Hitchcock - DVD Movies Collection

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During his illustrious career, director Alfred Hitchcock made over 50 films that thrilled audiences and stunned critics. His films were blockbusters but at the same time had an artistry that rewrote the rules about modern filmmaking and genre expectations. It’s a tough job to narrow his filmography down to just 14 films but this box set should be essential for any serious film buff.

The 14 movies selected concentrate more on Hitchcock’s darker side, so there’s no suave Cary Grant here, and show just why Hitch was dubbed the Master of Suspense. The selection forgoes his silent and British eras and kicks off with the Hollywood years and classic thrillers Saboteur and Shadow of a Doubt. It wasn’t long before Hitchcock was pushing film as a medium and Rope is an audacious experiment shot in long, unedited takes.

Rope marks Hitchcock’s first collaboration with actor James Stewart and all of their subsequent movies are featured here. Rear Window is the often parodied exploration of paranoia and The Man Who Knew Too Much is a grand remake of one of Hitchcock’s earlier films. But it’s Vertigo that really sticks in the mind. The haunting, almost supernatural tale of obsession shows Hitchcock at his filmmaking peak.

Psycho is Hitchcock’s most famous film and changed horror movies forever, practically inventing the slasher genre. Shot with a TV crew and little known actors, Psycho is a masterclass in creating edge-of-the-seat tension and the shower scene has gone down as a classic example of how to use sound and editing in perfect harmony.

Hitchcock’s films that followed Psycho are all included and show the director turning towards more adult material. The gruesome thriller The Birds is his last mainstream movie before the disturbing sexual tension of Marnie. His later films aren’t as iconic as his earlier work but are still a must for completists, especially Frenzy with its grisly trawl through a forgotten London.