Results for the Hitchcock poll

Well, the polls are now closed and the results are in. First things first though – the response to this celebration of the 53 films directed by Alfred Hitchcock was really gratifying, so special thanks to everyone who joined in.

Ultimately nearly 650 votes were cast and nearly every one of his films got at least one vote – if you want to see which didn’t, and which came out on top, then keep on reading, where you will also find a poll of polls – we have now a top 10 based on the results and we have the opportunity to rank these 10 – but beware, you only get one vote, so make it count!

First off, while it might seem cruel, with only two votes per decade available, inevitably some films were not going to get any kind of mention, but I was amazed just how few were excluded. From the 1920s it was, predictably I think, such little seen efforts as The Pleasure Garden and Champagne to get the chop; and from the 1930s it was equally  no surprise to see the musical biopic Waltzes from Vienna and the family melodrama The Skin Game failing to make the cut. Murder! also got excluded, and I thought it might just get by with one vote, but it is a film that isn’t that easy to see on home video in fact and I suspect this would have been a contributing factor.

From the 1940s, while the likes of The Paradine Case and Under Capricorn surprisingly did get a look in, the atypical crime-free screwball comedy Mr and Mrs Smith was in fact the only one that got left out. From the 1950s, the decade that got the most responses in the end, the remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much and The Wrong Man failed to make the grade. But everything else got a mention. So, let’s get to the results, with a breakdown by decade first:

The 1920s [67 votes cast]
This was, right from the beginning a two-horse race, with The Lodger coming out way ahead with 38 votes and Blackmail (which personally I prefer) coming a distant second with 21.

The 1930s [129 votes cast]
This was a very, very tight race, with The Lady Vanishes and The 39 Steps neck and neck vying for supremacy, though ultimately there was a clear winner, with the Lady getting 47 votes and 41 Steps getting a respectable 40 while the underrated Sabotage came a distant but still creditable third with 12 votes.

The 1940s [149 votes cast]
This tuned unto the tightest fight of all, ending almost in a tie. But at the last minute for Shadow of a Doubt pulled ahead with 35 votes, beating Notorious by just 1 vote.Rebecca came  respectable third with 26 and Rope did surprisingly well with 14 for fourth place.

The 1950s [159 votes cast]
This was a three-horse race throughout the voting, with Rear Window emerging at the last-minute as the winner with 42 votes; and in a photo finish, Vertigo and North By Northwest ended up joint second with 40 votes a piece, making this a top 11 and not a top 10 in fact! Strangers on a Train and Dial M for Murder came fourth and fifth with 13 and 12 votes respectively.

The 1960s & 70s [139 votes cast]
Well, I suspect there was never any doubt about this with Psycho the clear winner from the start, ultimately receiving 48 votes while The Birds came second with 39 but I was impressed that all the films from this period got votes, even the generally unloved Topaz, which came last but still managed 6 votes.

Oh, and how did I vote? Well, to my great surprise, the top 10 is made up entirely of the ones I voted for, with the exception of North By Northwest which rallied at the last minute! This suggests that I am either really tapped in to the Hitchcock zeitgeist out there or that I went for the traditional firm favourites – or maybe I did something a bit crooked to rig the results, but frankly I lack to savvy to bed the polling software to my will.

But now, as the cherry on top, here is your chance to rank the top 11 – they are listed below in chronological order so you get one vote to see which you think should come top of the list.As for the top 10, well, I’ll be voting for Vertigo – but that is no surprise to those of you who have read this blog before.

Thanks for voting!