Frenzy

After several years of uneven efforts like Torn Curtain and Topaz, Alfred Hitchcock was back in form with 1972's Frenzy. The plot concerns a rapist-murderer terrorizing London. The audience is unknowingly introduced to the killer early on, though suspicions are redirected to a more "obvious" suspect. Once viewers know which is which, the suspense lies in the fact that the police continue to suspect the wrong man. After this unfortunate soul is condemned to life imprisonment, a police inspector (Alec McCowan) continues to have his doubts. And keep an eye out for that virtuoso pullback shot down a flight of stairs into a busy street. Frenzy was adapted by mystery aficionado Anthony Shaffer from Arthur LaBern's novel Goodbye Picadilly, Farewell Leicester Square. — Hal Erickson