Alfred Hitchcock’s VERTIGO ‘Classics in the Loop’ Series at The Tivoli March 16th

” One final thing I have to do… and then I’ll be free of the past.”

Classics on the Loop at The Tivoli happens Mondays at 4 pm and 7 pm This week, March 16th is Alfred Hitchcock’s VERTIGO (1958)!.Admission is just $7.The Tivoli is located at 6350 Delmar Blvd, St. Louis, MO 63130. A Facebook invite for the screening can be found HERE

Let’s state this right from the top: VERTIGO is one of the greatest films ever made. It’s not simply hyperbole that notables such as Leonard Maltin and Martin Scorsese have called the film Hitchcock’s masterpiece. To paraphrase Scorsese, rarely have we seen the complexity of a man’s thoughts and feelings portrayed so beautifully and compellingly onscreen. Everything in VERTIGO – from the costumes to the location scenery to the performances of its lead actors is quite simply, perfect. Hitchcock had long wanted to film a story in the City by the Bay, and with the French novel FROM AMONG THE DEAD, he had the framework for his most personal and revealing film. The San Francisco backdrops contribute greatly to the overall dreamlike quality of much of the film, with the Spanish architecture, redwood forests, and of course, the Golden Gate. The plot of VERTIGO is famously convoluted, but suffice to say that Hitch had yet another morally ambiguous lead character in Scottie (the always solid Jimmy Stewart, here playing against his all-American every guy type), and a plethora of dualities in almost every character – and then some. Madeleine (the wonderful Kim Novak) is not really Madeleine, but Judy. And Midge (Barbara Bel Geddes) wants to be Madeleine, but paints a portrait of herself as Carlotta. The old college buddy is really a calculating murderer. Hitchcock uses paintings, reflections, mirrors, and shadows to show us these dual personas constantly throughout the film.

Here’s the rest of the Classics in the Loop lineup: 

March 23            THE WIZARD OF OZ  

March 30            BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S

 April 6                 STEAMBOAT BILL JR.  

April 13               CASABLANCA