Vertigo

Vertigo is crazy. That is the best way that I can put it. James Stewart's acting definitely helps to make the film as great as it is. Bernard Herrman's film score is simply amazing as usual, possibly second only to his work on Psycho. This film employs the now classic "Vertigo" shot whenever Stewart is affected by his fear of heights. Stewart's obsession makes this film truly creepy, in a way that no film I have seen ever has. This film is Hitchcock's masterpiece, and features every aspect that makes his films so great from beginning to end. The cliffhanger at the end is the perfect ending to such a wild movie.

Notorious

Notorious is one of Hitchcock's more star-studded films, featuring Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman. Bergman plays a daughter of a Nazi spy, who is recruited to spy on the Nazis by Grant. What follows is the beginning of a bizarre love triangle involving one of the Nazis. This film is regarded as one of Hitchcock's best, and a film classic. However, compared to the other films that I have seen, this was one of my least favorites. As a teenage male, films involving romance do not typically appeal to me. I felt that this film lacked Hitchcock's classic suspense, as you got the feeling of how the film was going to end very early in the film. While not one of the greatest films in his library, Notorious is still a good view for those interested in film.

Shadow of a Doubt

Shadow of a Doubt, an Alfred Hitchcock film, stays true to the distinc style of its director. The plot revolves around a young girl who knows that her uncle is a dangerous serial killer. True to Hitchcock's style, the viewer finds this out early in the story, but does not know what will happen to the characters; utilizing his common use of suspense instead of surprise. As with most of Hitchcock's works, you get much more scared and creeped out than you anticipated. Until the climax of the film, the villain is never scene clearly seen doing any explicit "villainous" things. This shows how Hitch is so effective at making clean-cut, well-dressed young men into some of the most iconic film antagonists. While not one of Hitchcock's more celebrated films this is still a good watch if you are a fan of his work. This film seems to me that it is years ahead of its time, due to is use of mystery, horror, suspense, and thrill, all wrapped into a new genre all its own.

What's Up Tiger Lily

This film is an early work by Woody Allen, which takes a Japanese spy film, and replaces the voices with American dubs. This creates a completely different story and turns a serious film into a pure comedy. From my viewing experience, this is a film of two halves. Durng the first half of the film, I was cracking up constantly. There are so many great one-liners, along with a bunch of joks based on what the characters are doing in the actual film. However, the second half of the movie seemed to drop off a great deal in my opinion. After only seeing the film once, I cannot tell whether this because it was just less funny overall, or if I just got too used to the film to find it surprising or funny. The first half is definitely worth watching, since it packs a lot of comedy in a short period of time. However, it would be wrong to tell you not to watch the rest of the move, because in my opinion, there is nothing worse than not finishing a movie, and then wondering how the story ends.

The Birds

Anyone who has seen The Birds by Alfred Hitchcock will probably agree with some of the things that I will say in this blog. First of all, I have absolutely no idea, why the birds are attacking people. I watched this movie intently, and I know that it was not discussed even once. Next, even for the 1960's, it is hard to believe that the actors are actually being attacked by birds when there is a thick black line around the characters and their surroundings. I understand that little could be done back in the day to prevent this, but it does lessen the overall experience for me. This film was successful in being creepy when it needed to, and Hitchcock is still Hitchcock. While that in itself is enough to save this film from the garbage heap, it is far from one of his best works. And don't get me wrong, this film is still probably worth seeing, it is just hard to get over the story which never explains itself.

American Graffiti

American Graffiti is a true American classic film. Set during the early 1960's, this film depicts one of the iconic eras of this country's history. This film features all music from that time period, fun music that perfectly fits in with the story. While many future stars appear in this movie, they do not overshadow the overall story. The best word that I can find to describe this movie is fun. I know it is a broad description, but to me, with the classic music, cool cars, and coming of age storyline, this film can represent so many different things to different people. Whether it reminds one of their childhood, shows youner people what the culture was like in that era, or reminds people like me of their own friends in the present, this is a film that can be enjoyed by a great deal of people.

Psycho

Psycholfred Hitchcock's horror masterpiece, as well as his most famous film. I will not discuss due to the plot, because I don't want to ruin the plot for anyone who has not seen it yet (though I doubt too many people will read this anyway). This is a film that is driven by its music, written by Bernard Herrman. Herrman's music gives the film a completey different feel; as I saw after watching a part with and without the music. Featuring stellar acting by little known actors, this film is a masterpiece. The one thingthat proves this film's greatness is the fact that 50 years after its release, it is still as creepy as it was originally. Anyone who has ever drawn a single breath on this Earth would be doing themselves a disservice if they did not view this film at least once.