Today, August 13, is the birthday of Alfred Hitchcock, the first film director whose name I ever knew. I was introduced to his movies as a child, during a summer I spent at my grandmother’s house in Illinois. One of the local TV stations ran a Hitchcock Week, five straight nights airing some of his most famous works: Rear Window, Vertigo, The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Birds, and North by Northwest. I was thrilled by these suspenseful and macabre (qualities now synonymous with the term “Hitchcockian”) stories that also featured moments of great humor.
I can rattle off the names of many more great filmmakers today, but Hitchcock remains among my favorites. Over the course of the last year, I took my relationship with the “master of suspense” to another level by viewing every one of his feature films. That’s a whole lot of innocent men on the run, icy femmes fatales, director’s cameos, and MacGuffins.
Starting with his silent cinema work in 1920s England and then his move to Hollywood, I continued through the height of his powers in the 1950s and the semi-decline of his later years. With a couple exceptions, I watched these 52 films in the order in which they were produced. Many I was already familiar with and adored, but most I’d never seen before. Some I’d never heard of before.
There were cases, as with Psycho, when I found myself unable to deny the greatness of a movie that I’d previously considered to be overrated. Likewise there were films, including Marnie, that I discovered weren’t nearly as good as I’d thought they were when I first saw them years ago. Most thrilling was discovering brilliant moments in his lesser-known works, like the fantastic crane shot in Young and Innocent that reveals the identity of the killer to the audience (though not to the protagonists) and the astonishing way in which Hitchcock builds tension in a scene from Sabotage by cutting between shots of a woman, her husband, and a knife. Only 1926’s The Mountain Eagle remains unseen, and that’s just because the film appears to be lost for good, unavailable anywhere.
And so, on Hitch’s birthday, here is my definitive ranking of his oeuvre. First presented in descriptive groups of similar quality, and then numbered individually, 1-52, the best to the worst.
The Essentials
Vertigo — How marvelous that a film replete with old Hollywood glamour, featuring one of the biggest stars of the studio system, contains such a kinky underbelly to its story of obsession. The ending devastates.
Rear Window — This time through I was struck by how entertaining, and subtly told, are all the little stories Jimmy Stewart can see inside his neighbors’ homes, not just the frightening tale of Mr. and Mrs. Thorwald.
Notorious — A man and a woman must set aside their own romantic desires in the name of serving a cause greater than themselves. Echoes of Casablanca as a spy thriller, especially since Ingrid Bergman and Claude Rains are on hand.
Psycho — Never before had I fully appreciated the efficiency of this taut and horrifying story. Hitchcock at his most daring.
Strangers on a Train — It’s Robert Walker’s turn as the greatest villain in any of Hitch’s films that makes this a twisted delight.
Most Underrated
The 39 Steps
The Lady Vanishes
Frenzy
Most Overrated
North by Northwest
To Catch a Thief
The Birds
Masterly Suspenseful
Shadow of a Doubt
Rebecca
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
Blackmail
Lifeboat
Sabotage
Dial M For Murder
Stage Fright
Family Plot
The Trouble With Harry
Rope
Secret Agent
Good and Hitchcockian Enough
Murder!
Young and Innocent
Suspicion
The Wrong Man
Torn Curtain
The Paradine Case
The Lodger
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)
I Confess
Foreign Correspondent
Good but Not-so-Hitchcockian
Rich and Strange
Mr. and Mrs. Smith
Champagne
The Manxman
Not-so-Good but Hitchcockian
Saboteur
Marnie
Spellbound
Jamaica Inn
Number 17
Under Capricorn
Topaz
For Completists’ Eyes Only
The Skin Game
The Pleasure Garden
Downhill
The Ring
Easy Virtue
Waltzes From Vienna
The Farmer’s Wife
Juno and the Paycock
The Complete Alfred Hitchcock, From Best to Worst
1 Vertigo
2 Rear Window
3 Notorious
4 Psycho
5 Strangers on a Train
6 The 39 Steps
7 Shadow of a Doubt
8 Rebecca
9 The Lady Vanishes
10 Frenzy
11 The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
12 Blackmail
13 Lifeboat
14 Sabotage
15 Dial M For Murder
16 Stage Fright
17 Family Plot
18 The Trouble With Harry
19 Rope
20 Rich and Strange
21 Secret Agent
22 Mr. and Mrs. Smith
23 Murder!
24 North by Northwest
25 Young and Innocent
26 Suspicion
27 The Wrong Man
28 Torn Curtain
29 The Paradine Case
30 The Lodger
31 The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)
32 I Confess
33 To Catch a Thief
34 Foreign Correspondent
35 Champagne
36 The Manxman
37 The Birds
38 Saboteur
39 Marnie
40 Spellbound
41 The Skin Game
42 Jamaica Inn
43 The Pleasure Garden
44 Downhill
45 Number 17
46 Under Capricorn
47 Topaz
48 The Ring
49 Easy Virtue
50 Waltzes From Vienna
51 The Farmer’s Wife
52 Juno and the Paycock
Almost all of these films are available on DVD. For those that aren’t (and even some that are), this site has a good rundown of where you can stream them online for free.
