The Director's Series: Alfred Hitchcock, No. 5

 

Throughout 2025 I'm turning my focus to Directors. They help craft the vision on screen that makes a movie work. This year I'm looking at five favorite films from 18 directors I admire and 10 films directed by different women that I have enjoyed. Join me Fridays and Saturdays throughout 2025 as we take this journey.

Vertigo (1958)
Starring: Jimmy Stewart, Kim Novak, and Barbara Bel Geddes
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
About: Hitchcock is a talented director who had a long and varied career. His most well known films come in a certain era, but his roots stretch back to early films in the 1920s as part of the silent film era. That era required a strong flair for visual filmmaking, something that he applied throughout his career. Vertigo is a mystery tale. It's a tale of love, obsession, and deception. And it has long sequences, particularly early, that feature no dialogue. You have to watch the film and get absorbed in the action and in the world. That gives it a very intense feeling at times. Hitchcock is another director for whom narrowing it down was tough. He also had a number of great films with Stewart. In fact, it was another of their pairing,  Rope, that very nearly earned this spot. But Vertigo is iconic for many reasons and, in the end, it had to be part of this list.