Fine puzzler from Hitchcock.

Rating: 9/10 (7 August 2007)

The initial critical verdict of Vertigo was that it was not one of Alfred Hitchcock's better films. Time has turned it into his most analyzed and revisited movie and, in the eyes of many, his masterpiece. I still don't subscribe to the opinion that this is Hitchcock's greatest film (give me The Thirty Nine Steps, Foreign Correspondent or North By Northwest) but it is certainly a wonderfully absorbing mystery, and the original indifference that greeted the film from critics and audiences was totally unjust. It takes multiple viewings to fully appreciate what Hitchcock is up to in this movie - it is a sophisticated and multi-layered film that grows in stature the more times you view it.
San Francisco cop John "Scottie" Ferguson (James Stewart) has a hair-raising escapade on a rooftop while chasing a robber. Thereafter, he develops vertigo (a fear of heights) and retires from the force. Some while later Scottie is contacted by his old friend Gavin Elster (Tom Helmore) who wants to hire him for a little unofficial private detective work. Elster is worried by his wife's increasingly outlandish behaviour - she seems to go into a dreamy state of mind and wanders off for hours on end without any explanation as to where she has been. Scottie's job is to tail her and learn where she goes. The mystery thickens when Scotties starts following Madeline Elster (Kim Novak).... the more he learns about her and her wanderings, the more it seems that she is possessed by the spirit of her long-deceased ancestor Carlotta Valdes. Eventually Scottie saves Madeline when she tries to drown herself in San Francisco Bay, and soon after they fall in love. But just as Scottie begins to make headway into her psychological problems, she kills herself by leaping from a bell tower. Scottie is left in a state of mental shock but later, following his release from hospital, he bumps into a woman named Judy (Novak again) who is the exact double of Madeline....
Hitchcock generates a stunning air of mystery with Vertigo, coaxing brilliant performances from Stewart and Novak and using the location of San Francisco as almost a third leading "character" in his story. Stewart's obsession with Novak, and his descent into madness as he grieves over his inability to protect her, is brilliantly portrayed. As ever - in fact, more so than ever - Hitchcock keeps the audience off-balance with his disorientating camera work, ingenious plotting and atmospheric use of colour. Bernard Herrmann contributes a haunting score (his fourth for Hitchcock) that heightens the passion and suspense even further. The solution when it comes is extremely clever, and proves (as if proof is needed) that Hitchcock has a masterful touch when it comes to clever plot twists. The film's chief drawbacks, for me, are the excessively studied pacing in the first half, and the somewhat abrupt ending. On the whole, though, this is a superb film which is always a pleasure to come back to.