Web posted on:
Friday, August 13, 1999 7:10:06 PM EST

(CNN) -- Alfred Hitchcock directed more than 60 films, producing and writing many of them. Yet if you're like the average filmgoer, you've only seen two or three -- "Psycho," probably, by which we mean the original and not last year's Gus Van Sant shot-for-shot remake; "The Birds," probably; and maybe "Vertigo," which seems to replay with frequency on cable movie channels.

Looking back: From Catholic schoolboy to master of suspense Analysis: Bad-news scenarios were his good fortune Hitchcock's best: The CNN.com Top 10 list The Portfolio: Hitchcock's complete works First Chapter: 'Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho'

Are you missing something special among Hitchcock's major works? We polled our editorial staff to find out which films they think are the best Hitchcock works; while all the films on our list are well-known, you probably haven't sat down to watch many. Count yourself a true film buff if you have.

10. "Strangers on a Train" (1951)

Two men, strangers with different lives and personalities, meet on a train. While progressing through some casual conversation to a more lively discussion of their personal problems, they hatch a scheme in which each will eliminate the person the other finds most vexing in his life. For Guy Haines (played by Farley Granger), this is a farcical occupation. But Bruno Antony (Robert Walker) is dead serious.

Hitch watch: A man boards the train early in the film -- with a double-bass.

9. "The Man Who Knew Too Much" (1934, 1956)

An American family on vacation is caught up in an international intrigue when a man they met but barely know is killed. Just before dying, he whispers some crucial piece of information to the father -- which leads to the kidnapping of the child, held hostage against the threat of exposure.

Hitchcock made this film twice, in 1934 in black-and-white and starring Leslie Banks and Edna Best; the second time, he used newer technology, including color film, and cast James Stewart and Doris Day in the lead roles. He also changed some minor details; Switzerland became French Morocco for the 1956 remake, and the family's son is kidnapped in the second, while it's their daughter in the first. Watch for Doris Day's performance of "Que Sera, Sera," which won the 1957 best-song Academy Award. Our staffers voting, by the way, say they're familiar with the 1956 version.

Hitch watch: There are acrobats in the Moroccan marketplace in the 1956 version. Check out who's watching them.

8. "To Catch a Thief" (1955)

American expatriate and retired cat burglar John Robie (Cary Grant) is living a crime-free life on the Riviera when a copycat burglar threatens to interrupt his playboy lifestyle. The suspicion is on Robie when a wave of jewel thefts sweeps the area and an insurance adjuster is determined to put Robie behind bars. Grace Kelly plays the jewel thief's prime target.

Hitch watch: Ten minutes in, Grant is on a bus -- sitting beside his director.

QUICK VOTE:

August 13 marks the 100th anniversary of Hitchcock's birthday. What's your favorite Hitchcock work? "Psycho" "Vertigo" "The Birds" "Rear Window" "Lifeboat"    View Results

DISCUSSION:

What was Hitchcock's most influential work, in your opinion? Go to the boards!

7. "Dial M for Murder" (1954)

Ray Milland stars as a playboy who got his money by marrying an heiress (Grace Kelly, who went on to work with Hitchcock in his next two films, "Rear Window" and "To Catch a Thief"). When he suspects he'll lose his lovely wife to an American mystery writer, he plots to have her murdered -- but the plot goes awry.

Hitch watch: There's a reunion photo seen in the film. Look at the left side of the photo.

6. "The 39 Steps" (1935)

Robert Donat stars as a Canadian visitor to London who, leaving a show at a music hall, meets a girl (Lucie Mannheim) on the run from secret agents. Although he tries to help the girl by hiding her in his apartment, she's killed in the night, leaving Donat on the run as he tries to crack the spy ring and prove his own innocence in the murder. That's Dame Peggy Ashcroft playing Margaret.

5. "North by Northwest" (1959)

Cary Grant plays an advertising executive mistaken for a spy -- he answers the wrong page during lunch at a New York City hotel -- and is pursued across the country while he looks for a way to survive. Eva Marie Saint is at his side during his flight. Our editor-in-chief isn't the only film buff to say that "North by Northwest" is "not only (Hitchcock's) best film, but I think one of the Top 10 films of all time." This is the one in which Mount Rushmore provides a memorable setting.

Hitch watch: Remember when Hitchcock rode the bus with Grant in "To Catch a Thief"? In this one, he misses the bus -- end of the opening credits.

4. "The Birds" (1963)

A seaside town is under siege by our fine feathered, er, friends, when all the birds in Bodega Bay launch a suicidal attack on the human population. Tippi Hedren plays a socialite who, until the onslaught, was competing romantically with a local schoolteacher (Suzanne Pleshette) for the affections of a rich lawyer (Rod Taylor). Based loosely on a short story by Daphne du Maurier, who also wrote the novel on which Hitchcock based his 1940 "Rebecca."

Hitch watch: Somebody's walking two terriers past the pet shop in which Hedren buys her lovebirds. Those are the big guy's own dogs, too.

3. "Psycho" (1960)

You knew before you even read the first title that "Psycho," considered by many to be the parent of all slasher films, would be on this list. A young woman running from the law (Janet Leigh, in the role that would define her career) checks in for the night at the Bates Motel, run by a weird young man (Anthony Perkins) -- and gets entangled in the twisted world of Norman Bates and his mother.

(Though our respondents generally agreed that this one was "a classic," nobody gave it their top ranking, perhaps recalling an extended fear of taking showers after watching it.)

Hitch watch: Cowboy hat, outside Leigh's office, about four minutes into the film.

2. "Vertigo" (1958)

James Stewart stars as a retired cop who quit the force after discovering he suffers from vertigo. A former classmate and shipping magnate asks him to protect his wife (Kim Novak), whom he says he fears will wind up dead. Stewart can't save her -- but then finds himself with a second chance, when he encounters a woman (Novak again) who looks just like the young lady he believes threw herself from a tower. As he descends into compulsive delirium, the plot thickens.

Hitch watch: About 11 minutes in, Hitchcock walks past the magnate's shipyard.

1. "Rear Window" (1954)

When a gruff reporter (James Stewart again) gets laid up in his steamy apartment, he amuses himself by making up stories about the other tenants as he watches them go about their daily business. And he regales his beautiful socialite fiancée (the ever-elegant Grace Kelly again) with his fabricated tales. Who'da thunk he'd uncover a murderer among his neighbors? And there's Stewart, trapped in his seat with his broken leg while he works out the details of the crime.

Hitch watch: About an hour in, he's seen winding a clock.

We should point out that many of those who chose this as their top pick -- and nearly half did -- seemed to view it as kind of a guilty pleasure. "OK, so I like Jimmy Stewart, what can I say?" wrote one of our editors.

Yet as it happens, you liked "Rear Window" best, too -- as of Friday, our own unscientific poll had found that 31 percent of CNN.com's Entertainment readers say they prefer it over "The Birds" (a close second), "Psycho," "Vertigo" and "Lifeboat" (1944).