Vertigo Reveiws Past and Present Alfred Hitchcock
The Reviews of Vertigo, Past and Present Was Hitchcock’s Vertigo an incredible exposition of love and obsession or a slow, repetitive ride? Did it reveal a darker side of human nature or was it nothing more that an opportunity for Hitchcock to showcase his control? ... For a film critic, this formation of opinion is his life and Hitchcock’s psychological suspense thriller, Vertigo, has provided a wealth of material for film critics. Vertigo tells the complex tale of a San Francisco detective and his psychological troubles with fear of heights and an obsession over a woman. ... Released in 1958, Hitchcock’s audience was accustomed to the director’s shorter in length murder mystery. It appears a fair number of critics did not cotton to length of time needed to construct the mirror image, highly detailed plot of Vertigo. The world of American cinema did not appear to be prepared for Hitchcock’s foray into this mind-bender. As illustrated by reviews published in Dan Auiler’s 1998, Vertigo The Making of a Hitchcock Classic, this length was a considered major drawback by various critics. ... This may be because Hitchcock became overly enamored with Frisco’s vertiginous beauty, and the Alec Coppel – Samuel Taylor screenplay… it just takes too long to get off the ground. By [the film’s climax] Vertigo is more than two hours old, and it’s questionable whether that much time should be devoted to what is basically only a psychological thriller (Aulier 170). Aulier found another critic who also agreed with the issue of the movie’s length, comparing it to Hitchcock’s earlier works. In a May 31, 1958 review, a Cue critic remarked “There was a time when Alfred Hitchcock did nothing but turn out 70-80-90 minute movie masterpieces” (172). Perhaps, Hitchcock’s audience was not prepared to experience this deeper, highly detailed vision Hitchcock had created. ... Beverly Hills Citizen critic Hazel Flynn’s original review pronounced that Vertigo was “middling Hitchcock” (171) adding that “It has some extraordinary items in it but, once the plot has begun to round not even the director himself, apparently, quite knew how to get off the treadmill” (171). ... Scheur wrote in a May twenty-ninth, 1958 review for the Los Angeles Times “In plot outline, it is fascinating – Hitchcock has dabbled in a new, for him, dimension: the dream – but he has taken too long to unfold it” (170). However, not all found reason to criticize the length of Vertigo. ... A critique found in Vertigo The Making of a Hitchcock Classic from the film’s release was by Jack Moffit of The Hollywood Reporter pronounces “ The skill which Alec Coppel and Samuel Taylor constructed their screen prove two things 1) that an audience will buy any startling change in human behavior if you give it time…” (169).