Best Hitchcock film

Here's a few interesting bits of trivia about Hitchcock from the Internet Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/

• His first job in films was designing titles for films made by Lasky’s studios
• First directing role was 1923 "Always tell your wife", when the original director fell ill
• Some of his trademarks were– cameos, bathroom scenes, close ups of hairstyles (women), mistaken or assumed itentities, his preference for blones
• He was a close friend of Albert R. Broccoli, well known as the producer of the James Bond - 007 franchise. Hitchcock's North by Northwest (1959) was the influence for the helicopter scene in From Russia with Love (1963)
• Hitchcock never won a best director Oscar
• When he won his Lifetime Achievement award in 1979, he joked with friends that he must be about to die soon. He died a year later.
• In Psycho (1960), Hitchcock splashed Janet Leigh with freezing cold water to make her scream so effectively when she saw "Mrs. Bates.", although the site also says "Contrary to popular rumors, during the shooting of the shower scene, Alfred Hitchcock did not arrange for the water to suddenly go ice-cold when the attack started".
• He was infamous with cast and crews for his "practical jokes." While some inspired laughs, such as suddenly showing up in a dress, most were said to have been more cruel than funny. Usually he found out about somebody's phobias, such as mice or spiders, and in turn sent them a box full of them.
• Psycho was Filmed in black and white because Alfred Hitchcock believed the movie would be too gory for color.
• Psycho - The shower scene has over 90 splices in it, and did not involve Anthony Perkins at all. Perkins was in New York preparing for a play.
• Psycho - The sound that the knife makes penetrating the flesh is actually the sound of a knife stabbing a casaba melon.
• The final chase scene In North by North West was not shot on Mt. Rushmore; Alfred Hitchcock couldn't gain permission to shoot an attempted murder on a national monument. The scene was shot in the studio on a replica of Mt. Rushmore. Everything is shot carefully, so as to avoid associating the faces of the monument with the violence.
• North by North West - Rather than go to the expense of shooting in a South Dakota woodland, Alfred Hitchcock planted 100 ponderosa pines on an MGM soundstage.
• North by North West  - Jessie Royce Landis played Thornhill's (Cary Grant's) mother, yet he was ten months older than her.
• The Birds - Tippi Hedren was actually cut in the face by a bird in one of the shots.
• The Birds -The film does not finish with the usual "THE END" title because Hitchcock wanted to give the impression of unending terror.
• The Birds -An intended final shot with the Golden Gate Bridge covered in birds was not filmed because of cost.
• The poster for the movie said: "THE BIRDS IS COMING!" irritating English teachers worldwide.
• The Birds - The movie features 370 effects shots. The final shot is a composite of 32 separately filmed elements.
• The Birds - When audiences left the film's UK premiere at the Odeon, Leicester Square, London, they were greeted by the sound of screeching and flapping birds from loudspeakers hidden in the trees to scare them further.
• Grace Kelly Hoped to return to acting in Alfred Hitchcock's Marnie (1964), but the people of Monaco didn't want their princess playing a thief and romancing Sean Connery.

Some Hitchcock Quotes

• Television has brought murder back into the home - where it belongs"
• "There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it."
• "Even my failures make money and become classics a year after I make them."
• "When an actor comes to me and wants to discuss his character, I say, 'It's in the script.' If he says, 'But what's my motivation?, ' I say, 'Your salary.'"
• "There is nothing quite so good as a burial at sea. It is simple, tidy, and not very incriminating."
• "Man does not live by murder alone. He needs affection, approval, encouragement and, occasionally, a hearty meal."
• "Cartoonists have the best casting system. If they don't like an actor, they just tear him up."
• "I am a typed director. If I made "Cinderella," the audience would immediately be looking for a body in the coach."