Alfred Hitchcock is one of the most important and influential directors in cinema history, and anyone aspiring to become a filmmaker should do themselves a favor and study his body of work. This one man pioneered numerous filmmaking techniques still used today, shot some of the industry's most famous scenes, elevated the thriller genre to new heights, and achieved so much more than can be crammed into this paragraph. In fact, there's an argument to be made that Hitchcock's genius is so great that simply watching his movies is a fine substitute for enrolling in an expensive film school.

With a career dating all the way back to 1925's "The Pleasure Garden", it's no wonder why Hitchcock has so many classic films to his credit. "Psycho," "Vertigo," "North by Northwest," "The Birds," "Rear Window" –- it's hard to believe that all of these iconic, diverse films and others came from the same mind.