Auteur List: Alfred Hitchcock - Discussion and Defenses

[domino harvey]

AUTEUR LIST: ALFRED HITCHCOCK
September 19 - November 5th

Gooooood evening. Our forum’s first auteur-based list will be covering the works of the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock. We will be composing both a list of best features and a shorter supplemental list of shorts and television works. All eligible works are listed below. Rules for each list are explained below.

Individual lists should reflect your own personal preference— the goal is not to be cunning, but honest. If Rear Window is your favorite, don’t vote for Family Plot ahead of it just to skew the results for a film less likely to chart as high, unless of course you consider Family Plot a better film! Hopefully participation will be high for this list, so it’d be best if the results truly represented a survey of personal tastes and not iconoclastic pot-stirring.

Members are encouraged to weigh in on any and all of Hitchcock’s works during this project’s run, and take this opportunity to revisit as many of Hitchcock’s films as you can. We are fortunate that so many of his works survive in excellent Blu-ray and DVD editions, with copious supplemental material, so let’s all take advantage of our collective good fortune and really have a long, hard look back at one of cinema’s unquestionable greats. And remember to share your insights with the rest of the board, and engage with the thoughts and takes of others. Especially well-considered write-ups, guides, and discussions in-thread will be linked below in the first post for ease of reference.

Lists should be PMed to me, domino harvey, no later than November 5th. No lists will be accepted before September 19th. Everyone who can read this post is eligible to participate in this list and cast a ballot.


FEATURE LIST RULES
The minimum and standard number of submitted feature films for each participating member is 10, in ranked order (With number one being the best and so on down the line). However, if you can’t bare to limit yourself to a mere ten titles, you may submit up to twenty ranked titles (ie 20 total max) or any variant number between ten and twenty (so yes, your list may contain thirteen films, but you assume your own unluckiness risks in doing so). Hopefully this sliding scale of voting slots will result in a multitude of ballots from members with varying degrees of exposure to and comfort with Hitchcock's oeuvre.

Members who submit only ten films and those who submit a maximum twenty titles will still be on even footing when it comes to the points assigned for the top ten (ie the film in their number one slot will be worth twenty points on everyone’s list). Only those films listed below under FEATURE FILMS are eligible for voting. The final list will comprise of a Top 25, with supplemental recordings of also-rans and orphans, as in other list projects.

SHORTS AND TELEVISION WORKS SUB-LIST RULES
The minimum and standard number of submitted films and/or episodes for each participating member is 5, in ranked order (With number one being the best and so on down the line). Only those films listed below under SHORTS AND TELEVISION WORKS are eligible. Participation in the shorts sub-list is optional. The final list will comprise of a Top 10, with supplemental recordings of also-rans and orphans, as in other list projects.

TL;DR: Submit a list of 10-20 features + an optional additional list of 5 shorts and/or television works, in ranked order


FEATURES
the Pleasure Garden (1925) R2 Network
the Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927) R1 MGM (OOP) / R2/B Network / R4 Madman
the Mountain Eagle (1927) LOST
the Ring (1927) R1 Lionsgate
Downhill (1927) R2 Network / RB Elephant France, Indigo Germany / R4 Madman (OOP)
Easy Virtue (1928) / RB Elephant France, Indigo Germany
the Farmer’s Wife (1928) R1 PD / R2 StudioCanal
Champagne (1928) R1 PD / R2 StudioCanal
the Manxman (1929) R1 Lionsgate
Blackmail [silent version] (1929) R2 Universal/StudioCanal
Blackmail [sound version] (1929) R1 PD / R2 Universal/StudioCanal
Juno and the Paycock (1930) R1 PD / R2 Universal France
Murder! (1930) R1 Lionsgate
the Skin Game (1931) R1 Lionsgate
Mary (1931) (German-language version of Murder!) R2 Universal France (on Jamaica Inn disc, no subs), R2 Arthaus Germany (on Murder! disc, no subs)
Rich and Strange AKA East of Shaghai (1931) R1 Lionsgate
Number Seventeen (1932) R1 PD / R2 StudioCanal
Waltzes from Vienna (1934) R1 PD / R2 Network (on the Jessie Matthews Revue Volume 2), Universal France
the Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) R1/A Criterion
the 39 Steps (1935) R1/A Criterion / PD
Secret Agent (1936) R1 PD / R2 Network / R4 Madman (OOP)
Sabotage (1936) R1 MGM (OOP) / R2/B Network
Young and Innocent (1937) R1 MGM (OOP) / R2/B Network
the Lady Vanishes (1938) R1/A Criterion
Jamaica Inn (1939) R1/A Cohen

Rebecca (1940) R1/A MGM / R1 Criterion
Foreign Correspondent (1940) R1/A Criterion
Mr & Mrs Smith (1941) R1 Warners (OOP) / R1 Warner Archives MOD / R1 TCM Romantic Affairs 4 Film DVD set (pressed)
Suspicion (1941) R1/A Warners
Saboteur (1942) R1/A Universal
Shadow of a Doubt (1943) R1/A Universal
Lifeboat (1944) R1 Fox / R2/B Masters of Cinema
Spellbound (1945) R1/A MGM / R1 Criterion
Notorious (1946) R1/A MGM / R1 Criterion
the Paradine Case (1947) R1 MGM (OOP)
Rope (1948) R1/A Universal
Under Capricorn (1949) R1 Image (OOP)
Stage Fright (1950) R1 Warners
Strangers on a Train (1951) R1/A Warners
I Confess (1953) R1/A Warners
Dial ‘M’ for Murder (1954) R1 Warners (Academy ratio) / RA Warners (Widescreen + 3-D)
Rear Window (1954) R1/A Universal
To Catch a Thief (1955) R1/A Paramount
the Trouble With Harry (1955) R1/A Universal
the Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) R1/A Universal
the Wrong Man (1956) R1/A Warners
Vertigo (1958) R1/A Universal
North by Northwest (1959) R1/A Warners
Psycho (1960) R1/A Universal
the Birds (1963) R1/A Universal
Marnie (1964) R1/A Universal
Torn Curtain (1966) R1/A Universal
Topaz (1969) R1/A Universal
Frenzy (1972) R1/A Universal
Family Plot (1976) R1/A Universal


SHORTS AND TELEVISION WORKS
Always Tell Your Wife (1923) LOST
An Elastic Affair (1930) LOST
Elstree Calling [television set linking segments only] (1930) R2 Network
the Fighting Generation (1944) No commercial release, available on YouTube
Aventure Malgache (1944) R1 Milestone / R2/B Masters of Cinema (on Lifeboat)
Bon Voyage (1944) R1 Milestone / R2/B Masters of Cinema (on Lifeboat)

Alfred Hitchcock Presents episodes directed by Alfred Hitchcock
”Revenge” (1955) (S1E01) R1 Universal / R2 Universal/Fabulous Films / R4 Madman
”Breakdown” (1955) (S1E07) R1 Universal / R2 Universal/Fabulous Films / R4 Madman
”the Case of Mr Pelham” (1955) (S1E10) R1 Universal / R2 Universal/Fabulous Films / R4 Madman
”Back for Christmas” (1956) (S1E23) R1 Universal / R2 Universal/Fabulous Films / R4 Madman
”Wet Saturday” (1956) (S2E01) R1 Universal / R2 Universal/Fabulous Films / R4 Madman
”Mr Blanchard’s Secret” (1956) (S2E13) R1 Universal / R2 Universal/Fabulous Films / R4 Madman
”One More Mile to Go” (1957) (S2E28) R1 Universal / R2 Universal/Fabulous Films / R4 Madman
”the Perfect Crime” (1957) (S3E03) R1 Universal / R2 Universal/Fabulous Films / R4 Madman
”Lamb to the Slaughter” (1958) (S3E28) R1 Universal / R2 Universal/Fabulous Films / R4 Madman
”Dip in the Pool” (1958) (S3E35) R1 Universal / R2 Universal/Fabulous Films / R4 Madman
”Poison” (1958) (S4E01) R1 Universal / R2 Universal/Fabulous Films / R4 Madman
”Banquo’s Chair” (1959) (S4E29) R1 Universal / R2 Universal/Fabulous Films / R4 Madman
”Arthur” (1959) (S5E01) R1 Universal / R2 Universal/Fabulous Films / R4 Madman
”the Crystal Trench” (1959) (S5E02) R1 Universal / R2 Universal/Fabulous Films / R4 Madman
”Mrs Bixby and the Colonel’s Coat” (1960) (S6E01) R1 Universal DVD-R / R2 Universal/Fabulous Films / R4 Madman
”the Horse Player” (1961) (S6E22) R1 Universal DVD-R / R2 Universal/Fabulous Films / R4 Madman
”Bang! You’re Dead” (1961) (S7E02) R2 Universal/Fabulous Films / R4 Madman

“Four O’Clock” Suspicion (1957) No commercial release, available on YouTube
”Incident at a Corner” Ford Startime (1960) R4 Madman
”I Saw the Whole Thing” the Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1962) (S1E04) R2 Universal/Fabulous Films / R4 Madman


FORUM RESOURCES
TK

COMPELLING IN-THREAD DEFENSES OR OBSERVATIONS
TK

Resources compiled with help by Ashirg

[domino harvey]

REVISIT SPOTLIGHTS

Since it can be difficult to revisit an entire auteur’s oeuvre, I’m trying this tactic out, and if successful will continue doing it for future Auteur Lists. I randomly selected one title from Hitchcock’s filmography for each week the list runs, plus one non-randomly selected compiler’s choice title. Users are encouraged to use this abbreviated sampling of the director’s output as a way of whittling down revisits or to highlight unseen titles that are encouraged to receive additional attention and scrutiny during the project. Of course, again, please revisit and post about any and all of the director’s films in this thread, this is just a way to help facilitate that!

The Revisit Spotlights for Hitchcock are:

the Birds (1963)
Blackmail (1929) Either version
”the Case of Mr Pelham” (1955) Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode
North by Northwest (1959)
the Ring (1927)
Stage Fright (1950)
To Catch a Thief (1955)

[domino harvey]

Discussion now open. Dear God let us attract some heavier participation for this list!

[dustybooks]

For anyone who may be interested and doesn't want to use YouTube or get all the season sets, all 17 of the AHP episodes directed by Hitchcock were put out by Universal on four DVDs (labeled volumes 1-4, with four episodes on each disc save the last, which has five) that were included as "bonuses" on boxed sets of the film... and now they're frequently on ebay as stand-alone items, and cheap too. Just got three of the four volumes for about $15 a couple weeks ago and it's a handy way to have them all in one place. Of course this doesn't resolve the three hour-long TV shows he directed but it's a big chunk. Once I watch these and see the hour shows plus Bon Voyage and Aventure Malagache I will have seen everything eligible for this list!

I want to contribute separate posts in defense of The Trouble with Harry and Sabotage; I'll try to get to that soon.

[swo17]

If you're region-free, the "R4 Madman" tags that domino mentions above for shorts and TV works all come from one 3-disc release called Alfred Hitchcock Directs.

[thirtyframesasecond]

My knowledge of British Hitchcock is pretty limited besides the more celebrated films - that's the first area to address.

Of the Hollywood era, I haven't seen Mr and Mrs Smith, The Paradine Case, Under Capricorn, Stage Fright, The Trouble with Harry, Torn Curtain, Topaz and Family Plot. Am I missing out? I suspect The Trouble with Harry is the key film here.

Seen none of the TV series so some recommendations here would be ace.

I would say at the moment that around five titles are locked in but the bottom half of the ten could easily change over the next few weeks.

[Forrest Taft]

I've seen so few of the shorts, so thanks for reminding me of the Madman set. Also, Under Capricorn is available on an inexpensive DVD from Universal France. I believe it's superior to the OOP Image disc. Too bad the 30 minute Chabrol extra is unsubbed...

[domino harvey]

Of the Hollywood era, I haven't seen Mr and Mrs Smith, The Paradine Case, Under Capricorn, Stage Fright, The Trouble with Harry, Torn Curtain, Topaz and Family Plot. Am I missing out? I suspect The Trouble with Harry is the key film here.

Seen none of the TV series so some recommendations here would be ace.

Topaz is the only 100% avoidable post-British Hitchcock. Those who exhaust themselves trying to rehabilitate it are unconvincing at best. Stage Fright is top shelf Hitchcock, and as noted above, it's one of the titles randomly selected to spur discussion, so that would be a good target I think. I like Torn Curtain, Mr and Mrs Smith, and especially Family Plot more than most, but I recognize I'm in the minority position here. Don't care for any of the other features you single out by name.

When it comes to the TV series, and this is true for both Hitchcock's episodes and the whole series at-large, there are a lot of episodes that seem better in retrospect due to the cleverness of the premise or the twist at the end, but they don't all wear it well. Take "Revenge", which in summary sounds so much better than it ends up being. I think his most successful episode by far is "Arthur", which has to be one of the most delightfully morbid and grotesque things Hitchcock ever made. I won't spoil it, but it stars Laurence Harvey as a chicken farmer and beyond that I'll let you discover. Many episodes of this series, regardless of who directed them, are fascinatingly dark and mordant since they could end with really twisted conclusions that would never fly on TV or in film and Hitchcock could just drolly (and intentionally unconvincingly) tell the audience after it's over that the perpetrators eventually were caught and brought to justice. And many of the series' best episodes ("the Man From the South", "An Unlocked Window") aren't even directed by Hitchcock

[Forrest Taft]

Topaz is one of titles I'm most eager to revisit, for some reason. I'd say the only 100% avoidable Hitchcock is Waltzes From Vienna.

[domino harvey]

Sorry, I meant of the post-British period, I've edited my post to clarify

[colinr0380]

I quite like Topaz, though it suffers from the worst possible problem of the first 40 minutes or so being almost unbearably mannered and deadly dull (combined with being unnecessarily obtuse) to the point of almost being unwatchable! I really like the second two thirds though and although I think they hold together better as whole films I think Topaz ends up having more thought provoking things to say on spy antics and international interchanagable allegiances than Torn Curtain, and is certainly funnier than Family Plot!

The main comment I like to make every time Topaz comes up (basically because I'm curious whether other people see it the same way) is that The Good Shepherd feels strangely similar in tone and content!

[knives]

I'll agree with Colin. While Topaz is not good it at least has a lot of real interesting bits to bite into. I'll take it any day over something like Torn Curtain which is by the numbers to the point where it induces severe deja vu for a much better film.

[Noiradelic]

all 17 of the AHP episodes directed by Hitchcock were put out by Universal on four DVDs (labeled volumes 1-4, with four episodes on each disc save the last, which has five) that were included as "bonuses" [on boxed sets of the film...

EDIT:

Volume 4 is by far the most useful of these DVDs, because it neatly collects all the episodes from seasons 5, 6 and 7, and as indicated in the Television Works list, only Season 5 was released on pressed DVDs in the U.S.

For some reason it's by far the cheapest one on Amazon (result of a random price war I guess). Doesn't even seem to be available on eBay right now.

The other three volumes are frustrating, because the eps are out of order -- the two Season 4 eps are on two different volumes and the three Season 3 eps are on three.

[dustybooks]

Should have been films, plural, sorry. Early releases of the Universal titles.

[Jonathan S]

There's an official French set with all 20 of the TV episodes Hitch directed, including the three hour-long ones. I've owned this set for many years. I think Four O'Clock is his best TV work; using a fairly simple situation, it builds to a metaphysical intensity for me, especially projected on a screen with the lights out... it would probably work even better in a theatrical presentation. It feels like an updated re-working of Poe's The Pit and the Pendulum, with the horror transplanted (as so often with Hitchcock) to the most ordinary of settings.

According to the Hitchcock Wiki (an invaluable resource), Four O'Clock is also on a Koch set that includes about half of the other Hitch-directed episodes.

[swo17]

A Hitchcock Primer

[Rayon Vert]

I'd say the only 100% avoidable Hitchcock is Waltzes From Vienna.

Happily, that's the only one I haven't seen. But I think both Juno and the Paycock and Number Seventeen are dismal.

[Rayon Vert]

Revisit spotlight.

To Catch a Thief is the one film in my top 5 or 6 that isn't usually classified as top-tier Hitch. The feel of the movie, including the visuals, is a bit like a pre-Bond Bond, complete with a Bondesque casino scene. Story- and suspense-wise, the film doesn't really work like the best of Hitch, but it's the extras that make it a film that I more often feel compelled to watch again than, say, the likely "objectively" superior Rear Window: the breathtaking and gorgeous vistas (in VistaVision, appropriately enough) and colors of the Côte d’Azur locations; the sparks and witty dialogue between Grant and a fairly scintillating Grace Kelly; and various little cinematic amuse-gueules, like the breakneck car ride with Grace at the wheel and Grant her hapless victim (reminiscent of his car ride with the drunk Ingrid Bergman in Notorious). (Come to think of it, Grant is involved in dangerous car rides in his other two films with Hitch as well!) In his commentary, Peter Bogdanovich says of this film that it’s very relaxed and like a vacation - I definitely go along with that. It's light, breezy fun but with the master at the top of his craft.

I'm glad this list project is happening. I compulsively order all the films I see in an "all-time" master list, but there are a number of Hitch films in the top half that I'm not sure belong where I put them initially, and this will be an opportunity to watch the films again and revisit my personal rankings.

[Noiradelic]

Of the Hollywood era, I haven't seen Mr and Mrs Smith, The Paradine Case, Under Capricorn, Stage Fright, The Trouble with Harry, Torn Curtain, Topaz and Family Plot. Am I missing out? I suspect The Trouble with Harry is the key film here.

I'd say The Trouble with Harry and Under Capricorn are the ones cinephiles generally consider of the most interest. I greatly prefer the former, but may give Under Capricorn another glance. Torn Curtain's not a good film, but the extended murder scene is pretty essential for the serious Hitch buff -- a corrective to all those scenes in noir films where the slightest nudge leads to someone breaking their neck on the coffee table.

[Rayon Vert]

Of the Hollywood era, I haven't seen Mr and Mrs Smith, The Paradine Case, Under Capricorn, Stage Fright, The Trouble with Harry, Torn Curtain, Topaz and Family Plot. Am I missing out? I suspect The Trouble with Harry is the key film here.

I'd say The Trouble with Harry and Under Capricorn are the ones cinephiles generally consider of the most interest. I greatly prefer the former, but may give Under Capricorn another glance. Torn Curtain's not a good film, but the extended murder scene is pretty essential for the serious Hitch buff -- a corrective to all those scenes in noir films where the slightest nudge leads to someone breaking their neck on the coffee table.

I was surprisingly pleased when I first saw The Paradine Case after what I had read about it. It's definitely worth at least a watch as well, and I'll be revisiting it, even though I doubt it'll make many people's top 10 or 20.

[TMDaines]

Mentioned this in the Bargains sub-forum, but worth sharing here too. The three recent Warner Archive Hitchcock Blu-rays were also published in Spain and are currently only €7.34 on Amazon.es. I believe they are the exact same discs.

[Forrest Taft]

I have a soft spot for most of the cold war pics from this era, and almost always enjoy sequences with characters defecting etc., so - unlike Colin - I think the first act of Topaz works fine. The second act is pretty decent too, and it’s only during the final act that I lose interest. This is an occasionally enjoyable, but very uneven work, and the leads are pretty dull.

Torn Curtain is better in most regards. The script has some good things in it - I love the plotting of the first act, and the clever way the dancer (who’s Frank Drebin to Paul Newman’s Weird Al Yankovic when the plane arrives in East Berlin) is brought back during the climax. Whereas Topaz both is and very much feels like the longest film in the Hitchcock filmography, Torn Curtain is lighter and more fun, and at least has a charismatic lead actor. That easily gives it the edge.

There are two shots in Topaz I really like. The famous one during the death scene is the first, but I also loved the effect shot that focuses in on the newspaper headline during the train ride. Having just finished Torn Curtain, I can't recall any specific shots in it, but unlike Topaz, it at least has one really good sequence. The bus ride is a wonderful suspense sequence, and the occasional cuts to the other bus - getting closer every minute - are very effective. And the sequence also includes a bit part from Vigo himself, Wilhelm von Humburg!

These two make a good double bill, and I think they're both worthwhile, but I’d be very surprised to see them appear on anyones list. After having finished Torn Curtain, I noticed the disc included the option of seeing it with Bernard Herrman’s rejected score playing during certain scenes. I wish I’d known/remembered this before I watched it. Has anyone here seen it with the Herrman score?

[Minkin]

Are we not counting Sound Test for Blackmail (1929)? I'd vote for it over most later Hitchcock features.
Yes, I know it would go on the "optional +5 shorts list", but that's not as fun as placing it above To Catch a Thief

[barryconvex]

Dial M For Murder is the first Hitchcock i ever saw (in a high school social studies class of all places) and it still holds up rather well. I'm a sucker for small cast, one room type dramas providing the casting works and Milland, who i think never had a better role than this one, and Grace Kelly go a long way towards making this one of Hitchcock's best. In fact, this and Lifeboat would be easy top 5 choices for me.

[swo17]

Dial M has my favorite Hitchcock plot. Very interesting use of 3D too, if you're able to see it that way.