10 great Alfred Hitchcock movies: 'North by Northwest,' 'Psycho,' 'Vertigo' and more

"Saboteur" (1942): Basically a spy story, this fast-paced effort culminates in one of director Hitchcock's most memorable endings, putting heroic Robert Cummings and not-so-heroic Norman Lloyd atop the Statue of Liberty.

"Shadow of a Doubt" (1943): Joseph Cotten is wonderfully creepy as an apparent bon vivant suspected of murder by a young relative (Teresa Wright).

"Strangers on a Train" (1951): Two travelers (Farley Granger, Robert Walker) make a pact to get rid of someone for the other person in a tale that's been retold in numerous variations.

"Rear Window" (1954): The production design is a star of this great thriller that keeps a light touch, as an apartment dweller (James Stewart) waylaid by a broken leg thinks he spies a neighbor (Raymond Burr) committing murder.

"To Catch a Thief" (1955): Romantic sparks between Cary Grant and Grace Kelly, lovely French Riviera locales, and a fanciful cat-burglar story add up to viewing enjoyment.

"The Man Who Knew Too Much" (1956): Doris Day's musical trademark, "Que Sera Sera," was a byproduct of her starring with Hitchcock returnee Stewart as a couple forced into foreign espionage.

"Vertigo" (1958): Obsession rarely has gotten as haunting a screen treatment as in this visually striking melodrama, with Stewart again the star as an acrophobic detective who falls under the spell of a friend's wife (Kim Novak) he's tailing.

"North by Northwest" (1959): A sensationally entertaining mix of adventure, humor and romance, this prolonged chase takes a businessman (Cary Grant again) from New York to Mount Rushmore, with James Mason the main villain and Eva Marie Saint a deceptive beauty.

"Psycho" (1960): Hitchcock's achievement with the thriller that made people wary of taking a shower - thanks to the fate of Norman Bates' (Anthony Perkins) motel guest (Janet Leigh) - is even more impressive in its capping of a three-year run of Hitchcock classics that couldn't be more different stylistically.

"The Birds" (1963): Rarely have electronic sounds been used more chillingly than in Hitchcock's take on a Daphne Du Maurier story that puts a town under siege from our feathered supposed friends.