Last week Vertigo was voted the Greatest Movie of All Time, ending the 50-year reign of Orson Welles’ masterpiece Citizen Kane at the top of the BFI poll. Run by Sight and Sound every ten years since 1962, this year’s poll was conducted by a panel of 846 critics, programmers, distributors and academics. With a staggering 191 votes, Vertigo trumped Kane, which took 157. While this honorary distinction for one of Hitchcock’s big financial failures hardly surprises me – I’m well aware of the esteem it is held in amongst film critics and academics – it does irk me; I think Vertigo is a mess – a interesting one, with many great elements and memorable moments – but not worthy of its place amongst the greatest films of all time.
The Opening Scene
This is the first aspect of Vertigo that I find disappointing. Let me qualify what I mean by ‘disappointed’ before I go any further. If you watch a man run one hundred metres in your local park in twelve seconds you would be amazed. However, if you saw Usain Bolt do this at the Olympics, you would be disappointed. When you watch a film that is said to be the greatest of all time, such as Vertigo now is, disappointment comes very easily.
I find the opening scene of Vertigo simplistic – far too simplistic for a film which is anything but simple. While this scene manage to suck us straight into action with a frenetic chase across the rooftops of San Francisco and establishes the key plot point – how Scottie develops his fear of heights and thus the reason he has to quit the police force – it tells us very little else about his character.
Other than the fact he is played by the beloved Jimmy Stewart and he is a police office, we learn very little about him and are given little other reason to care about him. I can’t help but feel if we had seen the start of that chase and had learned some fine details about Scottie I would feel more for him when he is dangling from the ledge. A moment of character through action where he does something for the police officer who falls to his death would surely have made the difference. Perhaps create a bond between Scottie and the police officer so we have an added emotional element in the scene?
Exposition Dialogue
The second scene of Vertigo begins in a manner that reveals so much story before a single word has been spoken. The tranquil studio apartment of Scottie’s artist friend and former lover Midge provides a calming contrast to the perilous rooftops. Light floods into the spacious apartment where Scottie now sits in good humour with a walking stick.
From here, however, it descends into a scene of clunky, unnatural and expositional dialogue, detailing the present and the past. Some of the lines are almost laughable: “well what are you going to do tomorrow, once you quit the police force?”; “You were the bright young lawyer who decided he was going to be chief of police someday”; “we were engaged once though, weren’t we?”
The ending of the scene with Scottie climbing onto the high chair to test his Vertigo only to suffer from an attack of nerves is equally difficult to watch. The way in which it is executed is far too melodramatic and it’s here where Stewart’s performance descends into theatrical.
Midge
I don’t care for her as a character, and I’m not entirely sure what function she has in the movie other than being a sounding board for Scottie and a means of establishing his past. Barbara Bel Geddes’ on screen relationship with Stewart comes across too similar to that of Stewart and Grace Kelly in Hitchcock’s earlier Rear Window, and in addition to being indistinct lacks the charisma and charm.
I’m sure one could talk much about how there is deeper meaning to their relationship and draw on the parallels with Midge’s possible obsession with Scottie – their lost love/ the loss of the young, idealistic Scottie – and how this mirrors Scottie’s obsession with Madeline, but it seems like an unnecessary layer to the film to me that isn’t successfully exploited or satisfactorily concluded. It feels abandoned.
Click “next” below to read part 2…
You Might Also Like...
- Alfred Hitchcock: 5 Movies That Prove He Was A Genius
- Vertigo: Hitchcock’s Classic And The Great Gatsby Parallel
- 6 Great Hitchcockian Films Not Directed By Alfred Hitchcock
Want to write about the stuff you're passionate about and have your work read by an audience of over 10 million a month? Click here to become a contributor.
12 Comments
While I do agree with you that VERTIGO is somewhat overrated, and I particularly agree with you about the Midge character, I think you’re missing the mark with the opening sequence. It’s a brilliant way to get an audience’s attention. Also, it establishes his fear of heights. We aren’t required to know anything about Scottie at this point, nor have his relationship with the cop explained (it’s unlikely that Scottie would have any relationship with a random assisting cop). Scottie is explained throughout the film, so such backstory is unnecessary.
However, I would say that the central device established in the opening sequence – that of vertigo – is largely superfluous to the main point of the film: romantic obsession. Scottie’s vertigo has little to do with the main story except mechanically at the film’s fairly rushed (and somewhat silly) conclusion.
Intresting read.I disagree though, it might not be Htchcocks best but it’s still a decent film and not overrated in anyway. But saying that, it’s not the best film of all time, we know that honour belongs to RoboCop. Also, the most overrated movie of recent times has to be Avatar, no idea why people go crazy over that film.
So where exactly do you disagree with the author? You say it’s not overrated but then you say that not only is it not the best film ever (which is exactly how it is being rated – the whole point of the article!) but it’s not even Hitchcock’s best film.
But you’re right about Avatar being rubbish.
“Vertigo” is imho definitely not the “best” movie of all time. There are at least dozens of movies competing about this honour, and there are imho maany better ones than this including several better Hitchcock movies. Anyway, after I read the news, I watched “Vertigo” again and – - couldn’t finish it. Way too slow storytelling, not enough ‘mystery’ in it whilst watching it for the second time (I admit: during the first time I WAS curious about the plot / what might happen. But, honestly, a “great” movie is a movie one can watch again and again and will still be thrilled or fascinated etc. (like f.e. Once upon a time in the West or Blade Runnner or Aguirre or Citizen Kane or Lost in Translation or Metropolis or or or…). This one isn’t, no chance.
Better Hitchcock movies imho f.e.: Strangers on a train; Family Plot: The man who knew too much; Dial M for Murder; Rope. And others.
It’s all opinion anyway. To me, no, it isn’t the best film of ALL TIME, but how can you say what is…
Well, at least I don`t have to listen to people rambling on about how Citizen Cane is the most overrated film of all times anymore. Instead I have to listen to people rambling on about how Vertigo is the most overrated film of all times. That`s the way it goes: Someone agrees on a list of what is culturally correct to canonize as the best films, and someone has fun being culturally incorrect.
I disagree on some of your points. I don`t need to know the guy`s thoughts and feelings in the opening sequence. I prefer films that leave a bit of mystery to the viewer. What I dread is films where they tell you every little detail about the man`s emotions and how his actions are motivated by his childhood experience or whatever. And sometimes the main character of Vertigo behaves like an idiot.
I don`t think that Vertigo is too long. It keeps the mystery and suspense throughout the entire length.
The plot is spectacular. I don’t see the criticism here. Should there only be realistic films about sensitive guys? I don`t care whether the plot could be carried out in real life. It`s part of the movie magic.
I agree on one thing though, and that is that Vertigo is not a film I would bother to see very many times, as is often the case with films with convoluted plot. So much of the suspense rests on that you don`t really know what`s going on. With all the films in the world, how do you decide which one is the best? In that sense, I guess any top ranked with could be called overrated (and will probably be every time the list is updated, but that`s also a part of the fun of it).
I agree with your conclusion that about the first half of the movie. I watched it with my family and we ended up turning it off exactly half way through due to mutual boredom (I would have kept watching if i had been by myself, as i have a high patience level) but when i decided to watch the second half weeks later i found myself enthralled with it.
I agree with your conclusion about the first half of the movie. I watched it with my family and we ended up turning it off exactly half way through due to mutual boredom (I would have kept watching if i had been by myself, as i have a high patience level) but when i decided to watch the second half weeks later i found myself enthralled with it.
No, it isn’t in my opinion.
If you ever have the time to watch the film shot by shot, you’ll gain a better appreciation for it.
It’s not the greatest ever, but it’s definitely a lot better than most people here are giving it.
I’ll go further: Vertigo is without a doubt THE most overrated film ever made, for the reasons you’ve pointed out in your piece, but the main reason for me is the pairing of one of the finest actors of the last century — James Stewart (who unfortunately, is pretty hammy in this, and too old) — with one of the worst — Kim Novak. She’s so bad I’m not sure she deserves to be called an actress, but suffice to say the film would’ve been so much better with practically anyone else playing the part.
Strangers on a Train, North by Northwest, and Shadow of a Doubt are all better than this steaming pile of celluloid. Far, far better.
I agree completely with all of your comments. I just watched this again for perhaps the tenth or twentieth time. I first saw it on the big screen when it was first restored, I think in the late 1980s. I was enchanted. But since then I have seen not only every last film Hitchcock made, as well as hundreds of films from around the globe.
What strikes me about these “Sight and Sound” and similar polls is how Americentric they are. They always include a handful token “international” films, but lean heavily toward Hollywood. In fact, I can think of dozens of films from around the globe that are demonstrate greater depth and skill than anything ever made either by Hitchcock or in Hollywood. This is not to denigrate this great director or American film. It is to point out the narrow scope of such polls. There are countless films of exceptional quality made in the past century in places like the USSR and Hong Kong that are of far greater artistry and yet receive little comparative attention.
Couldn’t agree more with this well-argued article. Bravo