Vertigo

Detective John “Scottie” Ferguson is terrified of heights after watching one of his fellow officers fall to their death. This does not stop Scottie’s old friend Gavin Elster from asking Scottie to investigate his wife, Madeline, who has been behaving strangely. Scottie agrees and as his investigation continues, he develops a powerful attraction to Madeline that becomes more personal than professional. Vertigo is a story about psychological obsession and how it can drive people to do bizarrely immoral things. Vertigo also deconstructs the idea of how men view women and themselves to reveal how warped men’s perception can become.

Production

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

Produced by Alfred Hitchcock

Screenplay by Alec Coppel, Samuel Taylor

Based on D'entre les Morts by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac

Starring James Stewart, Kim Novack, Barbara Bel Geddes, Tom Helmore, Henry Jones

Music by Bernard Hermann

Cinematography by Robert Burkes

Edited by George Tomasini

Production companies: Alfred J. Hitchcock Productions

Distribution & Stats

Distributed by Paramount Pictures

Release date: May 9, 1958

Running time: 128 minutes

Country: United States

Language: English

Budget: $2.5 million

Box office: $7.3 million