I've always felt directors get too much credit in the film business. Not to the overblown extent of actors, obviously, but it's your screenwriters – writing their own stories rather than adapting tried-and-tested best-sellers they've bought the rights to – and your sleep-deprived, script-editing showrunners I've got the greatest respect for.
So I never gave much of a toss about Alfred Hitchcock. He just seemed to be a fat, limey knock-off of Rod Serling, who didn't even write the stories he was presenting. But when I watched a couple of films, liked them a lot, then watched a couple more, I started to get it. So then I did my customary thing and scoffed the lot over a couple of months, including all the deservedly overlooked ones no one ever talks about because they're not really worth mentioning. Still, maybe I can pluck out a couple of obscure gems for you.
Here are a non-filmmaker's philistine first-timer reactions (I'd only seen Rear Window previously) to The Top 52 Hitchcock Films. Shorts, collaborations, foreign language remakes, TV things and ones I couldn't find not included.
Key:
Silent film
British sound film
Hollywood film
52. The Farmer's Wife (1928)
The famous Hitchcock suspense is entirely absent from this boring rom-com about a widower frantically searching for a replacement wife before the old one's cold in the ground. It's obvious right from the start who the "lucky" lady's going to be, but we're not spared the tedious fairy tale as he blunders through four unsuitable suitors while supporting players gurn "hilariously" to the braying delight of easily-pleased early cinemagoers, I expect. Pleasant rural scenery though.
The play itself might be fine, I don't know, I was too distracted by it being completely uninteresting as a Hitchcock film, lacking any interesting touches or visual appeal at all. Was hindsight really needed to see that Blackmail was the direction he should keep travelling in, and not get sidetracked by comedies that he doesn't even have any ideas for?
Another uninspired play adaptation like Juno, but with the social scales tipped to the other end to tell a story of feuding poshos that's presumably of interest to the type of people the film's about. He does slightly more than just point the camera at the stage this time, but not enough to make it worth your time.
49. Waltzes from Vienna (a.k.a. Strauss' Great Waltz, 1934)
Supposedly Hitchcock's only musical, its single orchestra performance and couple of piano singalongs mean it's only as qualified as The Man Who Knew Too Much, which also has the benefit of a plot that isn't complete toss. There would eventually be a decent Strauss musical called 2001: A Space Odyssey.
48. The Pleasure Garden (1925)
You'd really have to stretch to find auteurial hallmarks in Hitchcock's solo debut. You can set confirmation traps for yourself with its duplicitous characters, imagined lesbian undercurrent and abruptly violent, exotic finale, but this could have been made by anybody. Still, he'd make worse.
This is the only one of Hitchcock's films that he actually wrote himself, which is interesting. Unfortunately, it's about boxing, so I didn't like it, and it doesn't help that none of the characters are especially likeable either. There are some nice visuals, but you can take that for granted with any silent film that's actually bothering.
Hitchcock's last silent film doesn't do much to justify its existence, especially considering the story had already been filmed a few years earlier by someone else. There's some pleasant Cornish location filming. When I keep falling back on things like that, you know I'm desperate.
I'm all for breaking up the dark mood and repetitive themes with something lighter now and then, but this exercise in all-out comedy is an ankle-twisting misstep, and that persistent jaunty soundtrack doesn't help. The only good bit is when they get stuck on top of an incredibly dangerous-looking fair ride, but it's no Bottom.
This run-of-the-mill play adaptation stops putting in the effort to be stylish after the opening court scene, so you have to contrive connections where you can to justify its place in the canon. With its pointless scandal ruining someone's life, this felt like a female take on Downhill, only less sympathetic to our misunderstood, chain-smoking protagonist who's denied the happy ending.
43. Champagne (1928)
Another frothy, lightweight comedy, this gets more tolerable when it stops being about the "hilarious" escapades of a selfish, spoiled brat and becomes a conventionally sympathetic riches-to-rags tale.
The twists are better camouflaged than in something like The Farmer's Wife, and there are some inventive camera tricks every now and then that show the director was at least trying this time, disposable as it is.
42. Murder! (1930)
Hitchcock's unfashionably late foray into Chaplinesque comedy, this globe-trotting rom-com is atypical and not especially good, but he obviously enjoyed making it. I'd take this enthusiastic quasi-silent throwback over the ones where he just points the camera disinterestedly at a play.
40. Jamaica Inn (1939)
This rare Hitchcock historical has some promising ingredients – passionate performances, moody location filming, plenty of peril – but the finished product is all rather dull and unpleasant. Still, it's probably his best worst film and would be the black sheep if Waltzes from Vienna wasn't stranger.
If you found Vertigo too slow to get into, this courtroom drama could be lethal. The question of whether a wife poisoned her husband doesn't feel like it's worth almost two hours of your life, but Hitchcock disagreed and preferred his vetoed three-hour cut. If you can be bothered, the rewards are some strong acting and pleasant shadowy cinematography, but you'll find those in plenty of better films.
38. Topaz (1969)
This Ripper riffer is more the type of silent film I'm used to – dark and foreboding with silent screams – but that invites unfavourable comparisons to your artier German Expressionists of the day, who doubled down on the otherworldly silence and made it part of the timeless appeal. This feels like a more conventional (if pioneering) thriller that would be bloody annoyed to discover sound was just around the corner if it had only waited, so we could get a bit of nuance.
36. Downhill (a.k.a. When Boys Leave Home, 1927)
If any of Hitchcock's silent films are worth watching, it's this one. Partly for the near-Expressionist look and feel of it, but mainly for being such a product of its time that you can marvel at the sort of everyday scandals that could utterly destroy a young man's reputation, and which the censors seemingly didn't even allow to be uttered explicitly. This emphasis on showing rather than telling means it's less cluttered with dialogue cards, but the performances and character beats are as unsubtle as ever to compensate.
With all its frivolous costumes and generous location shooting that almost matches the studio time for once, it feels like no expense was spared making this inessential cat burglar caper. Unfortunately, there's not much to it beyond this surface gloss, except getting to tick off another unique combo of the rotating regulars as Grant cops off with Kelly.
The unimaginatively-titled follow-up to the practically perfect 39 Steps might look as exciting on paper/Wikipedia summary, but it feels miscast, or they're just not putting in the effort. I like the brutal efficiency of Hitchcock's '30s films that don't outstay their welcome or waste any time on unnecessary details, but that also means the identity of the enemy agent is obvious an hour before he's revealed, otherwise why would that character even be there?
32. Torn Curtain (1966)
After a string of psychological classics and entertaining B-movies, this gritty tale of Cold War espionage is a disappointing departure. It's a bit of a throwback to the likes of Secret Agent, Foreign Correspondent and The Man Who Knew Too Much, if they had all the fun extracted.
This depressingly timeless terrorism tale dispenses with the usual comic relief and goes into truly shocking territory that he'd never have got away with in Hollywood. Also surprising is how the villain's humanised and made sympathetic, before he goes too far anyway. If there's one unfortunate takeaway, it's that you shouldn't trust foreign business owners.
30. Young and Innocent (a.k.a. The Girl Was Young, 1937)
Who killed Christine Clay? It's that guy she's arguing with at the start, obviously, that's not really the point. Instead, it's another man-on-the-run thriller like The 39 Steps, but with a more active female lead taking charge. It's all pretty basic, but the youthful energy carries it through as we side with the young innocents against the authorities. It's like a '50s biker film with better manners. And regrettable blackface.
29. Spellbound (1945)
If it didn't have Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck, this psychoanalytical spin on the same old thing (going as far back as The Lodger) wouldn't have much going for it, unless you find amusement in cliches. Dali's trippy dream sequence is fun, but its stretched interpretation is just silly.
28. Saboteur (1942)
Between the perfected prototype The 39 Steps and the over-the-top North By Northwest, this is the lesser of Hitchcock's very similar man-on-the-run thrillers, though the last 15 minutes are as good as anything he did. It's filled with patriotic sentiments and paranoid warnings for its wartime audience, but it counters with the somewhat reckless message that you should always take fugitives at their word and lie when the cops come looking. He could have been anybody.
27. Under Capricorn (1949)
This downbeat Australian Gothic costume drama is a bit of an aberration, but it's not as off-brand as it's made out to be, and doesn't try the patience as much as the courtroom one. It's a very nice-looking film, with long Technicolor takes moving around and through the mansion set, and animal symbolism to keep English graduates happy. If you can get past none of these Irish or Australian characters having the right accent.
26. Family Plot (1976)
Frenzy would have been a more fitting one to bow out on, but I'm glad we got this final frivolous film all the same. Hitchcock's most outright comedy since The Trouble with Harry also maintains the suspense, if you can suspend your disbelief that anything nasty could possibly happen to these loveable rogues.
35. To Catch a Thief (1955)
With all its frivolous costumes and generous location shooting that almost matches the studio time for once, it feels like no expense was spared making this inessential cat burglar caper. Unfortunately, there's not much to it beyond this surface gloss, except getting to tick off another unique combo of the rotating regulars as Grant cops off with Kelly.
34. Lifeboat (1944)
I was looking forward to this radical break from the norm (the single-location tale being my entry point to Hitchcock, after all), but even for a minimalist work, there wasn't enough to it. I was expecting things to end up not a million leagues away from the Monty Python sketch, but the bickering was remarkably civil. But of course it was – it was the necessary counterpoint to show 'our' superiority over those inhuman Germans! I know when it was made, but the propaganda's bollocks.
33. Secret Agent (1936)The unimaginatively-titled follow-up to the practically perfect 39 Steps might look as exciting on paper/Wikipedia summary, but it feels miscast, or they're just not putting in the effort. I like the brutal efficiency of Hitchcock's '30s films that don't outstay their welcome or waste any time on unnecessary details, but that also means the identity of the enemy agent is obvious an hour before he's revealed, otherwise why would that character even be there?After a string of psychological classics and entertaining B-movies, this gritty tale of Cold War espionage is a disappointing departure. It's a bit of a throwback to the likes of Secret Agent, Foreign Correspondent and The Man Who Knew Too Much, if they had all the fun extracted.
31. Sabotage (a.k.a. The Woman Alone, 1936)
This depressingly timeless terrorism tale dispenses with the usual comic relief and goes into truly shocking territory that he'd never have got away with in Hollywood. Also surprising is how the villain's humanised and made sympathetic, before he goes too far anyway. If there's one unfortunate takeaway, it's that you shouldn't trust foreign business owners.
30. Young and Innocent (a.k.a. The Girl Was Young, 1937)
Who killed Christine Clay? It's that guy she's arguing with at the start, obviously, that's not really the point. Instead, it's another man-on-the-run thriller like The 39 Steps, but with a more active female lead taking charge. It's all pretty basic, but the youthful energy carries it through as we side with the young innocents against the authorities. It's like a '50s biker film with better manners. And regrettable blackface.If it didn't have Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck, this psychoanalytical spin on the same old thing (going as far back as The Lodger) wouldn't have much going for it, unless you find amusement in cliches. Dali's trippy dream sequence is fun, but its stretched interpretation is just silly.
28. Saboteur (1942)
Between the perfected prototype The 39 Steps and the over-the-top North By Northwest, this is the lesser of Hitchcock's very similar man-on-the-run thrillers, though the last 15 minutes are as good as anything he did. It's filled with patriotic sentiments and paranoid warnings for its wartime audience, but it counters with the somewhat reckless message that you should always take fugitives at their word and lie when the cops come looking. He could have been anybody.This downbeat Australian Gothic costume drama is a bit of an aberration, but it's not as off-brand as it's made out to be, and doesn't try the patience as much as the courtroom one. It's a very nice-looking film, with long Technicolor takes moving around and through the mansion set, and animal symbolism to keep English graduates happy. If you can get past none of these Irish or Australian characters having the right accent.
Frenzy would have been a more fitting one to bow out on, but I'm glad we got this final frivolous film all the same. Hitchcock's most outright comedy since The Trouble with Harry also maintains the suspense, if you can suspend your disbelief that anything nasty could possibly happen to these loveable rogues.
25. The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
I don't have any special fondness for the original, so I was prepared to get over my prejudice if this self-remake a generation down the line turned out to be the definitive take of Hitchcock's take on Taken.
There's not much in it, but for its less exciting finale, excessive length and excessive and distracting rear screen projection (particularly bizarre, since they actually went to those exotic places), I liked the remake less. Even if I hadn't already known the basic story, it never felt as if the goodies were in any danger.
There's not much in it, but for its less exciting finale, excessive length and excessive and distracting rear screen projection (particularly bizarre, since they actually went to those exotic places), I liked the remake less. Even if I hadn't already known the basic story, it never felt as if the goodies were in any danger.
24. The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)
A lot of Hitchcock's films are more or less the same, but this is the only one he straight-up remade, albeit changing quite a lot. Each version has its respective strengths (this one has Peter Lorre, but lacks James Stewart), but this is the more convincingly tense one, with a lot less padding. As an English lit graduate, its forced callbacks and symmetry are adorable too.
23. Number Seventeen (1932)
One of the barmiest films on this list, there's lots to like about this flawed classic. It starts as a creepy candlelit tour of the titular house, discovering corpses and mysterious acquaintances as we ascend, the confounding middle borders on parody as the overcrowded cast trip over each other's lies, then there's an exciting chase sequence with models. Seeing the original play would be better, but when isn't that the case?
The new Hollywood budget is palpable in this elaborate propaganda piece encouraging Americans to support the war effort, which still succeeds as entertainment. For a while it's one death-defying escape after another, but the finance well isn't completely bottomless, so we have to put up with lots of talking too. I miss the economic plotting and tight pacing of the British films already.
21. Blackmail (1929)
Ignoring its oddities, like the few mute scenes recorded before it switched to a talkie and the real-time off-screen dubbing, this is the first Hitchcock film that's unmistakable and well worth your time. Not having to simplify things with title cards means it can be witty and psychologically complex, but its best scenes are the long, visual, dialogue-free stretches that show how valuable the director's silent experience was.
20. Suspicion (1941)
Setting the benchmark for all the domestic thrillers to come, this suffers in the subtlety stakes, but the myopic ambiguity's done to a tee. Even when he's playing someone who's at best a selfish, immature dickhead and possibly much worse, Cary Grant's more likeable in the black and white days.
19. Notorious (1946)
This seems to be a lot of people's favourite, but I'd only stretch the elastic of the golden age as far back as Rope. It's certainly a more mature and competent effort than Bergman's earlier Spellbound or Grant's Suspicion, but in-between lurks the superior Shadow of a Doubt to spoil your convenient theory. There were precocious prodigies in every decade, but I don't consider this one of them, especially with its abrupt ending. I know a MacGuffin's only there to hang some suspense from, but I wasn't done.
18. Marnie (1964)
This is more proficient than some of the higher entries on the list, but lacks the requisite enjoyment factor to the point of being distressing to watch, especially when you're aware of how life imitated art. The two previous films are regarded as Hitchcock's horrors, but a knife stabbing a watermelon and Tippi Hendren getting savaged by pretend birds are tame in comparison.
Hitchcock's non-sensationalised dramatisation of real events is an antidote to some of his sillier excesses, especially coming out when it did. It doesn't have the same rewatch value as those silly ones, but its mundane melancholy and relatable characters will stay with you.
15. The Birds (1963)
This was the first Hitchcock film I was aware of, having seen it clipped, discussed and parodied the most growing up (even more than Psycho), but it's hardly representative. It's the only one I can think of where I've preferred the gentle humour of the set-up to the actual story.
The ominous scenes of far too many birds hanging threateningly around are very effective though. Much more so than the actual attacks, when it becomes a (subsequently-)generic horror B-movie that pecks off more than it's technologically capable of swallowing and ends up looking a bit silly.
12. Dial M for Murder (1954)The ominous scenes of far too many birds hanging threateningly around are very effective though. Much more so than the actual attacks, when it becomes a (subsequently-)generic horror B-movie that pecks off more than it's technologically capable of swallowing and ends up looking a bit silly.
14. The Lady Vanishes (1938)
It's not the convoluted mystery that makes this one so interesting, but the radical changes in tone as Hitchcock takes us through three distinct acts seemingly tailored to entirely different thirds of the cinema. When the tracks change, the tension ramps up with an abruptness that's shocking even now, so god knows what it did to the contemporary audience.
13. I Confess (1953)
The arty opening made me think this would have been a better fit for the silent era, if only for that meta irony. This is all good stuff, but the cultural barrier means I didn't get as much out of it as a Catholic might, or anyone else who's been ordained into a secretive club with questionable moral guidelines. It's a cliche that many of these films would be over more swiftly and less painfully if someone just went to the police, but this one takes that idea to the point of frustration.
13. I Confess (1953)
The arty opening made me think this would have been a better fit for the silent era, if only for that meta irony. This is all good stuff, but the cultural barrier means I didn't get as much out of it as a Catholic might, or anyone else who's been ordained into a secretive club with questionable moral guidelines. It's a cliche that many of these films would be over more swiftly and less painfully if someone just went to the police, but this one takes that idea to the point of frustration.
Made right before Rear Window, this somehow feels the more claustrophobic of the pair, despite multiple scenes set in the outside world. This makes it feel distinctly theatrical, so much that it's best enjoyed if you imagine you're sitting in the stalls and it's happening right in front of you, as pathetic as that might sound. Maybe you're better off catching the play, but Grace Kelly won't be in it.11. Stage Fright (1950)
10. The Trouble with Harry (1955)
Bang in the middle of what's generally considered the director's golden period, and directly interrupting a crowd-pleasing run with his biggest stars, this morbid, low-key corpse caper was always going to be controversial.
There are probably those who'd prefer to see Harry buried, but for me, this was one of the highlights of the decade. A properly funny palate-cleanser between some of the heavies. I only wish he'd gone full Cluedo with the colour-coded characters.
9. Rebecca (1940)
Most of my praise for this one is really owed to Daphne du Maurier's novel, in what's supposedly a pretty straight adaptation. Most of the rest goes to George Barnes' gorgeous chiaroscuro cinematography, with a bit left over for the actors, I suppose. If the direction was captivating me too, it's one of his more subtle successes.
Like Psycho's infamous expositionary epilogue, it's a shame that the dull courtroom scenes have to extinguish the luxuriant Gothic atmosphere towards the end, but then it reignites for a final blaze of glory.
8. Frenzy (1972)
7. Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
Often paired with Suspicion, both films have a basic similarity and interchangeable titles, but they arrive at different destinations (which is a spoiler for whichever one you haven't seen). This is the more satisfying, as a small-town girl's innocence is destroyed when she's exposed to the darkness and cruelty of the wider world. To the extent that 1940s censors deemed acceptable, anyway. To be fair, she's too old to be living that extended childhood. What is it with these brats?
6. The 39 Steps (1935)
Hitchcock would essentially remake this film a couple of times in all but name, but they never came close to the tight original. No time's wasted as our misunderstood fugitive leaps between perils, escapes the clutches of various rogues and kisses some ladies. It's set (and partly filmed) in Scotland too, which is always a plus.
5. Rope (1948)
It's strange how long it can take you to get around to satisfying a curiosity sometimes. I was intrigued by the sound of this "one-take" film (actually ten or so takes) when I first read about it almost a decade ago in reviews of Psychoville's tribute episode. I guess I never had 80 minutes to spare?
The gimmick takes centre stage when you know about it, so I didn't have the chance to find out if the single camera and long takes ramp up the tension subconsciously. I was more amused by Brandon's Moriarty self-destructively baiting his Holmes and terrifying his guilty accomplice. Another memorable Hitchcock psycho.
Only the second Hitchcock film I saw, The Greatest Film of All Time (Sight & Sound) wasn't teetering precariously over the precipice for as long as it could have been, the weight of expectation getting incrementally heavier to make its inevitable fall all the more spectacular.
As soon as I realised I wasn't going to like it quite as much as Rear Window, I could relax and enjoy its weird plotting, broken characters and lush cinematography while thinking about all the tedious undergraduate essays I could have written about spirals and colour symbolism. I can foresee this being the one that haunts me all my life and gets upgraded to number one when I eventually watch it again as a wise old man. It's got that insidious vibe about it.
As soon as I realised I wasn't going to like it quite as much as Rear Window, I could relax and enjoy its weird plotting, broken characters and lush cinematography while thinking about all the tedious undergraduate essays I could have written about spirals and colour symbolism. I can foresee this being the one that haunts me all my life and gets upgraded to number one when I eventually watch it again as a wise old man. It's got that insidious vibe about it.
3. Psycho (1960)
It's annoying that I already knew the final twist of this film I'd never seen, mainly thanks to Red Dwarf references, but I was still pleasantly surprised that I didn't have to fake suspense very long before getting to the famous shower scene. Once that's over with, anything can happen.
Customary storytelling rules would suggest that your lead character make it more than half way through the story before being disposed of, and that you don't just drop most of the dangling threads, establish a new lead out of nowhere and carry on. This director's pretty good with the composition and the symbolism and everything, but it's the unexpected plotting that largely makes or breaks my top 10.
2. Rear Window (1954)
This is one of the less unpredictable ones, but I'm mainly in awe of the over-the-top logistics of its purpose-built indoor apartment block populated by borderline tenants whom the director apparently delighted in messing around with from afar to provoke realistic reactions.
Despite its claustrophobic minimalism, it's rife with the sort of imagery and allusions that are really begging to be over-analysed past the point of credulity. It also unites Hitchcock's best guy and best doll, mismatched as they may be.
Despite its claustrophobic minimalism, it's rife with the sort of imagery and allusions that are really begging to be over-analysed past the point of credulity. It also unites Hitchcock's best guy and best doll, mismatched as they may be.
1. Strangers on a Train (1951)
I found this to be a more entertaining study of a psycho than Psycho, mainly because Bruno's just so funny. There's a defining moment fairly early in the film when his sane counterpart (the amusingly-named 'Guy,' to help you realise he's the audience surrogate) makes a really stupid decision, which causes him to lose all your respect so you don't have to feel guilty about rooting for the madman. The climax set on a fairground carousel spinning out of control is a perfectly demented finish.
