Vertigo (1958)
The film that many would deem Hitchcock’s most accomplished feature, the James Stewart starring Vertigo remains a great piece of cinema. In the past the film has alluded me greatly, the slow pace of the plot and the relatively small scope of the story seemed a tad dull to me in my younger years, but this time around I realised my mistake and enjoyed it immensely (if not still perplexed by its length.
James Stewart provides a latter-career highlight in his role as John ‘Scottie’ Ferguson, an acrophobic former detective turned privat eye/stool for an old friend. As he investigates his target, the wife of said old friend (portrayed by Kim Novak) he begins to fall for the women. An intimate story with an epic sweep that covers much of the city of San Francisco, Vertigo sits up high within Hitch’s Ouevre.
I found Vertigo to be quite removed from the rest of Hitchcock’s work, in the sense that the it seemed a tad more sophisticated. Take a film like North by Northwest for example, the layering in that film comes from the weighty dialogue, the film is carried by its characterisation through dialogue, yet Vertigo relies upon something altogether different. For a start there is very little dialogue for long sections of the films running time. Where once a narrative track or even sidekick may have lay there is now nothing but the viewer and the emoting of Stewart. Its a subtle difference but adds to the richness of the character.
A great film, carried by an outstanding central performance, Vertigo continues to impress over 50 years on from its original release.
