POSITIVES:
1) James Stewart is fantastically cool as always in the lead role, at least for the first half of the film 2) I was genuinely shocked when Madeleine 'killed herself' and then shocked again by the twist that it had been a body double the entire time 3) The mystery is certainly intriguing, but that element of the film falls away in the second half 4) It's refreshing to see the way classic films were shot with lots of long takes and barely any editing
NEGATIVES:
1) The film is far too long. It should only be 90 minutes. The pacing is so incredibly slow and really drags on. Doesn't keep you engaged anywhere near as much as the better and more refined Hitchcock films such as Rear Window 2) I'm not sure at what point we're meant to think that James Stewart realises that Judy is actually Madeleine, but the fact that he forces Judy to change her hair and her clothes so that she looks like Madeleine and even says to her "your appearance can't matter to you" is so creepy 3) None of the romantic dialogue works for me. It's so cringey and old fashioned it honestly reminded me of the Anakin and Padme romance dialogue from the Star Wars prequels 4) Madeleine / Judy dies by being scared by a nun and dramatically falling backwards off the top of the church tower for no apparent reason??
1) James Stewart is fantastically cool as always in the lead role, at least for the first half of the film 2) I was genuinely shocked when Madeleine 'killed herself' and then shocked again by the twist that it had been a body double the entire time 3) The mystery is certainly intriguing, but that element of the film falls away in the second half 4) It's refreshing to see the way classic films were shot with lots of long takes and barely any editing
NEGATIVES:
1) The film is far too long. It should only be 90 minutes. The pacing is so incredibly slow and really drags on. Doesn't keep you engaged anywhere near as much as the better and more refined Hitchcock films such as Rear Window 2) I'm not sure at what point we're meant to think that James Stewart realises that Judy is actually Madeleine, but the fact that he forces Judy to change her hair and her clothes so that she looks like Madeleine and even says to her "your appearance can't matter to you" is so creepy 3) None of the romantic dialogue works for me. It's so cringey and old fashioned it honestly reminded me of the Anakin and Padme romance dialogue from the Star Wars prequels 4) Madeleine / Judy dies by being scared by a nun and dramatically falling backwards off the top of the church tower for no apparent reason??