Best Hitchcock Movie

Rating: 10/10 (26 September 2015)

If anyone has doubts about the power of mistaken identity and its place in fiction, look no further than this film. The many hokey takes on it through the years have diminished its very real power as a storytelling device. As a comedy trick, it is cheap and dull. But as a dramatic trick... there is real force behind it. Everyone dreads being alone in the time of a crisis and not having anyone believe them and feeling like they are sinking further and further into a pit that's growing ever deeper and deeper. A good filmmaker can use the idea of mistaken identity in a tense situation to tackle these fears. And Hitchcock most certainly is a few steps above a good filmmaker.
In fact, he is at his best here. Vertigo may be his best shot film from an artistic point of view. Rear Window (which I would have done a review of for this series of critical takes if I had seen it in time and is quite excellent) is his most interestingly shot movie perspective-wise. But this is Hitchcock showing his truest colors. All the tropes of his directorial style are on full display and are in fine shape. I often joke to myself (I'm alone a lot) about Hitchcock's love of his use of his specific style dashboard cam no matter the situation, but it can be an effective cinematic tool to increase tension, make the area feel more claustrophobic, and increase focus on the characters.
To give a one-sentence synopsis: An advertising executive is mistaken for a secret agent from the authorities and must go on the run. What follows is a wild yet deft 136 minutes of what I believe to be Hitchcock's most obviously entertaining film. Pulses pound as the characters move like chess pieces around a well-written, twisting and turning storyline that causes many iconic scenes, the most famous of which being when Thornhill (The protagonist) runs from a crop duster craft. It is everything an action scenes should be, and the isolation kicks every element up a few notches. It is the favorite scene of many, including me.
Every element, from the action to the mystery, is well-executed. The dialogue is interesting, as it is in many Hitchcock movies. In fact, one of Hitchcock's most underrated talents is writing-dialogue. He may not be a Sorkin or a Woody Allen, but he knows that dialogue is the key to making interesting characters that are more than just pieces in a puzzle. He may have believed that actors are cattle, but one can tell from watching his films that he knows the importance of characters. His dialogue is natural yet profound, and while depicting catch phrases and fads from that era would make the movies seem dated, the intelligent, understated way he talks about the issues of his time here and there make the movies seem like they are proudly representing their time. The difference is the difference between decay and grandeur, between the many ephemeral leaders of Rome and the never-fading Roman culture.
The acting is more than fine. Cary Grant, one of the legends, puts on a believable and thorough performance. In some of the quieter scenes, it is what makes the film work. Eva Marie Saint, another legend (and a blonde, as most women are in Hitchcock movies) adds spice and edge to a role that would have been ordinary had it been performed by a less actress.
On a side note, I don't think I'm the only one who finds it just a bit creepy to watch someone act on the screen when they're now dead, like Grant, and even more bizarre when they're still alive but have aged quite a bit since their role, like Ms. Saint, who is alive and in her nineties at the time of this review.
Hitchcock is known as the Mater of Suspense and this film shows you why; it takes all sorts of twists and turns. One of the trademarks of Hitchcock films is their ability to appear like they're one type of film before seamlessly yet starkly transitioning to another. The Birds went from a screwball Pythonesque comedy to a horror film, Psycho from a heist film to a dark twisted thriller. I have seen no other director that can pull off this trick so well. In this film, we go from a more mysterious psychological movie to more of an espionage adventure tale; it's not as jarring of a shift, but it is a shift nonetheless.
The score represents Hitchcock's best on that front. Scores like this are the reason why an unscored movie like The Birds or a softly scored flick like Rear Window come as such a shock. This score is big and booming and dynamic. Yes, the fifties were riddled with over the top scores (it's actually one of the best ways to identify a film as being from that decade) but Hitchcock knows how to use it in a way that cuts the through the inherent cheesiness of the idea (though I still can't stifle a chuckle every time it gets real intense) and turn it into an impressive cinematic tool the underscore the many important moments of the film. Give the soundtrack a listen; it is perhaps even more impressive when give a listen away from the film.
If I was given one word and only one word to describe this movie, I would choose iconic. This is the sort of movie that deserves to be watched, to be passed down from generation to generation and held up as one of the hallmarks of great cinema. Watch and take in what has been honored for generations and has, like landmarks of many other sorts, affected the lives of many, including me, during that time.