Cantilevered

Rating: 7/10 (19 April 2006)

To cut to the chase, this is not Hitchcock's best whole work, but the components are noteworthy.
The "Vertigo" hinges on the 'pull back/focus in' gag, repeated enough times to have a comic effect. Other than that, the camera has little to say...it has far less curiosity than "Psycho"'s camera, for instance.
It does have some clever self-reference...Helmore is the 'director' who knows how to use 'actors'. The narrative turns when our surrogate 'writer' cum detective, Stewart, tries to direct the vision, by reconstructing Novak from 'Judy', back to 'Madeleine'.
But Hitchcock leans out too far here, twice, and thus it collapses. Geddes tries to cast herself in Stewart's 'starring role', but spoils the vision. And having nowhere to go narratively, Novak is 'cast out'.
Don't see this especially for the plot or vision, but do experience it for that magnificent cascading Herrmann score, which is flawless.