James Stewart in his four Hitchcock movies...

I think Vertigo is the best film and features his best performance. It's not really what one expects of Jimbo, playing that sort of character, but he makes it work so marvelously and shows that if directors and producers had simply had the balls to cast him as an out-and-out villain a la Leone did with Fonda, it would've been truly special. I think Stewart could be capable of much more than he was allowed to showcase, simply because it was at a time when actors/stars rarely cared about "range" or trying to step out of their comfort zone, instead just wanting to make more movies to sell their image.

In terms of recasting them:

Rope: I think the role could do with someone who has a bit more of a patrician bent to it. Stewart's folksy sensibility isn't all that bad, but I think someone like Fredric March would've knocked it out of the park.

Rear Window: Mitchum would've done well here, but I'm gonna throw Dana Andrews's name out in the ring here.

The Man Who Knew Too Much: Yeah, this is where a family-friendly image like Stewart's would've helped. I could maybe see Gary Cooper here, even if I think he was a little too long in the tooth by then.

Vertigo: He was dead by then, but Bogie would've been real fun to see here.

Vertigo is the best film and his best performance. It's my favorite Hitch, and one of my all-time favorites, and Stewart's performance is an all-time favorite of mine (though Kim Novak is even better!) Stewart is probably my favorite actor of the era (though much of it still underseen for me so don't challenge me on that), so I find him incredibly compelling and magnetic in everything he did. He has such a charming, suave screen presence like no other, but then there's performances like Vertigo which show that he's not afraid to go to some dark places to salvage a complicated character. The fact that he's generally so naturally lovable makes the dangerous, creepy obsession that he descends into in the film all the more hard-hitting. I've always been baffled that Al thought he was miscast in that role, because I couldn't imagine anyone else in it.

Anyway, having not seen The Man Who Knew Too Much, I'd rank his performances: Vertigo > Rear Window > Rope, and the films: Vertigo > Rope > Rear Window. But I don't have a bad thing to say about any of it. This is easily one of my favorite director/actor collaborations in
history 

Rope is definitely my favorite performance of these. Rope and Vertigo are pretty much tied for me but I voted Vertigo.

For recasting I would go William Holden in Vertigo and Orson Welles or Olivier in Rope. IDK on the others.

Stewart is probably my favorite actor of all-time, so it's hard to really say I felt he was miscast in any of these. Funny that Hitchcock felt he was miscast in Vertigo as I always felt he was perfect for it - maybe because it was such a personal film for Hitchcock and Stewart is the vulnerable side of Hitchcock (whereas Cary Grant was Hitchcock's idea of who he wishes he could be).

Vertigo is my choice for best film (top five of all-time) and better Stewart performance, but I think he's great in all of them.

As for recasting, I think Stephen hits the head on just about all of them.

Rope - The role needed someone with a little more stern yet cool demeanor. March is a great option, but I think I love the idea of Gregory Peck for this.

Rear Window - I think Stewart is perfectly cast here, but Dana Andrews would have been a damn good ringer. Maybe Ray Milland.

The Man Who Knew Too Much - Honestly might be my least favorite Stewart performance, but could be because I really am not big on the film either (vastly prefer the original). Stewart is solid in it either way, but I like the idea of Spencer Tracy or Henry Fonda.

Vertigo - This is tough because I feel Stewart has the perfect blend of vulnerable, humorous, stoic, romantic, and just a little nuts to pull it off. I agree that Bogie might have been an interesting choice, but obviously didn't live long enough. Pretty much down to William Holden as everyone suggested, but I still feel he's a bit too "stable" for this kind of character. He doesn't have those eyes that make you feel he's unpredictable. Henry Fonda could work again, but really not sure. I think Paul Newman in about ten years might have been a decent enough choice, but to me Stewart is about the only choice here.

Only seen Rear Window and Vertigo.

Rear Window is the better movie, but Stewart’s performance is better in Vertigo.

Really need to dig deeper into Stewart’s filmography. I’ve loved what I’ve seen and the man could potentially go down as one of my Top 5, maybe even 3 fav actors.

I can def see him ranking extremely highly in the future based solely on what I've seen so far.

I started typing a very long post about Stewart and how much I love his work, when my computer crashed, so I'll try to rewrite it in bullet points:

-I've watched a lot of his work (but not most of it) and I loved him in Beautiful Life and Harvey. I never thought he was miscast in Rear Window. He was excellent.

-On the other hand, maybe somebody else could have done better in Vertigo.

-I rank Rear Window very highly in Hitch's filmography and in movie history in general. So I believe Window is the best film of the list. As for Stewart's performances, I also choose RW. I really liked him in TMWKTM but I prefer him in RW.

-I'm not very good in the "recast" game but I agree that maybe Mitchum or Cooper or Grant could have done the same good job (or even better), especially in Vertigo.

-I (re)watched Vertigo very recently (two or three days ago) and I posted here my opinion: I enjoy it every time I watch it but to me is not a masterpiece. Could have been one of the greatest films ever but failed because of some minor details. One of them was Stewart. He was really good in everything I've seen him but in this he was miscast. (So was Novak I think)

terrymontana: Thanks for thoughs. I wonder who would you think about movie Bell Book and Candle (1958) which was reunion of Stewart and Novak in same year they did Vertigo. I suspect as they worked back to back on these projects as good friends.