One for your classic collection

Rating: Null/10 (31 January 2015)

No collection of movie classics would be complete without at least one film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. "Vertigo" was made at the height of his success, but it was not well- received at the time and only later judged to be one of the Master's greatest works. Based on a French novel, it is a psychological thriller with an odd, unsettling feel, starring James Stewart as the recently retired San Francisco policeman John "Scottie" Ferguson who has the eponymous fear of heights and Kim Novak as Madeleine Elster who appears to be either mentally ill or spiritually possessed.
After an attention-grabbing opening chase sequence on the city's roof tops, the first half of the movie is a slow series of scenes in which the private eye follows the mysterious blonde in a narrative that becomes increasingly bizarre. Suddenly the work changes tack and gear and gradually the first segment is explained but in terms which are deeply disturbing. As well as a jarring sound track, Hitchcock uses a variety of cinematic techniques to throw the viewer off balance including the invention of a technical trick involving simultaneous zoom-in and track-back to convey the sense of vertigo.