jimmmy, Hitchcock was not nominated for Director for Suspicion, but he was the Producer so he got a nod when the film scored a Picture nomination.
Vertigo remains my favorite–not as funny and much more depressing than his others, but also much more personal, giving you a window into Hitch that other films only hinted at. I never get tired of it.
My other faves: Strangers on a Train, North by Northwest, Rear Window, Notorious, Psycho, The Birds, Shadow of a Doubt, The 39 Steps, Frenzy
And I recently saw Spellbound again on the big screen and was reminded how unbearable it is. Talky, talky with lots of dated psychobabble, and nothing remotely suspenseful about it at all. Rozsa’s score is good, as is the lighting by George Barnes, but the movie is inert, and the wooden Mr. Peck (RIP) doesn’t help things one bit (though Ingrid in that sweater by the fireplace–Yowza!). Oh, and the Dali sequence is great, but everytime it gets some momentum, they cut away back to the boring people with their boring analysis! I’ve even seen this film projected with a nitrate print and it barely helped. A slog.
My absolute favorite is “Psycho.” I just love how he sets up the piece, for thirty minutes you think about Janet Leigh’s character and how she stole the money and then, all of a sudden, she gets hacked up in the hands down, best slasher scene. To this day, I always double check that shadow behind the shower curtain to see if it’s Norman Bates’ “mother.”
The other night I watched “One False Move” again for the xth time and suddenly realized, for the first time, that as Fantasia is arriving back at the hometown, there’s a cropduster buzzing the fields – several times – just like in North By Northwest.
Well “Vertigo, 1958” is my favorite with “North by Northwest, 1959” second (used to be my favorite).
Hitchcock really hit his stride in 1954 and kept it going through 1959. Other favorites filmed during that time were “Dial M for Murder, 1954”, “Rear Window, 1954”, “To Catch a Thief, 1955”, and “The Man who Knew Too Much, 1956”.
I thought it was an intelligent and beautiful film. I thought the subplots were rich, and the action came to an understated climax. A refreshing departure, with just enough of the master’s touch.
Hitchcock was an extra in The Lodger (1927). Not quite a “cameo”, but he appeared in the lion’s share of his films from the mid-30s on (though not all, per your JI observation).
I also have a huge fondness for his early chase moves: The 39 Steps, Foreign Correspondent (with George Sanders as the memorably named Scott ffolliott), and Saboteur.
To me, Rebecca is a Selznick film first, a du Maurier film second, and a Hitchcock movie only third. Vertigo is a classic but (as someone else here said) it’s admired rather than loved: I think it tops many critic’s lists because of what it shows about Hitchcock the man, not because of what’s up on the screen. Rear Window and Notorious are clearly better in my books.
Rear Window is my personal favourite, and was a real revelation when I saw it in the cinema- all those details in the houses opposite become so much clearer. Plus, Jimmy Stewart is fantastic- what a voice!, and the on-screen relationship between him and Grace Kelly is just perfect.
I also have a soft spot for The Lady Vanishes- lots of stiff upper lip Britishness that makes me giggle.
One choice I would have to disagree with is The Birds- not scary at all in my opinion, just a little ridiculous.
Also, the shock of Psycho was rather spoiled for me, as I only saw it first a few years ago, and the twist at the end has by now so entered the language of popular culture that I saw it coming immediately. Plus, I knew exactly what was going to happen the Janet Leigh when she got into that shower…
Both have Cary Grant, and I want to be Cary Grant when I grow up.
I don’t really care for Man Who Knew Too Much - whenever I see Doris Day and think “Pillow Talk,” not Alfred Hitchcock. Plus, as Oscar Levant used to say, “I knew Doris Day before she was a virgin.”
Psycho’s a comedy; The Birds is a comedy; the others I haven’t seen recently enough to weigh in on. But that’s what works in Hitchcock, when it works: his overarching smirk while he’s preparing you for the next “BOO!”
The Birds is my favorite Hitchcock; I’ve watched it MANY many times; recently watched it three times back to back, after reading Camille Paglia’s silly book about it. TRUST me, it’s a comedy; in the way that Blue Velvet and Dancer in the Dark and Showgirls are comedies; Hitchcock is the grandfather of the pomo-smirk film, as practiced by Sirk, Verhoeven, and Von Trier.
