One of the Master's weaker efforts

Rating: 3/10 (13 September 2000)

"Vertigo" is often hailed as a masterpiece, but it's difficult to see why. The film runs 128 minutes, but feels like 240 while it pursues ultimately unimportant mysteries involving long-dead non-characters. The logic-defying plot, as many have pointed out, is convoluted to the point that it makes almost no sense, and the abrupt ending comes out of nowhere. The ending is so bizarre that I couldn't help but burst out laughing the first time I saw it. Stewart's performance is OK, but his character borders on the psychotic, and one can't help but wonder why Novak didn't just tell him to get lost. Barbara Bel Geddes turns in a nice performance, and then abruptly disappears for the last half of the film. Herrmann's score is noteworthy, but not as memorable as those of "Psycho" and "North By Northwest." I've seen 35 of Hitchcock's films; this one ranks near the bottom, right alongside "Rich and Strange" and "The Man Who Knew Too Much" (1934.) Pass on this one; try "Frenzy" instead. Two stars.