Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958): USA
Reviewed by Kelvin Matthews. Viewed on DVD.
Vertigo embellishes so many of the themes and personal styles that made Hitchcock an auteur and one of the greatest film directors to ever live. The film simply keeps the viewer thrilled and enthralled with a narrative and characters that seem to enter your heart and simply fascinate you, as you are caught in the grasp of a story you hope will never end. While Vertigo was seen by many as a departure from Hitchcock’s earlier works, it is no less magnificent as Hitchcock seems to marvel at keeping the audience in suspense and guessing with every twist and turn in this story.
The setting for Hitchcock’s “Vertigo” takes place in beautiful San Francisco as the audience is first introduced to Detective “Scottie” Ferguson (James Stewart) as he is pursuing a criminal across the city’s rooftops. While pursuing the criminal Scottie attempts to follow another policeman who is running ahead of him and who has jumped across to another building with a slanted angle rooftop. When Scottie attempts that same maneuver, he stumbles and soon discovers he has acrophobia as he look down and is left hanging onto a rain gutter by his fingertips. As he struggles to hold on to the rain gutter and struggles as well with his newly found “vertigo,” the second policeman returns when see’s Scottie in trouble, but as he leans over and attempts to pull Scottie up, he looses his balance and falls to his death in an amazing twist of fate. Tremendously shaken by this event and his fear of heights Scottie retires from the police force.
After going into retirement, he is later convinced by a long time college acquaintance to do some work for him as a private investigator, as he has become suspicious of his wife because of a change in her behavior. He has come to think that his wife may be going insane because of his wife’s belief that she is possessed by one of her dead ancestors. As Scottie follows Madeline (Kim Novak) he seemingly becomes mesmerized by her grace and beauty, and much like the characters in some Hitchcock’s other films Scottie becomes obsessed with her and Madeline becomes the object of his male gaze and the many twists and turns that will follow.
In the opening scene of “Vertigo” Hitchcock does a beautiful job of setting the mood for this film and introducing the audience to the characters. The feeling of suspense is set early in the film as we see Scottie literally clinging to save his life. With this films magnificent point of view shots and attention to detail, Hitchcock gives the audience a glimpse of his own feelings and obsessions, and his desire to design a woman into the kind of woman he may desire.
Vertigo is simply a masterpiece of film work as this psychological thriller not only entertains you, but intrigues your mind and finds a place in your heart, as the audience becomes an unknowing participant in the film and like Scottie a voyeur. Hitchcock’s stunning use of noir techniques such as his use of low key lighting to create shadows, the beautiful cinematography and his brilliant use of the camera and superb editing techniques makes you feel as if you the viewer may have vertigo yourself and life is spiraling out of control as you see life from the point of view of Scottie. Hitchcock used a beautifully new technique called the “dolly zoom” which involved the camera zooming in and zooming out to create the vertigo effect, as well as a beautiful musical score to compliment that effect and mood of spiraling out of control.
Hitchcock’s use of low key lighting to create shadows is especially effective in the final scene and in my opinion should be watched if only for that one scene, but you would do yourself an injustice by not watching this film in its entirety.
Hitchcock’s familiar use of landmarks such as San Francisco’s beautiful Mission Delores Church and the Palace of the Legion of Honor art museum makes the mise en scene of this film one of the most beautiful settings I have seen on screen and one of the most romantic. It is easy to see why San Francisco became a popular setting for a number of Hitchcock films.
Another familiar plot device seen in this film, as well as a number of other Hitchcock films was Hitchcock’s use of the staircase which plays a major role in the narrative of this film as Scottie tries to overcome his vertigo in order to reach the top of the church bell tower and save Madeleine.
The themes and filming techniques such as the dolly zoom and Hitchcock’s use of the MacGuffin, such as Scottie’s fear of heights and the mysterious painting helped to serve as catalysts in this film and keeps the audience guessing. As this film was a departure from his previous works, this film captures the essence of themes that were rebellious and new to the screen at that time, such as voyeurism necrophilia and scopophilia, as well as a common Hitchcock theme that projected the effect of the past on the present. This film also depicted something that was especially thrilling and identifiable to Hitchcock films and an especially effective in this film as Jimmy Stewart (Scottie) played the morally ambiguous character whose morality and stability is greatly shifted and taken off balance because of his interest and obsession with a Madeleine.
Scottie is an interesting and complex character that makes the viewer feel a number of emotions throughout the film, as his morally ambiguous character is very likeable early in the film but changes into someone the audience can barely tolerate later in the film due to his strange and obsessive behavior. By the final act one can’t help but set aside his mistakes, and have compassion and sympathy for him as he has fallen in love with a married women and then losses her to death.
It is ironic how Hitchcock could take such a story and turn it into a masterpiece as Hitchcock masterfully control’s this story and what he wants the viewer to experience and feel.
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