From among the dead...

Rating: 9/10 (7 September 2005)

Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo" has a narcotizing effect, a lulling, dream-like ambiance that is hard to shake off, which may explain why many viewers keep returning to it. It's also a strangely muted and anticlimactic film, posing yet another possible reason moviegoers watch it repeatedly: they hope (or need) to get more out of it the third or fourth time. Retired police detective James Stewart meets and makes over a woman who reminds him of his only true love--a suicidal woman he lost, but perhaps can find again by dipping back into the past. Hitchcock seemed to relate to Stewart's "Scottie" moreso than any other character in his films, and--having a gleeful touch of nastiness himself--is careful not to let him have his way. Glamour-mystery is gorgeous to take in, fascinatingly written and well-acted. Only one question: is the hotel manager (Ellen Corby) part of the scheme or just a dotty old broad? ***1/2 from ****