Top 10 Hitchcock films

We have very similar tastes in Hitchcock films! I would readily list all of those films as my favorites, though not necessarily in that order. I might add The Lady Vanishes, The Man Who Knew Too Much and Suspicion. My favorite Hitchcock years were the mid-30's to the late 50's, which you seem to concur.

Hitchcock's films that I've seen in order of preference

Rear Window
Psycho
North by Northwest
Vertigo
Rebecca
Rope
Notorious
The Birds
Dial M For Murder
Shadow of a Doubt
The Wrong Man
The 39 Steps
The Lady Vanishes
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934 version)
Strangers on a Train


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He made one masterpiece in my opinion - "The Birds" - so for me this is No. 1

I greatly admire "The Wrong Man" which I find a very serious work, so this comes in at No. 2.

After this, two glorious divertissements at Nos.3 & 4 respectively - "Psycho" and "Vertigo".

My other six best are in no particular order:-

5. Shadow of a Doubt
6. Rebecca
7. To Catch a Thief
8. I Confess
9. The 39 Steps
10.Marnie

Good as "Rear Window", "Notorious" and "North by Northwest" are, I have always thought them overrated.

There are of course some real turkeys. How else can one think of the first version of "The Man Who Knew Too Much" and the positively dreadful "The Secret Agent". There are also a couple of big yawns - "The Paradine Case" and "The Trouble with Harry".

His prolific output is what distinguishes Hitchcock from the other great Hollywood directors. None of the other great filmmakers I know of was as consistently prolific as Hitchcock, with the exception of John Ford maybe.

While several great directors have built reputations based on 1-2 great films, Hitchcock made more than a dozen of them.

I've seen 22 of his films. Favourites (roughly ordered) -

Notorious
Rear Window
The Lady Vanishes
Strangers on a Train
Psycho
Shadow of a Doubt
North by Northwest
Vertigo
Suspicion
The Birds
Rebecca
Marnie
Frenzy
39 Steps
Rope
Dial M for Murder
Foreign Correspondent
Lifeboat
Spellbound
Saboteur
The Lodger
To Catch a Thief





Method Actors give you a photograph, Real actors an Oil Painting
Charles Laughton

1) North By Northwest
2) Foreign Correspondent
3) The 39 Steps
4) Rear Window
5) Notorious

black and white movies were better

Psycho
Strangers On a Train
Rope
Rear Window
Dial M For Murder
Vertigo
North By Northwest
Shadow of a Doubt
The Wrong Man
Foreign Correspondent

Psycho (1960)
The Birds (1963)
Rear Window (1954)
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
Strangers on a Train (1951)
North by Northwest (1959)
Rebecca (1940)
Vertigo (1958)
Notorious (1946)
Rope (1948)

There are also a couple of big yawns... The Trouble with Harry.Ouch. It's the most charming thing he's ever done. Wonderfully shot.

1. The Trouble with Harry
2. Saboteur
3. Foreign Correspondent
4. Dial M for Murder
5. Shadow of a Doubt
6. The Man Who Knew Too Much (the update)
7. Rope
8. The Lady Vanishes
9. The Birds
10. Rear Window