Vertigo

I really enjoyed Vertigo, the Alfred Hitchcock tale of John "Scottie" Ferguson (Jimmy Stewart), who develops vertigo and a fear of heights as a response to watching a fellow officer fall off a roof. Retired with nothing else going on except torturing friend Midge with the hope of a romance (Barbara Bel Geddes... Miss Ellie from Dallas!), he meets up with an old college friend and takes a job following his wife. Turns out, he thinks his wife Madeleine is possessed by a dead person, Carlotta Valdes. Scottie follows her around, and she's certainly acting the part--visiting a picture of Carlotta, her grave, a hotel where she stayed. This continues for awhile till she tries committing suicide by jumping into the bay. Scottie rushes to rescue her and brings her to his apartment to regroup (which got weird--she was naked in his bed, he had her clothes in the kitchen...and she didn't really think to question him about that??). She escapes his penetrating questions and glare when he answers a call from her husband. But like a moth to the flame, they can't avoid each other. They begin spending some time and taking day trips together, most notably the Redwoods where she goes into a trance and confesses her fear that she's going to kill herself. They find themselves at Mission de San Juan Batisto, where after a passionate embrace and a declaration of love, Carlotta overtakes Madeleine , and she runs to the top of the church steeple. Scottie's vertigo and acrophobia take over, and he's unable to stop her from committing suicide.

Scottie's grief and guilt put him into a catatonic trance. The only one to help him is Midge. He finally snaps out of it enough to leave the hospital, and finds himself roaming the streets during the day. On his travels, he runs across a woman who is the spitting image of Madeleine and follows her home. She's Judy Barton, from Salina, and though she thinks he's rather stalkerish, she agrees to see him. Turns out she's got a little secret--she was an actress playing Madeleine; in a flashback, we see that Madeleine's husband staged the whole production as a way to kill his wife without suspicion. Judy loved Scottie, so instead of running away, she goes along with his desire to see her, eventually turning herself back into Madeleine to please him. However, she makes the fetal mistake of wearing the necklace which he remembers Madeleine wearing, which was supposed to be an heirloom of Carlotta. Figuring it all out, he takes her back to the mission, and conquers his acrophobia by forcing her to climb to the top with him and admit everything. During his impassioned and emotional rant, a nun hears noises in the tower and comes to check. She frightens them both, and Judy ends up falling out the window to her death. Scottie is left to look at the lifeless body of his true love for the second time.

It was a very interesting movie, and in comparison to the weeks before, quite quick! I enjoyed it as a precursor to the thrillers we have today, using music and expression to tell the story. They didn't have the flash we have today, so they did more with less. Enjoyable and well worth the watch.

And finally, poor Midge. She couldn't catch a break at all.

Wizard of Oz is next, oddly enough, in the same week as its 70th anniversary. It's Dear Daughter's favorite movie, so we are all going to be in it to win it with the flying monkeys and ruby slippers. She does have an outfit...maybe she'll dress up.