Topic: Best movie by Hitchcock?

[KyriakosCH]

I have watched a few of his films. My favorite is Vertigo.

I prefer the ones with J. Stewart. Of the others I did like Dial M for Murder. North by Northwest doesn't have an interesting story, in my view.

It seems most of his movies were adapted from plays or short stories. Which I found interesting, cause usually he is regarded as the actual creator of the plots, but apparently wasn't.

I like the overall mood of the films. Very "cozy", co-existing with danger (usually murder).

[CaptainD]

I was never keen on North by Northwest myself, even though it's so highly regarded.

My favourite of his is Strangers on a Train, it's just so compellingly weird.

[blur]

Yes, Vertigo with its dreamlike visuals and music would be my favourite too. It was

inspiration for my background blitz entry in March.

[Ali]

I don't know which one I like best. Maybe Shadow of a Doubt?

I've also been improving a couple of them lately. Here's The Birds without the birds:

And North By Northwest without the crop duster is here: https://twitter.com/MisterABK/status/1262688181478137856

[KyriakosCH]

Can't say I liked Shadow of a Doubt... Maybe because it was in black and white, but imo it also doesn't have the characteristic Hitchcok cinematography (there in Psycho which was also in black and white). I didn't much like the plot of it either 

[Ali]

There are many great colour Hitchcock films, but I think the black and white American films are his best looking. The Technicolor films do looks glorious, but they're so glamorous and highly saturated. I think there's a bit in the Truffaut interviews where Hitchcock says something like, "we haven't worked out how to shoot in colour yet," and he's right. Everyone is still backlit, even though there's rarely a good reason to do that in colour photography.

[Snarky]

I don't really care for North By Northwest, but other than that I think most of the half-dozen ones I've seen are about equally enjoyable, so I'm not sure I have a favorite. I was going to say Rebecca, but on reflection I'm not sure I've actually seen it. I might just have read the book (which is great) and seen so many clips and parodies that it feels like I've seen it.

I guess I'll say Rear Window since it hasn't been mentioned yet.

[morganw]

I liked Rope.

[heltenjon]

I think The Birds still hold up as a horror film without getting ridiculous. I rewatch it on occasion. I also liked Rope a lot, but it's not really a movie I feel like revisiting. Unfortunately, Psycho was spoiled for me before I got to see it. I still wonder how I would react if the story was unknown to me. I quite liked the tv series Bates Motel and how it alluded to the known story without setting it in stone.

[LimpingFish]

I liked Rope.

Rope is probably my favorite. 

I guess I'll say Rear Window since it hasn't been mentioned yet.

I also have a huge soft spot for Rear Window, due to multiple viewings during my childhood.

But there's generally something about mid/late 50's-era (or somewhere between Strangers on a Train and Psycho) Hitchcock that bugs me; That big studio sheen, the constant fragile blondes...As for Vertigo, and leaving aside the visuals, I always found it a little too melodramatic(!)

There are many great colour Hitchcock films, but I think the black and white American films are his best looking.

I tend to find them more enjoyable too. There's an efficient tightness to them that those later films can lack; From earlier movies like Shadow of a Doubt or Saboteur, or even less well-known titles like Stage Fright, to Strangers on a Train and Psycho.

I think the problems that I have with the '50s Hitchcock get worse with the '60s (post-Psycho) Hitchcock.

As for the '70s...

[KyriakosCH]

Imo Marnie already was a pretty weak movie. It has a good scene (the last horse related one) but the plot just wasn't anything of note. Apparently it was the first of the era of collapse for Hitchcock anyway.

Rope was nice, though I already knew of the actual real event which was adapted in the play (then adapted to the movie).

[Blondbraid]

You can't really pick just one Hitchcock film and say it's the greatest, though I will say I have a soft spot for Spellbound,
not only because it has a pretty interesting dream sequence designed by Salvador Dalí, but it also stars Ingrid Bergman in the lead role,
and I am a Swede after all! 

[Stupot]

I’ve only seen a handful of his films and there are a few I know I’ve seen but can’t really remember. But the only ones I have gone back to in recent years are Psycho and Rear Window. Both cracking films.

Heltenjon mentioned Bates Motel. That’s a great show and well worth a watch whether or not you’re a fan of Psycho. Freddie Highmore and Vera Farmiga are fantastic throughout. Do it!

Vertigo has recently appeared on Netflix, so I might have a look.

[TheFrighter]

I think The Birds still hold up as a horror film without getting ridiculous.

Yeah, and it contains early elements of gore effects (at the same time with Herschell Gordon Lewis's Blood Feast). Who know how many great horror movies if only Hitchcocok pushed on the gore...

_

[KyriakosCH]

I’ve only seen a handful of his films and there are a few I know I’ve seen but can’t really remember. But the only ones I have gone back to in recent years are Psycho and Rear Window. Both cracking films.

Heltenjon mentioned Bates Motel. That’s a great show and well worth a watch whether or not you’re a fan of Psycho. Freddie Highmore and Vera Farmiga are fantastic throughout. Do it!

Vertigo has recently appeared on Netflix, so I might have a look.

I tried watching Bates Motel, but already from episode 1 I gave up. To me it didn't seem to have a serious plot, and came across as a pulp version of Psycho. Now, the movie Psycho II, was also a pulp version of Psycho, but at least it starred Anthony Perkins and didn't jump the shark immediately.

[Snarky]

Psycho was a pulp version of Psycho.

[KyriakosCH]

Taken that way, Bloch's book also wasn't exactly faithful to the Ed Gein story.

There is always room for further collapse.

[Snarky]

Taken that way, Bloch's book also wasn't exactly faithful to the Ed Gein story.

Why would it be? It's a novel about Norman Bates, not a non-fiction book about Ed Gein. And while inspired by the Gein case, Bloch only had superficial knowledge of it, so that most of the book is based on his imagination, and many of the parallels with the real-life murderer coincidental.

There is always room for further collapse.

Calling Psycho pulp is not a criticism. It is a lurid, low-budget horror-thriller, based on a book by a prolific pulp writer. That does not mean it's not a great movie. (Lovecraft was also a pulp writer, BTW.)

[KyriakosCH]

To his credit, Lovecraft would view "pulp writer" as criticism. Though he was also aware that he was that to a considerable degree - and hated it.

[Snarky]

I'm sure the shade of Lovecraft is relieved to hear that he was sufficiently pretentious to meet with your approval.