I love Hitchcock but...

Rating: 5/10 (26 September 2013)

Although often regarded as one of Hitchcock's finest thrillers, Vertigo failed to impress me as much as I had hoped. There are the expected Hitchcock visual flourishes (plus one really trippy scene that is downright freaky), the dreamlike score by Bernard Hermann is suitably eerie, and Barbara Bel Geddes plays a fun character, but most other aspects of this so-called classic left me cold.
James Stewart is rather wooden in his role but is suitably matched by Kim Novak, whose pencilled eyebrows have more screen presence than the rest of her (not surprising given how huge they are!); Hitch must have been directing on Valium, such is the slowness of the pace; and the story is really mundane, with little in the way of excitement or suspense save for the opening rooftop chase scene. Quite what other Hitchcock fans are raving about when they claim this is amongst his best work is beyond me—I struggled to stay awake.