The Ten Hitchcock Films that Every Movie Fan Should See

When it comes to great film directors, nearly every movie fan, and even people just tangentially familiar with movies, know the name of Alfred Hitchcock. He is a man about as famous as one can be and be a film director, with few exceptions. If you have not seen his movies, perhaps you have seen reruns of his long-running and very popular television show Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

He has created some of the most iconic and infamous and downright famous films that popular culture has ever seen. He was also profoundly prolific, having spent years directing movies in his native England before becoming a truly international celebrity director. He has helped bring images to the big screen that just about everyone, everywhere, in the world knows. There are those who cannot look at a flock of birds or a shower curtain without thinking of an image from one of his films. He was the master of suspense, often imitated, but seldom duplicated by countless directors since his prime.

However, what movies are the most key to movie fans? If you are someone out there who has never seen a Hitchcock movie or perhaps only seen one or two, these are ten films I feel rank among his best. If I were to put together a Hitchcock DVD collection, these would be the films I would put in them.

I have debates whether or not to rank them. I found that impossible. As soon as I put one movie at number one, I would change my mind and want to change it to something else. So, here are ten essential movies from the master, Alfred Hitchcock, that I think every movie fan should see.

North by Northwest is the consummate Hitch movie, I feel. This was the movie that turned me from a casual observer of his movies into an outright fan. It is also the consummate Cary Grant movie as filmed by Hitchcock. This movie has some of those iconic images that often go hand-in-hand with Hitchcock films. There is the scene with the biplane in the corn. There is the scene on top of Mount Rushmore. What's the plot? It is a classic tale of a man mistaken for another man and it somehow involves artwork that contains secret microfilm. What really matters is that the suspense builds and builds until you are on the edge of your seat. I saw this movie as a kid and for me to love it and it not to contain a single slasher villain or cars exploding tells you something.

To Catch a Thief is a movie that I only just saw for the first time very recently. I had always heard about how great it was and I am here to tell you that it completely and utterly lived up to its reputation. In fact, it surpassed it. I watched it on my laptop with my girlfriend and, halfway through, I turned to her with a huge grin on my face and said, "I really like this movie." Cary Grant has never been more dashing and Grace Kelly has never been more gorgeous. The plot revolves around Car Grant as a retired jewel thief who suddenly finds his old methods being copied by a young upstart. The suspense is amazing, the settings are dazzling and the acting is truly first rate.

Dial M for Murder got its start as a stage play. Hitchcock had filmed a couple of stage plays and he felt that the best way to do it was just film it as though it were taking place on stage. It is the horrific story of a man trying to hire another man to kill his wife. Grace Kelly is once again there and a perfect reminder of why she was one of the most beautiful women to ever grace the silver screen. The film was originally done in 3D and you can tell that Hitch was one of the few who got how to use it during that time. Despite not being available in 3D, you can tell from his camera angles that he was making attempts to add depth to the movie rather than constantly thrusting things at the screen.

Rear Window is the consummate Jimmy Stewart in a Hitchcock film. This one has more suspense than just about any modern movie made in the last thirty years. The suspense builds and builds until you are clutching at your armrests, ready to scream at the screen. This is a classic and it helps define the word "classic." Stewart plays a photographer confined to a wheelchair with a broken leg with nothing much to do but watch is neighbors over a courtyard through the eye of his telephoto lens. Then he may or may not have witnessed Raymond Burr's character killing his wife. The rest will leave you in agony from sheer suspense and thrills.

Rope is another Jimmy Stewart movie and another stage play that Hitchcock filmed as though it were actually being done on stage. He used huge loops of film, filming in long, long takes for each scene, in unbroken camera shots that must have been agony for the actors because a single mistake would mean all of that film was wasted. The play and movie are loosely based on the Leopold and Loeb case where two young men of privilege believe they are so superior they can commit the perfect murder. They then hold a cocktail party while the body of the young man they murdered lies hidden in the same room. It is a talky movie, given its stage play origin, but it is filmed by the master and it becomes a relentless suspense thrill ride.

Psycho is probably one of two movies that Hitchcock his move famous for. It is also the potential origin of the slasher films that would come in the 70s and 80s. The story of Norman Bates and his mother fixation is actually much better than many people probably realize given how cheap and tawdry the slasher films it inspired down the road became. If you have not seen it because you think it will be along the same lines as a Michael Myers or Freddy Krueger movie, you need to give it a chance. It is true horror and truly horrifying, but leaves most of the horror up to your imagination. It will make you shudder at the idea of taking a shower and make you think twice about staying at a small motel anywhere in the world. Anthony Perkins is still terrifying in a way that you will be hard pressed to put your finger on.

The Birds is probably the second of the two movies that Hitch is most famous for. I have watched this again recently and realized it is perfectly filmed for horror fans. It tells the tale of the birds of the world suddenly turning against humanity. No explanation is given, as was so often the case in other nature-against-man movies. That makes it all the more terrifying. Hitchcock managed to create the illusion of thousands upon thousands of birds attacking one lonely family, destroying much of the town of Bodega Bay in the process. Some scenes are so famous you will spot them the moment they come onto the screen, such as the scene on the school playground or the birds coming down the chimney. He films the scenes with the birds attacking in such a way that, before you see a single feathered actor, you will be gasping in horror as another attack approaches.

Strangers on a Train is a movie that might be a little hidden to the casual Hitchcock fan. However, if you saw the movie Throw Momma From the Train, you know this film. It is the story of a tennis star who meets a profoundly disturbed young man of privilege on the titular train. He suggests that the perfect murder would be two men who meet and decide to switch murders. That if each commits the murder the other wants, there would be nothing linking them. What follows is a cat-and-mouse game that will leave you gasping. The final scenes, set in an amusement park upon a merry-go-round are some of the most tense you are likely to see in black and white.

The Man Who Knew Too Much (Jimmy Stewart version) is Hitchcock actually remaking Hitchcock. It is another classic plot. Jimmy Stewart is a man mistaken for someone else and who knows, well, too much. The rest of the movie involves kidnapping, murder, intrigue, espionage, spying, assassins and more. The final scenes where Hitchcock shoots from between two cymbals that, if they crash together, mean the death of someone, are just some of the best angles and use of camera work that you are likely to see. I have never seen the original, but even Hitch felt that this one was the better of the two versions. When I was young and not long after I saw North by Northwest, I saw this one at the recommendation of my father. He was right.

Lifeboat is an early Hitchcock film. If you want to see how good he was even before he lost all of his hair and grew to the size that made him the most famous, then this is the movie to see. It also shows how he was able to create suspense and thrills given the smallest of sets. It tells the story of people on a lifeboat after a German U-Boat has sunk their cruise liner. Then, it seems one of the German U-Boat sailors clambers aboard. It somehow manages to thrill and give unbearable suspense despite the entire movie being in a small confined boat floating in the middle of the ocean. It was a sign of the greatness to come.

There you have it. If you want to start your Hitchcock collection, those are the ones I suggest you start with. I promise you will have the best time of your movie-watching life.