Vertigo

Released: May 9, 1958

Studio: Paramount

Genre: mystery/thriller/romance

Box Office (numbers in millions):

Domestic: 7.71 Worldwide: ?

Adjusted for Inflation:

Domestic: ? Worldwide: ?

Directing: Alfred Hitchcock

Screenwriting: Alec Coppel, Samuel A. Taylor

Starring: James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes, Tom Helmore

Review:

Hitchcock’s “perverse tale of romantic obsession” ^RS is “arguably [his] most complex, most analyzed, compelling masterpiece.” ^FS Initially “audiences and critics…were underwhelmed by this unconventional thriller…but now nearly everyone agrees that Vertigo is not only among Alfred Hitchcock’s finest movies, but one of Hollywood’s. It’s certainly the director’s most personal, idiosyncratic work…Never before (nor after) would Hitch display his erotic, neurotic fetishes so blatantly (or hypnotically).” ^TV

“There’s no denying that this is the director at the very peak of his powers” ^T95 in this “oft-imitated dreamlike,” ^TV tale. “Novak is a revelation” ^T95 and Stewart delivers “his riskiest performance,” ^RS but “as good as the cast is, no one…can upstage the wonders of the setting.” ^TV “Hitchcock’s mastery made the city [of San Francisco] and surrounding locations central to the plot.” ^A98

The story is based on the novel D’entre Les Morts by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac. John “Scottie” Ferguson (Stewart) is a police detective in San Francisco whose “fear of heights and boredom in retirement makes him the foil in an elaborate murder plot.” ^A98 He is hired by old college friend Gavin Elster (Helmore) to trail his wife, “a cool, blonde named Madeleine (Novak),” ^FS “only to fall for her himself and then crack up when she commits suicide.” ^T95 When he meets Judy (Novak again), her lower-class double, he manipulates her into “the dead Madeleine’s image – with mad consequences in the uncompromising conclusion.” ^FS

“Hitchcock gives the game away about halfway through the movie and focuses on Stewart’s strained psychological stability; the result inevitably involves a lessening of suspense, but allows for an altogether deeper investigation of guilt, exploitation, and obsession” ^T95 and “how we try to mold others’ personalities and looks according to our own (diseased) desires.” ^T98