Tears for the Doppleganger

VERTIGO (1958)

TEARS FOR THE DOPPLEGANGER

Sometimes films—even great ones --become lost. I used to collect movie ads as tear sheets and collectibles --lobby cards, one sheets, and half-sheets --and I was frankly amazed at the large amount of films from the ‘30s-‘50s that have become completely “lost”. No prints can be found. No one kept one in a vault or a temperature controlled room. After the great studios were restricted from owning and operating their own movie theater chains, the absurd notion that older films needed to be saved, or stored with care—or re-mastered --was certainly not at the top of any studio executive’s to do list.

The AFI, American Film Institute, and several other sources have set into motion the brilliant deduction that film is a valid form of art --that movies of all kinds are worthy of collecting and preserving. Directors like Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg have spearheaded factions to preserve our movie heritage. In the 1950’s many movie studios used to sell off prints of their older films to local television studios --who would exhibit them late at night on the “small” screen. Movies were not audience draws in primetime until the 1960’s. So there I was as an adolescent, staying up to all hours in order to watch some of the “old” movies --but that was one of the only ways that I had a chance to see films of the 30’s—‘40s. In 1956 I remember going to a third run movie palace on Third Avenue in Seattle --the Embassy Theater. For a quarter one could see three movies. So with my weekly 75 cent allowance, I could take the bus downtown from West Seattle, see three movies, eat some candy, and get myself home. One of the triple bills I remember seeing was TEST PILOT (1938), with Clark Gable, the silent film, THE SON OF THE SHIEK (1926), with Rudolph Valentino, and one fairly new film, MAN IN THE SADDLE (1951) with Randolph Scott. Those Saturdays alone in that celluloid emporium and other old Vaudeville houses turned into movie theaters, were the true beginning of my film education.

I remember how excited I was 20 years ago when I discovered a new “cable channel” called AMERICAN MOVIE CLASSICS. I was very pleased to be able to see hundreds of films—that I had barely heard of previously --or had just seen print ads for --or had never heard of. It is one thing to read about these chestnuts in a film chronicle book --but it is quite another to actually view them --decent prints of them without commercial interruption. I immediately bought a VCR and began taping the entire AMC catalog.
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Initially one could not find any film on AMC that was newer than 1960. But in the last few years, out of financial necessity, they have begun to show movies of the ‘60s—‘80s; and they no longer show them without commercial interruption. God help us--they sold out. Ted Turner saved the day with his own movie cable channel, TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES --showing sparkling well-restored prints without even the hint of a commercial interruption. FOX MOVIE CHANNEL shows some great old films from the Twentieth Century Fox vaults --also without commercials.

VERTIGO, like many Technicolor films of the ‘50s, became a sad spectacle of faded colors, garbled audio tracks, and poor resolution. It was not considered a box office success during its initial release, and director Alfred Hitchcock became despondent over what he felt was one of his failures.

Hitchcock once said though,” Even my failures make money, and become classics a year after I make them.”

In the case of VERTIGO, the film has been reassessed, re-evaluated, restored, and is now revered. It is presently considered as one of Hitchcock’s greatest, most spellbinding, mostly deeply personal achievements. The British Film Institute journal, SIGHT & SOUND, consistently ranks it among the top 10 movies ever made in its once-in-a-decade poll. In its most recent survey, they placed it at #4. ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY voted the film as the 19th greatest film of all time. In 2002 the film was named by POSTIF (France) as one of the 50 Best Films of the last 50 years. The critics placed it at #2, and the readers placed it at #4.

VERTIGO was unavailable for decades because its rights, together with four other Hitchcock films, were bought back by Hitch --and left as part of his legacy to his only daughter, and only child, Patricia. These films were known for a long time as the infamous “Five Lost Hitchcocks” amongst film buffs. VERTIGO was re-released in theatres around 1984 --after a 30 year absence; but it lacked its old luster. The four other “lost” films were ROPE (1948), REAR WINDOW (1954), THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY (1955), and THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (1956). Four of those five films starred James Stewart.

By the middle 1950’s, Alfred Hitchcock had his own production company. He allowed Paramount to release VERTIGO in Vistavision --but with strings
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attached. On a Hitchcock production, he received no up front salary, and he was obligated to share the developmental costs --but then after 8 years the pictures “rights” would revert to him. In 1955 Hitch had been talked into developing his own television series, and it became very successful and lucrative for him. He was 56 years old when he directed VERTIGO in 1957. It won two Oscars—one for Best Art Direction, and one for Best Sound. The Director’s Guild of America in 1959 nominated him for Best Director, but he didn’t win. He never seemed to win anything for his directorial efforts. But what he lacked in awards, he gained in reputation and power to make his own pictures.

Hitchcock did not like location shooting. 75% of his film budgets were always consumed by constructing elaborate sets in the studio --where he could control the lighting and art design. VERTIGO had nearly a 90 days shooting schedule—but only 11 days were used shooting on location. As it turned out those were very well used days. The results worked like magic, and the exteriors meshed nicely with all his interiors. With Hitch, all the interior shots, even in the cars, were shot in the studio.

Both the exterior and interior of ERNIE’S restaurant were filmed in the studio on sets --even though the actual restaurant was a Frisco landmark. It closed in 1999. San Juan Batista, the Spanish Mission used in key scenes does not have a bell tower. It was added by “trick photography”. Its original steeple had been demolished after a fire. There was a rumor that Hitchcock spent several days filming a brief scene where Madeleine (Kim Novak) stared at a portrait in the Palace of the Legion of Honor--to get the lighting right. John Ferren, the artist of the nightmare sequence, also painted the pivotal “Portrait of Carlotta”. Production designer, Henry Bumstead, painted the fake one that utilized Midge’s head (Barbara Del Geddes). The Empire Hotel—where James Steward finally “found” Kim Novak, as Judy Barton --is today the YORK HOTEL --located at 940 Sutter Street in the heart of San Francisco. Room 501, where Novak stayed, is essentially looking the same today as it did in 1958. Coit Tower can be seen clearly from outside Scottie’s (James Stewart) apartment.

Ironically, it was reported that Hitchcock was very bitter about the commercial failure of VERTIGO. It was said that he blamed the film’s seeming “failure” at the box office, and the critic’s mixed reaction to it--on James Stewart --for “looking too old”. Although Hitch had worked with
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Stewart on three other films --he never worked with him again after VERTIGO. And yet, where is the truth of it? I found out that James Stewart was Hitchcock’s original choice for the lead in NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959). That certainly would have changed the classic iconography --that image we all have of Cary Grant being buzzed by the crop duster.

Hitchcock once said,” There is a dreadful story out there that I hate actors. Imagine anyone hating Jimmy Stewart. I can’t imagine how such a rumor began. Of course it may possibly be because I was once quoted as saying that actors are cattle. My actor friends know that I would never be capable of such a thoughtless, rude, and unfeeling remark --that I would never call them cattle. What I probably said was that actors should be treated like cattle. When an actor comes to me and wants to discuss his character, I say,” It’s in the script.” If he says,” But sir, what’s my motivation?” then I say,” Your salary.”.”

Alfred Hitchcock was certainly a unique individual; some considered him to be quite strange. His favorite film was DER MUDE TOD [DESTINY] (1921), directed by Fritz Lang. Yet two of his other favorites included SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT (1977) and BENJI (1974). He always wore a suit on the set --but several times as a joke, he would show up in a dress. He almost never socialized when not shooting films. He felt that Luis Bunuel was the best director ever. ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY cited Hitchcock as the “Best Director of All Time”. Of his own films, he had often said that he favored SHADOW OF A DOUBT (1943). But according to Kim Novak, VERTIGO became his “new” favorite after there was so much renewed interest in it.

In 1996, VERTIGO was completely restored. Universal hired Robert A. Harris and James C. Katz, and gave them a million bucks to get it done. The 29 minute film, OBSESSED WITH VERTIGO (1997), narrated by Roddy McDowell, was directed by Harrison Engle. It carefully chronicled the restoration process. It was shown first on AMC, and then it was included on the letterboxed VHS “Special Edition”, and on the DVD release.

Peter Stark of the SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE wrote,” Perhaps VERTIGO is the finest film starring San Francisco. It is now (1996) playing in 70mm, with the wine-dark beauty of Bernard Herrmann’s cello heavy score in Dolby Stereo. Frame by frame, Harris and Katz took a battered rose
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of the American Cinema, and coaxed the dark velvety petals back to vitality. They restored colors audiences had forgotten --the fabled green Jaguar –the stark white of Kim Novak’s bare back –the yellow roses in the cemetery at Mission Dolores. And in doing so, they dusted off a San Francisco that appears mythical and alluring, shaded by fog and lonely streets, damp gardens and a hypnotic bay.”

Walter Addiego of the SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER wrote,” In VERTIGO the setting is San Francisco –but a San Francisco you won’t see in any other movie –it has never existed. Hitchcock created it. The location shots look like paintings –inhabited by characters that aren’t quite there. The restored version is a dazzling dance of deep browns, reds, and dark blues. [Let’s not forget the several shades of vibrant green.] It is a feast of visual contrasts and other lighting effects –not for their own sake –but essential to the movie.”

San Francisco has long been a favorite locale for movies –but no one really presented it, or shot it as Hitchcock had. The cityscapes in SAN FRANCISCO (1936) were all constructed on the MGM back lot. The same could be said for Tom Conway in THE FALCON IN SAN FRANCISCO (1945). There were some good location shots done in the city in 1955 for HELL ON FRISCO BAY, with Alan Ladd and Edward G. Robinson –but the wide open vistas were criticized for “toning down”, even diluting the old fashioned crime thriller. I guess it didn’t help the film that Alan Ladd sleepwalked through it --only two years after his triumph in SHANE (1953).

Steve McQueen raced all over the city in BULLITT (1968), but there was not much “sense of the city” –other than the twisty turns and steep hills that turned out to be excellent for launching stunt cars off of. These chases were copied and recapitulated in THE ROCK (1996) with Nicolas Cage at the wheel. Clint Eastwood turned much of the city into some kind of a cruel shooting gallery in DIRTY HARRY (1971) –returning there four more times in 20 years for the sequels. Television was happy to shoot in THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO, with the very young Michael Douglas and the aging Karl Malden. The series started in 1971, and it ran for several years. Francis Ford Coppola used parts of the city in THE CONVERSATION (1974), with Gene Hackman.


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One of San Francisco’s darkest landmarks sits on a rock island in the middle of the bay –Alcatraz. I don’t remember even getting a glimpse of it in VERTIGO. Hitchcock must have felt the mere sight of it would send the “wrong” vibe or message. There have, of course, been dozens of films that used it for a cruel locale –and thusly not helping to create much mythos for the city by the bay. At first the prison showed up “in the studio”, as in KING OF ALCATRAZ (1938) with Lloyd Nolan, SEVEN MILES FROM ALCATRAZ (1992) with James Craig, ROAD TO ALCATRAZ (1945) with Grant Withers, and CHARLIE CHAN IN ALCATRAZ (1946). There finally was some location shooting for BIRDMAN OF ALCATRAZ (1962), POINT BLANK (1967), ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ (1979) with Clint Eastwood, and the very dark MURDER IN THE FIRST (1995) with Kevin Bacon and Gary Oldman.

Desson Howe of the WASHINGTON POST wrote,” VERTIGO –a surrealistic 1958 masterpiece has been buried for years under a pile of adoring film essay, and such Hollywood knock-offs as A TIME FOR DESTINY (1988), FINAL ANALYSIS (1992), and THE COLOR OF NIGHT (1994). To add insult to flattery, the movie has only been available on television on inferior film stock. Thanks to Robert A. Harris [who similarly resuscitated LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962), SPARTACUS (1960), and MY FAIR LADY (1964)] –there is a wonderfully restored 70mm print, which gives the film a scintillating new lease on life.”

VERTIGO was based upon a French novel, “D’ENTRE LES MORTS “
[FROM AMONG THE DEAD] which was written specifically for Alfred Hitchcock by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac –after they had heard that Hitch had once tried to buy the rights to their previous novel, “CELLE QUI N’ETAIT PLUS “ [SHE WHO WAS NO MORE] –which was filmed in 1955 as LES DIABOLIQUES by director Henri-Georges Clouzot.

Famed playwright Maxwell Anderson wrote the first screenplay for the film. He entitled it LISTEN DARKLING. It was way too esoteric for the Hitchmeister. Another working title for the film was THE WALKING DEAD –which would have confused the dickens out of a ‘50s public that would have expected to see a cheaply done zombie picture. Hitchcock brought in Alec Coppel to write a version, but the director didn’t like that one either. Finally Samuel A. Taylor, who had written SABRINA FAIR, was brought aboard. Coppel’s name was listed in the “screenplay” credits
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secondary to contractual reasons –but he did not write one word of the final draft. Taylor worked solely from Hitchcock’s outline of the story. He never read Anderson’s or Coppel’s scripts or the original novel.

Alfred Joseph Hitchcock [b.1899—d.1980] directed 67 films in his career –that stretched clear back to the silent era in 1922. In 1920, when Hitch was only 21 years old, he got a job in London working for Lasky, who had opened a British Studio. Hitch designed titles for all their movies over the next two years. When the director for ALWAYS TELL YOUR WIFE (1923) fell ill, Hitch finished directing it. It is said that he was officially given his debut directing assignment on a Lasky film called NUMBER 13 (1923) – but before it could be finished, the studio closed its British operations. In 1923 Hitch went to work for Gainsborough Pictures as a writer, title designer and art director. For the remainder of his career he capitalized on this experience. For all his films he would personally storyboard every shot in every scene –and he would stick to them while filming.

He always felt that his career as a director did not really start until he worked on THE PLEASURE GARDEN in 1925. At the studio he met and married his wife, Alma –in 1926. They were married 54 years –until his death in 1980. Alma had a stroke in 1957, during the filming of VERTIGO
--but she recovered and outlived him. Hitch was born only one day before Alma. It has been reported that Hitchcock could not stand to look at his wife while she was pregnant. They had one child –a daughter they named Patricia. She had cameos as an actress in STAGE FRIGHT (1950), STRANGER ON A TRAIN (1951), and PSYCHO (1960).

Hitchcock began his signature cameo appearances in his own films with THE LODGER in 1927. He always appeared early on in a film –because he knew his viewers would be watching for him –and he didn’t want to divert their attention too much from the film’s plot. In VERTIGO, about 11 minutes into the movie –he appeared in a street scene wearing a gray suit –walking briskly past Gavin Elster’s boat yard –just as Scottie (James Stewart) was arriving there.

While still working in Britain he began to come to prominence as a director –already being dubbed as “The Master of Suspense” –presenting us with films like the original THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (1934), with
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Leslie Banks and Peter Lorre, THE 39 STEPS (1935) with Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll. He decided to come to Hollywood in early 1940 –but at first he was turned down by virtually all the motion picture studios –because they thought he was incapable of making a “Hollywood picture”.

Then David O. Selznick stepped up and had the good luck and foresight to give Hitchcock a 7 year contract. His first picture for Selznick was REBECCA (1940) with Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine. He followed that up quietly with the under-appreciated FOREIGN CORRESPONDANT (1940) with Joel McCrea and Laraine Day. During this period he directed one of my favorites, LIFEBOAT (1944). He did well with SPELLBOUND (1945) with Gregory Peck and Ingrid Bergman, and NOTORIOUS (1946) with Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman. Working more off his reputation that a contract, he gave us ROPE (1948), STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (1951), DIAL M FOR MURDER (1954), REAR WINDOW (1954), TO CATCH A THIEF (1955), VERTIGO (1958), and NORTH BY NORTHWEST in 1959. With the early ‘60s came the phenomenally creepy PSYCHO (1960), and the disturbing THE BIRDS (1963). Incredibly for over 35 years he had directed hit after hit, classic after classic. It was almost as if he could do no wrong. Then sadly, came the last phase in his career where the weaker and more trivial films were released –and we found them wanting –from MARNIE (1964), TORN CURTAIN (1966), TOPAZ (1969), FRENZY (1972) to his final opus fatalus FAMILY PLOT (1976). With the exception of FRENZY, the “Final 5 Hitchcocks” were as droll as already been chewed gum, and played out like flat beer. They seemed to have the essential and correct ingredients in them –but it’s just that they lacked effervescence –lacked filmatic life. Still, Hitchcock has been labeled as “the most widely known and influential director in the history of Cinema” –and he probably deserved it.

As a teenager I had felt that his films were a bit too uniform, too formulaic to please me. Then in 1960, all alone in the balcony of the Paramount Theater in Seattle, I sat entranced and watched PSYCHO. It really scared the hell out of me. I was uncomfortable in the shower for over 20 years after that. Hitchcock really tapped into visceral internalized fear modalities –into our primal shadows with that film.

Hitchcock was complex –both famous genius/brilliant director and infamous prankster –with a very wry sense of humor –very British. Much of this side
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to his drollness seemed to show itself during his brief monologues preceding the stories on his television series. That famous Hitchcock profile –most often associated with ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS (1955) came from a Christmas card he designed himself while living in England in the late ‘30s. He once threw a Hollywood party, and he made his appearance in drag. There was supposed to be film footage of it –but it naturally was “never found” after his death. The image of Hitchcock in a dress brought to mind what it would have been like if J. Edgar Hoover had shown up at that party –also in drag? It boggles the mind, doesn’t it?

Hitch seemed to prefer blondes as heroines in his films. The actresses he used the most –few of them more than twice, were Anny Ondra, Madeleine Carroll, Joan Fontaine, Ingrid Bergman, Grace Kelly, Doris Day, Kim Novak, Eva Marie Saint, Vera Miles, Janet Leigh, Tippi Hedren, and Karen Black. Either none of them could stomach being “directed” more than twice by Hitchcock –or he lost his interest in casting them. He originally wanted Vera Miles to play Madeleine in VERTIGO –but she became pregnant and subsequently unavailable.

Roger Ebert wrote,” Then there is another level beneath the others. Hitchcock was known as the most controlling of directors –particularly when it came to women. The female characters in his films reflected the same qualities over and over again. Most of them were blond, icy, and remote. They were imprisoned by costumes that subtly combined fashion with fetishism. [Edith Head designed the costumes for VERTIGO. She was the one who came up with the “gray suit” for Madeleine. Novak didn’t like it. Blonds don’t often dress in gray, but Hitch liked the contrast.] They mesmerized the men –who often had physical or psychological handicaps. Sooner or later, every Hitchcock woman was humiliated.”

When he was a child, Hitch was once sent by his father, William, with a letter to the local police station. The officer read the letter –and then locked young Alfred up for ten minutes. Then he let him go, explaining that this is what happens to people who do bad things. Hitchcock really became frightened of the police ever after. As a consequence, as the story goes, he never learned to drive. He felt that person who doesn’t drive can’t be pulled over and harassed by the police. That may also help to explain his often used “innocent man” theme. Hitch wanted his tombstone to read,
“This is what happens to bad little boys”. It finally read,” I’m in on the plot.”

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Francois Traffaut once said of Hitchcock,” In a Hitchcock film it was impossible not to see that the love scenes were filmed like murder scenes
--and the murder scenes like love scenes. It occurred to me that in Hitchcock’s cinema –to make love and to die are one in the same.” In his whole career, Hitchcock never won a Best Director Oscar –but they did give him the Irving Thalberg Memorial Award at the Academy Award Show in 1967. He gave the shortest speech in the history of the Academy. He said,” Thank you.”

The musical score for VERTIGO was written by the inimitable Bernard Herrmann. This score, oddly, was the only one he ever wrote –but did not conduct himself. A guild strike restricted Herrmann from conducting anywhere in the world. His score was supposed to have been inspired by Richard Wagner’s TRISTAN AND ISOLDE –whose theme was one of doomed love. A theme song entitled “Vertigo” was recorded by Billy Ekstine. It was reportedly used for promotional purposes –but it was never included in the film’s final cut. Hitchcock did not feel it was “appropriate.”

Bernard Herrmann wrote 132 film scores since his first one in 1941 –done for CITIZEN KANE. He wrote scores for THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS (1942), JANE EYRE (1944), THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (1951), that famous theme for ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS in 1955, PSYCHO (1960), CAPE FEAR (1962), Trauffaut’s FAHRENHEIT 451 (1966), Brian De Palma’s OBSESSION (1976), and his final score for Scorsese’s TAXI DRIVER (1976). He died in 1975, only days after completing the score. Pieces and partial sections of his many musical scores have continued to be used in 44 films since his death. He had worked with Orson Welles on radio, including the score for THE WAR OF THE WORLDS. Ironically, none of his great scores he wrote for Hitchcock ever got nominated for an Academy Award.

Herrmann once said,” In California they pigeonhole you. From the time I began working for Hitchcock –they decided I was a big suspense man. On other occasions, I’ve had fantasies of scoring bittersweet romantic stories. I think I’d enjoy writing a good comedy score –but I’ve never had the luck of be offered such. Mancini gets the cheerful ones.” Interestingly in 1971 Hitchcock hired Henry Mancini to do the score for FRENZY (1972) –and

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then scraped the music and fired Mancini. Hitch said,” If I wanted another Bernard Herrmann score –I would have hired him!”

James Berardinelli of REEL VIEWS wrote,” There is a memorable haunting score turned in by composer Bernard Herrmann. In the film there are a number of lengthy passages that pass without dialogue [as Scottie followed Madeleine on her jaunts] and Herrmann’s music sustains Hitchcock’s carefully crafted tone.”

The cinematographer for VERTIGO was Robert Burks. He had become one of Hitchcock’s favorite head lensers. He worked with Hitch a lot during the ‘50s, starting with STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (1951), I CONFESS (1953), DIAL M FOR MURDER (1955), REAR WINDOW (1954), TO CATCH A THIEF (1955), THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY (1955), THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH (1956), THE WRONG MAN (1956), VERTIGO (1958), NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959), THE BIRDS (1963), and MARNIE in 1964. All that good work and he still had time to lens THE FOUNTAINHEAD (1949), HONDO (1953), THE SPIRIT OF ST. LOUIS (1957), and THE MUSIC MAN (1962).

Hitchcock was famous for never looking through the camera lens. He drew the storyboards, and he always knew exactly the shot he wanted. He would sit in his suit alongside the camera –visualizing the shot with his naked eye –and he could always tell if the shot was off by mere inches. This amazed many camera operators. He was also famous for never giving his actors any direction relative to their characterizations. He was much more interested in whether or not they stood exactly where he wanted them, and looked up, down, left or right when he wanted them to.

An uncredited second-unit cameraman, Irmin Roberts, invented the famous
“forward zoom and reverse tracking” shot [now called a “contra-zoom” or
“trombone shot”] to convey a sense of vertigo for the audience. That view down the mission stairwell cost, in 1957, $19,000 for just a few moments of screen time. These shots were done with miniatures that were laid on their sides –since it was impossible to shoot them vertically. The most famous motif for the film was spirals –as animated shapes in the opening credits –as the shape of the pivotal tower staircase –and some felt as the more abstract shape of the movie’s unique plot.

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The plot for VERTIGO twisted and turned like a fat serpent sunning itself on the steaming tarmac. The film opens up on a hectic chase over red tile San Francisco rooftops. A fugitive is being pursued by the police. At one point he leapt across a dangerous precipice, and scrambled up a steep roof opposite. Two uniformed officers scampered and leaped after him –both clearing the precipice. The third cop, a plain-clothes detective, made the leap –but slipped backward, and was left hanging dangerously on the edge of the roof, clinging to a bending gutter with his sweaty hands. One of the other policemen noticed the problem and returned the roof’s edge to assist the detective.

Officer on rooftop: Give me your hand. Give me your hand!

But the officer leaned too far forward, lost his balance, pitched forward and fell ten stories to his death. Later, Scottie’s doctor explained to him that he had serious problems with vertigo. That terrible fear, plus the trauma of the officer’s death –drove Scottie into retirement. The detective, John “Scottie” Ferguson, was played by James Stewart. In the next major scene we find Scottie using a cane, convalescing with a bad back. He was visiting his ex-fiancé, Midge –who still seems to care a lot about him.

Scottie: What’s this doohickey?
Midge: It’s a brassiere! You know about those things, you’re a big boy now.
Scottie: I’ve never run into one like that.
Midge: It’s brand new. Revolutionary uplift; no shoulder straps, no back straps –but it does everything a brassiere should do. It works on the principle of the cantilevered bridge.
Scottie: It does?
Midge: An aircraft engineer down the peninsula designed it. He worked on it in his spare time.
Scottie: Kind of a hobby, a do-it-yourself kind of thing?

Midge informed Scottie that an old friend of his, one Gavin Elster (Tom Helmore) wanted to see him. Elster ran a local boat yard for his wife’s wealthy family there in the bay area. Scottie called on him.

Elster: Scottie, do you believe that someone out of the past –someone dead –can enter and take possession of a living being?
Scottie: How do you mean?
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Elster: It’s my wife, Madeleine. She’ll be talking to me about something, and suddenly the words fade into silence. A cloud comes into her eyes and they go blank. She’s somewhere else, away from me, someone I don’t know. I call her, she doesn’t even hear me. Then, with a long sigh, she’s back. Looks at me brightly, doesn’t even know she’s been away, can’t tell me where or when.
Scottie: How often does this happen?
Elster: More and more in the past five weeks. And she wanders –God knows where she wanders. I followed her one day, watched her coming out of the apartment, someone I didn’t know. She even walked a different way. Got into her car and drove off to Golden Gate Park. Five miles. Sat by the lake, staring across the water at the pillars that stand on the far shore. You know, the Portals of the Past. Sat there a long time without moving. I had to leave, get back to the office. When I got home that evening, I asked her what she had done all day. She said that she’d driven out to Golden Gate Park and sat by the lake, that’s all.
Scottie: Well.
[Scottie gets up]
Elster: The speedometer on her car showed that she’d driven 94 miles. Where did she go? I’ve got to know, Scottie, where she goes and what she does before I get involved with doctors.

The wife, Madeleine (Kim Novak) was obsessed with a deceased aristocrat that was named “Carlotta” –who had had a privileged but unhappy life in San Francisco in the late 1800’s. Elster talked Scottie into “getting a good look” at Madeleine. Elster took her to Ernie’s Restaurant for dinner –and Scottie pretended to be sitting at the bar. Kim Novak’s entrance was stunning, and Hitchcock brightened the lighting softly around her beautiful face –almost into an angelic halo.

So Scottie tailed Madeleine all over town for several days. She drove a green Jaguar. She never seemed to notice that she was being followed. She visited a vibrant rose garden at the Mission Dolores. She visited Golden Gate Park. She sat for hours at the Palace of the Legion of Honor, staring blankly at a huge painting of a scowling Carlotta. And she would make visits to an old hotel, the McKittrick –which turned out to be Carlotta’s old residence.

On one of the several forays out to Golden Gate Park, Madeleine stood an extra long time on the edge of the sea wall, staring out into the dark bay.
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Scottie got out of his car to get a better look. Suddenly she threw herself into the water, and dropped out of sight. Scottie lost his head and dove in after her. He reached her quickly and pulled her to shore –to safety. Madeleine seemed to be non-responsive –perhaps even unconscious. He took her to his apartment –undressed her, relieving her of her wet expensive clothes, and left her recuperating in his bed. Perhaps it was while he was undressing her, or perhaps before while just watching her for a week –he began to “fall in love” with her. Cupid descended hard and arrows found their mark in Scottie’s boney chest.

There were a number of “goofs” in the film. Some of them revealed themselves during this scene in his apartment –post-rescue. Madeleine awakened, so very frightened –for she of course had no idea where she was –and why she would be naked in a stranger’s bed. Scottie, ever the gentleman, let her dry out in front of his fireplace. He offered her two cushions to sit on. They were green as he handed them to her –but as she sat on them, they turned golden in color. After she fled, they became green again. There are two separate shots of her wet clothes hanging on a line in Scottie’s kitchen. In the first shot we see her slip hanging on the line –but in the second shot, the slip is gone and we see a pair of her panties in its place.

The following day Madeleine managed to find her way back to Scottie’s apartment. She had remembered that one could see the Coit Tower from his front porch. As Stewart stood talking to her outside, the same red and white 1955 Oldsmobile passed by several times. At this point, he doesn’t have to follow her any more –he can accompany her. She feigned no recall of her past activities.

At the cemetery, staring at Carlotta’s tombstone, Madeleine read,” Here I was born, and there I died. It was only a moment for you; you took no notice.” While taking a windswept walk at a nearby beach, Madeleine put herself into his arms.

Madeleine: Oh Scottie. I’m not mad. I’m not mad. I don’t want to die. There’s someone within me and she says I must die. Oh, Scottie, don’t let me go.
Scottie: I’m here. I’ve got you.
Madeleine: I’m so afraid.
[Scottie & Madeleine kiss]
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Madeleine: Don’t leave me. Stay with me.
Scottie: All the time.

The Stewart/Novak romantic beach scene –filmed at Monterey Bay –was voted “the most stylish romantic moment in the movies” by MOVIELINE, May in 2002. It was #1 out of 100 choices. Actually I thought it was too stylized and kind of clunky. I much preferred the beach love scene between Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr in FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953), or several of the loves scenes between Kirk Douglas and Jean Simmons in SPARTACUS (1960).

The next day, Madeleine talked about having a vision of a Mission, complete with an old carriage house –and many occupants dressed in late 1800’s garb. Somehow Scottie decided that he knew where this Mission was, and that he needed to take her there to illustrate that it was somewhere she might have gone previously. He drove her over to the Mission San Juan Batista. He hoped to convince her that her dark dreams were just twisted images of real sunlit places, full of real people. By going there, he hoped she might be able to sort things out. While holding her in the carriage house –she began to have that Madeleine “dazed” look in her eyes.

Madeleine: There is something I must do –there is something I must do.
Scottie: There is nothing you must do –there is nothing you must do.

She bolted from the carriage house and ran off toward the Mission –no mean feat in that tight gray skirt. Scottie chased after her, but even with his long legs, he could not catch up to her. Inside, he realized she had run toward the tower staircase. He pursued her. He could see her several twists of the stairs above him –rushing ever upward. She did not respond to his calls and pleas. [At the bell tower, as Madeleine rushed up the stairs –we see a crew person’s hand and forearm –and then it disappeared as she passed.] Halfway up the stairs, Scottie was stricken with dreaded vertigo. The images pulsated up and down dizzyingly. He stalled out, gasping for breath near an open window. There was a scream and Madeleine was seen dropping like a stone from the tower, passing his window in her smart gray suit. We see a quick shot of her body lying below –crushed into a twisted heap.

The next scene seemed to be the Coroner’s Inquest. Lots of officials and police stood about as the Coroner dryly announced his findings. The
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Coroner was played by Henry Jones –in one of his best roles. Scottie sat there in the front row, barely breathing –completely traumatized. He was not blamed for Madeleine’s death –but he was not left blameless either.

Coroner: He did nothing. The law has little to say on things left undone.

Gavin Elster took Scottie aside, and explained the he harbored to ill will toward him. He had sold his wife’s boat yard, and he was leaving the country.

Elster: There’s no way for them to understand. You and I know who killed Madeleine.

Scottie became an emotional wreck. He wandered for months, visiting all the places that he and Madeleine had frequented –the Golden Gate Park, the rose garden, the cemetery, the flower shop, the Palace of the Legion of Honor, and of course Ernie’s Restaurant. Several times he would see a blond from the back, often wearing a gray suit –and he would mistake her for Madeleine. He bordered on madness, drinking deep of his own despair.

But one sunny day as he stood in front of the flower shop, he chanced upon a small group of young women. Among them was one striking brunette –who reminded him mightily of Madeleine. She was not blond, wore different make-up, dressed more simply, like a shop clerk –and moved differently –but he followed her anyway. She lived at the Empire Hotel. He couldn’t prevent himself from knocking on her door –Room 501. Judy Barton, the brunette, answered the door. He cajoled his way into her room. In an odd way she was flattered by his obsessive behavior, but a bit frightened of him as well. He made a dinner date with her, at Ernie’s of course, and left.

Hitchcock decided that at this point, he would allow Judy to reveal that she had impersonated Madeleine –that Elster had met her in that bell tower. He had already killed his wife. He threw her body off the tower as Judy screamed –and they slipped away. She had been paid handsomely for the masquerade. But as a viewer, I would have preferred for Judy to have continued with the charade for a bit longer –perhaps up to the point where she wore Carlotta’s necklace –the one that had been worn by Madeleine. It would have been nice to “realize” the deception just as Scottie did –at the same instant. But loyal to the attraction she felt for Scottie, Judy decided not
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to flee –rather to stick it out and see if she could pull it off. Maybe Scottie would fall in love with her too –as herself, plain Judy.

But Scottie, still smitten with his memory of Madeleine began to ask Judy to dress differently, to move differently, and to dye her hair. He kept molding her look until she began to become Madeleine –at least to the eye. When she returned from the hairdresser’s, she wore her hair long, down on the neck. Scottie insisted that she pin it tightly back –still clinging to the exact memory he had of her in his sad heart. She went into the bathroom to fix her hair --the bathroom being another Hitchcock motif. When she emerged she just stood there, bathed in a ghostly green light –cast by the neon hotel sign outside her window. She finally became the icon –the memory that he craved and seemed so driven to recapitulate.

Roger Ebert wrote,” The “great scene” takes place in a hotel room lit by a neon sign. As Hitchcock cuts back and forth between Novak’s face (showing such pain, such sorrow –such a will to please) and Stewart’s (in a rapture of lust and gratified control), we feel hearts being torn apart. Judy realizes that Scottie is indifferent to her as a person, and only sees her as an “object” –but because she loves him, she accepts this.”

Judy: Couldn’t you like me, just me the way I am? When we first started out, it was so good; we had such fun. And –and then you started in on the clothes. Well, I’ll wear the darn clothes if you want me to, if, if you’ll just, just like me.
Scottie: The color of your hair.
Judy: Oh, no!
Scottie: Judy, please, it can’t matter to you.
Judy: If I let you change me, will that do it? If I do what you tell me, will you love me?
Scottie: Yes, yes.
Judy: All right. All right then. I’ll do it. I don’t care anymore about me.

Scottie remains blissfully fooled by his Pygmalion progress until some time later. While preparing for a dinner date, Judy slipped and put on Carlotta’s famous necklace. Something snapped in Scottie. Suddenly he understood everything. He drove calmly out to the Mission at San Juan Batista. Judy pretended ignorance. He grabbed her wrist roughly and forced up the tower’s staircase. He was so angry, so incensed; he disregarded his vertigo,
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and forced himself to climb up the spiraling staircase all the way to the top –to the tower. Then he spilled out all the bile, anger, and resentment.

Scottie: You shouldn’t keep souvenirs of a killing. You shouldn’t have been that sentimental. Did he tell you exactly what to do, what to say? You were a very apt pupil too, weren’t you? You were a very apt pupil! Well, why did you pick on me? Why me?

Roger Ebert wrote further,” Here was a man who has fallen in love with a woman who does not exist, and now he cries out harshly against the real woman who had impersonated her. But the real woman has fallen in love with him –and in tricking him, she had tricked herself. The man, by preferring his dream to the woman standing in front of him –lost both.
There is another element rarely commented on that makes VERTIGO a great film. From the moment we are let in on the secret, the movie is equally about Judy –her pain, her loss, the trap she is in. Hitchcock so cleverly manipulates the story that when the two characters climb up that Mission tower [for the second time], we identify with both of them –and in a way –fear for both of them. Judy is less guilty than Scottie at that point. She is one of the most sympathetic female characters in all of Hitchcock.”

With Scottie screaming in her face up there in the bell tower –Judy admitted her guilt. She was completely freaked by Scottie’s near madness. Suddenly a dark figure stepped out of the darkness. Seeing Elster in her mind, Judy screamed, lurched back and fell to her death. The figure turned out to be just a nun who had investigated the shouting. She simply said,” God, have mercy.”, as the credits rolled.

James Berardinelli wrote further,” VERTIGO is a love story, a mystery, and a thriller all rolled into one. It deals with obsession, psychological and physical paralysis, and the tenuous nature of romantic love. It should be seen more than once to fully appreciate it. Many of the darker, deeper aspects only begin to bubble to the surface on subsequent viewings.
James Stewart is perfect in the lead part –playing the sort of role he does best –a tremendously likable, but otherwise ordinary man –who finds himself caught up in extraordinary circumstances.”

James Maitland Stewart played Detective John “Scottie” Ferguson. He completed 92 films between 1934 and 1991. His final film work was voice
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over in AN AMERICAN TAIL: FIEVEL GOES WEST (1991). He worked in the movies for over 50 years. He died in 1997, outliving his good friend Henry Fonda by 15 years. Stewart was only 49 when he filmed VERTIGO in 1957. I think he was one of the world’s greatest movie stars –a national treasure. One could exhaust themselves merely listing the many great films Stewart appeared in. He excelled in every film genre –from drama to comedy to adventure. I happened to really enjoy most of his 20 Westerns. From 1950 to 1955, he made five Westerns for director Anthony Mann, and they were perhaps his best. He was also directed three times in Westerns by legendary director John Ford .

He started out in a comedic role in DESTRY RIDES AGAIN (1939) with Marlene Dietrich. His serious work began in WINCHESTER 73 in 1950. He followed that up with BROKEN ARROW (1950). Then he made the fabulous BEND OF THE RIVER (1952), with small roles in it for Rock Hudson and Tony Curtis. He appeared in CARBINE WILLIAMS (1952), THE NAKED SPUR (1953), with Janet Leigh, THE FAR COUNTRY (1954), with Walter Brennan, followed by one of my personal favorites THE MAN FROM LARAMIE in 1955. Then he made NIGHT PASSAGE (1957), with a good performance in it by Audie Murphy, TWO RODE TOGETHER (1961) with Richard Widmark, THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE (1962) with John Wayne, HOW THE WEST WAS WON (1962), SHENANDOAH (1965), which was a marvelous soap-oater, THE RARE BREED (1966) with Maureen O’Hara, FIRECREEK (1968), with pal Henry Fonda, BANDOLERO (1968) with Dean Martin, a cameo in THE SHOOTIST (1976), and a brief appearance in NORTH & SOUTH: BOOK II (1986).

Stewart was married to his wife, Gloria, from 1949-94 (her death). In his early ‘40s when they married, he approached nuptials kind of late in life –having enjoyed his bachelorhood and endured WWII before settling down.
He remained faithful to Gloria throughout their long marriage –a rare feat not achieved by his friends Henry Fonda, Gary Cooper, and John Wayne. By the early ‘50s, Stewart was wearing a toupee for his movie roles –joining the “rug gang” with the likes of Humphrey Bogart, Gary Cooper, John Wayne, Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, and many others.

James Stewart was the first major movie star to enter the service during WWII. In 1940, the Army Air Corps had rejected him because he was five
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pounds light of their minimum 148 pound bottom line. So he gained a few pounds, got in and became a Colonel –earning the Air Medal, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Croux de Guerre, and seven battle stars. Except for Ronald Reagan –who during the war stayed in Camp Hollywood to make Army training films, but later of course became Commander in Chief – Stewart, who had become a General in the reserves, had the highest military ranking of any actor in history.

When Stewart won his Oscar for THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (1940), he sent it to his father in Indiana, Pennsylvania. His father set it up in his hardware store. The trophy remained there for 25 years. Presently the James Stewart Museum is located in Indiana, Pa. It was dedicated in 1995, while Stewart was still extant. Jimmy Stewart never took an acting lesson. He felt that people could learn more by actually working rather than “studying” the craft. The roles he chose after his war experiences were somewhat “darker”, perhaps because he had been hardened by combat.

Kim Novak played Madeleine Elster/Judy Barton. It was her finest role. In it she exhibited much more than sex appeal. Her sweet sadness and forlorn love for a man who could not see her as she really was will stay with me forever. She had been a teen-age model, and she had come to Hollywood in the early ‘50s –at the tail end of what was left of the studio system. Columbia gave her a contract, and they were grooming her to be the next Marilyn Monroe –right behind Sheree North and Jayne Mansfield. Novak’s measurements were 37-23-37. Columbia did not like her real name, Marilyn Pauline Novak. They wanted to call her Kit Marlowe. As a kind of insider’s joke, when Novak appeared on the television series, FALCON CREST, during the 1986-87 Season –her character’s name was Kit Marlowe.

Novak appeared in 37 films from 1954-1991. She came to prominence played Madge in PICNIC (1955), with William Holden. She worked with Frank Sinatra that same year in THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM (1955) and then again in PAL JOEY (1957). Her role(s) in VERTIGO (1958) are widely regarded as her “best work”. She certainly was eager to please in those early years of her career –much like the young Grace Kelly. Novak had affairs with Frank Sinatra and Cary Grant. She was “seeing” Sammy Davis Jr. while filming VERTIGO in 1957, making a lot of conservative types very uncomfortable.

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Her career never really took off in the 1960’s. She faded quickly. Her beauty remained and deepened –but her talent never did. She had turned down the female leads in both BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S (1961), and THE HUSTLER (1961). That’s too bad, for she might have been pretty good as the crippled girlfriend to Paul Newman’s Fast Eddie Felson. She still “works” occasionally, but over the last 30 years she mostly has spent her time raising horses and llamas in Oregon and California. As a tribute, and a lark, she did appear in an episode of the new ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS in 1985.

Novak once said,” The head of publicity at Columbia, where I was first under contract, told me, “You’re just a piece of meat, that’s all.” It certainly wasn’t very nice, but I had to take it. Even when I made my first screen test, the director explained to everyone,” Don’t listen to her –just look.”

I remember talking to Keenan Wynn and Gig Young back in the ‘70s –when I worked with them. They had both been under contract to MGM in the ‘40s and ‘50s. All of the studios sent out talent scouts across America looking for beautiful young women to become “starlets”. Wynn said that sometimes it was heartbreaking to watch what happened to many of those young girls after they arrived in Hollywood.

“Starlets, hell,” Keenan Wynn said,” It was more like love slaves –honestly just another form of white slavery. They were under contract and most of them were too ashamed to go home and report the truth of it. Those girls were passed around from the producers to the stars, to administrators, even to the crew –and often ended up on the streets.”
Marilyn Monroe and Kim Novak were lucky enough to rise up out of that jaded closed system of cloaked sex and abuse –but God knows what emotional damage had been done.

Barbara Del Geddes played Margaret “Midge” Wood, the ex-fiancée. She was very convincing as the down-to-earth, smart and sexy “other” woman –a gal who seemed to still have a lot of affection for Scottie --so much so that she was willing to delegated to the role of “female friend” in order to stay within his sphere, in his life. She played the role with such love and compassion, that as viewers we understood immediately that Scottie was a

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numbskull for not choosing her as his life partner. Scottie seemed to have “trouble” with the women in his life.

Del Geddes appeared in 14 films since 1947 – a rather modest cinematic filmography. Most of her films were done early on in her career. She was in I REMEMBER MAMA (1948), BLOOD ON THE MOON (1948), with Robert Mitchum – a dark and interesting Western, and she played wife and mother in THE FIVE PENNIES (1959), with Danny Kaye. She took a decade off from films from 1961-1971, and she did a lot of live theater. Broadway was always her first love. She was the original Maggie in CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF in 1956. Of course Elizabeth Taylor smoldered up the screen in the film version. Del Geddes had the original lead in MARY, MARY in 1961. Of course Debbie Reynolds got the screen role. Del Geddes was the “showgirl” in the Broadway production of THE SLEEPING PRINCE. Of course Marilyn Monroe took the film role in THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL (1957).

In the ‘70s, Del Geddes became best known as matriarch Miss Ellie Ewing on the television series DALLAS (1978-1990) –except for the ’84-85 season when she was off for health reasons [a heart attack secondary to smoking]. Donna Reed “filled in” for her that year.

Tom Helmore played the smooth, dastardly, and lethal Gavin Elster. He started out in silent films. He made 41 films from1927-1972, including THE TENDER TRAP (1955), DESIGNING WOMAN (1957), THE TIME MACHINE (1960), and ADVISE AND CONSENT in 1962. He had been Rex Harrison’s understudy in the original Broadway production of MY FAIR LADY.

Henry Jones played the County Coroner. His one scene, mid-film at the inquest into Madeleine’s “death”, was excellently acted. It was some of his strongest work. He was one of those character actors that we constantly recognized in dozens of movies –even though few of us could identify him by name. He appeared in 67 films since 1943. I liked him in 3:10 TO YUMA (1957), and BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (1969). He, too, worked one season (1985-86) on the television series FALCON CREST. He was in it the year before Kim Novak joined the cast for a time.

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The very recognizable Ellen Corby had a small role in one scene as the Manager of the McKittrick Hotel. For the bulk of her long film career, she did not have much more than peripheral walk-on parts. She appeared in 112 films from 1933-1997 (d.1998) –but interestingly she appeared as “uncredited” in 34 movies from 1933-1948, and then sporadically for several more years. She began to get some “cast recognition” after 1950. She was in THE GUNFIGHTER (1950), with Gregory Peck. She played Liz Torrey in SHANE (1953), and Miss McCardle in SABRINA (1954), with Audrey Hepburn. In 1968 she was in Kim Novak’s aborted “return” film, THE LEGEND OF LYLAH CLARE. Corby’s big break happened in 1971, when she appeared as Grandma Walton in a TV movie called THE HOMECOMING –which launched the incredibly successful television series, THE WALTONS.

Roger Ebert wrote further,” VERTIGO is one of the two or three best films Hitchcock ever made –and it is the most confessional –dealing directly with those themes that controlled his art. It is specifically about how Hitchcock used, feared, and tried to control women. In the film he is represented by the character Scottie (James Stewart).”

James Berardinelli also wrote,” Hitchcock scholars are in general agreement that the character of Scottie is a subconscious representation of the director –a man constantly striving for his own image of perfect female beauty.”

There is a story that when Hitch was a child, his mother would make him stand at the foot of her bed to report the events of his day. This is probably where the need that Norman Bates had to stand at the foot of his deceased mother’s bed while he conversed with her –came from.

Peter Stack wrote more to say,” The film’s mysteries are beautiful as paintings, and they are to be savored and studied. In its dark heart, the film is a sorrowful contemplation of love and the veils that manipulate sexual passions. It is a taste of romantic obsession, of flirtation and deceit –and it is a cold rumination on voyeurism.
Saul Bass demonstrated stunning gimmickry in its opening titles –depicting spinning images through which an eye peers –the eye of the voyeur –the eye lost to longing for hopeless unattainable beauty.”


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The critic Georges Sadoul called the film,” A meditation on the destructive power of romantic illusion.”

Many of our greatest plays, the classics of Shakespeare, our national and international literature and films –even operas –all are littered with references to, and plots intertwined with, sexual manipulation, obsession, passion, and misplaced romantic thrusts. Often with grand passion rides grand tragedy. Too often murder or suicide becomes the prodigy of lust, the offspring of blinded love –or there is a stalking of the innocent, or interminable loneliness. VERTIGO is certainly no exception. It teems with madness, lust, sadness, and twisted issues of manipulation and control. It benefits from repeat viewings, for Hitchcock packed a lot into it.

Would this classic film be served well by modern movie makers if it were remade today –with stronger language, nudity, and graphic gore and violence? Would we understand Scottie’s uncontrollable lustful obsession with a dream if we could see the dream naked? Some felt that Brian De Palma, a confessed Hitchcock disciple, already remade VERTIGO as OBSESSION in 1976. It might be an interesting cinematic venture, to remake VERTIGO. The remake of PSYCHO was a sad dud, a joke. It would take more than a recapitulation or regurgitation of the original to impress us much today. It would take a new vision. Maybe Roman Polanski could do it, or Robert Redford, or Martin Scorsese.

With VERTIGO, Hitchcock provided us with a gem of a movie, and now that it is re-polished and re-mastered –it sparkles like a ten carat diamond –almost blinding to the eye and devastating to the emotions. I liked this film much more today than I did in 1958 when I was a freshman in high school. I would rate it at 4.5 stars.

Glenn Buttkus 2005