Hidden Hitchcock: 10 Underrated Movies From The Master of Suspense

by Ziad Shihab/ October 14th, 2022

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Hidden Hitchcock: 10 Underrated Movies From The Master of Suspense

Published 23 hours ago

Lesser-known but still essential films from the legendary director

Alfred Hitchcock is a name that most viewers would be familiar with. Even if you're a casual film buff, or don't find yourself watching many older films, chances are you've either heard of some of his most famous films. After all, he's the director behind beloved classics like Rear Window, Vertigo, Psycho, North By Northwest, and The Birds, to name a few.

Yet Hitchcock has 61 directing credits to his name (though one of those has been lost to time), meaning there are plenty more movies beyond just the most iconic ones. For anyone who's seen the most famous of his classics, here are 10 more that are worth watching, ranging from well-liked but somewhat underrated, all the way to criminally underappreciated.

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'Sabotage' (1937)

Hitchcock directed well over 20 movies in England before coming to America to make his best-known classics, many of them being released in the 1950s and 1960s. Though a couple made during his time in England are reasonably well-known (mainly The 39 Steps and The Lady Vanishes), a number are massively slept on, more or less buried in the pack.

Sabotage is perhaps the clearest example of this, as even those who are familiar with some of his British films tend to overlook it. It deserves some more love, though, as it's one of Hitchcock's darkest and most intense movies, and features one infamously shocking moment that's up there with the shower scene from Psycho, when it comes to the most surprising Hitchcock scenes. At a lean 77 minutes, there's not too much to lose from checking this one out.

'Foreign Correspondent' (1940)

1940 was a great year for Hitchcock, as he directed his first two American films that year, and both were nominated for Best Picture. The best-known of the two, Rebecca, ended up winning Best Picture, meaning Foreign Correspondent, the lesser-known of the two, ended up being a runner-up.

Foreign Correspondent doesn't deserve to be overlooked, however, just because it didn't earn quite the same when it came to awards as the other 1940 Hitchcock film. It's notable for being one of the first films to (sort of) deal with the Second World War, and incorporates events that led up to the war's commencement through its spy-thriller plotline about an American reporter trying to expose German spies, and getting wrapped up in a conspiracy.

'Lifeboat' (1944)

A great "stuck in one location" movie, Lifeboat has a very simple premise. It limits its characters to a small lifeboat for much of its runtime, with the film showing how they fight to survive after the main boat they were traveling on is sunk by a German submarine during WW2.

In lesser hands, maybe such a restricted setting might make for a boring movie, but thankfully, Hitchcock's hands were far from lesser. The movie stays engaging and intense for most of its 96-minute runtime, and while Hitchcock helped ensure the high-concept narrative worked, appreciation also needs to be given to the cast and the screenplay, partly written by famed American author John Steinbeck.

'Frenzy' (1972)

Hitchcock's second-last film saw him returning to England to make Frenzy, which turned out to be arguably his most violent (and racy) movie. It contains a certain grit and depravity that usually only got hinted at in his American movies, and doesn't pull many punches in its story about a serial killer throwing England into chaos... and a hapless, down-on-his-luck man who gets falsely accused of being the killer.

It's a somewhat rough movie, but the lack of polish and Hollywood sheen makes it feel unique, compared to the other films Hitchcock made in his last couple of decades as a director. And for those who enjoy very dark comedy and some good old-fashioned suspense, Frenzy delivers both in spades.

'The Trouble With Harry' (1955)

Hitchcock wasn't shy when it came to adding comedy to his movies, but there aren't too many Hitchcock movies that get described as outright "comedies." This makes The Trouble With Harry stand out, as it's a movie with more frequent comedy than most Hitchcock films... despite its story still being fairly dark.

People are having trouble with Harry because Harry is discovered dead, near a small town, and none of the citizens there know what to do with him, nor do they have any idea how he died. There's an element of mystery as a result, further complicated by how some townspeople seem more content to hide the body from authorities. For the strangely comedic tone mixed with colorful visuals and a dark premise, The Trouble With Harry is worth a watch for Hitchcock fans.

'Strangers on a Train' (1951)

Strangers on a Train is reasonably well-praised and appreciated, so might not be as "underrated" as some other hidden Hitchcock gems. It's a film that's aged well and still moves along at a great pace by modern standards, and has an undeniably intriguing premise about one man trying to convince another that he knows how they can both get away with murder.

A decent number of people may have heard of it, but it's somewhat underrated in the sense that it's not always included among Hitchcock's very best. It may just scrape by into a top 15, or possibly a top 10, but it's so good it should be right up near the top, when it comes to ranking his best films. Of all his films, it's one of the most accessible, entertaining, and consistently enjoyable.

'Rope' (1948)

Image via Warner Bros.

In a film made to look like it takes place without cuts, Rope tells a relatively simple - yet tension-filled - story in real-time. Two young college students murder another college student, and then hide his body. They're so convinced they can get away with the crime that they then throw a party with the murdered student's friends and colleagues, all the while the body lies barely hidden, waiting to be discovered.

The fact that anyone has viewed Rope as being gimmicky makes it somewhat underappreciated. In other hands, maybe doing a real-time, "one-cut" movie would seem like a gimmick, but Hitchcock makes it work well, considering the technological limitations of the 1940s. It might be fairly well-known, but only has a solid - not amazing - average critic score of 7.3/10, making it a little underrated.

'Spellbound' (1945)

Spellbound sees Hitchcock delving deep into the psychological thriller genre that he would become best known for mastering in the 1950s and 1960s. It concerns the relationship between a psychiatrist and a patient with amnesia who's been accused of murder, and the quest to uncover his memories, which may hold the truth about who committed the murder in question.

This being something of a trial run for slightly more accomplished thrillers like Notorious or Vertigo doesn't mean Spellbound should be overlooked. It's an important entry within Hitchcock's filmography, and still holds up well. It also doesn't hurt that it contains two great lead performances, courtesy of Old Hollywood legends Ingrid Bergman and Gregory Peck.

'The Man Who Knew Too Much' (1934)

The Man Who Knew Too Much was a 1934 film that Hitchcock remade in 1956. The 1934 version was made in England, while the 1956 version was a bigger-budgeted American movie, with the star power of James Stewart and Doris Day also helping to make it the more widely known of the two.

The 1956 version of The Man Who Knew Too Much shouldn't entirely eclipse the original, though, because it's still a very good film in its own right. There are enough differences (mostly visual) to make both worthwhile watches, and given the original is one of Hitchcock's best pre-Hollywood movies while not getting a ton of love, it's pretty underrated.

'Saboteur' (1942)

Not to be mixed up with Hitchcock's own Sabotage from 1937, Saboteur is another Hitchcock movie about an individual being accused of a crime they didn't commit, and needing to go on the run whilst trying to prove their innocence.

It's a premise Hitchcock used before 1942 (most notably in The 39 Steps), and it's one he definitely returned to after 1942 as well (in North By Northwest, for example). Here, the familiar story still proves to be entertaining, and even if it's not one of Hitchcock's most memorable efforts from the 1940s, it still provides enough to entertainment and thrills to make it worth a watch.

NEXT: The Tragic History of Lost Films, From a Hitchcock Feature to a John Wayne Western