VERTIGO -- Alfred Hitchcock, dir

©1958
studio: MCA Home Video
production company: Alfred J. Hitchcock Productions, Paramount Pictures
dir: Alfred Hitchcock
cast: James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes, Tom Helmore, Henry Jones
screenplay: Alec Coppel and Samuel Taylor
based on the novel by: Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac

Complex story about a San Francisco detective and his psychological troubles with fear of heights and obsession over a woman. [from the IMDb site]

The opening sequence is wonderful. I love the very opening shot, when we're not quite sure what we're looking at, and then the hand comes in to grab the rail, the camera pulls back, and we see the ladder leading to the roof, and the chase. Exquisite filmography!

And then the rest of the movie comes in to play and shoots it all to hell.

It sure seems that this is a movie which is either loved or hated, a masterpiece or a piece of crap. I would go with the latter.

The plot had some nice moments, and great little turn-arounds that maybe were unexpected, but the way it was put together...! When Stewart is following Novak for days on end, it is absolutely ridiculous to think that she can't see him. He's practically riding in her back seat! That he falls in love with her comes completely out of nowhere (unless it's simply because he undressed her when she was unconscious and he liked what he saw), and this is crucial to believing his passion for her later.

For me, the biggest irritant is the lack of follow-up with the Barbara Bel Geddes character. We know that they (Bel Geddes and Stewart) had something going once, she seems to be carrying a torch for him still, and when Stewart is in the hospital, it is Bel Geddes we see attending to him, and who then goes to the doctor to see what she can do to get him better ... and then we never see her again!

And the ending fall flat (pun intended). I never believed Kim Novak's character, and so her fear and subsequent jump never felt honest.

I do like how Hitchcock manages to give the viewer just enough information to keep us informed so that we're not feeling totally lost. And his timing with this is impecable.

But what's up with the animation sequence?

Lousy movie.