Alfred Hitchcock

                                                                    Part 3

Here’s another batch from the master of suspense. This week’s list features the runners-up to my five best. All are really good!!

10. In Notorious (1946) the amazingly patriotic Ingrid Bergman is dispatched by the United States government to marry suspected spy Claud Rains, and help agent Cary Grant catch him. But who is doing what to whom, and is everything as it seems? Ben Hecht’s screenplay is tight and compelling and the suspense is palpable all the way to an ending you don’t expect. 

9. A nice old lady simply disappears from a moving train in The Lady Vanishes (1938). As her young companion tries to find her the mystery deepens by the minute. An impostor tries to take the old lady’s place. People act strangely and just when we think things are beginning to clear up there is another plot twist. The splendid Margaret Lockwood leads an intrepid all-British cast into this constantly surprising web of intrigue. This was Hitchcock’s last English outing- he  moved to the U.S. the next year. Beware the 1969 remake by someone else.

8. The 39 Steps (1935) stars Robert Donat as Hitchcock’s patented innocent who is in over his head. Donat unwittingly stumbles on a spy ring and he and Madeleine Carroll have to make a run for it. The witty banter between the stars is a classic. Hitchcock’s touch adds to the suspense. The remakes (1959 and 1978) are ok, but really not in the same class as the original. 

7. Farley Granger and Robert Walker are the  Strangers on a Train (1951). They get to talking and each has someone he wants killed. Why not switch victims, so the murderer in each instance is a total stranger with absolutely no motive? Seems like a good idea to Walker; Granger is reluctant but signs on for the scheme. There are sudden shifts that take us by surprise, and the merry-go-round ending is justifiably famous.  Ruth Roman and Hitchcock favorite Leo G. Carroll join the cast. Look for Hitchcock’s daughter Patricia as Roman’s sister. Raymond Chandler wrote the screenplay and there aren’t many better ones.

6. Psycho (1960) is the film that chased millions of people out of the shower. Janet Leigh is the lonesome traveler who stops at the Bates Motel, run by Anthony Perkins and his mother. She is murdered while taking a shower and Hitchcock leads us by the nose through various turnings to an ending that is shockingly surprising. This is simply one of the scariest movies ever made, but you can’t stop watching. Bernard Herrmann’s oft-imitated theme music adds to the terror. 

Fortunately, all these films are readily available on DVD. There’s nothing in this bunch for kids! Adults only, please. And it is recommended that even grown-ups don’t watch Psycho alone!

        Next time: My top five Hitchcocks