Flawed and still one of Hitchcock's best

Rating: 8/10 (19 June 2010)

"Vertigo" has to be one of Hitchcock's most personal films, along with "Rear Window". The story may be a bit convoluted for the average movie goer, but as a great lover of Hitchcock's films, I try to ignore some of the unbelievable plots and twists, and find "Vertigo" a haunting, beautiful film.
Along with another of Hitchcock's best, "North by Northwest", "Vertigo" has some incredulous plot elements, but Hitchcock may be best along with the mentality of the Marx Brothers' "Duck Soup": to hell with a credible story line, but "Vertigo", like "North by Northwest", and like "Duck Soup", is great entertainment. Only one man could produce films like "Psycho", "North by Northwest" and "Vertigo". And that is Sir Alfred Hitchcock.
My main problem with "Vertigo" is in the casting itself. Jimmy Stewart, one of the most beloved actors in the history of the screen, has almost no competition (with the exception of Henry Fonda) when it comes to playing the "Everyman".
"Rear Window" saw a rather quirky Stewart, but anyone would go a little nuts with a leg cast on in a New York summer. In "Vertigo", he ably plays the former cop who must retire because of his terrible fear of heights.
But then we are asked to believe that he becomes obsessed with a woman strangely haunted by the dead. The necrophiic undertones, the clothing fetishes - these may exist in the mind of Alfred Hitchcock, but I find it a bit of a stretch for Stewart to pull off.
For me, Stewart's persona is just too "normal" to be believed in his role as "Scotty".
Other than that, I don't find much wrong with this film. It's a complicated tale that you need to watch more than once. That may be another of the film's flaws.
Herrmann's music is beautiful, and so is Kim Novak (in easily her best film role) as "Madeline".
One of the most effective scenes is when Scotty and Madeline go the the redwood forest. The counting of the rings of the tree make us feel Madeline's, and our own, mortality.
"Vertigo" is a more complicated "Rear Window". But the themes of "Rear Window" are more recognizable to the audience. It is a personal film and a crowd pleaser (as was "North by Northwest") at the same time. "Vertigo" is even more personal, like seeing one too many skeletons in the Hitchcock closet. And its dark theme is an acquired taste.