One of Hitchcock’s masterpieces, seen as one of the best films ever made, it contains love, fear, sweat and James Stewart in San Fransisco.

"Vertigo is the pinnacle of moviemaking." - EYE FOR FILM

Vertigo ranked 4th and 2nd respectively in Sight and Sound's 1992 and 2002 critic polls of the best films ever made.

 

+ INTRODUCTION AND DISCUSSION!

This is a special screening, as the film will be introduced by a Historian, specialist of American History: Dr Joe Street, from Northumbria University. We will also be discussing the film with him after the screening.

 

ABOUT

A Hitchcock classic, Vertigo is frequently ranked among the greatest films ever made, and and one of the defining works of Hitchcock's career.

The film had received mixed reviews at its release (1958) though - as you can see below...

PLOT

“Scottie” Ferguson is a police detective who must retire from the force when his fear of heights contributes to the death of a policeman in a rooftop chase. Soon after, he is called by a former college friend to “watch over” his wealthy young wife. She has an unhealthy obsession with her great-grandmother, Carlotta Valdes, who committed suicide a century before.

She seems to slip in and out of the dead woman’s persona.

Scottie takes the job only after he sees the gorgeous Madeleine, out to dinner with her husband, and is immediately fascinated. He starts following her as she visits Carlotta’s portrait at an art gallery, buys flowers that match those in the portrait, sits idly in Carlotta’s former room in an old mansion, now transformed into a hotel -- and of course, when she visits Carlotta’s grave...

 

REVIEWS

The film ranked 4th and 2nd respectively in Sight and Sound's 1992 and 2002 critic polls of the best films ever made.

The British-Canadian scholar Robin Wood's Hitchcock's Films (1968), called the film "Hitchcock's masterpiece to date and one of the four or five most profound and beautiful films the cinema has yet given us".

EYE FOR FILM

"Vertigo is the pinnacle of moviemaking. Its powerful and affecting story is concise, clever and unpredictable. Hitchcock is playing at the peak of his game, with great depth of character and storytelling, and his actors do not let him down."

ROGER EBERT

"Vertigo' (1958), which is one of the two or three best films Hitchcock ever made, is the most confessional, dealing directly with the themes that controlled his art. It is *about* how Hitchcock used, feared and tried to control women."

LAURIE BOEDER IN CLASSIC MOVIES

"Vertigo shows Hitchcock as a director at the height of his powers, and ahead of his time. It rewards repeated viewings. Don’t focus on the flaws in the plot. Focus on the mesmerizing characters and visuals, and after 50 years, Vertigo will still cast a spell."

 

NEGATIVE REVIEWS AT ITS RELEASE

Strangely enough though, the film actually received a majority of negative reviews at its release:

"Alfred Hitchcock, who produced and directed this thing, has never before indulged in such farfetched nonsense." - John McCarten, The New Yorker, June 7, 1958 (Very harsh on little Alfred there!!)

"Hitchcock has dabbled in a new, for him, dimension: the dream - but he has taken too long to unfold it. The twice-told theme, hard to grasp at best, bogs down further in a maze of detail; and the spectator experiences not only some of the vertigo afflicting James Stewart, the hero, but also - and worse - the indifference." - Phillip K. Scheuer, Los Angeles Times, May 29, 1958. (needless to say, we totally disagree with this unfair point of view!)

 

Why such a change of opinion between 1958 and now?

Some critics have wondered why the reception of the film changed so much:

"Why has a film dismissed by the keenest minds of 1958 become an icon of modern cinema? Were they crazy or are we?

Or is it simply that Vertigo defines the concept of art that is ahead of its time, a motion picture whose virtues resonate much more strongly with contemporary viewers than they could have done four decades past...what connects most impressively to today's audiences is the strange darkness of Vertigo's themes, its moments of obsessive eroticism, its tipping of the hat to sadism, masochism, fetishism, necrophilia, and more garden-variety neuroses.

The film's continued ability to unsettle and disconcert without resorting to graphic visuals underlines how modern and timeless its themes and execution remain."

- Kenneth Turan, The A List: The National Society of Film Critics' 100 Essential Films. -

NO DISTRIBUTION

A factor that might have lead to the change in opinion of the film is the lack of accessibility to it for a period of time.

Due to disappointing initial reception, Hitchcock removed the film from distribution in 1973. A decade later it was re-released and attracted many viewers, maybe helping then towards a new and different reading of the film.

 

 

THREE FACTS

- FEMALE LEAD

Kim Novak was only a 2nd choice for the role of the female lead.

Actress Vera Miles, who was under personal contract to Hitchcock, was supposed to have the role, but she got pregnant and so had to decline the role..

- HITCHCOCK’S 46TH!!

This is Alfred Hitchcock’s 46th movie!!

He made 53 films in total in his life. Pretty impressive Alfred I dare say!

- MUSIC

Bernard Herrmann’s music is typically amazing. The opening-credits sequence has an ominous, portentous tone that you almost never hear in movies anymore. For the love theme, Herrmann borrows from the Richard Wagner opera Tristan und Isolde, a tragic love story, about love transcending death.

 

 

 

Price: £5 (full price) / £3.50 (conc)
OR £4.50 online here http://www.wegottickets.com/event/134494

 

 

29 Sept - 24 Nov 2011: FILM SERIES: FILMS + DISCUSSIONS!

As part of a mini-series of films + discussions, we are presenting 2 fabulous films, all introduced by Historians and followed by a discussion with the audience.

For the pleasure of putting films in their context, of seeing classics under a different angle, and of talking about them! 

 

Thu 29 Sept, 7.30pm: FILM: VERTIGO (1958) + DISCUSSION!

One of Hitchcock’s masterpieces, seen as one of the best films ever made, it contains love, fear, sweat and James Stewart in San Fransisco.

Very rarely shown on a big screen, and on 35mm!

 

 

 

 “Slick, stylish and ineffably cool, this was perhaps McQueen's defining role. Also mention goes to the unaccredited star of the film; San Francisco.” – EMPIRE MAGAZINE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thu 24 Nov, 7.30pm: FILM: THE LOST HONOUR OF KATHARINA BLUM (1975) + DISCUSSION!

Reminiscent of some recent happenings with the press, this is a fabulous German film about an innocent housekeeper whose life is ruined by an invasive tabloid reporter and a police investigation. Adapted from an incredible novel from H. Boll, the film will be followed by a discussion with a German History Specialist.