Heady stuff

Rating: 8/10 (4 August 2012)

I thought I'd sit down and watch the best film ever made but I picked this one instead. And what a wonderfully silly film it still is too! It's not the type of film I can watch too often, but once I reach a certain point I always find myself completely immersed in its dreamlike ambiguities. It was a superb creation from a master storyteller, Alfred Hitchcock knew his craft so perfectly after over 30 years in the business that it's hardly surprising that Vertigo still delights people today. Whether it's a better film than Citizen Kane though is perhaps a question to leave to the experts  to get wrong.
Ex-police detective James Stewart is hired by old friend to follow and make sure his wife Kim Novak is alright as she doesn't appear to be alright in the head. Stewart falls in love with Novak, and later vice versa. And literally head over heels too! She apparently commits suicide with vertigo-struck Stewart unable to prevent her. But be warned: what begins improbably continues implausibly and climaxes almost impossibly. I've seen it quite a few times since it was first on UK TV in the '80's (copyright problems held it and some other Hitchcock films off the box till then) but once seen and you know who's leading who up the garden path it can lose a bit of its power. It's slightly unsettling watching Stewart as a middle-aged stalker then as a perceived pervert, but Novak soon puts minds at rest in the pivotal scene when she's trying to write her confession. As with a few other films the music actually makes it much better – Bernard Herrmann's score is actually essential to the enjoyment of this; it's insistent and weaves in and out revolving around everything in here. Favourite bit: the love scene of course, I just hope you hear it in stereo!
Nice acting (Stewart's best performance outside of It's A Wonderful Life), memorable photogenic locations, lovely lilting music, grippingly mad story, tremendous production values and direction – who could ask for anything more? One of the best films ever made depending on the size of the list, mine would probably have at least 100 titles in it to be included.