When it comes to movie making there was no better director at creating tension and fear than Alfred Hitchcock.
Vertigo
Vertigo hit the big screen back in 1958 - coming two years after Hitchcock's last film The Wrong Man - and was based on the 1954 novel D'entre les morts by Boileau-Narcejac. While Vertigo was a movie that did receive some criticism upon release it is now regarded as one of the greatest films of Hitchcock's career.
Over the years, Vertigo has gone on to be regarded as one of the greatest movies and Sight & Sound replaced Citizen Kane with Vertigo as the best film of all time in 2012.
The movie follows John 'Scottie' Ferguson, a retired San Francisco detective suffering from acrophobia, who investigates the strange activities of an old friend's much-younger wife, all the while becoming dangerously obsessed with her.
This is a slow burner of a movie that is compelling and intriguing from the very start as Hitchcock weaves a web of mystery, deceit and lies.
Hitchcock has always been the master of suspense and he builds the tension and an atmosphere of unease with every frame until it is almost unbearable - it is this that makes Hitchcock's movies to fantastic to watch.
Vertigo is a movie about sexual politics, love, and obsession but it is also a dark and very revealing psychological thriller. No movie had ever explored erotic obsession to the depths that Hitchcock does in Vertigo, and, for me, no movie since has ever done it as well. And the film's slow pace really does allow Hitchcock to explore this incredibly interesting theme.
This is a movie that is packed with twists, turns, and suspense that really will leave you breathless as well as on the edge of your seat. At the same time, Hitchcock had the film and the story under total control, and he never loses focus and the power of the story never drops a notch.
James Stewart was one of the best actors of his generation and was a long-term collaborator of Hitchcock's; Vertigo was their fourth film together and came after the success of Rope, Rear Window, and The Man Who Knew Too Much.
Stewart gives another terrific performance in Vertigo as he gets under the skin of a man who is slowly losing his grip on reality - and it is intriguing to see this character go on that slide.
During his career, Hitchcock delivered some wonderful movie that has truly stood the test of time... and Vertigo is one of them. It is a movie that is as tense today as it was when it was released back in 1958 and is a true great in the thriller genre.
Tagged in Alfred Hitchcock