Magical journey into Fear

Rating: 10/10 (5 April 2008)

This is maybe the one time Hitch mixed almost-Fantasy elements with one of the most intense primal fears of mankind: The fear of falling, and built a highly suspenseful mystery around it.
Along with the classic camera moves which depict James Stewart's "vertigo" (Ie, the elongation of one long shot, a camera move which is copied and used and ab-used by director after director: Example, in "Lord of The Rings: Return Of The King" Frodo looks into Shelob's Lair: The closer elements in the shot stay stationary, but the farther elements seem to move away from the camera. This is straight from Vertigo).
This camera trick was possibly originated by Hitch and was used in Vertigo each time James Stewart looks into a Void area: Alfred Hitchcock's depiction of this is the best pictorial representation of fear of heights, mixed with fear of vast open spaces (However this phobia is classified)- This is hard to describe unless the experience is common, Hitchcock must have had the same fear, because his depiction of it matches my experience with it- And so, as Stewart looks down, from the top of the apartment building, and later in the film when he looks straight down the Bell Tower, that visual effect where the far away parts of the image stretch away from the camera view, this gives people who do not have acrophobia and the other related fears a visual representation of what a person with those fears goes through.
And James Stewart's reactions to heights during the film are not too fantastic, especially the standing on the top step of a step-stool, it is not too ridiculous that he had a vertigo attack at that point. It is important for the viewer to understand how debilitating Vertigo and Acrophobia are when mixed together, and Hitch gives us a visual taste of these fears within minutes of the opening shots of the film when Stewart looks down and the world stretches.
Hitch adds to the mix, a story which is almost time-travel or psychic... Kim Novak's character pulls the wool over not only Stewart's eyes, but ours as well. She is at her most convincing when she is looking at the tree rings and saying "I was born around here, and I died here..." We do not know anything but Stewart's fear of heights and his apparent guilt feelings at not being able to prevent an apparent tragedy from occurring... Just in case we do not really understand this Hitch added one of the most fantastic "Dream Sequences" of all his movies, which is rife with clues of all sorts as to what is really going on.
And this dream sequence causes Vertigo to be visually stunning. Although Hitch uses all kinds of tricks during the film to add an unreality and eeriness to the story, Stewart's Dream centers his, and our, fears into the story, and also elements are added that hint to Stewart, and to us, that there is more going on here.
When Stewart finds Judy Barton, as he becomes more and more obsessed with dressing her up as Madeline, the film becomes more and more removed from "reality" - especially when Stewart has an Epiphany, nothing in the shot has any substance but Madeline/Judy- The background becomes washed out, it is as if the only things that exist in our universe are James and Madeline/Judy.
And as the film reaches denouement, this quality reverses until everything looks quite normal.
There are too many aspects of this picture to evaluate: The musical score by Bernard Herrmann is one of his best and one of the most spiritual in any Hitchcock film.
Also the best use of a city as location, San Francisco in the late 50's, and some of the landmarks shown are still there. A lot of the scenery included many places that I remember that endeared San Francisco to me.