James Stewart
John "Scottie" Ferguson
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Synopsis. A woman's face gives way to a kaleidoscope of credits, signaling the start of Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo to Bernard Hermann's haunting score. A criminal climbs up the rungs of the ladder to the rooftop on a dark San Francisco night. John "Scottie" Ferguson (James Stewart), a detective, and a police officer are hot on his trail.
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Vertigo, American psychological thriller film, released in 1958, that is considered one of director Alfred Hitchcock’s most complex movies. Although it received a lukewarm reception upon its release, Vertigo is now commonly ranked among the greatest movies ever made.
(Read Alfred Hitchcock’s 1965 Britannica essay on film production.)
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Detective John (“Scottie”) Ferguson (played by James Stewart) has retired from the police force because he developed a paralyzing fear of heights after a rooftop chase that resulted in a colleague’s death. He comes out of retirement, however, at the behest of Gavin Elster (Tom Helmore), a college friend who wants Stewart to follow his wife, Madeleine (Kim Novak), and ascertain the purpose of her peculiar behaviour. Stewart unexpectedly falls in love with her, only to witness her suicide. Devastated by Madeleine’s death, Scottie later encounters Judy Barton (Novak) and obsessively remakes her in the image of the dead Madeleine. However, Scottie does not realize that Judy already knows him because she had pretended to be Madeleine as a ruse concocted by Elster to cover up his wife’s murder.
Stewart played the most complicated role of his career, abandoning his all-American persona to portray a man driven to the edge of insanity by his obsession with a woman he fears he can never have. Novak is the epitome of the Hitchcockian icy blonde in a role Vera Miles had to turn down when she became pregnant. Vertigo is considered Hitchcock’s most personal film, with Scottie’s obsessive remaking of Judy into the character of Madeleine being a metaphor for Hitchcock’s direction of the lead actresses in his films. Vertigo is also noted for its groundbreaking camera techniques to simulate the sensation of vertigo.
•Studio: Paramount Pictures
•Director and producer: Alfred Hitchcock
•Writers: Alec Coppel and Samuel A. Taylor
•Music: Bernard Herrmann
•James Stewart (John [“Scottie”] Ferguson)
•Kim Novak (Madeleine Elster/Judy Barton)
•Barbara Bel Geddes (Midge)
•Tom Helmore (Gavin Elster)
- Lee Pfeiffer
Aug 22, 2021 · The Vertigo plot begins with a harrowing action sequence. We follow detective John “Scottie” Ferguson (played by James Stewart) in the midst of a rooftop chase. He slips and a fellow officer reaches down to help him, but Scottie is paralyzed with acrophobia and the other officer falls to his death.
“Vertigo” (1958), which is one of the two or three best films Hitchcock ever made, is the most confessional, dealing directly with the themes that controlled his art. It is *about* how Hitchcock used, feared and tried to control women.
Oct 26, 2021 · Vertigo (1958) – Plot Summary. While chasing a suspect, detective John “Scottie” Ferguson sees a fellow police officer fall to his death. This traumatic incident triggered his fear of heights and caused him to develop vertigo. Unable to overcome his acrophobia, Scottie retires from the police force.
Apr 19, 2018 · ‘Vertigo’ Movie Summary. The summary below contains spoilers. In Alfred Hitchcock ‘s 1958 classic Vertigo, San Francisco detective, John “Scottie” Ferguson, narrowly survives a near fall from a rooftop that results in the death of a fellow officer. Scottie develops vertigo, and retires from the police force.
Synopsis by Dylan Wilcox. Dismissed when first released, later heralded as one of director Alfred Hitchcock's finest films (and, according to Hitchcock, his most personal one), this adaptation of the French novel D'entre les morts weaves an intricate web of obsession and deceit.
