Details
Movie Description
VERTIGO is Alfred Hitchcock's haunting tale of deception, madness, and death--a masterful exploration of fantasy and anxiety. The film ranks with REAR WINDOW as one of the director's most closely studied films for its psychological complexity, while the obsession of its protagonist--John "Scottie" Ferguson (James Stewart)--can also be seen to parallel that of Hitchcock's own fascination with the icy-blonde leading lady he re-created at the center of so many of his films. Ferguson is a retired detective, his career ended by the onset of a paralyzing fear of heights. An old friend, the wealthy Gavin Elster (Tom Helmore), hires Ferguson to follow his wife (Kim Novak), whom, he explains, has grown obsessed with an ancestor of hers. The assignment, however, draws Ferguson out of his comfortable role as observer and into a complex web of intrigue, mingled with the detective's own fantasies and fears.
Stewart gives an exceptional performance as the disintegrating detective, while Novak, who was left largely undirected by Hitchcock, conveys a subtle and powerful psychological journey. Another star of the film is its San Francisco setting. VERTIGO is considered one of Hitchcock's most complex, finest films.
Synopsis
A detective tails a cool, glamorous woman around the equally glamorous San Francisco of the 1950s; his fear of heights prevents him from saving her life. Obsessed with the dead woman, he stalks, meets, and manipulates a suspiciously similar-looking, if somewhat lower-class, woman, who inexplicably falls for him even though he demands she change her identity to match his fantasy. VERTIGO is an Alfred Hitchcock masterpiece, in Technicolor as lurid as its plot. The year 1996 saw the acclaimed rerelease of a restored, remastered version. The film is based on the novel D'ENTRE LES MORTS by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac.
Film Notes
DVD Features:
Region 1
Keep Case
Anamorphic Widescreen - 1.85
Single Side - Dual Layer
Audio:
Dolby Digital 5.1 - English
Additional Release Material:
Trailers
Audio Commentary - 1. Restoration Team
Featurette - 1. OBSESSED WITH VERTIGO
Production Interviews
Alternate Ending - 1. Hitchcock's Foreign Censorship
Highlights
Text/Photo Galleries:
Biograpahies - 1. Cast & Crew
Production Notes
Hitchcock cameo: Hitchcock appears walking in the street about 10 minutes into the film.
VERTIGO is number 61 on the American Film Institute's list of America's 100 Greatest Movies.
VERTIGO was an original selection to the Library of Congress National Film Registry in 1989.
VERTIGO, along with REAR WINDOW, THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY, ROPE, and MR. AND MRS. SMITH, was unavailable for several years. It was rereleased in January 1984.
Vera Miles, who also appeared in Hitchcock's THE WRONG MAN and PSYCHO, was originally slated to play the role of Madeleine but had to bow out when she became pregnant just prior to production.
Allegedly, Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac wrote their novel in hopes that Hitchcock would purchase it for adaptation.
James Katz and Robert Harris led an ambitious $1 million restoration of the film. They created a new preservation negative in 65mm from all the film's original large-format elements. Instead of reduction printing in 35mm, however, they transferred it to 70mm--something done for the first time ever--which has been called Super VistaVision 70. They re-created the movie frame by frame, adding new sound effects, remixing the score, and redoing the title sequence digitally. This restored version was shown at the New York Film Festival October 4 & 5, 1996. It was released theatrically in New York City October 6, 1996.
Hong Kong director Wong Kar-Wai (IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE) said about VERTIGO, "I got to thinking that Stewart's character is actually quite a fake. If he had been played by John Malkovich, the whole thing would have been different."
Industry Reviews
"...Alfred Hitchcock took universal emotions, like fear, guilt and lust, placed them in ordinary characters, and developed them in images more than in words....A great film..."
Chicago Sun-Times - Roger Ebert (10/13/1996)
"...Widely regarded as Alfred Hitchcock's greatest film and certainly his most disturbing..."
USA Today - Mike Clark (03/28/1997)
"...An unexpectedly personal tale of obsession..."
Entertainment Weekly - Ty Burr (01/11/2002)
"[T]he best movie ever made about romantic obsession..."
USA Today - Mike Clark (09/07/2004)
5 stars out of 5 -- "Drenched in suspense and dipped in a dollop of despair, nothing is what it seems..."
Total Film - Total Film Staff (02/01/2007)
5 stars out of 5 -- "Authentically scary, sexy and disturbing."
Empire - Kim Newman (12/01/2008)
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