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Favorite Hitchcock Film


  

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What's your favorite film directed by "The Master of Suspense"?. I'm a big fan of his work made during the period between 1945-1965 with North by Northwest being tops on my list. I selected 10 of his best-known films begining with Foreign Correspondant (circa 1940).

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"Rebecca" is, by far, my favourite Hitchcock film. Judith Anderson and Nigel Bruce were perfect supporting characters to Olivier and Joan Fontaine. My favourite scene is the one in Rebecca's perfectly preserved bedroom. The line, "Why don't you jump?" haunted me, long after I saw the film.

My second favourite is "Frenzy", even though many Hitchcock fans tell me it's their least favourite. Barry Foster is, IMO, one of the creepiest villians in Hitchcock films.

My sentimental favourite is "The Trouble With Harry", because it was the first of Hitchcock's films I saw, as a child. It was funny, as well as very clever.

Edited by patricia
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I had to go with Vertigo too. Jimmy Stewart's Hitchcock films are all great, but Vertigo is such a different kind of role for Stewart, what with him not being quite the 'all-good' guy he normally was. That tipped it over to Vertigo, as far as voting goes.

I spent one summer back in college (late 80's) reading an excellent biography of Hitchcock, and as I read about each film he made - I went out and rented each film. Wonderful way to really dig into a director's entire output (or nearly so), all in the space of a couple months.

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What about "Rope"? I was totally shocked, the first time I saw it, to see Jimmy Stewart as a smarmy villian. Marvelous casting against type and totally effective. We're so used to seeing Stewart, as he got older, as the "aw shucks" good guy, that this role was a total revelation to me, at the time.

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I'll have to vote for 'North by Northwest'. Have seen that one dozens of time and

can't escape the thrill of it. Cary Grant is not my favorite actor but he is superb in

that one. And then Eva Marie-Saint is the perfect Hitchcock blonde (better and more

humane than Grace Kelly). Too bad Hitchcock did not cast her in another film.

James Mason and Martin Landau also have superb parts.

And Bernard Hermann's music is perfect.

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What about "Rope"? I was totally shocked, the first time I saw it, to see Jimmy Stewart as a smarmy villian. Marvelous casting against type and totally effective. We're so used to seeing Stewart, as he got older, as the "aw shucks" good guy, that this role was a total revelation to me, at the time.

Yes, that was a very strange film. Not at all what I was expecting when I first saw it. That first scene that is one big, extended shot, is amazing.

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This is one of the most difficult polls for me. I'm a fan of almost all of Hitchcock's films, including his "silent" films.

I chose "Notorious", because it contains one of Ingrid Bergman's best performances (and she was rarely less than superlative). She was a real "knockout" in that film - very beautiful and sensual, and her chemistry with Cary Grant was intense. Claude Rains and the rest of the ensemble were constantly fascinating. It has romance, intrigue, suspense, "exotic" locales, Nazis, spys, ... It is a true classic and a movie that I enjoy often. (It's right up there with "Casablanca" in my list of all-time favorite films.)

Another day, I could choose almost any one of the other films on the list (and a couple that were left off) with equivalent enthusiasm.

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You know, come to think of it - I'm not sure I've ever seen Rope.

I know about it, and about it's "all one shot" thing. Gotta rent this one soon!!!

I too have heard more about the "one shot" technique in the filming of "Rope" than the finished film itself. I think that does it an injustice, aside from being an interesting bit of trivia, at least to non-film-makers. To me, the only thing important about any film is whether I become involved in the plot and care about the plot and the characters. If I don't, the technique, no matter how ground-breaking, means nothing to me.

"Rope" had all the earmarks of a well-told story and that's why I like it. After all, that's the primary function of film, to tell the story.

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It was real hard narrowing this list down to 10 picks. I originally had 17 and then realized that I was limited to 10. I chose to eliminate LIFEBOAT, ROPE, TO CATCH A THIEF, FRENZY, TORN CURTAIN, I CONFESS and SPELLBOUND.

What a great body of work! I really like TORN CURTAIN and TOPAZ, two of which are not held in that high of regard. Actually, the only Hitch that I've ever seen that I didn't care for was UNDER CAPRICORN.

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Though probably not his best film, my favorite has always been Frenzy and I've always had a soft spot for the Lady Vanishes. From this list, Noth by Northwest. Notice that when it's on TV, that when Cary Grant says shitty, it always gets by the sensors. I guess no one looks for curses in a 1959 Hitchcock film.

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"I Confess" was quite a departure for Montgomery Clift, who, IMO, was better known as a tortured leading man, than a tortured priest. This film was rough-going for me, I think because of the dark, dreary atmostphere, which created a kind of claustrophobia, which, I guess, was the point.

Strange film.

Ralphie Boy, may I ask what the criteria were for leaving this film out of your Top 10 list??

Edited by patricia
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Rooster,

LIFEBOAT is worth catching.  The entire film takes place on a single set; a lifeboat with the survivors from a U2 attack.    It's an interesting psychological character study.

'Lifeboat' is a great film. Period. I would rate it over 'The Rope' which has been discussed by various posters. And it stars Tallulah Bankhead - as a journalist - in her best film appearance ever. And for jazz fans, she has a very special appeal. She was very (sometime very, very) friendly with musicians (Sidney Bechet among others). Stan Getz also was on a Tallulah Bankhead recording date.

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What, no "Strangers on a Train?" For shame!

Anyway, I'd have to go with "Rear Window." There's just something about its voyeuristic motif that I find compelling. Something about the eye staring, blinking, looking directly at you as you all hide in your rooms and commit your crimes that intrigues me...

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