Okay. Here's the drill. Everyone says what they truly think Hitch's most underrated film. They list what people's previous film's were, and how many times that film was voted. Then, they list theirs. Oh, here's mine.
Sabetour - 1
"Hasta la Vista, baby!"
Mine too. I love Bob Cummings.
shareNorth by Northwest, its his best film and people still think that psycho and rear window are better.
shareThat movie is not underrated.
shareI think Foreign Correspondent is easily his most underrated. It's a pure gem, but I hardly ever hear it talked about.
shareThe Trouble With Harry. Funny story, excellent ensemble acting, and as pretty to look at as National Velvet or The Quiet Man. Often seems to be underrated and/or misunderstood. Did well in Europe,never got much notice in the States.
shareI think Foreign Correspondent is easily his most underrated. It's a pure gem, but I hardly ever hear it talked about.
Amen. That's a stunning film, shot by the great Rudolph Mate and a superb performance from Joel McRea.
"Ça va by me, madame...Ça va by me!" - The Red Shoes
Joel McCrea was great. But Albert Bassermann (Van Meer) gave one of the best performances in the history of cinema. Albert Bassermann couldn't speak a word of English and learned all his lines phonetically. He played his scenes effectively. For Example, his speech about people who gives crumbs to birds is so powerful.
crisso, i agree about foreign correspondent. way underrated, along with saboteur. these two are in my top five favorite hitchcock movies along with vertigo, lifeboat, and the 39 steps.
The Wrong Man, but Saboteur is also underrated.
shareNorth by Northwest, please! That film is not at all underrated. So let's count - do i include north by northwest? I think i won't...
Saboteur - 2
Foreign Correspondant - 1
The Trouble With Harry - 1
Dial M For Murder (even though it's not underrated) - 1
Frenzy - 3
Suspicion - 1
Family Plot - 1
The Wrong man - 2
Spellbound - 1
And my vote goes to ... gosh, it's hard. Let's say The Wrong Man. But i haven't seen Frenzy nor Foreign Correspondant (they're actually the only two american Hitchcocks i haven't seen...).
I may change my vote by the time i see them.
"Well, I think if people loved eachother more, they'd shoot eachother less!"
For me it's a tie between Saboteur and Spellbound.
T~O
All of the ones mentioned so far (with the exception of North By Northwest) are all underrated. But if I had to mention one in particular, it has to be Lifeboat. There was a great story with that movie that deserves to be mentioned with other Hitchcock films out there. No one mentioned it yet (though someone eventually would have), but I felt I should.
sharewell saboteur is going to be on in like 2 hours so i guess ill find out
shareI've only seen "Lifeboat" once, but it's a great movie. "Saboteur" and "Spellbound" are also great - "Lifeboat" and "Spellbound" aren't quite what most people would expect as a "Hitchcock" movie.
shareSaboteur is what brought me here so that gets my vote.
Of the others mentioned, I thought Foreign Correspondent and Suspicion were already highly thought of, but if you tell me they are not, then I agree they should stand alongside Saboteur as the most underrated.
The Wrong Man is a gem of a movie which I loved as a teenager, but haven't seen for decades. I'd have to see again before venturing an opinion.
North by Northwest is my favourite Hitchcock of all-time and is definitely not underrated. I was also unaware that Dial M for Murder is considered underrated.
Another question - Hitchcock's most overrated film is?
My vote goes to......Spellbound.
Foreign Correspondent, Suspicion, Saboteur, Lifeboat, Under Capricorn are very underrated Hitchcocks in my opinion.
Of course this is subjective - as I said before I was under the impression that some of the movies mentioned, including Suspicion, are held in high esteem and do not need defending. Under Capricorn happens to be the only Hitchcock movie I have never seen.
Who knows what is underrated? I guess you could go by the Imdb ratings. If that is the case, my vote would definitely go to Torn Curtain. A closer look at Hitchcock's movies show that the vast majority have average marks higher than 7 out of 10, and several indeed make the Imdb top 250, one of which, is Dial M for Murder (average mark of 8.1) which someone earlier in this thread suggested was underrated!
Torn Curtain gets a mediocre 6.5 and for that reason gets my vote.
I think Suspicion (1941) deserves more higher rating. Its a psychological study on 2 major characters - Lina and Johnnie.
Performances are really great. Under Capricorn isn't a thriller. Its a "drama" from Hitchcock.
I agree Suspicion is a great movie that hasn't dated at all and deserves a higher overall rating.
I'll let you know what I think of Under Capricorn once I've seen it.
Any thoughts on my question of Hitchcock's most overrated?
Its sad that Saboteur is underrated.
I thought Spellbound was ok. I did like dream sequence. I think the film wasn't really strong because of David O. Selznick. Hitchcock hated working with David O. Selznick.
Hitchcock was able to win many of the battles in Rebecca (1940), because Selznick was preoccupied with Gone with the Wind. But David O. Selznick was completely involved in the production of Spellbound (1945). This may have been the reason why the film wasn't really strong.
If you are interested, then Under Capricorn is available at youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gISBzNguTew
Its not a thriller. Its a drama. Hitchcock wanted to make a drama for a long time. So he made Under Capricorn. And Ingrid Bergman was interested in making Under Capricorn. So he cast Ingrid Bergman for the leading female role.
But the film was a flop, because the audience was expecting a thriller. And the film was a drama. French Critics consider Under Capricorn as one of the finest dramas ever made.
I liked Suspicion (1941), because I found the film to be more of a strong psychological thriller. I thought Joan Fontaine was brilliant. I remember some asking this question - If Johnnie wasn't murderer, then what is the reason for the rise of Lina's suspicion?
We get the answer clearly from the film. Lina married Johnnie against her father's wishes. He said like this about Johnnie in the beginning "Pity, he turned out so wild." Lina loves Johnnie so deeply. Her Suspicion only rises after her father's death. Johnnie becomes a little angry when Lina interferes in his plan about Corporation. And she started fearing that her father may be right about him being "wild." We also see Lina talking to her father's portrait "He didn't go to Paris. He didn't go to Paris. I tell you." That shows the conflict between Lina and her father.
Hitchcock's most overrated: Strangers On A Train. I've watched this movie two times because I was kinda disappointed after the first time, and it just didn't get better. I don't by any means want to say that this is a BAD movie, but I don't see the reason why it's even in the IMDb Top 200. It's very well executed from the technical side, but Farley Granger is extremely unlikable, the plot has some huge holes and most of the secondary characters are simply annoying. Still, like I said, it's not a bad movie, and it is worth watching because of some really impressive and memorable scenes, but I personally enjoyed some of the underrated Hitchcock movies, which were mentioned here before, far more: such as The Wrong Man, Frenzy and The Foreign Correspondent. By the way, another very underrated film: Stagefright. Maybe not a masterpiece, but still a very entertaining little movie with great actors.
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I liked Strangers on a Train. Hitchcock originally wanted William Holden for the leading man in Strangers on a Train (1951). I think Holden was unavailable. So Hitchcock picked Farley Granger.
But Hitchcock was very happy with Robert Walker. I do agree that films like The Wrong Man, Foreign Correspondent, and Stage Fright are very underrated. I also Saboteur a lot.
I agree...
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