A Visual Work of Art That Must be Seen on the BIG Screen...

Rating: 10/10 (31 May 1999)

Alfred Hitchcock's VERTIGO has always been able to connect over the years, whether on TV or the restored video version. To really appreciate this incredible flick from the Master of Suspense, you MUST see it on the big screen in 70mm. Check the papers for revival houses in your area where old films from Hollywood's "Golden Age" can truly be revered. The opening title sequence, one of the best in cinema history created by the immortal Saul Bass (NORTH BY NORTHWEST, CAPE FEAR), seemed entirely new to me in the darkened theatre. Hitch made his most artistic picture with wondrous color schemes and amazing screen composition. Just look at the ghostly greens and reds that help this complex tale absorb you and engage you. Kim Novak's character is absolutely "from amongst the dead" in the mind of Jimmy Stewart (in his second best role) and the lengths that he and Hitchcock go to are exhausting and mystifying.
Most film buffs know that VERTIGO is considered Hitch's most personal film, mostly because of how he molds his actresses to look perfect much like the Stewart character does with Novak. The two actors have fantastic chemistry that changes drastically from initial obsession, to love, then back to obsession. Not much happens in terms of pure action, but as pure cinema, this movie is a landmark. I can't remember a film that can be so visually captivating without a word of dialogue for long stretches of time. The viewer becomes just as obsessed with "Madeleine", played sensually by Novak. It really is hard to figure out if there are some supernatural undertones at work, especially in the world of Hitchcock.
Bernard Herrman's legendary score sounds crisp and emotional in its new, restored form and is as much a character in the film as the colors and the flowers and the hair twists that come to mean so much as the film progresses. The "special sequence", or nightmare that Stewart has is VERTIGO's crowning achievement. The animation and coloring must have awed audiences of 1958, who actually did not accept the movie at the time. Time has done wonders to VERTIGO and the people at Universal who painstakingly put the film back together for theatrical release have done an amazing job. I only hope the rumors regarding a restoration of REAR WINDOW are true. Look for it in late 1999 !?
RATING: 10 of 10 NOTE: Stewart's best performance was in the great MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON