Not one of Hitchcocks best.

Rating: 7/10 (29 December 2001)

I love Hitchcock films, but to bracket this as the best film ever is laughable, it's not in Hitchcock's top 5.
Rear Window, North by Northwest & even Psycho are as good & as tense as a thriller can be keeping you on the edge of your seat. This doesn't.
Don't get me wrong, it's still a good film, very good maybe & has one or two brilliant twists but there's too many faults with.
Spoilers
It's a good 20 minutes too long, once Madeline returns as Judy some of the scenes really take a bit of believing. What sort of woman lets a man alter everything about her within 5 minutes of meeting her. If she wanted him to discover her true identity why not say so? She was identical once the clothes were bought.
I wasn't too enthralled with the ending either and thought Gavin may have made another appearance.
I can't make up my mind about James Stewart either. I watch it's a Wonderful Life & Shenandoah & think he plays the part brilliantly and think him the best actor ever. Then I watch this & see him almost identical to most of his other roles, including the aforementioned ones. I get the same emotion watching Adam Sandler or Ross in Friends. They're drab & look like they need a good kick up the backside to put some emotion & ooomph into their lines.
It was a great idea of a plot with a fantastic twist. I just got the feeling it could've been done a bit better, especially the second half.
All that aside though, I'd still recommend this. It's got much of Hitchcocks brilliance in it, but just not as much as some of his other classics.
7/10