From here, however, it descends into a scene of clunky, unnatural and expositional dialogue, detailing the present and the past. Light floods into the spacious apartment where Scottie now sits in good humour with a walking stick. The tranquil studio apartment of Scotties artist friend and former lover Midge provides a calming contrast to the perilous rooftops. Perhaps create a bond between Scottie and the police officer so we have an added emotional element in the scene? Exposition Dialogue The second scene of Vertigo begins in a manner that reveals so much story before a single word has been spoken. A moment of character through action where he does something for the police officer who falls to his death would surely have made the difference. I cant help but feel if we had seen the start of that chase and had learned some fine details about Scottie I would feel more for him when he is dangling from the ledge. Other than the fact he is played by the beloved Jimmy Stewart and he is a police office, we learn very little about him and are given little other reason to care about him. While this scene manage to suck us straight into action with a frenetic chase across the rooftops of San Francisco and establishes the key plot point - how Scottie develops his fear of heights and thus the reason he has to quit the police force it tells us very little else about his character. I find the opening scene of Vertigo simplistic - far too simplistic for a film which is anything but simple. When you watch a film that is said to be the greatest of all time, such as Vertigo now is, disappointment comes very easily. However, if you saw Usain Bolt do this at the Olympics, you would be disappointed. If you watch a man run one hundred metres in your local park in twelve seconds you would be amazed. Let me qualify what I mean by disappointed before I go any further. The Opening Scene This is the first aspect of Vertigo that I find disappointing. While this honorary distinction for one of Hitchcocks big financial failures hardly surprises me Im well aware of the esteem it is held in amongst film critics and academics it does irk me I think Vertigo is a mess a interesting one, with many great elements and memorable moments but not worthy of its place amongst the greatest films of all time. With a staggering 191 votes, Vertigo trumped Kane, which took 157. Run by Sight and Sound every ten years since 1962, this years poll was conducted by a panel of 846 critics, programmers, distributors and academics. Hitchcock would indeed be grateful.Last week Vertigo was voted the Greatest Movie of All Time, ending the 50-year reign of Orson Welles masterpiece Citizen Kane at the top of the BFI poll. The colors are dazzling, and Bernard Herrmann's extraordinary score is crisp and haunting. A painstaking two-year restoration project saved this movie for future generations. Kim Novak is also eerily convincing in a difficult role, and Barbara Bel Geddes is irresistible as Midge Wood, the woman Scottie would be in love with if he knew what was good for him. Stewart, is easy to sympathize with as the good-natured guy who learns too late that he's been set up. This is the work of a master, whose genius shows in unconventional use of color and intricate storytelling that unwinds slowly, like the dizzying spirals of the opening credits sequence. Such psychologically complex material is best suited for adults and mature teens, who will find more to enjoy here than a simple suspense story. It's also, by his own accounts, his most personal picture, burrowing deep into what are said to have been some of the director's own darkest wormholes: obsessions with women, the desire to control them, and to mold them into a personal ideal. Poorly received during its original 1958 release, Vertigo has since been hailed as one of Alfred Hitchcock's greatest achievements, and it's certainly one of his most disturbing.
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