Bernard Herrmann’s spiralling score is a perfect match for Hitchcock’s portrait of a man teetering on the edge of emotional instability. John ‘Scotty’ Ferguson (James Stewart) is a retired cop turned private detective hired to follow his old friend’s errant wife Madeleine (Kim Novak); he then unwittingly falls in love with her and is devastated when she commits suicide. On meeting an identical woman, and racked with guilt for not having been able to help Madeleine (due to his vertigo), Scotty becomes obsessed and tries to change his new acquaintance into the woman he loved. The film is screening from a new digital restoration.
PG • 1958 • 128 mins • Director: Alfred Hitchcock • Cast: James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes, Tom Helmore