Haunting tale of love and loss

Rating: 9/10 (14 November 2003)

To lose the woman you love once would be bad enough but to lose her twice with the added complication that she is one and the same is something altogether tragic. This film is so great on so many levels, it is hard to find the words to adequately praise it. Kim Novak certianly gave her finest performance here playing a very complex range of emotions with subtlety and a superb craftsman's touch. Stewart, in what I think is his finest role, also delivers a very multi-layered performance. There is yet another brainy bespectacled sidekick for Scottie in the tradition of Shadow of a Doubt and Strangers on a Train. Numerous San Francisco landmarks highlight the exquisite cinematography and Bernard Hermann's score hauntingly resides in the memory. The trick of zooming in and simultaneously pulling the camera back for the the illusion of depth also demonstrated great ingenuity. 10/10.