Alfred Hitchcock’s 15 Best Films, Ranked
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Welcome to the cinema soapbox. Today were ranting and raving about the (mostly) industry-wide dismissal of the horror genre and the auteurs who pushed against it, namely the “Master of Suspense,” Sir Alfred Hitchcock. One of the fathers of modern cinema—a real Mamma Mia!-esque squad of figurative dads—Hitchcock earned 46 Academy Award nominations throughout his career. His work would go on to inspire such filmmakers as David Lynch, Brian DePalma, David Fincher, and M. Night Shyamalan.
Hollywood is notorious for separating horror films from “legacy cinema,” a pretentious and misguided view that persists today. In recent years, A24 has done the work and collected flowers for the genre, bringing to the screen films that are both artistically notable and genuinely terrifying. Hitchcock would be proud.
Alfred Hitchcock worked in film years before he would become a household name. His tenth film, Blackmail (1929), was the first British “talkie” following the silent film era. From there, he worked like he was running out of time (quip credit, Hamilton). He made 53 movies over 50 years, ending his career with Family Plot (1976). The prestigious filmmaker died in 1980 of kidney failure, but is remembered today for his “Hitchcockian” film style, marked by voyeuristic cinematography and a focus on the human psyche.
Of the 53 films attached to Hitchcocks name, all 53 are legendary. That said, we’re playing favorites here. These are the 15 best Alfred Hitchcock films, ranked.
Rear Window (1954)
Hitchcock’s best film is also one of the best films of all time. Rear Window is a mystery thriller that follows a professional photographer who, while recovering from a broken leg and confined to a wheelchair in his Greenwich Village apartment, witnesses what looks like a murder. A voyeuristic thriller, Rear Window solidified Hitchcock as the master of suspense and stands as a perfect example of his creative style.
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Psycho (1960)
This 1960 horror sparked an entire entertainment franchise, including three sequels and the popular series Bates Motel. Psycho was a complete game changer for the movie industry, pushing the envelope with bold violence and sexuality. The film follows a woman on the run who finds herself at a remote hotel run by an odd young man under the control of his mysterious mother. Warning: Mommy issues ahead.
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Vertigo (1958)
Vertigo undoubtedly earns a spot in the top three. The film follows a retired detective who develops an extreme fear of heights and a rough case of vertigo following an incident in the line of duty. In his retirement, he is hired by a friend as a private investigator to observe his wife. Beyond an interesting story, the film has continued to be studied and lauded for its pioneering of new cinematography styles, namely the dolly zoom, now nicknamed the “vertigo shot.” Vertigo was the first film to ever employ the shot, which creates a “spatial warp” and sense of unease in the audience. All in all, Vertigo is a permanent fixture in the “greatest films of all time” conversation.
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Notorious (1946)
This 1946 spy film stars Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, and Claude Rains—three of the most talented actors to ever grace the scream. The film marked a shift in Hitchcock’s career, a moment in which the industry began to take him seriously as an artist working at the top of his game. Notorious takes place in post-WWII Rio de Janeiro, following a U.S. government agent and the daughter of a Nazi war criminal who infiltrate a German pharmaceutical conglomerate. The two, obviously, fall in love, which is made messier by a former flame of the leading lady. The film is considered Hitchcock’s first try at a romance-driven story, and like every film on this list, is remembered for its inventive cinematography.
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North by Northwest (1959)
Another famous vehicle for Cary Grant, North by Northwest follows an innocent man on the run from a mysterious organization, chased across the country over a smuggled roll of microfilm containing government secrets. Like so many of its neighbors on this list, North by Northwest is considered one of the greatest films of all time, selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
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Rebecca (1940)
Hitchcock’s first American film, Rebecca stars Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine as a widowed aristocrat, Maxim de Winter, and his young new wife. Shot entirely in black and white, the film follows the young woman, living in the shadow of her predecessor Rebecca, haunted by her memory and reputation. A major player at the 13th Academy Awards, Rebecca earned 11 nominations in its year, and remains the only Hitchcock film to ever win Best Picture. Like most of Hitchcock’s work, the film is psychologically haunting brain food.
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Dial M for Murder (1954)
Grace Kelly stars alongside Ray Milland in this infamous crime thriller which follows a former tennis star who plots to murder his cheating wife, a socialite embroiled in an affair with a crime-fiction writer. Fun fact about this film: it was intended to be one of the first ever 3D films, but most audiences saw it in basic 2D due to faulty 1950s projection technology.
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Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
Hitchcock’s favorite child, Shadow of a Doubt follows a teenage girl whose quaint life in Santa Rosa is interrupted by an unexpected visitor, a charming Uncle Charlie who turns out to be a secret serial killer known as the “Merry Widow” killer. Among critics, Shadow of Doubt is considered Hitchcock’s most intimate film, calling it the auteur’s “first indisputable masterpiece.”
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Marnie (1964)
Starring Tippi Hedren and Sean Connery, Marnie bookends a chapter of “Hitchcock blondes” – the “Bond Girls” of the Hitchcock filmography, marked by mystery, sex appeal, and movie-star good looks. Marnie follows a woman who charms her way into a job at a tax consulting company, steals $10,000, changes her identity, and flees to Virginia.
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Strangers on a Train (1951)
Before Sunrise gone awry, Strangers on a Train follows two—wait for it—strangers on a train. One, a psychopath with a murder swap plan that predates Horrible Bosses, and the other, an amateur tennis star looking to divorce his wife and marry the daughter of a U.S. Senator. The two stir up a scheme to kill each other's enemies, saving themselves from suspicion. The film features one iconic shot which continues to be considered in classrooms across the country, showing a slow and chilling murder through the reflection of the victim’s fallen sunglasses.
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The Birds (1963)
Before there was a cocaine-driven bear, there were flocks of murderous birds. The Birds follows a San Francisco socialite who, in pursuit of love, travels to a small Northern California town to surprise her budding love interest. Love is interrupted, naturally, by bizarre waves of blood-thirsty birds attacking the townspeople. In the making of The Birds, Hitchcock was inspired by a real life phenomenon that took place in Capitola, California in 1961, during which town residents woke up to find rabid birds dive bombing houses and crashing into cars.
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Suspicion (1941)
Suspicion brought the only performance-based Academy Award to the Hitchcock portfolio of work, thanks to Joan Fontaine’s 1941 Best Actress win. The film follows a woman with limited dating experience who finds herself married to a uber-smooth playboy who—surprise, surprise—turns out to be shit. In addition to being a dishonest, penniless gambler, she suspects him of being a murderer intent on ending her life.
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Rope (1948)
This psychological crime thriller follows two young athletes who aspire to commit the “perfect murder,” strangling their former prep school classmate to death in a Manhattan penthouse. The two little psychos then shove the body in a wooden chest and host a dinner party, the guest list of which includes the victim's own family. Rope was adapted from a 1929 play, which was itself inspired by the 1924 murder of a 14-year-old boy by two University of Chicago students. Aesthetically, the film is significant for taking place in real time and is edited to appear as four long takes stitched together, which allows for the film to feel much more stage-like than traditional movies.
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Lifeboat (1944)
This survival epic, a rare turn for Hitchcock, features a story by famed author John Steinbeck and is set entirely in one place—a lifeboat adrift from a passenger vessel sunk by a Nazi U-boat. Lifeboat is Hitchcock’s first film to employ that “limited setting” style, later to be seen in Rope, Dial M for Murder, and Rear Window. Don’t take its low ranking on this list as an offense—14 out of 53 is still a great place to land. In recent years, the film industry has come around to this one, citing it as Hitchcock’s most underrated work.
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Frenzy (1972)
Hitchcock’s penultimate work, Frenzy follows a serial killer in London and his friend, a former Air Force leader, whom he implicates in his murders. Frenzy is notable, not only as one of Hitchcock’s final great works, but as being the only of the auteur’s films to be given an R rating in its initial release.
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