What is Hitchcocks best film???

[jmrevill]

I am going to get one or more of Hitchcocks films on DVD this week but ive only seen Psycho.

But what ones the best, im thinking of:

Vertigo
The man who knew too much
The birds
The rear window.

Your rcommendations please.

[Ol' Blue Eyes]

I always had a soft spot for The Birds. Psycho and North By Northwest are pretty damn good too.

[Tob]

Mine is North by Northwest. Only about £7 for a great DVD and film.

[jmrevill]

Thanks,

North by northwest has been ordered. still looking at some more.

[RichB]

IMO I own his best 4

North By Northwest
Psycho
Rear Window
Vertigo

The Birds is one I wanna pick up, great movie also

[Davester]

North by Northwest. Got it on dvd for £10 from tesco (impulse buy) and am very gald I did!

[Flimber]

"Rear Window" just gets better and better.

Mike.

[Mike]

I think his best two films are <b>Notorious</b> and <b>Vertigo</b>.

However, I'm also very keen on <b>The 39 Steps, Rebecca, Shadow Of A Doubt, Strangers on a Train, North By Northwest, Psycho </b> and the underrated <b>Frenzy</b>.

[Steviey]

I've always loved watching Rope.

[DCH]

The 39 Steps, Rebecca, The Lady Vanishes. All available as Criterions.

[kerbcrawler]

I'm with Flimber (above) - but I'd then be looking at Psycho and Marnie, flawed as they are I keep going back to these.

[cat]

Rear Window - blew me away first time I saw it :)

[JPMO]

His best is Notorious, closely followed by North by North-West and Rear Window. Personally, I think Under Capricorn is the most underrated. For what it's worth, Hitch reckoned that Shadow Of A Doubt was his best work.

[desmondc]

Having not seen that many Hitchcock films, the best that I have come across is North By Northwest

[stefmcd]

Rear Window, Rope, Strangers on a train, Dial M for Murder and the second Man who knew too much - all rewatchable classics of suspense.
:cool:

[Deadite666]

I've seen at least half of Hitch's 50+ films and although some people don't favour Vertigo because it doesn't have the instant shock/scare appeal of Psycho or the romantic tension/action of North By Northwest, if you're in the mood for something with a leisurely (but utterly beguiling) pace for the first half I cannot think of a better Hitchcock film.

It's my 3rd fave film of all time and the only movie which I've watched again, immediately after watching it the first time. Some of the best 4 hours (2hoursx2) of my life.

Warning: It will haunt you for the rest of your existence.

[Mandroman]

Rear Window is sublime. If you've ever been bored on a hot summer's day and 'accidentally' looked into other people's windows through your binoculars then this is the one for you . . .

[Drpepper]

Very difficult to choose just one.
It has to be North By Northwest

My other personal favorites are anything with Grace Kelly:)

[Henry]

Vertigo is my all time favourite, followed closely by Shadow of a Doubt, Rear Window and Psycho.

[Cirrus888]

I found Vertigo really creepy and spine tingling when I first saw it and I belong in this is THE hitchcock masterpiece camp.

[davey1970]

strangers on a train,frenzy,dial m for murder.

i spose what i like most about these is the intricate double crossing that goes on in the stories.

[Aardvark]

My personal favourite:
Rear Window.

Most underrated:
Frenzy.

Forgotten gem:
Young And Innocent.

Best transfer:
North By Northwest.

Best kiss:
Notorious.

Best shower scene:
Psycho.

Best psychopathic nutcase:
Strangers On A Train (Robert Walker. Sorry Mr. Perkins...)

Best cameo:
Shadow Of A Doubt (the perfect hand...).

[DeadKenny]

Noth by Northwest, though I'm torn between that and Psycho (and Vertigo, and Rear Window... hell they're all the best :D).

[Richie]

Does anyone know if the same master was used for the Shadow of a doubt transfer for R2 and R1?
Rewind list the regions as the same but I just want to be sure as there have been several anomolies between regions ("The Birds" springs to mind)!

btw my fav Hitch is prolly "Rear Window", gets better and more enjoyable each time I see it!

cheers
Rich

[Yonathan Gal]

rear window, north by northwest, the birds, man who knew too much, pyscho, shadow of a doubt, 39 steps - (the best of his very early UK films IMO)... Notorious, Susicion... and lots more! :D All amazing films!

[Tristan H]

In order of preference:

1. Rear Window
2. Vertigo
3. North By Northwest
4. Notorious
5. The Lady Vanishes
6. The 39 Steps
7. Psycho
8. The Trouble with Harry
9. The Birds
10. Rope
11. Rebecca
12. Marnie
13. Frenzy
14. Shadow of a Doubt
15. Strangers on a Train

[urruri]

My favourite is The Birds.

[Dan Druff]

Personal Favourite.. Rear Window

[jroadley]

Rear Window, R2 can be haf cheap. Stunning film.... :)

[ZuZu]

Love loads but my fave is Rear Window :)

[Nicky Ray]

These are mine...

1. North By Northwest
2. Vertigo
3. Rear Window
4. Rebecca
5. Psycho
6. The Birds
7. Strangers On A Train
8. Dial M For Murder
9. The 39 Steps
10. Notorious

[pmdf]

Vertigo is, in my opinion, "the best" and I also unsurprisingly rate Rear Window very highly. However, I think the most underrated is Marnie. It doesn't seem to work for a lot of fans, but for some reason it gets right under my skin... one of my favourite films by any director.

[Hendrik]

.
The Wrong Man

. . . :o . . .

[Jez]

Rear Window and North By Northwest are my personal favs :thumbs:

Personaly i think Rear Window is was of the greatest films ever made and will look, at anyone who says they dont like it, in a strange way :)

Am about to watch 39 steps have never seen it before, hope i like (why i have fished this thread out Alan ;) )

[Michael Mackenzie]

I adore Dial M for Murder for some reason - ironically one of Hitchcock's least purely "Hitchcockian" films, but an interesting change of pace and absolutely marvellously constructed. Of the bona fide Hitchcock efforts, I'd probably go for North by Northwest, but ask me again once I've seen his whole filmography.

[anephric]

Vertigo, all the way.

I get lost in it... it's barely a film at all... but a hazy, melodic, narcotic dream.

[bosque]

Rear Window especially for Grace Kelly and her first scene, kissing James Stewart awake from a soaked reverie. Pure cinema, couldn't be done in any other form.

Vertigo for Scottie and Hitchcock, Hitchcock, Hitchcock all the damn way through the "movie" like the words in a stick of rock.

[Mike]

"Notorious" gets better and better every time I see it.

I seem to have posted in this thread three years ago but I'll post again anyway.

Best early period: The 39 Steps
Best Selznick: Notorious
Best Golden Age: Vertigo
Best Entertainment: North By Northwest
Best Late Period: Frenzy

All the above get better the more I watch them. Love most of Hitch's work though. I even have plenty of time for "Topaz" - the supporting cast just about atone for the appalling leads.

[SIMON ADEBISI]

Dial M For Murder as it was the first of his films i saw and The Birds for sheer tension.

[LordoftheDance]

Vertigo is my favourite film ever.

[John Hodson]

They never get too many votes in threads like these, but I'd like to stand up for the wonderful Foreign Correspondent, with Joel McCrea, George Sanders, and a remarkable Albert Bassermann, and Robert Cummings and Priscilla Lane in Saboteur; there's no huge depth, as you get in the masterpeice that is Vertigo, but as rollicking, beautifully crafted entertainment, they are hard to beat.

[Reno]

Vertigo is, in my opinion, "the best" and I also unsurprisingly rate Rear Window very highly. However, I think the most underrated is Marnie. It doesn't seem to work for a lot of fans, but for some reason it gets right under my skin... one of my favourite films by any director.

My thoughts exactly and Vertigo is my all time favourite film too. I always thought Vertigo and Marnie have a lot in common in terms of mood and subject matter.

I always though the end was extraodenary, when Marnie decides she'll stay with her (rapist) husband not out of love, but because she doesn't want to go to prison



I'd like to add Sabotage as my "forgotten gem". The bleakest and most serious of his early British films, it points towards his later American work in its examination of a dysfunctional family. It contains several unforgettable set pieces, like...

...Sylvia Sydney's kid brother unwittingly being used by her husband to deliver a bomb with tragic consequences and a grief stricken Sydney being momentarely cheered up by a Disney cartoon, but then being reminded of her brothers death when the action on screen turns to murder.

Sydney stabbing her husband to death at the dinner table, almost with his unspoken approval, is one of Hitchcocks greatest uses of montage. It's a great reminder of the comment that he stages his murders like love scenes and love scenes like murders.

[anephric]

The bit on the bus in Sabotage when poor, unwitting, delayed kiddie plays with puppies just preparatory to his imminent splattering all over London in a HUUUUGE explosion always makes me laugh out loud, it's so manipulative and sadistic...

Here's something I never knew: "Despite the vagueness of its politics, the film was banned in Brazil as a potential threat to public order."

[Reno]

The bit on the bus in Sabotage when poor, unwitting, delayed kiddie plays with puppies just preparatory to his imminent splattering all over London in a HUUUUGE explosion always makes me laugh out loud, it's so manipulative and sadistic...

Here's something I never knew: "Despite the vagueness of its politics, the film was banned in Brazil as a potential threat to public order."


Strange, it's not exactly like the film espouses terrorism.

Hitchcock later backtracked, saying that the film wasn't a success because he blew upp the kid. If he hadn't it wouldn't have made for a very eventful film though

[anephric]

Hitchcock later backtracked, saying that the film wasn't a success because he blew upp the kid. If he hadn't it wouldn't have made for a very eventful film though

And made The Lady Vanishes as a sop to a mawkish public. Now there's a film that could use a few exploding juveniles (or senior citizens)...

I jest, of course. Or do I...

[Tony Soprano]

Vertigo is my fave, closely followed by Rear Window with a firm respect for Notorious