The Hitchcock Ten
Tuesday, August 13, 2013 at 12:35AM If you haven't checked out the Guardian's very fun infographics on Hitchcock's oeuvre -- just in time for his birthday today! -- you should do that. This is my favorite part because I think it's just brilliant with the top tens from film fans, critics, and the general public overlapping and disagreeing.
What's more I think it's absolutely accurate in its overlaps and exclusions for all three groups with the possible exception of The Birds not finding its way to the "film fan's top ten". But this can't have been easy to flip around with a stuck landing.
As for myself I have six total favorites: Notorious, Psycho, Rear Window, Rope, Shadow of a Doubt, and Vertigo. But the rest of his output fights over my leftover affections and wins and loses depending on my moods and depending on which part of the movie we're talking about.
Happy 114th Birthday, Hitchcock!
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Top Ten Memorable Performances
Great Moments in Gayness: Suspicion
Oscar Horrors: Terrifying Mrs Danvers in Rebecca
Introducing...Madeleine in Vertigo
Reader Comments (13)
Whad'ya know. NORTH BY NORTHWEST actually is my favorite.
Although, THE LADY VANISHES is soooooooooooooo good.
The Lady Vanishes should be on everyone's list! Really great. There's some miniature trains or something in it, but otherwise it really didn't feel like it had aged a day when I watched it.
All great films except maybe Spellbound, which is good but draggy, but any list without Saboteur is just incomplete as far as I'm concerned. I know not everybody loves it but it's my number one. I'd swap it with the Ingrid/Gregory starrer.
Vertigo
Psycho
Rebecca
The Birds
Notorious
I also love Lifeboat a lot along with the Doris Day version of The Man Who Knew Too Much. I haven't seen The Lady Vanishes in years. I somehow have the Lombard movie Mr. and Mrs. Smith still occupying a small space in my memory bank but it is such a deep-cut Hitchcock. I think that has to do with the fact I adored Carole Lombard.
That infographic is AMAZING.
I love so many of his films, but my Top Ten Hitch is relatively easy:
Psycho
North by Northwest
Notorious
Vertigo
Rear Window
Shadow of a Doubt
To Catch a Thief
The Man Who Knew Too Much ('56)
Rope
Frenzy
With an Honorable Mention to the first act of Marnie, which is terrific (the rest of it, however, is a mess).
Will H - really? not even the big shoot-out scene between the people on the train and the men in the woods? I cannot imagine that scene today being staged that way. I don't know if that's just the way shoot-outs were filmed back then or Hitchcock just didn't stage it very well, but it seemed horribly fake and flat. (Otherwise, I really enjoyed the movie.)
I didn't like The Lady Vanishes :/
Rear Window is my no1 but I have to do some rewatching to decide on my no2 (Probably Psycho).
Nathaniel, I would've pegged you as a bigger Marnie fan.
See the Master of Suspense in FULL COLOR with scenes from his masterpieces In Memoriam on his birthday today at http://dregstudiosart.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-master-of-suspense.html
Hayden -- Marnie has ISSUES. the movie, too ;)
My one surprise here is the popularity of The 39 Steps. It's certainly a great film, and one that embodies so many of Hitchcock's trademarks, but I didn't expect it to be his second highest-selling DVD. First, there's the fact that it's from his less celebrated British period. Then, for the longest time it was only available via Criterion (still the case?) or awful bargain bin prints. Perhaps it's hugely popular in the U.K., where these graphics were made?
My top ten, in roughly this order:
Vertigo
Rear Window
North by Northwest
The Trouble with Harry (grossly under-rated in my mind, but also just a fun movie)
Shadow of a Doubt
Foreign Correspondent
Notorious
The 39 Steps
Rope
The Lady Vanishes
I certainly respect Psycho, but it's a hard film for me to love and the ending with the mother strikes a major false note. Like a lot of movie lovers, I'd imagine, Hitchcock was the first director I was aware of and "followed" (~15-20 years after his death). He holds a special place in my heart. Even his so-so films (Stage Fright, I Confess) have their captivating moments.
W.J. -- i assume those sales figures for North by Northwest and the 39 steps are all about them not being part of the Hitchcock Box Set which was a big bestseller as far as I could surmise. that box set is incredibly rich... so many of his most beloved films. but weirdly not those two.
I REALLY need to see "The 39 Steps" again. I don't remember anything about it. "Strangers on a Train" is probably my favorite. What a brilliiant idea... for murder!