Vertigo (1958)

Posted : 1 year ago at Jun 30 16:19

Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece was recently ranked as the best mystery film by the AFI and it's quite hard to argue with that sentiment. The sprawling, nearly labyrinthine tone to the film puts the viewer in the sense of vertigo that Stewart's character is stuck in throughout the entire storyline. It is also, quite possibly, one of the most personal films Hitchcock ever made. Stewart's character has an unhealthy obsession with icy detached blondes and remakes his brunette girlfriend towards the end of the film into the dream. Hitchcock and Stewart's character are both obsessed with the image of the icy blonde, and not their reality. Stewart and Kim Novak deliver performances that should have gotten more awards time attention. Seeing Stewart play this kind of obsessive creep is like watchin...Read more

Posted : 1 year, 6 months ago at Jan 2 1:55

The movie opens with the main character Detective John 'Scottie' Ferguson (James Steward) almost falling from a building while chasing a criminal. This traumatic experience causes Scottie to have a fear of heights that results in dizziness, or vertigo. The premise of the film plays on the idea of vertigo as Scottie’s fear of heights makes him unable to work on the field as a policeman, and consequently, he becomes the ideal candidate in Gavin Elster’s sinister plot. In typical Hitchcock fashion, the story is full of deception, suspense, mystery and psychological tension. The movie, like many other Hitchcock films, explores scopophilia and the notion of guilt. As the story unfolds, one gets the sense that something is not quite right in the whole scenario, and no one seems quite as i...Read more

Rating : 7/10

Posted : 2 years, 1 month ago at May 20 11:34

Hitchcock is Hitchcock. Things are not always what they seem. Hitchcock, and his favourite leading man, James Stewart once again take a central concept - a what if - and twists a tale around it. I'm not sure I can identify with vertigo as much as I can with some of his other obsessions - the nosy neighbour who sees too much, the case of the mistaken identity, being falsely accused of sabotage, or the murderer who taunts his dinner guests with the murder weapons and hidden body. All these are more compelling - with a faster pace - and let his leading men be more dynamic than in this tale. Still, Hitchcock remains the master storyteller, weaving a compelling tale together that has the power to entrall the audience with this film which still knocks the socks off the majority of moder...Read more