Hitchcock’s ‘Vertigo’The Unrelenting gaze

Today I talk about Hitchcock’s ‘Vertigo which remains one of the greatest movies ever made. its is listed as the number one movie all time in hstory of flim.alfred Hitchcock’s VERTIGO is a movie that a film which functions on multiple levels simultaneously. One of the many movies that Hitchcock did in his lifetime was vertigo. It was not considered much of a masterpiece at the time. Vertigo is often considered Hitchcock’s most personal and emotional and complex of his movies that adresses many of the natures of what makes a great flim. Its today i am talking about it again for a talk. Lets begin. Hitchcock’s ‘Vertigo’The Unrelenting gaze

Hitchcock wanted to buy the rights to a novel called Celle qui n’etait plus (translated into English as She Who Was No More) by writers Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac, but unfortunately for him, director Henri-Georges Clouzot had beaten him to it and had directed the 1955 movie entitled Les Diaboliques based on said source material but he would twa,so when the follow-up D’entres les morts hit the bookstores in 1954, the director had Paramount commission a synopsis before the novel even got a chance to get translated into English. When the studio secured the rights, playwright Maxwell Anderson (Anne of the Thousand Days, The Bad Seed) got the job of adapting the novel into a film. Anderson wrote a script entitled Darkling, I Listen a quote from English poet John Keats’ poem Ode to a Nightingale—and Hitchcock did not like it one bit, so he discarded the draft and brought in Alec Coppel (The Captain’s Paradise, Mr. Denning Drives North) instead. Unfortunately, his second pick did not satisfy him either, leading to Samuel L. Taylor (Avantil, Sabrina) being hired to write the screenplay from scratch, with the help of Hitchcock’s notes. Taylor wanted to take sole credit for his work, but Coppel would not have it, and objected to the Screen Writers Guild, after which both were credited and Anderson was left out. Kim Novak was cast alongside Jimmy Stewart, although the part of the female lead was initially intended for Vera Miles, who would later on play her most memorable role in Psycho. Miles became pregnant so the director chose Novak instead. By the time the actress was ready to start shooting after having taken care of her other commitments; Miles became available again, only to find out that Hitchcock had decided to stick with his new leading lady as he would find this tale of obsession. Vertigo follows John “Scottie” Ferguson, a police officer who discovers he has a fear of heights that manifests itself as vertigo, forced to retire after his condition results in him having to retire from the police force. He spends time with his friends as one day asked by a friend to follow his wife wants his wife Madeleine (Kim Novak) followed, but not because he suspects her of infidelity­ but rather because he is afraid for her mental health as he becomes obsessed with this blond woman to the point of madness.

Vertigo works as this factuality of the unrelenting male gaze that dominates and dictates both our shared collective reality and the majority of the narratives we as a species create and willingly consumes our obsession of it. We see yet another hand to it too as the collective look upon how the male gaze n obsession can drive one to madness as this movie can be viewed as clever breakdown of the male gaze as the idea of how scottie’s obression with creatring this perfect image of a woman that is same as hitchcock’s own obression of the hitchcock blond. the trope of his flims as he has always this perfect blond woman that is perfect to look upon the screen upon her as you gaze upon her as you see her is the perfect woman to scotties own fears known as acrophobia as way hitchcock captures this image is so amazing. The viewpoint must be fixed you see, while the perspective is changed as by using the dolly and zoom simultaneously as effect captures fhe fears of scottie trough his gaze of his fears as he sees the heights as he stops n looks upon ground is able show us the fears of him  at that moment.

It is when judy becomes Becomes Madeleine we see her her change form judy to Madeleine we see the depths of madness of scottie as he is obresssed with this perfect woman. He has her even become this woman in his eyes to recreate her in his own image of this perfect woman. 

Vertigo has another collective layer upon it to watch as you see it unfold upon the screen as it is fascinating to watch Vertigo unfold for the first third of the film presents us with what seems like a ghost story about possession that dabbles in the subject of ancestral trauma that has a repeating pattern over n over again. It’s also the nature of this movie too as you can watch it over n again finding new things each time. Jimmy Stewart gives a terrific performance in the role of Scottie a man recognizing his own limits.  Bernard Herrmann’s musical score as the music is probably more important here than in most films, let alone most Hitchcock films as you see the music plays key part in setting the tone n moods of the scenes of this wonderful classic as the way you see the musical cues of the shifts of it as the gaze changes n moods changes n scenes changes it captures the movies collective tone of the gaze of our lead character upon the screen. Robert Burks Cinematography captures San Francisco as it richly captures the city in such richness and depth. There is color filter that does many tricks such the changing of colors on many scenes in a feverish way is part of this movie that mirrors the German Expressionist style. It’s only really an updated version of the superimposing of images and casting of shadows in films by Fritz Lang and FW Murnau that Hitchcock manages to capture psychological mood of a man that is driving to a point to find his own limits. Vertigo is a masterpiece with so many layers upon it but the one layer that shows throughout the movie is the gaze upon the screen.   Everything about this film truly is marvelous n layered with many different ways to look upon this movie as its one of best movies ever made upon the screen.

NIGHT AND THE CITY

Today I talk about Night and the City. The night is tonight, tomorrow night…or any night. The city is London. Night and the City opens with an opening monologue with a voice talking about the city. The film’s opening narration, spoken by its director Jules Dassin in which i define as one of the finest noir classics all time.

Night and the City: In the Labyrinth of the underworld.(https://www.facebook.com/Wolffianclassicmoviesdigest/)

The night is tonight, tomorrow night…or any night. The city is London. Night and the City opens with a opening monologue with a voice talking about the city. The film’s opening narration, spoken by its director Jules Dassin, recalls how filmmaker Carol Reed opened his picture in the same way. The Third Man (1949) opened like this film in many ways. This will not be last comparison to reed’s flim as both titles suggest parallel themes of realism and expressionism, both go about in it in diffrent ways. The title night in the city is hard poetry as as Andrew Pulver observed in his volume for the British Film Institute. To be sure that Dassin’s cinematographer Max Greene shoots rich street photography recalling that of Weegee.

The locations range from flophouses to seamy flats, dive bars to alleyways. The familiar setting of London becomes a strange and unseemly environment as transforms the city into a sordid, alternate backdrop was a common theme in film noir another connection between Night and the City and The Third Man, which takes place in Vienna. Likewise, both films also use the crumbled post-World War II setting. It captures the underworld of the city which echoes the common connection of both movies of its theme.

Dassin and Reed each harnesses the post world war II setting of the underworld setting of the destroyed cities in aftermath of the war they harnesses the reality of exposing horrendous crimes as both also have been masterfully crafted with chiaroscuro shadows and off-kilter angles, accentuating the undercurrent of darkness beneath the settings of a world in its darkest place after the end of the war as our world struggled with our darkness and sin.

When Kersh’s novel was released in 1946, producer Charles K. Feldman paid $45,000 for the film rights and hired former police reporter Jo Eisinger to write the script. Feldman had negotiated with Jacques Tourneur (Out of the Past, 1947) to direct it yet it failed to go trough to production. The production, including the book-to-film rights and Eisinger’s script, was sold to Zanuck at Fox as he did it as favor for Jules Dassin remarked, “Zanuck pushed this book in my hand, and said, ‘You’re leaving, you’re getting out of here. You’re going to London and you’re going to make this film knowing the director was a member of the Communist Party since 1939 it was chance for him to do something boldly new for the studio. However, if given a choice, Dassin later claimed he would not have fled to avoid giving testimony. Nevertheless, Night and the City would be Dassin’s last film shot in the United States until Uptight in 1968.  It’s a bleak and very dark look upon the city of London. I feel this movie is the definitive noir classic. Night and the City: In the Labyrinth by By Paul Arthur  

At the heart of Night and the City is a master trope: the urban labyrinth. Cities in film noir are not simply dangerous or bristling with iconographic menace—they are visualized as death traps, spaces from which there can be no escape. This common pattern finds summary expression in Dassin’s film. Nearly every setting is crammed with architectural grids, frames, cul-de-sacs, narrow stairways, perspectives that choke off the mobility and freedom of human subjects (this is quoted form Night and the City: In the Labyrinth by Paul Arthur on the movie. I put link above too so you can read the wonderful essay that talks this flim) its one of the best noir classics all time in my eyes. Dassin’s status as an artist forced into isolation may have gained him, and Night and the City, sympathy after the film’s release but its well earned in my eyes as it is simply a marvelous movie.

NIGHT AND THE CITY review

Night and the City, adapted from Gerald Kersh’s novel, is the supreme example of London noir. Its one of the finest noir classics ever produced for the screen. The writer who came up with the orginal novel was Gerald Kersh, attached it to his third novel. Published in 1938, Night and the City is a high-minded pulp thriller containing a fantastically vivid creation about the dark underbelly of a city. The city has been mankind’s booming hub for ages snice man started with cities in ancient times. They are dark seedy worlds with many layers to them. I would call night in city the prime example of what fine noir does at its finest explores the underbelly and city in a very shadowed light.

Dassin’s well documented run and gun approach to shooting Night and the City is fully evident as the streets of London pop and fizzle under Dassin’s eye with an energy and fever akin to its underworld story. Its one of his finer noir classics that he crafted with such fine direction and craft. 

The cinematography of Night and the City is remarkable with such fine details crafted by Mutz Greenbaum whom crafts out dripping alleyways with neon signs, walk-up flats, sweaty basement dives, and atmospheric streets. Greene shot them all with a combination of expert chiaroscuro and the fast-paced, documentary-style realism that really makes this noir classic a gem to behold upon the screen.

This is by far one of Richard Widmark’s best performances. He’s a live wire from start to finish. We never see Harry Fabian rest, not even once, as he’s trying to make his dreams of being a big shot a reality as he gives out one of his finest hours on the screen. It has wonderful acting by everyone in its cast. 

 The film’s centerpiece is a brutal impromptu wrestling match in Harry’s gym between The Strangler and Gregorius. Nobody can separate these two giant men and all Harry can do is watch and hope as his dreams of melding the classical and circus-like worlds of wrestling are dashed with every kidney punch and death grip attempt in this seedy classic.  

This is by far one of the best crime stories I’ve ever seen. Dassin does an amazing job of ratcheting up the tension in every scene that makes it one of the finest noir movies I ever watched on the screen. You simply should see this classic movie today.

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