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Vertigo

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Year: 1958
Production Country: USA
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Featuring James Stewart / Kim Novak / Barbara Bel Geddes

  • The making of a perfect heroine

  • Posters (1)

  • Stills (41)

A former detective with a fear of heights is hired to follow a woman apparently possessed by the past, in Alfred Hitchcock’s timeless thriller about obsession.

“If Vertigo remains, unchallengeably, Hitchcock’s masterpiece, this is surely because there the attitude to the unknown and mysterious is not simply one of terror but retains, implicitly, a profound and disturbing ambivalence.”
Robin Wood, Hitchcock’s Films, 1977

This classic from the master of suspense was so poorly received upon release that Alfred Hitchcock later withdrew it from distribution for several years. Its reputation has since grown and it is now widely regarded as Hitchcock’s finest film, a haunting examination of male desire memorably filmed in real San Francisco locations.

The story of acrophobic Scottie Ferguson (brilliantly played by James Stewart), who compulsively remodels Judy Barton (Kim Novak) in the image of his dead love Madeleine Elster (also Novak), is unflinchingly dark and tragic. Though Hitchcock was originally deemed to have erred in giving away the film’s plot twist halfway through, Vertigo succeeds as a hallucinatory fable about the traps of desire. A thriller of dreamlike allure, it’s whipped to dizzying heights by Bernard Herrmann’s Wagner-influenced score.

Laid up with a broken leg, James Stewart becomes the ultimate armchair detective in the best of his three previous Hitchcock collaborations, Rear Window (1954).

Cast & credits

Cast

  • John 'Scottie' Ferguson James Stewart
  • Judy Barton/'Madeleine Elster' Kim Novak
  • Midge Barbara Bel Geddes
  • Gavin Elster Tom Helmore
  • official Henry Jones
  • doctor Raymond Bailey
  • hotel manageress Ellen Corby
  • Pop Leibel Konstantin Shayne
  • mistaken identity - car Lee Patrick
  • [man outside shipyard] Alfred Hitchcock
  • [Detective Captain Hansen] Paul Bryar
  • [saleswoman] Margaret Brayton
  • [jury foreman] William Remick
  • [flower vendor] Julian Petruzzi
  • [nun in tower] Sara Taft
  • [falling policeman] Fred Graham
  • [beauty operator] Molly Dodd
  • [salesman] Don Giovanni
  • [model] Roxann Delmar
  • [waiter] Bruno Della Santina
  • [mistaken identity in restaurant] Dori Simmons
  • [maître d'] Rolando Gotti
  • [bartender] Carlo Dotto
  • [attorney] Ed Stevlingson
  • [Carlotta Valdes in portrait] Joanne Genthon
  • [mistaken identity in art gallery] Nina Shipman
  • [salesman] John Benson
  • [gateman] Buck Harrington
  • [male escort] Jack Richardson
  • [Miss Woods] June Jocelyn
  • [saleswoman] Miliza Milo
  • [extra] Jack Ano
  • [customer at Ernie's] Bess Flowers
  • [customer at Ernie's] Forbes Murray

Credits

Direction
  • Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
  • [2nd Unit Director] Herbert Coleman
  • [2nd Unit Director] John P. Fulton
  • Assistant Director Daniel J. McCauley
Production
  • © Alfred J. Hitchcock Productions
  • Production Company Paramount Pictures Corporation
  • Associate Producer Herbert Coleman
  • [Assistant to the Producer] Peggy Robertson
Writing
  • Screenplay by Alec Coppel
  • Screenplay by Samuel A. Taylor
  • Based on novel 'D'entre les morts' by Pierre Boileau
  • Based on novel 'D'entre les morts' by Thomas Narcejac
Photography
  • Director of Photography Robert Burks
  • [2nd Unit Photography] William N. Williams
  • [2nd Unit Photography] Irmin Roberts
  • [2nd Unit Photography] Loyal Griggs
  • [2nd Unit Photography] W. Wallace Kelley
  • Technicolor Colour Consultant Richard Mueller
  • [Camera Operator] Leonard South
  • [2nd Unit Operator] Buddy Weiler
  • [2nd Unit Operator] Kyme Meade
  • [2nd Unit Operator] Fred Kaiffer
Special Effects
  • Special Sequence by John Ferren
  • Special Photographic Effects John P. Fulton
  • Process Photography Farciot Edouart
  • Process Photography W. Wallace Kelley
Editing
  • Edited by George Tomasini
Design
  • Art Direction Hal Pereira
  • Art Direction Henry Bumstead
  • Set Decoration Sam Comer
  • Set Decoration Frank R. Mckelvy
Costumes
  • Costumes Edith Head
Make-up
  • Make-up Supervision Wally Westmore
  • Hair Style Supervision Nellie Manley
Titles
  • Titles Designed by Saul Bass
Film processing
  • [Optical Effects] Paul K. Lerpae
Music
  • Music by Bernard Herrmann
  • Conductor Muir Mathieson
Sound
  • Sound Recording by Harold Lewis
  • Sound Recording by Winston Leverett
Stunts
  • [Stunt Double] Polly Burson
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