334. VERTIGO (1958)

Running Time: 128 minutes
Directed By: Alfred Hitchcock
Written By: Samuel A. Taylor, Alec Coppel, from the novel d'Entre les Morts by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac
Main Cast: James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes, Tom Helmore

HITCHCOCKTOBER FEST!: PART IX

After watching "Vertigo", I've determined two things: The first thing I determined is that it is actually difficult for me to watch Jimmy Stewart kissing on and ogling over women. The second thing I determined is that for as much as it is heralded, "Vertigo" is actually mediocre compared to other Hitchcock films.

The plot kicks off by introducing us to John "Scottie" Ferguson (Stewart) by way of a pretty exciting opening scene. The movie quickly makes us aware of Scottie's acrophobia which, in turn, leads to his bouts of vertigo. Scottie is a police detective and after watching one of his colleagues fall to his death from the top of a building, he retires. Soon after, Scottie is contacted by an old college buddy of his, Gavin Elster, who wants him to tail his wife, Madeliene (Novak). It seems that Madeliene has been blacking out recently and almost being overcome by another spirit, the spirit of her great grandmother, Carlotta Valdes. After some hesitation and convincing Scottie takes the job and begins tailing Madeliene. The first scene where Scottie tails her is quite riveting, considering that not much is really going on, as there is no dialogue and we simply see what Scottie sees, and we are almost turned into detectives as we peek around corners at the beautiful Madeliene. To make a long story short, Scottie soon finds himself in love with Madeliene, but the love is cut short when the spirits that are overcoming her get the best of her and she takes her own life. Scottie is thrown into a state of melancholia and can't seem to get over it. Even his old pal Midge can't seem to get him out of his depression. Later, Scottie meets Judy Barton, a dead ringer for Madeliene and Scottie falls in love with her. It doesn't take him long before he's fallen in love with her and becomes obsessed with transforming her into Madeliene's exact look-alike, dying her hair and buying her new clothes.

SPOILER ALERT!

My biggest problem with "Vertigo" is the plot, which is too intricate and doesn't really make a whole lot of sense. The plot hinges on the fact that Scottie's old college pal, whom he hasn't seen in years (maybe decades) phones him up and asks him to tail his wife, somehow knowing about Scottie's acrophobia. He hires a girl who is a dead ringer for his wife, a wife that he wants killed, and has her pretend to be, for lack of a better term, a bit "out there". The look-alike girl is Judy Barton and once her and Scottie fall in love, Gavin devises to have her run to the top of a bell tower, knowing that Scotty won't be able to make it to the top, and then throw off his real wife, who is already dead by way of a broken neck. Now come on! That is WAY too intricate and contrived. There is no way that Scottie's old college buddy would have any way of knowing about his acrophobia and furthermore, the entire scheme hinges on so many things to actually make it work, including Scottie falling in love with "Madeliene".

Also, the ending is very anti-climactic in my opinion. A random nun, who happened to hear Scottie and Judy in the top of the bell tower approaches, Judy is startled and falls to her death. Instead of it being a random nun, I felt that they should've used the moment to incorporate Midge into the plot, who seemed to have a bit of an obsession of her own with Scottie. It is believable that Midge could've been following Scottie the whole time and in fact, she is shown outside of Scottie's apartment at one point, the morning after he first meets Madeliene face to face. Anyway, it is believable that after she realized that Scottie was in love with another woman and not her, that she would begin to follow him, letting her obsession take the best of her. Following Scottie and Judy to the bell tower at the end of the film and seeing a chance to be rid of Judy, she would climb the stairs to the top of the tower and either startle or push Judy from the top, proclaiming that she is the woman for him. It would really tie up the whole obsession storyline quite nicely and may have even provided a better title to the film..."Alfred Hitchcock's Obsession!"...although that sounds more like a perfume than a film, but it could've worked.

My one last gripe is Jimmy Stewart, whom you all know that I love. However, he just didn't fit in here for me. I can't believe I'm saying this but I think this movie could've benefited by having a different lead...say...(swallows heavily)...Cary Grant. I don't like Grant, but it is more believable that Grant would be the type of person to immediately fall head over heels for "Madeliene" and vice versa. I'm sorry, but I just don't buy Kim Novak becoming romantically involved with Jimmy Stewart...that's almost as absurd as Jack Black and Kate Winslet falling in love in "The Holiday".

For all of my gripes, the movie actually wasn't that bad and made great use of it's score and it's camera. Some of the scenes are so riveting. It never drags and is never boring and really flows along quite nicely. There are dozens of scenes that really do draw you in and swallow you into that Hitchcockian world. The opening scene, the entire first segment where Scottie tails Madeliene, the scene in the woods with the sequoia's and really the entire part of the film where Scottie tries to transform Judy is just so unsettling and almost scary, when we're forced to watch our "good guy" Jimmy Stewart go a bit nutso. It's certainly not my favorite Hitchcock movie, by far, but it's still worth a look. However, there are other Hitchcock films that deserve some of the attention that this one normally gets.

RATING: 6.5/10 I was going to give it a '7', but that would be putting it into a different class and thus, wouldn't be fair to the better Hitchcock movies that were able to get to that '7' mark.

MOVIES WATCHED: 170
MOVIES LEFT TO WATCH: 831

October 25, 2010 9:27pm