Changes made to Vertigo - a masterpiece of cinema...

Revision 13

Created on Monday, 20th October 2008, 08:15
Change Submitted by David Beckett

List of Changes:

Change #1 - changed the role of
Change #2 - lden Arm. <newline> <newline>2. E
Change #3 - Bernard Herrmann: Hitchc
Change #4 - efore it’s end, t
Change #5 - Bernard Herrmann. The sc

Revision 12

Created on Monday, 20th October 2008, 00:31
Change Submitted by Si Wooldridge

List of Changes:

Change #1 - ock ~~felt~~resonate eve

Revision 11

Created on Monday, 20th October 2008, 00:07
Change Submitted by Si Wooldridge

List of Changes:

Change #1 - .0 Mono. <newline> <newline>[imgmc=0000205789.jpg|0000109254] <newline> <newline>[/page1] <newline>[p

Revision 10

Created on Monday, 20th October 2008, 00:06
Change Submitted by Si Wooldridge

List of Changes:

Change #1 - page2] <newline>[heading][b]Extras[/b] [/heading] <newline> <newline>It’s the 50th Anniversary Edition, so thankfully there’s a whole plethora of extras. The first disc is actually an old version of the film, the one provided to me is actually part of The James Stewart Collection so it’s unlikely to be too different from the original restoration release. Anyhow… <newline> <newline>Disc 1: <newline> <newline>Commentary – with Associate Producer Hugh Coleman and restoration team Robert A. Harris and James C. Katz with brief snippets from many others. This is one of those yak tracks that is an edited together piece, with name checks before the minor players say their brief piece. What struck me as interesting was that whilst Coleman was credited as Associate Producer, he was actually the Producer and was one of two in that position at the Studio at that time; Coleman actually produced most, if not all, of Hitchcock’s best films. <newline> <newline>Obsessed With Vertigo – nice half hour featurette on the lengthy and expensive restoration of Vertigo. <newline> <newline>Production Notes <newline> <newline>Cast & Filmmakers – text bio’s for James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes, Tom Helmore, Henry Jones and Alfred Hitchcock <newline> <newline>Theatrical Trailers – trailers for both the original film and the restored release. <newline> <newline>As this is clearly not the specific film disc for this release, it may well be that this disc has been re-authored as the style of the disc does show it’s age (although it would appear that the set that this was part of was released in 2007). On the other hand, disc design in those days, whilst not as slick, was certainly better in text of the amount of information for those who could read and weren’t simply interested in brief epk extras. <newline> <newline> <newline>[imgmc

Revision 9

Created on Monday, 20th October 2008, 00:04
Change Submitted by Si Wooldridge

List of Changes:

Change #1 - .0 Mono. <newline> <newline>[/page1] <newline>[page2] <newline> <newline>[imgmc=00002

Revision 8

Created on Monday, 20th October 2008, 00:02
Change Submitted by Si Wooldridge

List of Changes:

Change #1 - ghts and he feels he has to retire rather than see out his career behind a desk. Patiently aiding Scottie come to terms with this is Midge (Barbara Bel Geddes), an ex-girlfriend who is still very much carrying a torch for the ex-policeman. <newline> <newline>[imgmc=0000205790.jpg|0000109255] <newline> <newline>Scottie is then contacted by an old school friend, Gavin Elster (Tom Elmore), out of the blue who wants to hire him to follow his wife Madeleine (Kim Novak). Elster’s motives aren’t due to suspicion of extra-marital misconduct though; his concerns are more to do with supernatural and mental health issues. It appears that Madeleine is haunted by the spirit of her great Grandmother Carlotta Valdés, tragic figure who was abandoned by her husband who also took her baby before she finally killed herself in a fit of grief and loneliness – although according to Elster, Madeleine is unaware of her actions and can’t remember any of what she does during the day. Scottie is reluctant to take on the case as he states firmly that he has retired, but Elster persuades him to take a look at Madeleine from afar at Ernie’s restaurant that night where the husband and wife will be having dinner; one look at the beautiful Madeleine hooks Scottie and he willingly takes the case. <newline> <newline>A trawl through San Francisco trailing Madeleine begins Scottie’s obsession with a woman he barely knows, falling head over heels in love with her. This obsession will have tragic results for more than a few people… <newline> <newline>[imgmc=0000205788.jpg|0000109253] <newline> <newline>[heading][b]Visual[/b] [/heading] <newline> <newline>Picture is as good as it will get at this point in time for a 1954 film, an expensive restoration taking place in 1997 by the same team of Robert A. Harris and James C. Katz; the same team who brought Lawrence of Arabia to the modern DVD audience so memorably. Unfortunately the restoration, impressive as it is, couldn’t remove all the blemishes and artefacts, although they aren’t enough to really distract from the viewing pleasure. There are a couple of shots and one sequence that were too damaged to restore into the same kind of quality as the rest of the film, the latter part of the Argosy Book Store sequence darkening quite considerably and the trip to the giant Redwood forest is a little blurry. Still, for the vast majority of the film, it looks superb. <newline> <newline>The picture does look really superb for the most part; the view from below the Golden Gate Bridge is stunning. What really impressed me though was the quality of the general location shots around San Francisco and the pristine shininess of the cars shown, which sounds a little odd but it just helped the atmosphere of the piece for me. The problem with restoring some old film though is that it can uncover some flaws that weren’t as obvious to cinema audiences at the time; here the matte paintings look more like the oil and canvas they really are and the fake Spanish tower really does look fake, especially in the overhead tracking shot (which is a superb shot however you look at it), but again these don’t detract from the viewing. <newline> <newline>[imgmc=0000205784.jpg|0000109249] <newline> <newline>Hitchcock also used a superb range of montage shots to convey emotion far more than mere dialogue ever could. One of the tricks he used to pull this off were shots from odd angles, something that I don’t recall seeing in any other films, at least as much as Hitchcock used them. Hitchcock also used colour to add atmosphere and theme his film, red and green are the primary colours used here to superb effect. <newline> <newline>The superb Vertigo effect, used quite sparingly really, was produced by both zooming in and tracking back simultaneously and is one of the most memorable photographic effects ever committed to film. <newline> <newline>[heading][b]Audio[/b] [/heading] <newline> <newline>5.1 Surround soundtrack that is quite superb, with some wonderful Foley effect work and quite possibly one of the best and most memorable movie soundtracks ever. Bernard Hermann’s soundtrack is both chilling and romantic in equal measure, and oddly for a film actually sets the scene during long sequences without dialogue, which is actually quite rare for film but follows Hitchcock’s view on pure cinema; moving pictures without words. <newline> <newline>There are four other soundtracks available here; the German soundtrack is 2.0 Stereo whilst the French, Italian and Spanish soundtracks are 1.0 Mono. <newline> <newline>[imgmc=0000205789.jpg|0000109254] <newline> <newline>[/page1] <newline>[page2] <newline>[heading][b]Extras[/b] [/heading] <newline> <newline>It’s the 50th Anniversary Edition, so thankfully there’s a whole plethora of extras. The first disc is actually an old version of the film, the one provided to me is actually part of The James Stewart Collection so it’s unlikely to be too different from the original restoration release. Anyhow… <newline> <newline>Disc 1: <newline> <newline>Commentary – with Associate Producer Hugh Coleman and restoration team Robert A. Harris and James C. Katz with brief snippets from many others. This is one of those yak tracks that is an edited together piece, with name checks before the minor players say their brief piece. What struck me as interesting was that whilst Coleman was credited as Associate Producer, he was actually the Producer and was one of two in that position at the Studio at that time; Coleman actually produced most, if not all, of Hitchcock’s best films. <newline> <newline>Obsessed With Vertigo – nice half hour featurette on the lengthy and expensive restoration of Vertigo. <newline> <newline>Production Notes <newline> <newline>Cast & Filmmakers – text bio’s for James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes, Tom Helmore, Henry Jones and Alfred Hitchcock <newline> <newline>Theatrical Trailers – trailers for both the original film and the restored release. <newline> <newline>As this is clearly not the specific film disc for this release, it may well be that this disc has been re-authored as the style of the disc does show it’s age (although it would appear that the set that this was part of was released in 2007). On the other hand, disc design in those days, whilst not as slick, was certainly better in text of the amount of information for those who could read and weren’t simply interested in brief epk extras. <newline> <newline>[imgmc=0000205781.jpg|0000109246, and he feels he has to retire rather than see out his career behind a desk. Patiently aiding Scottie come to terms with this is Midge (Barbara Bel Geddes), an ex-girlfriend who is still very much carrying a torch for the now ex-policeman. <newline> <newline>[imgmc=0000205790.jpg|0000109255] <newline> <newline>Scottie is then contacted by an old school friend, Gavin Elster (Tom Elmore), out of the blue who wants to hire him to follow his wife Madeleine (Kim Novak). Elster’s motives aren’t due to suspicion of extra-marital misconduct though; his concerns are more to do with supernatural and mental health issues. It appears that Madeleine is haunted by the spirit of her great Grandmother Carlotta Valdés, a tragic figure who was abandoned by her husband who also took her baby before she finally killed herself in a fit of grief and loneliness – although according to Elster, Madeleine is unaware of her actions and can’t remember any of what she does during the day. Scottie is reluctant to take on the case as he states firmly that he has retired, but Elster persuades him to take a look at Madeleine from afar at Ernie’s restaurant that night where the husband and wife will be having dinner; one look at the beautiful Madeleine hooks Scottie and he willingly takes the case. <newline> <newline>A trawl through San Francisco tailing Madeleine begins Scottie’s obsession with a woman he barely knows, falling head over heels in love with her. This obsession will have tragic results for more than a few people… <newline> <newline>[imgmc=0000205788.jpg|0000109253] <newline> <newline>[heading][b]Visual[/b] [/heading] <newline> <newline>Picture is as good as it will get at this point in time for a 1954 film, an expensive restoration taking place in 1997 by the same team of Robert A. Harris and James C. Katz who brought Lawrence of Arabia to the modern DVD audience so memorably. Unfortunately the restoration, impressive as it is, couldn’t remove all the blemishes and artefacts, although they aren’t enough to really distract from the viewing pleasure. There are a couple of shots and one sequence that were too damaged to restore into the same kind of quality as the rest of the film, the latter part of the Argosy Book Store sequence darkening quite considerably and the trip to the giant Redwood forest is a little blurry. Still, for the vast majority of the film, it looks superb. <newline> <newline>The picture does look really superb for the most part; the view from below the Golden Gate Bridge is stunning. What really impressed me though was the quality of the general location shots around San Francisco and the pristine shininess of the cars shown, which might sound a little odd but it just helped the atmosphere of the piece for me. The problem with restoring some old film though is that it can uncover some flaws that weren’t as obvious to cinema audiences at the time; here the matte paintings look more like the oil and canvas they really are and the fake Spanish tower really does look fake, especially in the overhead tracking shot (which is a fantastic shot however you look at it), but again these don’t detract from the viewing. <newline> <newline>[imgmc=0000205784.jpg|0000109249] <newline> <newline>Hitchcock also used a wide range of montage shots to convey emotion far more than mere dialogue ever could. One of the tricks he used to pull this off were shots from odd angles, something that I don’t recall seeing in any other films, at least as much as Hitchcock used them. Hitchcock also used colour to add atmosphere and theme his film, red and green are the primary colours used here to brilliant effect. <newline> <newline>The superb Vertigo effect, used quite sparingly really, was produced by both zooming in and tracking back simultaneously and is one of the most memorable photographic effects ever committed to film. <newline> <newline>[heading][b]Audio[/b] [/heading] <newline> <newline>Excellent 5.1 Surround soundtrack, with some wonderful Foley effect work (recorded during the restoration work and possibly not for the purists, who probably wouldn[apost]t like a modern 5.1 Surround track anyway) and quite possibly one of the best and most memorable movie soundtracks ever. Bernard Hermann’s soundtrack is both chilling and romantic in equal measure, and oddly for a film actually sets the scene during long sequences without dialogue, which is actually quite rare for film but follows Hitchcock’s view on pure cinema; moving pictures without words. <newline> <newline>There are four other soundtracks available here; the German soundtrack is 2.0 Stereo whilst the French, Italian and Spanish soundtracks are 1.0 Mono. <newline> <newline>[imgmc=0000205781.jpg|0000109254] <newline>

Revision 7

Created on Sunday, 19th October 2008, 23:48
Change Submitted by Si Wooldridge

List of Changes:

Change #1 - man. <newline> <newline>[imgmc=0000205790.jpg|0000109255] <newline> <newline>Scottie
Change #2 - people… <newline> <newline>[imgmc=0000205788.jpg|0000109253] <newline> <newline>[heading][b]
Change #3 - viewing. <newline> <newline>[imgmc=0000205784.jpg|0000109249] <newline> <newline>Hitchcock al
Change #4 - ono. <newline> <newline>[imgmc=0000205789.jpg|0000109254] <newline> <newline>[/page

Revision 6

Created on Sunday, 19th October 2008, 23:45
Change Submitted by Si Wooldridge

List of Changes:

Change #1 - extras. <newline> <newline>[imgmc=0000205781.jpg|0000109246] <newline> <newline>Disc 2: <newline> <newline>P
Change #2 - elf. <newline> <newline>[imgmc=0000205786.jpg|0000109251] <newline> <newline>Pure Cin
Change #3 - of the film. <newline> <newline>[imgmc=0000205799.jpg|0000109264] <newline> <newline>[heading][b]Over

Revision 5

Created on Sunday, 19th October 2008, 23:42
Change Submitted by Si Wooldridge

List of Changes:

Change #1 - ing. <newline> <newline>[imgmc=0000205785.jpg|0000109250] <newline> <newline>Although
Change #2 - hat. <newline> <newline>[imgmc=0000205783.jpg|0000109248] <newline> <newline>[/pa

Revision 4

Created on Sunday, 19th October 2008, 23:41
Change Submitted by Si Wooldridge

List of Changes:

Change #1 - an that. <newline> <newline> <newline> <newline>[/page2]

Revision 3

Created on Sunday, 19th October 2008, 23:40
Change Submitted by Si Wooldridge

List of Changes:

Title changed from Vertigo - a masterpice of cinema... to Vertigo - a masterpiece of cinema...

Change #1 - [~~imgmc=0000205790.jpg|0000109255]~~page1] <newline>[heading][b]Introduction[/b] [/heading] <newline> <newline>The name Alfred Hitchcock conjures up two things; firstly the portly old Master of Suspense himself and secondly a series of classic suspense thrillers. Vertigo, the subject of this review, was released in 1954 and was originally considered a bit of a flop but has since gathered a reputation as one of, if not the best, of Hitchcock’s films. <newline> <newline>John ‘Scottie’ Ferguson (James Stewart) is a detective in the San Francisco police who is forced to retire after a near fatal fall during a rooftop chase which killed a fellow officer. Scottie’s fall triggered an attack of acrophobia, a fear of heights and he feels he has to retire rather than see out his career behind a desk. Patiently aiding Scottie come to terms with this is Midge (Barbara Bel Geddes), an ex-girlfriend who is still very much carrying a torch for the ex-policeman. <newline> <newline>Scottie is then contacted by an old school friend, Gavin Elster (Tom Elmore), out of the blue who wants to hire him to follow his wife Madeleine (Kim Novak). Elster’s motives aren’t due to suspicion of extra-marital misconduct though; his concerns are more to do with supernatural and mental health issues. It appears that Madeleine is haunted by the spirit of her great Grandmother Carlotta Valdés, tragic figure who was abandoned by her husband who also took her baby before she finally killed herself in a fit of grief and loneliness – although according to Elster, Madeleine is unaware of her actions and can’t remember any of what she does during the day. Scottie is reluctant to take on the case as he states firmly that he has retired, but Elster persuades him to take a look at Madeleine from afar at Ernie’s restaurant that night where the husband and wife will be having dinner; one look at the beautiful Madeleine hooks Scottie and he willingly takes the case. <newline> <newline>
Change #2 - <newline> <newline>~~[imgmc=0000205788.jpg|0000109253] <newline> <newline>~~Hitc
Change #3 - <newline> <newline>~~[imgmc=0000205784.jpg|0000109249] <newline>~~ <newline>[/
Change #4 - <newline> <newline>~~[imgmc=0000205786.jpg|0000109251] <newline> <newline>~~Disc
Change #5 - <newline> <newline>~~[imgmc=0000205789.jpg|0000109254] <newline> <newline>~~Pure
Change #6 - <newline> <newline>~~[imgmc=0000205799.jpg|0000109264] <newline> <newline>~~[hea
Change #7 - <newline> <newline>~~[imgmc=0000205785.jpg|0000109250] <newline> <newline>~~Alth
Change #8 - hat. ~~<newline> <newline>[imgmc=0000205783.jpg|0000109248] <newline> <newline>[/page2]~~

Revision 2

Created on Sunday, 19th October 2008, 23:38
Change Submitted by Si Wooldridge

List of Changes:

Change #1 - [page1] <newline>[heading][b]Introduction[/b] [/heading] <newline> <newline>The name Alfred Hitchcock conjures up two things; firstly the portly old Master of Suspense himself and secondly a series of classic suspense thrillers. Vertigo, the subject of this review, was released in 1954 and was originally considered a bit of a flop but has since gathered a reputation as one of, if not the best, of Hitchcock’s films. <newline> <newline>John ‘Scottie’ Ferguson (James Stewart) is a detective in the San Francisco police who is forced to retire after a near fatal fall during a rooftop chase which killed a fellow officer. Scottie’s fall triggered an attack of acrophobia, a fear of heights and he feels he has to retire rather than see out his career behind a desk. Patiently aiding Scottie come to terms with this is Midge (Barbara Bel Geddes), an ex-girlfriend who is still very much carrying a torch for the ex-policeman. <newline> <newline>Scottie is then contacted by an old school friend, Gavin Elster (Tom Elmore), out of the blue who wants to hire him to follow his wife Madeleine (Kim Novak). Elster’s motives aren’t due to suspicion of extra-marital misconduct though; his concerns are more to do with supernatural and mental health issues. It appears that Madeleine is haunted by the spirit of her great Grandmother Carlotta Valdés, tragic figure who was abandoned by her husband who also took her baby before she finally killed herself in a fit of grief and loneliness – although according to Elster, Madeleine is unaware of her actions and can’t remember any of what she does during the day. Scottie is reluctant to take on the case as he states firmly that he has retired, but Elster persuades him to take a look at Madeleine from afar at Ernie’s restaurant that night where the husband and wife will be having dinner; one look at the beautiful Madeleine hooks Scottie and he willingly takes the case. <newline> <newline>[img
Change #2 - extras. <newline> <newline>[imgmc=0000205786.jpg|0000109251] <newline> <newline>Disc 2: <newline> <newline>P
Change #3 - elf. <newline> <newline>[imgmc=0000205789.jpg|0000109254] <newline> <newline>Pure Cin
Change #4 - of the film. <newline> <newline>[imgmc=0000205799.jpg|0000109264] <newline> <newline>[heading][b]Over
Change #5 - ing. <newline> <newline>[imgmc=0000205785.jpg|0000109250] <newline> <newline>Although
Change #6 - an that. <newline> <newline>[imgmc=0000205783.jpg|0000109248] <newline> <newline>[/page2]

Revision 1

Created on Sunday, 19th October 2008, 23:32
Change Submitted by Si Wooldridge

List of Changes:

Change #1 - ase. <newline> <newline>[imgmc=0000205790.jpg|0000109255] <newline> <newline>A trawl
Change #2 - viewing. <newline> <newline>[imgmc=0000205788.jpg|0000109253] <newline> <newline>Hitchcock al
Change #3 - .0 Mono. <newline> <newline>[imgmc=0000205784.jpg|0000109249] <newline> <newline>[/page1] <newline>[p

Initial Version

Created on Sunday, 19th October 2008, 23:27
First Submitted by Si Wooldridge