Features: Keep Case, Collector's Edition, English, Spanish, French, Subtitled, Dolby Digital (5.1) Surround Sound, DVD
Considered by many to be director Alfred Hitchcock's greatest achievement comes this fully restored and remastered version of the haunting film classic. This special release also contains a restoration trailer and revealing documentary footage.Set in San Francisco, James Stewart portrays an acrophobic detective hired to trail a friend's suicidal wife (Novak). After he successfully rescues her from a leap into the bay, he finds himself becoming obsessed with the beautifully troubled woman. One of cinema's most chillingly romantic endeavors: it's a fascinating myriad of haunting camera angles shot among some of San Francisco's reowned landmarks. This film is a must for collectors; Leonard Maltin gives Vertigo four stars and hails it as "A genuinely great motion picture that demands multiple viewings."
"...one of the two or three best films Hitchcock ever made." Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
"...a Hitchcock classic..." The Motion Picture Guide
"...a genuinely great motion picture." Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide
Editor's Note
VERTIGO is Alfred Hitchcock's haunting tale of deception, madness, and death--a masterful exploration of fantasy and anxiety. The film ranks with REAR WINDOW as one of the director's most closely studied films for its psychological complexity, while the obsession of its protagonist--John "Scottie" Ferguson (James Stewart)--can also be seen to parallel that of Hitchcock's own fascination with the icy-blonde leading lady he re-created at the center of so many of his films. Ferguson is a retired detective, his career ended by the onset of a paralyzing fear of heights. An old friend, the wealthy Gavin Elster (Tom Helmore), hires Ferguson to follow his wife (Kim Novak), whom, he explains, has grown obsessed with an ancestor of hers. The assignment, however, draws Ferguson out of his comfortable role as observer and into a complex web of intrigue, mingled with the detective's own fantasies and fears. Stewart gives an exceptional performance as the disintegrating detective, while Novak, who was left largely undirected by Hitchcock, conveys a subtle and powerful psychological journey. Another star of the film is its San Francisco setting. VERTIGO is considered one of Hitchcock's most complex, finest films.
Plot Summary
A detective tails a cool, glamorous woman around the equally glamorous San Francisco of the 1950s; his fear of heights prevents him from saving her life. Obsessed with the dead woman, he stalks, meets, and manipulates a suspiciously similar-looking, if somewhat lower-class, woman, who inexplicably falls for him even though he demands she change her identity to match his fantasy. VERTIGO is an Alfred Hitchcock masterpiece, in Technicolor as lurid as its plot. The year 1996 saw the acclaimed rerelease of a restored, remastered version. The film is based on the novel D'ENTRE LES MORTS by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac.
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