HITCHCOCK'S VERTIGO: A Personal Journey Through the Greatest Film Ever Made, Paul Hyder

When Vertigo was released in 1958, it bombed at the box office and received negative reviews, many complaining that it was too long and too slow. Even Hitchcock himself was critical of the performances of the two leading stars, James Stewart and Kim Novak.

In 2012, however, the film was voted the Greatest Movie Ever Made by the BFI's Sight and Sound magazine, displacing Citizen Kane from top spot, and proving the original critics, including Hitchcock himself, wrong. What had happened? Why had Vertigo's star suddenly risen to new heights?

Mr Hyder tries to throw some light on this by arguing that Vertigo is great because it addresses some of the major themes that are part of the great western tradition in art and literature. Moving through the movie frame-by-frame, he dissects the story and analyses the latent content, finding connections with Plato, Ovid, Shakespeare, Van Gogh, Oscar Wilde, Franz Kafka and the illusionary world of The Truman Show.

Martin Scorsese has said that Vertigo is all about obsession, but Mr Hyder believes this is only partially true. Vertigo, he feels, is about illusionary worlds, where shadows are mistaken for reality. San Francisco, the gorgeous setting of Vertigo, is real enough, but its winding streets, steep hills, and jagged skyline all invoke feelings of dizziness that confuse and baffle the two main protagonists, forcing them to misjudge the world around them and make choices that have deathly consequences.

Vertigo is a passionate film, but Mr Hyder finds much of it without love. He labels the movie anti-romantic, arguing that the two main protagonists are unhappy and frustrated throughout much of the movie and there are no marriage ceremonies or happy endings. Nevertheless, he concedes that it is this fact that gives Vertigo its power because it is a film about real people who live in real worlds, where their humble dreams go unrealized and the hopes that they harbour in their deepest hearts often turn to ashes.