Roger Ebert’s favourite Alfred Hitchcock movie: “The most elegant expression of the master’s style”
The sign of a truly legendary director isn’t just the back catalogue of classics they leave behind or the way they forever changed the face of cinema, but the endless debate over which of their movies can be called the best, an argument Alfred Hitchcock regularly finds himself at the centre of.
The ‘Master of Suspense’ passed away well over 40 years ago, but to this day, cinephiles remain locked in conversation and debate about which of his credits can justifiably be labelled as his magnum opus. As often tends to be the case when it comes to an inimitable auteur, there’s no definitive answer.
After all, Francis Ford Coppola – himself responsible for at least three of the greatest films ever made – suggested that whereas most filmmakers can barely dream of creating one masterpiece, Akira Kurosawa had at least eight features worthy of the title.
Hitchcock is in a very similar boat, with his filmography stuffed full of game-changers, classics, influential favourites, and certifiable all-timers. Vertigo, Psycho, Rear Window, North by Northwest, The Birds, Strangers on a Train, Rebecca, and Foreign Correspondent are just some of the maestro’s timeless contributions to the art form, but which one endured as Roger Ebert’s personal favourite?
It was none of the above, with the lauded critic instead settling for a phenomenal espionage tale drenched in the trappings of classic film noir, one that boasted a pair of A-list superstars on top form, earned a pair of Academy Award nominations, and recouped its million-dollar production costs more than 24 times over at the box office.
In his review, Ebert called Notorious “the most elegant expression of the master’s visual style,” one that also “contains some of the most effective camera shots in his – or anyone’s – work”. Of course, he gave glowing appraisals to a voluminous amount of movies during his career, but he couldn’t have been any clearer that, for him, Notorious was the cream of the Hitchcockian crop.
After all, it doesn’t come much more obvious than saying, “Notorious is my favourite Hitchcock”. The director’s body of work as a whole earned the distinction of being branded “movies that do not date, that fascinate and amuse, that everybody enjoys, and that shout out in every frame that they are by Hitchcock”.
It’s hard to argue with Ebert’s assessment when there aren’t many to have stood the test of time and remained relevant for as many generations as Hitchcock. In a century from now, when cinema has undergone its next set of evolutions, Hitchcock’s legacy will remain exactly the same. That isn’t something that can be said about many filmmakers, but immortality is part of the bargain for anyone who proves themselves as being one of the most talented folks to ever step behind the camera.
