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Top 5 Hitchcock


zen

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In two films that I rewatched, a) To catch a thief, b) The Birds, one thing I really liked is the romantic interactions b/w the two lead characters. You go to an Hitchcock expecting suspense, thrills, etc., but the comedy and romance in the films is amazing as well 

 

Spoilers ahead:

  • Already discussed the romantic interaction b/w Grant and Kelly in To catch a thief. And I will re-rewatch it just for that 
  • In Birds, the films starts with an altercation b'w the leads. The leading lady goes to the small town to offer a gift to make things up and then start to fall in love. Then the Birds come 

 

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Rewatched Rear Window and Northwest and added to the rewatched ranking list 

 

Among the major ones, have to rewatch Rebecca, Suspicion, Foreign Correspondent, The man who knew too much (1934 version), Strangers on a train, Psycho, etc 

Edited by zen
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I don't know which are the "top" Hitchcocks since that's subjective. One can use Sight & Sound (as noted earlier in the thread) in which case Vertigo is the best. I will list my "favourite" 5 instead of the "top" 5:

 

(a) The Wrong Man - My fav Hitch film of all time, mostly because of his neorealist style combined with classical Hitchcockian elements. A great and harrowing study of how false accusations can destroy the lives of families.

(b) Shadow of a Doubt - reputedly Hitch's personal fav, and a superb (if understated) exploration of suburban US and the crimes that lurk beneath it. Rather reminiscent of David Lynch in some respects.

(c) Vertigo

(d) Psycho

(e) North by Northwest/Rear Window

 

I've seen nearly all of Hitch's surviving films, from the 20s to the 70s. Can hardly think of any which I did not enjoy immensely.

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Hitchcock films at BO inflation adjusted $100M+ 

 

R Movie (Year) UMR Co-Star Links Adj. B.O. Domestic (mil) B.O. Rank by Year Review Oscar Nom / Win UMR Score  
     
3 Rear Window (1954) 
AA Best Director Nom
James Stewart & 
Grace Kelly
452.3 2 94 04 / 00 98.6  
3 Psycho (1960) 
AA Best Director Nom
Anthony Perkins & 
Janet Leigh
382.2 3 94 04 / 00 98.6  
7 Notorious (1946) Cary Grant & 
Ingrid Bergman
335.9 8 90 02 / 00 98.2  
2 Spellbound (1945)
AA Best Picture Nom
AA Best Director Nom
Gregory Peck & 
Ingrid Bergman
329.0 8 78 06 / 01 98.7  
6 North by Northwest (1959) Cary Grant & 
James Mason
286.3 7 93 03 / 00 98.5  
1 Rebecca (1940)
AA Best Picture Win
AA Best Director Nom
Laurence Olivier & 
Joan Fontaine
274.6 5 87 11 / 02 99.9  
8 To Catch a Thief (1955) Cary Grant & 
Grace Kelly
221.8 18 84 03 / 01 97.9  
10 The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) James Stewart & 
Doris Day
191.0 23 81 01 / 01 96.6  
5 Suspicion (1941)
AA Best Picture Nom
Cary Grant & 
Joan Fontaine
165.3 25 86 03 / 01 98.6  
22 Jamaica Inn (1939) Charles Laughton & 
Maureen O'Hara
160.7 27 53 00 / 00 83.1  
12 The Birds (1963) Tippi Hedren 151.7 16 88 01 / 00 94.9  
21 The Paradine Case (1947) Gregory Peck & 
Charles Laughton
144.1 53 62 01 / 00 85.0  
13 Vertigo (1958) James Stewart & 
Kim Novak
136.7 20 91 02 / 00 94.8  
20 Torn Curtain (1966) Paul Newman & 
Julie Andrews
133.5 18 67 00 / 00 85.5  
11 Foreign Correspondent (1940)
AA Best Picture Nom
Joel McCrea 130.8 32 82 00 / 00 96.2  
14 Rope (1948) James Stewart 130.3 50 89 00 / 00 92.9  
14 Dial M for Murder (1954) Ray Milland & 
Grace Kelly
128.6 50 83 00 / 00 91.0  
17 Frenzy (1972) Jon Finch 110.9 18 78 00 / 00 88.7  
19 Saboteur (1942) Robert Cummings 110.5 75 75 00 / 00 85.5  
15 Shadow of a Doubt (1943) Joseph Cotten 102.5 87 90 01 / 00 90.6  
29 Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941) Carole Lombard & 
Robert Montgomery
101.4 76 57 00 / 00 73.1
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Hitchcock is an absolute genius. I've not watched a lot of his movies but Psycho has to be on top of his works. Remember that stabbing scene in the bathroom? That was an epic scene, it has 50+ cutscenes in a space of 10 seconds IIRC. Lots of epic scenes in that movie. Technical perfection! 

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1 minute ago, BlueBee said:

Hitchcock is an absolute genius. I've not watched a lot of his movies but Psycho has to be on top of his works. Remember that stabbing scene in the bathroom? That was an epic scene, it has 50+ cutscenes in a space of 10 seconds IIRC. Lots of epic scenes in that movie. Technical perfection! 

I almost shat my pants at the last reveal.

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1 hour ago, BlueBee said:

Hitchcock is an absolute genius. I've not watched a lot of his movies but Psycho has to be on top of his works. Remember that stabbing scene in the bathroom? That was an epic scene, it has 50+ cutscenes in a space of 10 seconds IIRC. Lots of epic scenes in that movie. Technical perfection! 

so true. that, and the eventual reveal of the villain, etc.

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Some nice transfers of old Hitchcock films:

 

  • Suspicion: This is a new 2K restoration done by Warner Archives in 2016 
  • Rebecca: 4K restoration on regular blue ray done by Criterion in 2017 
  • Notorious: Released on Jan 15th 2019. The new 4k restoration on regular blue ray done by Criterion 
  • Foreign Correspondent: 2K restoration done by Criterion in 2014 (below)

 

 

 

 

I guess Criterion will do a new 4k restoration of Spellbound as well so look forward to it 

Edited by zen
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On 1/19/2019 at 2:38 PM, zen said:

Some nice transfers of old Hitchcock films:

 

  • Suspicion: This is a new 2K restoration done by Warner Archives in 2016 
  • Rebecca: 4K restoration on regular blue ray done by Criterion in 2017 
  • Notorious: Released on Jan 15th 2019. The new 4k restoration on regular blue ray done by Criterion 
  • Foreign Correspondent: 2K restoration done by Criterion in 2014 (below)

 

 

 

 

I guess Criterion will do a new 4k restoration of Spellbound as well so look forward to it 

should be fun to watch them.

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