VertigoIn the 1992 Sight and Sound poll, critics and film-makers voted Vertigo the fourth greatest film of all time. Released in 1958, Hitchcock's masterpiece is a pinnacle of the cinema. Yet in it Hitchcock abandoned his trademark suspense, allowing the central mystery to be solved halfway through. What remained was a study in sexual obsession, as James Stewart's Scottie pursues Madeleine/Judy (Kim Novak) to her death in a remote Californian mission. Novak is ice-cool but vulnerable, Stewart - in the darkest role of his career - genial on the surface but damaged within. |
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acrophobia Alec Coppel Alfred Hitchcock audience Auiler Bernard Herrmann BFI Film Classics Bierce Bierce's camera Carlotta character cinema Citizen Kane Claude Chabrol colour confession scene construction critics death dialogue directed director dream Edward Buscombe Elster plot Ernie's exit Faber fall Figure film-makers film's final French Gavin Elster gaze Henry Bumstead Hitchcock's Films Revisited Hollywood intense James Stewart Jonathan Coe Judy Kim Novak London Madeleine's male Maxfield Michael Powell Midge Midge's apartment narrative necklace North by Northwest obsession Owl Creek pattern Peeping Peeping Tom play Pop Leibel portrait posy POV shots Psycho pure alternation realisation Rear Window release repeat viewings restaurant Robin Wood romantic Sam Taylor Samuel Taylor San Francisco Scottie and Madeleine Scottie looks Scottie's eyes screen script shots of Scottie story Talk by Samuel tower Truffaut Vertigo visual voyeuristic walks wheel wife woman write yarn