Now you've made me want to go watch it again, just like you do with your other reviews. It will be a good distraction from the madness in our world. My head is still spinning from yesterday.
Whew! Next up: "The Double Life of Veronique!?" "L'Atalante?"
Fwiw, speaking of colors, a shout out to Kieslowski's Blue-White-Red trilogy, especially "White," the most Hitchcockian, without all the baggage -- very close to a perfect film.
Vedddy interesting… I red with interest.(29%APO) I'm green with nv that you all saw so much in a film I barely recollect. I guess I just saw it as a chance to check out Kim N. Billserle.com
I'm so glad you wrote this. I can never resist watching Vertigo--mainly because of the cinematography, which is astounding. When I first noticed the green and red thing (many years ago), I thought I might be hallucinating or at least imagining it. Even the cars jive with the color scheme. It's amazing and induces a weird dreamlike feeling. But I never thought of Wizard of Oz. Very interesting. I guess I will have to watch it again! Also, a bit of personal trivia--I once lived practically next door to Barbara Bel Geddes--
Thank you. Yes, there's something oddly compelling about it. I think it has more to do with the acting than anything else. This might have the best performances of any Hitch film.
Well, to be totally truthful, I only lived above a small grocery store next to her summer home in Maine for a year-or-so. But I did speak to her and my partner Judy waited on her in the store. I told Judy she should have told Ms. Bel Geddes that there was a nice leg of lamb in the freezer if she wanted it. Ha ha--her role involving a leg of lamb (on the Hitchcock TV show) is probably before your time. She is one of my favorite actresses. Thanks again, Greg, for all your work. It helps make these dreadful times a bit more bearable.
Admitting not ever to have seen it but couldn't evaluate it fairly. Between flights, I sort of lived for a few years on a boat at Pier 39 in SF and kind of "left my heart" there. I tend to be biased in favor of anything SF. The film doesn't sound, though, as if it deserves SF (bias case in point). Guess I should check it out. Thanks for the interesting descriptions
Apologies for bringing this up on a peaceful (?) Sunday morning, but a few Tweeters were twittering about another film last night, "Bob Roberts." Thoughts, if any?
Bob Roberts is an interesting movie and well worth watching. In fact it's more relevant today than it was when released 30 years ago. It was Tim Robbins' proof he wasn't just a happy-go-lucky actor.
Yes, I saw folks on Twitter wondering whether some of the film might've served as inspiration. I was wondering whether that idea leans more toward absurdly appalling or realistically concerning.
I haven't seen Vertigo since it first came out. I was 14. I was hugely impressed and remember it as a film to remember.
I think what happened to it is that society moved on, the issues the film raised became commonplace; TIME turned those issues into a cliche.
I might agree with you about the improbabilities were I to watch it again (I'm so behind on watching anything it will probably be rewatched in some future life). What we really can't ever get back to is what we actually thought about things when we were living them, not when we look back at them. That's why all this GOP bullshit about returning to (choose a decade) as desirable is so delusional.
Sorry to inflict another poem on you, but this is my take on those glorious 50s. The event really happened to me, but it was years before I processed it for what it was.
. Wade’s Store, 1955
.
When Eisenhower was all there was and had been ever, and the days
stretched long like taffy pulled to white but never breaking, and the sun
was always there to warm to freckled brown our shoulders bared
in our rutched swimsuits with busy frills over the place where someday
.
breasts might be, we walked the tree-lined street
up past the high hedge guarding the cemetery (or sometimes
slipped through the laurels and raced among the stones,
looking for ones with weatherworn lambs that meant someone like us
.
had missed this summer, some one we might have known
but didn’t, as it happened), all our foes and friendships being as eternal
as Ike or the Kool Aid stand on Kathy McPherson’s corner or the evenings
spent playing capture the flag in blue light under the hawthorns.
.
We climbed the one step from hot pavement to the cool slate of the slab
and pushed the jangle of glass door into the shop,
where the wood floor wrinkled our feet and Mrs. Wade stood
benevolent in shapeless print dress and bun pulled back to top her head,
.
while her sparse sister dusted tins of peas and bottles of Heinz
or Best Foods, and we held our pennies or our keychains of cadged tax-tokens
and tried to decide between jujubes or sour lemon drops, or if we were rich
with nickels, bent to the cold chest and wrestled bottles of Nehi and root beer
.
clever out of the maze that held them dripping by the skin of their caps,
or split a popsicle down the middle, one orange stick each and if we were feeling
modern, unlikely bright blue dribbling licorice; on days
when our tongue was brave we chose the yin and yang of Dixie Cups
'
and plunged the rasp of the wood spoon into our mouth
before the slick of ice-cream smoothed it
and lingered back along a sidewalk crazed with the power of horsechestnut roots, another summer afternoon that still remains, though Mrs. Wade and her sister
.
one day moved across the street to the rows of stone
among the lambs, and the shop is now a boxy house shoved up against the street
as if ready to take off down the sidewalk, its windows always shuttered,
as if against the fog out of which loomed,
.
one eerie morning when summer really did end and school began,
but we still liked Ike and wanted to be Veronica,
the long dank trek to school up the damp sidewalk and out of the fog loomed
a shape in, yes, it really was, a grey-brown raincoat and said
Interesting as usual. A couple probably-minor points about Jimmy Stewart, whose wartime experience I have written about, and who I had the privilege of meeting twice, gratis my screenwriting mentor and Stewart Friend (for having written The Spirit of St Louis and Anatomy of a Murder) Wendell Mayes:
Stewart flew bombers, not fighters, 35 missions over Germany, when he was "too old" to do such a thing, in the process becoming the kind of leader who - when another group lost its leader and thus its focus and morale - was sent in to fill the gap and turn things around (which he did). He could have sat back in Hollywood like his friend John Wayne, but he didn't. One thing very apparent about him, both in his on-screen persona and in his real self, was a sense of purpose and personal responsibility. It colors all his roles.
The war, which he seldom spoke of and only spoke of to me because Wendell testified to him that I was a Serious Person, had a profound effect on him. You can see it in his films - those before the war and mostly sunny and bright; those afterwards not so much - dark and foreboding are good descriptors.
Politically, he was a "rock-ribbed conservative," back when that actually meant something worthwhile. Yes, he voted for Goldwater and Reagan, more because he knew them than for ideology. So far as being "anti-communist," trust me - being around the Hollywood Bourgeois Bolsheviks (then and now) will have that effect on anyone whose personal belief system is rooted in Reality.
He's who he is filmically because he is, as Billy Wilder once described him, "quintessentially American." With all the shades of grey that implies.
Oh, thanks so this. I should say, I love Jimmy Stewart. And I didn't mean to misattribute the planes he flew. His war experience is incredible. Novak said that he was excellent to work with and she learned a lot from him.
One thing I learned: the scene in Wonderful Life where he's in the bar and breaks down? That wasn't in the script. He really sat there and began weeping. The camera was a medium shot so they had to fiddle with it to make it look closer.
You can see how haunted he is in Vertigo, for sure, after the war. It's a superb acting performance.
One of the best deconstructions of VERTIGO I've read, Greg!
For me, and this may be for almost all films I watch, I take the film as a whole and seldom delve into its individual parts. That may sound like a "surface only" interpretation, but *I* don't think you can experience a film in any other way. The COMPLETE film is a perverse masterpiece about obsession. I've probably watched it at least ten times through the years and that feeling only gets stronger with every viewing. We know now that Hitchcock ("Just Hitch, hold the cock.") had a whole laundry list of kinks, most having to do with the women he cast in his films. That wasn't apparent in every film, but Kim Novak, Grace Kelly, and especially Tippi Hedren were his three main obsessions. So, I see VERTIGO as one of Hitchcock's personal obsessions put to film. And, despite that, the film as a whole, works because the viewer is drawn into this world and can't escape -- like Scottie, Madeleine, and Judy. They're trapped, for one reason or another, fulfilling or experiencing obsessions. Even Midge is trapped by her weird, unrequited, obsession with Scottie.
And then there's all the other Hitchcockian kinks that, for 1958, were quite scandalous. The cantilevered bra thing, the panties hanging in the kitchen, Madeleine CHANGING in the bathroom while Scottie, in full suspense-obsessive mode, waits in the CLOSED-DOOR (!) hotel room, and did we see a toilet in this film? No, I think he saved that one for PSYCHO. The whole idea of recreating a dead woman from another woman is, in itself, pretty perverse, and throws in a sprinkling of FRANKENSTEIN.
VERTIGO was made at the height of Hitchcock's career of suppressed perversions. Tippi Hedren, who finally did him in, didn't really want what Hitchcock was trying to foist on her during THE BIRDS, so he punished her by first, THROWING birds at her face in THE BIRDS for five days of filming, then keeping her under contract and casting her in MARNIE, ("Alfred Hitchcock's Suspenseful Sex Mystery!") And he refused to release her from her contract after MARNIE too, even though he never cast her in anything again. All of THAT was punishment for refusing his advances.
No one else would have made VERTIGO the way Hitchcock did, which seems obvious, but in anyone else's hands, it would have been a straight murder mystery, and long-ago forgotten. Now, BFI has made it the Number 1 greatest film ever made, even over CITIZEN KANE, and I personally agree with that assessment. Of all the films I love, VERTIGO is the only one that I have a full-size movie poster for, mounted and hanging on the wall in my office/mancave. It remains my favorite film because of how the film grabs me from the beginning and doesn't let go. Fight me! LOL
If Hitchcock wasn't such a CREATURE, we probably wouldn't have the films of his that we do. ROPE, VERTIGO, PSYCHO, THE BIRDS, and MARNIE were some of the best films ever made. It's when that sick, old, misogynist REALLY let his freak flag fly, and it didn't say VERGOGNA. He CLEARLY had no vergogna about any of it, at least in public. And I hate saying it, but "cinema" is better for his films existing in our timeline, despite their origins in the "insane in the membrane" that was Alfred Hitchcock. And now I have to watch VERTIGO again! It's been a few years.
Thanks for this, Steve. I knew some of that, about his various obsessions. But I think, because of the hints at things that at that time had to be repressed but now would just be shown, it makes the film more powerful especially to viewers in 1958 or in the decade or so after than now. Modern audiences I think miss a lot of that. The panties hanging, so subtle, is, I think, the key frame in the whole movie.
I have to give NxNW another look. It always left me cold, but it's been a while since I've seen it. I "see" some films differently now, in my dotage! LOL
It's not a warm film. Roger Thornhill is a dick. But that's part of the fun. He's such a lush that the plan to get him drunk and have him drive off the cliff goes awry because he's still functional. When he tells his mother, on the phone, what happened, there is a pause, and he says, "No, Mother, they did NOT give me a chaser!"
I always enjoy how you delve into these cultural masterpieces and relate them to historical trends and current events. I don’t remember whether I ever saw Vertigo, but if I did it has blended in my memory, with the other Hitchcock movies I did see decades ago, into a mush of vague impressions. As much as I enjoyed your musings about the movie, I don’t care enough about it to watch it myself. But one thing I’m sure of, having been a high school junior in 1957, those were the times that Project 2025 wants to take us back to.
Greetings from Kingston! Like Daedalus in the National Library, do you believe your own theory?
I think the movie is about bending reality to make it fit your fantasy which is why everyone seems to have such a slippery grip on what the hell is really going on. From Hitchcock dunking Novak in the bay over and over again to Midge snapping when she can't make the Jimmy love her. The pleasure of the movie is succumbing to the bad impulse, that vertiginous suck when you lose the idealized version of the self and go with what the animal inside really wants. It's dizzying, delicious, and terrifying all at the same time.
I like your read better, Jim! But yes, I don't think there's any question he meant to echo Wizard of Oz. It was intentional. But that was just to get to a larger point.
Since my recent move to Sonoma County I’ve rewatched a couple of classics filmed here, including Shadow of a Doubt and The Birds. I’ve decided that Hitchcock was a creepy misogynist who probably made women say his name with an emphasis on the second syllable just to make them feel his power. Truly a creep. My poor newly adopted home! Thanks for the link between Vertigo (never liked it) and Wizard of Oz (always a fave!). Unlike others I am going to watch Day of the Jackal tonight.
Thanks for sharing your reactions to "Vertigo" Greg. Enjoy "Vertigo"? Sure, what's not to like - Hitchcock, Stewart, Novak? But number one of all time? Can't go there. Can we say "Casablanca", "Citizen Kane"? BTW Greg, small fact check - Jimmy Stewart did NOT fly fighters in WW2. He flew bombers, the B-24 Liberator. Became a Squadron and Deputy Wing Commander. No PR publicity poster boy General Stewart. He was the real thing. Actually flew his missions and survived. Amazing! Came home to make "It's A Wonderful Life" (speaking of favorites), his first movie upon his return from service.
Thanks, Gary. Now you know that I have no idea about airplanes! I knew he was the real deal, though. He was a bit old to serve but talked his way in, because he had a commercial pilot license (!). Remarkable guy.
I love "Wonderful Life," but I don't watch it much anymore because I literally cry the entire movie and that's exhausting...
Thanks Greg. That's OK. I was a pilot so I tend to know such things. Yes Jimmy Stewart was a remarkable person. And "It's A Wonderful Life", I love that movie. I've loved it since before it became "It's A Wonderful Life", the icon that it is in our culture today. So many scenes - Stewart at the bar!! My god! And a scene I've never seen talked about, where Donna Reed is on the phone and Stewart is breathing next to her cheek trying but finally unable to control the love and lust he feels for her but has been trying to deny for the whole movie up to that point - THAT is the most erotic moment ever put on celluloid! Unbelievably powerful. Classic, vintage Stewart. Love that movie and I can understand why you "don't watch it much anymore".
Now you've made me want to go watch it again, just like you do with your other reviews. It will be a good distraction from the madness in our world. My head is still spinning from yesterday.
It's a good distraction for sure!
Whew! Next up: "The Double Life of Veronique!?" "L'Atalante?"
Fwiw, speaking of colors, a shout out to Kieslowski's Blue-White-Red trilogy, especially "White," the most Hitchcockian, without all the baggage -- very close to a perfect film.
i forgot about those films...will have to revisit.
BTW, I enjoyed your daughter's piece (even if I personally end the Millennial generation at the Millennium, stickler that I am).
Vedddy interesting… I red with interest.(29%APO) I'm green with nv that you all saw so much in a film I barely recollect. I guess I just saw it as a chance to check out Kim N. Billserle.com
That's too much interest, Bill! : )
Thank you. All this time I was thinking I had no soul or something.
You are very much in possession of a soul.
I'm so glad you wrote this. I can never resist watching Vertigo--mainly because of the cinematography, which is astounding. When I first noticed the green and red thing (many years ago), I thought I might be hallucinating or at least imagining it. Even the cars jive with the color scheme. It's amazing and induces a weird dreamlike feeling. But I never thought of Wizard of Oz. Very interesting. I guess I will have to watch it again! Also, a bit of personal trivia--I once lived practically next door to Barbara Bel Geddes--
Thank you. Yes, there's something oddly compelling about it. I think it has more to do with the acting than anything else. This might have the best performances of any Hitch film.
I hope she was nice! She looks like she would be.
Well, to be totally truthful, I only lived above a small grocery store next to her summer home in Maine for a year-or-so. But I did speak to her and my partner Judy waited on her in the store. I told Judy she should have told Ms. Bel Geddes that there was a nice leg of lamb in the freezer if she wanted it. Ha ha--her role involving a leg of lamb (on the Hitchcock TV show) is probably before your time. She is one of my favorite actresses. Thanks again, Greg, for all your work. It helps make these dreadful times a bit more bearable.
I have a vague memory of that episode, actually....
Thanks!
[thunderous applause]
[bows]
Admitting not ever to have seen it but couldn't evaluate it fairly. Between flights, I sort of lived for a few years on a boat at Pier 39 in SF and kind of "left my heart" there. I tend to be biased in favor of anything SF. The film doesn't sound, though, as if it deserves SF (bias case in point). Guess I should check it out. Thanks for the interesting descriptions
Apologies for bringing this up on a peaceful (?) Sunday morning, but a few Tweeters were twittering about another film last night, "Bob Roberts." Thoughts, if any?
Bob Roberts is an interesting movie and well worth watching. In fact it's more relevant today than it was when released 30 years ago. It was Tim Robbins' proof he wasn't just a happy-go-lucky actor.
Yes, I saw folks on Twitter wondering whether some of the film might've served as inspiration. I was wondering whether that idea leans more toward absurdly appalling or realistically concerning.
I saw him do the character on stage at the Nader rally in 2000.
Oh, it's almost the quintessential SF film. if you love the city you must see it. Lots of shots of the city.
"Bob Roberts," it's been a long time...
Now I will watch Vertigo
I haven't seen Vertigo since it first came out. I was 14. I was hugely impressed and remember it as a film to remember.
I think what happened to it is that society moved on, the issues the film raised became commonplace; TIME turned those issues into a cliche.
I might agree with you about the improbabilities were I to watch it again (I'm so behind on watching anything it will probably be rewatched in some future life). What we really can't ever get back to is what we actually thought about things when we were living them, not when we look back at them. That's why all this GOP bullshit about returning to (choose a decade) as desirable is so delusional.
Sorry to inflict another poem on you, but this is my take on those glorious 50s. The event really happened to me, but it was years before I processed it for what it was.
. Wade’s Store, 1955
.
When Eisenhower was all there was and had been ever, and the days
stretched long like taffy pulled to white but never breaking, and the sun
was always there to warm to freckled brown our shoulders bared
in our rutched swimsuits with busy frills over the place where someday
.
breasts might be, we walked the tree-lined street
up past the high hedge guarding the cemetery (or sometimes
slipped through the laurels and raced among the stones,
looking for ones with weatherworn lambs that meant someone like us
.
had missed this summer, some one we might have known
but didn’t, as it happened), all our foes and friendships being as eternal
as Ike or the Kool Aid stand on Kathy McPherson’s corner or the evenings
spent playing capture the flag in blue light under the hawthorns.
.
We climbed the one step from hot pavement to the cool slate of the slab
and pushed the jangle of glass door into the shop,
where the wood floor wrinkled our feet and Mrs. Wade stood
benevolent in shapeless print dress and bun pulled back to top her head,
.
while her sparse sister dusted tins of peas and bottles of Heinz
or Best Foods, and we held our pennies or our keychains of cadged tax-tokens
and tried to decide between jujubes or sour lemon drops, or if we were rich
with nickels, bent to the cold chest and wrestled bottles of Nehi and root beer
.
clever out of the maze that held them dripping by the skin of their caps,
or split a popsicle down the middle, one orange stick each and if we were feeling
modern, unlikely bright blue dribbling licorice; on days
when our tongue was brave we chose the yin and yang of Dixie Cups
'
and plunged the rasp of the wood spoon into our mouth
before the slick of ice-cream smoothed it
and lingered back along a sidewalk crazed with the power of horsechestnut roots, another summer afternoon that still remains, though Mrs. Wade and her sister
.
one day moved across the street to the rows of stone
among the lambs, and the shop is now a boxy house shoved up against the street
as if ready to take off down the sidewalk, its windows always shuttered,
as if against the fog out of which loomed,
.
one eerie morning when summer really did end and school began,
but we still liked Ike and wanted to be Veronica,
the long dank trek to school up the damp sidewalk and out of the fog loomed
a shape in, yes, it really was, a grey-brown raincoat and said
.
“Come here, little girl, would you like to see?”
Oh my, that's a haunting poem. Thanks for sharing!
Interesting as usual. A couple probably-minor points about Jimmy Stewart, whose wartime experience I have written about, and who I had the privilege of meeting twice, gratis my screenwriting mentor and Stewart Friend (for having written The Spirit of St Louis and Anatomy of a Murder) Wendell Mayes:
Stewart flew bombers, not fighters, 35 missions over Germany, when he was "too old" to do such a thing, in the process becoming the kind of leader who - when another group lost its leader and thus its focus and morale - was sent in to fill the gap and turn things around (which he did). He could have sat back in Hollywood like his friend John Wayne, but he didn't. One thing very apparent about him, both in his on-screen persona and in his real self, was a sense of purpose and personal responsibility. It colors all his roles.
The war, which he seldom spoke of and only spoke of to me because Wendell testified to him that I was a Serious Person, had a profound effect on him. You can see it in his films - those before the war and mostly sunny and bright; those afterwards not so much - dark and foreboding are good descriptors.
Politically, he was a "rock-ribbed conservative," back when that actually meant something worthwhile. Yes, he voted for Goldwater and Reagan, more because he knew them than for ideology. So far as being "anti-communist," trust me - being around the Hollywood Bourgeois Bolsheviks (then and now) will have that effect on anyone whose personal belief system is rooted in Reality.
He's who he is filmically because he is, as Billy Wilder once described him, "quintessentially American." With all the shades of grey that implies.
Oh, thanks so this. I should say, I love Jimmy Stewart. And I didn't mean to misattribute the planes he flew. His war experience is incredible. Novak said that he was excellent to work with and she learned a lot from him.
One thing I learned: the scene in Wonderful Life where he's in the bar and breaks down? That wasn't in the script. He really sat there and began weeping. The camera was a medium shot so they had to fiddle with it to make it look closer.
You can see how haunted he is in Vertigo, for sure, after the war. It's a superb acting performance.
Christine is on the road
One of the best deconstructions of VERTIGO I've read, Greg!
For me, and this may be for almost all films I watch, I take the film as a whole and seldom delve into its individual parts. That may sound like a "surface only" interpretation, but *I* don't think you can experience a film in any other way. The COMPLETE film is a perverse masterpiece about obsession. I've probably watched it at least ten times through the years and that feeling only gets stronger with every viewing. We know now that Hitchcock ("Just Hitch, hold the cock.") had a whole laundry list of kinks, most having to do with the women he cast in his films. That wasn't apparent in every film, but Kim Novak, Grace Kelly, and especially Tippi Hedren were his three main obsessions. So, I see VERTIGO as one of Hitchcock's personal obsessions put to film. And, despite that, the film as a whole, works because the viewer is drawn into this world and can't escape -- like Scottie, Madeleine, and Judy. They're trapped, for one reason or another, fulfilling or experiencing obsessions. Even Midge is trapped by her weird, unrequited, obsession with Scottie.
And then there's all the other Hitchcockian kinks that, for 1958, were quite scandalous. The cantilevered bra thing, the panties hanging in the kitchen, Madeleine CHANGING in the bathroom while Scottie, in full suspense-obsessive mode, waits in the CLOSED-DOOR (!) hotel room, and did we see a toilet in this film? No, I think he saved that one for PSYCHO. The whole idea of recreating a dead woman from another woman is, in itself, pretty perverse, and throws in a sprinkling of FRANKENSTEIN.
VERTIGO was made at the height of Hitchcock's career of suppressed perversions. Tippi Hedren, who finally did him in, didn't really want what Hitchcock was trying to foist on her during THE BIRDS, so he punished her by first, THROWING birds at her face in THE BIRDS for five days of filming, then keeping her under contract and casting her in MARNIE, ("Alfred Hitchcock's Suspenseful Sex Mystery!") And he refused to release her from her contract after MARNIE too, even though he never cast her in anything again. All of THAT was punishment for refusing his advances.
No one else would have made VERTIGO the way Hitchcock did, which seems obvious, but in anyone else's hands, it would have been a straight murder mystery, and long-ago forgotten. Now, BFI has made it the Number 1 greatest film ever made, even over CITIZEN KANE, and I personally agree with that assessment. Of all the films I love, VERTIGO is the only one that I have a full-size movie poster for, mounted and hanging on the wall in my office/mancave. It remains my favorite film because of how the film grabs me from the beginning and doesn't let go. Fight me! LOL
If Hitchcock wasn't such a CREATURE, we probably wouldn't have the films of his that we do. ROPE, VERTIGO, PSYCHO, THE BIRDS, and MARNIE were some of the best films ever made. It's when that sick, old, misogynist REALLY let his freak flag fly, and it didn't say VERGOGNA. He CLEARLY had no vergogna about any of it, at least in public. And I hate saying it, but "cinema" is better for his films existing in our timeline, despite their origins in the "insane in the membrane" that was Alfred Hitchcock. And now I have to watch VERTIGO again! It's been a few years.
Thanks for this, Steve. I knew some of that, about his various obsessions. But I think, because of the hints at things that at that time had to be repressed but now would just be shown, it makes the film more powerful especially to viewers in 1958 or in the decade or so after than now. Modern audiences I think miss a lot of that. The panties hanging, so subtle, is, I think, the key frame in the whole movie.
BTW, my favorite Hitchcock is NORTH BY NORTHWEST.
I have to give NxNW another look. It always left me cold, but it's been a while since I've seen it. I "see" some films differently now, in my dotage! LOL
It's not a warm film. Roger Thornhill is a dick. But that's part of the fun. He's such a lush that the plan to get him drunk and have him drive off the cliff goes awry because he's still functional. When he tells his mother, on the phone, what happened, there is a pause, and he says, "No, Mother, they did NOT give me a chaser!"
I always enjoy how you delve into these cultural masterpieces and relate them to historical trends and current events. I don’t remember whether I ever saw Vertigo, but if I did it has blended in my memory, with the other Hitchcock movies I did see decades ago, into a mush of vague impressions. As much as I enjoyed your musings about the movie, I don’t care enough about it to watch it myself. But one thing I’m sure of, having been a high school junior in 1957, those were the times that Project 2025 wants to take us back to.
Thanks, Earl. I'd be curious what you made of it, being that old at that time.
Greetings from Kingston! Like Daedalus in the National Library, do you believe your own theory?
I think the movie is about bending reality to make it fit your fantasy which is why everyone seems to have such a slippery grip on what the hell is really going on. From Hitchcock dunking Novak in the bay over and over again to Midge snapping when she can't make the Jimmy love her. The pleasure of the movie is succumbing to the bad impulse, that vertiginous suck when you lose the idealized version of the self and go with what the animal inside really wants. It's dizzying, delicious, and terrifying all at the same time.
I like your read better, Jim! But yes, I don't think there's any question he meant to echo Wizard of Oz. It was intentional. But that was just to get to a larger point.
How much longer are you in Kingston?
Until tomorrow evening! Meet for a coffee in the morning?
Since my recent move to Sonoma County I’ve rewatched a couple of classics filmed here, including Shadow of a Doubt and The Birds. I’ve decided that Hitchcock was a creepy misogynist who probably made women say his name with an emphasis on the second syllable just to make them feel his power. Truly a creep. My poor newly adopted home! Thanks for the link between Vertigo (never liked it) and Wizard of Oz (always a fave!). Unlike others I am going to watch Day of the Jackal tonight.
LOL at the second syllable comment.
He and Novak didn't get along. She was too creative, too intent on collaborating and putting her own spin on the character. He didn't like that.
Thanks for sharing your reactions to "Vertigo" Greg. Enjoy "Vertigo"? Sure, what's not to like - Hitchcock, Stewart, Novak? But number one of all time? Can't go there. Can we say "Casablanca", "Citizen Kane"? BTW Greg, small fact check - Jimmy Stewart did NOT fly fighters in WW2. He flew bombers, the B-24 Liberator. Became a Squadron and Deputy Wing Commander. No PR publicity poster boy General Stewart. He was the real thing. Actually flew his missions and survived. Amazing! Came home to make "It's A Wonderful Life" (speaking of favorites), his first movie upon his return from service.
Thanks, Gary. Now you know that I have no idea about airplanes! I knew he was the real deal, though. He was a bit old to serve but talked his way in, because he had a commercial pilot license (!). Remarkable guy.
I love "Wonderful Life," but I don't watch it much anymore because I literally cry the entire movie and that's exhausting...
Thanks Greg. That's OK. I was a pilot so I tend to know such things. Yes Jimmy Stewart was a remarkable person. And "It's A Wonderful Life", I love that movie. I've loved it since before it became "It's A Wonderful Life", the icon that it is in our culture today. So many scenes - Stewart at the bar!! My god! And a scene I've never seen talked about, where Donna Reed is on the phone and Stewart is breathing next to her cheek trying but finally unable to control the love and lust he feels for her but has been trying to deny for the whole movie up to that point - THAT is the most erotic moment ever put on celluloid! Unbelievably powerful. Classic, vintage Stewart. Love that movie and I can understand why you "don't watch it much anymore".