North By Northwest is my number one Hitchcock because it is what I call a ‘seamless entertainment’ which would please an undemanding audience and yet, as soon as one scratches the surface, all this amazing Freudian content spills out. It is this dual nature that does it for me. I know there’s Freudian stuff in most of Hitchcock’s films. I’ve never been troubled by implausibility in the plot of North By Northwest and I think it licks along really well. In addition, it has two fabulous stars in their prime – not Rod Taylor, Anthony Perkins or Tippi Hedren but JAMES MASON AND CARY GRANT!
Well, i’m not bothered about any implausibilities either, not in the slightest, it’s still the truth 24 times a second, it’s the most gloriously entertaining film in the history of cinema. I love the elegant sexual frissons and smooching between Grant and Eva-Marie Saint (at her most alluring), her red dress, her scent, the way he holds back in the embrace when he now distrusts her, the open space waiting by the road (how often that’s come to mind when i’ve been waiting at a roadside, fortunately without the aerial assault), the curve of the train round the bay in the evening, the ever-so suave Mason, the repartee, “I don’t deduce. I oberve”, the opening credits, the score, the use of architecture, the pacing, the filming from a height, the meeting in the forest (this came to mind only a week back with my wife in a similar type of spot), the grand Mount Rushmore location, the comic touches, the cliffhanging suspense- both with the ROT matches when they’re onto her and also on the cliffs, the final entry into the tunnel. And why can’t a film be both witty and suspenseful? Lubitsch’s To Be or Not to Be is a suspenseful comedy, do genres have to have clear boundaries? This is a wonderful amusing glamorous romantic nail-biting thrilling adventure.
Shadow of a Doubt
Marnie
Rebecca
Notorious
N by NW
Psycho didn’t make my list because I find it to be a revolutionary film amongst his body of work. A good thing but I feel it belongs in it own little universe. With padded walls.
Here’s another Top 5 idea: Hitch’s Icy Blondes
To come back to Bob’s point on plausibility in North by Northwest: “film is like a waking dream”! I don’t see why a mainstream entertainment should obey strict rules of logic any more than a film that clearly marks itself as surreal or avant-garde. Films give us the chance to see the world through someone else’s eyes and head (well more than one person’s, as it’s a collaborative process- would the film be as good with Herrmann or the main stars substituted?. Then again, with Hitch in particular the visual aspect was certainly of his making). In this case Hitch chose to dispense with strict plausibility, and that may be a sign of his genius and the film’s richness not a failing. Anyway, who’s to say what is real; is there a scientist around who really knows anything? Isn’t life a dream too?
if you dont like “north by northwest,” you dont like hitchcock at all. for me, its filmic perfection, and arguably the summit of his work (not counting “vertigo”, which is in a category all its own). you might as well leave him alone completely and move on to the next director.
and in the words of the legendary master, “anybody who complains to me of implausibility in a plot is a very dull man. insisting a filmmaker stick to the facts is as ridiculous as insisting a painter stick to only representational objects.”
Notorious
Strangers On A Train
Sabotage
The 39 Steps
Foreign Correspondent
Honorable Mention: Rear Window
1. The 39 Steps 1935
2. The Lady Vanishes 1938
3. The Man Who Knew Too Much 1934
4. Foreign Correspondent 1940
5. Shadow of A Doubt 1943
1. Rear Window
2. Spellbound
3. Notorious
4. Rebecca
5. The Lady Vanishes
1. Vertigo/The Wrong Man (tie)
2. North by Northwest/Psycho (tie)
3. Strangers on a Train/Rear Window (tie)
4. The Lady Vanishes/Foreign Correspondent (tie)
5. The 39 Steps/ Shadow of a Doubt (tie)
I agree about N by NW – massively overrated, and so many plot holes – too much comedy/not enough suspense! (IMO)
Otherwise, there are SO MANY classic Hitch films otherwise… My pix, as of today…
-The 39 Steps
-The Lady Vanishes
-Notorious
-Rebecca
-either Psycho, Shadow of a Doubt (Hitch’s own fav.), or Strangers…
Ooops! How could I forget Rear Window! In my Top 3, at least…
too much comedy in “north by northwest”, yet you highly rate “rear window”, “the 39 steps”, and “the lady vanishes”. those are some of hitchcock’s greatest comedic efforts.
01. Rear Window
02. North by Northwest
03. Dial M for Murder
04. Rebecca
05. Notorious
Well Bobby Wise if someone said North by Northwest was perfect I wouldn’t disagree. I have no problems with it and I like the film. But I don’t love it. It doesn’t blow me away. And I love Hitchcock.
Hmm.. out of the 6 i’ve seen by Hitchcock (Vertigo, Rear Window, Psycho, Notorious, Rebecca, and Strangers on a Train) I have to say;
1. Psycho
2. Rebecca
3. Strangers on a Train
4. Notorious
5. Rear Window
Hmm.. out of the 6 i’ve seen by Hitchcock (Vertigo, Rear Window, Psycho, Notorious, Rebecca, and Strangers on a Train) I have to say;
1. Psycho
2. Rebecca
3. Strangers on a Train
4. Notorious
5. Rear WindowI actually wasn’t a big fan of Vertigo or Rear Window — coincidentally both highly regarded as his “best.”
Veritgo
The lady vanishes
the 39 steps
rebecca
rope
I really haven’t seen that much old Hitchcock stuff, so my favorite films are the ones he made throughout the 50’s and 60’s. Basically, all the cliche ones.
Rear Window
Vertigo
Psycho
North By Northwest
Shadow of a Doubt (the only Hitchcock film I think I’ve seen pre-1950)
What do you guys think about THE BIRDS?
Like it? Love it? Think it’s overrated?
I want your feedback.
1) Psycho
2) Vertigo
3) Notorious
4) Shadow of a Doubt
5) The Birds
1.Vertigo
2.North By Northwest
3.Shadow of A Doubt
4.Family Plot
5.Man Who Knew Too Much (later version)
Honorable mentions to
Marnie
Rope
Rebecca
Sabotage
Strangers On A Train
All of these are masterpieces.
Psycho – The first Hitchcock film I saw is still my favorite.
Frenzy – Solid late period Hitchcock shows he adapted to the era well. An interesting companion piece to Psycho.
The Lady Vanishes – Suspense and humor have never been blended so seamlessly, even by Hitch himself.
Strangers on a Train – Still as riveting as ever; a true classic.
I Confess – Hitchcock’s stylistic high point.
@ AUSTIN: The Birds is good, but far from one of his best. I consider it a minor film.
in no way is “the birds” minor. its another staggering masterpiece from the master himself. its as highly-experimental a film as hitch ever made. he takes his love of montage to the extreme in this film – to the point that the entire film itself is an extended montage. the film also marked one of the earliest appearances of a sub-genre of the horror film: horror of the apocalypse. think of all the disaster films that followed in the wake of “the birds” and youll realize just one reason why it was so memorable and influential.
“the birds” is absolute top shelf hitchcock. on the level of the greatest things hes ever achieved, and also one of his most unique films. the closest he ever came to fantasy or science fiction. utterly indispensible in the hitchcock canon. the last sterling masterwork he made (not counting “frenzy”, which is also a masterpiece, but somehow on a level slightly below “the birds”).
Rear Window
North by Northwest
Notorious
Rope
Shadow of Doubt/Suspicion
Vertigo, Notorious, and Rear Window are easily his best. After that it gets tougher.
Psycho, North by Northwest, Strangers On A Train, Shadow of a Doubt, Rope, I Confess, and To Catch a Thief are all so good and so close. I can’t choose between them.
However, if I’m doing my top 5 favorites, well, that’s easy:
1. To Catch a Thief (Grace and Grant are perfect)
2. North by Northwest (The plot holes are part of the fun!)
3. Psycho (The rare great build-up that also has a great denouement)
4. Rear Window (So astutely observed, and with a true nailbiter of a finale)
5. Notorious (Two words: Sexual. Tension.)
Vertigo misses out because, although I love it and think it’s Hitch’s best film, in the end I appreciate it more than I enjoy it. Honorable mentions go to Sabotage, which genuinely shocked me, and The Man Who Knew Too Much with Jimmy Stewart, because of the masterful sequence at the symphony.
I deplore The Birds. The first half of Marnie is great, the second is a slog. The Lady Vanishes, The Trouble With Harry, and Stage Fright are fun, but trifles. I have yet to see Frenzy, The 39 Steps, Rebecca, Spellbound, and Suspicion, but hear that these are all good.
Rear window
Vertigo
Notorious
Psycho
North By Northwest
That was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done.
And ROPE???? Ew…
“the lady vanishes” a trifle?? talk about “ew”. “the lady vanishes” is one of the working definitions of a perfect film.
Well, I ENJOYED A Lady Vanishes.
I’m also pro-Lady Vanishes – the best of his early Brit work.
1. Vertigo
2. Psycho
3. Shadow of a Doubt
4. Notorious
5. The 39 Steps
Yes, The Lady Vanishes, much as I enjoy it, is a trifle, especially in the context of Hitchcock’s oeuvre. It’s light and frothy and fun, but not quite enough. It has moments of suspense, but doesn’t really sustain them. Even at 96 minutes, I always feel it’s a bit long whenever I watch it. I like the premise, and there are some good sequences, but the film, for me, is an almost, but not quite.
Le Feu Follet
North By Northwest is my number one Hitchcock because it is what I call a ‘seamless entertainment’ which would please an undemanding audience and yet, as soon as one scratches the surface, all this amazing Freudian content spill out. It is this dual nature that does it for me. I know there’s Freudian stuff in most of Hitchcock’s films. I’ve never been troubled by implausibility in the plot of North By Northwest and I think it licks along really well. In addition, it has two fabulous stars in their prime – not Rod Taylor, Anthony Perkins or Tippi Hedren but JAMES MASON AND CARY GRANT!