. The Birds

 

I would put it in my top 5. But many argue that it's more of a David O. Selznick movie than a Hitchcock.

 

5 North by Northwest
4 Shadow of a Doubt
3 Strangers on a Train
2 Rear Window
1 Vertigo

 

Tough to list -- I like so many. I had to take an Alfred Hitchcock class in film school years ago, and we saw everything... silents, early soundies, obscure films, watched interviews, the big films, the little films, the hits, the bombs, everything. Trust me, a night of Under Capricorn, Stage Fright, and Young and Innocent is no fun.

But these are great:

Rear Window
Vertigo
Psycho
North by Northwest

and one only one person has mentioned:

Spellbound, which I think is a very interesting film. I found it really haunting as a kid, especially the POV shots like the one where the boy accidentally knocks his brother off a step and gets impaled on a fence, or when Leo G. Carroll shoots himself (the camera) with the gun. Wild, bizarre film.

I personally can't stand Rebecca, because it's too long and too dull, but I'd concede it's a very well-made film. And I like certain scenes from the earlier films like 39 Steps, Man Who Knew Too Much (both of them), Saboteur, and so on. Heck, I even like the kid getting blown up in Sabotage -- that took guts. (And Hitchcock said he learned from the film's failure "never kill an innocent child like this in a film -- you'll lose the audience."

Hitchcock is so great, even his unsuccessful films are often more interesting than other director's hits.

 

Glad to see Foreign Correspondent and Saboteur were mentioned. Two of my favorites although not usually mentioned in the same breath as blockbusters such as Psycho and North by Northwest.

 

I like Stage Fright, I think it's under-appreciated.

I also love The Lady Vanishes, The 39 Steps, Rebecca, Foreign Correspondent, Notorious, Spellbound, The Paradine Case, Strangers On A Train, Dial M For Murder, The Trouble With Harry, The Wrong Man and Frenzy.

 

Vertigo
North by Northwest
Rear Window
The Birds
Rope

I haven't seen all of his films, but I've seen a fair few.

 

Frenzy
Psycho
Rear Window
The Birds
Vertigo

 

The Birds
Rear Window
North by Northwest
Vertigo
Strangers On A Train

 

1. Rear Window
2. North By Northwest
3. The Birds
4. Dial M For Murder
5. The Lady Vanishes

 

1. Rebecca
2. Notorious
3. Strangers on a Train
4. Rear Window
5. Saboteur - it may not be his best but something about it I really like

 

I agree about Under Capricorn and Stage Fright, but I think Young and Innocent is a pretty good movie. One of Hitches "wrong man movies" and a pretty strong effort in my opinion.

 

I thought this was going to be easy, but it isn't.

1. North By Northwest
2. Psycho
3. Rear Window
4. Saboteur
5. Dial M For Murder -or- The Birds -or- Vertigo

Oh, wait... I didn't list To Catch a Thief...

 

Let's see...

1. Vertigo
2. Rear Window
3. North by Northwest
4. The Birds
5. Psycho

 

Vertigo
North By Northwest
To Catch a Thief - I think only one other post mentioned this; love this movie!
Rear Window
Notorious

 

Depends on how you look at it. The looks and sex appeal run in the family

 

Shocked and stunned that no one chose Lifeboat as a favorite. A terrific film!

 

1. North by Northwest
2. Vertigo
3. Psycho
4. Rear Window
5. Saboteur or Rope

 

The Lady Vanishes
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1930s version)
The 39 Steps
Shadow of a Doubt
Strangers on a Train

 

That is a good one! And personally, i dont like about everones number one pick, Vertigo. Ive tried to like it, watching it 2 or 3 times, but i just dont. Kim novak bugs me, the hazy shots and melodramic score bugs me and the plot in general is too contrived for me to like. The whole Carlotta Valdez bit is just lame. It reminds me of the godawful Marnie in some ways.

 

Vertigo is definitely an acquired taste. I don't think I liked or appreciated it the first couple of times I watched it as a kid, but I eventually understood the layers of the story going on, the dreamlike quality of the production, and the weird psychological twists going on. I love the sights and sounds of San Francisco, and even the convoluted doppleganger thing is very strange and striking to me. I buy into it.

No question, Chad, 1958 audiences would agree with you, and I know Hitchcock was frustrated that the film didn't do well in its original release. I think it's also one of the few Hitchcock films with a terribly downbeat ending; I was always convinced that Jimmy Stewart was seconds away from jumping off the bell tower. (At least, until I read the script that had the original unfilmed ending, which is a lot more optimistic.) And it's another movie -- like Spellbound -- that has some literally nightmarish elements, which I think makes it even more memorable, almost like remembering a dream you had years ago.

The Bernard Herrmann score for Vertigo is one of the highlights of his career; I think it's flawless. Marnie is definitely a weird movie, but at least the photography and score are good. The story and characters... not so much. But again, I think Marnie is a case where one of Hitch's mediocre films is more interesting than many directors' successes.

 

Marnie is an interesting film, haven't seen it for years but I remember it fondly.

It would be a much shorter list if I did Hitchcock films I don't like...there aren't many, because even in his lesser efforts there are always elements that capture my imagination.

 

Marnie is just interesting--yep, and that's the problem for me; it's not very good, except technically. He trots out all the normal tricks, which are always great fun to watch, especially the high heel falling at the beginning. But I lose interest with the wacky horseback riding sequence, the matte painting ending, and that line about feeding the fish always makes me shake my head.