Great mystery. Irritating conclusion. Wait its still going...

Rating: 7/10 (20 July 2010)

Usually, I don't comment much on older movies, as people are less likely to read what it is I have to say. But, this is an exception as an unemployed bitter critic goes up against a film considered amongst the best of all-time. What was a slightly panned movie at first, Vertigo eventually established itself as one of the top masterpiece films from Hitchcock and one of the greatest movies ever. Here is where the praise ends. Vertigo is two parts excellent, and one part draggy. What started out as a spellbinding mystery with few clues as to where it's going, transported into a frustrating psychological thriller that took way too long to conclude. Alfred Hitchcock is a master director, but the script revealed all its trick cards much too soon, leaving us with nothing more than an ace of spades in the third act.
Vertigo is a film that works in two layers: there are two conflicts presented. The first two acts involve the main conflict, the main mystery, and the final act involves the consequences and results of the original mystery. John Ferguson (James Stewart) develops a fear of heights after a terrible accident while chasing a suspect on the rooftops. After the accident, he agrees to snoop after the wife (Kim Novak) of an old college friend in order to occupy his time after retiring from the police force. What follows is a twisted path full of deceits, lies, murder, and surprises. And this is just two-thirds of the movie. Based off of a French novel "The Living and the Dead," Vertigo's spellbinding screenplay is written by Samuel A. Taylor.
The intrigue of this film is the sheer confusing mystery and descriptive imagery that offered light clues. It wasn't the typical mystery, as you didn't quite know who to trust and who to believe. James Stewart does a fantastic job portraying the bored ex-detective constantly trying to overcome his devastating fear. The lead female, Kim Novak, also does a great job, despite being twice as young as the male lead. Besides them, there aren't a lot of major roles, but all the supporting cast did a respectable job.
With mysteries of this magnitude, you need a master of suspense to keep the audience riveted. Alfred Hitchcock is one of the best directors of all-time, and is the main reason why Vertigo stays afloat. He times his shots perfectly; he always starts the films off with a bang, and does a great job maintaining the suspense, even long after the main flaw of the flick is revealed. My favorite trait of Hitchcock is how he paces the story well and never over-does the shots---unlike your Stanley Kubrick and his followers. His only minor flaw is his rushing towards the endings, which includes this one. Nonetheless, he expands his horizons a bit by delivering some nice animated sequences and delightful visual clues.
The griping begins here. The acting, writing, directing, music, and pacing works perfectly fine---until the third act. Mysteries run like a magical act, you should never ever reveal the secret until after the trick is performed, that is if you choose to. In the case of Vertigo however, the twist is revealed to the audience in between the second and third act, still leaving a hefty dose of story to tell. The main appeal of Vertigo is gone: the intrigue, the mystery has disappeared. The problem has been solved to a major extent, but we still are not seeing the credits. Not sure where the blame should be placed, but I'll hand it to the writer, which spilled the beans far too soon.
Films can run on multiple genres sometimes (District 9 being a recent successful example), but when the first part is mystery, it's a lot tougher to pull off a wholesome successful film. I found myself on the edge during the first hour and a half, but utterly distraught in the final half hour. The funny thing is the only thing that had to change was the trump card revelation. If they had moved the revelation just twenty minutes further, it would have helped Vertigo a whole lot. But, the early reviews were correct, the last third of the flick bogged down the overall movie.
Bottom Line: Alfred Hitchcock does his best to salvage a script that turned off the smokescreen far too soon. His directing remains inches below perfection, as he directs a great acting cast, grand musical score, and clever mystery. But, once the mystery is gone, so is the quality and interest. Vertigo is a good film, but in my eyes misses the mark slightly because of the editing/writing issue I have discussed throughout this review. Despite what your usual film major and film critics say, this isn't among Hitchcock's best, and this isn't one of the best films of all-time. There are superior mysteries and surprise twists past and present. Just imagine what would have happened if the surprises of The Usual Suspects, Fight Club, and The Sixth Sense had been revealed sooner? Those movies would have been extremely different in terms of theming, pacing and quality.