One Fan's List of the Best Hitchcock Films

On September 5, 2009 at 4:56 p.m., I published my first post for the Classic Film & TV Cafe. Suffice to say, there was a lot I didn't know about blogging. But here I am, 968 posts and ten years later, and I must say that I've had a wonderful time writing and managing the Classic Film & TV Cafe. To commemorate  the last decade, I thought it'd be fun to update my first post about my picks for Alfred Hitchcock's ten best films. To my surprise, other than re-ranking two films, I made few changes. Please note that there are spoilers in my write-ups!

1. Vertigo - This richly-layered masterpiece reveals its big twist when least expected--turning the film on its proverbial head. It causes love to blur with obsession and greed to give way to guilt and perhaps love. What we see at the bell tower is initially false, but ultimately true. I could go on and on…but, hey, whole books have been devoted to this film. I think it’s Hitch’s best job of writing (as usual uncredited) and directing…plus we get superb performances (especially from James Stewart), a marvelous San Francisco setting, an unforgettably disturbing score from Bernard Hermann, and a nifty Saul Bass title sequence.

2. Rear Window – My wife would rate this as No. 1, but she’s not writing this post! As with Vertigo, there are multiple layers to Rear Window. Taken alone, there’s nothing interesting about the mystery of the missing salesman’s wife. The movie is really about the relationship between Jeff and Lisa. Though she is rich, beautiful, and loves him (Stella describes her as “perfect”), Jeff refuses to commit to Lisa. He fears that doing so will cause him to sacrifice his exciting, globetrotting life as a magazine photographer. It is only when Lisa becomes his “legs” and joins in the investigation of the missing wife that Jeff realizes how bright and exciting she truly is. It’s part of the film’s offbeat humor, because, to the viewer, Grace Kelly's Lisa looks stunning and exciting from the moment she walks into Jeff’s apartment. To provide contrast to Jeff and Lisa’s evolving relationship, Hitchcock lets us spy—with Jeff—on his neighbors in the apartment complex. Their stories are effective mini-dramas that are funny, sad, and murderous: Miss Lonelyhearts (that’s what Jeff calls her) dresses up and sets a table nightly for an imaginary date; Miss Torso practices dancing routines in her underwear, but rejects all suitors when she throws a party (later we learn why); the composer struggles to finish his compositions at the piano in his studio apartment; and an older couple, with their little dog, sleep on the balcony because the nights are so warm. Technically, the film is one of Hitch’s finest achievements. Almost every shot is from the viewpoint of Jeff’s apartment, an amazing feat but also one that’s not distracting (unlike the ten-minute takes in Hitchcock’s Rope). Even the stagy sets work to the film’s advantage, for the apartment complex seems like its own artificial world.

3. Marnie – When I first saw Marnie as a teenager, it made no impression at all. I thought Tippi Hedren was miscast and Sean Connery dull. The plot--what there was of one--seemed thin and the characters lacked interest. Decades later, I watched it again and, to my complete surprise, I loved it! Tippi Hedren's subtle detached performance made Marnie a vulnerable, intriguing character. The progressively complex relationship between Marnie and Sean Connery’s character generated suspense--in its own quiet way--worthy of Hitch’s best man-on-the-run films. I was captivated by Hitch's finest use of color (especially during the opening scenes). And finally, there was Bernard Herrmann's incredible score (which, for me, ranks second only to Vertigo among his Hitchcock soundtracks). I've often wondered how I missed all of this the first time around?

4. The Birds – This one functions on two levels for me. It is, of course, a masterfully directed thriller about unexplained bird attacks in a small California seaside community (I love the playground and gas station sequences). But it’s also a well-acted 1960s relationship drama about three women and their interactions with the bland, but likable, Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor). Mitch’s mother (wonderfully played by Jessica Tandy) fears losing her son to another woman—not because of jealousy, but because she can’t stand the thought of being abandoned. Young socialite Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren) views Mitch as a stable love interest, something she needs as she strives to live a more meaningful life. And Annie Hayworth (Suzanne Pleshette) is the spinster schoolteacher, willing to waste her life to be near Mitch after failing to pry him from his mother. These relationships are what the film is about—the birds are merely catalysts. That’s why the ending works for me; when the relationships are resolved, the bird attacks end.

5. Strangers on a Train – One of the cleverest (and most disturbing) premises of all Hitchcock films. The carousel climax is justly famous, but I favor the cigarette lighter in the drain. It’s a perfect example of how Hitch could generate suspense from a simple situation—with potentially disastrous consequences. I think Farley Granger and Robert Walker are pretty good in the leads, but not as strong as other Hitchcock stars.

6. Shadow of a Doubt – It took this one awhile to grow on me, but that makes sense in hindsight. Shadow of a Doubt is all about gradual realization. Charlie (Teresa Wright) slowly evolves from disbeliever (those accusations toward her beloved uncle could not be true!) to one who suspects the truth to believer to would-be victim. It’s a chilling tale, all the more so because it’s set against the backdrop of a friendly Thorton Wilder town.

7. North by Northwest – I think of this as something of a lark for all involved, but that’s partially why it’s so much fun. It’s my favorite of Hitch’s man-on-the-run films and James Mason, who plays the villain straight, is the perfect foil for Cary Grant. I only wish the Mount Rushmore scenes looked a little more realistic and Roger’s mother had more scenes.

8. Psycho – It’s hard to gauge the impact of Psycho now, but I can remember how shocked I was when I first saw it. I knew Janet Leigh was a major actress and so I was more than a little shocked to see what happened to her character of Marion Crane. (By the way, I was equally shocked when Arbogast was killed…filmed from that disorienting overhead camera angle). It’s really a fine film--more than a shocker--and also offers good performances, great Hermann music, and (once again) memorable Saul Bass titles. And I guess that shower scene turned out to be a little influential.

9. Rebecca - It’s too bad that David Selznick and Hitchcock didn’t get along better, because this collaboration is an excellent, atmospheric adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier’s novel. I love how the cheeriness of the opening scenes between the future Mrs. De Winter and Maxim contrast with the later scenes at Manderley. The cast is pitch perfect with Judith Anderson and George Sanders standing out in supporting roles. Like many people, my favorite scene is when Mrs. Danvers suggests that maybe the second Mrs. De Winters should just end it all.

10. Young and Innocent and Stage Fright (tie) – I am now officially in trouble with fans of Notorious, The 39 Steps, The Lady Vanishes, and Frenzy. Those are all fine films and I would list them in my top 20. But I must confess that I enjoy the two listed in my #10 spot more than those movies. The seldom-shown Young and Innocent is a fine early man-on-the-run film with sweet performances and its share of great scenes (e.g., carving meat at the dinner table, the great tracking shot leading to the killer’s twitching eye). As for Stage Fright, I’ll say upfront that the controversial flashback doesn’t bother me at all; I don’t understand the big fuss. Stage Fright makes this list on the basis of sheer fun and a delightful cast (Jane Wyman, Marlene Dietrich, Richard Todd, Alastair Sim, Sybil Thorndike, and Michael Wilding at his most charming). I saw it late among Hitch’s films and I never fail to be entertained when I watch it again.

Honorable Mentions: Those mentioned in No. 10 that will get me in trouble for omitting…plus To Catch a Thief, Secret Agent, Blackmail, the underappreciated I Confess, and Sabotage (with the controversial bomb scene).

Seven Things to Know About Raymond Chandler (in his own words)

For this edition of Seven Things to Know, we selected some choice excerpts from Selected Letters of Raymond Chandler, edited by Frank MacShane.

1. In a 1950 letter to his publisher, Raymond Chandler wrote: "I went to Hollywood in 1943 to work with Billy Wilder on  Double Indemnity. This was an agonizing experience and has probably shortened my life, but I learned from it as much about screen writing as I am capable of learning, which is not very much."

Martha Vickers.

2. On The Big Sleep: "(It has had) an unfortunate history. The girl who played the nymphy sister was so good she shattered Miss (Lauren) Bacall completely. So they cut the picture in such a way that all her best scenes were left out except one. The result made nonsense and Howard Hawks threatened to sue to restrain Warners from releasing the picture." (The actress who played the sister was Martha Vickers.)

3. On his Philip Marlowe novel The Lady in the Lake and the 1947 film adaptation: "This is the only published fiction of mine which I have tried to adapt for films. And it would take a lot of money to make me try again, and I don't think this kind of money would be paid me now from Hollywood. When a man has written a book and rewritten it and rewritten it, he has had enough of it."

4. On Strangers on a Train: "I'm still slaving away for Warners Brothers on this Hitchcock thing, which you may or may not have heard about. Some days I think it is fun and other days I think it damn foolishness....Suspense as an absolute quality has never seemed to me very important. At its best it is a secondary growth, and at its worst an attempt to make something out of nothing."

Farley Granger and Robert Walker in Strangers.

5. In a letter to Alfred Hitchcock about Strangers on a Train: "Regardless of whether or no my name appears on the screen among the credits, I'm not afraid that anybody will think I wrote this stuff. They'll know damn well I didn't. I shouldn't have minded in the least if you had produced a better script--believe me, I shouldn't. But if you wanted something written in skim milk, why on earth did you bother to come to me in the first place?"

6. On Agatha Christie's classic novel And Then There Were None: "As entertainment I liked the first half and the opening, in particular. The second half got pallid. But as an honest crime story, honest in the sense that the reader is given a square deal and the motivations and the mechanisms of the murders are sound--it is bunk."

7. After completing Playback, which turned out to be his seventh and final Marlowe novel, Chandler wrote about a potential eighth book: "My next book is to be laid in Palm Springs with Marlowe having a rather tough time getting along with his wife's ideas of how to live...Of course, I have to have a murder and some violence and some trouble with the cops. Marlowe wouldn't be Marlowe if he could get along with policemen." Chandler did, in fact, start on that novel, but died in 1959. Mystery writer Robert Parker completed it in 1989 and published it as Poodle Springs.

The 5 Best Train Movies

Trains in films began with Edwin S. Porter's film, The Great Train Robbery (1903). A few years later, D.W Griffith's film, The Lonedale Operator (1911), was the first to have villains tie up heroine on the railroad tracks, to wait for the speeding oncoming train, then to be saved just in time from their doom. Thankfully, train movies have become more entertaining over the years.

The following titles show some of my favorite five train movies:

Twentieth Century (1934). Comedy. Directed by Howard Hawks. Cast: John Barrymore and Carole Lombard, Walter Connolly, Roscoe Karns and Edgar Kennedy.

The story begins when, writer Oscar Jaffe meets lingerie model, Mildred Plotka and makes her the star of his latest play, despite how his two assistants, Oliver Webb and Owen O'Malley, feel about her talent. Oscar transforms her into the actress "Lily Garland", and both she and his play are a huge successes. Over the next three years, they have three more huge hits.

Feeling smothered, Lily tries to break off their relationship. Oscar talks her out of it, promising to give her more freedom. He secretly hires a private detective, McGonigle, to follow her. When she finds out, she leaves for Hollywood and becomes a great movie star on her own.

Without Lily, Oscar's plays are huge flops and he disguises himself to avoid creditors aboard the luxurious Twentieth Century Limited train, travelling from Chicago to New York City's Grand Central Station. By chance, Lily Garland also boards the same train at a later stop. Oscar sees a chance to get her to sign a contract with him. However, Lily is on her way to see Max Jacobs, to star in his play. Knowing that Lily maybe his last chance at success, he tells her that he wants her to play Mary Magdalene, in his new play. Oliver thinks he has found someone to finance Oscar's project, not realizing that his new partner Clark is a escapee from a mental hospital. When Oscar is wounded in a fight with Clark, he pretends to be dying...will he trick Lily into signing a contract?

A wonderful pairing of John Barrymore and Carole Lombard and a story which moves almost as fast as the train.

The Palm Beach Story (1942). Romantic comedy. Written and directed by Preston Sturges. Cast: Claudette Colbert, Joel McCrea, Mary Astor and Rudy Vallee. Victor Young contributed the musical score, along with a variation of the William Tell Overture for the opening scenes.

This is a very cute story about a wife Gerry, who decides to divorce her husband, Tom, and marry a rich man to get the money to finance Tom's invention. While on the train, Gerry meets one of the richest men in the world. When Tom goes to confront the man, Tom is introduced to his man-obsessed sister, who wants Tom to be husband number 6.

Colbert is perfect as Gerry. McCrea is wonderful playing her husband, but Vallee and Astor really steal the show as the eccentric millionaire and his sister. Also enjoyable to watch are the Ale and the Quail club and Dudley the old Wienie King.

The Train Robbers (1973). Western. Cast: John Wayne, Ann-Margret, Rod Taylor, and Ben Johnson. The movie was written and directed by Burt Kennedy. Mrs. Lowe wants the half million U.S. dollars in gold her late husband stole during a train robbery. Lane wants $50,000 reward, so he decides to help her, asking some old friends to help him. The men of the deceased husband of Mrs. Lowe also want the gold and will do anything to take the money from them.

Wayne and the rest of the weather worn cast perform well in this Western. Some of the scenes will remind you of a beautiful western painting.

The Train (1965). Cast: Burt Lancaster, Paul Scofield, Jeanne Moreau. As the Allied Forces are fast approaching Paris, German Colonel Von Waldheim, is taking France's most famous paintings to Germany. He manages to find a train to transport the valuable art. The French resistance wants to stop them from stealing their national treasures, but have received orders from London that they are not to be destroyed. The station master, Labiche, is enlisted to help make it all happen, but he is also part of a small group of resistance fighters trying to keep the train from ever leaving Paris.

The big star of the film is the train, shown in amazing detail, to keep you in suspense.

Strangers on a Train (1951). A psychological thriller produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock, who was an expert when it came to using trains in his movies. Cast: Farley Granger, Ruth Roman and Robert Walker, and features Leo G. Carroll, Patricia Hitchcock and Laura Elliott.

Bruno Antony, thinks he has come up with the perfect plot to kill his father when he meets tennis pro Guy Haines on a train. His plan is to have Guy kill his father and in trade he would kill Guy's wife Miriam, freeing him to marry Anne Morton. Guy does not think he is serious, but Bruno goes ahead with his half of the 'deal' and gets rid of Miriam. Guy can't believe it and Bruno makes it clear that he will plant evidence to implicate Guy in the murder if he doesn't kill Bruno's father. How will Guy deal with Bruno's madness?

Strangers on a Train, a dark wonderful comedy and is one my favorite Hitchcock's films.

Starring Farley Granger

Starting with its showcase of Strangers on a Train on this week's edition of "The Essentials" (Sat., April 17, 8pm Eastern, 5pm Pacific), Turner Classic Movies will pay tribute to the films of Farley Granger. Strangers on a Train will be followed by They Live by Night (1949), Roseanna McCoy (1949), The North Star (1943) and Edge of Doom (1950).

Granger was discovered and signed by producer Sam Goldwyn while still in high school and was quickly cycled into The North Star. Though he was groomed for a career in Hollywood, his first love was the theater and he eventually bought out his contract with Goldwyn so that he could pursue a career on Broadway.

In 1986 Granger won and Obie Award for his performance in Talley & Son.

Though he made a number of films, Granger considers only three of them top-quality: They Live by Night, Strangers on a Train and Luchino Visconti's Senso (1954) with Alida Valli - considered by many to be his finest performance.

The upcoming San Francisco International Film Festival will present a recently (and laboriously) restored version of Senso. The film's U.S. premiere was a highlight of the festival's inaugural year in 1957...and I am thrilled to report that I have tickets to the festival's screening of Senso on May 2 at the Castro Theater.

A recent photo of Farley Granger

Dial H For Hitchcock: Strangers on a Train - the better the villain, the better the picture...

It was the middle of the 20th Century and Alfred Hitchcock's last major film had been Notorious (1946). Four years and four films later, he was in a slump. Though The Paradine Case, Rope, Under Capricorn and Stage Fright were all interesting attempts, each one had its problems and each had bombed.

For his next project, Hitchcock looked to the first novel of young Patricia Highsmith. Intrigued by its clever "criss-cross" murder plot, he bought the rights to Strangers on a Train.

Raymond Chandler was tapped to tackle the screenplay, though Czenzi Ormonde, a protege of Ben Hecht, rewrote most of it. Cinematographer Robert Burks collaborated with Hitchcock for the first time and earned an Oscar nomination for his efforts. He was nominated again for Rear Window and won for To Catch a Thief. Dimiti Tiomkin, who had last worked with the director on Shadow of a Doubt, composed the film's nimble score. Hitchcock produced and directed for Warner Brothers.

A thriller of mature scope and depth, Strangers on a Train (1951) is also considered one of Hitchcock's most accessible films; its overwhelming success revived the director's reputation at a crucial point. It also signaled the beginning of his final great filmmaking period.

Strangers on a Train is pure and classic Hitchcock. It begins as two young men meet very cute in the first class club car of a commuter train. One is a tennis celebrity, the other a wealthy ne'er-do-well, and what seems like casual chit-chat has deadly consequences. A study in Alfred Hitchcock's mastery of visual storytelling and technical wizardry, the film bears all the hallmarks of his style...

There are spectacular visual set pieces, among them...1) Bruno stalks Miriam at a fairgrounds and, in a stunning shot, strangles her on a secluded island, 2) Guy makes a stealthy visit to Bruno's darkened home where a large growling dog adds even more suspense, 3) An intense tennis match is cross cut with scenes of Bruno's harrowing journey to plant evidence, 4) a carousel disaster comes to a breathtaking climax.

Prominent historical sites appear; Washington, D.C., landmarks are woven into the scenario with the Jefferson Memorial in a stark cameo.

There is an "innocent man accused" theme and a powerful doppelganger motif.

Though there are no marquee names, the cast is solid. Farley Granger fleshes out handsome, guileless and beleaguered tennis star Guy Haines; Laura Elliott (Kasey Rogers) is delicious as his estranged wife, Miriam; Marion Lorne stands out as Bruno's discombobulated mother. Leo G. Carroll is credibly senatorial as a U.S. Senator and Patricia Hitchcock gives one of her best performances as his quirky younger daughter.

Alfred Hitchcock once told Francoise Truffaut, "...the more successful the villain, the more successful the picture. That's a cardinal rule..."

The bold, unforgettable performance of Robert Walker as psychopathic Bruno Anthony is proof positive of that rule. Remarkably, Walker had mostly been cast as male ingenues up to then.

Like Joseph Cotten's Uncle Charley in Shadow of a Doubt, Walker's Bruno is a glib, self-possessed charmer - who is also a remorseless killer. Walker is riveting onscreen. His Bruno is confident, slick, erratic...and very, very creepy. His smooth veneer barely masks a simmering rage. With a voice that ranges from sensual as velvet to cold and hollow as tin, his eyes glitter, glare, caress.

From the moment Bruno is first seen in the club car insinuating himself into Guy's life, to his final seconds of life, when he mercilessly implicates Guy with his dying breath, Walker dominates and energizes the film. Pat Hitchcock once observed that for all her father's genius, it was Walker's daring performance that 'made' the picture.

Walker died tragically at age 32 less than two months after the film was released. He had appeared in more than 30 films in his career, but it was only Strangers on a Train that allowed him to unleash the devastating range of his talent.

Farley Granger later reflected, "he was great in the film; his potential was limitless, his career was just beginning to take wing."

Robert Walker's life had been short and often troubled, and his early death sent shock waves through Hollywood. In time, though, it became clear that he had a bit of good fortune after all; his greatest role, his single virtuoso performance, was preserved within one of Alfred Hitchcock's finest films.

British film critic and historian David Thomson noted in a piece on Strangers in 1999, Hitchcock's centennial year, that Walker's was "...a landmark performance. You see it now and you feel the vibrancy of the modernity...he had had that one chance..."

This Saturday, April 17, TCM features Strangers on a Train on this week's edition of The Essentials. Robert Osborne and Alec Baldwin will discuss the film before and after it airs. 8:00 pm Eastern, 5:00 pm Pacific.