Alfred Hitchcock directed some great films, but not every film was great. For example, "The Man Who Knew Too Much" from 1956, co-starred Doris Day and seemed to be a vehicle for her to sing "Que Sera Sera". "Vertigo", his next film that starred Jimmy Stewart, is considered by many not only to be Hitchcock's best movie, but by some to be the best movie ever.
With this in mind, I was frustrated by the first half of the movie. In the opening scene, Stewart and a fellow cop are chasing a villain across rooftops. Stewart slips, and hangs onto a gutter for dear life. The other cop tries to help him, but falls to his death. The next scene, Stewart is safe on the ground again. We never learn how Stewart, in that precarious position with his terrifying fear of heights, got down from that rooftop safely.
The plot then moves quite slowly. Stewart retires
from the force, flirts with his would-be
girlfriend Midge, and is hired by old pal Gavin
to follow his mournful, suicidal wife (Kim Novak)
around. Things certainly take their time as
Stewart learns she has a fixation with a
long-dead woman who had committed suicide.
Stewart befriends her, and falls in love with
her. Stewart's galpal is jealous, but no matter,
since she has only a few scenes in the movie
anyway.
Novak and Stewart visit a Sequoia tree forest.
They are apparently the only people there. Later,
at a mission preserved as a tourist trap, again,
they are the only ones there. Not even employees
are to be seen. When a couple goes to a
restaurant in the movies, the restaurant is
usually full of people. When they visit a scenic
site, however, the couple is often the only ones
there. Okay, so I'm being picky here.
Novak describes a dream she had. Amazingly,
Stewart is able to recognize it as an old
restored mission a hundred miles away. They go
there, and after a tender love scene, Novak runs
up the mission's tower and apparently jumps to
her death, however...
It later turns out that: 1). Novak is an actress
playing Gavin's wife. 2). Novak is having an
affair with Gavin. 3). Novak did not jump off the
tower. Instead, Gavin was waiting there, with his
already-murdered wife, and pushes her off instead.
The audience is supposed to buy this incredible
set-up because it is delivered as a surprise. But
a movie is not great simply because it has a few
surprises. Especially if those surprises are
preposterous. Gavin apparently takes his wife to
the mission, takes her to the mission tower,
kills her there, waits for Stewart to show up
with Novak, waits for Novak to run up the stairs,
knowing that Stewart won't run up because he is
afraid of heights, waits until the post-jump
commotion is over, then leaves the mission with
Novak dressed up as the wife. With no one seeing
him at the mission with his wife or Novak, and
without the coroner discovering the murder. How
Novak was able to contact Gavin to tell him when
Stewart would arrive isn't revealed. After the
murder, what if Stewart saw a photo of the wife
in the paper or TV? He would have known it was a
set-up.
It is a different movie after Novak's jump. The
pace finally picks up, and there is more tension.
Problems remain, however, with character
development and motivation.
Stewart is devastated by Novak's apparent death.
He has a laughable, bizarre nightmare that has
scenes of Stewart falling, flashing red lights,
and Stewart's disembodied head superimposed on
weird animation. Upon waking, Stewart goes into a
catatonic state, and ends up in some sort of
institution. He's only there for one scene,
however. A doctor tells Midge that he might not
recover for two years. Next scene, however,
Stewart is prowling the street. Unless I blinked,
it isn't explained how Stewart got his act
together again.
Wouldn't you know it, Stewart spots a girl who
looks alot like Novak. She has a different
hairstyle, hair color, and fashion sense. You'd
think that he would shake it off as a
coincidence, especially given his fixation with
her. But no, he knocks on her apartment door,
checks on her ID (she's Judy Barton), asks her to
go out with him, then asks her to quit her job,
then dresses her up as Novak, even dying her hair
the same color. It turns out that this woman is
Novak. She must be a very pliable woman, as she
gives in to all the endless demands both Gavin
and Stewart make of her. Instead of saying no,
she just gets breathless with excitement. She
also must like older men, since Gavin and Stewart
are both a quarter century older than her.
Stewart recognizes a necklace that Judy is
wearing as one that Novak wore. Instead of
accepting this as a coincidence, Stewart makes
the incredible deduction that Novak impersonated
Gavin's wife, that Gavin killed his wife, and
Novak and Gavin had an affair. Instead of going
to the police, like you and me would, Stewart
drives Novak to the scene of the crime, fighting
his vertigo and dragging the reluctant Novak up
the stairs as he cross-examines her. When finally
surprised by a nun, Novak jumps off the tower
(would you have? Didn't think so) leaving Stewart
gaping as the credits roll.
Now, it could be that I am a fault-finding grouch
who missed the point. Or, it could be that others
are overly impressed by the Hitchcock and Stewart
names, silly dream sequences and dubious
surprises. (44/100)
San Francisco police detective Stewart's fear of heights and boredom in retirement makes him the foil in an elaborate murder plot. Novak is the myster...More at HotMovieSale.com
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