r/Hitchcock

B&W, the camera follows the murderer and an unwitting young woman into the apartment, and then slowly pulls back, down the hallway and out into the street, still facing the direction of the murderer. Chilling

The 39 Steps and The Lady Vanishes advance — and honestly, no surprises there. The British period produced two of cinema's most purely enjoyable thrillers and the sub has spoken.

Now we move to Hollywood.

Same rules — top 2 advance to the next round. Poll closes in 3 days.

You may campaign in the comments—reviews, analysis, memes, and shameless propaganda are encouraged.

Upvote this post so every Hitchcock fan in the sub sees it.

Share your dark horse predictions in the comments. Which film will surprise us all?

Invite fellow cinephiles or share the post with anyone who would like to participate.

To keep us pumped, let me repeat what Hitchcock said :

“There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.”

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The R-rating didn't actually exist when the movie came out. It was re-rated to R in 1984 or something. This means it technically was the highest-grossing R-rated movie in the world retroactively until it was surpassed by Midnight Cowboy in 1969 (which was originally X-rated but later it was re-rated to R too)

So I was rewatching psycho and I was confused about how the highway patrol officer was able to find Marion at the car dealership when earlier he stopped following her on the highway and turned off on the exit to Gorman. If he stopped following her, how was he able to find her at the car dealership? Usually plot holes don’t bug me, but for some reason it sticks out to me every time I watch it.

The time has come to settle the ultimate question—with your votes. Over the coming weeks, we’re going to put (almost) every single Alfred Hitchcock feature film to the test in a chronological, elimination-style tournament right here.

Going from The Lodger to Family Plot, we'll cover all the best Hitchcock films, to discover the favourite Hitchcock film on this subred.

From each preliminary poll, the 2 films with the most votes advance to the next poll. In the final, winner-takes-all poll we’ll crown the sub’s undisputed #1 Hitchcock film.

Rules-

A new poll will be pinned (or posted) every 3 days to give everyone time to watch, rewatch, and passionately defend their choices.

Ties for 2nd place will be broken by a 24-hour sudden-death run-off.

You may campaign in the comments—reviews, analysis, memes, and shameless propaganda are encouraged.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Upvote this post so every Hitchcock fan in the sub sees it.

Share your dark horse predictions in the comments. Which film will surprise us all?

Invite fellow cinephiles from r/classicfilms, r/criterion, r/movies—anyone who appreciates a well-constructed suspense sequence.

Let the games begin. And as Hitch himself would say:

“There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.”

View Poll

If, at the end of Vertigo, everything was a setup by Gavin Elster, like the elderly manager of the McKittrick Hotel He didn't see Madeleine Elster/Judie Barton enter his establishment If in the end it was a plan devised by Gavin using Barton, without any supernatural assistance as far as we know?

10: the birds-no birdshit Sherlock

9: suspicion-it’s Cary grant.

8: Rebecca-a character who is never shown in the movie

7: spellbound-it’s spellbinding.

6: vertigo-no, i refuse to put it at number one. I don’t care how nightmarish surreal or disturbing it is i won’t change my mind. It’s still a masterpiece though.

5: notorious-well it’s Cary grant.

4: strangers on a train-a classic of it’s tone, style and genre. The only thing that could make this film better would be Danny DeVito. Oh wait that already happened.

3: shadow of a doubt-do i even have to say anymore?

2: north by northwest-his eyes are sensitive to questions.

1: rear window-no explanation necessary 

and no i still haven’t seen psycho.

Not sure how this ever started but Truffaut asked him about it during their interviews for his book:

F.T. I take it that of all your pictures you’ve made, Shadow of a Doubt is the one you prefer. And yet it gives a rather distorted idea of the Hitchcock touch. I feel that the film which provides the most accurate image of the ensemble of your work, as well as of your style, is Notorious.

A.H. I wouldn’t say that Shadow of a Doubt is my favorite picture; if I’ve given that impression, it’s probably because I feel that here is something our friends the plausibles and logicians cannot complain about.

I guess it bothers me that this keeps getting repeated because Shadow isn’t my favorite of his either. It isn’t in my top ten. His late masterpieces like Psycho and Vertigo are so much bigger and richer. They’re fully realized works of a mature artist extending the form of cinema. Take, for example, the long sequences of Stewart following Novak around San Francisco, or Norman cleaning up after Marion’s murder. This is the “pure cinema” that AH mastered in his later years. It’s magnificent.

Okay, thanks for listening. Just had to get that off my chest.

These are the ones I have watched already:

Vertigo
To catch a thief
The birds
Strangers on a train
Spellbound
Rope
Rebecca
Rear window
Psycho
Notorious
North by northwest
Dial M for murder

Mine was the intro of Vertigo

EDIT: I meant title sequence. Sorry

In his conversation with Truffaut, Hitchcock is unusually candid about Rope. He goes into much detail about why he chose to make the movie in one seemingly continuous take, and then the challenges he faced to make that happen. It was an ambitious operation that involved a painstaking process.

It is a delightfully technical conversation, but what makes it fascinating is that he has bittersweet feelings about Rope. On one hand, he sees it as a failed experiment, but on the other, he is proud of what he achieved with it.

I know a lot of people on this sub love the movie, and it would be great if you'd share why the movie is special to you.