I thoroughly enjoyed this post. Thanks.
At the time Spoto's book was released, five Hitchcock films, including Vertigo and Rear Window, had been out of circulation. A lot of people had never seen them, especially young people who were not around to watch them when originally released. It wasn't until 1983 when Universal bought the rights that the films were shown again. I was in Grad School at the time, and was immediately won over by Vertigo, the best film ever according to the 2012 Sight & Sound poll.