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Vertigo (1958)

Nominated for the Academy Award for art direction/set decoration and sound.

Won the American Film Institute's top one hundred movies of all time: number sixty one.

God, we don’t even know where to start with this film. The story is so deep and dark and confusing that it’s nearly impossible to write up a synopsis that will give it any justice.  So if you haven’t seen it, go to Netflix and join the club. What we will try to do is share some information that we’ve learned regarding the film that we have personally found interesting.

The idea for the film is loosely based from a French book titled From Amongst the Dead.  From the novel, a pair of screenwriters went to work on a screenplay.  After two drafts and two rejections from Hitchcock, a fresh writer was brought in. He intentionally did not read the either the book or the previous screenplay attempts before his treatment.

He based his work directly from Hitchcock’s notes and ideas and what he produced is approximately what is seen on film today. It’s interesting that Hitchcock rarely took a screenwriting credit when in fact he almost always had a major role in it’s development.  It’s also worth noting that Hitchcock invented his famous “contra-zoom” shot especially for this film (the shot where the camera lens is zoomed forward but the camera itself is pulled back.  The technique has since been bitten from nearly every filmmaker alive today.

This complex film is considered by a large portion of Hitchcock followers to be his greatest work, and it’s hard to argue.

(Directed by Alfred Hitchcock)

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