STARRING James Stewart and Kim Novak with Barbara Bel Geddes
Vertigo (dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1958; dir. 2 hours 8 minutes), starring James Stewart and Kim Novak.
The success of director Henri-Georges Clouzot’s 1955 film Les Diaboliques introduced Hitchcock to the French crime fiction writing team of Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac: Vertigo is his profound re-imagining of their novel D’Entre les Morts [literally: From Amongst the Dead], in which detection operates on multiple levels – physical, psychological, historical. It is “one of the two or three best films Hitchcock ever made,” wrote critic Roger Ebert in 1996, “dealing directly with the themes that controlled his art. It is about how Hitchcock used, feared and tried to control women. He is represented by Scottie (James Stewart), a man with physical and mental weaknesses (back problems, fear of heights), who falls obsessively in love with the image of a woman …. When he cannot have her, he finds another woman and tries to mold her, dress her, train her, change her makeup and her hair, until she looks like the woman he desires.” The result is a uniquely poignant and unforgettable film.
DURATION: 2 hours 8 minutes
📽️ Doors open 5.30, for drinks, nibbles & classic cocktails.
📽️ Films start 6.30 with a brief introduction from the curators.
📽️ Entry is free with a yearly ticket, although we suggest a small donation of £5 per person to help keep the lights on. Yearly tickets can be purchased on the door (£7.50 adult / £6.00 concessions).
📽️ If you buy tickets and are subsequently unable to attend, please let us know as soon as possible so that we can give your seat(s) to someone else.