You'll feel like you've run a marathon. This movie is "exhausting".

Rating: 10/10 (5 July 2006)

Hitchcock's masterpiece. This film was made before I was born but it's appeal is timeless enough to make it one of my top ten favorite movies.
Kim Novak openly challenges Grace Kelly in the glamor stakes. Her facial expressions are riveting and clearly meet Hitch's requirement to make cinema audiences squirm uncomfortably in their seats. She is everything 50's woman was and should be. Jimmy Stewart shows why he was justifiably the icon of an age. For me, Hitch was always able to get more from Jimmy Stewart than other directors. Looking at Rear Window and The Man Who Knew Too Much, Jimmy Stewart turns in a much better performance than in the countless westerns I've seen.
Hitchcock has always messed with my head. Hitch led the way and other directors followed. There is a particular camera sequence in Vertigo when Madeleine (Kim Novak) runs up a spiral staircase and Scotty (Jimmy Stewart) follows. Special effects were somewhat limited in the 50's compared to today so Hitch used the spiral staircase and camera focus to convey the dizziness Scotty was feeling. Simple but effective. So effective in fact I've seen Spielberg use exactly this camera effect in one of his movies. Almost 50 years on and this work is still fresh.
The script is well written and the atmosphere between Novak and Stewart can be cut with a knife. Everything tells the story - the script, the set, the costume and the physical interaction of the leads. There is an intense repressed passion about this movie. The cast sit on an emotional volcano that seems to be constantly on the verge of erupting.
The classic Hitch-twist is a real surprise. Everything in your head tells you this could never be and Hitch takes you straight in that direction. There is a strange sense of voyeurism about the second part of this movie. It feels like you are seeing something that you really should not see. You are going into that small forbidden place that everyone keeps to themselves. That part that even husband and wife don't share. As a viewer that certainly makes me squirm uncomfortably in my seat, so I think Mr Hitchcock has achieved his objective.
As a movie there are pieces that date and make it very obviously a 50's movie. However, the most important part, the plot the script and the relationship between the two protagonists - dress them in fashions for the 21st century and you could re-shoot this film today.
What makes this movie so very special is the emotional roller-coaster ride Mr Hitchcock takes you on. The out-of-control speed and the wheels coming off at every turn and as you look to your left you see Hitch has turned into a squealing demon delighting in every second of your discomfort. You'll feel like you've run a marathon. This movie is "exhausting".