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The 13 best Alfred Hitchcock movies and where to watch them
All the best masterpieces from the illustrious career of the Master of Suspense.
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- Patrick Cremona
Published: Thursday, 16 July 2026 at 7:00 am
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No conversation about the best film directors of all time would be complete without a detailed discussion of Alfred Hitchcock.
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The Englishman – who was famously dubbed the Master of Suspense – pioneered and mastered many film techniques which continue to be highly influential to this day, creating several of the most beloved and revered films in cinema history in the process.
From his early days making silent films in the UK to the height of his powers as a mainstay of Hollywood, Hitch made over 5o features in a career spanning six decades, collaborating with a number of the biggest Golden Age stars from Cary Grant and James Stewart to Grace Kelly and Ingrid Bergman.
Despite the passage of time, watching most of his great films today proves no less thrilling an experience – and indeed four of his movies were ranked among the top 100 ever made in the most recent edition of the landmark Sight & Sounds critics poll.
Such is the wealth of riches in his filmography that any list of his finest achievements could never hope to be complete, but we've picked out 13 of his most accomplished pictures below, including details of where you can watch them.
Read on to find out our picks.
1. The 39 Steps (1935)
The 39 Steps. Gaumont British Distributors
Hitchcock had already made several films by 1935, but this is arguably his first bonafide classic. Based on John Buchan's novel of the same name, the film follows a Canadian visitor to London who unwittingly gets drawn into an espionage plot and is forced to head to Scotland in the process.
With great chemistry between the two leads Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll and some standout set pieces, it's easy to spot several of the themes that would continue to play a key role in Hitchcock's work for the next three decades. The film has been remade several times since, but Hitchcock's version hasn't yet been topped.
Where to watch: Free with a subscription on Prime Video or stream for free with Plex.
RT Review
A star rating of 5 out of 5.
Alfred Hitchcock brings John Buchan's novel to the screen with characteristic wit and verve, a style he forged in 1930s Britain with this, The Man Who Knew Too Much and The Lady Vanishes. The 39 Steps has all the ingredients of classic Hitch, not least the innocent-man-on-the-run plot, a staple all the way through to 1959's North by Northwest.
In this case, it's visiting Canadian Richard Hannay (a winning Robert Donat), who gets dragged into an espionage conspiracy after an outing to a London music hall and ends up in Scotland handcuffed to an icy blonde (Madeleine Carroll).
Playing "spot the recurring Hitchcock motif" is almost as thrilling as the chase itself and the chemistry between Donat and Carroll is a rare treat – particularly when they are forced to share a room (quite shocking in 1935). – Andrew Collins
2. The Lady Vanishes (1938)
The Lady Vanishes. Getty
This has often been regarded as the best of Hitchcock's pre-American films, with the mixture of British humour and classic Hitchcockian suspense making for a movie that is equal parts comedy and thriller.
It centres on a train passenger who strikes up a conversation with an elderly lady during a delay to their service, only for her to seemingly disappear when the train is back in motion. Several of the remaining passengers – including more than a couple of eccentric sorts – team up to get to the bottom of the mystery.
Where to watch: Stream for free on Plex, or rent or buy from £3.49 on Prime Video and Apple TV.
RT Review
A star rating of 5 out of 5.
A close second behind The 39 Steps as the best film of Alfred Hitchcock's British period, this sublime comedy thriller was co-scripted by Alma Reville (Mrs Hitchcock) and the dynamic duo of Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat. There isn't a wasted frame, as Michael Redgrave and Margaret Lockwood search a Balkan express train for dotty Dame May Whitty.
Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne drew all the plaudits as the cricket-mad Charters and Caldicott, but the support playing of Paul Lukas, Mary Clare and Cecil Parker is also first class. Hitchcock cameo fans should keep their eyes peeled during the London station scene. – David Parkinson
3. Rebecca (1940)
Rebecca.
When promoting his 2021 adaptation of Daphne du Maurier's book for Netflix, director Ben Wheatley went to great lengths to point out that the film was not a remake of the Hitchcock version.
It's easy to see why he would want to avoid comparisons – this 1940 classic, Hitchcock's first American film, is a near-perfect adaptation of the great gothic novel, with superb turns from Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine in the lead roles. Surprisingly, it's also the only Hitchcock film to have won best picture at the Oscars – seeing off competition from classics such as The Philadelphia Story and The Grapes of Wrath.
Where to watch: Unfortunately, the film is currently not available on any streaming platforms but you can buy it on DVD from Amazon.
RT Review
A star rating of 5 out of 5.
Alfred Hitchcock’s first Hollywood film is a sumptuous and suspenseful adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s romantic novel. Produced by David O Selznick, it is immaculately played and was rightly awarded the Oscar for best picture.
That Laurence Olivier as Maxim de Winter is superb goes without saying, but it’s mousey Joan Fontaine who is a revelation as the second Mrs de Winter. Lovers of lesbian subtexts will have a field day with Judith Anderson’s sinister housekeeper Mrs Danvers, as Hitchcock circumvents the Hays Code censors who forced him to make changes to the original story.
Fortunately no damage was done – unless you think too hard. And, since the style and pace never let up, there’s no danger of that happening. – Tony Sloman
4. Suspicion (1941)
Suspicion. Getty
A slightly less acclaimed entry in Hitchcock's filmography, perhaps, but this thriller is notable for being the first time the director worked with Hollywood icon Cary Grant – who would go on to appear in some of his best-known works such as Notorious and North by Northwest.
Grant stars opposite Joan Fontaine, who plays a timid woman who becomes terrified that the roguish man she has recently married is plotting to kill her – fears which are exacerbated when his business partner dies under mysterious circumstances.
Where to watch: Available on BBC iPlayer.
RT Review
A star rating of 4 out of 5.
In this marvellous Hitchcock thriller, timid Joan Fontaine is in mortal fear of being bumped off by her husband, amoral Cary Grant. Fontaine won the best actress Oscar for her pouting female-in-trouble portrayal, though some believe it was compensation for not winning the award for Rebecca the previous year.
It all begins well enough, with Grant's bounder Johnnie Aysgarth a most unlikeable cad. But the film is hopelessly crippled by the censorship of the time, and is ultimately both predictable and implausible. Nevertheless, there's much to enjoy, not least a totally phoney Hollywood England (Hitch’s lack of attention to the art direction is worse here than in Marnie, with poor studio cliffs and weak back projection).
There's also sterling support work from British expatriates like Nigel Bruce and Cedric Hardwicke, and lovers of the book Before the Fact by Francis Iles might enjoy watching how Hitch decides to deviate from his source. But the two leads are undeniably in their prime, and reason alone to watch. – Tony Sloman
5. Notorious (1946)
Notorious.
The second collaboration between Hitchcock and Cary Grant is arguably the most romantic of the director's films – but thankfully none of the usual suspense is sacrificed in the process.
Grant, starring as an undercover agent, is joined in the cast by fellow Golden Age superstar Ingrid Bergman, who plays the socialite daughter of a convicted German war criminal, tasked with infiltrating a group of Nazi collaborators in Brazil. This is pure Hollywood magic and easily one of Hitchcock's best.
Where to watch: Stream for free on Plex or buy on Prime Video from £5.99.
RT Review
A star rating of 5 out of 5.
Scripted by hard-boiled veteran Ben Hecht and boasting a highly topical uranium MacGuffin, this dark romantic thriller isn’t as thematically complex or technically audacious as some of Alfred Hitchcock's later classics. But it's still hard to beat for pure, polished entertainment.
Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman are perfectly paired (they’d only appear together again in Indiscreet) as an American agent and the high-living daughter of a Nazi sympathiser whom he has under surveillance. Yet they're almost upstaged by Claude Rains, who manages to invest his treacherous villain with a modicum of humanity.
This contrasts strikingly with Grant's surface steel, as he nonchalantly places Bergman in danger by persuading her to marry Rains to secure some inside information. Hitch permits himself one moment of visual virtuosity (a stunning crane shot swooping towards a key in Bergman's hand), but mostly confines himself to spinning his yarn with customarily mischievous skill. – David Parkinson
6. Rope (1948)
Rope. Getty
The first of four collaborations between Hitchcock and another of the most beloved stars of classic Hollywood – James Stewart – Rope follows two longtime friends who host a dinner party for their social group immediately after carrying out what they believe to be the perfect murder.
Stewart stars as the pair's former prep-school housemaster whose philosophical discussions had inspired them to carry out the evil deed in the first place, but it soon becomes clear that what he indulged as an abstract discussion point he does not condone in reality – leading to an ultra tense showdown.
Where to watch: The film is available to rent or buy from £1.99 from a number of VOD services, including Prime Video, Apple TV and YouTube.
RT Review
A star rating of 3 out of 5.
This thriller from Alfred Hitchcock is more interesting today for its use of continuous long takes. The plot sees two homosexual student murderers (Farley Granger and John Dall) giving a party in a posh New York apartment for academic James Stewart and relatives of the young victim, whose body is present in a trunk from which they serve the drinks.
Curiously devoid of suspense, the film is more an intriguing cerebral exercise, famous as an experiment in technique, than a characteristic Hitchcockian entertainment.
Based on the real-life Leopold and Loeb case, it remains historically interesting, but both subject (see Richard Fleischer's 1959 film Compulsion) and technique have moved on, and Rope, today, is a disappointing addition to the great director’s canon of work. – Robyn Karney
7. Strangers on a Train (1951)
Strangers on a Train.
If Hitchcock is the Master of Suspense on screen, Patricia Highsmith has more than a claim to being the literary equivalent, and so this adaptation of her debut novel – with a screenplay written by Raymond Chandler, no less – was always going to be a triumph.
The plot concerns a chance meeting between a charming psychopath and a tennis professional aboard a train, with the former proposing a deal: that they each commit a murder on the other's behalf. The tennis player agrees, thinking his new acquaintance can't actually be serious, but soon finds himself desperately having to prove his innocence.
Full of his trademark suspense, it features some of Hitchcock's best set pieces – most notably a thrilling scene at a fairground towards the film's conclusion.
Where to watch: Available on BBC iPlayer.
RT Review
A star rating of 5 out of 5.
This splendid thriller is testimony to Alfred Hitchcock's mastery of technique and his ability to transform even the most unpromising start into a gripping movie.
After nearly a dozen writers had turned down the chance to adapt Patricia Highsmith's novel, Raymond Chandler stepped into the breach, only to disagree with Hitch on several key scenes and suffer the humiliation of having his dialogue polished by Czenzi Ormonde, a staff writer.
Hitchcock was also underwhelmed by Farley Granger in a role he felt cried out for William Holden. Nevertheless, he turns the murderous proposal of eccentric playboy Robert Walker to tennis champ Granger into a true nail-biter, with the two fairground scenes outstanding. He did approve of one casting decision, however – his daughter Patricia plays Ruth Roman's suspicious sister. – David Parkinson
8. Rear Window (1954)
Rear Window. Getty
It's hard to think of a more perfectly constructed thriller than this masterpiece – the second of four collaborations between Hitchcock and James Stewart. Pretty much the entire film is set in one room, where Stewart's photojournalist is recuperating from an injury, but the action all plays out through his window as the character voyeuristically watches his various neighbours.
When he becomes convinced one of those neighbours has murdered his bed-ridden wife, he desperately tries to prove this theory to his high society girlfriend (Grace Kelly), visiting nurse Stella and his detective friend Doyle, but finds it difficult to persuade them.
Where to watch: The film is available to rent for £2.49 from a number of VOD services, including Prime Video, Apple TV and Sky Store.
RT Review
A star rating of 5 out of 5.
Like his earlier (but less successful) Rope, this masterpiece from director Alfred Hitchcock began as a technical stunt: Hitchcock wondered if he could make a film on just a single set and from just one vantage point. James Stewart plays a photojournalist with a broken leg and a high-society girlfriend, Grace Kelly.
Confined to his apartment, he whiles away the time gazing out of the window through his telephoto lens and becomes convinced that a neighbour opposite (Raymond Burr) has murdered his wife and chopped her into disposable pieces.
Hitchcock's "stunt" became a classic study of voyeurism – all those windows, shaped like movie screens, each containing a mini-drama of its own – and the tension builds brilliantly, complemented perfectly by the sexy repartee between the immobile Stewart and the slinky Kelly, and the dry, cynical humour provided by Thelma Ritter as Stewart's nurse.
Often imitated, this extraordinary achievement has never been equalled. – Adrian Turner
9. Vertigo (1958)
Vertigo. Getty
This film famously knocked Citizen Kane off the top spot in Sight and Sound's critics poll for the best film of all time in 2012 (although it was itself displaced in 2022 by Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles), and it's not difficult to see why.
This is a practically perfect noir with a faultless script and two tremendous lead performances. James Stewart stars as recently retired detective John "Scottie" Ferguson, who is called on by a friend to track his suicidal wife Judy, played by Kim Novak.
Scottie soon finds himself falling desperately in love with Judy from a distance, but he fails to prevent her from tragically ending her life. Not all is what it seems, though, and months later Scottie spots a woman who looks identical to the apparently late Judy, drawing him into a complex mystery that threatens to tear him apart.
Where to watch: Available on BBC iPlayer.
RT Review
A star rating of 5 out of 5.
In one of the truly great later Hitchcocks, James Stewart plays a retired cop with a terror of heights who’s hired by Tom Helmore to follow his suicidal wife, Kim Novak. Stewart falls in love with the enigmatic blonde, but can’t prevent tragedy from occurring.
Some months later he spots a woman (also played by Novak) who bears an uncanny resemblance to the dead woman, and is drawn into a web of deceit and obsession. Novak gives her greatest performance in a demanding dual role, while Stewart shatters his all-American Mr Nice Guy persona with a disturbingly dark and complex characterisation.
A hallucinatory movie – the glistening San Francisco locations give both place and events a dreamlike quality – this remains one of the most painful depictions of romantic fatalism in all of cinema. – Tom Hutchinson
10. North by Northwest (1959)
North by Northwest.
Hitchcock re-teamed with Cary Grant for this superb espionage thriller, which – not unlike The 39 Steps – sees an innocent man accidentally pulled into a dangerous plot. That innocent man is Roger Thornhill, an unassuming advertising executive who is mistaken for an American intelligence agent and finds himself being pursued by foreign spies.
Complete with buckets of tension, a helping of wicked humour, and two incredibly memorable set pieces – one featuring a rogue airplane and the other an irresistible climax at Mount Rushmore – this is another unquestionable masterpiece from Hitchcock.
Where to watch: Available on BBC iPlayer.
RT Review
A star rating of 5 out of 5.
This Hitchcock classic contains extra-generous helpings of the ingredients that make his films so unmissable. Action, intrigue, romance and comedy are blended throughout with consummate skill; the attack by the crop-dusting plane and the finale on Mount Rushmore are simply the icing on the cake.
Rarely did Hitchcock have as much fun with his favourite "innocent in peril" theme or make such inventive use of famous landmarks. In his fourth and final collaboration with the "Master of Suspense", Cary Grant is the personification of suaveness as a hapless advertising executive who is forced to take on a nest of enemy agents, led by a rather disengaged James Mason. – David Parkinson
11. Psycho (1960)
Psycho. Getty
This is arguably the most iconic of all Hitchcock's films and features perhaps his most famous moment: the shocking shower scene. Essentially a slasher film before the slasher genre even existed, Psycho revolves around Marion Crane, a woman on the run who seeks refuge at the seemingly unremarkable Bates Motel.
She soon finds, however, that her stay has put her in more danger than ever – with the motel's curious operator, Norman Bates, emerging as a deeply untrustworthy fellow. Anthony Perkins is inch-perfect in his creepy portrayal of Bates, whose unconventional relationship with his mother is one of the film's standout features.
Where to watch: Available of BBC iPlayer.
RT Review
A star rating of 5 out of 5.
Containing the most famous montage sequence since The Battleship Potemkin (namely that shower scene), this is easily the most shocking film produced by the "Master of Suspense", Alfred Hitchcock.
Yet the director always maintained it was a black comedy. Working with a TV crew, Hitch completed the picture for a mere $800,000 and it went on to become his biggest commercial success.
The opening segment, involving Janet Leigh and an envelope of stolen cash, is the biggest "MacGuffin" in Hitchcock’s long career. But his most audacious achievement is in getting the viewer to side with creepy Anthony Perkins against the authorities, Leigh’s nearest and dearest, and his own incessantly shrewish mother. – David Parkinson
12. The Birds (1963)
The Birds.
Perhaps the last of Hitchcock's true masterpieces, this is another deeply unsettling gem from the Master of Suspense. It follows a San Francisco socialite (Tippi Hedren) who travels with her new boyfriend to the coastal town of Bodega Bay, expecting a relaxing getaway and a chance to bond with her man.
The trip, however, doesn't go according to plan as the town's avian population soon cause havoc by carrying out seemingly orchestrated attacks on the residents. After watching this, you'll never look at a flock of birds the same way again.
Where to watch: Available to rent for £2.49 from a number of VOD services, including Prime Video, Apple TV and YouTube.
RT Review
A star rating of 5 out of 5.
A black comedy moonlighting as a genuinely unsettling, horrific allegory, this Hitchcock classic somehow strayed from favour for a while, yet in the realm of popular mythology it is now rivalled only by Vertigo or Psycho. Set in the remote California coastal town of Bodega Bay, the story concerns a small group of unsatisfied creatures.
Two women and a young girl are all fixed on one man (Rod Taylor), and when a fourth (Tippi Hedren) arrives from San Francisco with a certain determination in her heart, a menacing populace of birds descends on the town, wreaking terror and havoc, right up until the film’s inscrutable ending. But, as ever, Hitchcock is also having a laugh. – Alan Jones
13. Marnie (1964)
Tippi Hedren and Sean Connery in Marnie. Getty
Hitchcock and Hedren once again teamed up for this psychological thriller – which also starred Sean Connery right at the height of his Bond fame.
Hedren played the title role, a kleptomaniac and compulsive liar whose life seems to improve upon her marriage to Connery's Mark, who is desperate to help her resolve her psychological issues. However, this change proves to be more challenging than they initially envisage.
Although the film did not score especially highly with critics at the time – especially in comparison with Hitchcock's other recent output – it has grown in stature over time and is now regarded by many as one of the more underrated works in his oeuvre.
Where to watch: Available to rent for £1.99 from a number of VOD services, including Prime Video, Apple TV and YouTube.
RT Review
A star rating of 4 out of 5.
Rumours abounded that Grace Kelly would be making a comeback before this adaptation of Winston Graham's novel went into production. Her icy aloofness would have been perfect for the tale of kleptomania, frigidity, fetishism and suppressed anxiety.
Tippi Hedren was considered no substitute by contemporary critics, who, spoiled by Psycho and The Birds, gave the picture something of a lashing. Calmer reflection has established this as one of Hitchcock's more fascinating "misfires".
The conspicuously artificial set design and back projection may not suit all tastes, but watch for Robert Burks’s suave colour photography and the mental duel between a man turned on by crime (a restrained Sean Connery) and a woman who steals to forget. – David Parkinson
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Authors
Patrick CremonaSenior Film Writer
Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.
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