Vertigo (1958)

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Directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

Starring Barbara Bel Geddes, Tom Helmore, Henry Jones, Kim Novak, James Stewart.

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Dismissed when first released, later heralded as one of director Alfred Hitchcock's finest films (and, according to Hitchcock, his most personal one), this adaptation of the French novel D'entre les morts weaves an intricate web of obsession and deceit. It opens as Scottie Ferguson (James Stewart) realizes he has vertigo, a condition resulting in a fear of heights, when a police officer is killed trying to rescue him from falling off a building. Scottie then retires from his position as a private investigator, only to be lured into another case by his old college friend, Gavin Elster (Tom Helmore). Elster's wife, Madeleine (Kim Novak), has been possessed by a spirit, and Elster wants Scottie to follow her. He hesitantly agrees, and thus begins the film's wordless montage as Scottie follows the beautiful yet enigmatic Madeleine through 1950s San Francisco (accompanied by Bernard Herrmann's hypnotic score). After saving her from suicide, Scottie begins to fall in love with her, and she appears to feel the same way. Here tragedy strikes, and each twist in the movie's second half changes our preconceptions about the characters and events. In 1996 a new print of Vertigo was released, restoring the original grandeur of the colors and the San Francisco backdrop, as well as digitally enhancing the soundtrack. ~ Dylan Wilcox, All Movie Guide

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Reviews and discussions

Re:A new pack of RESERVOIR DOGS ...
by theunemployedshortstop in Filmgaming

loved it.

"The Epic Tale of "The Wolves of Gomorrah Gorge." The Conceit: Due to a trans-dimensional rift caused by the AWESOMENESS of the Inglorious Bastards screenplay Quentin Tarantino is able to jump into a dimension where the world is perpetually in the early fifties. The impish auteur (also great collaborator) is eager to see what some of his favorite directors and writers would do with his material. He gives a vague outline of Reservoir Dogs to Carl Foreman. Bitter over the HUAC hearings of 1947, Forman takes the idea of the mole cop and turns it into a commentary on witch hunting (like the Crucible set in the American West… with action and no weeping, whining, or three hour yawn-fest… just kidding). Production: The studio loved the concept and saw Anthony Mann as the director. His surprising presentation of the morally grey double agents in T – Men and his success as a visual director of both noir and westerns would yield a fantastic visual motif. Forema ... " [More]

One of my all time favourites
by chrismorrell in chrismorrell Blog

loved it.

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"I watch it again every year or so..Vertigo made a big impression on me as a kid. I found the dream sequence very scary,having been allowed to stay up late to watch. It's obviously dated in some ways,but the new print/transfer to DVD is very beautiful,and has conserved a brilliantly rendered story. " [More]

AFI's 10 Top 10: Mystery
by ShaunHuston in ShaunHuston filmblog

hasn't rated it.

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"The mystery list is another one that seems poorly conceived. Unlike animation, “mystery” may be a genre, but the way it is defined and applied in the AFI list leads to a muddled selection of films.The AFI defines mystery as “a genre that revolves around the solution of a crime”. I'm not convinced that that adequately describes the films on the list, or, even if it does, it is absurdly reductive. Most ironically, the definition seems least appropriate when applied to the list's top selection, Vertigo (1958), which does not actually revolve around the solution of a crime at all, but a domestic mystery, and is really about Scottie's (Jimmy Stewart) inner-demons and obsessions in any event. Similar questions can be raised about other movies on this Top 10. For example, the second film on the list, Chinatown (1974), certainly starts with a mysterious murder, but part of the point of the film is that some “crimes” aren't illegal at all, and may even be facilitated by laws. The plot of T ... " [More]

If Saul Bass Designed the Star ...
by SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com

hasn't rated it.

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"Star Wars may have the most famous opening title sequence in film history, but in terms of influence it’s got nothing on the work of Saul Bass. He’s the brilliant graphic designer who gave us the animated credits for Hitchcock’s Vertigo, North by Northwest and Psycho and Scorsese’s Casino, Cape Fear, The Age of Innocence and Goodfellas and most of Otto Preminger’s work, including Exodus, Anatomy of a Murder and The Man With the Golden Arm. You’ve also seen his work at the beginning of West Side Story and Alien and Big and The Seven Year Itch and Spartacus. But what if he had designed the opening credits to Star Wars? Well, it might have looked something like this video, which was created for a school project. Interesting, yes. Creative, yes. Entertaining, yes. Memorable, no. It just goes to show how significant some credit sequences can be, because this is hardly appropriate for George Lucas’ film. And I don’t just mean because the music is all wrong. If this student wanted to go w ... " [More]

Abridged
by chrismorrell in chrismorrell Blog

loved it.

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"Morbid fascination is not a critical phrase , just a descriptive one in this case.Star of the film is the guy in the black leather coat,who makes the most spectacular and well executed jump..5.9 from the U.K. judge....they save it untill the end. I found myself 'feeling sorry' for the Golden Gate Bridge...as this film unfolds ,it seems to take on an innocent ,noble character.Looking beautiful from many different angles.It is a truly iconic location,not least as a star in 'Vertigo'.Seriously,th is is truly compelling,as we hear from the friends and family of suicides,and ,notably from a 'failed' suicide..Couldnt help thinking ,that for a few dollars they could put a higher railing in... " [More]

Scorsese Shills For Wine
by SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com

hasn't rated it.

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"Martin Scorsese has never been shy about aligning himself with brands, but when the offer came in to shill Freixenet sparkling wine, he must have momentarily flashed back to Orson Welles’s Paul Mason commercials. There’s a difference between taking home a paycheck, and prostrating your legacy to a bald-faced, half-assed cash-in, remembered for all eternity via the YouTube dissemination of regrettable outtakes. It’s no wonder, then, that this elaborate Freixenet ad directed by and starring Scorsese barely announces itself as an ad until the final minute or so. The concept: Scorsese the tireless film preservationist finds three pages of an unproduced Alfred Hitchcock project called The Key to Reserva; Scorsese the filmmaker decides to film the pages “the way [Hitchcock] would be making it then, only making it now.” The ensuing short combines elements of The Man Who Knew Too Much, Vertigo, North by Northwest, The Birds, and probably countless other Hitchcock films; there are just two, ... " [More]

#49
by eagle795 in eagle795 Blog

hasn't rated it.

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"This is one that is usually more highly rated, but it’s more highly rated by people who are far older than me. I’m a huge Jimmy Stewart fan, so that’s why this one even makes it onto my radar in the first place. It’s a very psychological plot. By most accounts Hitchcock was nuttier than a fruitcake, and it shows in his films. Good thing he had a creative outlet for his neuroses, otherwise he may have been a serial killer or a lawyer. If you are under…ohhhh…..50 years of age, do yourself a favor and give Vertigo a whirl. It’s kinda like the book you are assigned to read for school and do so begrudgingly, only to find out that you rather enjoyed it. " [More]

Peter Bogdanovich Interviews Al ...
by Ovation in Alfred Hitchcock

hasn't rated it.

"Peter Bogdanovich Interviews Alfred Hitchcock The legendary interview from 1963 PB: You never watch your films with an audience. Don't you miss hearing them scream? AH: No. I can hear them when I'm making the picture. Do you feel that the American film remains the most vital cinema? Worldwide, yes. Because when we make films for the United States, we are automatically making them for all the world--because America is full of foreigners. It's a melting pot. Which brings us to another point. I don't know what they mean when they talk about "Hollywood" pictures. I say, "Where are they conceived?" Look at this room--you can't see out the windows. We might just as well be in a hotel room in London, or anywhere you like. So here is where we get it down on paper. Now where do we go? We go on location, perhaps; and then where do we work? We're ... " [More]

Re: Top 5 Everybody Seems To Lo ...
by pippin06 in Top 5

liked it.

"Well, since this is ultimately aimed at my post (thougt it overlapped others), I am going to politely respond as to my defenses, if you don't mind. I guess the subtext (and obvious statements) I offered should be better explained. First, reminder as to the topic title: "Top 5 Everybody Seems to Love but I Hate." Now, love and hate are strong words, but ultimately the sentiment I drew from that title is movies where opinions seem to differ from the general moviegoing public. That's a subjective rendering, but that's how I took it. I may not out and out hate it, but it's not my favorite; that was the springboard I jumped from. Maybe I should have said that up front, but there it is. I do post at work, and I shouldn't, so I type until I'm done without thinking more critically, but we're not writing essays here, either (though some of posts reach that length, and this won't be an exception).Second, disclaimer: I am not an average moviegoer but I a ... " [More]

Re: Top 5 Everybody Seems To Lo ...
by indieabby88 in Top 5

hasn't rated it.

"Thank God it's not just me! I really don't care that much for "Vertigo," and whenever I mention this, people just look at me and say "how can you say that?" I consider it a little too slow-moving, and I didn't really have much sympathy for Jimmy Stewart's character. I guess I never really understood what there was about that woman to make him obsess over her so completely.I, for one, don't understand what people see in "Moulin Rouge" or, for that matter, "Romeo + Juliet." Baz Luhrmann's movies have always been over the top, and even his good ones, like "Strictly Ballroom" come dangerously close to losing all credibility through their ridiculousness. "Moulin Rouge" and "Romeo" are two such films. Luhrmann's take on Shakespeare was full of weak (or pointless) updates, poorly drawn characters and the nauseatingly dizzy visuals he's become known for. "Moulin Rouge" had a decent plot going, and the sets were pretty nice, let's be honest, but I hated t ... " [More]

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Review by All Movie Guide

All Movie Guide

loved it.

It did middling business and the critics were unimpressed in 1958, but Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo has come to be considered his greatest film for its complex examination of romantic pathology. Seamlessly combining evocative imagery and thematic concerns, Hitchcock structured Vertigo through numerous visual and narrative circles and twists, beginning with Saul Bass's opening title sequence. Steadily drawing the viewer into the figurative whirlpool of Scottie's mind as he investigates Madeleine, Hitchcock then broke the rules of suspense (as he would again in Psycho) with a mid-movie revelation that transforms the film from an eerie mystery into a deeply disturbing story of necrophiliac obsession. Using such visual effects as a track-out/zoom-in to signal Scottie's vertigo, Judy's hazily green-lit reemergence as Madeleine, and a surreal nightmare sequence, Hitchcock reveals Scotty's tortured psyche, belying James Stewart's nice-guy surface. Further ducking convention, Hitchcock allowed a character to get away with murder, while leaving Scottie metaphorically hanging in uncertainty. Admired by the film school generation of Martin Scorsese and Brian De Palma but unavailable for years due to rights problems, Vertigo had its critical reputation further burnished by its 1983 reissue. Its 1996 restoration returned the washed-out colors to their original clarity and digitally enhanced Bernard Herrmann's haunting score. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

Tags: Hitchcock , mystery , deception , fear , obsession
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