# The best Alfred Hitchcock films

The Master of Suspense's best films according to critics' rankings (Gold Derby's 25 greatest) and the Sight and Sound polls, where Vertigo was number one in 2012 and number two in 2022.

- 208 votes · 20 items
- Aug 5, 2025 · B. Johnson
- https://even.best/en/l/294/the-best-alfred-hitchcock-films

## Top 20

1. **Rear Window** (16 · ▲17 ▼1) — 1954. A photographer with a broken leg spies on his neighbours and suspects a murder.
2. **Psycho** (14 · ▲14 ▼0) — 1960. Janet Leigh, Anthony Perkins and the shower scene; shot cheaply with his TV crew.
3. **Vertigo** (13 · ▲17 ▼4) — 1958. James Stewart's obsession with Kim Novak in San Francisco; number one in Sight and Sound's 2012 poll, second in 2022.
4. **The Birds** (13 · ▲14 ▼1) — 1963. Tippi Hedren and inexplicable bird attacks in Bodega Bay.
5. **North by Northwest** (13 · ▲13 ▼0) — 1959. Cary Grant mistaken for a spy, the crop-duster and Mount Rushmore.
6. **Rebecca** (11 · ▲12 ▼1) — 1940. Joan Fontaine and the shadow of the first Mrs de Winter; his only Best Picture Oscar.
7. **Dial M for Murder** (10 · ▲11 ▼1) — 1954. Ray Milland plans his wife Grace Kelly's murder; originally released in 3D.
8. **Shadow of a Doubt** (9 · ▲9 ▼0) — 1943. A teenage girl suspects her beloved Uncle Charlie is a murderer; Hitchcock's own favourite.
9. **Notorious** (8 · ▲9 ▼1) — 1946. Ingrid Bergman spies on Nazis in Rio for Cary Grant; famous for its long kiss.
10. **Strangers on a Train** (6 · ▲9 ▼3) — 1951. Two strangers 'swap' murders; climax on a runaway carousel.
11. **The 39 Steps** (6 · ▲8 ▼2) — 1935. Robert Donat on the run across Scotland; the template for the 'wrong man' thriller.
12. **Marnie** (6 · ▲6 ▼0) — 1964. Tippi Hedren as a compulsive thief and Sean Connery as the man who marries her.
13. **Rope** (5 · ▲7 ▼2) — 1948. Two students murder a classmate and throw a party; edited to look like one continuous take.
14. **To Catch a Thief** (5 · ▲7 ▼2) — 1955. Cary Grant and Grace Kelly on the French Riviera.
15. **The Wrong Man** (4 · ▲6 ▼2) — 1956. Henry Fonda as a musician falsely accused of robbery; based on a true story.
16. **Frenzy** (4 · ▲4 ▼0) — 1972. A strangler in London's Covent Garden; his late return to Britain.
17. **The Lady Vanishes** (3 · ▲6 ▼3) — 1938. An old lady disappears from a train crossing Europe.
18. **Lifeboat** (3 · ▲4 ▼1) — 1944. Survivors of a torpedoed ship, and a Nazi, adrift in a single boat.
19. **The Man Who Knew Too Much** (2 · ▲4 ▼2) — 1956. James Stewart and Doris Day, 'Que Sera, Sera' and the Royal Albert Hall.
20. **Spellbound** (1 · ▲3 ▼2) — 1945. Ingrid Bergman, Gregory Peck and a dream sequence designed by Salvador Dalí.

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.