The master at his most masterful

Rating: 9/10 (28 March 2009)

Initially a commercial and critical failure, "Vertigo" has settled in as one of Hitchcock's best films if not his masterpiece. Twisting a simple mystery into a psychological thriller, Hitchcock wraps the audience around his finger while Saul Bass' pioneering computer graphics and Bernard Herrmann's intensifying score apply the jewels to this crowning achievement.
"Vertigo" reunited Hitchcock with an "aging" James Stewart in the lead role as John "Scottie" Ferguson, a bachelor detective in San Francisco who's retired early after developing a severe acrophobia that causes bouts of vertigo. Yet old friend Gavin Elster (Tom Helmore) convinces him to privately take on a personal case – follow Elster's wife, Madeleine (Kim Novak), who has been acting strangely lately, as if possessed. Scottie begins tailing her, and becomes deeply wrapped up in the case, and Madeleine.
As Scottie stalks Madeleine for answers, Hitchcock flexes his slow- build suspense muscles. Scottie quietly follows her all over the bay, and we observe from a distance, as he does, Madeleine's strange behavior. It's in this early portion that Samuel A. Taylor's screenplay (as loosely adapted by Alec Coppel from a novel by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac) dangles the suggestion of the supernatural, which Hitchcock giddily uses to his advantage. It gives him greater permission to play with color and lighting in different ways to further beguile the audience. Herrmann also takes this license to add more creepy elements to his score. He perfectly matches every tone Hitchcock sets in this fim.
After a traumatic first act climax, "Vertigo" starts to transform. Scottie becomes a completely different character and we start to understand him as our protagonist less and less. Whereas Stewart's age was reportedly assigned much of the blame for the film's early failure, his talent and experience serves him well in the second act, which is where "Vertigo" goes from entertaining to brilliant. He's a man haunted and obsessed, and coming from the always likable Jimmy, this has a powerfully tormenting effect on the audience.
Capped off by one of the best endings of all time – a finale that elevates every aspect of the movie, including its occasional weaknesses – "Vertigo" earns its spot in the top tier of Hitchcock films and all-time thrillers (and as the consensus best film of all time in the venerated "Sight & Sound" critics poll of 2012). Even if you're not quite that high on it, "Vertigo" easily stands as a showcase for a veteran auteur who has honed his craft and strengths to an exceptional level.
~Steven C
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