Hitchcock’s thrillers succeed because of the intricacies of his characters & the actors who bring them to life.
Hitchcock’s films often explore deeper themes and social commentary, such as the rise of fascism, or the failings of the criminal justice system.
Hitchcock pioneered many techniques and storytelling devices, including long takes, MacGuffins, and the subjective camera.
He is known as the “Master of Suspense,” a reductive label, as he was adept at directing every and any genre: action, romance, and personal dramas.
Hitchcock knew that horror movies are less scary, and dramas are less intriguing when the characters are bland or vague.
He had cast some legendary actors, who helped him achieve his vision of complex, character-driven narratives.
Cary Grant, Gregory Peck, Ingrid Bergman, Grace Kelly and James Stewart all worked with Hitchcock on multiple occasions.
Hitchcock had never won the Best Director Oscar, despite his five nominations, but his status as one of the greatest directors in history is indisputable.
Films (by Year)
Pleasure Garden
The Lodger
The Ring
Downhill
Farmer’s Wife
Easy Virtue
Champagne
Blackmail
Manxman
Juno and Paycock
Murder!
Skin Game, The
Elstree Calling
Rich and Strong
Number 17
Waltzes of Vienna
The Man Who Knew Too Much
The 39 Steps
Secret Agent
Sabotage
Young and Innocent:
The Lady Vanishes: Austria; London
Jamaica Inn: Cornwall, 1830s
Rebecca: Chateau; but film begins in the city
Foreign Correspondent: NYC
Mr. and Mrs. Smith: NYC
Suspicion:
Saboteur: LA to NYC
Shadow of a Doubt: Santa Rosa, CA
Lifeboat: WWII water
Spellbound:
Notorious: Miami, Florida, then Rio, Brazil
Paradine Case:
Rope: NYC (village)
Under Capricorn
Stage Fright: London
Strangers on Train: Washington DC; Maryland
I Confess: Quebec
Dial M: London
Rear Window: NYC, Village, 10th Street
To Catch a Thief: French Riviera
Trouble with Harry: Small Town
Man Who Knew Too Much, The: Morocco, then London (couple lives in Indianapolis)
Wrong Man: NYC
Vertigo: SF
North: NYC (Manhattan, Plaza Hotel), then Dakota (Mt. Rushmore)
Psycho: Phx, then CA
The Birds: SF, Bodega Bay, CA
Marnie: Pensylvania
Torn Curtain: Europe
Topaz: Paris, Cuba
Frenzy: London (Covent Garden)
Family Plot
Spellbound (1945)
Starring Gregory Peck and Ingrid Bergman
Gregory Peck plays a man whose amnesia hides his repressed trauma even from himself. Ingrid Bergman is the psychologist who tries to unlock his mysterious past. Spellbound is a psychological drama with unusual approach to its mystery–Hitchcock draws the audience into Peck’s troubled state of mind.
In the dream sequences, Hitchcock teamed up with renowned artist Salvador Dalí who populated the dreamscape with floating eyes, faceless men, and elongated, monolithic shadows. These images bear the uncomfortable horror of Dalí’s work, but within the context of this story they are given an even more sinister connotation.
Foreign Correspondent (1940)
Starring Joel McCrea and Laraine Day
World War II movies made during the war are interesting from a historical perspective, but many of them merely served as propaganda.
This is not the case with Foreign Correspondent, a tightly scripted thriller about a journalist who uncovers an Axis conspiracy involving spies from different countries.
The dark thriller shows Hitchcock’s flair with action sequences, especially during a thrilling car chase in Amsterdam and the plane crash in the finale, as the cabin quickly fills up with water.
But these impressive moments never overshadow the intriguing story of international espionage.
Lifeboat (1944)
Starring Tallulah Bankhead, William Bendix
Lifeboat takes place entirely in one location, a small lifeboat.
After a passenger ship is sunk by a German U-Boat. The survivors are forced to cooperate in order to survive, when the Nazi aboard causes a rift between the American passengers.
In this detailed character drama, the lengthy fight for survival highlights the dark, hidden depths of the passengers, as they are driven to desperation.
Notorious (1946)
Starring Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman
The relationship in Notorious feels more natural, and the circumstances surrounding it are far more threatening.
Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman team up to infiltrate a gang of Nazis in Brazil after the Second World War, but this spy thriller is far more dangerous than its romance suggests. Many spy movies feature some kind of love interest, but the relationship in Notorious feels more natural, and the circumstances surrounding it are consequently far more threatening. Hitchcock produces some of his most ambitious and impressive set pieces in Notorious, and he utilizes long takes in particular to ground his scenes in reality. The camera often sweeps over vast scenes, but nothing can distract from Grant and Bergman’s electric chemistry.
The Lady Vanishes (1938)
Starring Margaret Lockwood, Michael Redgrave
After an elderly woman disappears on a train, her young traveling companion helps to investigate what happened to her. The Lady Vanishes is an acutely observed examination of human nature, with
Each passenger on the train hinders the investigation in some way, often for selfish reasons, unrelated to the crime.
The characters represent different nations and political affiliations before the Second World War.
The entire incident may be seen as an allegory for Europe’s passive response to the rise of fascism.
However, even while removed from its particular historical context, The Lady Vanishes remains an intriguing, highly entertaining mystery.
Shadow Of a Doubt (1943)
Starring Teresa Wright and Joseph Cotten
Shadow of a Doubt is Hitchcock’s personal favorite from his extensive filmography.
It presents a dark, malicious side to American suburbia, and it blows notion of the happy nuclear family, which turns out to be a myth.
Young Charlie suspects her beloved uncle, also called Chalie, of horrific crimes. Her investigation causes him to turn his murderous gaze on her.
Shadow of a Doubt reflects the commonly held fear that evil can come from anywhere, even the safety of one’s own home and the love of one’s own family.
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
Starring James Stewart and Doris Day
Hitchcock remade his own 1934 movie over 20 years later, and the result displays how far his talents had matured. The debate over which version is superior persists, but the latter version, made in America rather than Britain, has a grander scale and far more of Hitchcock’s idiosyncratic flourishes.
Hitchcock was dissatisfied with his first attempt, so the second version makes changes to the plot and the characters, but what makes it a superior movie is its excellent dialogue, which is both humorous and tense.
To Catch A Thief (1955)
Starring Cary Grant and Grace Kelly
To Catch a Thief features Cary Grant as a debonair former cat burglar who teams up with Grace Kelly to hunt down one of his imitator.
Set on the French Riviera, it’s a gorgeously stylish film, and Hitchcock seems fully aware of the glamour of both his stars and his location.
To Catch a Thief isn’t the compulsive thriller Hitchcock is associated with, but its elegant swagger justifies its slower pace. It’s a light-hearted, breezy crime caper, an opulent escapist movie set in a world where every character looks and sounds fabulous.
Frenzy (1972)
Starring Jon Finch, Alec McCowen
Frenzy showed that he was still capable of innovation in the later years of his career.
Frenzy is far more explicit in its violence than most of Hitchcock’s classics, portraying a serial killer with overt brutality.
As the media storm surrounding the killings rises, Hitchcock probes into the bloodthirsty nature of his own audience.
Some characters imply that they are secretly supporting the murderer, viewing the crimes as an entertaining media spectacle rather than real-life tragedy.
Dial M For Murder (1954)
Starring Grace Kelly, Ray Miland, Robert Cummings
Dial M for Murder is one of Kelly’s best roles, as a woman whose husband plots to kill her. The plan goes awry, and the husband soon pivots to framing her for the murder of the assassin.
It’s a straightforward thriller, but Hitchcock manages to inject it with tension.
Take the scene in which Kelly walks around her apartment, oblivious to the fact that a murderer is waiting behind a curtain.
The plot shows in minute details the unfolding of the murder investigation, which would have become tedious in the hands of a lesser director.
The Birds (1963)
Starring Tippi Hedren, Rod Taylor, Jessica Tandy, Suzanne Pleshette
Hitchcock’s natural horror reflects man’s fear of the wilderness, it’s also a prescient ecological fable.
There are plenty of horror movies with animals acting as monsters, but few are as gripping as The Birds.
The birds in the film aren’t just senseless and pervasive evil, they also represent nature in revolt, rebelling against the selfishness of humanity’s pollution and industrialization.
This warning has grown more relevant in recent years, especially the chilling ending.
Strangers On a Train (1951)
Starring Farley Granger, Robert Walker
Hitchcock proved to be the perfect director for Patricia Highsmith’s crime thriller Strangers on a Train, about two men who conspire to commit murders on one another’s behalf, so that they can never get caught.
The plot features a classic tale of a good man tempted into evil deeds.
Robert Walker is disturbing as the charismatic sociopath, luring his opposite man into a nefarious plot. The distinct ways in which Hitchcock frames the two men morph slowly, suggesting that there is ill-defined line between good and evil, and that even morally upstanding person might need the right circumstances to succumb to their unsavory desires.
Rope (1948)
Starring James Stewart and John Dall
A masterfully deliberate movie that it seems almost absurd. The film generates more dramatic tension in a single location, in less than 90 minutes, than most movies without such restraints.
Rope marked Hitchcock’s first collaboration with James Stewart, who would become one of his most consistent leading men.
Hitchcock uses long takes to devastating effect, drawing the audience into the macabre dinner party hosted by two young and bright murderers.
With modern filmmaking technology, he would have been able to complete the movie in a single shot, like a stage play.
Rebecca (1940)
Starring Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine
Based on the novel by Daphne du Maurier, Rebecca tells the story of a cynical widower who struggles to banish the shadow of his former wife. Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine are both excellent.
Judith Anderson’s Mrs. Danvers is one of Hitchcock’s most nefarious antagonists. It’s an intimate psychological drama dealing with a complex tangle of human emotions.
Hitchcock’s first American film was an immediate hit, nominated for 11 Academy Awards, and winning the Best Picture.
The 39 Steps (1935)
Hitchcock’s best British movie, before moving to Hollywood, follows a tense game of international espionage. The 39 Steps is considered Hitchcock’s first true masterpiece, and many of his iconic markers are present. There is a man falsely accused of committing a crime, a shocking third act, and porcelain-faced blonde woman. The character of Pamela was one of Hitchcock’s own creations. John Buchan’s classic spy novel has been adapted many times for both stage and screen, but Hitchcock made the material his own, adding touches which make his version stand out from the pack.
North By Northwest (1959)
Starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason
Three years before the James Bond franchise took off, Hitchcock made a classic spy thriller, about an advertising executive caught up in a ludicrous case of mistaken identity.
North by Northwest is Hitchcock at his most playful.
Some of the dialogue between Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint is witty and erudite. The outlandish action sequences are funny in a different way, but North by Northwest never neglects its duty to thrilling, twisty intrigue.
Relentlessly entertaining, bouncing from one brilliant set piece to the next.
It’s the perfect film for Hitchcock newcomers.
Vertigo (1958)
Starring James Stewart and Kim Novak
Vertigo pioneering use of the dolly zoom, which creates a disorienting, dizzying effect.
It is beautifully crafted thriller about one man’s obsession with a woman he is hired to investigate. Vertigo luxuriates in its San Francisco scenery, and the city’s undulating landscape reflects Scottie’s inner turmoil of Scottie.
To reveal the mind of his protagonist, Hitchcock uses the motif of recurring swirl.
A taut, captivating thriller that could make anyone feel more cautious the next time they climb a tall building.
Rear Window (1954)
Starring James Stewart and Grace Kelly
Hitchcock asks uncomfortable questions about the human desire to watch and consume.
Hitchcock’s tale of obsession and voyeurism is meticulously detailed, in the choreographed actions of the characters, and also in the constructed sets. The protagonist Jeff is in a wheelchair, he is only able to watch events unfold outside his window. In this way, Hitchcock draws parallels between him and the viewer.
When the killer spots Jeff and stares down the lens of the camera, beyond the protagonist and into the audience, it’s a shot thar shatters the comfort of the viewing experience.
00 Hitchcock: Films Breaks Taboos (by Year)
Hitchcock’s thrillers succeed because of the intricacies of his characters & the actors who bring them to life.
Hitchcock’s films often explore deeper themes and social commentary, such as the rise of fascism, or the failings of the criminal justice system.
Hitchcock knew that horror movies are less scary, and dramas are less intriguing when the characters are bland or vague.
He had cast some legendary actors, who helped him achieve his vision of complex, character-driven narratives.
Cary Grant, Gregory Peck, Ingrid Bergman, Grace Kelly and James Stewart all worked with Hitchcock on multiple occasions.
Hitchcock had never won the Best Director Oscar, despite his five nominations, but his status as one of the greatest directors in history is indisputable.
Films (by Year)
Pleasure Garden
The Lodger
The Ring
Downhill
Farmer’s Wife
Easy Virtue
Champagne
Blackmail
Manxman
Juno and Paycock
Murder!
Skin Game, The
Elstree Calling
Rich and Strong
Number 17
Waltzes of Vienna
The Man Who Knew Too Much
The 39 Steps
Secret Agent
Sabotage
Young and Innocent:
The Lady Vanishes: Austria; London
Jamaica Inn: Cornwall, 1830s
Rebecca: Chateau; but film begins in the city
Foreign Correspondent: NYC
Mr. and Mrs. Smith: NYC
Suspicion:
Saboteur: LA to NYC
Shadow of a Doubt: Santa Rosa, CA
Lifeboat: WWII water
Spellbound:
Notorious: Miami, Florida, then Rio, Brazil
Paradine Case:
Rope: NYC (village)
Under Capricorn
Stage Fright: London
Strangers on Train: Washington DC; Maryland
I Confess: Quebec
Dial M: London
Rear Window: NYC, Village, 10th Street
To Catch a Thief: French Riviera
Trouble with Harry: Small Town
Man Who Knew Too Much, The: Morocco, then London (couple lives in Indianapolis)
Wrong Man: NYC
Vertigo: SF
North: NYC (Manhattan, Plaza Hotel), then Dakota (Mt. Rushmore)
Psycho: Phx, then CA
The Birds: SF, Bodega Bay, CA
Marnie: Pensylvania
Torn Curtain: Europe
Topaz: Paris, Cuba
Frenzy: London (Covent Garden)
Family Plot
Spellbound (1945)
Starring Gregory Peck and Ingrid Bergman
Foreign Correspondent (1940)
Starring Joel McCrea and Laraine Day
World War II movies made during the war are interesting from a historical perspective, but many of them merely served as propaganda.
This is not the case with Foreign Correspondent, a tightly scripted thriller about a journalist who uncovers an Axis conspiracy involving spies from different countries.
The dark thriller shows Hitchcock’s flair with action sequences, especially during a thrilling car chase in Amsterdam and the plane crash in the finale, as the cabin quickly fills up with water.
But these impressive moments never overshadow the intriguing story of international espionage.
Lifeboat (1944)
Starring Tallulah Bankhead, William Bendix
In this detailed character drama, the lengthy fight for survival highlights the dark, hidden depths of the passengers, as they are driven to desperation.
Notorious (1946)
Starring Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman
Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman team up to infiltrate a gang of Nazis in Brazil after the Second World War, but this spy thriller is far more dangerous than its romance suggests. Many spy movies feature some kind of love interest, but the relationship in Notorious feels more natural, and the circumstances surrounding it are consequently far more threatening. Hitchcock produces some of his most ambitious and impressive set pieces in Notorious, and he utilizes long takes in particular to ground his scenes in reality. The camera often sweeps over vast scenes, but nothing can distract from Grant and Bergman’s electric chemistry.
The Lady Vanishes (1938)
Starring Margaret Lockwood, Michael Redgrave
After an elderly woman disappears on a train, her young traveling companion helps to investigate what happened to her. The Lady Vanishes is an acutely observed examination of human nature, with
Each passenger on the train hinders the investigation in some way, often for selfish reasons, unrelated to the crime.
The characters represent different nations and political affiliations before the Second World War.
The entire incident may be seen as an allegory for Europe’s passive response to the rise of fascism.
However, even while removed from its particular historical context, The Lady Vanishes remains an intriguing, highly entertaining mystery.
Shadow Of a Doubt (1943)
Starring Teresa Wright and Joseph Cotten
Shadow of a Doubt is Hitchcock’s personal favorite from his extensive filmography.
It presents a dark, malicious side to American suburbia, and it blows notion of the happy nuclear family, which turns out to be a myth.
Young Charlie suspects her beloved uncle, also called Chalie, of horrific crimes. Her investigation causes him to turn his murderous gaze on her.
Shadow of a Doubt reflects the commonly held fear that evil can come from anywhere, even the safety of one’s own home and the love of one’s own family.
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
Starring James Stewart and Doris Day
Hitchcock was dissatisfied with his first attempt, so the second version makes changes to the plot and the characters, but what makes it a superior movie is its excellent dialogue, which is both humorous and tense.
To Catch A Thief (1955)
Starring Cary Grant and Grace Kelly
Frenzy (1972)
Starring Jon Finch, Alec McCowen
Dial M For Murder (1954)
Starring Grace Kelly, Ray Miland, Robert Cummings
Dial M for Murder is one of Kelly’s best roles, as a woman whose husband plots to kill her. The plan goes awry, and the husband soon pivots to framing her for the murder of the assassin.
It’s a straightforward thriller, but Hitchcock manages to inject it with tension.
Take the scene in which Kelly walks around her apartment, oblivious to the fact that a murderer is waiting behind a curtain.
The plot shows in minute details the unfolding of the murder investigation, which would have become tedious in the hands of a lesser director.
The Birds (1963)
Starring Tippi Hedren, Rod Taylor, Jessica Tandy, Suzanne Pleshette
Hitchcock’s natural horror reflects man’s fear of the wilderness, it’s also a prescient ecological fable.
There are plenty of horror movies with animals acting as monsters, but few are as gripping as The Birds.
The birds in the film aren’t just senseless and pervasive evil, they also represent nature in revolt, rebelling against the selfishness of humanity’s pollution and industrialization.
This warning has grown more relevant in recent years, especially the chilling ending.
Strangers On a Train (1951)
Starring Farley Granger, Robert Walker
Hitchcock proved to be the perfect director for Patricia Highsmith’s crime thriller Strangers on a Train, about two men who conspire to commit murders on one another’s behalf, so that they can never get caught.
The plot features a classic tale of a good man tempted into evil deeds.
Robert Walker is disturbing as the charismatic sociopath, luring his opposite man into a nefarious plot. The distinct ways in which Hitchcock frames the two men morph slowly, suggesting that there is ill-defined line between good and evil, and that even morally upstanding person might need the right circumstances to succumb to their unsavory desires.
Rope (1948)
Starring James Stewart and John Dall
A masterfully deliberate movie that it seems almost absurd. The film generates more dramatic tension in a single location, in less than 90 minutes, than most movies without such restraints.
Rope marked Hitchcock’s first collaboration with James Stewart, who would become one of his most consistent leading men.
Hitchcock uses long takes to devastating effect, drawing the audience into the macabre dinner party hosted by two young and bright murderers.
With modern filmmaking technology, he would have been able to complete the movie in a single shot, like a stage play.
Rebecca (1940)
Starring Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine
Based on the novel by Daphne du Maurier, Rebecca tells the story of a cynical widower who struggles to banish the shadow of his former wife. Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine are both excellent.
Judith Anderson’s Mrs. Danvers is one of Hitchcock’s most nefarious antagonists. It’s an intimate psychological drama dealing with a complex tangle of human emotions.
Hitchcock’s first American film was an immediate hit, nominated for 11 Academy Awards, and winning the Best Picture.
The 39 Steps (1935)
Hitchcock’s best British movie, before moving to Hollywood, follows a tense game of international espionage. The 39 Steps is considered Hitchcock’s first true masterpiece, and many of his iconic markers are present. There is a man falsely accused of committing a crime, a shocking third act, and porcelain-faced blonde woman. The character of Pamela was one of Hitchcock’s own creations. John Buchan’s classic spy novel has been adapted many times for both stage and screen, but Hitchcock made the material his own, adding touches which make his version stand out from the pack.
North By Northwest (1959)
Starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint and James Mason
Three years before the James Bond franchise took off, Hitchcock made a classic spy thriller, about an advertising executive caught up in a ludicrous case of mistaken identity.
North by Northwest is Hitchcock at his most playful.
Some of the dialogue between Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint is witty and erudite. The outlandish action sequences are funny in a different way, but North by Northwest never neglects its duty to thrilling, twisty intrigue.
Relentlessly entertaining, bouncing from one brilliant set piece to the next.
It’s the perfect film for Hitchcock newcomers.
Vertigo (1958)
Starring James Stewart and Kim Novak
Rear Window (1954)
Starring James Stewart and Grace Kelly
Hitchcock asks uncomfortable questions about the human desire to watch and consume.
Hitchcock’s tale of obsession and voyeurism is meticulously detailed, in the choreographed actions of the characters, and also in the constructed sets. The protagonist Jeff is in a wheelchair, he is only able to watch events unfold outside his window. In this way, Hitchcock draws parallels between him and the viewer.
When the killer spots Jeff and stares down the lens of the camera, beyond the protagonist and into the audience, it’s a shot thar shatters the comfort of the viewing experience.