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

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.