Heavy on the Hitchcock, but I gotta be true to myself.10. The Maltese Falcon (1941)![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpSpkRmBtBwpmdxTOnZSpbckyK4dVTdXGiWkvnUNPAdr8Z8iproooZYvij29rFCTW4GuTVbN52_FUh0WGmOjKv23oKqBrwGiGg_ifS04-gXQKp2cAkDA7ynZdfDMxUdzo_vbMcPjzptqhK/s320/maltese-falcon.jpg)
John Huston's directorial debut is a perfect detective movie. Bogart as Sam Spade is given the best supporting cast to insult ever.
9. Double Indemnity (1944)![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzSc7SWoL_dsq28G6ioRy_Zhok68r1NkXO8fXDdWkySI3jiuIzrUCRI0YqCfuDCIGZZpnw3M-QPJIYswpOP8pghCHTMWzmeCld5XmDDr52UUnU_bRZA-jSlPiJQQpyR0Du0G1EkAZR-VCr/s320/double-indemnity-1.jpg)
Fred MacMurray's shallow insurance salesman meets a blonde devil and all hell breaks loose. The music by Miklos Rozsa really underscores the theme that we are all marching to our doom.
8. Foreign Correspondent (1940)![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTP15rIpTXjeQ9xrOKxU-f6ZvMllqjdIlxDpPk9HjBcJItIEYoQqG-RIBAjpeAr8kjdKk3hCl1sYUlyeOYZlJ6258dtswJzQN8A0H9W6XsBknMROSO97SfRFzbdyDdcbcYN1ZIqA_d9_z_/s320/Foreign_Correspondent_trailer_3_sta.jpg)
Despite its overly propagandistic conclusion, this underrated Hitchcock chase film is great fun. Funny, romantic, thrilling, and with some of the great set pieces, including a windmill that turns the wrong way.
7. The Philadelphia Story (1940)![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKuHg8OQ_lboO8lYN8hWB1ha7KsOopDq2wxWe34GJnKiQImVqdSTdO-k5JXkanM58ECdWCZhRddAgrEgJYi2pDW1wCO_nExMmTs4A2ZjYhb38YV9DF52W1MpLmlKjpRjo1o6-2upm5Lh9H/s320/philadelphia_story_10.jpg)
Saw this for the first time at The Brattle Theater in Cambridge when I was in high school. It was a packed house and the audience never stopped laughing.
6. Casablanca (1942)![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4romuqCSWKyH4GjEAgJ3tXv5vzSy076AMAmvK6paw3WdGejNfpfcdgm_my5jQKAz0LuAC-8qr5oXvlGzjA5Ig9DtqU7ZluwxQWessVLvXriXbTi6kSxSTz3ccQ1mCcHpXzYYNOOVIZEcl/s320/casablanca.jpg)
I think I've seen this in the theater over twenty times. It's a fake world, but the world I want to live in.
5. The Palm Beach Story (1942)![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizaTMNXj7NltnnbqlK1BtbGviXSeQb2LNMOLZI6fdnANWn7fWwM6-KYb8eqb2TZyv3Es057xGHEMUryNItaZD9yjJOVkJV_bltzjUzqmBYuusweiwCM5cywg3R9eNwqewPqVOhKpfmjiv3/s320/ColbertZipper.jpg)
My favorite Sturges. His funniest film from start to finish, and Joel McCrea and Claudette Colbert have unbelievable chemistry.
4. Rebecca (1940)![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFYkkASGkEN5Whc8LUVopfArr1GVMG4eFOgCFxWaclbcuU2BxZWrA5_A14M8lgiRpJV6uAPooNLfE9Dos2Af_LpWq1Ne80sKjSB9Bys2uUVzPKFtFurzSF6kiMZbOBbof_oCEn2OypSM7l/s320/Rebecca+pic+2.jpg)
It's too bad that Selznick and Hitchcock were forced to tweak some of the original story for Code reasons. Other than that, this is perfection.
3. The Third Man (1949)![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbYc1oqpxYe_SuWt8QveAOegLULLQmmwdi-DPW83NgpL3cOAN_VIq5yKhLEX3CCPIHquTV9EZ-u5-w0dPClbjWKmYRZ2Zll-QQTUMjiMBGZZ1eSnDOzOuILeXugkVAvOuA50L-JFqFfrBo/s320/thirdman.jpg)
For years I named this as my favorite movie of all time. It's still real close. It does contain my favorite final shot (see picture above).
2. I Know Where I'm Going! (1945)![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHCMDAIosB0sPm6yicsbOyRMXYPC8KBZ41bzxUIo4BcGHUXKfIjliovA9xSTss7p8ZfDmu4dLj5C0vnTyk_yD_FLqspwWHsce6l-d4rRPDu_J_0dviBjN9QqvNBmHHeoXmsGxa17Xkblit/s320/knowgoing.jpg)
More of a personal favorite than a movie I would recommend to everyone. A storm off the Hebrides changes the course of a young woman's life.
1. Notorious (1946)![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4wbiAnHIkHvhBcATKSHUvH5Jke9EPtIRdtNU0hMTl14wDh41lGCPfI8NCvspNOdF_cLYkOxKkcw19-aznjHqSnZQ89-LUJ0MifEoQDdjQvWxjC-OibmtF-ILlQW9IBEk9mvPKNcZzxAzX/s320/Notoriousw.jpg)
The most romantic of all of Hitchcock's films, but this being Hitchcock the romance is fairly twisted. Not only is this a perfect film but it contains Cary Grant's greatest performance, Ingrid Bergman's greatest performance, and Edith Head's best dress design ever.
Runners up:
The Big Sleep,
Brief Encounter,
Dead of Night,
The Heiress,
It's a Wonderful Life
I didn't think of it this way until you mentioned it, but "Foreign Correspondent" doesn't really get a lot of love. And its probably because of that ending. But the little (or big things) are awesome-the windmill being one of the main ones.
ReplyDeleteAlso, lets hear if for Anton Karas' score for "The Third Man".