The Great Alfred Hitchcock Rewatch

Friends, I am about to leave my job for early retirement and winter is coming.  I need a project that can be done indoors.  Hmm...how about rewatching all of the Alfred Hitchcock movies?  There are 53 of them that were made over the course of 51 years, so that should keep me busy for a bit.

Why?

I'm a movie nut, and a big Hitchcock enthusiast.  I'm pretty certain that I've seen all of his movies, although I can't absolutely swear to it.  The idea of the rewatch has been brewing for some time.

I've seen several of his movies dozens of times, and I keep finding reasons to rewatch them.  For example, I've seen Rear Window, Vertigo, and North by Northwest very recently, and would you believe that I can't wait to see them again in a few weeks for this project?  On the flip side there are a few movies that I remember not liking, but I will suck it up and rewatch them just to make sure.  Hey, sometimes I'm in a mood when I see a movie.  

The bigger mystery is the movies that I don't remember very well.  The question is: do I not remember them because I saw them so long ago?  Or are they not memorable?  Let's find out!

Here is the snapshot of how I feel about these movies going into this project:

The Plan

I'm going to start with his final movie and work my way backwards.  I'm not setting a time limit on the rewatch, but my guess is that I'll probably knock back 1-2 movies a week and pick up momentum as I go, so we're probably looking at three to six months.

Every five movies or so, I'll do a recap and report on the classic Hitchcock themes in each movie.  Here is the list of things that I'm tracking as of right now, and I reserve the right to add to it if anything else stands out as I watch the movies.

• General plot summary and trivia
• What I think of the movie
• Is there a MacGuffin?
• Does anyone get handcuffed in the movie?
• Is there a Wrong Man theme?
• Does a character have Mommy Issues?  Bonus points if there is an inappropriate age difference between actors playing parents and children (ex: Notorious, North by Northwest).  I don't remember any Daddy Issues offhand, but I'll expand the category if necessary.
• Are there elements of the movie that are similar to other Hitchcock movies?  For example, he remade The Man Who Knew Too Much, so that's an easy example, but there are so many other instances where he returned to earlier themes and developed them (example: Notorious and North by Northwest both address how to deal when your gal is a spy and has to sleep with the enemy.  The Lodger and Frenzy are about serial killers and the public's morbid fascination with serial killers).
• Actors of note, left handed actors, and actors that were frequent Hitchcock fliers (ex: Cary Gary, Grace Kelly, James Stewart, etc)
• Rate the Hitchcock cameo!  Hitchcock appeared briefly in most though not all of his movies.  My vote for favorite cameo as of right now before I start the rewatch goes to Notorious.  It's a humorous moment in an otherwise tense scene.  

What Are the Hitchcock Movies and Which Ones Should I Watch?

Here's the list and what I think of them.  The All Time Classics are in bold, the "Secondary Classics That Are Hella Good Movies" are in italic/underlined.

1. The Pleasure Garden (1925).  The OG!  The version of this movie that I've seen was shortened and the story didn't make much sense, but the Hitchcock trademarks are there.  It's a guilty pleasure for sure.
2. The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927).  Love it
3. Downhill (1927).  Hate it, but I adore the lead actor so it won't be that much of a slog to get through.
4. Easy Virtue (1928) Hate it
5. The Ring (1927) Don't remember it, no opinion
6. The Farmer's Wife (1928) Don't remember it, no opinion
7. Champagne (1928) Don't remember it, no opinion
8. The Manxman (1929) It's such a weird and dated story with a bad message, but it's a gorgeous looking movie and I like it a lot
9. Blackmail (1929) Love it
10. Elstree Calling (1930) My tagline for this movie is Alfred Hitchcock: The Musical!  This movie isn't on every Hitchcock film list, but his name is in the credits as co-director so that's good enough for me.  It's so bizarre that only the most ardent early sound film aficionado/Hitchcock fan/masochist is going to make it past the first few minutes, but in my book it's a guilty pleasure.  
11. Juno and the Paycock (1930) Don't remember it, but I think it was boring
12. Murder! (1930) Don't remember it, no opinion
13. The Skin Game (1931) Don't remember it, no opinion
14. Rich and Strange (1931) Good memories
15. Number Seventeen (1932) Don't remember it, but I think it was good
16. Waltzes from Vienna (1934) Don't remember it, no opinion
17. The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) Love it
18. The 39 Steps (1935) Love it
19. Secret Agent (1936) Don't remember it, no opinion
20. Sabotage (1936) Don't remember it, but I think it was good
21. Young and Innocent (1937) Good memories
22. The Lady Vanishes (1938) Meh.  I know this is an unpopular opinion, but I was bored to tears the last time that I saw it.
23. Jamaica Inn (1939) Good memories
24. Rebecca (1940) Love it
25. Foreign Correspondent (1940) Good memories
26. Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941) Yep, Hitchcock was the first to use the title and he had a lock on it until 2005.  It's his only comedy.  Don't remember it, no opinion.  
27. Suspicion (1941) Meh
28. Saboteur (1942) Good memories
29. Shadow of a Doubt (1943) Like it.  I know a lot of folks cite it as their favorite Hitchcock but it doesn't make the top tier for me.
30. Lifeboat (1944) Like it
31. Spellbound (1945) Meh
32. Notorious (1946) Love it
33. The Paradine Case (1947) Don't remember it, no opinion
34. Rope (1948) Like it
35. Under Capricorn (1949) Don't remember it, but I think it was good
36. Stage Fright (1950) Love it
37. Strangers on a Train (1951) Love it
38. I Confess (1953) Meh
39. Dial M for Murder (1954) Meh
40. Rear Window (1954) Love it
41. To Catch a Thief (1955) Meh
42. The Trouble with Harry (1955) Meh
43. The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) Hate it
44. The Wrong Man (1956) Don't remember it, but I think it was boring
45. Vertigo (1958) Love it
46. North by Northwest (1959) Love it
47. Psycho (1960) Love it
48. The Birds (1963) Like it
49. Marnie (1964) Love it (unpopular opinion)
50. Torn Curtain (1966) Don't remember it, no opinion
51. Topaz (1969) Don't remember it, no opinion
52. Frenzy (1972) Good memories.  From what I remember, Hitchcock's second to last movie shares a few story elements with his second movie, The Lodger.
53. Family Plot (1976) Don't remember it, no opinion

Where Can I Watch These Movies?

Great question!  Your favorite streaming services are a great place to start and a lot of the early movies are on Kanopy (at least as of October 2025 when I am writing this - fingers crossed they are still there in a few months when I reach that part of the canon).  For many of these I'm going to be going to my library and checking out physical DVDs.  For something super obscure like The Pleasure Garden or Elstree Calling, the most likely source is YouTube.

Who else is a Hitchcock nut like me?  How many of his movies have you seen?  Do you have a favorite?  Any that you dislike?  Do you disagree with any of my ratings?