If there’s ever a list (and I’m quite sure there is) of movies that simply have to be seen – Vertigo is one of them. It represents legendary director Alfred Hitchcock in top form, and from various stand points this is his possibly his best film, and working on a level that few others can even come close to.
A San Francisco detective suffering from acrophobia after a recent incident is hired to investigate the wife of an old college friend, all the while becoming dangerously obsessed with her.
I don’t think the skill of Hitchcock as a filmmaker can be denied. Like the best of directors out there, he knew exactly what he wanted and wasn’t going to let anyone change his vision. No matter how complicated, difficult or time-consuming the task at hand might be, Hitchcock got his way and without that his films just wouldn’t be the same. It could be argued that is no truer than with Vertigo, one of his many masterpieces. Although not overall his absolute finest work — in my opinion that would be Psycho — but there’s no doubting just how fantastic this film is.
From the opening frame the film has you in its grip, with one of the most memorable and haunting title sequences in all of film, and then it quickly moves on to an invigorating chase sequence atop some building rooftops. This is quite clearly a warning or sign of sorts, with the death of the policeman and the camera technique resulting in the viewer feeling a bit of vertigo themselves, that the rest of what you’re going to see is going to be quite something. It’s one of Vertigo’s many impressive elements — that the film stays with you long after it’s finished, still after 50 years it’s as brilliant as I imagine it was when it was originally released.
Vertigo is one of many of Hitchcock’s films which has influenced a generous of filmmakers ever since. People like Steven Spielberg, Brian DePalma and even off-kilter director David Lynch have all taken something from this movie and put it into their films somewhere or other. I’m sure Hitchcock would be infinitely proud if he knew just how much his films have influenced and how much they’re embraced by almost everyone in the business and film goers alike.
When it was released back in 1958 this was seen as “just another Hitchcock thriller”. But in hindsight many leading film critics and historians proclaim it his greatest achievement, which is something quite peculiar. Is it that Hitchcock simply made too many films within a certain time that it caused people to not recognise its true quality or is it that time has just plainly been good to it? Many films age like a fine wine and I am sure Vertigo is one of them.
.jpg?t=20120527181101)
Article comments