Comments on: 5 Things You Might Not Know About Alfred Hitchcock’s Masterpiece ‘Vertigo’

By: Mark Hughes

Mark Hughes — Fri, 13 May 2016 12:30:20 +0000

One other thing you might not notice about "Vertigo" is that it's one of the earliest "was any of it real?" movies. After Scottie is institutionalized and basically unresponsive, we then cut to the future where he's out again and suddenly discovers all the bad things that happened were a conspiracy, where his guilt is resolved and the dead woman is alive again but was responsible for "her" own apparent demise, and so it all seems to be the possible imaginings of the mind of a man still locked up in an asylum trying to cope with his tragic life by inventing a fantasy that absolves him and casts the whole episode as itself a fantasy of sorts.

Watch the film again closely, and you'll notice many things that lend credence to this interpretation. It's definitely a fun alternate way to view the movie and find something new to explore and discuss!

By: Todd

Todd — Fri, 13 May 2016 12:30:20 +0000

Killer getting away "scott free".

Nice.

By: Carl Russo

Carl Russo — Fri, 13 May 2016 12:30:19 +0000

Scottie's house can be found at Lombard and Jones streets in San Francisco. Hitch probably chose it because it was so (mid-century) modern at the time. Everything down to the starburst doorbell fixture remained in place until a few years ago, when the home was purchased. The new owners, in an antisocial gesture to the city and all Hitchcock fans, destroyed the facade by building a wall into it. The landmark house is now unrecognizable as the film location.

An anecdote from an old actor friend of my family who was an extra in the scene shot at Ernie's restaurant. When he accidentally bumped into Kim Novak on the set, Hitch pulled him aside and said, "Be very careful–expensive merchandise."

By: brian

brian — Fri, 13 May 2016 12:30:19 +0000

This writer of this article makes the same mistake that virtually every other writer has made when referring to the 5 "lost for decades" Hitchcock films, as being brought back to theatrical release in 1984. The films began being re-released in the fall of 1983, not 1984. Rear Window's comeback release in Los Angeles was on Oct. 6, 1983, with Vertigo following on November 16th. It's true that the comeback releases of the 5 in total weren't completed until early '84, but the releases started in '83.

By: Dan

Dan — Fri, 13 May 2016 12:30:19 +0000

Great film. Just last week Movie Morlocks had a cool video about the locations he filmed at — then and today:

http://moviemorlocks.com/2012/05/10/on-location-with-alfred-hitchcocks-vertigo/

By: Aurora

Aurora — Fri, 13 May 2016 12:30:19 +0000

Great piece on an endlessly fascinating film. Find it so although I don't regard Vertigo as Hitchcock's best. As you note about its continued popularity, I am in the minority there.

Aurora

By: JayeL

JayeL — Fri, 13 May 2016 12:30:19 +0000

One of my all time favorite movies. I never knew the 5 points mentioned or that the film wasn't a success when originally released.