Top 10 Overlooked Hitch**** Films

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5. Stage Fright (1950)

C’mon, Alfred Hitch**** and Marlene Dietrich working together? This film is a no-brainer for this list! As so many Hitch**** films do, this one centers on a ******. The main character, a young singer named Eve Gill (played by Jane Wyman), finds herself in the position of having to hide her friend Jonathan Cooper after being blamed for the ****** of his lover’s husband. His lover, famous singer Charlotte Inwood (played by a sultry Dietrich dressed up in luscious outfits by Christian Dior) is the real culprit. Don’t let this setup distract you because this isn’t the common Mistaken Man formula. Stage Fright focuses on Eve trying to prove her friend innocent because she has feelings for him. She begins her own investigation, which eventually leads her to the detective in charge of the case. As fate would have it, she falls in love with the detective. Now what is Eve to do? Will Charlotte literally get away with ******? Filming back in his native London, Hitch**** delivers a powerful backstage drama. Things are only made much more effective considering how Hitch**** used Dietrich and Wyman’s real life animosity for each other for the film’s benefit. It’s a minor masterpiece, to be sure, but it is definitely worth checking out.

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4. I Confess (1953)

A favorite among the pioneers of the French New Wave, I Confess is one of Hitch****’s bravest films. Based on a French play from 1902, it tells the story of Father Michael William Logan, a Catholic priest, played by Montgomery Clift. We all know that what is said in Confession is private, but what if someone confessed that they had ****ed somebody? And what if the same priest was accused of the ****** and threatened with execution for a crime he didn’t commit? Such is the situation that Father Logan finds himself in. He knows that with a word he could free himself of the charges, but in doing so he would violate his sacred vows. Are his beliefs worth dying for? In the hands of a lesser director this could have been a throwaway suspense flick. But Hitch**** was no amateur. Instead, he makes a slow, subtle, and genuinely felt film that delves into the depths of one man’s personal faith. The movie is filled with Christian imagery and uses the melody from the Gregorian chant Dies Irae throughout the soundtrack. It is filmed with such conviction that the ending could literally bring people of the faith to tears. I Confess is just further proof that Hitch**** was not a one-trick horse. It is evidence that Hitch**** could master any genre that he set his mind to. Which brings us to…

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3. The Trouble with Harry (1955)

Those familiar with Hitch****’s work will know that he had a very defined sense of humor. Imagine British wit with a dash of gallows humor thrown in, and you have Hitch****ian comedy. If you need further evidence, then look no further than The Trouble with Harry, a dark comedy that is as absurd as it is shocking. The basic premise is this: one day, various residents of a small Vermont village discover a dead body in the woods. Instead of reporting it to the police or getting scared, they try and figure out what to do with it. They name this unfortunate corpse Harry. They spend the rest of the film trying to hide the body, burying it, digging it back up, and even stuffing it into a bathtub. What’s incredible is how unbelievably aloof the residents of the village are to the discovery of the dead body. The best character is Sam Marlowe, played by John Forsythe, a carefree artist who is more concerned with painting the dead body than he is with anything else. This film may be confusing to those who don’t know how to approach it. It should be viewed with the same mindset that one would watch Dr. Strangelove. If you understand where the film is coming from, then be prepared for one of the most surprising treats of Hitch****’s career.

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2. The Wrong Man (1956)

Several times throughout his career, Hitch**** played with the genre of film noir. His best outing was by far The Wrong Man, which is one of my personal favorites. Going on to influence such classics as Taxi Driver, it perfectly captures the atmosphere and tone of the great genre. Based on a terrifying true story, Henry Fonda plays Manny Balestrero, a musician working in New York City who is charged with armed robbery. The kicker is that he is, of course, innocent. But what makes things even worse is that even eyewitnesses to the crime say that Manny wasn’t the culprit. This doesn’t stop the police from arresting him and trying him for the crime. As he wastes away in prison, his life is destroyed, family torn apart, and his wife goes insane. A slow, methodical film, it takes great pains to capture the police process and the various errors that led to his arrest and wrongful prosecution. The terrifying thing is that, like I said before, it is completely based on fact. With some of the most beautiful black and white photography in Hitch****’s career (which is really saying something), The Wrong Man is a devastating masterpiece. It also helps that it begins with one of Hitch****’s greatest cameos as a giant silhouette on an abandoned city street, gravely informing the audience that he has taken the greatest pains to accurately recreate the real life story. I honestly can’t understand why it isn’t more popular. It definitely stands up with his best work.

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1. Frenzy (1972)

Forget Marnie, this was Hitch****’s last masterpiece. One of his most brutally violent films (it was actually his first R-rated film in the United States), Frenzy deals with a serial ****er who ****s and ******s his victims. While it only has one onscreen ******, it is full of violence and ***, even going so far as to have a brutally realistic **** scene! This is not your grandfather’s Hitch****! But the genius behind this film is not that it is violent, but that it largely implies violence that you never actually see. In fact, we know who the ******er is the whole time! It is the sickening feeling that we get when he approaches a new victim that makes the film suspenseful and thrilling. The ****er in question has been nicknamed by the press as the Neck Tie ******er, after the necktie that is used to strangle his victims. In reality, the ****er is a wholesale fruit merchant named Bob Rusk. He is impotent, and the only way he can get his rocks off is by raping and strangling women. Fortunately for him, the cops have another suspect in mind when the bodies of his victims start showing up. This man is Richard Blaney, a bad tempered bartender whose ex-wife was recently ****ed by Rusk. As in so many Hitch**** films, Richard must prove his innocence and find the real culprit. It features some truly grisly scenes, like when Rusk has to retrieve a piece of evidence from the dead hands of one of his victims. By the time he realizes what she is holding, rigor mortis has set in, and he has to physically break the bones in her fingers to get it out. Sickening, shocking, and thrilling, Frenzy will certainly shake you to your core more than any other film that Hitch**** ever directed.