Vertigo (1958)

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Movie Details

• Genre: Drama, Suspense/Thriller
• Release Date: 0000-00-00 Limited
• Running Time: 128 min.
• Director: Alfred Hitchcock
• Cast: James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes, Tom Helmore, Henry Jones
• Producer:
• Writer: Alec Coppel, Samuel A. Taylor
• Distributor:
• Official Site: Vertigo (1958) Official Site

Halfway through this stunning widescreen/stereo restoration of Hitchcock's (or Hollywood's?) greatest work, an older gent sitting behind me said, "You know, I don't think I ever saw this movie." I felt jealous. On the other hand, Vertigo (1958) is the rare thriller that gains from repeated viewings, and is itself about being possessed by something hauntingly familiar but ultimately inaccessible. Among other things, vertigo is a metaphor for the near-sexual obsession with movies--which makes the details of the original negative's decomposing "grain structure" seem practically necrophilic. Anyway, the experience of watching this print is encapsulated in the self-reflexive moment when the hero (James Stewart) sees his "new and improved" sweetheart (Kim Novak) gliding toward him as if in a dream, while the digitized rendition of Bernard Herrmann's score drips from the speakers like tears. (Rob Nelson)