Introduction
Is Vertigo the greatest movie ever made? Some people make that claim. Renowned director Alfred Hitchcock completed fifty-three different films. But there are many who regard 1958’s Vertigo as his masterpiece. Volumes have been written about the window it offers into the famous director’s brilliant but twisted mind.
Vertigo famously operates on multiple levels and is best appreciated from a seemingly endless series of angles. Film experts also love it because it serves as an analogy that reflects the creative process behind film-making itself.
This may sound like deep stuff that goes way beyond the basic plot of Vertigo. But it’s our leaping off point as we try to describe the reasons why the film is held in such high regard. There’s also something else amazing about this particular offering. Simply put, it’s the rarest of cinematic creatures: A movie that somehow impossibly gets better every time you see it.
Vertigo Opens With a Bang
The basic story behind Vertigo can be summed up simply as “boy meets girl…boy loses girl…boy finds girl…boy loses girl again.” The film opens with a bang as Detective Scottie Ferguson (Jimmy Stewart) and another policeman chase a fugitive across the rooftops of downtown San Francisco.
The crook jumps from one building to another, scrambling up a sloping eave in the process. The policeman follows suit. But when Scottie tries the jump, he slips, slides down the roof, and is left hanging from a collapsing gutter. The policeman comes back to help him. But in the process loses his balance himself, letting out a terrifying scream as he plunges to his death.
The entire experience leaves Scottie shaken and with an incurable case of acrophobia…or fear of heights. He’s forced to retire from the police force. Soon, however, he’s hired by an old friend named Elster who wants him to follow his wife. It seems that his spouse who goes by the name Madeline, (played by Kim Novak) believes she’s the reincarnation of another woman named Carlotta who committed suicide back in the 19th Century.
Vertigo’s Twist
Soon, Scottie and Madeline develop feelings for one another. They visit San Juan Bautista, an old Spanish mission located south of the city. While there, Madeline breaks away and runs up the bell tower which is attached to the mission. Scottie tries to follow but is crippled by his fear of heights. Unable to climb the stairs, he hears Madeleine scream and sees her body fall past an open window, landing on a rooftop below.
Scottie is overcome with guilt and regret over her death. Then one day, while aimlessly wandering the streets of San Francisco, Scottie sees a girl which reminds him of his lost love. Her name is Judy, and Scottie embarks on a mission to remake her in Madeline’s image. Toward that end, he makes Judy change her hairstyle, clothes, and mannerisms.
In a flashback sequence, we learn that Judy actually IS Madeleine. At Elster’s behest, she played the role in order to dupe Scottie into becoming a “made-to-order” witness for Madeleine’s fake suicide. Instead, Elster murdered his real wife and it was her body that Scottie witnessed falling from the top of the bell tower.
Obsession
Unaware of all this, Scottie pursues his obsession. But then, he spots Judy wearing the exact same necklace that Madeleine wore. Being a detective, Scottie immediately figures out the ruse. He drives Judy down to the mission. And once there, he forces her to climb the stairs to the bell tower.
Realizing he’s been given a second chance, Scottie overcomes his acrophobia and makes it to the top. There, he gets Judy to admit her part in Elster’s murderous scheme. Right before she declares her genuine love for Scottie.
But suddenly, a dark figure appears in the tower. Scottie turns to face the intruder while Judy steps back. As she screams and falls, the figure is revealed to be one of the resident nuns who simply says “God have mercy” before ringing the bell. And all Scottie can do is step out onto the ledge and look down at what he’s lost for the second time.
Vertigo’s Unusual Ending
The ending is so simple. Yet completely devastating. It’s almost unnerving how quickly the film wraps up. There’s no explanation of how Elster was brought to justice…no happy reunion between Scottie and his “good” girlfriend Midge (she’s sort of hung out to dry)…no neat and normal summation of how things turn out all right in the end. In fact, all you feel is remorse after watching the ironic conclusion to this senseless tragedy.
It’s your first tip this isn’t a normal film. It initially seems like a straightforward mystery-thriller. But after the sudden ending, you begin pondering the ramifications for Scottie and the true nature of his obsession. How he’s basically thrown away his entire life to pursue something that never existed, to begin with. And no matter how hard he tries, there’s no going back.
Compare the opening of Vertigo with its ending. Both are justifiably famous for delivering a real jolt. In the opening sequence, there’s absolutely no explanation of how Scottie is saved from his precarious predicament. He’s just left hanging there. Does he fall? Find a way to climb up? Does a pigeon rescue him? You honestly don’t know.
Vertigo’s Dreamlike Elements
The entire sequence is set up just like the ending which leaves you wanting more. It’s almost as if both were designed to be bookends for a larger, dreamlike story.
When you watch the film subsequent times, you begin to notice other elements which back up this interpretation. Throughout the film, Hitchcock intermittently uses fog filters. Sometimes even indoors or in the same scene. The overall effect is one of disorientation…as if you’re passing in and out of reality.
At one point Scottie and Midge go to a bookstore where an elderly gentleman tells them the story of Carlotta. As the narration gets darker and darker, so does the actual bookstore. Almost as if an eclipse was happening. But when our two characters exit the shop, you can clearly see the lights pop back up to their full illumination. Almost as if Scottie and Midge have just escaped from another world.
In another of the film’s signature scenes, Judy seems to emerge from a greenish fog as she’s transformed into Madeleine. This is partly explained by the green neon sign outside her window. But the overall effect seems more ethereal than possible in a normal world.
Vertigo’s Technical Innovations
And when Scottie kisses her and the room is transformed, at one point he looks up at the changing background…obviously aware he’s experiencing an alternate reality. Hitchcock got this remarkable effect by placing his actors on a rotating platform (i.e. a Lazy Susan) and rotating them at the same speed as the camera.
Speaking of technical innovations, Vertigo was also the first film to introduce the “dolly zoom” to moviegoers. It’s the shot you see when Scottie looks down the stairs from the height of the bell tower and sees the floor “stretching” away from him.
This “Vertigo” effect was created by simultaneously moving the zoom lens on the camera at the same time it was being physically moved in the opposite direction. (Since this is almost impossible to do vertically, for the film Hitchcock had a model of the interior of the tower built and turned on its side.)
Vertigo’s Classic Music Score
There are other clues throughout Vertigo that indicate you aren’t necessarily watching our own version of reality. Specifically, the long sequences where Jimmy Stewart follows Kim Novak around San Francisco. There’s a languid, dreamlike quality to these scenes, no doubt influenced by another one of the film’s other elements which grab hold and pulls you right into the film: namely, the exquisite score composed by Bernard Herrmann.
The music is such an important part of Vertigo that some people contend it’s among the best in cinema history. Herrmann was not an easy man to work with but Hitchcock respected his genius and gave him free rein in creating a swirling, larger-than-life canvas that seemed to embody the very word “obsession.”
Several times during the course of the film, the music score overwhelms the soundtrack to the point where it replaces all the dialogue and sound effects. The end result is undeniably beautiful to both watch and listens to.
Hitchcock’s Perfectionism
Another reason why Hitchcock was so highly regarded as a film director was his sense of perfectionism. He would even specify exactly what outfit he wanted each character to wear, down to the color that would represent them to the audience. (Notice how Scottie is always wearing a dark blue or brown suit, Madeleine a light gray, Judy is bathed in the color green, while Midge is depicted in yellows).
Prior to filming, Hitchcock worked on the script for over a year with writer Samuel Taylor to make sure everything in the story was exactly what he wanted. When this was done, Hitchcock told Taylor that the picture was finished. Incredulously, Taylor asked about the actual shooting. “Oh, that’s the boring part,” Hitchcock responded. Because every shot and angle had already been story-boarded ahead of time.
This sort of perfectionism is what makes Hitchcock’s films so ripe for interpretation. Improvisation just wasn’t part of the man’s vocabulary. This is worth keeping in mind the next time you watch Vertigo. If you see something odd, you dismiss it at your own peril. Because almost everything in a Hitchcock picture is there for a reason.
Vertigo: “A Striptease in Reverse”
However, this attention to detail and need for control leads us down a dark path that directly ties Vertigo the movie to Hitchcock the man. The finished film deals with one person’s attempt to recreate his “ideal” soul mate. But the more you think about it, the more disturbing this idea becomes. Especially as the sexual connotations become clear. Hitchcock later stated that this is what drew him to the subject matter in the first place:
“That scene in “Vertigo” where James Stewart forces Miss Kim Novak to alter her whole personality by altering her lipstick, hairstyle, even hair tint – for me it has the compulsion of a striptease in reverse. The woman is made insecure by being forced to make up, not take off.”
The whole process sounds eerily similar to the control a director exerts on a film set while telling an actress what to do, say, and wear. This is why so many people feel Vertigo is really an extension of Hitchcock’s own innermost fantasies. It was an attempt to indulge his own vision of an unobtainable feminine ideal.
Hitchcock’s Treatment of Vera Miles
Originally, actress Vera Miles was supposed to play the lead role. Hitchcock felt this was going to be her first step along the road to mega-stardom. In addition to personally overseeing several screen and wardrobe tests, he went on to take a personal interest in her career…to the point of sending a dozen roses to her dressing room every day along with some overly friendly notes.
Miles immediately threw out the letters and soon afterward married actor Gordon Scott, who played Tarzan in a series of films during the 1950s. A month or so later, Hitchcock got a phone call from Miles. She informed him that she was pregnant, and as such, would be unavailable for the start of the picture.
“She Should Have Taken a Jungle Pill!”
The director didn’t take kindly to the news and did little to hide his true feelings from those around him:
“Vera, instead of leaping at the chance of her life, got pregnant! She was going to be a real star with this film, but she couldn’t resist her Tarzan of a husband, Gordon Scott. She should have taken a jungle pill!”
Some twenty years later, Hitchcock’s resentment was still smoldering. He considered Vera Miles an ingrate, and his reflections were anything but professional:
“I nearly had a relapse when she broke the news. It was her third child and I told her that one child was expected, two was sufficient, and that three was really obscene. She didn’t care for this sort of comment.”
Small wonder. The studio suggested Kim Novak as a replacement for Miles and although Hitchcock initially balked, finally agreed. He then had the twenty-four-year-old actress come out to his house to discuss the movie.
Hitchcock’s Treatment of Kim Novak
There, in an attempt to make her feel unworldly, he talked about everything except the role. Art, food, travel, wine…all things he assumed she would know nothing about. The object was to make her feel confused and unsure of herself to the point where she’d take directions only from him.
Hitchcock further tried to wear Novak down during the scene where her character jumps into the bay (or in this case a studio tank). Hitchcock would delight in telling people how he made Novak do the stunt over and over again. Each time she’d have to climb out, change into a dry set of clothes, and jump in again. For seemingly no apparent reason. The director apparently just enjoyed making her do it.
Hitchcock would later complain he wasn’t happy with the job that Novak did on Vertigo and how “her head was full of her own ideas.” Most critics completely disagree. Considering she had to play three roles (Judy…Judy pretending to be Madeleine…and Judy pretending to be Madeleine pretending to be Carlotta…whew!), Novak is utterly superb in the film. It’s easily the performance of her career.
Vertigo’s Initial Reception
When Vertigo was finally released, it was a bit of a dud at the box office. Audiences at the time were used to mysteries…but here was a film that revealed its big secret two-thirds of the way through the story. This had the effect of transforming it from a simple thriller into a meditation on the nature of obsession and the self-destructive tendencies which accompany it.
Most people in 1958 didn’t get that at all. While Vertigo broke even at the box office, the film grossed significantly less than most previous Hitchcock films. Many found the movie too long or complained it “got bogged down in a maze of detail.” The New Yorker even went so far as to call it “far-fetched nonsense.”
Vertigo’s Reputation Grows
Yet, as we’ve seen many times before, time tends to do funny things to film. As Hitchcock himself aged, people began to see him in a different light. He began to emerge not just as a media personality but also as a legitimate artist. A critical appreciation for his films followed.
Renowned film critic Andrew Sarris originally panned Vertigo when he first saw it in 1958. But upon seeing it again in the 1980s, called it:
“…probably the most profoundly beautiful film-art object ever made on the American continent.”
Other contemporary critics agreed. Consider Vertigo’s steady climb up the chart in Sight and Sound Magazine’s “best of” polls. In 1982, it first appeared on the list as the seventh greatest film ever made. In 1992, it reached fourth place…and in 2002 it placed second. Then, in 2012, it took the top spot and held onto it for a decade before being recently replaced by Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles.
Is Vertigo the Greatest Film Ever Made?
So is Vertigo the greatest film ever made? Well, for us, the entire question is bogus. It’s like trying to choose the most beautiful viewpoint in the world – or the best food. The entire process is subjective…and completely dependent on the individual.
But then again, that’s exactly what makes this chameleon-like film so special. With all its subtexts and hidden motivations, examining Vertigo is like opening a flower – with one layer of petals leading to another. And just when you think you’ve reached the core, an entirely new way of looking at the film emerges.
Vertigo illustrates how movies are merely artificial entities that offer an idealized version of the world. Yet at the end of the day, serve as a poor substitute for reality. And the movie shouts out a warning: If you believe otherwise, you’re playing with fire.
A “Nightmarish Obsession”
Famed director Martin Scorsese once offered his own take on what makes so many people obsess over Vertigo:
“Over the years, I kept being drawn into the picture – almost like being drawn into a whirlpool of obsession… a very, very beautiful, comfortable, almost nightmarish obsession…
I think it stands out because it was so unabashedly personal… you can’t put it into words, but there’s something genuine about it…
It has a very strong heart behind it, and a very, very troubling look at humanity. But it’s something that’s honest and true and has a psychological complexity that’s lasted over the years.”
Vertigo is a Fun Film to Watch
We hope all this talk of “art” and “psychological complexity” hasn’t turned you off if you’ve never seen Vertigo. Rest assured, it’s still a fun film to watch…even for the first time. If you’re still skeptical, consider what Hitchcock’s daughter Pat once said about her famous father and this, one of his most revered pictures:
“I think people today love his movies even more than when they were brought out – and that’s because he made the movie FOR THE AUDIENCE”
“I think there are still things in the movie I don’t understand…but I think that’s good. I think that makes it fun…I think that makes it OK to see it again and say, Oh! Now I understand what that was supposed to mean!”
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