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Master of Suspense: 15 Classic Films by Alfred Hitchcock
By The Being There Staff
“A good film is when the price of the dinner, the theatre admission and the babysitter were worth it.”
– Alfred Hitchcock
Introduction by Adam D. Miller
This month marks 25 years since the death of one of the greatest figures in the history of cinema. When Alfred Hitchcock died on April 29, 1980, he left behind roughly fifty films, many of them cinematic classics. His work has directly influenced countless directors, and entire university film courses are devoted to his work. He has been called “the master of suspense,” but his films deal with so many other types of genres: drama, comedy, and romance, to name a few.
So much has been written about Hitchcock that it would be silly to deviate from the point of this feature by telling you more.
Here are some resources that might help provide more information on the master:
Alfred Hitchcock: The Master Of Suspense - http://hitchcock.tv/
Alfred Hitchcock: IMDB Entry - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000033/
Several members of the Being There staff got together to vote for what they consider to be Hitchcock’s greatest films. All fifteen of these are must-watches for anyone serious about cinema. So get out your pen, and enjoy!
Being There’s Top 15 Hitchcock Films:
1. Vertigo (1958)
Starring James Stewart and Kim Novak
Romance, mystery, drama, suspense, madness, and obsession. Vertigo is a film which is arguably, and we think so, Alfred Hitchcock's best. James Stewart plays John "Scottie" Ferguson, a detective who is forced to retire due to his acrophobia, which led to the death of a fellow police officer.
Scottie is hired by his old friend Gavin Elster to follow his wife, Madeleine. Worried that she is being overcome by madness, Elster is afraid Madeleine will hurt herself or fall deeper into this insanity which is making her live out the life of her great-grandmother.
Scottie and Madeleine find themselves falling madly in love with each other, only for Scottie to find his vertigo stands in the way of his saving her life.
Hitchcock is able to perfectly create the sense of vertigo on film. The viewer sees through the eyes of Scottie and feels the fear that he faces. With a little camera trickery, a feeling of dizziness and lightheadedness is achieved.
After the death of his love, Scottie falls into the madness that he had tried so hard to protect her from. Recovering, only to get back his life and find a woman, Judy, almost identical to the one he loved before.
Hitchcock's over the top theatrics perfectly parallel Stewart's portrayal of Scottie as he desperately tries to find perfection in Judy. Combined with amazing photography and an incredible score, the viewer is engulfed into a world created by this cinematic master.
Only nominated for two Oscars and losing both, Vertigo is unfairly rewarded, but time has shown it to be a fan and critical favorite.
Hitchcock created his best film with Vertigo, a movie that has stood the test of time. Nearly 50 years old now, Vertigo never ceases to enthrall me as I watch it time and again.
(Adam M. Anklewicz)
2. Rear Window (1954)
Starring James Stewart and Grace Kelly
If you want to see a film that embodies every element for which Hitchcock was famous, you need look no further than Rear Window. With gripping suspense, superb direction, innovative camera work, razor-sharp writing, and stellar performances, Rear Window is textbook Hitchcock.
Jimmy Stewart is L.B. “Jeff” Jeffries, a photojournalist who, because of a broken leg, is cooped up in his Greenwich Village apartment. His only diversions are daily visits from his gorgeous socialite girlfriend, Lisa (a glorious Grace Kelly), and peering through his titular rear window into the apartments and private lives of his neighbors. When he comes to suspect one of them of murder, he faces the doubts of all who know him as he tries to solve the crime without ever leaving his chair.
Hitchcock’s films often dabble in voyeurism; Rear Window positively revels in it. And the director makes us willing accomplices. Even when we are tempted to dismiss Jeff’s curiosity as morbid, the truth is that we share the guilty pleasure of spying. The structure of the film is flawless. Just like the protagonist, the camera (and thus the audience) is confined to the apartment until the very end. We only get to see what Jeff can see from his chair. Did he really see a murder, or is his suspicious mind playing tricks on him? Hitchcock keeps us wondering right along with Stewart as the tension builds steadily to a terrifying and thrilling conclusion. Perfection.
(Russell Bartholomee)
3. Psycho (1960)
Starring Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins
Psycho is a favourite for many Hitchcock fans, and undoubtedly a key film in cinema history. Everyone knows the “wree! wree! wree!” from Bernard Hermann’s string score, and the infamous ‘shower scene’ is parodied more than almost anything else in cinema. Today’s audiences, thanks to the ‘slasher’ movie glut of the 80s, are used to seeing nearly naked, helpless women getting slaughtered by maniacs. But this is 1960 and Psycho is cinema’s first ‘slasher’ film. Sensationalism aside, Hitchcock’s masterful control of film form gave audiences a new cinematic experience. And I don’t care what anyone says, it’s still scary.
In 1959, Hitchcock turned his attention to a new popular commodity; the low-budget horror films. The big studios wouldn’t fund his “horrorible” vision, so for the first time Hitchcock had to take the risk of personally financing it outside of the Hollywood system. But he knew his vision would sell, he was notorious for subverting audience expectations - and what bigger shock than brutally murdering the star halfway through the picture!
For 1960, the film pushed the boundaries of censorship. The brutality of a showering naked woman unexpectedly slashed to death. Even cinema’s first on-screen toilet flush.
But it’s not Psycho’s horrific content that makes the film radical, but the Master’s experimental film form. The structure deviates from conventional Hollywood narrative. Not only its unsettling conclusion, but its fundament radical shift in identification from our heroine to Norman Bates. After the jarringly edited shower murder (lasting twenty-two seconds but using over thirty shots), our protagonist is dead and the viewer’s interpretation of events is invalidated. For over ten minutes, we watch in near silence as Norman cleans up his mother’s murder, and we begin to emphasize with this “good son.”
What are we to think? It’s astounding that Hitchcock was able to deviate so far from Hollywood conventions and still manage to kill at the box office.
This is one of Hitchcock’s films that I never tire of in repeat viewings. It’s astonishing that the end of the first section of the film - all of Marion’s angst over stealing $40,000, fleeing town, her police troubles, will be completely purposeless once she checks into the Bates Motel. Repeat viewings yield macabre lessons of misplaced priority.
We may not have our minds blown, like the audience of 1960, but Psycho remains a visionary of the horror genre. Instead of the monster being some otherworldly threat, Psycho is a ‘modern’ horror film. Norman is all-too human and the first sexually twisted monster disguised as the harmless ‘boy next door.’ And who doesn’t grin at the playful irony of Norman’s claim “Mother is not quite herself today.”
(Aaron Licht)
4. North by Northwest (1959)
Starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, and James Mason
Hitchcock’s 1959 classic North by Northwest is best remembered for one scene. Parodied and copied countless times, the crop duster scene features the main character Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) being chased by a crop dusting plane. Few have not seen that scene, but what is most interesting is the lead up to the chase. Thornhill is waiting to meet a man. As he stands there waiting, cars drive by, one at a time, the audience gets their hopes up along with Thornhill. Grant’s character is hoping that he’ll be able to meet George Kaplan, while the audience is wondering what fate will fall upon him.
Thornhill, an advertising executive, is quickly captured by criminals mistaking him for George Kaplan, a secret agent. The story is a simple one which sees Thornhill running from the law and these criminals, trying to find the real Kaplan.
Filled with cheesy dialogue and music, North by Northwest is still a great film packed with action and suspense. Hitchcock’s style is evident throughout the film. The audience sees through the eyes of Thornhill. Trying to solve this mystery and clear his name, the audience learns with Thornhill, while only giving us a few peaks at what he does not know.
North by Northwest was nominated for three Academy Awards; Ernest Lehman’s screenplay, George Tomasini’s editing and best Color Art Direction/Set Decoration. It won none. Ben-Hur was the film that dominated that year, and while that’s not a major surprise given the epic proportions of the film, one can argue that North by Northwest stands up much more today. The film especially stands up more than Pillow Talk, to which it lost for Best Screenplay.
Hitchcock does a great job with good material. The director is able to take the film beyond the poorly written dialogue and turn it into something truly classic.
(Adam M. Anklewicz)
5. Notorious (1946)
Starring Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant
When people think of Hitchcock, they don’t usually think of Notorious first. And while I adore more obvious choices like Psycho, Vertigo, and The Birds, I will always hold a special place in my heart for this underrated classic.
Set in the immediate aftermath of World War II, the film stars Ingrid Bergman, Cary Grant, and Claude Rains, all of whom give some of the best performances of their careers. Bergman plays Alicia Huberman, the daughter of a traitor, whose tainted reputation makes her useful as a spy for the US government. She is asked to infiltrate a spy-ring headed up by Claude Rains, a Nazi who is hiding in Brazil. Her contact agent is Cary Grant, who falls in love with her. But he treats her poorly because of the sins of her father and because the nature of her assignment is literally to sleep with the enemy. This romantic tension is heightened by the urgency of discovering what secrets Rains may be hiding in his wine cellar. This is discovered in the fabulous party scene, a prime example of the genius of Hitchcock’s direction. The scene begins with one of the greatest uses of a camera in film history, a shot that begins at a second floor ceiling and slowly glides down to a close-up that reveals the key to the wine cellar hidden in Bergman’s hand. As the pair races to discover the cellar’s contents, the champagne supply is running low, leading Rains down the steps to discover that his wife is not the person he assumed. The suspense is heart-pounding; and yet that scene is only a warm-up for the gripping conclusion, when Bergman’s doom seems all but assured. The final scene, with Grant rescuing Bergman from the jaws of death is doubly poignant, for in saving the girl he loves, he has also saved himself. Notorious is both a spellbinding thriller and a (finally) beautiful romance.
(Russell Bartholomee)
6. Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
Starring Joseph Cotton and Teresa Wright
A demon descends upon Mayberry in this pitch black comedy that was years ahead of its time and yet still managed to be a popular success. Joseph Cotten's Uncle Charlie ranks alongside Bogie's Fred C. Dobbs as the most unsettling portrait of the male animal to come out of 1940s Hollywood. Hiding out from the authorities, Uncle Charlie is welcomed home by his adoring family as nothing less than the prodigal son. Especially doting is his lovely young niece, played by Teresa Wright, who is even named after him. Sophisticated and highly intelligent, Uncle Charlie easily charms everyone he meets, but there is always a cruel edge to it as if he knows he doesn't have to try hard and some of that contempt bubbles over. Heartbreakingly, the younger Charlie begins to realize that her uncle is the notorious Merry Widow Killer. Hitchcock sneaks in choice bits of commentary here on how we often rationalize our family members' worst character flaws, and through Teresa Wright's subtle, moving performance, we see how everything we build our lives upon can reveal itself to be a lie.
Shadow of A Doubt was the first of Hitchcock's major Hollywood films that felt truly personal. Even though the great playwright Thornton Wilder is one of three screenwriters credited, every single frame of this film feels authored by Alfred Hitchcock's directorial genius. While using an attractive leading man as sinister villain is something that he'd done in his earlier British films, it was definitely an anomaly for American audiences back in 1943. He had tried to get away with it two years earlier by casting Cary Grant as a bluebeard in Suspicion, only to have the studio put its foot down and force him to re-shoot that film's ending and significantly weaken its impact. Here, perhaps because Joseph Cotten wasn't quite the same level of star as Cary Grant, Hitchcock was able to go all the way with the concept and you can either see the film simply as a splendid piece of entertainment or a commentary on how American family values can often be completely out of step with reality. Slightly underrated today even though the great man considered it his favorite of his own films, Shadow of A Doubt is a crucial film in Hitchcock's canon. It marked the first time in his tenure on the Hollywood backlots that he was more or less allowed to make the film he wanted to make and not the film that David O. Selznick wanted to make. More than Rebecca or Suspicion or even Foreign Correspondent, this is the film you can trace masterpieces like Psycho, North By Northwest and Vertigo back to. Absolutely essential viewing.
(Zayne Reeves)
7. Strangers on a Train (1951)
Starring Farley Granger and Robert Walker
Strangers on a Train is a thriller ripe with dark humor and suspense driven from the very start of the film, which opens with the screech of a train whistle and our main characters as they first meet on board. What starts as a seemingly casual conversation quickly becomes a dark proposal. Wealthy mama’s boy Bruno Anthony, played by Robert Walker, meets the famous tennis pro Guy Haines, played by Farley Granger. We learn that Guy is estranged from his wife and having an affair with a senator’s daughter, who he would like to marry if able to secure a divorce from his wife. Bruno, not too fond of his father and standing to inherit his estate should he die, suggests that they do each other a favor and swap murders. Bruno could kill Guy’s wife leaving him free to marry the senator’s daughter, and in turn, Guy would kill Bruno’s father. Guy shrugs the whole conversation off as a joke, but Bruno is very serious and takes matters into his own hands.
Walker’s performance as Bruno brilliantly lends to the suspense and darkness of the film. Over the course of the plot line we learn that Bruno is truly a sociopath, but his delivery is always soft spoken, calm and rich with undertones. At just a half hour into the film, we already see how creepy Bruno can be as he is stalking Guy’s wife at an amusement park. He follows her through the Tunnel of Love, eventually catching up with her to keep up his side of the “deal,” despite the fact that Guy wanted no part of it. The murder scene is one of the most memorable in cinematic history due to the manner in which it was filmed. Upon Bruno approaching her, Guy’s wife’s glasses fall to the ground and we witness the murder through the reflection in the lenses, an amazing work of cinematography.
Bruno manages to integrate himself into every aspect of Guy’s life, pressuring him to carry out the other half of the murder swap. We eventually return to the amusement park for the climax of the film, another very memorable piece of cinema.
The police have been tipped off and are on the hunt for the killer, and Guy and Bruno are on the hunt for each other. At the carousel, all of them meet. The police fire a shot into the crowd, shrieking children and parents around, but it is the carousel operator that is killed and slumps over on the controls sending the ride into an out of control spin. Guy and Bruno are in a fight, which is intercut with shots of terrified children on the speeding carousel. An old man tries to climb under the moving ride to get to the brakes. Hitchcock has commented that the stunt of the man under the carousel was not done as an effect, but live, and was probably the most dangerous stunt he had ever shot.
Interestingly enough, two versions of the film were originally released, one for the American market and one for the British. For the majority of the film, both were quite similar, until the climax at the amusement park, where two separate endings exist. It is commonly believed that the American version contains more of the dark humor while the British is more of a classic dramatic ending.
(Lisa Hood-Anklewicz)
8. Rope (1948)
Starring Farley Granger, John Dall, and James Stewart
With its technical brilliance, edgy suspense, and wonderful performances, Rope is one of the most unique films in the entire Hitchcock canon. It also had the distinction of being the first Hitchcock film to star James Stewart, who would go on to appear in Rear Window, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Vertigo over the next decade.
Based on a play by Patrick Hamilton, Rope tells the story of two young men (played by John Dall and Farley Granger) who murder an old friend in their Manhattan apartment and hide his body before having several people, including the dead man’s father, aunt, and fiancée, over for a dinner party. The two men react much differently to the murder they have undertaken. Phillip (Granger) is quiet and nervous about what he has done, while Brandon (Dall) seems to revel in it, even cracking jokes about the crime he has secretly committed. At one point a partygoer asks, “We’re drinking champagne? Is it somebody’s birthday?” Brandon coyly replies, “You might say it’s quite the opposite.”
From the very beginning, the audience knows that there is a dead body in the apartment. As a result, the suspense comes from a much different source; not knowing whether or not one of the partygoers will discover the body. Phillip and Brandon’s behavior at the party both create suspicion among one partygoer in particular. James Stewart is brilliant as headmaster Rupert Cadell, who suspects that something strange has happened that evening.
The suspense also comes from the fact that the film is entirely set in a single apartment in real time. Every minute counts in Rope, and Hitchcock proves to be a master of time/space relations.
With that comes the technical brilliance of the film. The film is virtually comprised of one shot, with a few edits discretely fit in (the most you could film before having to reload the camera was eight minutes). Credit must therefore go to Director of Photography Joseph A. Valentine as well. The camerawork is perfectly executed and one must appreciate the work the crew put into this tour-de-force.
Beyond all that, Rope just tells a really good story. And when it comes down to it, isn’t that what tends to matter the most in a suspense film?
(Adam D. Miller)
9. The Birds (1963)
Starring Tippi Hedren, Rod Taylor, and Jessica Tandy
If Psycho made people afraid to shower, then Hitchcock’s The Birds made people afraid to pull stupid pranks, like drive sixty miles north, rent a boat, and break into a stranger’s house just to surprise them with a pair of lovebirds. Despite the rather ridiculous story fluffing up the first section of the film, once the birds start to attack, Hitchcock scares us silly.
The three years between Psycho and The Birds was, at the time, Hitchcock’s longest between releases. This was owed to both the technical difficulty of the film (over 370 trick shots) and Hitchcock’s “art film” intentions. From the very start, Hitchcock intended The Birds to be an art film to win over his detractors. The film is full of notorious Hitchcock suspense (as Hitch liked to say “gooseflesh” scenes): ‘counting crows’ on the school yard jungle gym, the gas explosion gull attack, Melanie trapped in the phone booth and the Brenner family sneaking past legions of ominous birds. While Hitch’s “art film” pretensions were disappointed, these scenes are all familiar to every Simpsons fan. And Hitch did create one of cinema’s most memorable apocalyptic “nature attacks” films. The ambiguity of the bird attacks (“why are the birds organizing to kill all humans?”) remains the key novelty of the film.
Hitchcock wanted to cast his glamorous regulars Cary Grant and Grace Kelly but had to settle with Rod Taylor and newcomer Tippi Hedren. I happen to enjoy Tippi’s take on the “Hitchcock icy blonde,” but if her Melanie Daniels ever gets on your nerves, take solace in the knowledge that she endured a breakdown after being pelting with birds for weeks. We all know that acting is seldom what makes a memorable Hitchcock picture.
It is Rod Taylor’s Mitch Brenner who get the honours for most ridiculous line of the film. Right after the first serious bird attack and Melanie is about to leave, Mitch insists: “...stay and have something to eat before you start back. I’d feel a lot better.” As screenwriter Evan Hunter admits “I myself wrote these memorable lines for that unfortunate actor to say, transforming him in the wink of an eye from a heroic leading man to a concerned Jewish mother.”
The Birds is nothing you’d expect from a typical horror film: no haunted mansion, no creepy storms on a dark night, and no ghastly villains with twisted motives. Just a small family, the sun, an idyllic bay, and the birds, lots and lots of birds. It’s these birds that cause frantic people to be clawed, pecked and, yes, engulfed-in-flames to death. Gone is a sinister soundtrack to enhance fright but I can assure that you’ll never hear the chirping, squawking and agonized screeching of our feathered friends the same way again.
The Birds is coming!
(Aaron Licht)
10. Dial M for Murder (1954)
Starring Ray Milland and Grace Kelly
Who besides Hitchcock could release not one, but two of his most critically acclaimed classics in a single year? A few months before the aforementioned Rear Window received its theatrical release, Dial M For Murder hit the silver screen.
Like Rope, Dial M For Murder was based on a play (this time by Frederick Knott, who also wrote the screenplay) and largely set in a single apartment.
Ray Milland plays Tony Wendice, an ex-tennis pro who attempts to have his wife Margot (Grace Kelly) murdered after he concludes she has had an affair with an American.
Wendice constructs a plan to have his wife murdered by a supposed burglar, while he conveniently spends an evening out. By blackmailing a former acquaintance, he has his “burglar,” and Wendice believes his plan to be foolproof.
When things don’t go as expected, Wendice is forced to deal with the consequences. Margot is terrified of the attempted murder she fell prey to, but she was not the one dead in the end. Wendice quickly must develop a Plan B, but that too falls apart before too long.
Dial M For Murder was Hitchcock’s only film to be specifically shot for 3D projection, despite the fact that it was only briefly shown in 3D before reverting to flat-screen projection. It wasn’t released in 3D again until after Hitchcock’s death in 1980.
Whether you watch it in 3D at a cinema or at home on DVD, Dial M For Murder is Hitchcock at his best, and deserves its place on the Top 15.
(Adam D. Miller)
11. Rebecca (1940)
Starring Joan Fontaine and Laurence Olivier
The only film Hitchcock ever made that was awarded the Best Picture Academy Award, Rebecca, is a prime example of why Hitchcock became known as the “master of suspense.” Adapted from Daphne Du Maurier’s novel of the same title, Rebecca follows the tale of a naive young woman, who marries a rich gentleman that is still being haunted by the memories of his deceased first wife Rebecca. Upon her arrival at Manderley estate in Cornwall, England, the home of Maxim de Winter and the new Mrs., it is quickly revealed that Rebecca still has a mysterious hold on the entire estate and its servants, particularly Mrs. Danvers the housekeeper. Rebecca is not a typical Hitchcock film as far as the plot is concerned. No one is attempting to cover up or clear themselves of a crime; in fact there isn’t even a murder committed during the film.
1940 came in the midst of the early period of color films in Hollywood, and with Rebecca being Hitchcock’s first Hollywood production, it could have easily been filmed in color, much like Gone With The Wind had been the year before. However, he chose to stay with black and white, a choice he would often make in the future, for the purpose of keeping the suspense level higher. The shadow play on the black and white keeps the sinister feel of Manderley estate and its remote location of Cornwall, something that would have been lost if produced in color. This choice was among the qualities that would also see Rebecca awarded for Best Cinematography by the Academy.
What is most interesting about Rebecca is that Hitchcock manages to make the title character the central character of the film, despite the fact that she is dead and is never seen on screen. The use of Mrs. Danvers’ character and the relationship she had with Rebecca prior to her death, not only reveals the details of Rebecca as she was in life, but also the devotion to her that the staff of Manderley still carries. Mrs. Danvers’ presence is dark and foreboding and not only unnerving to the new Mrs. de Winter but to the viewer as well. Through Danvers’ and the ever-present “ghost” of Rebecca, Hitchcock spins a web of suspense that keeps the viewer on the edge of their seat. His direction of the actors - Judith Anderson as Mrs. Danvers’, Joan Fontaine as Mrs. de Winter, and of course Laurence Olivier as Maxim de Winter – allow them to play off each other in a realistic way that is totally enthralling. Danvers’ tone of voice is sinister and taunting, yet ever calming, and Mrs. de Winter remains nervous and fearful throughout.
Above all the film is atmospheric. The film is constantly hinting towards its climax, which is where Hitchcock comes alive with his suspense and how he keeps the viewer enthralled, and guessing. Then, just when you think you’ve got it figured out, Hitchcock pulls the rug out from under you.
(Lisa Hood-Anklewicz)
12. The Lady Vanishes (1938)
Starring Margaret Lockwood, Michael Redgrave, and Dame May Whitty
The Lady Vanishes, made in 1938, is one of Hitchcock's last British films before leaving for Hollywood. Even though many consider his American films to be more definitively Hitchcockian, The Lady Vanishes has many qualities and trademarks that firmly establish it as one of the iconic director's finest. One of Hitchcock's obsessions as a film director was with trains, and in The Lady Vanishes, this obsession is more than evident, as the bulk of the action takes place aboard a transcontinental railroad. The lady in question is Miss Froy, played by Dame May Whitty, and she does indeed disappear after befriending the movie's heroin, Iris Henderson, played by Margaret Lockwood. What makes this situation even stranger is the fact that no one else on the train seems to remember the woman, and all deny ever having seen her at all. It's a mysterious train-wide conspiracy that Iris Henderson must then solve, along with her accomplice and fellow traveler, musician Gilbert Redman. Like many of Hitchcock's classic films, The Lady Vanishes is both suspenseful and comic, with some romance thrown in to boot. One of his finest pre-American movies, and worthy of its place on Being There's Top 15.
(Brighid Mooney)
13. The 39 Steps
Starring Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll
An everyman falsely accused of murder, on the run from police, and mixed up with suave but ruthless spies. It is Hitch’s original take on such material, and, while he later developed a sharper technique, a company of polished Hollywood stars, and a more headlong pursuit of dream logic, he never told a story better than The 39 Steps. This is not to imply 39 Steps is a naïve, simple film. Robert Donat’s plight is even more desperate than Cary Grant’s in North by Northwest and his actions somewhat more savage (to quiet an innocent woman he puts his hands around her windpipe and applies pressure). Minor characters are more lovingly and complexly rendered than the somewhat lazy types he would later employ. Indeed, the farmer and his wife on the Scottish moors is perhaps the most poignant thing Hitch has ever done.
The suspense sequences don’t quite reach the delirious heights of his later works, but the situations are more human and character-oriented. Rather than often metaphorically psychological or bordering abstract predicaments he would later place his heroes, Hitchcock puts Donat in traps of forceful personalities in addition to force. He frequently escapes from danger by invoking the kindness of strangers or a clever understanding of human nature. While it is a world less cold than his post-war one, Hitch is still a humorist at heart, playing violence and tragedy relatively lightly. The last shot is a particularly good example of his tendencies, and, deceptively simple, stands as one of the greatest final shots in cinema.
(Nathan Williams)
14. Frenzy (1972)
Starring Barry Foster and Jon Finch
In the 1970s, Alfred Hitchcock directed his two final films, the limp crime comedy Family Plot (1976) and his final masterpiece, Frenzy.
Frenzy’s basic plot is instantly familiar and rife with classic Hitchcockian suspense. No woman is safe when a serial killer known as the “necktie murderer” is loose on the streets of London. An innocent man is suspected (easily Hitchcock’s favourite complication) and must flee in order to catch the killer and clear his name. This basic plot of a London serial killer on the prowl revisits the material of his 1927 feature The Lodger, which Hitchcock himself called the first true “Hitchcock” picture.
In Frenzy, Hitchcock returns to his native London, foregoing his classic style of Hollywood soundstages and big stars playing sleek sophisticated characters. The result may dissatisfy fans of his 40s and 50s American work, but it’s new Hitchcock, a more modern, more urban approach.
I first saw Frenzy during the last days of my Hitchcock viewing frenzy. I had survived half a century of the Master’s thrills and was familiar with his stylized violence. His murderous tales made Hitch a reputation of challenging the Hollywood production code; the morally (and sexually) ambiguous killers in Rope (1948), the sexually motivated murders in Psycho (1960) and the ‘wedding night’ rape in Marnie (1964). In fact, it’s preciously these controversial violent elements that inspired Hitchcock to adapt these stories to the screen.
Made in the early 1970s, when the production code was ditched and the amount of sex and violence on screens was increasing, Hitchcock clearly enjoys his new artistic freedom. For me, Frenzy stands out in Hitchcock’s oeuvre as a glimpse of the director’s familiar themes explored in a more permissive movie era. We see how far Hitchcock wants to push his inimitable mix of sadistic violence and macabre humour.
There are long scenes of sadistic strangulation, gritty and painful to watch, and jokes about rigor mortis. The Prankster likes his gallows humour. In one memorable scene, a woman’s naked body is stuffed into a potato sack and loaded into a truck. Following the truck on a bumbling highway we’re held in suspense until yes, the bag comes tumbling out, naked corpse and all. These moments of shockingly pitch black comedy make Frenzy stand out: should we laugh or scream?
Sometimes dialogue is clearly beyond the boundaries of good taste:
Solicitor in Pub: “We were just talking about the tie murderer, Maisie. You'd better watch out.”
Maisie, Barmaid: [salaciously] “He rapes them first, doesn't he?”
Solicitor in Pub: “Yes, I believe he does.”
Doctor in Pub: “Well I suppose it's nice to know that every cloud has a silver lining.
Ouch.
(Aaron Licht)
15. The Wrong Man (1956)
Starring Henry Fonda and Vera Miles
Probably the most obscure film on this list, The Wrong Man is widely considered by those familiar with it to be one of Hitchcock’s most underrated films. The film is probably the most blatant example of Hitchcock’s “wrong man” theme, which is explored in many of his films, including The 39 Steps and North by Northwest.
Henry Fonda plays Manny Balestrero, a jazz musician and father of two who is wrongly accused of committing a series of robberies because various witnesses mistake him for the true culprit. Practically overnight, Manny is arrested and helplessly put into jail. Vera Miles is wonderful as Manny’s wife Rose, who while wanting to believe he is innocent, drives herself insane thinking that her husband could have committed such atrocities.
Serving as the only film in Hitchcock’s entire career to be based on a true story, the viewer invests a lot of emotion into Manny’s plight. We never believe him to be guilty of any crime, and view him as a good person throughout the whole film.
Often called the most “emotional” Hitchcock film, The Wrong Man is underrated simply because it has stood in the shadow of many of Hitchcock’s “greatest.” To us, however, it is a fitting closure to our list of Hitchcock’s ultimate films.
(Adam Miller)
Plus… The Cameos
Among the many things Hitchcock was known for was a guaranteed cameo appearance in every film he made, from 1926’s The Lodger to 1976’s Family Plot.
Here are some of Aaron Licht’s favourites. See if you can spot them!
1. SHADOW OF A DOUBT (1943)
On the train to Santa Rosa, playing cards.
2. LIFEBOAT (1944)
In the "before" and "after" pictures in the newspaper ad for Reduco Obesity Slayer.
3. DIAL M FOR MURDER (1954)
On the left side of the class-reunion photo, thirteen minutes into the film.
4. PSYCHO (1960)
Four minutes in, through Janet Leigh's window as she returns to her office. He is wearing a cowboy hat.
5. THE BIRDS (1963)
Leaving the pet shop with two white terriers as Tippi Hedren enters.
