In Memoriam: These Are The Best Alfred Hitchcock Movies
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Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980) is among the most acclaimed and influential directors in film history. Nicknamed "The Master of Suspense," Hitchcock made over 50 feature films across his six-decade career. He was also well-known for producing and hosting the TV program Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Hitchcock's films typically revolve around murder and crime, and they are known for their masterful technical and stylistic qualities. The English director was also famous for making small cameos in his movies! Let's take a look at the legendary filmmaker's very best films.
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'Vertigo'
The iconic Vertigo from 1958 is perhaps Hitchcock's best-known and most celebrated film. Vertigo stars James Stewart as "John 'Scottie' Ferguson," a San Francisco detective who retires after a near-death experience left him with vertigo and acrophobia. "Scottie" comes out of retirement after an old friend asks him to track his wife (played by Kim Novak), who behaves in strange and unexplainable ways. This new case leads "Scottie" on a journey into the supernatural, with romance, deceit, and a surrealistic nightmare. Vertigo is a staple of "Top 10" film lists - it notably placed first in the 2012 Sight & Sound critics poll.
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'Rebecca'
Alfred Hitchcock made his earliest films in the silent film era, dating back to the 1920s. The earliest title on our list, however, is his 1940 film Rebecca. Surprisingly, Rebecca is the only Hitchcock movie to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. It stars Laurence Olivier as an aristocratic widower who marries a young woman, played by Joan Fontaine. The film follows Fontaine's character's difficulties with her husband's family and housekeeper, who seem unwilling to forget the deceased first wife. The haunting film features one of Hitchcock's more frightening stories. Judith Anderson's performance as the housekeeper "Mrs. Danvers" is an especially memorable one.
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'Psycho'
Psycho, from 1960, may just be Alfred Hitchcock's most enduring film. The film is a pop culture staple and is certainly the closest the director came to making a horror film. Psycho stars Janet Leigh as "Marion Crane," a woman who ends up on the run early in the film. "Marion" stops in at the now infamous "Bates Motel," where she meets Anthony Perkins's "Norman Bates," the hotelkeeper with an odd preoccupation with his mother. From there, the film goes down memorable and terrifying paths that still hold up for viewing today. It is said that Psycho's impact forever altered the horror film genre.
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'Shadow of a Doubt'
This somewhat lesser-known Hitchcock film from 1943 is a particularly deviant and disturbing one. Shadow of a Doubt stars Teresa Wright as "Charlie," a young woman named after her "Uncle Charlie," played by Joseph Cotten. The film sees "Uncle Charlie" come to stay at the family home of his niece ("Charlie"). "Charlie" begins to have suspicions that her uncle may be hiding something— possibly a deadly secret. Shadow of a Doubt is a psychological thriller that you'll want to see if you only know some of Hitchcock's most popular titles.
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'Rear Window'
Rear Window is another of Alfred Hitchcock's classic suspense films. Its plot revolves around the spying of James Stewart's "L.B. Jefferies" while he's in a wheelchair with a broken leg. While observing his neighbours, "Jefferies" begins to suspect that a man across the courtyard may be planning a murder. Viewers of Rear Window follow along with "Jefferies" as he spies upon what looks to be an evolving crime. This film's climax is especially memorable and tense!
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'The Birds'
While Psycho is Hitchcock's most iconic horror film, The Birds is a famed work in the horror genre in its own right. The Birds stars Tippi Hedren and Rod Taylor as a couple whose blossoming romance is disrupted by waves of violent birds. The film has long haunted the nightmares of many with its convincing depiction of the world's birds turning on the human population. In fact, the majority of the birds seen in the film are real!
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'North By Northwest'
North By Northwest is an epic thriller about a case of mistaken identity. It stars Cary Grant as "Roger Thornhill," a man who is on the run after wrongly being identified as a government agent. This entertaining film from 1959 contains several of Hitchcock's most memorable scenes and images, including Cary Grant fleeing from a crop duster in a cornfield and the film's climax at Mount Rushmore.
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'Strangers On A Train'
Strangers On A Train, from 1951, is another underrated film from "The Master of Suspense". It features Farley Granger as tennis star "Guy Haines". During a train ride, "Guy" meets a psychopath played by Robert Walker. This encounter leads to deadly consequences for "Guy," whose life and fame are disrupted by the actions of the psychopath. Strangers On A Train is a psychological thriller with elements of dark comedy. It also explores the classic "Hitchcockian" traits of man's duality and doppelgängers.
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'Suspicion'
Suspicion stars Hitchcock film regulars Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine as a married couple who have run away together. Fontaine's "Lina" begins to learn that Grant's "Johnnie" is not who she thought he was— and that he may have sinister intentions behind marrying her. Suspicion is famous for its shocking ending! Joan Fontaine's Best Actress award for Suspicion was also the only Oscar-win for an actor in a Hitchcock film.