(3/23/2003) I liked 'Vertigo'. Although I personally wouldn't call it Hitchcock's "masterpiece" (I liked 'Notorious' better), I can see why many people would think it was the be-all end-all of Hitch's career. It's probably the most beautifully filmed of all his movies, the best scored, and the most revealing about Hitchcock's own sensibilities. 'Vertigo' moved a bit slowly for my tastes, but the pacing was necessary to set up the proper tone for the story. As for the acting, Jimmy Stewart is good as always (although once again, I have to break with the majority and say that Cary Grant is my favorite leading man in any Hitchcock film), and Kim Novak gives the performance of her career.

***WARNING - POSSIBLE SPOILERS COMING***

While I do know that the story was ostensibly about Scottie's building -- and finally uncontrollable -- obsession with Madeline, I found it hard to stomach some of the misogyny that came along with it, such as Judy's forced change of appearance, and her constant acquiescence to Scottie at the cost of her own self-esteem. But, keeping in mind the lack of concern about such things in the time period when the original story was written, or in the time that the film was released, it's easy enough to put aside.

Maybe the greatest achievements of 'Vertigo' lay on the technical side of moviemaking. The opticals (the zooming "vertigo" effect; the spinning motif behind Scottie in his delusions; the green light that bathes Judy in the hotel room), the lush VistaVision cinematography, and the masterful score by Bernard Hermann are the true stars of the film.

The DVD itself is a real knockout, with slavishly restored sound and picure, insightful commentary, a documentary, the original ending, and other features. The score really kicks out well on the multi-speaker setup. The reframed 1.85:1 picture isn't anamorphic, but unlike these other reviewers who are too busy complaining to realize how lucky they are, I'm not well off enough to have a "widescreen high-definition" set with all the trimmings, so it doesn't matter to me whether the disc is anamorphic or not. The picture looks great, anyhow.

All in all, 'Vertigo' is a classic, and a great movie to add to your collection, if not the masterpiece that everyone says it is.

Interested in buying this? Support Writing.Com by making your purchase of Vertigo (Collector's Edition)   from Amazon.Com!

Created May 05, 2009 at 10:39pm • Submit your own review...