This week we discuss the classic 1959 cross-country thriller, North by Northwest. Enjoy.
***SPOILER ALERT*** We do talk about this movie in its entirety, so if you plan on watching it, we suggest you watch it before listening to our takes.
An MGM Picture. Released on July 1, 1959. Produced and Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Written Ernest Lehman. Starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Martin Landau, and Jessie Royce Landis. Cinematography by Robert Burks. Edited by George Tomasini. Music by Bernard Herrmann.
Ranking: 4 out of 52. Ranking movies is a reductive parlor game. It’s also fun. And it’s a good way to frame a discussion. We aggregated over 70 ranked lists from critics, fans, and magazines North by Northwest got 2,963 ranking points.
The focus of this week's podcast episode is Alfred Hitchcock's 1946 romantic spy thriller Notorious. We are into the top five, and this is probably the least well-known of the top five. But don't sleep on it! Check out this gem and come back and listen to our yapping about it.
***SPOILER ALERT*** We do talk about this movie in its entirety, so if you plan on watching it, we suggest you watch it before listening to our takes.
An RKO Radio Picture. Released on September 6, 1946. Produced and Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Written Ben Hecht. Starring Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, Leopoldine Konstantin, and Louis Calhern. Cinematography by Ted Tetzlaff. Edited by Theron Warth. Music by Roy Webb.
Ranking: 5 out of 52. Ranking movies is a reductive parlor game. It’s also fun. And it’s a good way to frame a discussion. We aggregated over 70 ranked lists from critics, fans, and magazines Notorious got 2,764 ranking points.
This week we return once again to Manderley. We podcasted about Rebecca a while back during our Best Picture Oscar countdown, and now we encounter it again in our Hitchcock countdown. Tune in to hear us discuss how the film has held up for us.
***SPOILER ALERT*** We do talk about this movie in its entirety, so if you plan on watching it, we suggest you watch it before listening to our takes.
A Selznick International Picture. Released on April 12, 1940. Produced by David O. Selznick and Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Written by Robert E. Sherwood, Joan Harrison, Philip MacDonald, and Michael Hogan based on the novel by Daphne du Maurier. Starring Joan Fontaine, Laurence Olivier, Judith Anderson, George Sanders, Gladys Cooper, Reginald Denny, C. Aubrey Smith, and Florence Bates. Cinematography by George Barnes. Edited by Hal C. Kern and James E. Newcom. Music by Franz Waxman.
Ranking: 6 out of 52. Ranking movies is a reductive parlor game. It’s also fun. And it’s a good way to frame a discussion. We aggregated over 70 ranked lists from critics, fans, and magazines Rebecca got 2,730 ranking points.
This week's podcast covers Alfred Hitchcock's classic murder swap thriller, Strangers on a Train. A tennis player has a chance meeting on a train that suddenly turns his world upside down.
***SPOILER ALERT*** We do talk about this movie in its entirety, so if you plan on watching it, we suggest you watch it before listening to our takes.
A Warner Brothers Picture. Released on June 30, 1951. Produced and Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Written by Raymond Chandler, Czenzi Ormonde and Whitfield Cook based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith.Starring Farley Granger, Robert Walker, Ruth Roman, Patricia Hitchcock, Kasey Rogers, Leo G. Carroll, and Marion Lorne. Cinematography by Robert Burks. Edited by William Ziegler. Music by Dimitri Tiomkin.
Ranking: 7 out of 52. Ranking movies is a reductive parlor game. It’s also fun. And it’s a good way to frame a discussion. We aggregated over 70 ranked lists from critics, fans, and magazines Strangers on a Train got 2,722 ranking points.
This week we dive into Shadow of a Doubt. This is Alfred Hitchcock's 1943 thriller about a small California town that get shaken up by a visitor from the city.
***SPOILER ALERT*** We do talk about this movie in its entirety, so if you plan on watching it, we suggest you watch it before listening to our takes.
A Universal Picture. Released on January 12, 1943. Produced by Jack H. Skirball and Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Written by Written by Thornton Wilder, Sally Benson and Alma Reville (Mrs. Hitchcock) based on an original story by Gordon McDonell. Starring Teresa Wright, Joseph Cotton, Patricia Collinge, Henry Travers, Macdonald Carey, and Wallance Ford. Cinematography by Joseph A. Edited by Milton Carruth. Music by Dimitri Tiomkin.
Ranking: 8 out of 52. Ranking movies is a reductive parlor game. It’s also fun. And it’s a good way to frame a discussion. We aggregated over 70 ranked lists from critics, fans, and magazines Shadow of a Doubt got 2,582 ranking points.
Our Hitchcock series takes us to the master's famous long-take, single-setting, real time macabre thriller Rope. Loosely inspired by the real-life Leopold and Loeb case (depending on who you ask), we follow to cold-blooded students as the host a very unusual dinner party.
***SPOILER ALERT*** We do talk about this movie in its entirety, so if you plan on watching it, we suggest you watch it before listening to our takes.
A Warner Bros. Picture. Released on September 25, 1948. Produced and Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Written by Arthur Laurents and story by Hume Cronyn, based on the play of the same name by Patrick Hamilton. Starring John Dall, Farley Granger, James Stewart, Joan Chandler, Cedric Hardwicke, and Constance Collier. Cinematography by Joseph A. Valentine and William V. Skall.
Ranking: 9 out of 52. Ranking movies is a reductive parlor game. It’s also fun. And it’s a good way to frame a discussion. We aggregated over 70 ranked lists from critics, fans, and magazines Rope got 2,547 ranking points.
Our Hitchcock countdown takes us one last time into his British era. This week we discuss the 1938 classic, The Lady Vanishes.
***SPOILER ALERT*** We do talk about this movie in its entirety, so if you plan on watching it, we suggest you watch it before listening to our takes.
A Gainsborough Picture. Released October 7, 1938. Produced by Edward Black. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Screenplay by Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder, based on the 1936 novel The Wheel Spins by Ethel Line White. Starring Margaret Lockwood, Michael Redgrave, Paul Lukas, May Whitty, Cecil Parker, Linden Travers, Naunton Wayne, and Basil Radford. Cinematography by Jack E. Cox. Edited by R. E. Dearing. Music by Louis Levy and Charles Williams.
Ranking: 10 out of 52. Ranking movies is a reductive parlor game. It’s also fun. And it’s a good way to frame a discussion. We aggregated over 70 ranked lists from critics, fans, and magazines The Lady Vanishes got 2,519 ranking points.
The Breakfast Club is a movie.
We're taking another break from our Alfred Hitchcock series to bring in our final Chaplin checkpoint: Charlie Chaplin's 1952 drama Limelight. This is Chaplin's swan song, thematically at least--he would still go on to make three more feature films. It features an aging performer and his friendship with a struggling young ballerina. This film is a bit of a departure for the Tramp. It's more melancholy than his normal faire. Yet many of his familiar themes come through, as well as his characteristic sentiment.
This week we take a look into Hitchcock's popular chamber room mystery, Dial M for Murder. Set in a luxurious London flat, a marital drama unfolds that leads into blackmail and murder.
***SPOILER ALERT*** We do talk about this movie in its entirety, so if you plan on watching it, we suggest you watch it before listening to our takes.
A Warner Bros. Picture. Released May 29, 1954. Produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Screenplay by Frederick know, based on his 1952 play. Starring Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, Robert Cummings, John Williams, Anthony Dawson. Cinematography by Robert Burks. Edited by Rudi Fehr. Music by Dimitri Tiomkin.
Ranking: 11 out of 52. Ranking movies is a reductive parlor game. It’s also fun. And it’s a good way to frame a discussion. We aggregated over 70 ranked lists from critics, fans, and magazines Dial M for Murder got 2,510 ranking points.
This week we discuss Hitchcock's 1963 thriller about birds attacking humans.
***SPOILER ALERT*** We do talk about this movie in its entirety, so if you plan on watching it, we suggest you watch it before listening to our takes.
A Universal Picture. Released March 28, 1963. Produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Screenplay by Evan Hunter based on the short story by Daphne du Maurier. Starring Tippi Hedren, Rod Taylor, Jessica Tandy, Veronica Cartwright, and Suzanne Pleshette. Cinematography by Robert Burks. Edited by George Tomasini.
Ranking: 12 out of 52. Ranking movies is a reductive parlor game. It’s also fun. And it’s a good way to frame a discussion. We aggregated over 70 ranked lists from critics, fans, and magazines The Birds got 2,479 ranking points.
This week, we did into one of the films that helped put Alfred Hitchcock's name on the map to international audiences, the spy thriller The 39 Steps.
***SPOILER ALERT*** We do talk about this movie in its entirety, so if you plan on watching it, we suggest you watch it before listening to our takes.
A Gaumont-British Picture. Released June 6, 1935. Produced by Michael Balcon and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Written by Charles Bennett and Ian Hay, based on the 1915 novel The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan. Starring Robert Donat, Madeleine Carroll, Lucie Mannheim, Godfrey Tearle, Peggy Ashcroft, John Laurie, and Wylie Watson. Cinematography by Bernard Knowles. Music by Louis Levy.
Ranking: 13 out of 52. Ranking movies is a reductive parlor game. It’s also fun. And it’s a good way to frame a discussion. We aggregated over 70 ranked lists from critics, fans, and magazines The 39 Steps got 2,430 ranking points.
This week we discuss Foreign Correspondent, Hitchcock's spy movie set at the outbreak of World War II and released only shortly after. This is Hitchcock's second American movie.
***SPOILER ALERT*** We do talk about this movie in its entirety, so if you plan on watching it, we suggest you watch it before listening to our takes.
A United Artists Picture. Produced by Walter Wanger, directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Screenplay by Charles Bennett and Joan Harrison with dialogue by James Hilton and Robert Benchley. Starring Joel McCrea, Laraine Day, Herbert Harshall, George Sanders, Albert Bassermann, Edmund Gwenn, and Robert Benchley. Cinematography by Rudolph Mate. Music by Alfred Newman. Editor Dorothy Spencer.
Ranking: 14 out of 52. Ranking movies is a reductive parlor game. It’s also fun. And it’s a good way to frame a discussion. We aggregated over 70 ranked lists from critics, fans, and magazines Foreign Correspondent got 2,052 ranking points.
This week's podcast is all about jewelry theft in the south of France. The lightly comic caper film, To Catch a Thief was released in 1955 and became one of Grace Kelly's last movies. It is her only pairing with Cary Grant.
***SPOILER ALERT*** We do talk about this movie in its entirety, so if you plan on watching it, we suggest you watch it before listening to our takes.
A Paramount Picture. Produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Screenplay by John Michael Hayes, based on the novel of the same name by David Dodge, Starring Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, Jessie Royce Landis, John Williams, and Brigitte Auber. Cinematography by Robert Burks. Music by Bernard Hermann.
Ranking: 15 out of 52. Ranking movies is a reductive parlor game. It’s also fun. And it’s a good way to frame a discussion. We aggregated over 70 ranked lists from critics, fans, and magazines To Catch a Thief got 2,052 ranking points.
We're plugging along with our Alfred Hitchcock countdown. This week, we are up to number 16, Hitch's second-to-last movie, Frenzy. Perhaps his most R-Rated movie, this one has Hitchcock returning to his London roots with a grisly serial killer thriller. Enjoy!
***SPOILER ALERT*** We do talk about this movie in its entirety, so if you plan on watching it, we suggest you watch it before listening to our takes.
A Universal Picture. Produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Written by Anthony Shaffer, based on the novel Goodbye Piccadilly, Farewell Leicester Square by Arthur La Bern. Starring Jon Finch, Alec McCowen, Barry Foster, Anna Massey, Barbara Leigh-Hunt, Vivien Merchant, Billie Whitelaw, Bernard Cribbins. Cinematography by Gilbert Taylor and Leonard J. South. Music by Ron Goodwin.
Ranking: 16 out of 52. Ranking movies is a reductive parlor game. It’s also fun. And it’s a good way to frame a discussion. We aggregated over 70 ranked lists from critics, fans, and magazines Frenzy got 1,992 ranking points.
This week we return to our Hitchcock countdown with his remake of his own The Man Who Knew Too Much. The 1934 original, which we reviewed here about 2 1/2 months ago, was a pleasant, very British kidnapping espionage movie. Here we have a glossy Hollywood remake with big stars, big locations, and big hit song to boot.
***SPOILER ALERT*** We do talk about this movie in its entirety, so if you plan on watching it, we suggest you watch it before listening to our takes.
A Paramount Picture. Produced and Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Screenplay by John Michael Hayes. Starring James Stewart, Doris Day, Bernard Miles, Brenda de Banzie, Daniel Gelin, Ralph Truman, Christopher Olsen. Cinematography by Robert Burke. Music by Bernard Hermann.
Ranking: 17 out of 52. Ranking movies is a reductive parlor game. It’s also fun. And it’s a good way to frame a discussion. We aggregated over 70 ranked lists from critics, fans, and magazines The Man Who Knew Too Much got 1,992 ranking points.
We are taking a short break from our Alfred Hitchcock count down in order to check in with Chaplin. This time, we're taking a look at his early classic, The Gold Rush. It's celebrating it's centennial anniversary. This 1925 silent gem follows our hapless hero into the wilderness as the tramp braves the harsh Alaskan winters in a desperate attempt to strike gold.
This week, we tackle Barry Levinson's 1988 drama Rain Man. The movie, which features Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman as estranged brothers--one a cocky yuppie and the other a sweet-natured austic savant, ranks at #54 on our countdown* of Best Picture winners.
*What is this list?
We explain it in more detail in our Trailer and its Description, but as a high-level answer: we aggregated several different lists that rank the ninety-four winners of the Best Picture Academy Award in a rough attempt to get a consensus. It is not intended to be rigorous or definitive. It's just a framework to guide our journey through cinema history.
This week, we talk about 2012 and its Best Picture winner, Argo, directed by and starring Ben Affleck. It's ranked number 60on our countdown of the best Best Picture Academy Award winners. For more information on the countdown we're using, check out our Description or give a listen to our Trailer.
Segments by timestamp:
Episode 51: AMADEUS
This week we're making one final trip to the 1980s for Milos Foreman's Amadeus. F. Murray Abraham stars as Salieri, the Austria court composer who recounts his rivalry with the brash young genius, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, played by Tom Hulce.
Tune in for our debate over whether the movie is about Mozart or Salieri. It won Best Picture for 1984 and ranks #19 on our countdown.*
Come back again next week as we dive into another Clint Eastwood movie, Unforgiven. Join us then to find out if we liked it any better than Million Dollar Baby.
Spoiler Alert: We talk about the movie in its entirety, so if you haven't yet seen it, check it out. Or not. That ball is in your court.
*What is this list?
We explain it in more detail in our Trailer and its Description, but as a high-level answer: we aggregated several different lists that rank the ninety-four winners of the Best Picture Academy Award in a rough attempt to get a consensus. It is not intended to be rigorous or definitive. It's just a framework to guide our journey through cinema history.
