The 4 James Stewart Hitchcock Films You Probably Haven’t Seen
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If you are a fan of the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, you need to see these classic James Stewart Hitchcock films.
How many Hitchcock films was James Stewart In?
James Stewart collaborated with Alfred Hitchcock on 4 films over a period of 10 years. The 4 films are:
The Rope (1948)
Rear Window (1954)
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
Vertigo (1958)
The Rope Starring James Stewart and Farley Granger and John Dall
Rear Window Starring James Stewart and Grace Kelly
The Man Who Knew Too Much Starring James Stewart and Doris Day
Vertigo Starring James Stewart and Kim Novak
Two of these James Stewart Hitchcock films really stand out as being better than the others: Rear Window, and of course, Vertigo.
The Rope is like a play, with the entire movie taking place in one room, similar to other Hitchcock movies like Rear Window and Dial M for Murder, but The Rope doesn’t have the same dynamic as Rear Window and Dial M for Murder.
(Of course having Grace Kelly as the star in those two films doesn’t hurt any!)
This post is all about the 4 James Stewart Hitchcock Films You Probably Haven’t Seen
James Stewart Hitchcock Films #1: The Rope
The first James Stewart Hitchcock Film is the 1948 movie the Rope.
The movie centers around two men who believe they have pulled off the perfect murder.
They strangle a man with—you guessed it—a rope, then hide his body and proceed to throw a dinner party in the same room with the body, confident they have pulled off the perfect crime.
Of course what they didn’t count on was James Stewart showing up and questioning things.
If you’re new to Hitchcock films, this isn’t one I would recommend to start with as it feels very “stage-like” and really isn’t the best James Stewart Hitchcock film to start with.
James Stewart Hitchcock Films #2: Rear Window
The second James Stewart Hitchcock Film is Rear Window.
Also starring alongside James Stewart is the gorgeous Grace Kelly and Raymond Burr.
Rear Window also feels a bit like a stage play, but if you can get past the first 30 minutes which are very slow, then the suspense gradually begins to build and you can see why it is such a stylish classic.
The movie centers around Jeff (James Stewart) who is wheel-chair bound after a photography accident.
Since he’s stuck at home and doesn’t have anything else to do, he fills his time by spying on the neighbors from his window.
His girlfriend Lisa (Grace Kelly) comes over in the evenings after work and together the two of them piece together a murder that happened in the neighbor’s apartment.
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James Stewart Hitchcock Films #3: The Man Who Knew Too Much
The third James Stewart Hitchcock Film is The Man who knew too Much with Doris Day as as James Stewart’s co-star.
This film is basically a re-make of an earlier film that Hitchcock made 20 years earlier by the same name, The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) but the earlier film starred Peter Lorre and Leslie Banks.
In our opinion this is probably only the third best James Stewart Hitchcock film, trailing behind Vertigo and Rear Window.
James Stewart Hitchcock Films #4: Vertigo
Apparently in this case, Hitchcock believed in saving the best for last….drumroll!
The final James Stewart Hitchcock film is the best and maybe Hitchcock’s best film: Vertigo, with Kim Novak and James Stewart’s co-star and love interest.
Although the film is riddled with plot holes, and is slow to get started, it still comes together as a great haunting, suspenseful, romance.
The movie was actually quite the flop when it was first released, but now it is considered to be one of Hitchcock’s best films.
Highly recommend!
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This post was all about James Stewart Hitchcock Films
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