Vertigo
: The Making of a Hitchcock Classic
by Dan Auiler
Vertigo is Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece and perhaps his most personal
film. To view it once is to be devastated. With each subsequent screening,
most viewers notice bits of business, depths of thought, and stunning ironies
that had previously eluded them. Vertigo is a riveting experience, haunting
its fans in the same way that Scottie Ferguson (James Stewart) is haunted
by the mysterious Madeleine Elster (Kim Novak).
Upon researching the film, author Dan Auiler found that "this odd, obsessional,
very un-matter-of-fact film was created" under "systematic, businesslike,
matter-of-fact circumstances." His book gives us the opportunity to witness
the construction of a film that seems at once amazing complex and absolutely
seamless. He discusses the painstaking development of the screenplay (including
its controversial explication of the mystery only two-thirds of the way
through the film), the decision to cast Novak instead of Vera Miles opposite
Stewart, the typically meticulous Hitchcock shoot, the film's amazing special
effects and extraordinary credit and dream sequences, and the legendary
musical score composed by Bernard Herrmann. Upon finishing the book, readers
will appreciate the various contributions of Hitchcock, Herrmann, Stewart,
Novak, actress Barbara Bel Geddes, Thomas Narcejac and Pierre Boileau (who
wrote the book upon which it is based), uncredited scenarists Maxwell Anderson
and Angus MacPhail, screenwriters Alec Coppel and Samuel Taylor, cinematographer
Robert Burks, editor George Tomasini, costume designer Edith Head, and
many others. The book includes a list of cast and crew, an appendix discussing
the VistaVision process in which it was shot, a forward by Vertigo enthusiast
Martin Scorsese, and hundreds of production photos, reproductions of memos,
storyboard sketches, and posters. Vertigo: The Making of a Hitchcock Classic
has enhanced even this avid fan's appreciation of a film he's long known
and loved. --Raphael Shargel - Amazon.com
Paperback from Griffin Trade Paperback
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