Watching Vertigo for the first time in about ten years was terrific. I really think I was able to go past the bias I had against it when I was younger. It was emotionally ripping to see Scott descend deeper into a focused obsession, becoming less and less patient with someone he claims to love. I think one problem I had upon the first viewing is the fact that it’s Jimmy Stewart as a completely possessive and cold individual. Not George Bailey!
But Hitchcock has a great way of making these everyman characters that start off with a somewhat clean slate. For example, both Vertigo and North By Northwest deal with an average man being thrown into circumstances beyond his control and focuses on how they deal with their situations. Cary Grant’s and Jimmy Stewart’s characters are both wise-cracking cynics, but what’s intriguing is how Grant’s character, an ad executive who definitely has some mother issues, manages to become more charismatic as he manages to figure out what’s going on. Stewart on the other hand, becomes more and more withdrawn and paranoid…sort of like Rear Window with less jokes. It’s not strange to me that Dr. Campbell liked North By Northwest more at first, but then Vertigo snuck up to take the grand prize. The former is a great introduction to Hitchcock and my current favorite, but I think in ten or fifteen years, I too might prefer one of his more mature efforts. Not that the jokes aren’t lacking:
“Eve Kendall: I’m a big girl.
Roger Thornhill: Yeah, and in all the right places, too.”
Oh Cary, you are a wit.