Hitchcock was the master of suspense.

Rating: 9/10 (1 April 2004)

Everything, the musical score, the performances, the story line, the dialog all felt right with this production. The attention to the finer details given by Hitchcock was what really set this movie to rights, but it did not hurt that there was real charisma there between Stewart and Novak.
Stewart, who was Hitchcock's ideal for the "average American guy," was nothing less than stellar in his Vertigo performance. His range of talent shows an outright absence of inhibitory characteristics. He goes from the warm yet aloof "Scotty" to the angry and downright mad "Scotty" in such a pure believability that his performance alone is one of the major factors in My assessment of this film as one of Hitchcock's very best.
But where would Stewart's performance be without the full-figured and capable talents of his leading lady? Kim Novak was arguably one of the best talents of this film era. She was perfectly cast in the role of the mysterious yet earthy type lady of wealth who had a slight...problem. But, while her performance here was nothing but pure perfection, I must say I liked her character more in "Bell, Book and Candle."
This story is one for the arm-chair psychiatrists out there; fraught with twists and turns, switch-backs and double-meanings, you could easily find yourself lost if you look away only for a moment. This is definitely a movie for the thinkers, and not the busy-bodies who enjoy watching a movie while doing other things. This story deserves nothing less than your full attention.
While not considered Hitchcock's best work, or even among his best work, while he was still working, this endeavor has come to be known as such since his demise. To look at this now, so many years after its making and see it for the brilliance it was takes only a couple of hours and an adult attention span. He was so far ahead of his time, that his audiences just did not "get" the cruel irony of this attempt and as such, we nearly lost for all time one of the greatest masterpieces of suspense ever made. Only through the hard work and great dedication of those involved was this brilliant work restored.
We are, indeed, fortunate as a society that this was even possible.
IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED THIS MOVIE, THERE ARE MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!!
I loved the cruel irony of the ending. The fact that she had played him so freaking well only to die as her predecessor had. I thought that Hitchcock tried his best to use a fear common to many people; IE: the fear of heights, in order to draw his audience in.
I enjoyed watching Hitchcock's demonstration of Scotty's slow mental spiral as everything began weighing on his subconscious; all the little details, all the tiny pieces that were swimming around in his head. It really looked as though he would snap, when in reality, he was quietly placing each piece into the necessary slot to make the picture come together for him.
I also must comment on the use of the gray suit used by Hitchcock and worn by Kovak. It was used, IMO to make her all the more stunning in the evening gown she wore when Scotty first laid eyes on her.
Everything else she wore after that was black, white or grey, to heighten the beauty of her in that one scene. Grey is usually a bad color for blonds. It washes them out and makes them look like they're wearing green pan for a black and white oldie. But Hitchcock did that on purpose as effect.
Speaking of effects, the camera work here is simply stunning.
That and the whole movie was nothing more than a parable teaching us to face our fears rather than surrender to them.
This was the best in his suspense line.
I loved Psycho, too, but I always considered it more the first in the slasher sub-genre rather than suspense.
This movie rates a solid 8.9/10 from...
the Fiend :.