Spinning Vertigo

Stewart and Novak close to the edge ... -- Picture courtesy of Universal

by blogSpotter
Last week, I watched Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo on my Apple TV. Vertigo was made in 1958, starring Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak. It is oddly the most beloved or least liked of any Hitchcock movie, depending on the viewer -- certainly a movie with a lot of buzz around it.

WORD FROM A FAN

Before any further dissection of this movie, I'd like to pay homage to Hicthcock's style. His movies were termed 'thrillers' but they were much more than that. His stars were dream teams like Cary Grant and Grace Kelly or Eva Marie Saint. His stunning leads wore stunningly beautiful clothes and drove dazzling cars. The backdrops were vistaVision seascapes of Southern France or San Francisco. The dialog was scrappy, clever and frequently devious. These movies were charged with visual appeal, humor, sex and other ingredients you don't typically find in the thriller genre. In a couple of Vertigo's indoor scenes, the extravagant furniture, meticulously oiled woodwork and freshly painted walls bespeak a movie maker who wanted his movie to glisten in every possible respect. I'm a Hitchcock fan who appreciates all these trappings; it makes his movies watchable over and over -- as eye candy and atmosphere if nothing else. With Hitchcock of course, there's always something else.

VERTIGO...

This movie starts with a far-fetched premise. A middle aged detective, Ferguson (played by Stewart), is hired to follow a rich, beautiful woman -- Madeleine. Madeleine's husband says that she goes into "ambulatory trances" where she takes on the spirit of a long-dead Spanish woman who died by suicide. The husband wants Ferguson to insure that she doesn't harm herself. Ferguson follows Madeleine about town, and becomes slowly infatuated with her. In an apparent suicide attempt, she throws herself into San Francisco Bay; Ferguson rescues her and takes her back to his apartment to dry out and recover. (Raise eyebrows here). Why doesn't he take her back to her own home? (Raise eyebrows further). Her clothes are shown drying on a line in his kitchen. She's in his bed wearing only his bathrobe. He's by the fire reading a paper. One might infer that he removed all her clothes, including undergarments while she was still in a state of suicidal, somnambulant derangement. For 1958, this is pretty hot stuff. Even for 2008 it begs all manner of questions.

The movie has a fantastic twist about midway thru, which almost breaks it into two movies. Without giving away too many details, Ferguson meets a less classy red-headed woman, Judy, who strongly resembles Madeleine. Because he is besotted and obsessed he makes the woman his girlfriend and endeavors to make her into another Madeleine. It's something like Pretty Woman or My Fair Lady with a strange Hitchcock twist. I'll leave the synopsis at that.

PSYCHOANALYSIS

People have had a field day with this movie. Biographers have said that Stewart's character was Hitchcock in a semi-autobiographical role. Hitchcock is said to have loved leggy, sophisticated blondes; he would go to great lengths to make them over as stars in his movies. Feminists have expressed outrage; they feel that Ferguson was acting as a peeping tom and a stalker. How dare he presume that he can "own" a woman or make her over willy nilly? I myself think that the "biographer" school is right, although Hitchcock's intentions were entirely benevolent. I think the feminist take is too extreme. Stewart's character, John Ferguson is at the outset a private detective -- they're paid to snoop. It crosses to gray area when Ferguson falls for Madeleine, but even so there's nothing ever coercive going on. Later in the movie, Judy reciprocates Ferguson's love and feminists will just have to cope with the consensuality of it all.

LAST DETAILS

The musical score is fantastic. Barbara Bel Geddes (later of Dallas fame) plays Stewart's girl Friday and is excellent in the role. Some of the best light moments come from her character. Hillbilly fans will recognize Raymond Bailey in one of his serious minor roles, as a psychiatrist. The title of the movie, Vertigo, refers to Ferguson's fear of heights. This phobia comes into play a couple of places in the movie -- feminists and dime store psychiatrists alike could probably make something out of that particular phobia.

In sum, Vertigo is an excellent movie. There is all the style and suspense that you normally get with Hitchcock, plus enough underlying social issues to fill up a college syllabus for a full semester.

© 2008 blogSpotter