Vertigo (1958)

User Rating:

8.6/10   

Director:

Alfred Hitchcock

Writers:

Alec Coppel (screenplay) &
Samuel A. Taylor (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

21 July 1958 (Brazil)

Genre:

Crime | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

Tagline:

A Hitchcock thriller. You should see it from the beginning!

Plot:

A San Francisco detective suffering from acrophobia investigates the strange activities of an old friend's wife, all the while becoming dangerously obsessed with her.

Plot Keywords:

Acrophobia | Wife | Shipbuilder | Suicide | Portrait

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 6 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

James Stewart	...	John 'Scottie' Ferguson
Kim Novak	...	Madeleine Elster / Judy Barton
Barbara Bel Geddes	...	Midge Wood
Tom Helmore	...	Gavin Elster
Henry Jones	...	Coroner
Raymond Bailey	...	Scottie's Doctor
Ellen Corby	...	Manager of McKittrick Hotel
Konstantin Shayne	...	Pop Leibel
Lee Patrick	...	Car Owner Mistaken for Madeleine

Also Known As:

'Vertigo' (USA) (poster title)
Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo (USA) (complete title)
Darkling I Listen (USA) (working title)
Fear and Trembling (USA) (working title)
From Among the Dead (USA) (working title)
Illicit Darkening (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

128 min | USA:129 min (1996 restored version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.50 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS 70 mm (1996 re-release) (70 mm prints) | DTS (1996 re-release) (35 mm prints) | Dolby Digital (1996 re-release) (35 mm prints) | Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #18867) | USA:PG (re-rating) (1983) (certificate no. 27072) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) (re-rating) (1997) | Canada:G (Nova Scotia) (original rating) (1983) | Spain:T | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | Brazil:14 | Netherlands:12 | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-12/9 (1995) | Finland:K-12/9 (1997) | Finland:K-16 (1958) | France:U | Norway:11 (re-rating) (1997) | Norway:16 (original rating) | Portugal:M/12 | Sweden:15 | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) (1988) | West Germany:12 | Canada:13+ (Quebec)

Filming Locations:

900 Lombard Street, San Francisco, California, USA

Company:

Alfred J. Hitchcock Productions

Trivia:

When this movie opened at San Francisco's legendary Castro Theater during its restored re-release in October of 1997 (only a few months after the death of star James Stewart), it did more business there than any other theater in the US that weekend.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: Scotty and Judy drive through a grove of eucalyptus trees that is located south of San Juan Bautista on the way there from San Francisco.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Officer on rooftop: Give me your hand. Give me your hand.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "House M.D.: Meaning (#3.1)" (2006)

Soundtrack:

Sardis #4

A fascinating psychological suspense masterpiece which worked on the audience on several levels...

Scottie Ferguson is a retired detective with a paralyzing fear of heights… He had quit detective work after he sees a colleague falling to his death, and nearly he looses his own life at the same time while chasing a crook across some San Francisco rooftops…

An old college friend gives him the job of following his blonde wife Madeleine who had some kind of mental problem or might even be possessed from beyond the grave by a figure from the past whose portrait she stares at in a museum…

Scottie follows Madeleine around San Francisco and when she tries to drown herself in San Francisco Bay, he rescues her and falls promptly in love with her… But Scottie' s vertigo made him powerless to save her when she climbed to the top of the bell tower at the mission at San Juan Batista, and jumped from the tower to her fatal end…

Scottie must spend the second part of the movie regaining from the trauma… His loyal ex-fiancée Midge helps him overcome his psychological torment…

One year later, completely recovered from his nervous breakdown, he meets a red-haired woman who seems the living image of Madeleine...

Stewart gives a terrific performance of a man recognizing his own limits, suffering by his acrophobia... When he is given the chance to pursue this enigmatic woman, his boring life takes on new meaning... He is drawn into her romantic obsession with the past… Madeline makes him feel important in her life… This is something totally new to his world: a lovely straight-forward woman who takes him into a haunting dream... When he fails to keep her alive, his real world was suddenly shattered…

Stewart delivers an accurate portrait of an annoyed human being searching for the unattainable… He is a pragmatic man dealing with events in the light of his intuition…

Kim Novak is so delicate as Madeleine… Her performance is skilled and highly refined… She is a pretty woman, very sensitive, not sensual, yet conscious of her charm and magic…

This fascinating suspense masterpiece reveals something new with each viewing…

Note: Hitchcock appears after eleven minutes of the beginning of the film, walking past a Shipbuilding Co.