Heightened tension

Rating: 7/10 (22 March 2014)

Vertigo is a film whose plot elements have been borrowed many times and has been a huge influence on Brian De Palma.
James Stewart is a San Francisco detective Scottie Ferguson who develops a fear of heights during a rooftop chase in the opening scenes of the film.
An old college friend Gavin Elster hires him to follow his wife Madeleine (Kim Novak) because she might be possessed by some ancestral spirit. Scottie becomes enchanted, even obsessed by Madeleine who he saves from suicide and falls in love. However later throws herself from a church and he is unable to save her because of his fear of heights, Scottie falls into a deep depression.
After he has got better he finds a girl (Judy Barton) who reminds him of Madeleine and he also becomes obsessed with wanting her to look and dress like Madeleine which leads the film to another diversion.
The restored version of this film looks gorgeous although it also highlights the backdrop in Stewart's apartment. Novak in dual roles simply shines and the film is intriguing. Barbara Bel Geddes who has a thing for Scottie disappears half way through the film as her role becomes redundant and James Stewart does well as he again looks to become unhinged once he becomes transfixed with Judy Barton.
However the film's denouement two thirds way of the film feels unsatisfactory and I can see why Hitchcock was not happy about it. The mystery would had been better resolved at the end of the film.