The four Alfred Hitchcock/James Stewart collaborations ranked from best to worst
Alfred Hitchcock, “the Master of Suspense”, and the great James Stewart collaborated on four classic thrillers in their careers. Here, I’m going to dissect the films and give a little background trivia on each of them, as well as talk about what makes each film unique and special — and what makes some of them better than others.
- Rear Window (1954)
The second Hitchcock/Stewart effort was best of the four, if you ask me. I’m in good company too, because James Stewart also claimed this one as his personal favorite out of the four.
Stylish, suspenseful, and claustrophobic, this classic thriller has a lot going for it. The photography is great, the writing is great, the score is great, and the acting is — well, need I even comment on that?
Personally, I could have done without the scantily clad woman dancing in front of the window every morning, but apparently Hitch could not. I guess he liked scantily clad women dancing in front of windows. I wonder what Alma thought about this?
2. Vertigo (1958)
“Only one is a wanderer; two together are always going somewhere.”
Vertigo flopped upon its release in May of 1958. One story has it that Hitchcock blamed James Stewart for the film’s box office failure, claiming that he (Stewart) was too old and had lost much of his appeal to audiences. (As if!) But today, Vertigo is hailed as Hitchcock’s masterpiece, and though it isn’t my all-time favorite Hitchcock effort, it’s still nothing short of excellent.
The on-location footage of San Francisco is gorgeous, particularly shots of the Golden Gate Bridge, and the Redwood Forest.
3. The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
Hitchcock’s remake of an earlier (and some say better) thriller is an enjoyable adventure, helped immensely by its two leads.
The original feels a bit stagy and hard to follow, whereas this version lands you right in the middle of the action and exotic locale, and holds your attention all the way through. Plus, Stewart and Day make a winning on-screen team.
In French filmmaker Francois Truffaut’s famed interview with Hitchcock, the latter was quoted as saying that the earlier version of The Man Who Knew Too Much was “the work of a talented amateur, and the second was made by a professional.”
4. Rope (1948)
Being the first Alfred Hitchcock/James Stewart collaboration, and somewhat of an experimental film on Hitchcock’s part, Rope is the weakest of the four. It lacks the tension of Rear Window, the adventure and excitement of The Man Who Knew Too Much, and the seemingly “supernatural” element of Vertigo. It’s a taut, straightforward crime drama with some interesting psychological themes.
Although James Stewart nearly always delivered a great performance, he does seem slightly uncomfortable with his role here. It almost seems as if he’s not completely sure what to do with it.
John Dall and Farley Granger do well as the ruthless, intellectual killers, and the story is based on the real-life Leopold-Loeb murder case that took place in 1924. In 1929, Patrick Hamilton wrote a play of the same name, which served as the basis for the film.
