Alfred Hitchcock POX

surprised there isn't one of these already

The 39 Steps
Shadow of a Doubt
The Lady Vanishes
Rope
Vertigo
Strangers on a Train
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
Rebecca
Notorious
The Birds

I've got twenty.

1. Notorious
2. Strangers on a Train
3. The 39 Steps
4. Rear Window
5. North by Northwest
6. Psycho
7. Sabotage
8. Rebecca
9. The Lodger
10. Vertigo

Rear Window
Vertigo
The Birds
Notorious
Marnie
Strangers on a Train
The Wrong Man
Foreign Correspondent
I Confess
Psycho

In no particular order:

Rear Window
Psycho
North by Northwest
The 39 Steps
Vertigo
Frenzy
Shadow of a Doubt
Family Plot
Lifeboat
Dial M for Murder

how many times does one have to watch Vertigo before it sticks? bcuz i've seen it like 20 times and it's still weird

that's a great way to put it. I only saw it for the first time this year, back in the beginning of January. I didn't know what to make of it - and I know this is documented on the Vertigo thread where I got flayed a bit - but it's really lingered with me all year, in a weird/inexplicable way. It's beguiling in a way that none of the other major later ones are (NXNW, Rear Window, Psycho... was gonna say The Birds too but that one also has lingered with me a bit in a way I didn't expect). I plan on watching Vertigo again before the end of the year.

but holy shit, SHADOW OF A DOUBT is neck&neck with The 39 Steps for me. what an intoxicating film- and of a piece with Vertigo, I think.

Rebecca
Saboteur
Shadow of a Doubt
Lifeboat
Spellbound
Strangers on a Train
Dial M for Murder
Rear Window
Vertigo
Psycho

I know Saboteur and Spellbound are kinda minor, but I love 'em.

i like all the great ones and most of the very good ones and a fair amount of everything else.

Family Plot and Marnie critically omitted! Notorious, Shadow of a Doubt, strangers on a train, Rebecca and ... then the rest.

I never like Hitchcock more than when his repression is showing.

I'm glad people like Family Plot! It's pretty fun, just not top 10.

realizing that there are not actually 10 Hitchcock films I like (I think I've *seen* 10, but I didn't like all of them)

but the top tier for me would be:

Vertigo
Psycho
Rebecca

I didn’t “get” Vertigo — it struck me as dull, tin-eared, and hammy on my first watch. Every time I’ve seen it since,it’s gotten a little better, but I am not sure I understand its appeal. Cinematography is great, but beyond that, ehh?

I feel the same. Too ponderous.

I could watch Family Plot a lot more frequently than Rebecca. Which I love! But a lot of times both Fontaine and Olivier are so ACTOR-ly that it's really distracting. At least for me. Mrs. Danvers forever, though.

I often want to shake Fontaine, but then again so do Maxim and Mrs. Danvers.

It might have a little too much "decorum" for a fetish film (made in Hollywood in '57 after all), but Vertigo is not ponderous. It's kinky and witty, as well as tragic.

Fontaine didn't really mature as an actress until Max Ophuls, perhaps, but Olivier is just laughably emotive sometimes (backhanding his brow). He got real good on film from the '50s on, though.

Vertigo grew on me with repeated viewings as well. it's hypnotic.

chrono, not ranked

The Man Who Knew Too Much ('34)
The Lady Vanishes
Foreign Correspondent
Shadow of a Doubt
Notorious
Strangers on a Train
Rear Window
Vertigo
N x NW
Psycho

today mine wd go something like

Vertigo
Psycho
Rear Window
Notorius
North by Northwest
Shadow of a Doubt
Frenzy
Strangers on a Train
Marnie
Sabotage

i do hate leaving off Foreign Correspondent, The Birds, 39 Steps, Lady Vanishes and both Knew Too Muches.

Not ranked --

Notorious
Strangers on a Train
Dial M for Murder
Rear Window
To Catch a Thief
Vertigo
North by Northwest
Psycho
The Birds
Frenzy

i find vertigo to be a v upsetting experience, the last half-hour in particular feels like the cinematic equivalent of a panic attack

i guess my list would go something like, in order:

rebecca
vertigo
notorious
suspicion
psycho
shadow of a doubt
the lady vanishes
north by northwest
rear window
the birds

I have a soft spot for The Trouble with Harry, probably mainly cos Edmund Gwenn. But would struggle to shoehorn it into the Hitchcock greats, but still find it (as much as you could a movie about a corpse) sort of good comfort viewing.

I've watched Vertigo five or six times and am no closer to liking it -- admire, sure. Its dazed, zonked-out pacing can be hypnotic in the right mood, I guess.

and in a theater.

(I was lucky in that it was finally re-released in '84 after it had been officially withdrawn for 15 years or so. It made it an event and easier to appreciate, perhaps.)

I love Trouble With Harry. I didn’t, though, until I saw a film print on a big screen. As far as I can tell, the color and point of view shots don’t translate to digital or tv viewing.

Weird xpost

I like Fontaine just fine in Suspicion, only a year later, but no way does it make a POX list. Not with that cop-out of an ending.

i have a fondness for suspicion because it was the first hitch i ever saw. prob not really one of his 10 best, just a sentimental pick for me. also think grant is very good in it. despite the ending, he really does convince you that he could turn out to be a murderer.

are endings a problem for hitch in general? ppl always complain about the psychiatrist scene that (almost) ends psycho. a lot of his films end very abruptly, like north by northwest. of course vertigo ends perfectly.

NxNW ending is perfect. It's a sex comedy in disguise.

The last third (or half?) of Strangers on a Train is a copout to Highsmith readers, but that plot couldn't be filmed as written in 1951.

I understand that the Psycho shrink ramble seems hokey now, but there's plot info that needs to be related and people were innocent about some things then.

the last minute of the film, and then the very last shot, more than makes up for it for me

Despite how Suspicion ends, it's fairly obvious, even to a 1941 audience, that Grant did it.

Fontaine won her Oscar for this to compensate for the previous year's loss.

Hitchcock told Truffaut this

Well, I'm not too pleased with the way Suspicion ends. I had something else in mind. The scene I wanted, but it was never shot, was for Cary Grant to bring her a glass of milk that's been poisoned and Joan Fontaine has just finished a letter to her mother: "Dear Mother, I'm desperately in love with him, but I don't want to live because he's a killer. Though I'd rather die, I think society should be protected from him." Then, Cary Grant comes in with the fatal glass and she says, "Will you mail this letter to Mother for me, dear?" She drinks the milk and dies. Fade out and fade in on one short shot: Cary Grant, whistling cheerfully, walks over to the mailbox and pops the letter in.

Here are 9 that I've seen either enough times and/or recently enough that I can comfortably rank:

North by Northwest
Psycho
Rear Window
The Birds
Notorious
Rebecca
Shadow of a Doubt
Strangers on a Train
I Confess

Haven't seen anything pre-Jamaica Inn and am missing some of the lesser American ones. I might've added Frenzy if I'd seen it more recently, and I need to give Marnie and To Catch a Thief fresh looks. I don't love Vertigo like everyone else does, but the only Hitch's that I've seen that I actually dislike are Spellbound and The Trouble With Harry.

The Wrong Man, I Confess, Under Capricorn all underrated

(possibly Rich and Strange too)

and Blackmail

Why don't you

Why don't you

The Wrong Man makes me feel almost claustrophobic the way circumstances just close in on Fonda. I haven't seen it in forever - does Miles come out of her near-catatonia? That role was tough to watch.

The Wrong Man is solid second-tier for me.

infamously 'reassuring' TWM end title (SPOILER)

http://annyas.com/screenshots/images/1956/wm-ah-15.jpg

However, the wife in the true story *did* recover.

https://books.google.com/books?id=CkgEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PP1&pg=PA97#v=onepage&q&f=false

Whoa, I had no idea there was a true story!

oh yeah, he shot almost entirely on the actual locations in NYC

(it's told to us in Hitch's prologue appearance)

any thoughts on stage fright? seems like the least-discussed hitch from the "classic" era. don't remember it being terribly good, tbh.

it's his most political film? the criminal justice system as the ultimate nightmare of suspense xp

I finally watched Stage Fright a couple years ago, it's not awful. but it could be bottom 10 in his oeuvre.

there's a notorious narrative cheat in SF that i was amused by, having read so many complaints about it

I was gonna bring up Stage Fright - it's not on blu-ray & the DVD is like ~$45 on Amazon. I really want to see it

The Wrong Man, I Confess, Under Capricorn all underrated

Under Capricorn has been overrated for being underrated for years now (the Cahiers crowd were big fans). The long takes in it are interesting, and some of the colour photography is very pretty, but the story itself is a bore and Bergman and (especially) Michael Wilding are horribly miscast.

Otoh, Jamaica Inn - frequently written off as a project sabotaged by Charles Laughton - is a fun, fast-paced romp that remains genuinely underrated.

It's not bad, but i gave it a 6/10.

best Hitch-directed TV episodes I can think of:

"Lamb to the Slaughter"
"Bang! You're Dead"
"The Crystal Trench"

"One More Mile To Go" is a pretty great dry run of the first 25 minutes of Psycho.

Stage Fright among the post-WWII Hitches I still have yet to see, along with Capricorn, Lifeboat and The Paradine Case. To think I could've been watching any of them while I wasted that time watching Topaz.

I haven't watched Under Capricorn and Lifeboat either, and I'm pretty sure if I die before fifty it's thanks to radiation exposure from Torn Curtain.

I was just coming here to bring up his AHP episodes! 'The Case of Mr. Pelham' ranks very highly among my all-time favorite anthology series episodes.

I watched Under Capricorn a few years ago on TCM and my main takeaway was that it desperately needed restoration. Hissy, barely-colored mud.

Yeah, I think it's one of those films that's fallen out of copyright, which unfortunately lessens the chances of anyone bothering to do a nice restoration of it.

Torn Curtain oven is among his top 10 scenes, tho

Top 50-ish

thx, i need to see "Mr Pelham" (Tom Ewell!) and "One More Mile"

I saw a nice 35mm print of UC.

(but also a good POX topic)

notorious
nxnw
rebecca
rear window
psycho
39 steps
birds
lady vanishes

idk if i can get to 10 with any director. i really struggle with vertigo — for every great moment in it there’s a slog to get to the next one. it lives in a place in time that i can’t get to.

love how suzanne pleshette is supposed to be dowdy and undesirable in the birds next to tippi hedren

notorious and nxnw i can watch front to back any time they’re on

Top 50-ish

― Anne of the Thousand Gays (Eric

Too Seventeen-ish

glad to see the lodger on alfred's list - it really holds up 90 years after the fact

Watching the Criterion edition did the trick.

it's really remarkable how fully-formed it is as a 'hitchcock' piece

he said it was the first "Hitchcock film"

he was right! ivor novello is a pretty magnetic screen presence too

Still haven't seen that one either. Not sure I trust it as a blind-buy, but I'll see how long the library waiting list is. Or if it's on TCM anytime soon.

there's what appears to be a pretty dece 1080p rip on youtube fyi

love how suzanne pleshette is supposed to be dowdy and undesirable in the birds next to tippi hedren

OTM, I have no problem accepting homicidal flocks of birds but this takes the suspension of disbelief too far

is she really sposed to be dowdy? isn't it more that Tippi is a wicked girl from the big city?

(and hence forbidden fruit, more desirable)

of course it's mostly the Blonde Thing

coded school marm = spinster. also, yeah the hitchcock festishes manifest in Hedren

i just remember Suzanne dragging on her cigarette and asking, "How do you like our little hamlet?"

most psychological analyses of The Birds come down to the dynamics of the 3 women (including Mom) and their hold on Mitch.

I don't care, I'll say it, Camille Paglia's BFI monograph on that movie is among my favorite in the whole series.

xp the greater improbability may be that she's become a spinster school marm just so she can moon around and carry a torch for Rod Taylor

so he should've cast... Lois Smith? Sandy Dennis wasn't on the scene yet.

Murder! (1930) is quite satisfying if you want to see a good super-early one

Shame on me for not having seen anything pre 1938 (yet)

The Birds
Notorious
Psycho
Strangers on a Train
Rear Window
Lifeboat
Vertigo
The Lady Vanishes
Foreign Correspondent
Rebecca

personal 10 not trying to be "objective", chronological order:

The Man Who Knew Too Much
The 39 Steps
Sabotage
Saboteur
Strangers on a Train
Rear Window
The Man Who Knew Too Much
Vertigo
NxNW
Psycho

the original 39 steps is a fuckin banger

i love the longer 50s movies probably most of all but his pacing in the 30s Brit flicks is phenomenal

yes! the pace of it is nuts, and donat and carroll have such great chemistry

I kinda have a soft spot for Number Seventeen (1932). There is so much use of miniatures, at times in the big chase finale it seems like an animated film.

The 39 Steps is a perfect movie, frame to frame. Shadow of a Doubt is very close.

i saw The 39 Steps a ton in my teens and 20s, but as w/ The Lady Vanishes, i think it's perfect cotton candy.

The Lady Vanishes and The 39 Steps are prob my most shameful Hitch blindspots.

WmC, i believe No17 comes up in the interview by Everson here

https://the.hitchcock.zone/wiki/Camera_Three_(CBS,_1972)

two of my absolute favorites! the criterion editions are fantastic xp

xp -- thanks, Morbs, that's a good career walkthrough from Hitch.

yr welcome! that '72 press tour was the last major round of Hitchcock interview lucidity; he was much less visible (and I guess much more infirm) just a few years later.

Thta interviewer (the one not a child of Ingrid Bergman), William K Everson, was a legendary NYC film prof/collector/curator who would show rare films in auditoriums all over town. I only went to one of his screenings, circa 1990 probably.

Watching 39 Steps rn

what illness did Hitchcock develop in the 70s? I haven't looked that hard but there's no info on his wikipedia or a quick google search. I heard something recently about him being a total dick to new, young directors like Spielberg, and that his illness probably had something to do with it.

iirc he had both diabetes and kidney trouble

A friend spent a day on the set of Family Plot, where Hitchcock was shown the opening grosses of Jaws between takes (as an interested Universal stockholder).

It's hard to believe those movies came out the same year!

William K Everson known to me ever since horror movie-mad childhood for writing this

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91wlNij8Y9L.jpg

one of the first commonly available books in the UK on the subject.

I was going to do a top ten, and could easily make it a top thirty - SO MANY entertaining feature films - but found that my off-the-cuff draft list was dull and canonical, and exclusively American, whereas I know the smart film studies action is in the Brit stuff these days.

well, Family Plot was shot in '75, came out in '76. xp

which of these should I watch next

Marnie
Family Plot
Saboteur
Frenzy

I believe in chronology

Saboteur

really love Saboteur, it's a dryer, less fun initial sketch for NxNW

and it's the best of those four imo

well no, Marnie and Frenzy are more mature and meaty

Frenzy is interesting as his response to the more explicit violence of suspense and horror films since Psycho

I just signed up for Filmstruck+Criterion Collection, and while the selection of Hitchcock is sadly limited, I'm looking forward to finally viewing Sabotage and the original 1934 The Man Who Knew Too Much.

Their other offerings include The Lady Vanishes (which I watched on a crummy videocassette ages ago); The 39 Steps (seen the Criterion, loved it, due for a rewatch); Foreign Correspondent (don't know the first thing about this one); Young and Innocent (ditto); and a couple of early silents, Downhill and The Lodger.

Foreign Correspondent is solid minor "international" Hitchcock with a splendid pace and the always watchable (rowr) Joel McCrea.

I also see you repping for The Lodger upthread -- should I make seeing that one a priority? I'm not the biggest silent film buff, but I do sometimes watch and derive pleasure from them as objects of more-than-simply-historical interest.

well, it's his best silent it seems, aside from Blackmail (which also has an essential talkie version)

I love the windmill set in Foreign Correspondent. So spooky

The Criterion edition of Rebecca includes Tom Snyder's raucous 20-minute interview with Fontaine. She's bawdy and a roaring good time, as if she'd guzzled a couple martinis before the interview, very much the grand dame.

January 1980

Just bought that upgrade, along with Fire Walk With Me and Cat People

watched Marnie last night, really really good. Sean Connery's attempt at an American accent was awful but I liked his performance.

anyway was gonna ask what's the best book(s) on Hitchcock? looking for anything- interviews, oral histories, technique, trad bio, etc.

Truffaut/Hitchcock (obv)
Patrick McGilligan's bio
Robin Wood's Hitchcock's Films

the Wood book is my favorite.

those 3 def might be the top

then you could try the Spoto bio for "the dark side"

Oh hell yeah

The two Raymond Durgnat books on Hitchcock are essential (and one of them includes a long forward by a former ilxor):

The Strange Case of Alfred Hitchcock (a more sceptical critical survey than most, published in the early 70s)

A Long Hard Look at Psycho (brilliantly sustained piece of critical writing/thinking)

Tania Modleski's The Women Who Knew Too Much is an important feminist critique of Hitchcock's work

Sidney Gottlieb's Hitchcock on Hitchcock anthology collects together key texts written by Hitchcock (or ghostwritten for him)

What about Lacan/Hitchcock?

The Zizek anthology? In my experience Zizek's commentary on Hitchcock just restates many of the same insights to be found in prior Hitchcock theory/criticism (especially, yes, the Robin Wood book), just with an extra layer or two of Lacanian analysis/mystification.

Have we polled greatest American director?

We don't have to, everyone knows it's Sean Baker

I'd much rather do a directer poll than another genre one at this point.

yeah that would be fun!

At the risk of seeing Denis Villeneuve and Christopher Nolan above Douglas Sirk and Chris Marker.

ew who on ilx would vote for Nolan over Sirk

Denis Villeneuve and Christopher Nolan get way too much credit (or blame) for their blockbuster shit. 'Auteurs' or not, their films are vetted by conglomerates.

i like movies by both but they're not Sirk

what watchable movies has Villeneuve directed that didn't use a piss filter?

At least the guys who employed Hitchcock were in the movie biz, whether they knew anything or not. xxp

I haven't seen any Villeneuve since Enemy, which has a little Hitchcock DNA in it.

It's been awhile since I ran a poll, but I'm sure I could volunteer myself to tabulate. I doubt my Erykah Badu or Bjork polls will ever happen.

xp Blade Runner 2049 looked really great imo

happy 103rd, Norman Lloyd

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WDWcRHwxHs

Vertigo
Shadow of a Doubt
The Wrong Man
Rear Window
Marnie
Strangers on a Train
The 39 Steps
Psycho
Notorious
Lifeboat

& a special mention to "Bang! You're Dead" from the TV show

^ great list. happy to see Shadow of a Doubt listed frequently here. I need to get The Wrong Man and Lifeboat, surprised to see the latter mentioned so much itt, honestly i'd never heard of it before i made this thread

these are the ones I have & haven't watched yet, which one should I watch next?

Sabotage
The Trouble with Harry
Frenzy
Family Plot

Not to stray too far off thread topic, but I'd enjoy a directors ballot poll.

You mean where we pick just ONE? That's madness.

oh, i see a ranked list etc.

will have too much recency

All directors, all eras, all nations, or no deal.

But then Sean Baker might not win?

amazed it hasn't been done here, go 4 it

probably need to include non-director auteurs like Groucho Marx and Irving Thalberg

calling it the ILX auteur poll might be a little too highfalutin

yeah, also a number of the voters won't know the term

"Auteur? I never touched her"

calling it the ILX auteur poll might be a little too highfalutin

― Anne of the Thousand Gays (Eric H.), Wednesday, November 8, 2017 2:21 PM (ten minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah, also a number of the voters won't know the term

― ice cream social justice (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, November 8, 2017

and the auteurs only released one good album anyway

and since i don't care how ilx votes on anything BACK TO HITCHCOCK

Alfred not otm

Hitchcock's cameo in Marnie made me lol really hard

btw i haven't seen Lifeboat in awhile, but it's gen not held in very high esteem. Must be a disproportionate number of Tallulah Bankhead fans here.

When the Supporting Actress Smackdown crew went over the best of 1944 last weekend, they all mentioned Lifeboat, which is bonkers to me as ILE masochists getting Tippi over Marnie.

Robin Wood loved Marnie, didn't he?

flappy, I don't remember Connery attempting an American accent; maybe he was just hung over.

he slips in and out of it, whatever he's trying to do it's not consistent at all

sort of like the movie itself

I remember Connery appearing sans hairpiece at the podium on Hitchcock's AFI award show, and there was a shot of the Master asking, "Who's that?"

IIRC, I once annoyed Dr Morbs for saying that Marnie is Hitchcock's giallo, but I stand by that. A convergence - post-war Italian genre cinema deeply indebted to "The Horrible Dr Hitchcock", just in terms of use of colour, sexual-sadistic content etc; Hitchcock attuned to European 'advances' in explicitness (eg keeping a close watch on eg Clouzot) and creatively/commercially responding (eg Psycho).

I forgot this one earlier - superb on-set pictures and in-depth descriptions of Hitchcock's working methods (in Hollywood - England is relegated to abt ten pages)

https://the.hitchcock.zone/files/mediawiki/8/8f/0714843334.jpg

If that's not clear, it's Hitchcock at Work with text by Bill Krohn.

Cool, thanks for all the recommendations!

I once annoyed Dr Morbs for saying that Marnie is Hitchcock's giallo, but I stand by that

I missed that, but that's fantastic.

not stupid enough

The Total Filmmaker ... Nominations open for the next ILX film poll of the Greatest Movie Directors of All Time!

Lifeboat was so good. I'm getting to the end of my Hitchcock pile (still have like 20 movies though) so now I'm going off of all the lists itt. Still need to watch Frenzy & Family Plot.

What's the word on Topaz. not encouraged by 143 min running time

shit story by leon uris; hitchcock still inventive

I CONFESS was an interesting premise & idea, some great scenes (particularly the ending), but was kind of boring to watch. there's just not much you can do when your male lead is a priest

The Wrong Man would make my POX

Easy Top 5
Rear Window
North by Northwest
The Lady Vanishes
Vertigo
To Catch a Thief

Harder Second 5
Notorious
Foreign Correspondent
Suspicion
Marnie
The 39 Steps

Other contenders
The Wrong Man
Psycho
Sabotage
The Man Who Knew Too Much ('34, the earliest I've seen)

Il faut que je rescréenterai?
Shadow of a Doubt

Shadow of a Doubt is my favorite and one of my favorite movies ever. Please revisit

Maybe, but what I recall from finally seeing it after noting its high marks from others was not personal top ten material.

Sabotage is extraordinary, solidly second tier. like The Wrong Man, elemental in its (his) obsessions

Foreign Correspondent is a very good thriller with a couple of nice twists, albeit not entirely shocking ones. Very much a triumph of excellent performances from minor stars and a whole posse of skilled character actors executing their craft at an A-level.

It also features a shockingly good and fairly intense plane crash scene, and its prewar intrigue holds up as does the dialogue being sprinkled with fear and prescient warnings of the forthcoming cataclysm.

The filming of the final scene featuring an air raid and bombing of London completely predates any German bombing of London let alone the actual Battle of Britain if I’m not mistaken.

That one didn't strike or stick with me much at all. The plane crash sequence is great but I already knew about the effect at the end from Hitchcock's 1971 Dick Cavett appearance. I prefer Saboteur, which is in the same ballpark as FC but much weirder and not entirely successful but more interesting imo.

SHADOW OF A DOUBT is neck&neck with The 39 Steps for me. what an intoxicating film- and of a piece with Vertigo, I think.

east
west
home's best

are the wars like the crack in uncle charlie's skull

what's up w the dangerous mechanized transport motif (while in storybook santa rosa a "speeding ticket" means running on the sidewalk)

what does it mean to be a reader, in this movie

A waltz runs through your head.

Bizarre timing - I was going to revive this just now. I watched Mr. & Mrs. Smith tonight, really good and almost great for Carole Lombard alone. I wish he did more comedies.