What is Hitchcocks best film???

[John Hodson]

They never get too many votes in threads like these, but I'd like to stand up for the wonderful Foreign Correspondent, with Joel McCrea, George Sanders, and a remarkable Albert Bassermann, and Robert Cummings and Priscilla Lane in Saboteur; there's no huge depth, as you get in the masterpeice that is Vertigo, but as rollicking, beautifully crafted entertainment, they are hard to beat.

[Guest 19096]

Originally Posted by pmdf

Vertigo is, in my opinion, "the best" and I also unsurprisingly rate Rear Window very highly. However, I think the most underrated is Marnie. It doesn't seem to work for a lot of fans, but for some reason it gets right under my skin... one of my favourite films by any director.

My thoughts exactly and Vertigo is my all time favourite film too. I always thought Vertigo and Marnie have a lot in common in terms of mood and subject matter.

I always though the end was extraodenary, when Marnie decides she'll stay with her (rapist) husband not out of love, but because she doesn't want to go to prison

I'd like to add Sabotage as my "forgotten gem". The bleakest and most serious of his early British films, it points towards his later American work in its examination of a dysfunctional family. It contains several unforgettable set pieces, like...

...Sylvia Sydney's kid brother unwittingly being used by her husband to deliver a bomb with tragic consequences and a grief stricken Sydney being momentarely cheered up by a Disney cartoon, but then being reminded of her brothers death when the action on screen turns to murder.

Sydney stabbing her husband to death at the dinner table, almost with his unspoken approval, is one of Hitchcocks greatest uses of montage. It's a great reminder of the comment that he stages his murders like love scenes and love scenes like murders.

[anephric]

The bit on the bus in Sabotage when poor, unwitting, delayed kiddie plays with puppies just preparatory to

his imminent splattering all over London in a HUUUUGE explosion

always makes me laugh out loud, it's so manipulative and sadistic...

Here's something I never knew: "Despite the vagueness of its politics, the film was banned in Brazil as a potential threat to public order."

[Guest 19096]

Originally Posted by anephric

The bit on the bus in Sabotage when poor, unwitting, delayed kiddie plays with puppies just preparatory to

his imminent splattering all over London in a HUUUUGE explosion

always makes me laugh out loud, it's so manipulative and sadistic...

Here's something I never knew: "Despite the vagueness of its politics, the film was banned in Brazil as a potential threat to public order."

Strange, it's not exactly like the film espouses terrorism.

Hitchcock later backtracked, saying that the film wasn't a success because he blew upp the kid. If he hadn't it wouldn't have made for a very eventful film though

[anephric]

Originally Posted by Reno

Hitchcock later backtracked, saying that the film wasn't a success because he blew upp the kid. If he hadn't it wouldn't have made for a very eventful film though

And made The Lady Vanishes as a sop to a mawkish public. Now there's a film that could use a few exploding juveniles (or senior citizens)...

I jest, of course. Or do I...

[Guest 29334]

Vertigo is my fave, closely followed by Rear Window with a firm respect for Notorious