The majority of filmmakers have hits and bombs, but Alfred Hitchcock hardly identifies with failure. Most of the legendary director's movies feature strong women as main characters too, but which ones excel and intrigue the most? There's a huge number to choose from since Hitchcock is one of the most prolific directors of all time, with a whopping 54 movies to his name.
A few female characters from Hitchcock movies can be singled out as better than the rest because they were not only perfectly written, but the actresses that played them also gave outstanding performances. These characters range from the heroic to the villainous and manage to thrill audiences in all their scenes.
Marion Crane - Psycho (1960)
Eager to pay off her lover's debts so that they can get married, Marion steals $40,000 from her boss and goes on the run. While a fugitive, she decides to spend the night at the Bates Motel. Unfortunately, she gets murdered by the psychotic proprietor, Norman Bates.
Marion is such a solid character because of how she swiftly switches from a hopeless romantic to a criminal and then to a victim. She exhibits courage by not only stealing such a hefty sum but also spending the night at a secluded motel. And what ultimately makes Marion unforgettable is the bathtub scene where she is subjected to one of the most shocking horror movie deaths in the history of cinema.
Eve Kendall - North By Northwest (1959)
Kendall seduces the fugitive Roger Thornhill inside the 20th Century Limited train headed to Chicago. He falls for her but she is soon revealed to be a spy.
Kendall's appeal as a character comes from the number of twists that get squeezed into her arc. First, she is a seductress, then she turns out to be on the payroll of the villain, only for it to later emerge that she is an undercover agent. Additionally, Kendall paints herself as one of the best movie spies by how easily she tricks both Thornhill and the big baddie, Philip Vandamm. And movie fans will always her for the Mount Rushmore finale where she and Thornhill emulate Spider-Man's climbing abilities on the giant faces of former US Presidents as they flee from henchmen.
Lina McLaidlaw - Suspicion (1941)
Lina, an heiress, falls for the playboy Johnny Aysgarth when she meets him inside a train. However, she soon discovers that he only wants to use her for her money.
Nearly every actress that had a main role in Hitchcock's films was nominated for an Oscar but Joan Fontaine is the only one to go ahead and win, which says a lot about how great a character Lina is. The main character is defined by her high level of caution and awareness. Even though she wallows in desperation because her parents are insisting she gets married, Lina doesn't become blind to Johnny's schemes. She figures out his every move and after a couple of terrifying confrontations, she gets him to own up to his misdemeanors.
Mrs. Danvers - Rebecca (1940)
When wealthy French widower Maxim de Winter remarries after the death of his first wife Rebecca, his housekeeper Mrs. Danvers becomes infuriated as she believes no one can replace Rebecca. She thus begins sabotaging the new union.
Mrs. Danvers qualifies as one of the best Hitchcock villains because of her terrifying monologues, including one where she almost persuades the new Mrs. de Winter to take her own life. She is a great pretender too. To Maxim, she is a disciplined housekeeper but when dealing with Mrs. de Winter, she unapologetically displays her ugly side. Great villains are also defined by their deaths, and Danvers has a memorable one where she chooses to burn the manor down at the end of the movie and strides inside as she waits for the flames to consume her.
Margaret "Marnie" Edgar - Marnie (1964)
Marnie makes a career out of charming the honchos of major companies into giving her jobs before stealing and running away. Soon, some obstacles soon emerge on her criminal pathway.
Marnie is shown to be a master manipulator, not only able to shower desperate wealthy men with sweet nothings but also able to get lucrative jobs without having a strong resume. Though there are some similarities between Marnie and Marion Crane, the latter feels like a much more solid character because there are plenty of little details about her, including the fact that she is allergic to the color red. The movie also uses Marnie to explore the theme of sexual assault in an era where Hollywood refrained from going this route.
Charlotte Newton - Shadow Of A Doubt (1943)
Charlotte becomes excited when she learns that her uncle Charlie will soon come to visit. However, her adoration for him gets erased when she discovers he is a wanted murderer.
Charlotte impresses by how she jumps from a space of innocence and tranquility to one of franticness and daredevilry as she seeks to bring her uncle down for his evil deeds. Charlie is formidable but Charlotte is shown to be the rain to his forest fire. She easily figures out all his moves, forcing him to make amateur mistakes that eventually lead him to his death.
Iris Henderson - The Lady Vanishes (1938)
While on a train back home from the fictional nation of Bandrika, Iris bonds with a woman named Miss Froy on a train. She then es out, and when she wakes up, Miss Froy is nowhere to be seen and each enger denies ever seeing her.
Iris' unwillingness to brush off minor developments is her key mannerism, and it helps her save the lives of several engers on the train. Thanks to her investigative skills, she uncovers a larger conspiracy. The engers are not only being led towards an ambush where they'll be killed by soldiers, but Miss Froy is also a spy placed on the train to prevent that from happening.
Alicia Huberman - Notorious (1946)
Alicia—the daughter of a jailed Nazi spy—is recruited by the US government to infiltrate a new league of Nazis that have relocated to Brazil after World War II. While on assignment, she and the US agent, T. R. Devlin, fall for each other.
Throughout the movie, Alicia indirectly gives a masterclass on how to be an undercover agent. She even marries one of the Nazis named Sebastian just to show how committed she is to the cause. Since Devlin is also in the picture, a complicated love triangle emerges but Alicia does well by convincing both men that she deeply cares about them. Her level of endurance is also underscored when she gets poisoned but still survives.
Lila Crane - Psycho (1960)
Lila arrives in Fairville to search for her missing sister Marion and learns she stole $40,000 before going on the run. With the help of the P.I., Arbogast, and Marion's fiance, Sam, she sets out to find out what truly happened.
Lila's relentlessness shines throughout the movie. Nothing stops her from trying to piece together what happened to her sister, not a stubborn Deputy Sheriff or the danger of walking into an isolated mansion all by herself. It's thanks to her efforts that the serial killer's biggest secret gets exposed: his mother isn't really alive. Her close calls are also wildly entertaining, including the scene where Bates almost stabs her to death but she is saved by Sam.
Judy Barton - Vertigo (1958)
Since she looks like his wife Madeleine, a retired detective named Gavin hires Judy as part of a major murder plot he is conjuring. Gavin's plan is to kill Madeleine and make Judy assume her identity so that no one ever knows what truly happens.
Being at the center of one of the most complex Hitchcock plots makes Judy a very intriguing character. By itself, the murder plot would be a satisfactory plot, but then Judy's burdens pile up when Gavin's colleague falls for her and becomes hellbent on controlling her. She is shown to be extremely cunning by how easily she manages to trick him into thinking that she is two different women. And in classic Hitchcock fashion, she is subjected to a shocking death.
