To conclude the movie trailer theme this month, I will present two of Hitchcock's late color masterpieces: Vertigo (1958) and North by Northwest (1959). Hitchcock was truly a director that was good from start to finish, well, maybe some of the films after Psycho (1960) were definitely not has good as the previous films, but the man had truly a great film after great film through the entirety of his career which lasted through five decades. Vertigo, where Sight & Sound magazine, which conducts a top ten film list of all-time every ten years with critics, directors and film historians, ranked it number one over the much studied and admired Orson Welles classic Citizen Kane (1945). The story revolves around a an acrophobic retired police officer, James Stewart, hired by an old friend to follow his wife who he believes has been possessed by a dead woman. As he begins to follow her, he becomes overwhelming obsessed with her and this leads him and the viewer down a road of obsession, romance, psychological intrigue and suspense. This is without a doubt a masterpiece on the highest order and shows a true master at the heights of his powers. In North by Northwest, we get the wrongly accused, innocent man thriller, in the vein of Hitchcock's early film The 39 Steps (1935). Cary Grant is mistaken for a government agent and is led down a path of foreign intrigue, lost identity and suspense. The film is not has serious or as personal as Vertigo but contains some of the most memorable scenes in film history, most certainly the shot atop the United Nations, the crop dusting chase and the conclusion at Mt. Rushmore. Both films are pure, honest and mesmerizing works from the Master of Suspense and undeniably masterpieces from the great Alfred Hitchcock.
Vertigo
North by Northwest
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