Vertigo (film)
The film stars James Stewart as a former San Francisco police detective who has retired after an incident in the line of duty caused him to develop an extreme fear of heights, accompanied by vertigo.[12] After a rooftop chase in which a fellow policeman falls to his death, San Francisco detective John "Scottie" Ferguson retires due to acrophobia and accompanying vertigo caused by the incident.The next day, Madeleine recounts a nightmare, and Scottie identifies its setting as Mission San Juan Bautista, Carlotta's childhood home.A flashback reveals that Judy was the person Scottie knew as "Madeleine Elster"; she had been impersonating Gavin's wife in an elaborate murder scheme.Judy lunges backward off the tower to her death; Scottie, bereaved once again but cured of his fear of heights, stands on the ledge in shock while the nun rings the mission bell.Alfred Hitchcock makes his customary cameo appearance walking in front of Gavin Elster's shipyard, carrying a trumpet case.Barr notes, "This story of a man who develops a romantic obsession with the image of an enigmatic woman has commonly been seen, by his colleagues as well as by critics and biographers, as one that engaged Hitchcock in an especially profound way; and it has exerted a comparable fascination on many of its viewers.In a 1996 magazine article, Geoffrey O'Brien cites other cases of 'permanent fascination' with Vertigo, and then casually reveals that he himself, starting at age 15, has seen it 'at least thirty times'."[14] Critic James F. Maxfield has suggested that Vertigo can be interpreted as a variation on Ambrose Bierce's 1890 short story "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge", in which the main narrative of the film is actually imagined by Scottie as he dangles from a building at the end of the opening rooftop chase.Hitchcock had attempted to buy the rights to the previous novel by the same authors, Celle qui n'était plus (She Who Was No More), but failed, and it was instead adapted by Henri-Georges Clouzot as Les Diaboliques.When Paramount head Barney Balaban received news of this, he ordered Hitchcock to "Put the picture back the way it was," ensuring that the scene remained in the final cut.Hitchcock originally hired playwright Maxwell Anderson to write a screenplay, but rejected his work, which was titled Darkling, I Listen (a quotation from John Keats's 1819 poem "Ode to a Nightingale").According to Charles Barr in his monograph dedicated to Vertigo, "Anderson was the oldest (at 68) [of the three writers involved], the most celebrated for his stage work, and the least committed to cinema, though he had a joint script credit for Hitchcock's preceding film The Wrong Man.In the driving scenes shot in San Francisco, the main characters' cars are almost always pictured heading down the city's steeply inclined streets.[23] In October 1996, the restored print of Vertigo debuted at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco with a live on-stage introduction by Kim Novak.[e] The rotating patterns in the title sequence were created by animator John Whitney using a Kerrison Predictor, a mechanical computer which was used during World War II to aim anti-aircraft cannons at moving targets.[23] In contrast, Novak's character wore a white coat when she visited Scottie's apartment, which Head and Hitchcock considered more natural for a blonde to wear.Contrary to reports that this scene was filmed to meet foreign censorship needs,[56] this tag ending had originally been demanded by Geoffrey Shurlock of the U.S. Production Code Administration, who had noted: "It will, of course, be most important that the indication that Elster will be brought back for trial is sufficiently emphasized."[58]Graphic designer Saul Bass used spiral motifs in both the title sequence and the movie poster, emphasizing what the documentary Obsessed with Vertigo calls the film's "psychological vortex".According to her 1997 Guardian interview, Kim Novak wanted to do the opening title sequence but Harry Cohn insisted Hitchcock pay full rate for the single day's shooting and so another face was chosen.[60] In October 1983, Rear Window and Vertigo were the first two Hitchcock films reissued by Universal Pictures after the studio acquired the rights from the director's estate.In September 2020, an Ultra HD Blu-ray was released by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment as a part of the first volume of The Alfred Hitchcock Classics Collection.[72] Similarly, Philip K. Scheuer of the Los Angeles Times admired the scenery, but found the plot took "too long to unfold" and felt it "bogs down in a maze of detail"."[76] Richard L. Coe of The Washington Post praised the film as a "wonderful weirdie," writing that "Hitchcock has even more fun than usual with trick angles, floor shots and striking use of color.On the other hand, there's no denying that James Stewart's unactorish acting carries a heavy air of reality into the picture, and Kim Novak's somnambulistic behavior, called for by the script, is something she can do to perfection....It's doubtful that 'Vertigo' can take equal rank with the best of the Hitchcock studies—it has too many holes—but it assays high in visual confectionary of place, person, and celluloid wiles.Even the friendlier ones single out for praise elements that seem, from today's perspective, to be marginal virtues and incidental pleasures – the 'vitality' of the supporting performances (Dilys Powell in The Sunday Times), the slickness with which the car sequences are put together (Isobel Quibley in The Spectator)".The film was nominated for two technical Academy Awards for Best Art Direction – Black-and-White or Color (Hal Pereira, Henry Bumstead, Samuel M. Comer, Frank McKelvy) and Best Sound (George Dutton).[106] The October 1996 showing of a restored print on 70 mm film with DTS sound at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco was met with a similarly strong reception.The website's critics consensus reads deems it "an unpredictable scary thriller that doubles as a mournful meditation on love, loss, and human comfort".[f] In March 1997, the French magazine Les Inrockuptibles published a special issue about Vertigo's locations in San Francisco, Dans le décor.
Saul BassAlfred HitchcockAlec CoppelSamuel TaylorD'entre les mortsPierre Boileau and Thomas NarcejacJames StewartKim NovakBarbara Bel GeddesTom HelmoreHenry JonesRobert BurksGeorge TomasiniBernard HerrmannParamount Picturespsychological thrillerBoileau-NarcejacSamuel A. TaylorSan Franciscodetectiveextreme fear of heightsvertigoprivate investigatorMission San Juan BautistaBig Basin Redwoods State Park17-Mile DriveHollywoodEastmantungsten-balancedTechnicolordolly zoomin-camera effectmagnum opusgreatest films of all timeLibrary of CongressNational Film RegistryAmerican Film Institutethe ninth-greatest American film everCitizen Kanegreatest film ever madeSight & Sound Greatest Films of All Time2022 editionacrophobiaMission San Francisco de AsísLegion of HonorpossessingFort PointSan Francisco BayMuir Woodsinquestclinically depressedsanatoriumcatatonicSalina, KansasflashbackRaymond BaileyEllen CorbyKonstantin ShayneLee Patrickhis customary cameo appearanceDonald SpotoOedipalAmbrose BierceAn Occurrence at Owl Creek BridgescreenplayHenri-Georges ClouzotLes DiaboliquesFrançois Truffautspecial effectdenouementJoan HarrisonBarney BalabanMaxwell AndersonJohn KeatsOde to a NightingaleThe Wrong ManScreen Writers GuildVera MilesAlfred Hitchcock PresentsColumbia PicturesHarry CohnBell, Book and CandleCoit Towerworking titleSan Francisco Bay AreaSpanish missionSan Juan Bautista, Californiamatte paintingsCastro TheatreChris MarkerSans SoleilGolden Gate BridgeLombard Streetmatteddry rotMission DoloresCalifornia Palace of the Legion of HonorMuir Woods National Monument17 Mile DrivePebble BeachPalace of Fine Artsphallic symbolSan Francisco Ferry BuildingBuena Vista ParkNob HillFairmont HotelJames C. Flood MansionGrace CathedralMark Hopkins HotelSacred Heart Cathedral PreparatorySt. Paulus Lutheran ChurchPodesta BaldocchiErnie'sJackson SquareUnion SquareDogpatchUnion Iron WorksBethlehem SteelMissionSkid RowJohn FerrenJohn WhitneyKerrison Predictormechanical computerLissajous curvesEdith Head