Hitchcock Movies Ranked by Sue’s Enjoyment
During the Covid Pandemic I decided to watch and rank all of Alfred Hitchcock’s movies. I am not particularly a “scary movie” fan, but I do appreciate suspense and a well crafted movie, so I figured this might keep me amused.
These are purely my subjective rankings based on how much I enjoyed the film, with a little influence from my college background studying film.
Let me know if you agree or disagree with my rankings. Also, which of the movies I haven’t yet watched should be next? Please add a comment.
- Rear Window 1954 Such a fun watch! Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly could take turns reading the phonebook and it would be entertaining though. But great story, great set! Fun watching the various lives going on across from Jimmys window. Grace Kelly’s entrance scene where she kisses Jimmy is stunning!
- Notorious 1946 Ingrid Bergman is so cool! And what’s not to like about Cary Grant? Amazing chemistry between them. Suspenseful Nazi spying! Really enjoyed this! Cool camera work at the big party, starting with a wide overhead shot, zooming to the important key clutched in Ingrid’s hand.
- Rope 1948 Jimmy Stewart! Great dialog. Loved the “movie done all in one shot” plan and the obvious times they panned to something for a break. Good suspense.
- Psycho 1960 Sexy opening. Per my kid “this Norman is cuter than the tv show Norman”, screeching music at the murders, blood-like water coving Janets car when it sank, Normans ultra creepy expression fading into his mothers corpse at the very end.
- North by Northwest 1959 Cary Grant! Charm! NYC. Auction scene. Sexy train ride. Scary cornfield/ plane scene! Bizarre chase across Mt. Rushmore.
- The Birds 1963 First time I’ve seen this and I was surprised how good it was! I expected it to be very hokey, and it was a bit, special effects-wise, yet still managed to be very creepy and even shocking! I loved Tippi Hedron. Fun to see Bodega Bay.
- Strangers on a Train 1951 Great, freaky premise. Farley Granger. Freaky carousel scene at the end.
- Shadow of a Doubt 1943 Hitchcock’s favorite of his films. Filmed in Santa Rosa. Charming teenaged girl. Serial Killer uncle coming to visit was interesting and scary. Certain scenes like the Dutch Tilt and the teen silhouette in the doorway were striking. Good, suspenseful ending.
- To Catch a Thief 1955 Cary Grant and Grace Kelly charm and beauty. Scenery and style!
- Vertigo 1958 Jimmy Stewart! San Francisco/ San Juan Batista scenes. Typically ranked as top Hitchcock movie. I bought this one to watch again since I am not getting why this is typically called Hitchcock’s masterpiece.
- The Lady Vanishes 1938 Surprisingly charming and amusing moments, leading to danger! Interesting how much movies changed in 5 years or so. The acting got more subtle with time. In the 30’s things were definitely racier than the next couple of decades.
- Spellbound 1945 Ingred Bergman is complex and cool once again. Kind of long, but a big couple of bangs near the end for my buck! Interesting milk drinking shot and an interesting gun holding shot! Dream sequence was cool. I read afterwards that Salvador Dali helped create it.
- Marnie 1964 Wow! I had no idea how attractive and compelling Sean Connery was as a leading man! I think I’ve only seen him as James Bond in a “romantic type role” and he’s just silly there. Tippi was very good again. Movie kept my interest, trying to understand what the heck was going on.
- Rebecca 1940 Unlikeable main characters (weirdo Laurence Oliver and dull Joan Fontiane), who got better and more developed as the movie went on. Great scary looking mansion and super freaky maid!
- The Man Who Knew Too Much 1956 Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day. Fun to watch them both. Having their kid taken was scary, but after the scene where Jimmy tells Doris what happened they don’t seem quite as freaked out as I’d imagine one would be. The “mystery” was kind of dumb.
- Lifeboat 1944 1st time I’ve seen Tahlullah Blankhead in a movie, she’s very cool. Good moral ideas/ discussions. Suspensful at times.
- Dial M for Murder 1954 Grace Kelly. “Fun” murder plotting.
- The Wrong Man 1956 Based on a true story. Henry Fonda was not very impressive except for being pretty blank all the time. Painfully long, detailed scenes like Henry being fingerprinted after being arrested. They showed every-finger-being-fingerprinted! Wouldn’t it have been enough to show 2 fingers or even 5? Interesting points were that Henry was arrested solely on witness identification. No Miranda rights, no offer of a lawyer, no one phone call. Made me grateful for how far we have come.
- Suspicion 1941 Cary Grant, but not a very engaging movie to me. Joan Fontaine was dumb and wimpy.
- The Trouble with Harry 1955 Only watched about the first 20 minutes. Found it silly in a bad way + slow.
Not Watched Yet
- 1934 The Man Who Knew Too Much
- 1935 The 39 Steps
- 1936 Secret Agent
- 1936 Sabotage
- 1937 Young and Innocent
- 1939 Jamaica Inn
- 1940 Foreign Correspondent
- 1941 Mr. & Mrs. Smith
- 1942 Saboteur
- 1944 The Fighting Generation
- 1947 The Paradine Case
- 1949 Under Capricorn
- 1950 Stage Fright
- 1953 I Confess
- 1966 Torn Curtain
- 1969 Topaz
- 1972 Frenzy
- 1976 Family Plot
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2 responses to “Hitchcock Movies Ranked by Sue’s Enjoyment”
A couple thoughts:
1. Vertigo’s ending alone puts it somewhere in the top 3 for me.
2. Joan Fontaine won an Oscar for Suspicion so I think you’re a bit off there. I also liked her in Rebecca… with the wide eyes at the plot twist ending from Olivier.
3. To Catch a Thief was so slow… Although I think Grace Kelly is the tops for leading lady with Hitchcock, this one was flat for me.
4. Rope and Dial M are similar in terms of being stage productions. I think they had the most intriguing dialogue.
5. The script and dialogue in Rear Window is the absolute best of his films. All those one liners!
My Top 10:
1. Vertigo
2. Rear Window
3. North By Northwest
4. Notorious
5. Strangers on a Train
6. Psycho
7. Rebecca
8. Dial M. for Murder
9. The Birds
10. Rope
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