Alfred Hitchcock’s VERTIGO Screens at Webster University May 3rd

“You shouldn’t keep souvenirs of a killing. You shouldn’t have been that sentimental.”

Alfred Hitchcock’s VERTIGO screens at Webster University’s
Moore Auditorium (470 East Lockwood) Friday May 3rd at 7:30pm. A Facebook invite for the screening can be found HERE. 

Let’s state this right from the top: VERTIGO is one of the greatest films ever made. It’s not simply hyperbole that notables such as Leonard Maltin and Martin Scorsese have called the film Hitchcock’s masterpiece. To paraphrase Scorsese, rarely have we seen the complexity of a man’s thoughts and feelings portrayed so beautifully and compellingly onscreen. Everything in VERTIGO – from the costumes to the location scenery to the performances of its lead actors is quite simply, perfect. Hitchcock had long wanted to film a story in the City by the Bay, and with the French novel FROM AMONG THE DEAD, he had the framework for his most personal and revealing film. The San Francisco backdrops contribute greatly to the overall dreamlike quality of much of the film, with the Spanish architecture, redwood forests, and of course, the Golden Gate. The plot of VERTIGO is famously convoluted, but suffice to say that Hitch had yet another morally ambiguous lead character in Scottie (the always solid Jimmy Stewart, here playing against his all-American every guy type), and a plethora of dualities in almost every character – and then some. Madeleine (the wonderful Kim Novak) is not really Madeleine, but Judy. And Midge (Barbara Bel Geddes) wants to be Madeleine, but paints a portrait of herself as Carlotta. The old college buddy is really a calculating murderer. Hitchcock uses paintings, reflections, mirrors, and shadows to show us these dual personas constantly throughout the film.

On its surface, VERTIGO is about trying to change someone you love. Haven’t we all tried this to some extent at some point in our lives? The danger, as it is here, is that it can become an obsession – this power we have to transform someone. To take the point even further, isn’t it the movies themselves which transform reality for us? It would also be easy to dismiss VERTIGO as one of the darkest and most cynical portrayals of romantic love ever filmed. But Hitchcock actually has a genuine affinity for romance. Look at the scene where Scottie finally molds Judy into the Madeleine he loves. As she enters the room, bathed in an ethereal light, Bernard Herrmann’s lush romantic score swells to a crescendo, and Scottie’s face transforms as he embraces her as Hitch shoots in a full 360 dolly (Notice how the background changes, reflecting Scottie’s memories.) Has there ever been a more beautifully rendered sequence showing a man and woman in love? Many directors would have ended the film right there, but of course, Hitch is not most directors. With its themes of the conflicts inherent in romantic love, its obsessive power to transform reality, and its dark impulses that we both fear and are drawn to, VERTIGO abides as a unique look into the mind of one very special genius.

Admission is:

$7 for the general public
$6 for seniors, Webster alumni and students from other schools
$5 for Webster University staff and faculty

Free for Webster students with proper I.D.