Feathers and Flowers: Vertigo

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Vertigo

Mission San Juan Bautista, Hollister

In my opinion, the chief requisite for an actor is the ability to do nothing well, which is by no means as easy as it sounds. He should be willing to be utilized and wholly integrated into the picture by the director and the camera. He must allow the camera to determine the proper emphasis and the most effective dramatic highlights.

Alfred Hitchcock, a comment on acting

This year Sight and Sound magazine named Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo the best film of all time. The film got mixed reviews when it was released in 1958, but ever since has been attracting scholarly attention and is now considered the classic Hitchcock film and the defining work of his career.

I enjoy the movie reviews in the New Yorker magazine, and they're entertaining even when they leave you with no desire to see the actual movie, which is often the case. But along with the current releases, there's usually a restored classic showing somewhere in the Big Apple, and a clever critic writes a review that makes you want to see it again. Or maybe for the first time. It helps me keep the Netflix queue filled with things we can look forward to watching-- that is, when the exasperating Neflix finally gets around to sending them out.


Mission Dolores, San Francisco

Vertigo is intriguing on many levels, but worth watching for wonderful 1950's San Francisco settings alone, in particular the missions, museums and parks. Oh, those where the happy days when you could pull up to the curb and park anywhere in the city. When a "fashion illustrator" could afford a big apartment with an expansive view of Telegraph Hill. When you had the country road to yourself driving up to Muir Woods or down the coast to Mission San Juan Bautista.

The old mission locations in San Francisco and Hollister are central to the plot. Now they are all polished up, but seeing them looking so rustic in the 1950's was my favorite part of the movie. Once upon a time, John and I traversed the state of California on a mission to visit all twenty-one historic missions. One of our happiest travel memories.