WonderFul Video Essays Breaks Down The Greatness of Alfred Hitchcock‘s 1958 Masterpiece, VERTIGO

Alfred Hitchcock’s classic 1958 film Vertigo. It’s an incredible film that wasn’t fully appreciated when it was initially released. It wasn’t until later that the film started to be studied and considered a cinematic masterpiece.

I’ve got a couple video essays for you to watch below that do a fantastic job digging into the film and contextualizing the film and its place in movie history. The first essay comes from Fandor’s Jacob Swinney, and it provides an overview of Vertigo’s history and influence. The second video comes from Alejandro Villarreal, which is a collection of interviews with directors about the film.

If you have never seen Hitchcock’s Vertigo, you should check it out! In fact, you should watch all the classic Hitchcock films that you haven’t seen!

See more at Fandor.com/posts

Twitter: @alamofilguy My new video focuses on Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo.” In the past two decades, this film has become a rising star in Hitchcock’s filmography, as more film lovers have begun to appreciate, discuss and debate it. In 1998, the American Film Institute ranked “Vertigo” number 61 in their list of the greatest American films. By the time they released their 2008 list, it rose to number nine, demonstrating its ever-increasing popularity among film admirers. Most famously, “Vertigo” replaced “Citizen Kane” in Sight & Sound’s 2012 ranking, outstripping “Kane’s” 60-year reign as number one of the ten greatest films of all time.   For many years, thrillers like “North by Northwest,” “Rear Window” and particularly “Psycho” were the most admired and discussed of his film catalog. The Baby Boomer generation of filmmakers, preceded by the French New Wave filmmakers and American critic Andrew Sarris, solidified Hitchcock’s reputation as one of cinema’s best and enduring filmmakers. But the new light in which we are viewing “Vertigo” indicates that we are not only admiring him for his craft and story-telling skills, but also for his subtextual content and multi-layered themes. The more you delve into “Vertigo,” the deeper you submerge yourself into Hitchcock’s compulsions and obsessions, which you couldn’t necessarily do with a movie like “To Catch a Thief.”   And what a strange movie “Vertigo” is. Aside from “Marnie,” “Vertigo” is perhaps the most daring journey into Hitchcock’s subconscious that we have. The plot becomes unimportant and makes room for something dark and disturbing and outright weird.   Sex and death are key ingredients in any Hitchcock film. But his overt need to manipulate those two elements, perhaps in his own life, became even more pronounced in this film. That Hitchcock cast someone as accessible as James Stewart to communicate dark impulses is a painterly stroke of an artist. Filmmaker Wong Kar-wai noted that it’s only the casting of Stewart that keeps the audience from being turned off by the idea of a man trying to re-create the dead woman he is in love with. And that Hitchcock’s wife and creative Partner Alma was diagnosed with cancer during the making of the film only adds more complex subtext to this emotional film.   I have made a montage of the movie along with audio excerpts from filmmakers and critics, including a few short audio clips from Bernard Herrmann, James Stewart, Kim Novak and Hitch himself.   Enjoy. -Alejandro