What do you get when you mix an actor beloved for light roles in Frank Capra films with the director of some of the most classic thrillers of all time?
Stunning examples of film noir, of course.
From the period two years after Jimmy Stewart famously starred in It's A Wonderful Life (1946) to two years before Alfred Hitchcock made history with Psycho (1960) came four collaborations from the most unlikely of pairs: 1948's Rope, 1954's Rear Window, 1956's The Man Who Knew Too Much, and 1958's psychological thriller Vertigo.
Vertigo tells the dark tale of John "Scottie" Ferguson (Stewart), a cop who suffers from acrophobia (the fear of heights) and vertigo (severe dizziness caused by the acrophobia) after a traumatic rooftop chase that kills one of his colleagues.
Unable to return to work in his condition, he is called upon to help an old friend who thinks his wife, Madeleine (Kim Novak), has been possessed by some sort of spirit.
Ferguson agrees to observe her daily and in the process finds himself falling for her.
Stewart and Novak are extraordinary in their respective roles as he tries to save her from being possessed by an eerie ancestor and she tries to hide her love from him.
Arguably more impressive than the brilliant acting is the haunting backdrop of San Francisco in the '50s.
From the grandiose churches and cemeteries to the Golden Gate Bridge, the beautiful shores of Monterey to the ancient redwood sequoias, the scenery is surreal.
Hitchcock utilized camera tricks to show the effects of Ferguson's vertigo. The tricks have been mimicked by many, but they have never been equaled in their simple yet effective way of showing the mindset of the character.
The art direction and costumes are equally spectacular.
Both do an exquisite job of setting the scenes and creating the auras surrounding all of the characters. Not a single detail is left unattended.
And of course with Hitchcock behind the camera, the story unfolds meticulously frame by frame until finally coming to a surprising and creepy finale in the end.
Rent this movie to realize the beauty that can be captured on film.
Rent this movie to become engulfed in a cryptic twisting story.
Or just rent it in order to experience a Hollywood classic.
