*VERTIGO* is INSANE | first time watching | movie reaction

[@peteralbert1485]

I love this movie for the exact spiraling reasons you talked about so innocently in the beginning and that double down so much more stupendously in the second half. So it goes without need for saying that I really enjoyed your reaction: it was like watching the movie all over again for the first time. I wanted their romance to work out, too, and then I cross-examined myself: Exquisite as she was as Madeleine, Judy did prey on a man with a mental illness for money. And she was an accomplice to murder, causing Scotty irreparable harm along the way. She created the monster that then rose from the slab to force a recreation of his own upon her. Such a nightmarishly dark and exceptional film!

[@jerryhayes9497]

Hitchcock was a genius 🎉🎉

[@MrKINSM]

Jimmy Stewart is one of the most fascinating actors in Hollywood history. A phenomenal actor who as a real life Brigadier General served in 3 American wars.

[@hankstaines6568]

True, but he was controlling. He demanded more time on screen than the other actors.

[@anrun]

"Gavin is a good man." Yeah, that didn't last long. It is interesting that some reactors, even sharper ones like LSL here, forget that Judy is a murderess or at least an accomplice to murder. There would be no getting over that for Scottie. Vertigo can indeed be fairly called the greatest movie ever made.

[@Ceractucus]

I disagree with your synopsis of whether or not Scottie could not get over what Judy was. If for no other reason, that it's a better story if is second crash was as bad as his first. I think Hitchock agrees with me, at least sort of. He omitted the ending where he was hanging out with Midge and they hear about Gaving getting arrested and chuckled or something like that. Not quite the right tone, or perhaps he merely felt it extraneous.

[@grosbeak6130]

The spiral for Scottie is broken at the end of the movie, which can be seen by him standing on the ledge atop The Bell Tower without the feeling and fear of falling or heights.

[@MarkBrandenburg-p4n]

Very good review. You are one of the few people (incl. Friedken) to remark that for two seconds we think everything's going to work out --- which makes the final blow so much more powerful.

[@balzacfaraday]

A couple of things nobody seems to notice or at least to comment about. The incredible self-possession Judy demonstrates when she opens the door to see Scottie on the threshold! Betrays not even the slightest awareness or surprise, not even a flinch of the eyes. And how terribly sterile Judy and Scottie’s relationship is. He can’t consummate with Judy until he’s finished manipulating her into Madeline’s ghostly resurrection. “You don’t want to even touch me,” she says, quite distraught. And when they’re strolling together by the Pacific Exposition, check out her face when they pass other couples lolling on the grass in each other’s arms. Meanwhile Scottie can’t even bring himself to hold Judy’s hand. She walks with arms folded on her torso just to cover the awkwardness. This is a girl who’s been “understanding” since she was 17.

[@Muckylittleme]

That was great, thanks.

[@rg3388]

Thanks for this reaction. This is an absolute classic with many wonderful features, including Herrmann’s great, pseudo-Wagnerian score. Nevertheless, when the Sight & Sound poll named this the greatest film of all time, actor Alan Arkin opined that this is not the greatest film ever, not one of the 500 greatest films, not Hitchcock’s greatest film, etc. One KZbinr called it the most perverse film ever to come out of Hollywood. Personal connection: In about 1980, I saw Henry Jones (coroner) at the Tower Records in Westwood, CA.

[@anrun]

Upvoted for mentioning Henry Jones.

[@LordVolkov]

When you get a little deeper into Hitchcock (at least Rear Window and North By Northwest) seek out Mel Brooks Hitchcock spoof High Anxiety.

[@billolsen4360]

27:24 It's surprising how much sympathy Judy gets at this point from so many people since she knew she was a part of the murder scheme going in during her affair with Gavin.

[@petercofrancesco9812]

Look on the bright side, watching his mistress die a second time cured his vertigo. 😛

[@darrenkane2109]

As much as I also wanted Scottie and Judy to work out, their romance had a lot going against it from the start. You picked up on a lot of the symbolism of the film pretty quickly. I think you'd really enjoy the work of David Lynch whose films are also very symbolic and Vertigo-esque.

[@imaoregonbum6683]

remember he is a retired detective who is trying to solve what he experienced--which she was a willing part of a murder. He had to know which the end was his deliverance, you can't build any relation on such a deception as murder. He was a victim also.

[@-R.Gray-]

You remarked about his hand touching hers at his place after he rescued her from drowning as a sign he was going to fall for her. Few reactors get that by this time, he must have taken her wet clothes off when she was unconscious, in order for her to be in that bathrobe.

[@jtt6650]

The beauty of this movie is that NO ONE EVER predicts the major plot twist or the-rug-pulled-out-from-under-you ending. Hitchcock masterfully misleads the viewer around by the nose. Also, notwithstanding all the beautiful color, Vertigo is still a film noir and Madeleine/Judy is the femme fatale. It would’ve never worked out between them. It was doomed from the beginning. Scottie would’ve had to turn Judy in for being a willing accomplice to an elaborate murder, so it’s just as well she fell off the tower. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@FilmBuff54]

My perspective: A lot of reactors get angry at Scotty for trying to turn Judy into Madeleine, but I believe part of the reason for his obsession is that he unconsciously knows that Judy is the woman he thought was Madeleine. Even the nightmare he has after the inquest suggests that he unconsciously knows there is something wrong with the entire situation. Scotty’s tragedy is that he can’t love in a normal way; if he could, he would probably be married to Midge, He needs the fantasy, he needs the illusion, which is all “Madeleine Elster” was - he never even met the real woman. It might not seem like it, but I think Hitchcock is firmly on the side of the victims in this story, of Madeleine, of Carlotta, and of Judy. 3 times in the story, a character talks about men having “the power and freedom” to do whatever they like, especially to women. Elster talks about “old San Francisco” and says he misses the “power and freedom” men had in those days, and the historian in the bookstore says that Carlotta’s former lover “threw her away,” and says that men could do that in those days because they had the power and freedom.

[@garybrockie6327]

Try Hitchcock’s Rear Window!

[@joebloggs396]

Scottie makes up Judy just like Gavin did, just for a different purpose. Their love was doomed. Judy was an accomplice to a murder so she meets justice in a way. Scottie with his obsession also carries guilt with him. Jimmy Stewart normally played a simple good guy (a much superior version of Tom Hanks), but here he has a more complex role. Hitchcock did many good films, unfortunately on KZbin most just recommend the same handful just because they've been shown on US TV a lot. Hitchcock himself seemed to consider Shadow of a Doubt his best. Vertigo was one of his most personal and he kept it out of circulation until his death after the initial mixed reception. Hitchcock started in the 20s and made his last film in the 70s. His most famous 30s film is The 39 Steps.

[@MrKINSM]

25:15 Laura's mind....POOF

[@cwdkidman2266]

There are 4 categories of great films: Howard Hawks movies, New Hollywood Movement movies, Marx Brothers movies, and Jerry Lewis solo movies. Just ask the French. As in Godard and Truffaut and Cahiers du Cinema. Atop all sits DELIVERANCE. WHICH YOU KNOW.

[@Dej24601]

For extremely entertaining Hitchcock films, try Rear Window and North by Northwest. For a suspense & romance, try Notorious. Other great ones include: Strangers on a Train, Rope, Shadow of a Doubt, Dial M for Murder.

[@wbrenne]

Not to forget Rebecca for how to drive someone insane.

[@Jeff_Lichtman]

One thing that makes Vertigo great is the use of color. Essays have been written about the symbolism. Green represents Madeleine and Scottie's obsession with her. Red indicates danger and the troubles brewing in their relationship. Kim Novak's acting in this movie is fantastic. She played two characters who were really the same character, and did a slow transition from one to the other as Judy became Madeleine again. It wasn't just the hair color. Judy talked differently from Madeleine, she held her face differently, she walked differently. It would have been easier for Novak if the transition were sudden. But there were times when Novak had to be 50% Judy and 50% Madeleine. And on top of that, she had to portray someone who was acting like she was possessed, or in a trance, and make it believable. Natives of San Francisco love this movie for all the location shots: The Palace of the Legion of Honor, The Palace of Fine Arts, the Golden Gate Bridge and Fort Point, Muir Woods, Coit Tower, Mission Dolores. . . he shot where Scottie looks down the stairs while following Madeleine is called a dolly zoom, also known as a trombone shot. It's done by moving the camera forward while zooming out at the same time. This makes it look like the background is receding while the foreground stays in place. Judy falling out of the window gave the story a sort of symmetry, and it also satisfied the Hays Code, which was still in force at the time (though it was fading). According to the Code, wrongdoers could not be shown getting away with their crimes, and Judy did engage in a murder plot. You have to wonder what happened to the husband (and to Scottie) once the law got involved again.

[@chasse123b9]

there is an alternate ending that was filmed because of that. I found it on youtube. where he returns to Midge's apartment and on the radio it is announced about the capture of Elster.

[@gregorybrown3272]

I think you are kind of missing the point here, this movie has a happy ending : Scotty is cured of his acrophobia!

[@Dej24601]

SPOILER: ***** Hitchcock liked to manipulate his audience. For instance, in Psycho he changed the focus on who the audience assumed was the main character. In this film, during the first part, Jimmy Stewart is a victim being manipulated (altho he didn’t know) and the audience identifies with him, but then that is turned upside down in the second part and Stewart becomes the manipulator and we no longer identify with him. Stewart does a similar thing to Judy as Elster did, altho for a totally different reason, and in a way, it also reflects what Hitchcock (or a director) does in creating his lead actress. But Judy was a participant in a murder plot, for money, so she is not completely innocent, and just like Stewart’s guilty conscience about the death of the police officer at the beginning, she has a guilty conscience about her involvement, which led at the end to her either tripping and falling, or to deliberately jumping (it never says which.) Stewart finally has gotten rid of his vertigo and is able to stand outside on the tower, but is likely a much sadder person, despite having overcome his vertigo.

[@strongdecaf3729]

You're very forgiving of Judy conspiring with a man to murder his wife in exchange for money. But then again, the plot may be preposterous. Hitchcock movies are usually not so much about the plot, but the incredible visual styling to explore psychological themes. This is fun to watch reactions to because absolutely no two reactors respond the same way.

[@MrKINSM]

Yep, she's an accessory to murder - hard to feel bad for her.