All About Alfred Hitchcock

The great director started out making title cards for silent films in his native Great Britain, but became a successful director on both sides of the Atlantic, and even produced a popular television series. His films have captivated classic movie fans ever since.
Read about Hitchcock's life: Alfred Hitchcock Biography
Sample Hitchcock's Movies: Must-See Alfred Hitchcock Movies

One of the most enduring themes in Hitchcock's work is that of a good man falsely accused, pursued by the authorities while trying to clear his name (and getting the girl in the process). The theme allegedly took root when Hitchcock was briefly held by the police as small boy, and can be seen in his early British works and well as later movies.
Read the review: The 39 Steps
Read the review: North by Northwest

Hitchcock said there's no terror in the bang of the gun - only in the anticipation. That understanding of suspense was Hitchcock's hallmark, and one skill that made his movies so compelling. Here are some of his finest suspense films.
Read the review: Strangers On a Train
Read the review: Rear Window

The Hitchcock heroines often fit a pattern -- Gorgeous, icy blondes, the type who are cool on the outside but clearly smolder underneath. They usually don't like the leading man right off the bat, but circumstances change, for better or worse. Examples include Madeleine Carroll in The 39 Steps; Janet Leigh in Psycho; Tippi Hedren in The Birds; Eva Marie Saint in North by Northwest, and Grace Kelly, one of his favorite actresses, in To Catch a Thief and Rear Window.

Hitchcock worked with many great actors, but Cary Grant was by far the director's favorite star. The two made four films together over twenty years with Grant as a suave ad executive, a reformed cat burglar, an FBI agent hunting communists and a husband who may be plotting to murder his wife.
Synopses of the films: Alfred Hitchcock and Cary Grant
Read the review: North by Northwest
Read the review: To Catch a Thief

Jimmy Stewart, often thought of as the all-American hero, played much darker characters for Hitchcock, and delivered performances for the director that were among his best. Stewart starred as a twisted murderer of ambiguous sexual orientation in Rope; a disturbed, obsessed police detective in Vertigo; an unlucky American tourist in The Man Who Knew Too Much and a voyeuristic photographer in Rear Window.
Read the review: 'Vertigo'
Read the review: 'Rear Window'