As posted a few weeks ago, Patrick and I had the pleasure my favorite Hitchcock film, Rope, on the big screen, and had mentioned the same cinema would be showing Rear Window soon, however, there was a mix up, and they ended up getting Vertigo instead.  Now while I favor Rear Window to Vertigo, I wasn’t upset, since Vertigo is so stellar on the big screen.  Thanks to my cinephile father, I had already had the pleasure of seeing Vertigo on the big screen back in 1998, when it was restored and re-released.  However, you can never see some films too many times, and Patrick had yet to see it at a cinema.

Seeing old films in a cinema environment is somewhat difficult for me…sure, it’s wonderful to see those great film stars from the golden era larger than life, but seated around you are often people who just don’t get it…in fact a fair majority of last night’s audience was in that group…they laughed at inappropriate moments, among other rude comments I care not to share (the same thing happened when we saw Psycho).  But, there was a pair of girls seated next to us who had not seen Vertigo before, and ended up closing their eyes during the film’s final moments, and as the restoration credits roles, they looked up and looked to us asking “What happened?” I did find this refreshing, to know that they were frightened, and dear old Hitchcock was still doing his job, over fifty years later.

As for Vertigo itself, I feel like the film goes without saying anything.  It’s a masterful film, with stellar acting and a spectacular story, not to mention the clothing – Kim Novak wears beautiful outfit after beautiful outfit.  The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (yay for more Jimmy Stewart!) is next, not sure if we’ll make it to that or not…can’t wait to see what is in store next!