For the For Love of Film Blogathon this week, we begin today counting down our ten favorite Alfred Hitchcock films along with a brief note on why they are important to each of our contributors (Wesley Lovell, Peter J. Patrick, Tripp Burton) here at Cinema Sight.

Number 10

Dial M for Murder (Wesley Lovell)

This was my second Hitchcock experience, back when I was a budding film enthusiast. As a fan of murder mysteries, this one cropped up as a prime example of the genre and watching it then, I realized I was seeing something creative and intriguing even if I only knew of Alfred Hitchcock from his fascinating television program, which was at the time showing in frequent re-runs on Nick at Night. My memory of the film has faded and I need to revisit this one again soon as I haven’t seen it since those younger days and I think I might just appreciate it now more than I did then.

Frenzy (Peter J. Patrick)

Hitchock hadn’t had a critical/commercial hit since The Birds nine years ealier. Just when we thought his best was behind him, the 72-year-old director pulled a rabbit out of his hat with this sly, urbane, thriller that resembles not so much his own work, but Michael Powell’s Peeping Tom.

The Man Who Knew Too Much (Tripp Burton)

Hitchcock remade his own 1934 thriller in bright technicolor, bringing along with him two of the great innocents in Hollywood history (Jimmy Stewart and Doris Day) and placing them in the middle of a dark conspiracy thriller. Hitchcock always had a knack for putting ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, and here he has many great set pieces to put his actors through. It is a master class in working with music and color, and an indelible piece of Hollywood classicism.

Number 9

Lifeboat (Wesley Lovell)

Hitchcock was known for his experimentation with the medium and Lifeboat is one of his most brazen choices to date. Setting it in one locale, a lifeboat where a group of survivors drift on the ocean hoping to be rescued is still a finely crafted, tight thriller about identities, false impressions and the depravity of the human spirit when confinement breeds hate, confusion and contempt. There are few films in Hitch’s canon that don’t add a layer of mystery to a complex thriller and while it might seem difficult to put together a film like this in such a limited locale, he pulls it off perfectly.

North by Northwest (Peter J. Patrick)

Hitchcock’s quintessential mistaken identy thriller with a top notch tongue-in-cheek performance by Cary Grant at his most charming, finely supported by Eva Marie Saint, James Mason and Jessie Royce Landis, who was five years old when Grant was born, as his mother. It features one of Hitchcock’s best set pieces – the climax on the busts of four U.S. presidents on Mt. Rushmore.

The Birds (Tripp Burton)

While not always the most complete film, The Birds is one of Hitchcock’s greatest cinematic experiments. There is no traditional score, there is no explanation to the villain and the characters are never more than two-dimensional puppets Hitchcock is moving around a board. Still, the way that Hitchcock assembles his action sequences and uses special effects are so masterful that you can’t help but cite is as one of his greatest achievements.

Number 8

Family Plot (Wesley Lovell)

One of the most recent Hitch films I’ve seen, this comedy mystery was his last film before his death in 1980. It’s seldom looked upon as one of his best films, but it was the kind of film where you know the director’s having the time of his life. The winding mystery is brilliantly executed and even if it isn’t his best, it’s one of the most entertaining film’s he’s directed, which ranks it higher on my list than those that I haven’t seen in some time simply because I was entertained so thoroughly.

Strangers on a Train (Peter J. Patrick)

Copied many times, no one has ever equaled Hitchcock’s original take on the plot about two complete strangers who conspire to commit a murder for each other to avoid detection complicated by the fact that only one of the potentital killers is really into itThe film provided career highs for both Robert Walker and Farley Granger.

Strangers on a Train (Tripp Burton)

Strangers on a Train is a fine Hitchcockian thriller, a tight script telling a taut tale of intrigue and suspense. The central performance of Robert Walker, though, elevates it beyond so many of Hitch’s other films in the realm of minor masterpiece. Walker’s Bruno Anthony is perhaps the greatest cinematic villain of all-time, and he is at all times energizing, captivating and frightening, while also seeming like an overgrown boy who you might not mind getting to know under other circumstances. It is a triumphant piece of work that brings the best out of Hitchcock.