"Vertigo" Directed by Alfred Hitchcock (also comment on other Hitchcock movies)

[Qs Laptop]

Alfred Hitchcock is one of my favorite film directors, if not my favorite of all time. Lately, I've been going back through his work. Starting last weekend with "Strangers on a Train", then "The Lady Vanishes", and last night I watched "Vertigo". I had not seen "Vertigo" for likely 30 years, and I know it's been at least that long for "Strangers". I had never seen "The Lady Vanishes" (that I can remember.)

I was stunned to see that "Vertigo" had been remastered and is now in 4K HDR! It looks fabulous! The soundtrack has been cleaned up and is in Dolby Digital Plus surround. Fantastic! I watched it on Amazon Prime Video.

The theme is about love and how far people will go to recapture that feeling of being in love.

Jimmy Stewart plays the typical male lead in a Hitchcock movie, innocent good guy with good intentions who gets mixed up in something nefarious. Kim Novak looks absolutely gorgeous and gets to exercise her acting ability because she (...explanation would require spoilers...)

The first half is kind of slow (hey, it's a Hitchcock movie) but don't give up. Besides, the scenes of late 50's San Francisco in 4K HDR are beautiful to watch. Hitchcock is the master of the moving camera technique and he invented a new technique called "dolly zoom" that effectively portrays Jimmy Stewart's acrophobia. The music by Bernard Herrmann is incredible and literally carries numerous scenes that are without dialogue as Stewart drives around and walks around following Kim Novak's character. She does some very mysterious, inexplicable things.

The mystery is well developed and I found myself wondering, "What in the heck is going on here" more than once. I think that another viewing would reveal things I'd missed the first time through. But essentially, I had no clue has to the two major plot twists. Highly recommended.

 

[Murph]

As a kid in the Sixties, I saw this on TV and the opening scene traumatized me for life! I had nightmares about it, and to this day I am super-scared of heights and I get dizzy just being near the edge of anything higher than two stories.

 

[audreyh1]

Thanks for the heads-up. That was always a favorite. I’ll have to check it out.

 

[GenXguy]

See this thread for OLD movies and series.

What OLD series/movies are you watching? *Spoilers welcome!*

The world has me down. My new series have run out, I'm caught up with Star Trek:Strange New Worlds. So I decided to dig deep and tried out a few oldies from childhood like: Gilligan's Island, Bewitched, and I Dream Of Jeanie. I haven't watched any of these in 45 years. Wow. I eventually...

www.early-retirement.org

 

[Qs Laptop]

See this thread for OLD movies and series.

What OLD series/movies are you watching? *Spoilers welcome!*

The world has me down. My new series have run out, I'm caught up with Star Trek:Strange New Worlds. So I decided to dig deep and tried out a few oldies from childhood like: Gilligan's Island, Bewitched, and I Dream Of Jeanie. I haven't watched any of these in 45 years. Wow. I eventually...

www.early-retirement.org

I am aware of that thread, have posted to it many times, but I wanted a standalone thread to discuss Vertigo and Alfred Hitchcock movies in general.

 

[Qs Laptop]

"The Lady Vanishes" was very good. Set in 1938 somewhere in Europe (made up country names, but you get the feel that it's in the Hungary-Romania area) the story is about a 20-something playgirl that meets an elderly woman while traveling on a train and then inexplicably the woman can no longer be found. Several eyewitnesses who saw the young lady with the elderly woman deny they ever saw the woman, adding to the mystery.

As usual, the movie starts out kind of slow, introducing the characters and setting up the final two-thirds of the story.

Another "what the heck is going on here" vibe and the denouement is most satisfying. The movie is filled with memorable characters, including the usual naive male character that gets involved in mayhem he doesn't understand. I particularly liked the two British chaps who were trying to get home to London in time to see an important cricket match. Without giving away the ending, Hitchcock masterfully comments on the state of the British zeitgeist towards getting involved in WWII through these characters.

The only blemish on the movie is the opening scene. Very clearly a model set (it's bad) it features a long shot of a mountainous snowy scene that zooms in on a model car traveling down a road as it goes through a small town. Look for the wire pulling the car. I don't know what Hitchcock was thinking with this scene, maybe he was experimenting, but it really looks bad.

I did not anticipate where this story was going and was completely blind-sided by the plot twists. Recommended. I watched it on Freevee, which can be accessed via Amazon Prime Video or the Freevee app. Minimal commercials.

 

[audreyh1]

The Lady Vanishes - that must have been a recent remake that I saw recently. It had Tom Hughes in it.

 

[Qs Laptop]

The Lady Vanishes - that must have been a recent remake that I saw recently. It had Tom Hughes in it.

I knew there are several remakes. Even though you've seen this remake I'd suggest you watch the original Hitchcock version although now that you know the plot twists it won't have the same impact. Still, I'm sure there would be things in the Hitchcock original that you would appreciate. I doubt I'm going out on a limb in saying the original probably captures the era better than the remake.

 

[audreyh1]

I’m sure.

 

[Gremlin]

My DH purchased a set of Alfred Hitchcock movies a few years ago. Most I had already seen ( and loved). But I had never heard of The Lady Vanishes so knew nothing about it before we watched it. I absolutely loved it! I adore a good mystery and this was definitely one of those. But my favorite part was the dialogue. It was fantastic! I have a weakness for interesting characters with snappy lines.

 

[GenXguy]

I have some, but I never seem to get around to watching many movies. The last Hitchcock ones I saw were Rear Window and Shadow of a Doubt, and that's been at least several years. I did like them.

 

[ERD50]

I really love some of his films, others having me scratching my head, wondering what all the fuss is about.

Psycho is just fantastic (IMO), and though I don't recall if I liked this one overall, the dream sequence in "Spellbound", co-written with Salvador Dali, was, I thought, just amazing for its time.

I also thought the Brian De Palma film, "Body Double" was interesting. An X/R rated film that drew on Hitchcock's films:

Body Double - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The film is a direct homage to the 1950s films of Alfred Hitchcock, specifically Rear Window, Vertigo and Dial M for Murder, taking plot lines and themes (such as voyeurism and obsession) from the first two.

 

[Qs Laptop]

Oh, yeah, I watched Dial M for Murder about a year ago. That has held up very well over the years. Definitely has the suspense and his usual great camera work. It was Hitchcock's 3D movie and the print is in pretty good shape. (You don't have to watch it in 3D.)

 

[pacergal]

The Birds.
To this day, I do not like seeing a bunch of crows in our yard or on the electric lines!
Vertigo is good, as is The Rear Window.
I have never watched Psycho completely.

 

[Koolau]

This is my favorite scene from VERTIGO. Judy becomes Madeleine. From the green light cast by the sign outside her window, Madeleine emerges complete. Scottie is totally enthralled by her and his obsession is complete.

 

[Qs Laptop]

This is my favorite scene from VERTIGO. Judy becomes Madeleine. From the green light cast by the sign outside her window, Madeleine emerges complete. Scottie is totally enthralled by her and his obsession is complete.

Yes, that is a pivotal scene. You can sense his anticipation. Is John ("Scottie") enthralled because he's got his love back or because he's figured out the mystery? Or both? If both, which of these feelings is primary?

This scene is a great example of the many layers at work in this story. It's also a great example of the outstanding music track.

 

[Koolau]

Yes, that is a pivotal scene. You can sense his anticipation. Is John ("Scottie") enthralled because he's got his love back or because he's figured out the mystery? Or both? If both, which of these feelings is primary?

This scene is a great example of the many layers at work in this story. It's also a great example of the outstanding music track.

I've always assumed that Scottie's obsession prevented him from realizing that Judy IS Madeleine. It's not until (spoiler alert) Judy puts on the stunning ruby necklace that it finally breaks the obsession and Scottie KNOWS the truth. YMMV

 

[Qs Laptop]

I've always assumed that Scottie's obsession prevented him from realizing that Judy IS Madeleine. It's not until (spoiler alert) Judy puts on the stunning ruby necklace that it finally breaks the obsession and Scottie KNOWS the truth. YMMV

That's what's so great about this movie--there are a lot of things going on that we can only guess at. I happen to believe John's subconscious was working on the mystery in the background while consciously he was totally smitten by Judy. If you rewatch the scene where he first meets Judy on the street it seems like his logical brain is engaged but his emotional brain is taking over. Why else would he insist that she keep changing to look more like Madeline? I think it was because his logical brain was at war with his emotional brain. He wanted to be in love like he was before (emotional) but his logical brain was telling him to investigate by having her dress up like Madeline.

An even better question is--why does Judy indulge John's requests? Again, in hindsight we know it was because of love, but the first time viewer has no clue.