Vertigo - 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital [4K UHD]

It's the greatest movie of all time, at least I think so in certain moods. Tonight we saw this one at the Castro in 70 MM and it looked pretty convincing, almost as though it might have been made yesterday. But it's long, I had forgotten how long! Maybe because the movie breaks off into two more or less equal parts, it's like watching a double feature, a movie that carries its own sequel in its tail. This evening I decided to give myself up to the Bernard Herrmann music--since it's so insistent you listen to it I decided to put my other senses on dull and just go for that total immersion.... The way that Barbara Bel Geddes recommends that James Stewart immerse himself in Mozart ("Mozart is the boy for you," she says, rather infantilizing Mozart if such a thing were actually possible, but that sort of remark reminds me of why Scotty doesn't really appreciate Midge's good qualities, because she's so much like a mother!)--in other words, I let the Herrmann score wash all over me like the high tide that splashes behind the lovers in the climactic kiss scene in Vertigo. So what happened? I started wondering, that one theme is so dominant and seductive in the score, was it ever made into a pop tune with lyrics, sung by Nat King Cole or Julie London or someone? Help me out there, soundtrack geeks! It's gorgeous indeed, and yet I remember when I was a kid seeing Vertigo for the first time, I didn't like the music, it felt dissonant and distracting. There's that one section of music when Scottie follows Madeline Elster into the Mission Dolores and he turns a corner and finds himself in the graveyard where the music goes sort of "religious" in a really rote way that just wasn't working for me, it made me giggle to myself like, didn't anybody else in the theater get the joke? The Castro crowd was certainly giggling when Midge tells Scottie, "Oh you want the kind of guy who knows about the gay old times in San Francisco back when everything was gay!" But when this mock religious bell tinkle music began I heard nothing from the audience, just awe perhaps. SPOILER ALERT. Now for my own challenges with the movie. I was struck by Ellen Corby here as perhaps never before, the hotel manager who wipes her rubber plant leaves with olive oil. How is it that Madeline is in her room, above their heads, and yet Corby swears that she never came today, points to the key dangling from the hook? We have seen her with our own eyes, and it looks like she's undressing, and yet when Corby calls down the stairs, "Mister Detective, do you want to take a look yourself?" Scottie manages to run up the stairs like a trouper and no, she's not there. But why? Corby must be lying, perhaps she is in on the plot but if so, why the mystification here? Why doesn't she just say, "Yes, she's upstairs," and Scottie can wait for her to leave? I wonder if there wasn't some extra plot line being developed here that eventually for cut back from the finished film, in which dematerialization itself would have been used by the criminal cohort? But for those who think that Gavin Elster will get off scot-free at the end because Scottie has no living witness for the substitution plot at the heart of the film, I foresee a crazy Scottie going back to the McKittrick and rubbing Ellen Corby with olive oil until she too confesses her involvement (whatever it is), and voila, Elster led off in handcuffs and Corby sobbing and dripping with emollient. And also, has anyone thought much about Midge as a possible accomplice to the murder? I thought about it during the Argosy Bookshop scene, where Midge first assures Scottie, oh, Pop Leibel the bookseller, sure, he's a great friend of mine! But when they go to the store, Pop seems only vaguely aware of Midge at best. he calls her Ma'am or Miss as though he's never met her before. When Midge goes back into the store and taps Pop's knee, affectionately saying,"Aw thanks Pop!" a little ping went off in my head and I thought, "She's lying!" It seemed she was lying all through the movie, and once you see it, you can't miss it for the rest of the movie, she just seems guilty of everything! Maybe some of it can be blamed on a certain blatant quality of the exposition, "Midge, we were engaged for three weeks, weren't we? Or am I remembering wrong?" Her pencil snaps, her eyes narrow, female rage threatens to boil over the lens but she's already part of the plot or so I gather. I wish Midge could write out a letter to Scottie apologizing for framing him, the way that Judy Barton does, such a handy device for telling us what went on while we were just grooving with the brooding music and wondering why San Francisco has so many white people in it! There's that one beautiful, tall Asian woman sitting in a corner at Ernie's--just representing, I guess. And maybe a Spanish man or two among the jury panel at San Juan Bautista during the inquest into Madeline's death. However, the Chinese presence in San Francisco is also "represented" by Jimmy Stewart telling Kim Novak about the "Chinese saying" that if you save someone's life, you are forever after responsible for them. My student Leo, from China, says that in the real China that is not an actual belief anyone he knows has ever heard of. Meanwhile the Spanish and Mexican feeling in Vertigo is quite palpable. How about James Stewart's nightmare? We see him and Gavin Elster triangulating over a beautiful woman dressed as Carlotta in the painting, and we see, it's not Kim Novak at all, it's the original of the painting. Is the actress supposed to be playing the actual Madeline who by this time has been killed? And Scottie's subconscious is somehow pointing this up to him so that he wakes up sweating? What is the name of that actress I wonder? "Regal" isn't the word for her. Is she Vera Miles? No, I think she's too old to be Vera Miles. (Kind informants have told me that this actress, whose eyes can be seen close up in the opening title sequence, with spirals coming out of them, is called Joanne Genthon, who never made another picture!) So, I don't have time to read all 493 other reviews of Vertigo to see if others have established the guilt of Barbara Bel Geddes, but I did see that one reviewer (at least one) has applied the Alison Bechdel test to Vertigo and seen it fail, since the two female leads seem never to be in the same frame (though we do see Midge driving by Scottie's apartment at the exact same moment that Madeline steps out of his door, and Midge starts muttering behind the wheel and drives away, apparently upset). But perhaps not upset at all, since she has engineered the whole thing? Maybe there's a reason in the plot and not so much in the psychosexual atmosphere, why Judy must not see Midge at this point in time--or at any point, since doing so would make Elster's and Midge's plot collapse in of itself? Does the key to the mystery lie back in Salina, Kansas? I think so. If someone gave me one hundred dollars, I'd find out the truth and tell the world. Vertigo is also a film in which women show men representations of more than one woman (as though to hint at a "monstrous regiment of women" that might one day bring down the oligarchy)--we have Midge of course gleefully jamming her own face into her version of the Legion of Honor portrait of Carlotta (as though to say, "I did it") and we also have Judy showing Scottie her proofs of identity--her dad in one old photo, and she and her mother in another. Check out that photo of Judy and her mother, what are we really looking at? Was Judy to have been kept away from Midge because she might recognize the face of her own mother? I know it sounds preposterous, but really, when Scottie asks Midge if she remembers Gavin Elster from when they were all in college together before the war, and she shakes her head "no," maintaining her quizzical smile--frankly I don't believe her! The screenwriters link her to Elster, then encourage you to forget about their college days together. Scottie and Elster seem about a million years older than Midge, but if she was in school with them, is she also supposed to be fiftyish--in other words, plenty old enough to be Judy's mother. And in that case, is it too far removed to name Scottie as Judy's father, perhaps conceived during the famous 3 week engagement?!?! I don't think so. Watch Vertigo again with my theory in mind and watch the jigsaw puzzle click together. Let me add my interpretation of Pop Liebel's "Carlotta story" as a clue. As we hear, the 19th century Carlotta had a child and then the child was taken from her and she was driven to living off the streets and going mad and painfully asking passerby, "Where is my little girl?" Maybe that is the link between "Midge" and "Judy." That hidden link, but maybe Judy is now living in San Francisco because her real mother (Midge) has gotten her there as part of her secret plan to destroy Jimmy Stewart? I have now watched and rewatched the so called alternate ending to Vertigo, an extra to the DVD (and also readily available on You-Tube). What do you think? For me it is proof positive of Midge's guilt, as she hears the radio announcer report that Gavin Elster has been captured and prosecuted in Europe, and her face grows bleak as she realizes, in my mind, that Gavin will turn state's evidence on her on whatever the equivalent term is in the courts of Italy. She will never get her Scottie, who stands a broken man next to her even if she's cleaned out nearly every trace of herself as an artist. And how about the announcer's report on the three Berkeley students arrested for trying to smuggle a cow up a staircase? Three Berkeley students (Gavin, Midge, Scottie). Staircase? Well, we know what that is. "Cow"? At Columbia that's what Harry Cohn called Kim Novak when he was mad at her or trying to taunt her. An allegory for the secrets of Vertigo?

This is such a great film. Eerie and strange, disturbing and beautiful. Thank you Mr Hitchcock.

Jimmy Stewart is one of my favorite actors who always turned in a stellar performance. And under the direction of the Master director this was a masterpiece! I won't give away the plot or the story, I will just say it is not to be missed. I read that at the time of release it was not well received, but as time passed that opinion changed. Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes and the supportive cast make this worth warching!.

This is a great film that has been beautifully remastered

Vertigo (Collector's Edition) It has been asked why this film wasn't a hit when it first hit the theaters? Not reading all the reviews for this movie I hope I am not covering old ground. I hope my attempt sheds light as to why today this movie is considered the greatest Hitchcock film, yet did so poorly at the box office in 1958. When it was first released I was 4 years old. Obviously too young to appreciate the film at that age I am certain that I saw it a few years later at the movie theater. I remembered the first scene when the policeman falls to his death but not much else. Perhaps there is a reason for this: Childhood naive-tee for sure but why so with the adult movie goer? Postwar America during the 50's & early 60's was a much different country than we have today. I've often heard radio talk show host Dennis Praeger refer to this era of American life as about as close to nirvana that can be experienced on earth. The reasons for this I will touch on however, they are for a different discussion. Suffice it to say that Praeger hit the nail on the head. As America was different American audiences were different. The baby-boom was in full swing and parents weary of depression and war wanted to settle into simpler joys: The joys of raising a family, going to church, being a home-body. Television was also coming into its own. Fathers were often busy trying to get TV's to operate. Many afternoons were spent down at Thrifty's testing tubes or getting the neighborhood radio/TV genius to look at their sets. Color TV's were very expensive and few families could afford them. Those that could usually got about 2 - 3 months of trouble-free service. After that, strange hues would dominate the sets-oranges, blues, violets, whatever. People would turn the color down making them black & white sets. For this reason adults tempered by bad times, would not spend the money for one. When their black & white sets operated well, and with little money to do much else, they stayed home, weary from kids and job. Movie-going was a younger generation thing. Parents shuffled kids off to the theater to see the latest double-feature and enjoyed a peaceful afternoon at home alone. When thriller flicks were watched at home it was Boris Karloff or Bella Lugosi, Godzilla or some other monster film. I remember when Hitchcock's "Psycho" was going to be televised for the first time. Parents everywhere were talking about watching it. Were they going to cut some of the shower scene? It was also coming on past most kids' bedtime. It was a new type of monster film-a psychotic human being who seemed like a regular guy. But it was a monster film nonetheless. This was the backdrop of the release of Hitch's "Vertigo", a movie before its time. "Psycho" came later and, for reasons discussed above, did much better at the box office. It was a time when parents stayed married to one another. Divorce was rare, especially for working-class people with kids, perhaps the foreknowledge and understanding of how bad life can get kept some together. Now we have a psychological thriller where a man hired to keep an eye on another man's wife ends up with this same man falling in love with her and acting upon that love. This was the era of "Ozzie and Harriet" and "Leave it to Beaver". June Cleaver was a pretty woman but she wasn't Kim Novak. This kind of thing being rare in real-life America perhaps set an unrealistic tone to the film. Perhaps Legion of Decency ratings were reserved and a religious America took heed. Which brings me to the question: Are we better-off having a greater understanding and appreciation for this film? While I really liked the film I wonder if I'm better-off in my new-found awareness. Are we better-off because Adam ate the apple?

The movie arrived in perfect condition, and played perfectly. It was my first Hitchcock movie, and I don't care for them.

My review is focused on the Blu-ray + Digital HD Ultraviolet version (Universal 61131988) of this classic movie, with an aside for those who may never have seen the film or remember it only vaguely. Since the dawn of VHS tapes "Vertigo" has been a mainstay of my home movie collection. At present I own three different discs of this movie. With this latest purchase I should be able to stop. If the visual reproduction gets any better, my pre-cataract condition would never allow me to appreciate it. (Can you buy cataract surgery at discount on Amazon? Jeff Bezos is probably at work on that right now: just drone in the eye-surgeons. I digress.) This edition of "Vertigo" is based on the Harris-Katz restoration of the film earlier this century. When it was released in theaters, about 15 years after its return to the screen ca. 1984, the Robert Harris-James Katz version knocked my socks off. It was as though a milky veil had been pulled away from the screen and I was seeing the film as I had never seen it before. Apart from the fact that my home theater does not boast a forty-foot screen, that is much the same experience I have enjoyed watching this Blu-ray/HD version. Do you want crispness of image? With this edition you can see each separate diamond woven into some of James Stewart's neckties. You can also see an ever-so-thin red outline of the white, main title lettering. Now, for the colors. In this edition they are absolutely stunning. I felt as though I could touch the red-brocaded walls in Ernie's Restaurant. Podesta Balducci's floral emporium has never looked richer. The blue sky of San Francisco behind the Brocklebank apartments is utterly pure. The yellow filter through which Hitch shot Scottie and Madeline's visit to the Mission Delores cemetery has never looked more mysterious. And Kim Novack's climactic entrance as Madeline in Judy Barton's apartment, bathed in ghostly green, is glorious. In case I haven't made myself clear: Technicolor is used dramatically in this movie as never before or after in Hitchcock's films (for that matter, in any other film I can think of). It doesn't make things "pretty." It helped Hitch tell the story. Regarding the audio, I am unable to discern a qualitative difference between this and the immediately previous DVD edition I own. Evidently nothing more has been done to improve on the Harris–Katz audio restoration. As for extra features, there are repeats of those of earlier editions, with at least three new additions: "Partners in Crime: Hitchcock's collaborators" (namely, Saul Bass, Edith Head, Bernard Herrmann, and Alma Reville), excerpts from the Hitchcock/Truffaut interviews, and a voice-over commentary by William Friedkin. As for the movie itself, there's little I can add that other reviewers haven't already said. This is not a movie you watch for the plot: while it incorporates twists, the plot itself is meshuga. Nor is this a movie that titillates with exploding cars every five minutes. To watch this movie is to be drawn into a dream: Hitchcock's dreamworld. Leading us into this dream are Stewart and Novack in what is arguably their two finest performances: everyday, decent people whose lives are haunted and finally overtaken by their fantasies, obsessions, and desperation to love and to be loved. If you have never seen this movie, "Vertigo" is truly a must. If you have seen it but feel cheated that you haven't been able to SEE it in all its visual glory, this version is (at this writing) the twelve best bucks you'll spend.

Regarded now as one of Hitchcock's best if not THE best of his films "Vertigo" was not very successful with critics or moviegoers at the time of its release in 1958. Maybe the May-December romance was a little off putting. Apparently, after the film's lackluster performance, Hitchcock trying to point fingers away from himself blamed James Stewart as maybe too old for the part. Or, maybe its multi layered, highly complex plot and deeply personal themes were a bit much at the time. It even has a scene of psychedelic imagery thrown in during the nightmarish mental breakdown scene a few years ahead of the "grooving 60's". Today it is considered a masterpiece, and it bears up very well under multiple viewings. Indeed, I manage to catch something new and my understanding and appreciation for the film grows each time I watch it. There are multiple "gotchas" and just as you think you've got it figured out Hitchcock throws you for another loop. The suspense, psychological terror and betrayal is quite something. By the end of the 2nd act you feel tremendously sad for both main characters. One crippled with an obsession of recreating an unobtainable fantasy and the other desperate for actual love, redemption and reality. The restoration team of Katz and Harris do this 4K remastering proud. This is one of those "hit it out of the park" 4K Blu-ray releases of a classic movie. Color and detail are so realistic it creates almost a 3D depth yet retaining all the light film grain without dreaded DNR and edge enhancement. Blacks and shadow detail are well defined with no real crush. This could be a demo disc on how great these old classic films can look on our modern displays in the home. The DTS:X sound is excellent as well. You are enveloped with Bernard Herrman's wonderful, lush music score with good dynamics and the dialog is very clear. Supplements are quite extensive with many interviews, documentaries and behind the scenes looks. This 2-disc set is of course a must own for any hardcore fan of The Master. I can also highly recommend this set to mainstream movie lovers on just the strength of its amazing and complex storytelling and the stunning demo worthy restoration job done with the image and sound.

Expectacular película que por fin está en mis manos .

John Ferguson dit Scottie, est policier. Alors qu'il poursuit un malfrat sur les toits avec son collègue, il glisse et se trouve suspendu dans le vide. Souffrant d'acrophobie (peur phobique de la hauteur), il est tétanisé et ne peut prendre la main que lui tend son collègue. Ce dernier fait alors une chute mortelle. Traumatisé, Scottie quitte la police. Un jour, une ancienne connaissance qui s'inquiète de l'état psychique de sa femme Madeleine, l'engage pour la suivre et savoir à quoi elle passe ses journées. Scottie va découvrir un cas étrange d'assimilation à un personnage du passé et tomber amoureux de Madeleine. Tout le monde a probablement déjà vu "Vertigo" au moins une fois. Est-ce le meilleur Hitchcock ? Pour moi, la réponse est oui...et non (mode normand IN). Oui, car au-delà de l'emprise du formel à laquelle il cède parfois volontiers dans ses films jusqu'à en faire un élément primordial (même si ici, le langage cinématographique est exceptionnel), il y a dans "Vertigo", des personnages avec des caractères bien marqués, qui attirent une véritable empathie. Cette fois, la sensibilité émerge de l'objet filmé et l'étude psychologique des personnages prend au fond le pas sur l'intrigue elle-même que de toute façon, Hitchcock dévoile bien avant la fin tandis que le tout baigne dans une incroyable dimension onirique. Grâce soit rendue aux principaux acteurs. Midge (Barbara Bel Geddes) est émouvante dans son personnage de femme se consumant d'un amour non partagé, feignant quand même d'en plaisanter (tout en adoptant une position psychanalytiquement ambiguë en appelant Scottie" mon petit enfant ' !). Scottie (James Stewart) est touchant (et agaçant aussi) dans son enfermement amoureux qui le rend égoïste. Madeleine / Judy (Kim Novak) enfin, est d'une fragilité attendrissante, tiraillée entre ses personnalités, incapable de résister aux caprices obsessionnels de Scottie et à sa fragilité. Oui, car tout ce qui rend Hitchcock unique, se retrouve dans ce film. Ses thématiques préférées : la paranoïa, les faux-semblants (ne pas oublier que le générique est centré sur l'oeil), la disparition, la tentation du crime parfait en utilisant un innocent, le sexe qui est partout tout en n'étant nulle part (ah, Novak nue dans le lit de Scottie...).... Ses trouvailles cinématographiques : - le fameux "Dolly zoom ' -zoom avant et travelling arrière dans la cage d'escalier du clocher ; - les jeux de filtres : le faux brouillard dans le cimetière, le halo qui entoure Judy au moment où elle ressort de la salle de bains " déguisée ' en Madeleine et surtout (je ne m'étais jamais rendu compte de ça, grâce soit rendue au Blu-ray), le fond rouge du mur du restaurant qui "s'illumine" au moment où le visage de Madeleine se tourne de trois quarts en direction de Scottie. - Des scènes exceptionnelles : le malaise de Madeleine dans la forêt de séquoias, la poursuite initiale du voleur qui ouvre le film, le cauchemar de Scottie avant sa dépression, Madeleine dans sa robe blanche devant l'appartement de Scottie, tandis qu'au loin se dresse la coit tower, Madeleine et Scottie qui s'embrassent pour la 1ère fois avec la vague qui rugit derrière eux, sans oublier évidemment, les scènes de chute : celle de Scottie dans son rêve, celle de Madeleine dans son imagination et celle de Madeleine racontée par Judy... Si on ajoute à ça, la merveilleuse musique de Bernard Hermann, le générique en spirale de Saul Bass (qui a un peu vieilli mais qui devait être extraordinaire à l'époque), le décor des rues de San Francisco et des (rares) scènes d'humour comme celle où Midge répond à Scottie étonné par un prototype de soutien-gorge, qu'à son âge, il a déjà du en voir... Bref, un très grand film. Mais le meilleur, non. Non, car la scène finale est quand même trop frustrante. Le dénouement apparaît incroyablement précipité (oups !), comme si Hitchcock avait voulu s'en débarrasser et que pour lui aussi au fond, le meilleur moment c'est quand on monte l'escalier. La technique. Côté images, c'est une réussite sans que ce soit exceptionnel. On conserve le grain cinéma tout en bénéficiant d'excellents contrastes. Le bémol vient paradoxalement des initiatives Hitchcock avec ses filtres. Avec sa haute définition, le Blu-ray rend ces trucages assez perturbants dans certains cas (scène du cimetière, cauchemar de Scottie, sortie de salle de bains...). Côté son, c'est aussi très bien. La VO est en DTS-HD MA 5.1 (il y a une VF DTS mono 2.0, pas testée). La musique d'Hermann est présente quand il faut : ça claque, ça tourbillonne. Les voix sont claires et n'obligent pas à tendre l'oreille. Les bonus sont souvent intéressants. J'ai bien aimé celui de 30 mn intitulé l' obsession autour de 'Vertigo ' avec l'intervention de James Katz et Robert Harris qui présentent (sommairement) les étapes de la restauration, les interviews de Barbara Bel Geddes, de Kim Novak (je croyais qu'elle était morte !), d'un des scénaristes.... L'info que j'ai trouvée la plus surprenante : Hitchcock ne mettait jamais l'œil derrière une caméra pour diriger. Le bonus de 55mn intitulé " Partenaires de crime' m'a paru un peu long par rapport aux informations qu'on y trouvait. Autre module intéressant de 15mn : " Hitchcock/Truffaut '. Ce sont des images du film avec un son audio par dessus, tiré des fameux entretiens. Etc. Un film à découvrir ou redécouvrir qui dévoile un peu plus à chaque fois.

Die Film-DVD hat mich in einwandfreiem Zustand erreicht. Ich bin zufrieden.

Arrived in excellent condition and in time and works perfectly, Great Movie!

Great movie. DVD plays well on Bluray.