Vertigo

 Vertigo

• Director: Alfred Hitchcock
• Seen by this director: Torn Curtain, Marnie, The Birds, Psycho, North by Northwest, The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Trouble with Harry, Rear Window, Rope, Notorious, Spellbound, Rebecca, Jamaica Inn, The 39 Steps
• Based on the book by Pierre Boileau
• Cast: James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes, Tom Helmore, Henry Jones
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• James Stewart – The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Greatest Show on Earth, Bell Book and Candle, Harvey, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Rear Window, Rope, maybe others
• Kim Novak – The Mirror Crack’d, Moll Flanders, Pepe, Bell Book and Candle
• Barbara Bel Geddes – The Five Pennies, TV Series
• Tom Helmore – TV series
• Henry Jones – too many to list
• Why? Stewart, Novak, Hitchcock
• Seen: Once before. Now: 26 November 2021       

       Considered by many to be a masterpiece, possibly even the best film ever made, I find myself disappointed. Acrophobic ex-detective John Ferguson (Stewart) is asked by a good friend to follow his wife Madeleine (Kovak) because she’s been acting peculiar, and he’s worried about her. In one of the most unconvincing romances in cinematic history John falls in love with her.

       The first half is slow with endless close-ups of Stewart driving his car. There are enough twists to keep up the interest, but it gets a bit perverted. Is it possible to not like a James Stewart film? It seems so. But because both Stewart and Novak are good with what they’re given, and because Novak and I share a birthday (a good a reason as any) (she's a few years older) it gets      

3* of 5