A fascinating psychological suspense masterpiece which worked on the audience on several levels...

Rating: 10/10 (9 February 2009)

Scottie Ferguson is a retired detective with a paralyzing fear of heights He had quit detective work after he sees a colleague falling to his death, and nearly he looses his own life at the same time while chasing a crook across some San Francisco rooftops
An old college friend gives him the job of following his blonde wife Madeleine who had some kind of mental problem or might even be possessed from beyond the grave by a figure from the past whose portrait she stares at in a museum
Scottie follows Madeleine around San Francisco and when she tries to drown herself in San Francisco Bay, he rescues her and falls promptly in love with her But Scottie' s vertigo made him powerless to save her when she climbed to the top of the bell tower at the mission at San Juan Batista, and jumped from the tower to her fatal end
Scottie must spend the second part of the movie regaining from the trauma His loyal ex-fiancée Midge helps him overcome his psychological torment
One year later, completely recovered from his nervous breakdown, he meets a red-haired woman who seems the living image of Madeleine...
Stewart gives a terrific performance of a man recognizing his own limits, suffering by his acrophobia... When he is given the chance to pursue this enigmatic woman, his boring life takes on new meaning... He is drawn into her romantic obsession with the past Madeline makes him feel important in her life This is something totally new to his world: a lovely straight-forward woman who takes him into a haunting dream... When he fails to keep her alive, his real world was suddenly shattered
Stewart delivers an accurate portrait of an annoyed human being searching for the unattainable He is a pragmatic man dealing with events in the light of his intuition
Kim Novak is so delicate as Madeleine Her performance is skilled and highly refined She is a pretty woman, very sensitive, not sensual, yet conscious of her charm and magic
This fascinating suspense masterpiece reveals something new with each viewing
Note: Hitchcock appears after eleven minutes of the beginning of the film, walking past a Shipbuilding Co.