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He directed more than fifty feature films, and I have seen all of the
American ones and most of the British. Choosing twelve was painful. Ranking
them was worse. I changed the order four times while typing this and I will
probably change it again. These are a viewer's favorites, not a critic's list:
I have tried to say in a line or two why each one matters to me, and not to
give away a single surprise.
| 1 |
Vertigo (1958)
James Stewart, Kim Novak, and my own city looking more beautiful than it
ever has in life. Bernard Herrmann's music goes round and round like the
story does. Edwin thought it was slow. Edwin was a dear man and he was
wrong. |
| 2 |
Rear Window (1954)
James Stewart in a wheelchair, Grace Kelly at her loveliest, Thelma Ritter
getting all the best lines, and an entire Greenwich Village courtyard built
on a soundstage. It is a film about watching films, and our first Hitchcock
together. |
| 3 |
Notorious (1946)
Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman. The most grown-up love story he ever made,
and the sorriest I have ever felt for a villain, a small, sad man with a
terrible mother. Watch what the
camera does with a single key. |
| 4 |
Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
Teresa Wright and Joseph Cotten, filmed in the real Santa Rosa, an hour north
of here. Evil comes to visit a nice small town and is invited to dinner. I
have read that it was his own favorite of his pictures, and I see why. |
| 5 |
North by Northwest (1959)
Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, a crop duster and Mount Rushmore.
The most pure fun he ever had with an audience. If you show one Hitchcock to a
grandchild, show this one. |
| 6 |
The Lady Vanishes (1938)
The best of the British pictures, on a train crossing Europe, with Margaret
Lockwood and Michael Redgrave, and two Englishmen who care about nothing but
getting home for the cricket. Witty from start to finish. |
| 7 |
Strangers on a Train (1951)
Robert Walker is so charming that it frightens you, which is exactly the
point. The tennis match and the carousel are two of the finest sequences he
ever put together. |
| 8 |
Rebecca (1940)
Joan Fontaine, Laurence Olivier, and Judith Anderson as Mrs. Danvers, the
most frightening housekeeper in the history of the movies. From the Daphne
du Maurier novel, which every girl my age read under the covers. |
| 9 |
Psycho (1960)
Janet Leigh, Anthony Perkins, and Bernard Herrmann's shrieking strings. We
saw it at a theater that wouldn't let anyone in after it had started, which
was his rule, and the line went around the block. I held Edwin's arm so hard
he had marks. |
| 10 |
The Birds (1963)
Tippi Hedren, Rod Taylor and Suzanne Pleshette in Bodega Bay. There is no
musical score at all, only the birds, and that is what makes it so
unsettling. I still won't sit near the jungle gym in a schoolyard. |
| 11 |
The 39 Steps (1935)
Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll, handcuffed together across Scotland. The
blueprint for North by Northwest and half the spy pictures since. |
| 12 |
To Catch a Thief (1955)
Not his deepest, but Cary Grant, Grace Kelly and the Riviera in Technicolor
are pure dessert, and every list needs dessert. |
Just missing the list
Lifeboat (1944), the whole film in one small boat. Rope
(1948), shot in long unbroken takes. Dial M for Murder (1954), which
was filmed in 3-D, though I have only ever seen it flat. Foreign
Correspondent (1940). Marnie (1964), which I liked better the
second time. And The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), for Doris Day, and
for the cymbals at the Albert Hall.
Disagree with my order? Most people do. Write and tell me yours:
[email protected]
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