Top 10 Overlooked Hitch**** Films

[bholas]

As one of the most influential directors of all time, many of Alfred Hitch****’s films have become permanent classics of the cinema. Psycho, Rear Window, Vertigo, North by Northwest, and The Birds are just some of his most popular titles.Audiences all over the world know his movies, but few people know just how many movies he actually made. If you ask the Average Joe or Jane on the street, they can probably name three or four Hitch**** films. A reasonably literate film lover could probably name between 12 or 20. But that doesn’t even come close to how many films Hitch**** actually made. The truth is that over his career he directed 54 feature length films. With such a prolific career, it only stands to reason that some of them have been forgotten.

I have tried to compile a list of ten Hitch**** films that have generally been forgotten about by the general public and by many devoted film lovers. Far be it for me to designate a rank for his films, so the list is composed chronologically. Some may be peeved to see that I haven’t included films like Strangers on a Train, Shadow of a Doubt, Notorious, Rope, Spellbound, Rebecca, and even the 39 Steps. My answer is that those films are just too well known to be included on this list. I haven’t forgotten about them, I just think that they are too famous.

10. Blackmail (1929)

Originally a silent film, Blackmail was converted to a sound picture during production, making it the first “talkie” British film. Aside from its obvious historical importance, it also represents one of the defining moments of Hitch****’s career. It was here that he would first begin to experiment with the cinematic devices that would later become his trademarks: the beautiful leading blonde, the final scene taking place on a famous historic landmark, and bold experimentation with filming techniques (it wasn’t the first time he had experimented in an early film, but this was one of the most important). Most importantly, Blackmail was the film that defined Hitch**** as a director of the suspense/thriller genre. He had dabbled in the genre before in The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog, but this was where it became apparent that he was destined to be a director of thrillers. The plot concerns a woman named Alice who ****ed a man in self-defense when he was trying to **** her. Another criminal witnesses the crime and begins to blackmail her. Meanwhile, her boyfriend Frank, a member of Scotland Yard, has been assigned to the ****** case and has fingered Alice as the primary suspect. Can Alice prove her innocence? Can the blackmailer be stopped? Will justice be done? You’ll have to watch to find out. While the film hasn’t aged very well, it remains one of the most important films of Hitch****’s career. It is a must-see for fans of Hitch**** and cinematic history.

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[bholas]

9. Young and Innocent (1937)

One of the last films that Hitch**** would make in England before moving to the States, Young and Innocent is a surprisingly satisfying film. Part melodrama and part thriller, it starts with the body of a young woman washing up along some seaside cliffs. A man named Robert Tisdall discovers her body one day as he walks along the beach. Next to her body is a belt from a trench coat. Unfortunately for Robert, he is seen by two young female swimmers who report him to the police. He is quickly arrested and tried for her ******. Embroiled in a classic Hitch****ian Mistaken Man plot, Robert escapes with the help of Erica Burgoyne, the daughter of the local police Chief Constable. Finding themselves on the run, they set out to find the coat that the belt is from and discover the true ******er. Today, the liberal use of black-face entertainers in the final scene distracts from the Master of Suspense’s great ending- a tight confrontation in the ballroom of the Grand Hotel.

[bholas]

8. Foreign Correspondent (1940)

Nominated for six Academy Awards, Foreign Correspondent is one of Hitch****’s most deliriously enjoyable films. It was one of his few films to find that perfect balance between suspense, comedy, and action. Following Johnny Jones (Joel McCrea) as a foreign correspondent for the New York Globe, the viewer is taken along on the hunt for a kidnapped Dutch diplomat named Van Meer who may, or may not, have been assassinated. We watch as Johnny and another reporter named Scott Ffolliot (George Sanders) travel from Amsterdam to England while being chased by spies. Full of plenty of twists, Foreign Correspondent will constantly keep you guessing. It is also a technical marvel, featuring some of Hitch****’s greatest set pieces: the rain soaked Amsterdam political conference that was in reality built on a lot in California, the group of windmills with one rotating in the opposite direction of the rest (a signal that it is the villains’ hideout), and the final airplane crash sequence in the mid-Atlantic. They represent Hitch**** at his best. Hailed by some as a simple B-movie and by others as a masterpiece, Foreign Correspondent is guaranteed to keep you entertained until the final frame fades.

[bholas]

7. Saboteur (1942)

This movie is just pure fun from beginning to end. Released during the same time period as Foreign Correspondent when Hitch**** first left England, it demonstrates the unbridled creativity and lustful joy of filmmaking that accompanied his first nine American pictures. It focuses once again on the Mistaken Man story arc where a man is subjected to a case of mistaken identity, flees the law, somehow hooks up with a dame who initially doesn’t like him, and manages to clear his name after exposing the real culprits. Even though Hitch**** used this formula in dozens of films, this was one of its best incarnations. It follows aircraft factory worker Barry Kane who was wrongfully accused of starting a fire in his plant. He becomes a fugitive only to stumble upon the real saboteurs, an organization working to blow up the Boulder Dam. With reluctant billboard model Patricia Martin in tow, they manage to foil their plans only to discover that they intend to sink a new U.S. Navy ship in the Brooklyn shipyard in New York City. It all ends with a frightening final confrontation on top of the Statue of Liberty. It seems to foreshadow Cary Grant’s struggle on top of Mount Rushmore in North by Northwest, yet it has an intensity all of its own. Don’t miss it.

[bholas]

6. Lifeboat (1944)

This film actually has quite a following among hardcore Alfred Hitch**** aficionados, but enough of the general public hasn’t heard of it that I felt that it warranted inclusion on this list. Hitch**** may be primarily known for horror and suspense, but he was also capable of creating films that were much more subtle and thoughtful than the likes of Psycho and Vertigo. Take his 1944 film Lifeboat. Filmed entirely in a single lifeboat, it is essentially a character study of several survivors of a German U-boat attack. Despite using one of the smallest sets in film history, Hitch**** created a film that is engaging all the way through by focusing on the characters and their different interactions. Each character is a unique individual that only adds more stress and strain to the atmosphere of the boat. Things only get worse when Willi, a German survivor who was in the U-boat before it was destroyed, is pulled aboard. Tempers flare as they try to figure out what should be done with him. As the food and water rations begin to run out, the survivors get more desperate. Can they make it Bermuda before dying? What should be done about Willi? Can the survivors work together or are they destined to destroy each other? A masterpiece of economic filmmaking, Lifeboat should be studied by modern filmmakers so they can learn how to properly develop characters and produce suspense and tension in a limited environment without gigantic explosions. For a bonus, try to spot one of Hitch****’s most ingenious cameos on the back of a newspaper 24 minutes into the film.