Ultra bizarre

Rating: 5/10 (19 February 2019)

Every aspect of this narrative, right from the beginning, bankrupts credulity. Did Scottie fall from the rooftop ? Why is he in a corset ? If he fell, why isn't he as dead as the previous policeman ? Perhaps he is actually dead throughout the film. The scenes with Barbara Bel Geddes are the only natural ones in the whole movie, and she seems like the only genuine human being anywhere around. Moving on to the villainous Gavin Elster's scheme for murdering his wife, this has to be the weirdest plan that was ever devised. One wonders how it was presented in the original book.
As the story progresses, and the virtually insane murder plan for exploiting Scottie's vertigo becomes a little clearer, each incident grows progressively more peculiar. Why does Madeleine go into the flower shop from the back door ? Perhaps it's the only place she can park her car. How does she manage to vanish from the hotel ? Is Scottie hallucinating ? If so, why would he be ? Is he being presented as an incorrigible congenital victim ?
Moving on to Scottie's sudden recovery from his melancholia, unhelped by Mozart (several weeks ? A year ?), we enter the next phase of this impossible tale - the discovery of Judy from Salina, Kansas. Except for the colour of her hair, she is clearly absolutely identical, down to each eyebrow, with the allegedly deceased ex-Mrs Madelaine Elster, and only a blind man could suppose otherwise.
Count me out. I can only think that Hitchcock planned to amuse himself by inducing vertigo in his audience. This is just not a good film. Unrewarding in every way. I identify with Scottie, as a dupe. Perhaps that's what makes it clever, but I still don't know why I've given it 5 stars.