Sabotage. I’ll give Hitchcock credit for starting off in a snappy manner without much preamble, but my attention drifted a good bit here and there. Especially after the heartless, classic package delivery scene, which is both an impossible-to-beat mid-story climax and a colossal waste of time. It’s also really effective, even if you know what’s coming. I kind of resent Hitchcock’s skill at jerking my emotional chain for a few minutes, and then leaving me not caring very much when the moment passes. To his credit, he came to regret the scene later in his career as he developed as a storyteller.

My updated Hitchcock rankings:

  1. Rear Window
  2. To Catch a Thief
  3. Notorious
  4. Vertigo
  5. Psycho
  6. Sabotage
  7. North by Northwest
  8. The Man Who Knew Too Much