Production year 1958
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
Written by Alec Coppel and Samuel A Taylor
from a story by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac
Starring Kim Novak, James Stewart and Barbara Bel Geddes
In a career that spanned six decades and produced more than 50 films Alfred Hitchcock made nothing more strange and delirious than this intense psychological thriller.
James Stewart is “Scottie” Ferguson - a San Francisco police detective with a morbid fear of heights whose phobia causes his partner to be killed during a rooftop pursuit. He retires from the force to become a private detective and takes on a case involving a college friend who asks him to decipher the bizarre behaviour of his wife Madeleine. When he saves her from suicide Scotty begins to fall in love with Madeleine thus beginning an intriguing tale full of strange and unexpected twists and turns…
Hitchcock’s often obsessive relationship with his leading actresses and his voyeuristic filmmaking style are perfectly blended in this intoxicating tale. James Stewart was never better as the detective and Kim Novak is perfect in her role as the ultimate troubled Hitchcock heroine. The experimental and surreal visual effects and a marvellous score by longtime collaborator Bernard Herrmann make this one of the greatest films by one of cinema’s greatest stylists
