Overrated

Rating: Null/10 (1 March 1999)

This film is vastly overrated because of myriad problems.
#1. Kim Novak and Jimmy Stewart are atrocious. Stewart has the range of Farley Granger. Novak is a cardboard. (N.B. actually Hitch's 2nd choice but Vera Miles (Lila Crane in Psycho) became pregnant and pulled out.) #2 the themes are too personal and not universal or significant enough. This is about Hitchcock's 15th best. True the cinematography is great but that is because he sacrificed substance in favor of style. He was too concerned with creating a dreamlike ambiance to present a structured thematically-profound work. It is the type of film to see but not analyze.