CLASSIC CINEMA 101: Alfred Hitchcock's VERTIGO (1958) A review excerpt by Joe Barlow Copyright 1999 Joe Barlow
The easiest way to identify a master filmmaker is to observe how well his or her work holds up to multiple viewings. All too often a story's luster fades quickly--even a movie beloved during the initial screening can feel stale and formulaic the second time around. The rare film which actually demands more attention on subsequent viewings is to be cherished indeed.
Vertigo may not be Alfred Hitchcock's best film, but it's probably his richest--the one that keeps calling us back for further analysis, the one hardest to release from our minds after the end credits roll. The story, adapted from the French novel D'Entre Les Morts (From Among the Dead), is certainly one of cinema's most compelling, as famous for its magnificent construction as its actual entertainment value. A rich masterpiece of macabre obsession, Vertigo is not so much a movie as a web that entangles and ensnares both the characters and audience.
John "Scottie" Ferguson (played by Hitchcock regular James Stewart, in the last film they would make together) is a detective who leaves the force after a near-fatal misstep during a rooftop chase leaves him with an incapacitating fear of heights. Having little to occupy his time, Scottie answers a plea for help from an old college friend, Gavin Elster (Tom Helmore). Elster confides to Scottie that his (Elster's) wife, Madeleine, may be in danger:
GAVIN: "I'm afraid some harm may come to her."
SCOTTIE: "From whom?"
GAVIN: "Someone dead."
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