This cute text cloud came from
Wordle. It's dead easy to do and really effective.
Mine is in order of preference so Vertigo is biggest. See if you can spot Secret Agent; it's tiny!
Best film: VertigoWorst Film: Secret AgentMost overrated: SpellboundMost underrated: I ConfessBest Actor: James Stewart,
Vertigo. Special mention for Henry Fonda in
The Wrong ManBest Actress: Ingrid Bergman in
Notorious or Grace Kelly in
Rear Window. I can’t pick! Don’t make me.
Best Supporting Actor: Alastair Sim in
Stage FrightBest Supporting Actress: Thelma Ritter in
Rear WindowBest Double Act: Hume Cronyn and Henry Travers in
Shadow of a Doubt, voicing the love of macabre that Hitchcock himself had. Special mention for Naunton Wayne and Basil Radford trying to get home for the cricket in
The Lady Vanishes.
Best Villain: Bruno in
Strangers on a Train. Utterly barking, yet capable of destroying an innocent man’s life, the epitome of a Hitchcock thriller. Mrs. Bates comes a close second. Just for the charm, don’t forget the Barry Foster in
Frenzy.
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Further "reading", etc:Wikipedia entry for Alfred HitchcockCameos IndexVanity Fair Photo Tribute, with modern actors recreating key scenesKey To Reversa. First posted by James, this is a gag from Scorcese that's actually a rather impressive staging by the director of a typical Hitch setup.
EDIT:Slant Magazine, The Conversations: Minor Hitchcock Matthias posted this link not long ago. It's an excellent and thorough article.
If you enjoy Hitchcock movies, there's a handful of other great ones I can recommend. For instance, Fritz Lang's
M, a German film from 1931, is a stone cold classic. It's a perfect example of the kind of thing Hitchcock was immersing himself in about the time, but a great thriller too.
Shock with Vincent Price is the film I was hoping
Spellbound would be, and is actually much better. Price is quietly threatening in a claustrophobic plot...
If you liked the realism of
The Wrong Man, it's natural predecessor is proper Italian Neo-Realism in
The Bicycle Thieves. Hitchcock’s film is marvellous, but does have a good thriller for a plot.
The Bicycle Thieves is all about the emotion, but both share the Cinema Verite style. Fair warning though, I repeat this is no Thriller. It's hard and brilliant.
Vertigo was his only real stab at Noir, but as with the Italian Neo-Realism, he didn’t do it properly.
Vertigo, I reiterate, was beyond perfect, but films similar to the first half at least –proper Noir- would be
Double Indemnity and
Chinatown. A very good modern example with a twist is
Brick, reviewed elsewhere on this site by Matthias and then myself. Highly recommended.
Then we have the films directly inspired.
A Perfect Murder is a fairly successful retread of
Dial M for Murder.
Strangers on a Train was used as the inspiration for the wonderful
Throw Momma From The Train, one of my favourite comedies.
Flightplan and
Dangerous Crossing both feature situations like
The Lady Vanishes.
Disturbia is essentially Rear Window: The Teen Years and another Le Beoff,
Eagle Eye, is like a
The Man Who Knew Too Much on drugs!
House on Telegraph Hill is an interesting play on
Rebecca; in fact, many may enjoy it more as it’s more straightforward. Then we have that term, “Hitchcockian”.
What Lies Beneath is a decent thriller that has all sorts of elements, especially a woman with dual personalities, a husband who might be murderous (Ford allowed to go places Cary Grant couldn’t). The best foreign film I've seen close to the Hitchcock style is Mario Bava's
The Girl Who Knew Too Much, which also has the honour of being the first Italian Giallo. Reviews in the index from Jimmy, amongst others.
EDIT: Somehow forgot about
Wait Until Dark! Marvellous thriller with Audrey Hepburn that would have been a perfect Hitchcock plot (almost one set too, like Rope or Rear Window). Hepburn plays a blind woman, trying to prove her independence to her husband. Thieves take advantage of her disability to get into her apartment. A brilliant premise, expertly used for nerve-wracking tension. I reviewed it before here:
http://www.dvdcollectorsonline.com/index.php/topic,4159.msg82205.html#msg82205But the best film Hitchcock never directed must be Carol Reed’s
Fallen Idol. It's a wonderful story about a small boy living in a large house, who thinks he may have seen his beloved butler commit a murder. You have Hitchcock's style of premise and nightmarish plot, but it's from the point of view of the child and I don't think Hitch would have done it so well.
Fallen Idol has elements, not least the child, that I just can’t think of Hitch handling with the same empathy and warmth, especially as he's so posh! An absolute triumph for Reed, director of
The Third Man. This lesser known film deserves some more exposure. Can't find a trailer, but there's a fairly nice clip that shows the interaction with Baines (Ralph Richardson). It's available in a typically good Criterion edition.
