I am probably the only human on earth that thinks Citizen Kane is over rated.
No, you’re not. I always thought “The Magnificent Amberson’s”, even after RKO cut the film down by an hour, was the best of Orson Wells stuff. Also thought several of Hitchcock’s other films were better than “Vertigo”. Rebecca, Suspicion, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and North by Northwest were all better than Vertigo. Actually “Vertigo” should have been titled “The Stupidist Detective”. When you think about it, it had a ridiculous plot.
my eight perfectly made films, in no particular order............
1) How Green Was My Valley
2) Suspicion
3) The Quiet Man
4) Shane
5) North by Northwest
6) It’s A Wonderful Life
7) The Apartment
8) M*A*S*H
if only to round out a top 10, I would add two great perfectly made movie musicals in “Top Hat” and Vincent Minnelli’s masterpiece “Gigi”. Both were made and conceived for the silver screen, neither had prior Stage versions. The “Isn’t This A Lovely Day” number from Top Hat has to go down among the top film sequences ever made, along with the crop duster sequence in North by Northwest, Shirley McLaine running away from Fred MacMurray and back to Jack Lemmon at the end of “The Apartment”, Bogie telling Ingrid Bergman she’s “getting on the plane”, and Vivian Leigh professing her love to Ashley Wilkes for the first time, while Clark Gable is laying on the couch listening to the whole thing.
One little known fact, Joan Fontaine is the only actor that ever won an Academy Award for acting in a Hitchcock film.
