In 2012 Sight & Sound magazine named Alfred
Hitchcock’s “Vertigo” as the greatest film ever made. I though, no, “Strangers
on a Train” is better, even just for Hitchcock. Then I re-watched this
detective tale again and just got fully sucked in. I was hit with instant
amnesia as I watched Saint Jimmy Stewart as cop John “Scottie” Ferguson near
fall to his death catching a suspect, quit the force in fear, and then fall,
romantically so, for the likely mentally unstable and suicidal wife (Kim Novak)
of a college pal (Tom Helmore). The case has Scottie following the woman
through San Francisco out to an ancient forest and then a monastery. It ends
badly. One hour to go. It’s gorgeously shot and paced, and carried by hits of
failed rom-com for Scotttie, sexual tension, and the absolute best film score
ever made, courtesy Bernard Herrmann. But what struck me this viewing: Watch
the film, pause in awe, and then re-play it your mind from the viewpoint of
Novak’s eyes, and witness every damn single scene explode in a new, thrilling
light that swoons and slashes. This indeed is Hitchcock’s greatest film, the mind fuck
supreme. Fall for it again. A+
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