VERTIGO

OK, any attempt at objectivity on this blog is going out the window right now, given that this is probably my favourite film.

Although I can quite see why you might not care for it  - it’s slow, lacking in humour, and the murder plot is off-the-chart bonkers. 

And there’s no getting away from the fact that the main protagonist Scottie is hard to empathise with as his mental health spirals out of control - or would be if he wasn’t played (superlatively as always) by James Stewart, the definitive Everyman, Tom Hanks notwithstanding. 

None of this matters if you allow yourself to be mesmerised by the combination of music, editing, cinematography and atmosphere created by Hitchcock firing on all cylinders.

And his casting of Kim Novak is crucial - it is her beauty and sensuality that allows us to believe in Scottie’s fixation.

But it is probably best to ignore the age difference between the two stars (25 years, since you ask).  It's most difficult to do this in a scene which is either erotic or pervy according to one’s taste; where Madeleine is in Scottie’s bed after he has rescued her, knowing he undressed her while she was unconscious. 

That scene aside, my only real gripe is that the final moments of the film are not quite as emotionally satisfying as ideally I would wish (Citizen Kane and Sunset Boulevard are top of my list in this respect). 

The real emotional climax comes some ten minutes before the end, when Judy finally becomes Madeleine - her shimmering image gliding across the room towards a transfixed Scottie being one of the all-time great moments in cinema for my money.

I can’t end this review without a shoutout to the beautiful score, surely the crown jewel in Bernard Herrmann’s glittering career. 

It perfectly evokes a sense of vertiginous romantic obsession, overlaid with a sense of dread and tinged with a soupçon of the supernatural.

If you’ve never seen this masterpiece I envy you the experience - go see it now, late at night with the lights turned down very low.

RATING: ✓✓✓ Cancel All Other Arrangements