Official Alfred Hitchcock Thread

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Just thought I would set up a thread for cinema's greatest genius, the man who sparked my interest in film, Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock. Some of his most notable works, for any new fans of the Master of Suspense that happen to stumble over here:

Psycho (1960)



Vertigo (1958)



Rear Window (1954)



North By Northwest (1959)



The Birds (1963)



The 39 Steps (1935)



Notorious (1946)



Rebecca (1940)




Hitchcock began his career in England, directing silent films in the 20's. Eventually, he left for Hollywood in 1940 after directing sound masterpieces in England such as The 39 Steps and The Lady Vanishes. Hitch worked for producer David O. Selznick until 1946, when he directed one of his most acclaimed motion pictures, Notorious. The 1950's proved to be Hitchcock's heyday, when he directed a string of classics including Strangers on a Train, Rear Window, Dial M For Murder, To Catch a Thief, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Vertigo, and North By Northwest. The 60's began with what would become the director's signature work, Psycho. Three years later Hitchcock filmed The Birds, now regarded as his last great masterpiece. Alfred Hitchcock's last film was Family Plot in 1976, and he passed away four years later in 1980. Feel free to share your own opinions about Hitchcock and his work, favorite movies of his, etc.
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"Puns are the highest form of literature." -Alfred Hitchcock



His legend is well-deserved.

Marnie (1964) constitutes a brave, haunting, daring character study that defies audience expectation and desire (and the film therefore fails to receive the acclaim that it deserves). The technical filmmaking isn't necessarily on the level of Hitchcock's best, but the unsentimental poignancy and ironic combination of austerity and sensitivity strike an unusual and thus memorable note. In effect, Hitchcock subverts the thriller genre that he made famous.

The director is renowned for his mastery of suspense, balletic set-pieces, dramatic montage, and stark yet refined compositions. But Hitchcock's greatest gift may have been his ability to seamlessly blend the glamour of Hollywood's Golden Age with transgressing themes and modernistic motifs. In that regard, he appears peerless.



My all time favourite Hitchcock film:


The Lady Vanishes

Also, as Shampoo has already mentioned:


Marnie

And I really enjoyed:


Family Plot


From what I can remember, Rear Window was the very first Hitchcock film I saw and still adore it. Brilliant.



Call me crazy, but I think North By Northwest is slightly overrated. It's a great film,
, but I expected a bit more from a film regarded as one of the 3 or 4 best that Hitchcock ever made. It just seemed to lack the depth of his other great masterpieces (Vertigo, Psycho, Rear Window), and as a result I found it a bit less interesting. It is in definite need of a rewatch, however.



*Gasp* I LLLLOOOOVVVE Vertigo! But I can certainly see why someone might find it overrated. It does lack the entertainment value of Psycho or Rear Window, my other favorite Hitchcock movies.



I still like it, enough to visit various places where they filmed around San Francisco.
You lucky bastard!

if I ever go to San Francisco, i'm making a beeline for all the locations.



I haven't seen all Hitchcock movies yet, but I must say that the only one I didn't like so far (I have to watch it one more time then) is Vertigo. and Vertigo is considered his best work
I have to re-watch it!
I enjoy Rope 1000x more than Vertigo.
Still by saying Vertigo is the best, this guy is saying that Vertigo is better than Marnie, The Birds and Psycho ? wow



Vertigo is the director's most personal work; it's a metaphor for Hitchcock's treatment of his actresses. His camera techniques are also at their most expressionistic there, and the acting is perhaps the best in any Hitchcock film. The cinematography is flawless and Herrmann's score rivals the one he wrote for Psycho. No, it's not as crowd-pleasingly entertaining as some of the other films Hitch made, but I certainly didn't find it boring the first time I watched it.



will.15's Avatar
Semper Fooey
Best acting fron Kim Novack who was extremely inconsistent, sometimes good and sometimes very not.

Marnie sucks and Birds is uneven.
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will.15's Avatar
Semper Fooey
Call me crazy, but I think North By Northwest is slightly overrated. It's a great film,
, but I expected a bit more from a film regarded as one of the 3 or 4 best that Hitchcock ever made. It just seemed to lack the depth of his other great masterpieces (Vertigo, Psycho, Rear Window), and as a result I found it a bit less interesting. It is in definite need of a rewatch, however.
It is really a comedy and has to be viewed on those terms.



Perhaps it is a bit unfair of me to criticize NbNW for lacking the depth of Hitchcock's other masterpieces when it is just supposed to be simple entertainment, but I don't think it has any more Hitchcock dark humor than some of his other films, such as Rear Window. But like I said, it is in need of a rewatch. When I first viewed NbNW I had already seen several Hitchcock films that had affected me on a deeper level; that said, it was probably a mistake to watch the film expecting the same.

As for Marnie: it's definitely not one of Hitchcock's best movies, but I wouldn't say it sucks. As I wrote in the Movie Tab, it's one of the director's most psychologically focused films, along with Vertigo. And I love The Birds, but it does get off to a somewhat slow start.



will.15's Avatar
Semper Fooey
North by Nortwest has more pure comedy than any other Hitchcock movie. The premise is basically a joke, a man is mistakenly identified for someone who doesn't exist. The auction scene is pure comedy, the early car chase scene is a mixture of thrills and comedy, and the dialogue is filled with one liners. No other Hitchcock movie comes close to being as funny, the closest is The Lady Vanishes.