On Hitch's BirthDay

Even if you have never seen a film by Alfred Hitchcock, you will most probably still be aware of the man. He has become a popcultural icon in the film industry. You may recognise him because of his gaudy frame or maybe because you are aware of the shower scene from Psycho or the crop dusting scene from North by North West. 

'The Master of Suspense' as we know him, was born on 13th Aug 1899. Concocting masterful mysteries and top-notch suspense is a feature we all recognize him with, but he became a cultural icon by his signature cameos. 

The man brought so much to cinema as a whole as well as to cinematography and forever changed the thriller genre. As much strange or wrong it may sound, but Hitchcock never won an Oscar award for best director and had a meagre 2 nominations. His style kept evolving over the long spanning career and his later classics were almost close to scandolous to the audience as well the industry which was still not over the melodramatic 40s and somewhat slow 50s.


The man brought so much from his personal life into the films. His failed relationships, his troubles with his parents, it all made him a paranoid but a genius person. 

As a tribute to this great master, here are his 5 memorable works as we remember him on his Birthday.

Meanwhile youtube has a dedicated channel to Hitchcock which has some amazing stuff for fans - http://www.youtube.com/user/cinenetahtv


Rebecca

Rebecca was Hitchcock's first American Project and proving Hitchcock's mettle, it won best picture award at Oscars. Based on eponymous novel, Rebecca is a gritty psychological drama. The best part of movie is Hitchcock showing up near the end, but that was just one of the many cameos to come.







Rear Window

A typical Hitchcock classic with a typical Hitchcock-ian panache, Rear Window is one of Hitchcock's Best. The movie is an adaptation of "It had to be murder". James Stewart was again a part of one high-class Suspense thriller that bagged four academy award nominations.





Notorious

Ingrid Bergman's 'Spy Adventure' venture with Hitchcock is pretty Notorious in its own right. This movie is signified by a two-and-a-half minute stop-and-continue kiss. It touches upon multiple genres combining elements of Gothic fiction (an imprisoned woman), a woman's film (woman in a love triangle with unworthy men), a spy film, and a film-noir with a femme fatale protagonist(cf wikipedia).







Psycho

Psycho is my Hitchcock favorite.It is a perfect Horror-psychological-thriller which a generation of directors look up to for inspiration. Among other things, Psycho is famous for its most epic Shower Scene. Despite absence of a supernatural being, this is a treat for horror movie lovers



Vertigo

Clearly the career defining film of good ol' Alfred starring James Stewart once again. Vertigo replaced Citizen Kane as the best film of all time in the 2012 British Film Institute's Sight & Sound critics' poll. It gave the world "Vertigo (Camera) Effect".









Some of the films which are noteworthy 
The man who knew too much
Murder
Rope
North by NorthWest
Strangers on a train
Birds