A dizzying tale of suspicion, duplicity and regret

MUCH maligned on its release but now considered possibly Hitchcock’s greatest film – and you can argue the toss on that one from now until the end of time – this 1958 psycho-sexual thriller pitches avuncular James Stewart into a mystery centred on icy blonde Kim Novak but then slowly forces him to play against type.

By the end of the near two-hour running time the normally genial star has turned into a man who is obsessive, desperate and vengeful.

Stewart is former San Francisco detective John Ferguson, known as Scottie, who as the film opens is chasing a man across a rooftop accompanied by a uniformed policeman.

He is struck by vertigo, a condition he never knew he had, and his colleague dies trying to save him from falling to his death into an alleyway.

Fast forward a few months and Scottie has been invalided out of the force and is sitting in the studio of commercial artist and former flame Midge (Barbara Bel Geddes, later to find fame as Miss Ellie in Dallas).

The light banter between them as they flirt carelessly is classic Stewart, but when he responds to an invitation from a former classmate he finds himself undertaking a spot of gumshoe work. And here’s where the trouble starts.

The client is Gavin Elster (Tom Helmore), a wealthy ship owner who wants Scottie to trail his wife, Madeleine (Novak). Elster has a strange story to tell: he doesn’t suspect Madeleine of having an affair, nothing like that. But he’s struck by the way she sometimes seems to become like another person entirely, and he’s puzzled by the places she goes during the day and the things she does there.

Scottie is unwilling to take on the job but reluctantly agrees to view Madeleine from a distance while she and Elster dine together in a restaurant. One look at her, of course, and he is smitten.

In the course of his investigation Scottie learns that Madeleine appears possessed by the spirit of one Carlotta Valdes, a celebrated character from 19th century San Francisco who killed herself and who is Madeleine’s great-grandmother – though she herself is unaware of the fact.

When Scottie saves her from drowning after she throws herself into San Francisco Bay, he shows his hand and an affair of sorts does begin. But what he can’t do – the vertigo, remember? – is rescue her when she jumps from a church tower. Ah, but that isn’t the end of it, not by a long way.

Fast forward again and what is young shop assistant Judy Barton to make of Scottie’s attentions, his invitation to dinner and his insistence she dye her hair platinum blonde?