More style than substance, even for Hitchcock.

Rating: 6/10 (2 December 2004)

Vertigo has to be one of Hitch's most analyzed films. But "the master of suspense" offers more style than substance here, leaving the viewer with nothing but vertigo. The swirling opening credits, the hypnotic soundtrack, the dream-like pastel look, the unusual grey tone of wardrobe and back-drops. Is Hitch trying a Douglas Sirk (director of a number of stylistic melodramas of the 1950s) with all this stuff? Then going a little deeper, are we made as obsessed by Madeleine (Kim Novak) by seeing James Stewart's character trailing her on foot and by car for much of the film, with NO suspense or drama? We have to be, or it doesn't work. It didn't for me. (NO SPOILERS) In what might be called the second half there is a moment when we are made aware of something. You'll have to decide if this is shown too soon, as it was for me. Also, why would the husband want to kill a wife that looked liked Kim Novak in the first place? How does Stewart's character survive his fall (not shown) from a tall building, receiving only a broken leg? Didn't others see changes in Madeleine? Hitchcock falls short, this time.