| Top Picks - Hitchcock on Video and DVD | ||
| Alfred Hitchcock is one of my favorite directors, and whenever I'm in the mood for a stylish mix of suspense, terror, and perhaps a delicious dash of romance, his films have never failed to entertain and fascinate me. He wrote and directed about 35 films worth seeing, and there are so many wonderful choices I found it difficult to decide, but here's a list of ten of my favorites: | ||
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1.) "Rear Window" - (1954) In "Rear Window" a photographer (James Stewart) recovering from an injury is confined to his apartment when he sees things indicating his neighbor has committed a murder. Aided by his beautiful girlfriend (Grace Kelly) and his nurse, Jeff is determined to figure out what's going on. My favorite line is when Grace Kelly's character shows James Stewart's character a flimsy nightgown she has brought over in her purse and tells him, "A preview of coming attractions."
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2.) "Vertigo" - (1958) Scottie Ferguson (Jimmy Stewart) is a detective who is hired to follow an elegant, icy blonde named Madeleine (Kim Novak). Ferguson falls madly in love with Madeleine, but she dies a mysterious death. Later, Ferguson meets a shopgirl named Judy (also played by Novak) who reminds him of Madeleine. Although I've always been unsettled by "Vertigo, " I admire Hitchcock's courage here in exploring a man's perverse compulsion to transform a woman into what he wants her to be.
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3.) "North by Northwest" - (1959) In this entertaining thriller executive Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) is wrongly accused of murder and becomes an innocent man on the run, along the way falling for an icy blonde. Together they have to try to prevent the diabolical Philip Vandamm from getting government secrets on microfilm out of the country. My favorite scene is where Thornhill is at a crossroads surrounded by cornfields in the middle of nowhere when he is suddenly chased by a low-flying airplane.
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4.) "Psycho" - (1960) "Psycho" is a masterwork of suspense and horror. In my opinion, murderous psychos don't get more terrifying than Norman Bates. Echoes of this movie are permanently etched into my mind's eye, especially the shower scene which has some of the most terrifying footage in movie history. I doubt that I'm the only woman who hesitates to check into a motel alone since seeing the film. My favorite line: "A boy's best friend is his mother."
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5.) "Rebecca" - (1940) "Rebecca" is a gothic romance about a young woman (Joan Fontaine) who marries a widower (Laurence Olivier) and goes to live with him at his vast estate. This is one of my favorites because Hitchcock brilliantly suffuses the film with an air of mystery and dread as the young woman gradually discovers the circumstances surrounding the death of the landowner's previous wife Rebecca. I love the movie's first line: "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again."
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6.) "Notorious" - (1946) I think that Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman are wonderful together in this nifty little spy thriller. T.R. Devlin (Cary Grant) is a U.S. government agent assigned to stop Nazi uranium shipments out of Rio de Janeiro. To carry out the assignment, he recruits an icy blonde (Ingrid Bergman) to marry (!) one of the Nazi conspirators (Claude Rains). But things get complicated when Devlin and the blonde fall in love with each other.
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7.) "The 39 Steps" - (1935) "The 39 Steps" is a nicely paced thriller that I feel is the best of the films Hitchcock directed in the U.K. Richard Hannay (Robert Donat) meets a woman who must get to Scotland to prevent the stealing of government secrets. But when she is murdered, the police suspect Hannay, and he becomes an innocent man on the run. The part I enjoy the most is where Hannay checks into an inn with an icy blonde (Madeleine Carroll) to whom he is handcuffed.
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8.) "The Birds" - (1963) Once again, something as seemingly innocuous as a flock of birds is transformed by Hitchcock into a tour de force of terror. Planning to deliver a pair of lovebirds as a gift, Melanie Daniels drives to a seaside town, and from there the movie turns into a horror film. In sequence, a lone seagull attacks Melanie, a flock of seagulls assaults kids at a birthday party, a flock of aggressive sparrows emerges from a fireplace, and a human corpse turns up with its eyes pecked out.
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9.) "Strangers on a Train" - (1951) I've always admired how Hitch understood the terrifying potential of simple situations, such as a chance meeting. Guy Haines wants to marry Anne Morton, but his wife won't divorce him. While riding on a train, Haines meets a pesky man named Bruno Antony who proposes that he will kill Haines' wife if Haines will kill Antony's father. Later, Haines is stunned to learn that his wife is dead and Antony resurfaces, demanding Haines carry out his part of the deal.
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10.) "The Man Who Knew Too Much" - (1956) Two of America's best-loved stars, James Stewart and Doris Day, play a likable married couple in this entertaining mystery. Ben McKenna (Stewart) and his wife Jo (Day) are vacationing in Morocco with their young son when Ben learns that a statesman will be assassinated in London. Then Ben and Jo's son is kidnapped, and they work to get him back while doing what they can to prevent the assassination. Doris Day singing "Que Sera, Sera" in this movie is indelibly etched in my mind.
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