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OT: Your Top Five Hitchcock Films

manatree

manatree

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It's very tough to just limit it to five and I would probably have a different list tomorrow, Here's mine:

1) The Trouble With Harry: Still one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. Shirley MacLaine's film debut, John Forsythe, Mildred Natwick, Edmund Gwenn, & Jerry Mathers. Basic plotline: Harry Worp is found dead on a hillside outside of a New England town, and three different people think that they're responsible for his death. Hi-jinks ensue as they try to determine which one killed Harry while trying to avoid the Deputy Sheriff.

2) Lifeboat: Several civilians & sailors, including one German, are stuck in a lifeboat after their ship & U-Boat sink each other. Who do you trust?

3) I Confess: Montgomery Clift plays Father Logan, a Catholic priest to whom a man confesses to a murder. Things take a turn when the inspector, played by Karl Malden, receives a tip a priest was seen leaving the scene of the crime, making Father Logan the prime suspect.

4) The Lady Vanishes: Michael Redgrave & Margaret Lockwood try to figure out what became of the elderly Miss Froy, the lady who vanished. In addition to some great dialogue, this is the film that garnered enough acclaim to allow Hitchcock to move to Hollywood.

5) Shadow of a Doubt: Joseph Cotten plays Teresa Wright's favorite uncle who comes to visit along with a suspicion that he is a serial killer. Imagine if Agatha Christie rewrote Thorton Wilder's "Our Town."
 
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manatree said:
It's very tough to just limit it to five and I would probably have a different list tomorrow, Here's mine:

1) The Trouble With Harry: Still one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. Shirley MacLaine's film debut, John Forsythe, Mildred Natwick, Edmund Gwenn, & Jerry Mathers. Basic plotline: Harry Worp is found dead on a hillside outside of a New England town, and three different people think that they're responsible for his death. Hi-jinks ensue as they try to determine which one killed Harry while trying to avoid the Deputy Sheriff.

2) Lifeboat: Several civilians & sailors, including one German, are stuck in a lifeboat after their ship & U-Boat sink each other. Who do you trust?

3) I Confess: Montgomery Clift plays Father Logan, a Catholic priest to whom a man confesses to a murder. Things take a turn when the inspector, played by Karl Malden, receives a tip a priest was seen leaving the scene of the crime, making Father Logan the prime suspect.

4) The Lady Vanishes: Michael Redgrave & Margaret Lockwood try to figure out what became of the elderly Miss Froy, the lady who vanished. In addition to some great dialogue, this is the film that garnered enough acclaim to allow Hitchcock to move to Hollywood.

5) Shadow of a Doubt: Joseph Cotten plays Teresa Wright's favorite uncle who comes to visit along with a suspicion that he is a serial killer. Imagine if Agatha Christie rewrote Thorton Wilder's "Our Town."
Click to expand...

I think mine would be...
1.) Notorius
2.) Shadow of a Doubt
3.) North by Northwest
4.)Psycho
 
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In no particular order:

Lifeboat
North By Northwest
Dial M For Murder
Shadow Of A Doubt (I love Teresa Wright)
To Catch A Thief

shadow-of-a-doubt-1943-4.jpg
 
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Harrisburg Dave said:
39 Steps
North By Northwest
Birds
Rear Window
The Man Who Knew Too Much
Click to expand...

I'm assuming you mean the second one(1956) with Jimmy Stewart & Doris Day. I do think it is better than the original (1934) although Peter Lorre as the main villain in the first one is always good fun.
 
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Rear Window
North by Northwest
The Birds
Psycho
Dial M for Murder

In no particular order.

And then the rest. Everything Hitchcock including the TV shows.
 
Hitchcock is first among equals:

1. Psycho. Superbly conceived and made. Acting was superb. B/W in the age of color film.
2. North by Northwest. A directorial masterpiece.
3. Vertigo. Some knowledgeable people consider this his masterpiece.
4. Rebecca. Can't say enough.
5. Topaz.Not his best but I have seen it at least 20 times. Saw it first on Steel Pier. Used it in my class about Espionage (read abount the Martek affair). Also need to seen Battle of Algiers and Day of the Jackal so that the entire historical sequence makes sense.
Hitch was a great propagandist for th western allies duein and after WW2.
 
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Agree with all the above. I like north by northwest because of Cary Grany. I like to catch a thief because of Grace Kelly, not Cary Grant.
 
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1. Frenzy
2. Frenzy
3. Frenzy
4. Frenzy
5. Frenzy

Was working as a young barman in London not far from a lot of filming in Covant Garden. Visited the set and got a chance to see Hitch working.
 
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Every year, I anxiously look to the Classic Movie Series to see if any Hitchcock films will be making it again onto the big screen. Have seen North by Northwest and Vertigo back up on the big screen again and Psycho was scheduled for this year since it’s the 60th anniversary.

I won’t list five but North by Northwest and Vertigo remain my 2 top favorites. I will never turn them off when I stumble across them on TV.
 
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Rope. Several of you mentioned this one. The Hitchcock version is merely a play on celluloid. If you don't know, this film was about the famous Loeb/Leopold murder of Bobby Frank in Chicago in the the early 1920's. The boys were somehow related (cousins?). They committed the murder on random basis and with no motive other than to be able to commit a perfect crime. The were related to the Sears/Roebuck fortune. Clarence Darrow defended them and they were spared a death penalty. There are four film versions of this movie and Rope is the first. Compulsion is the version with Orson Welles as Clarence Darrow.
 
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Woodpecker said:
Rope is very interesting. (Trying to recall: 10 or so camera shots blended to look like one?) I'm surprised that more of the film nerds haven't chimed in about it.
Click to expand...

IIRC it was 10 shots that equated a single film reel, which was 10 minutes.
When he (Hitch) had to break away he used a closeup of something and then the next reel would pick up on that closeup and back out away from it and onto the next subject.
He was a master at manipulation and deception and the use of "dollies" and over head cranes.
 
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BBrown said:
It probably led up to his long tracking shot in Touch of Evil. He was a master at manipulation and deception and the use of "dollies" and over head cranes.
Click to expand...

Although I’ve always wondered how a simple Lux kitchen timer could be used as a bomb trigger.

What I’ve always liked about Hitch films is that they were all very much story driven films and the special effects never overshadowed the plot. So many of today’s films seem more like a two hour special effects commercial in search of a story.
 
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I believe Touch of Evil was directed by Orson Welles.

On my daughter’s first day of film school at Chapman University she called me to let me know the professor showed the shot as an example of creativity in film making.

She and I had watched documentaries on Welles numerous times. It was one of the few times I appreciated how my kids absorbed something from me.
 
Harrisburg Dave said:
I believe Touch of Evil was directed by Orson Welles.

On my daughter’s first day of film school at Chapman University she called me to let me know the professor showed the shot as an example of creativity in film making.

She and I had watched documentaries on Welles numerous times. It was one of the few times I appreciated how my kids absorbed something from me.
Click to expand...

Duhhhh. You are correct. I always get that and Shadow of a Doubt mixed up and there is no reason why.
Ughh. Thanks.
But those tracking shots are brilliant and the one from Better Call Saul is really excellent.

 
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BBrown said:
Duhhhh. You are correct. I always get that and Shadow of a Doubt mixed up and there is no reason why.
Ughh. Thanks.
But those tracking shots are brilliant and the one from Better Call Saul is really excellent.

View embedded media
Click to expand...

In the age of drones and steady cams we don’t appreciate what Wellrs and his team accomplished.

Now all these film school graduates are copying the master.
 
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Harrisburg Dave said:
In the age of drones and steady cams we don’t appreciate what Wellrs and his team accomplished.

Now all these film school graduates are copying the master.
Click to expand...

Agree. I think both Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould do and exceptional job directing BCS.
Brian De Palma was like that in his earlier work, I didn't like Snake Eyes much or anything that came after with the exception of Black Dahlia, I thought that was pretty good.
Spike Lee is another, that while I don't much care for him as a person, I think his movies are really good and the cinematography and music are exceptional.
 
BBrown said:
Spike Lee is another, that while I don't much care for him as a person, I think his movies are really good and the cinematography and music are exceptional.
Click to expand...

He also focuses on good scripts. I know it will be sacrilege on this board, but I think he's a far superior filmmaker to Tarantino.
 
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manatree said:
He also focuses on good scripts. I know it will be sacrilege on this board, but I think he's a far superior filmmaker to Tarantino.
Click to expand...

Hmm. Interesting. You might be right. I really like Spike Lee movies as a whole, cinematography, music, acting and writing. Inside Man and Crooklyn are woefully underrated. I like Tarantino's dialogue and he can really get some great performances out of his actors and actresses. Jackie Brown and Kill Bill are probably my favorite. I liked Once Upon a Time in Hollywood but it was really only because of the last 15-20 minutes.
 
manatree said:
It's very tough to just limit it to five and I would probably have a different list tomorrow, Here's mine:

1) The Trouble With Harry: Still one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. Shirley MacLaine's film debut, John Forsythe, Mildred Natwick, Edmund Gwenn, & Jerry Mathers. Basic plotline: Harry Worp is found dead on a hillside outside of a New England town, and three different people think that they're responsible for his death. Hi-jinks ensue as they try to determine which one killed Harry while trying to avoid the Deputy Sheriff.

2) Lifeboat: Several civilians & sailors, including one German, are stuck in a lifeboat after their ship & U-Boat sink each other. Who do you trust?

3) I Confess: Montgomery Clift plays Father Logan, a Catholic priest to whom a man confesses to a murder. Things take a turn when the inspector, played by Karl Malden, receives a tip a priest was seen leaving the scene of the crime, making Father Logan the prime suspect.

4) The Lady Vanishes: Michael Redgrave & Margaret Lockwood try to figure out what became of the elderly Miss Froy, the lady who vanished. In addition to some great dialogue, this is the film that garnered enough acclaim to allow Hitchcock to move to Hollywood.

5) Shadow of a Doubt: Joseph Cotten plays Teresa Wright's favorite uncle who comes to visit along with a suspicion that he is a serial killer. Imagine if Agatha Christie rewrote Thorton Wilder's "Our Town."
Click to expand...

1. North By Northwest
2. Vertigo
3. Rear Window
4. Rebecca
5. To Catch a Thief

Also Strangers on a Train could be on my list.

Foreign Correspondent is very underrated as well.

Honorable Mentions:

Shadow of a Doubt
The Man who Knew too Much
Notorious

I watched Marnie last week. What a weird movie
 
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I think Tarantino shoots a visually great film, I just don't like his screenwriting. He seems so hung up on clever dialogue that he often neglects the story/plot. It can make for some cool scenes but it doesn't work for me for an entire movie. It reminds me of when Dennis Miller was on Monday Night Football, he was so focused on his schtick that he forgot about the game.
 
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