Vertigo (1958)

The title means dizziness or describes a confused state of mind this is a film about that and obsessive love which many critics say was director Alfred Hitchcock’s best though only in retrospect since it wasn’t initially very well received. It was the last of the four collaborations between "Hitch" and James Stewart. The blonde this time was played by Kim Novak (because Vera Miles was pregnant and unavailable) with supporting acting provided by Barbara Bel Geddes (of TV’s Dallas fame) Ellen Corby Konstantin Shayne and Lee Patrick (among others). The many memorable scenes include Stewart chasing a man across a rooftop and then hanging from a gutter a leap into the San Francisco Bay under the Golden Gate Bridge and the climactic chase up the stairs in a Mission’s tower. Alec Coppel (The Captain’s Paradise (1953)) and Samuel Taylor (Sabrina (1954)) based their screenplay on the novel d’Entre les Morts by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac. The film was Oscar nominated for its B&W Art Direction-Set Decoration and Sound (the last of George Dutton’s five unrewarded Academy Award nominations in two different categories) the director received a Directors Guild of America nomination and the film was added to the National Film Registry in 1989. #61 on AFI’s 100 Greatest Movies list; #18 on AFI’s 100 Most Heart-Pounding Movies list; #18 on AFI’s 100 Greatest Love Stories list. #12 on AFI’s Top 25 Film Scores list.

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