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I'm stuck inside right now, so catching up on my DVD/BD acquisitions this last year. The one on top was an old favorite, but re-remastered. NxNW.

Besides being a star powered, location hopping, AH classic, I came to the conclusion
that what really pushed it over the top was the soundtrack.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053125/

B. Herrmann https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Herrmann was just masterful at this genre. Worked frequently with Hitchcock.

Guess I really appreciate his mood & suspense tracks.

Q. ? Do you have movie/film soundtracks in mind that are almost characters in their own right ? Favorites ?

An Academy Award-winner (for The Devil and Daniel Webster, 1941; later renamed All That Money Can Buy), Herrmann is particularly known for his collaborations with director Alfred Hitchcock, most famously Psycho, North by Northwest, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Vertigo. He also composed scores for many other films, including Citizen Kane, Anna and the King of Siam, The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Cape Fear, Fahrenheit 451, and Taxi Driver. He worked extensively in radio drama (composing for Orson Welles), composed the scores for several fantasy films by Ray Harryhausen, and many TV programs, including Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone and Have Gun – Will Travel.