What's your favorite Hitchcock film?

Cafe Society
41

On the cameos: Hitchcock was in every one of his movies after the silent THE LODGER. I’m not sure what percentage that was, but it has to be higher than 75%, I’d guess.

I don’t have “a” favorite, but PSYCHO, NORTH BY NORTHWEST, REAR WINDOW, and THE BIRDS are right up there. FRENZY is uneven, but I enjoy it. I actually light FAMILY PLOT, as well, although it’s far from his best. And TROUBLE WITH HARRY is always fun. And the second MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH. And REBECCA. And…

BTW, I actually met Hitchcock back in 1966, and got to spend a few hours with him (me and a small group.) He was smaller than I expected, but that amazing wit was there. Most of the time, he gave his “standard” answers to questions, but I think I got him with the question: “If you could ask a question of Alfred Hitchcock, what would you ask?” He seem befuddled for a moment, then said, “I’d ask, where do you get such unusual views about sex? and the answer is, I don’t know.”

42

When I saw the thread title–I said to myself easy, North by Northwest". Then I started to relive my memories of each of the films as I went from top to bottom on the thread. It became harder…

Still I am going stand by my original decision, but it is for what I think is an interesting reason. It is his least Hitchcockian film. Among other things, it is less confined than any other film of his I think. Yes, I know 39 Steps has the moors and all but it actually takes place in small cramped areas as do most of his films. Yeah, Yeah, Birds was wide open, but think about the pivotal scenes-they are always tight and contained.

NbNW also has something of a plot and not just a situation to be reacted to. Hitchcock seemed to love setting up situations and turning the characters loose. Look at the body in the chest in Rope or the crazed birds in Birds or the inability to move in Rear Window.

I truly love Hitchcock films, but it came down to the two least Hitchcock-like films for me - Vertigo and North by Northwest and honestly even when I saw it when it first came out, the stunt work and special effects weakened Vertigo for me just enough to prefer the Cary Grant vehicle over it.

TV

43

I’m gonna take a dark horse here with * Marnie*. It’s the OTHER Tippi Hendren movie. With Sean Connery at his dashingest. In my opinion, it’s worth the rental price for the one long shot near the beginning of Marnie trying to get into the safe when WE know the maid is coming down the hall…Hitchcock suspense at it’s visual finest.

Suspicion is fun because Cary Grant keeps calling Joan Fonatine “monkey-face” as a term of endearment throughout the movie. Crazy Brits.

And Spellbound is cool because Salvadore Dali designed the dream sequence. The rest of the movie is not terribly interesting. (At least by Hitchcock standards)

But as for total movie, I do love the 360 that Psycho takes. Just when you think it’s about the money (see MacGuffin, below) , it goes and turns into something else. Plot-wise, it’s my favorite. I enjoy the darker Hitchcock, as opposed to the jokier British ones.

As a filmmaker, I am enthralled by him. His definition of suspence: Horror is when you show the audience what it happening. Suspence is when you let them imagine it.

On MacGuffins: (an object in a story that superficially drives the plot but ultimately has little to do with what makes the story interesting): (this is paraphrased) Two men are traveling on a train. The first man is carrying a large case. The second man inquires as to the contents of the case.
“It’s a large gun for the hunting of lions in Scotland,” replys the first man.
“But there are no lions in Scotland,” says the second.
“Well, then. I suppose it isn’t really a MacGuffin.”

And finally, on eggs:
“I am frightened of eggs, worse then frightened, they revolt me. That white round thing without any holes. Have you ever seen anything more revolting then an egg yolk breaking and spilling its yellow liquid? Blood is jolly, red. But egg yolk is yellow, revolting. I’ve never tasted it.”

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<< “I am frightened of eggs, worse then frightened, they revolt me…” >>

The famous scene in TO CATCH A THIEF when Grace Kelly’s mother puts out her cigarette in a fried egg comes to mind. Which reminds me of the lady who puts out her cigarette in the cold cream in REBECCA… except the latter was the invention of Daphne Du Maurier and appears in the book.

45

Rear Window or Rebecca.

And what kind of name is CK Dexter Havn?

46

Go rent “The Philadelphia Story” and you’ll find out.

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What a precious jewel of an anecdote! Thanks for sharing it with us. :slight_smile:

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Yes, CK Dexter Haven , that was a wonderful story - and what an incredible experience to have had!

I forgot about Spellbound and Marnie . I don’t remember being particularly spellbound by Spellbound . (Ack, sorry, that was awful of me…lol) I do adore Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck however…so I think I enjoyed it based on that factor. Doubt I would rent it again though.

As for Marnie , I thought that was a pretty wild subject matter to address for the time that it was made. Tippy was great in that. Perfect mix of strong and vulnerable. And of course Sean was delicious…mmm.

49

It’s almost impossible to pick just one. Either “North by Northwest,” “Vertigo,” or “Rear Window.” I guess if I had to pick one, it’s be “North by Northwest.”

50

Notorious, Psycho, and Sabotage. The first two are well-known, but I can’t recommend Sabotage enough for anyone who hasn’t seen it (BTW, it’s not to be confused with Saboteur, which was one of Hitch’s “on the run” thrillers.) Yes, it’s a 1936 B&W British film with the lousy sound recording typical of its provenance, but it also has wonderful characterizations and two classic set-pieces that still hold up today for their suspensefulness. This movie had true grit: bad things happen to good people, and the baddies can get away with quite a bit, for quite awhile…

I’d also like to second the mentions of Torn Curtain and Marnie for their respective strengths, as true dark horses. TC’s “Gromek” character is one of the most terrifying that Hitchcock ever came up with. The atmosphere Hitch came up with for his East German setting was also quietly menacing – as was the desperation of the doomed would-be emigrant who helps Paul Newman and Julie Andrews. And the fight-to-the-death kitchen scene, with its still-raw resonance to the Holocaust (that gas oven!), was truly horrifying.

And Marnie featured a wonderful female antihero (Hedren), she of the unresolved sexual issues and grand larceny habit. A double-barrelled blast of social subversion, that one, and very darkly comic.

Overlooked and underrated, both of 'em.

51

Oops. I meant “also quietly menacing and convincing – as was the desperation of the doomed would-be emigrant…”.

If that film had a weakness, it was that Paul Newman wasn’t entirely convincing as a math-genius-turned-double-agent. Sexy as hell and utterly charming, yes, but math-nerdy, not really. Not that I’m complaining, though! :smiley:

52

You are my hero. May I touch you?

Oh, and my favorite…well it’s hard to decide, there’s a wealth of insanely good filmmaking here. I’d go with Vertigo as my favorite with all of the rest of them a close second. I really liked Notorious, myself.

53

I’ve gotta sayRope , just the way it was filmed to make it seem like one seamless shot. Beautiful.

54

…for it’s amazing intricacy.

Parents - Janet Leigh’s mother (dead?) is in a forbidding picture on the wall, John Gavin’s father died with money problems, Pat Hitchcocks mother (in the film) fed her tranquilisers, the Oil Man has a daughter for whom he buys off unhappiness, and my mother isn’t herself lately…

Mirrors - everywhere. In the hotel room, in the bathroom, in the car salesman’s rest room as you count out the stolen money, in the motel office, and alarmingly in mother’s bedroom…

Birds and flying things - Marion Crane, from Phoenix, the stuffed birds, the swoop into the hotel room at the beginning, and she wouldn’t even harm a fly…

Music - the repetitive, never quite resolved modulations as Bernard Herrmann winds us up over and over again, and then that startling screech of violins during the two murders…

Black and white photography - the composition of the car, the tree and the road just before Marion Crane is woken disturbed by the policeman, the face of the policeman, the walk up towards the house…

The missed opportunities - Marion is about to return the money when she is killed, Sam writes to tell her “let’s get married” but it’s too late, the motel is built and then the highway is moved, the car is sold, but the policeman has watched the whole interaction…

I recorded the movie onto an audio cassette and I often play it in my car, and still delight in it.

Thanks for listening…
Redboss

55

I just read the sticky about spoilers and I think I gave away a plot point in Psycho. I am sincerely sorry. Hope nobody who hasn’t seen the movie recalls what I said.

Abjectly,

Redboss

56

OK, since I have seen almost all of his films I have to go with some of the majority and say The 39 Steps/North By Northwest (they are essentially the same movie except NBNW has an extra hour of witty dialogue). I also love most of the English films from the 30’s. Strangers on a Train and Rear Window both lose my vote because the slow motion sequences break the rhythm of the film for me. I love Dial M for Murder (especially fantastic in the original 3D). Finally, got to love Psycho but it doesn’t win because it is the anti-Hitchocock movie (becuase a major plot point revolves around surprise instead of suspense).
If you want the worst-I nominate Jamaca Inn or Under Capricorn-only a true Hitchcock nut would force herself to watch either of these:D .
Finally, the original Man Who Knew Too Much rocks-beats the pants off the remake!

57

I’m fond of “Foreign Correspondent” (if only because I see traces of Pynchon’s Slothrop character in Joel McCrea’s mannerisms), but I wanted to comment on MARNIE, which I happened to see yesterday for about the 10th time. The whole “Marnie as traumatized child” basis of the film is very silly, IMO, simple-minded twaddle and essentially unfilmable. If every businessman with an interest in animal behavior (!) decided to psychoanalyze his mentally-disturbed wife, as Sean Connery does here, we’d have a country full of wall-to-wall women in straight jackets. (The casting was awful, in that Connery’s Scottish burr, which he tries to suppress, is unlikely on an American businessman, much less one so senstive to accent that he deduces Marnie is lying by the subtle weight she give to the first sylable in the word ‘insurance.’) The motivation of Marnie’s mother is weird, too: she displays an animosity towards Marnie throughout, which at the ending is belied by her assurances that she truly loves Marnie. Well, okay, if you say so, Mom, but why then treat your daughter like your worst enemy for thirty years before coming to this simple truth?

58

To hell with the seamless shot, I was absolutely shocked when I watched it last year that a 54 year old movie literally had me on the edge of my seat with my heart beating double-time.

(Disclaimer: I loved the seamless shot :D)

59

Okay, here’s my worst, (though I certainly haven’t seen them all): Spellbound. As others have mentioned, it’s forgettable. Is it, however, perhaps the first movie to give us the cliche of the sexy psychiatrist? Ingrid Bergman is of course classy and looks nice in those white ski pants. (I keep remembering the movie as “Snowbound” because the video box had the ski scene on the front.)

I like the remake with Doris Day precisely because she is so surreal in it–putting a bright chirpy Day playing herself into a dark kidnapping is just the right over-the-top touch, IMHO.

I wanted to say some more about High Anxiety. While it looks a lot at Vertigo, it’s really a spoof of a whole bunch of Hitchcock’s most famous stuff–the birds attack Mel with a much more naturalistic bird weapon, and the Psycho shower scene uses a rolled-up newspaper (we watch the ink spiral down the drain). Neat.