Alfred Hitchcock’s VERTIGO Midnights at the Tivoli This Weekend

All great movies must be seen at least twice to understand how great they are. That is true in spades for Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 thriller VERTIGO. The story is smart the first time through but it’s brilliant the second time through. Just last year, Sight and Sound named VERTIGO in it’s ‘Critics’ Top 10 Greatest Films of All Time’ list, clocking in at an astonishing number 1! That was a huge surprise (heck, it only came in #8 in our ‘Top Ten Tuesday – The Best of Alfred Hitchcock’ article published in March of 2012 – read the complete article HERE) but lucky St. Louisans will have the chance to reassess (or experience for the first time) VERTIGO when it plays on the big screen at the Tivoli midnights this weekend as part of their ‘Reel Late at the Tivoli’ series.

Alfred Hitchcock and James Stewart reunited after the success of REAR WINDOW to make VERTIGO and it would be their last collaboration together. VERTIGO is a genuinely great movie, classic and haunting, that focuses on John ‘Scottie’ Ferguson, a San Francisco ex-detective (James Stewart) suffering from acrophobia (fear the heights) as he is contracted to shadow an old chum’s beautiful blonde wife Madeleine Elster (Kim Novak). He quickly becomes dangerously obsessed with her, leading to tragic drama and a series of fateful events.

The story is typical Hitchcock fare, an issue of fake identity and treason that embroils a man in suicide and murder. Hitch had one of most charming actors in of all Hollywood with James Stewart and the marvelous Kim Novak is at her best. There’s good secondary work from Barbara Bed Geddes as Scottie’s eternal girlfriend and Henry Jones as a curious judge. Samuel Taylor’s intense screenplay, from the novel ¨From Among the Dead¨ by Pierre Boileau , colorful cinematography in dreamlike style by Hitch regular Robert Burks, a lush San Fransisco backdrop, outstanding set and production design by Henry Bumstead, and a thrilling musical score by Bernard Herrmann help make VERTIGO one of Hitchcock’s most stylish and discussed films.

I hope VERTIGO attracts good attendance this weekend. The midnight audience is, and always has been, a mostly 18-25 demographic. More recent fare like MEAN GIRLS and SPICE WORLD (!?!) have packed them in in recent weeks, understandable since those are movies these viewers grew up with, but VERTIGO is the type of indispensable classic that will make them better appreciate films from their parents, and grandparents, era.

The Tivoli’s located at 6350 Delmar Blvd., University City, MO.

Admission is a mere $8!

The Tivoli’s website can be found HERE

http://www.landmarktheatres.com/market/st.louis/tivolitheatre.htm

And here’s the ‘Reel Late at the Tivoli’  midnight line-up for the next few weeks:

Sept. 6-7             HOME ALONE

Sept. 13-14         FIGHT CLUB

Sept. 20-21         BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S

Sept. 27-28         SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD      With live shadow cast!

Oct. 4-5                PSYCHO

Oct. 11-12            DONNIE DARKO (original version)