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Vertigo (1958) Adam’s rating: ★★★★ (out of 5) Director: Alfred Hitchcock Rated: none. 128 min. No. 61 on AFI 100 No. 9 on AFI 100 reissue No. 43 on IMDB Top 250 Starring: James Stewart, Kim Novak |
No. 43 on IMDB Top 250
I absolutely love this movie and it is one of my favorite Alfred Hitchcock films. As the master of suspense, Hitch proves it with this film.
The movie is about John “Scottie” Ferguson (Stewart), a San Francisco detective hired by an old friend to tail the strange activities of his wife. He investigates, but becomes strangely attracted to the point of obsession with the woman. I’ll stop right now before I spoil the entire movie for you, but the story is rife with mystery and suspense.
While I love the story, it tends to lull at points while it is establishing itself for what’s to come. The story is one that is still very interesting, but when it feels like the film is dragging along just to go from point A to point B, it’s hard to give this a five-star rating.
The other aspect of this film I wish to discuss is the effects. Hitchcock was a genius with camera effects before the use of special effects or CGI in movies. And possibly the most famous effect in this movie is the “vertigo” effect – also known as a Dolly zoom – which Hitch pulled off masterfully for this movie. Basically, the way the effect works, is you pull the camera away from the subject while zooming in on the subject to create an effect where the subject stays the same size but everything around the subject is in motion or is blurred. In the film, the effect is used every time Jimmy Stewart’s character has a bout with his acrophobia, or his vertigo.
It’s these technical shots – revolutionary for 1958 and 1950s American cinema – coupled with the story and the acting that make this film one of the best in American cinema.
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