Vertigo (Collector's Edition)
by Alfred Hitchcock
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Actor: Barbara Bel Geddes, Henry Jones, James Stewart, Kim Novak, Tom HelmoreDirector: Alfred Hitchcock
Brand: Universal Studios
DVD: 2 Layers, Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled)
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Collector's Edition, Color, Dolby, DVD, Letterboxed, NTSC, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Letterbox, 1.85:1
Running Time: 128 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1998-03-31
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Universal Studios
DVD Reviews of Vertigo (Collector's Edition)
DVD Review: The downward spiral...
Summary: 4 Stars
Hitchcock's "Vertigo" (1958) is about a San Francisco detective, John "Scottie" Ferguson (James Stewart) who has acrophobia (vertigo). He is hired as a private detective, after having retired from police work, by Gavin Elster (Tom Helmore), in order to follow his delusional wife, Madeleine Elster (Kim Novak). Though after a time, it is Scottie who is apparently losing his mind. There is a haunting scene at Muir Woods National Monument, among the coastal redwoods, where Madelaine has slipped away from Scottie. The forest acts here like a metaphor for his decent in a labyrinth of confusion.
When Madeleine gets ahead of him at the Mission at San Juan Bautista he realizes his mistake, and chases her up the tower, but he is too late to help as his vertigo prevents him from catching up to her, and he sees her fall from the roof top. Scottie's guilt pesters him from this point on, and he begins to see Madeleine whenever he sees a blond. This is Scottie's hell on earth as his obsession takes over and he circles back to the same moment, again and again. He seems to be losing his mind, and is eventually confined temporarily to a sanitarium. Once Scottie is out of the sanitarium he eventually finds a girl who looks a lot like Madeleine. We wonder if he has lost his mind, and is only seeing what he wants to see.
The vertigo that Scottie experiences, which is repeated in various circular motifs throughout the film, from spiral stairways, to the circular form of Madeleine's hair style, seems to be pointing Scottie down a vortex of confusion, as his life gets ever more lost in a madness that he can't seem to control. Hitchcock employs many ingenious devices to convey Scottie's plunge into insanity, from dream sequences, to scenes that spiral about him. In one brilliant scene Scottie and Judy are embracing in a room that spirals about them to reveal them now in a horse stall, and then again in the room, with the background turning to a brilliant, hypnotic blue. It is scenes like this, and the hypnotic pacing, as the film progressively speeds up, that reveal this movie to be the masterpiece that it is. In the last half of the movie we see why Hitchcock is the master of suspense. The film builds to a feverish pitch as Scottie's passion, and obsession, seem to be overriding his reason.
As a footnote, this film has been remastered. The original film was badly faded, and has been greatly improved through modern techniques. In October 1996, the restored "Vertigo" premiered for the first time in DTS, and 70mm, which is a format similar in frame size to the VistaVision system that the film was originally shot in. The one caveat though is that Foley's sound effects were totally re-recorded. Harris and Katz sometimes also added extra sounds, and it is said that the new mix puts too much emphasis on the film score by Bernard Hermann over the sound effects. For one wanting to hear the original mono track it is available as an option in the 2005 Hitchcock Masterpiece Collection DVD set.
DVD Review: Faulty story line though
Summary: 5 Stars
It wasn't until I saw this film in colour and in widescreen that I realized what a great film it is. When I watched it in black and white and in TV format it always looked very long and dull. The reason for the dullness is that there is a serious fault in the story telling. The story is in two equal blocks with a linear plot running through, but the story thread gets broken at the end of the first block which leaves a big lull over the inquest that follows. I think that this would have been fixed if the ending of the first block had had a man peering over from the top of the tower and watching as James Stewart walks away. This would have created intrigue over the inquest.
The worst error is in the second block where Kim Novak reveals to the audience that she is the woman who was in the first block of the story. This not only makes the audience aware of itself (which a story teller should never do) but it ruins the recovered intrigue and also drains the ending of all its dramatic power and intrigue. I used to edit this out when I taped it on a video and the ending is very powerful that way, and the story was a lot stronger and didn't seem so long. That way the film is more than a thriller, it is a powerful drama as well.
This is the only film of Hitchcock's that I can think of where the story telling is faulty. Magnificent film making otherwise. Should have been his best.
DVD Review: Obsession and Tragedy
Summary: 5 Stars
Spoiler Warning; Do Not Read Further If You Haven't Seen the Film
(This is an analysis of the film from start to finish)
Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo" is a movie worth exploring, studying, knowing. If I were to compose a list of my favorite films, "Vertigo" would surely be up in the top twenty. It is a masterpiece of cinema.
The opening credits show parts of a woman's face (not the entire face, mind you, but parts or pieces... incomplete sections of someone, like a puzzle) in black and white, and we zoom into the eye which soon changes to red. Bernard Hermann's wonderful and haunting music here is an arpeggio effect (the melody sinking and rising in a repetitive cycle) that reminds me of a whirlpool that can pull us down into the abyss. Then the titles reveal a graphic of a swirling vortex of blue and then violet and emerald, gold, pink, and back to red again.
A rooftop chase proves dangerous to Scottie, and we see that striking and famous dolly zoom --first developed by Irmin Roberts, a Paramount second-unit cameraman-- a combination shot of zooming in and of simultaneously moving backwards (a shot which we will see again later); it's a dizzying effect, I remember seeing this used in "Jaws" on Roy Scheider during a beach scene when he sees something sinister in the water. The shot is also used in "Goodfellas", "E.T.", and other films. The technique is disorienting because it is two things at once--pulling away and also closing in. This is appropriate for "Vertigo" and its duality, and its vertigo.
Retired detective Scottie has a bad back and he suffers from fear of heights. We will find that he has several problems, some emotional, some physical, and psychological. His designer pal Midge (who calls him Johnny-o) is in love with him. They have a history. Scottie reveals that a college friend named Gavin Elster has been in touch with him. Sidebar: Right now as I view the film I actually wish I could look at this story without knowing what's to come. Innocent things, we will discover before long, are not so. And Gavin Elster is not a good person.
At 11:17 in the movie we see Hitchcock's brief cameo as he walks across the scene. Elster seems to be doing nicely with his big desk and polished leather furniture (it's actually his wife's family's shipbuilding business). Elster wants Scottie to follow his wife Madeline because he's worried about her behavior. Elster mentions something about obsession with, or possession by, the dead. His wife has been acting strangely. (It is a very elaborate ruse, really, for just wanting a witness to Elster's wife's demise.)
At Ernie's resturant Scottie sees Gavin and his wife. The place is red (the wall fabric in particular stands out, almost garishly). Madeline's black gown's wrap is green satin. It stands out like a beacon in that sea of red. She walks and stops, and we linger on her profile. So, Scottie begins to trail Madeline. It will be the start of something that will become his downfall in certain ways. (Hermann's score as Scottie drives around is subtle and tense at the same time.) As he follows her into an alley it feels like we are in film noir territory.
At 21:02 Madeline stands surrounded by flowers in a composition that's nearly suitable for framing. There's something so artistic and visual about "Vertigo"; parts of it are painterly. I have always felt that not only is it a very sad movie but also very unusual visually.
And there is one of Hitchcock's famous cool blonde women in gray clothes, her hair done in such a "just so" manner. She's alluring but also distant. She pulls you in but you're not sure if you should even approach.
Notice, we always are shown Madeline from the back or the side, rarely do we see her from the front (like when someone speaks to you but they do not look you straight in the eye?). I think this is intentional, and there are so many intentional little details like that packed into this movie.
She visits the grave of a Carlotta Valdes (Madeline's great grandmother, according to Gavin Elster) even though she has no idea whose grave it is, and then visits a painting of Carlotta that does not look unlike Madeline--even the twist in the hairstyle. (Scottie has no clue he is being deceived, of course, but knowing that he IS just makes me pity him, even though I also find his behavior later in the film to be questionable and immoral.)
She goes to McKittrick's Hotel (the old Valdes home); Ellen Corby (familiar character actress who would play Grandma Walton on TV) is at the front desk; she's been oiling her rubber plant. The mystery deepens as the mature woman says that the lady is not upstairs, even though Scottie (and we) saw her in the window from street level. She's gone, as is her car. Elusive, this lady.
Sometimes I wonder if Hitchcock, while making these mysterious films, had any inkling of how much they might be studied and enjoyed and marveled at long after they were created. Was he making them for himself, or for the audience, or both? In some of his movies there is so much more going on than what is just in front of us. He must have been very meticulous, a perfectionist, because you can see it in his work. Everything is a certain way. Almost nothing is meaningless.
Even taken at face value (if I didn't know the movie's plot), this "Vertigo" story so far is riveting stuff-- a woman who might be possessed by a dead person whom she knows nothing about. Very intriguing notion.
I hate to think what this movie would be without the glorious music of Bernard Hermann. This may be one of my favorite scores ever made. His music is so emotional and powerful.
Another nicely-composed image at 42:20, Madeline at the bridge. It is here where Scottie has to reveal himself to her in order to save her life. He jumps into the water and we know he is now in deep. Too deep. All this business that Elster has set up has been helping Scottie fall for her, I think. It has given her a mysteriousness and magnetism. At Scottie's place, looking at Kim Novak, we see that she is not a flawless beauty. She's interesting looking and easy on the eyes. Her voice (as Elster's wife) is refined and sexy, and it almost sounds like there's an accent there somewhere. Is this for Scottie's benefit, to make her seem all the more appealing and exotic? There begins a chemistry between the two.
She is deceiving him for Gavin Elster, and Scottie is falling for his married friend's wife. She is a femme fatale but we will see that she is more. Elster and she are planning to kill his real wife who is wealthy.
So much of the chase here, of Scottie tailing/stalking Madeline, is downhill... his car goes downhill a lot, as though he is falling. In love. In danger.
Next time we see Madeline she is in a striking white coat with black clothes and gloves, and a sheer black scarf. Very chic, no question. She is elegant and has taste, that's obvious... unless it is Elster who has dressed her and coached her. Pieces of the puzzle remain unsolved here as to this deception. How intricate was it, how much time went into creating the false Madeline?
After viewing the redwood trees, they are by the sea. Scottie is trying to help her understand these strange occurrences but she thinks she might be mad. (Her telling him "I'm not mad" could be taken as "I'm not Madeline", couldn't it?) The music soars and they kiss. Their first kiss.
At the old Batista mission and museum, Madeline and Scottie confess their love. She then rushes to the bell tower. His vertigo prevents him from catching up with her (something Elster knew would happen). We see that dolly zoom again, twice, as Scottie looks down. But he is too late. He hears her scream and sees her body fall from the tower.
At this point we are devastated for Scottie because he has lost someone very special to him.
At 1:24 is Scottie's dream, a mix of colors and animation and music. He's been in a mental hospital, no longer himself. His guilt and remorse have taken over. Midge is still the steadfast, stalwart chum. The people in this story are a sad bunch, even Midge. She has an unhealthy fixation with Scottie. He had an unhealthy fixation with Madeline, and he's about to have another with Judy.
Now, Scottie finding Judy (who we see in a prominent profile angle) is simply one of those magical Hollywood coincidences that we accept because it's fiction. When he tries to make her over we realize how desperate he truly is. He wants to recapture the past love but at the expense of her own identity. And Judy lets him. They are both really messed up.
Much has been said about Hitchcock's treatment of women in his films. They are often portrayed as objects. In "Vertigo" the woman is not exactly painted in a flattering light. Judy is Elster's illict lover and co-conspirator in his wife's murder; she falls hard for Scottie but still goes through with the murder.
Novak's Judy is very different from her Madeline. The voice, demeanor, walk, body language. Judy is more common, unpolished, earthy. It's a good dual role. When Judy has a flashback (shared with only the audience), the mystery is revealed. She then writes a letter telling Scottie everything. And then tears it to pieces. Another bad decision by one of Hitchcock's females.
The `Hotel Empire' sign is a vivid green. Green and red, red and green. Opposites. Together the colors pop. Warm and cool, female and male. Judy's silhouette in front of the curtains (tinged in green by the neon) is striking.
Scottie's makeover of Judy is pathetic and disturbing. He is erasing her and creating a second Madeline. Her first instinct is to refuse the alteration but he insists. This has got to be killing Judy. Novak is very good here, you can just feel that Judy is broken and sad and eaten by guilt (just as Scottie was consumed by guilt).
I just feel so many different things for these two characters: repulsion, pity, sympathy. Really, can there be any happiness for them, together or on their own?
For me the most powerful shot in the film comes after her transformation (as the music slowly builds to an aching crescendo), at 1:55:15 as she steps out of what seems like a diaphanous green mist or dreamy haze.
It is at this moment that the sadness of this story becomes extremely powerful. Love based on lies and obsession. Such strong desire but at what cost?
When they kiss they are transported to the mission stables. But a moment later it's back to normal.
Time passes. All is happy on the surface but then Scottie gets a glimpse of Madeline's necklace and the truth jolts him like a bee sting. What must a person in his current situation and mindset feel? Seething rage? Utter heartbreak? Icy betrayal?
Scottie, livid and rigid, takes Judy to the bell tower. What does he intend to do? His vertigo appears (with that dolly zoom again) but he presses on, overcoming it. "Did he train you? Did he rehearse you?" says Scottie in his rage. He knows she loves him; she wouldn't have kept the necklace if she wasn't madly in love. She thinks there's still a chance for them. One more kiss, and then a figure appears from the shadows.
This ending is like an open wound to me. But a story like this could not end happily, could it? This is one of Alfred Hitchcock's most emotional and personal stories, no question. It goes places where we usually avoid, it delves the darkest nether regions of the soul. And it's a treat because it's not what it seems, with layers and meanings beneath the surface.
For me, Hitchcock's three best creations will always be "Rear Window", "Psycho", and "Vertigo". "Vertigo" remains one of the most powerful and beautiful films created.
DVD Review: 1958 Hitchcock
Summary: 5 Stars
One of Hitchcock's best films, which still holds up today, on DVD. Primarily, because it is a very visual film, at times, almost dream like, supported by the Bernard Hermann score, and the acting talents of Jimmy Stewart.DVD Review: An Overwhelming Film Experience
Summary: 5 Stars
Alfred Hitchcock's VERTIGO is without question a masterpiece and quite possibly the master's
greatest, most personal work. I have recently viewed and viewed again the restored DVD version of VERTIGO and I doubt that I have ever had such an overwheling home viewing experience.
The colors, the music and especially the different scenes, like moving paintings in some cases,
were an overwhelming sensory experience for me. And James Stewart, Barbara Bel Geddes and especially the underrated Kim Novak were the charismatic stars in a cast of more than able
players who brought this improbable story to life in a beautiful yet realistically artful
way.
I know that there are, well, how many do you need, Hitchcock films that could be called classics but at this point in my Hitchcock viewing career VERTIGO takes the bue ribbon prize.
The story concerns James Stewart playing Scotty Ferguson, a retired San Francisco police detective who suffered vertigo during a chase which led to the accidental death of a another policeman. Scotty's having a hard time dealing with his guilt and eventually, trying to find something to occupy his mind and his time, attempts to help an old college chum who is fearful that his wife is slowly going insane.
One complication leads to another and before the viewer knows it he is smack dab in the middle of a ghostly romance as well as a possible murder case. This is the sort of film that invites repeat viewings not just because of the twists and turns of the story but again, because of the way it is built, one amazing scene framed by remarkable music after another.
I was going to try to explain why I feel that this is Hitchcock's most personal film but
that might be giving too much away which I do not want to do.
But I do give the DVD release of a restored VERTIGO an unqualified rave.
Description of Vertigo (Collector's Edition)
Considered by many to be director Alfred Hitchcock's greatest achievement, Leonard Maltin gives Vertigo four stars, hailing it as "A genuinely great motion picture." Set among San Francisco's renown landmarks, James Stewart is brilliant as Scottie Ferguson, an acrophobic detective hired to shadow a friend's suicidal wife, Madeleine (Kim Novak). After he saves her from drowning in the bay, Scottie's interest shifts from business to fascination with the icy, alluring blonde. When he finds another woman remarkably like his lost love, the now obsessed detective must unravel the secrets of the past to find the key to his future.Although it wasn't a box-office success when originally released in 1958, Vertigo has since taken its deserved place as Alfred Hitchcock's greatest, most spellbinding, most deeply personal achievement. In fact, it consistently ranks among the top 10 movies ever made in the once-a-decade Sight & Sound international critics poll, placing at number 4 in the most recent survey. (Universal Pictures' spectacularly gorgeous 1996 restoration and rerelease of this 1958 Paramount production was a tremendous success with the public, too.) James Stewart plays a retired police detective who is hired by an old friend to follow his wife (a superb Kim Novak, in what becomes a double role), whom he suspects of being possessed by the spirit of a dead madwoman. The detective and the disturbed woman fall ("fall" is indeed the operative word) in love and...well, to give away any more of the story would be criminal. Shot around San Francisco (the Golden Gate Bridge and the Palace of the Legion of Honor are significant locations) and elsewhere in Northern California (the redwoods, Mission San Juan Batista) in rapturous Technicolor, Vertigo is as lovely as it is haunting. --Jim Emerson
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