Retro Film Review: Vertigo (1958)

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Sometimes films can be like wine – getting better as they age. Such examples are, however, very rare and the author of this review can name only a few examples of films he considered better with each subsequent viewing. One such film was Vertigo, the 1958 thriller often cited as the greatest among the many films directed by the great Alfred Hitchcock and one of the greatest films ever made. When I saw this film for the first time I was not that impressed. Actually, I was quite disappointed – although Vertigo looked like a truly great film, something was missing and I began thinking of it as one of those overhyped films which filmophiles are supposed to worship even if they don’t particularly like them. On the second viewing, I began changing my mind about Vertigo after discovering some new elements in the film and looking at it from a different perspective. My view on Vertigo improved and continued to improve after each viewing. Every time I discovered something new and gradually became convinced that Vertigo meets all the requirements for a cinematic masterpiece.

Vertigo was made during the zenith of Hitchcock's career, with his reputation as a great filmmaker already established. Two French authors, Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac, had written the novel D'entre les morts especially for Hitchcock. Hitchcock used the plot of the novel after adaptations by Samuel A. Taylor and Alec Coppel. The protagonist of Vertigo is John "Scottie" Ferguson (played by James Stewart), a San Francisco police detective who discovers he suffers from acrophobia while chasing a crime suspect across rooftops. The chase would end with one of the uniformed policemen dead and Scottie, traumatised for life, decides to leave the force. A few months later, he is called by an old college friend and shipping tycoon, Gavin Elster (played by Tom Helmore), who wants to hire him as a private detective. Scottie's job is to look after Elster's wife Madeleine (played by Kim Novak), who is acting strangely, struck with an unhealthy obsession with Carlotta Valdez, a woman who took her own life in San Francisco a century ago. Scottie begins following Madeleine and gradually falls in love with her. But his love is weaker than his acrophobia, and he can't save Madeleine's life when she jumps from the high bell tower. Stricken with grief, remorse and a guilty conscience, Scottie wanders through the streets of San Francisco until he finds Judy Barton (again played by Kim Novak), an ordinary girl who looks somewhat similar to Madeleine. His interest in Judy is motivated only by the memory of lost love, but the young woman has her own skeletons in the closet.

Vertigo represents Hitchcock at his best – a great artist who is willing to experiment while remaining faithful to his trademark style at the same time. The result of his efforts is a film with multiple layers that could satisfy both those who worship Hitchcock as the king of suspense thrillers and those who aren't particularly attracted to the genre. Again, as in many films from this period of Hitchcock's career, Vertigo is a suspense thriller on the surface only. Hitchcock uses the thriller plot only as an opportunity to explore various forms of the human condition, especially those which are considered bizarre, aberrant or downright perverse. Therefore, Vertigo should be viewed less as a thriller and more as a combination of powerful love story and intense psychological drama. Hitchcock's ability to put all that content within the framework of a thriller is another reason why Vertigo happens to be one of the most celebrated (and quoted) films in the history of cinema.

Vertigo is a film worshipped by critics and film scholars, but I doubt that the general audience could share their enthusiasm. This is probably due to the fact that Vertigo happens to be very dark; by many standards the darkest and most depressing film Hitchcock ever made. The sinister dimension of the film can already be found in the character of the protagonist. For many people, James Stewart's role in this film is one of the most successful transformations of the actor's image – the once good all-American boy was already playing people with extremely unpleasant character traits, but John "Scottie" Ferguson represents the bottom of the barrel. In Rear Window, another Hitchcock classic, Stewart played a voyeuristic photographer, but this aberration from societal norms was something almost acceptable and within the framework of the Hitchcockian formula of "ordinary man in extraordinary circumstances". But this time Stewart plays a character that is anything but ordinary – Scottie Ferguson is actually a textbook example of various psychopathological conditions. Pathological fear of heights is the least of his problems, as is his inability to deal with women. As the plot progresses, we see the protagonist revealing his darker side. First we are introduced to his maniacal obsession on the verge of stalking. Then Hitchcock hints at necrophilia – Ferguson is attracted to Madeleine less because of her beauty and more because she is cold and distant, and in one scene it is implied that he might have had his way with her while she was unconscious. Finally, in the second part of the film, after being diagnosed as a chronic depressive, he shows his worst side as someone who wants total control over his sex object. Stewart shows these character traits uncompromisingly, but the audience still retains some sympathy for Scottie – this is the reason why the role in Vertigo represents the greatest achievement in Stewart's acting career. Ironically, this role was, according to many film scholars, inspired by Hitchcock himself – Scottie's makeover of Judy was in many ways similar to the ordeals suffered by lead actresses during production of Hitchcock's films.

The actress who was subjected to such a makeover for the purposes of this film was Kim Novak, one of numerous blonde sex symbols of 1950s Hollywood whose reputation led many critics to disregard her genuine acting talent and give all credit for the success of her role to Hitchcock himself. Kim Novak played the difficult dual role of Madeleine/Judy with great success, and it is understandably the best acting performance of her career, an achievement that couldn't have been possible without some true talent. In all likelihood, critics and film scholars were discouraged from praising her achievement for the same reason why the general audience wouldn't like this film – her characters are equally dark and dysfunctional as the male protagonist. At first we are introduced to the woman who is slowly but inevitably succumbing to self-destructive madness only to see her reincarnation in a seemingly ordinary woman who repeats the same process. But the most sinister revelation of her character happens at the end of the film, when Judy not only voluntarily puts herself through the utmost humiliation of an abusive relationship, but also hints that she has gone through this before. This depiction of the female protagonist as a passive and powerless toy in the hands of morally or sexually aberrant men is probably the reason why modern-day feminists shouldn't be too enthusiastic about Novak or Hitchcock.

Some critics tend to claim that Vertigo can't be a masterpiece because of various plot holes and implausibilities. Those nit-picks, however, usually point to main characters doing things or acting in a way normal and ordinary people would not. But the main characters are already marked as dysfunctional and nearly psychotic. Because of that they are more interesting than the supporting, more "normal" characters, and, consequently, the supporting actors are shadowed by great performances from Stewart and Novak. One of the exceptions is Barbara Bel Geddes as Marjorie "Midge" Wood, the charming but nerdy friend and ex-fiancée of Scottie, who provides the only traces of comic relief in this grim tale. Another is Henry Jones as the coroner whose harsh but nevertheless correct depiction of Scottie's mental state makes him a kind of Greek chorus. While drafting the villain, Hitchcock again threw away his formula about bad guys being more interesting than the protagonists. Gavin Elster might be a manipulative and ruthless bastard, but his psychology is too normal for Hitchcock; as a result, Tom Helmore doesn't have to work hard playing him and, furthermore, Hitchcock simply dumps that character halfway through the film and, in doing so, breaks Hollywood rules about villains not getting away with their crimes.

The acting alone, however, isn't the only reason why Vertigo should be considered a masterpiece. Again, as on many other occasions, Hitchcock showed his great talent as a superb filmmaker, always ready to employ new filming techniques and create memorable scenes and images. In the case of Vertigo, Hitchcock uses splendid cinematography by Robert Burks and the camera rarely leaves the protagonist, which gives plenty of opportunity for Hitchcock to employ various techniques with lenses, different lighting (and even some animation during dream sequences) in order to present the protagonist's twisted state of mind. San Francisco locations and memorable music by Bernard Herrmann create the specific, almost surreal atmosphere of the film – another reason why Vertigo is considered one of the everlasting Hitchcockian masterpieces.
(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on September 22nd 2000)