The Coronado Island Film Festival is rolling right through summer with their next classic film, “Vertigo” by Alfred Hitchcock, screening Aug. 30 at the Village Theatre.
As part of their monthly Classic Film series, August will venture into the weird and wondrous world of the great Alfred Hitchcock, who was also known for his films “Psycho” and “North by Northwest”.
“Vertigo” follows James Stewart, who plays a retired police detective, who left the force after an unfortunate incident in the line of duty that left him emotionally scarred, with a fear of heights and a serious case of vertigo (a sensation of whirling and loss of balance).
He is coaxed back into service by an old acquaintance played by Tom Helmore, who recruits him to follow his wife, played by Kim Novak, claiming she is mentally unstable and has been acting strangely. Barbara Bel Geddes also stars in the movie. And it’s always fun to watch for Hitch himself as he photo bombs one of his own scenes, as he does in every one of his films.
Shot by Academy Award-winning cinematographer Robert Burks, a favorite of Hitchcock’s, on locations in San Francisco, Big Basin Redwoods State Park and in Hollywood at Paramount Studios.
It is now considered a masterpiece, and some say Hitchcock’s finest film. It has remained one of his most controversial and widely discussed films, one that purposely and unapologetically leads us on a psychological wild goose chase and keeps the audience confused until the end.
Very Hitchcock of him.
Critics have interpreted “Vertigo” variously as “a tale of male aggression and visual control; “a map of female Oedipal trajectory; “a deconstruction of the male construction of femininity and of masculinity itself;” “a stripping bare of the mechanisms of directorial, Hollywood studio and colonial oppression;” and “a place where textural meanings play out in an infinite regress of self-reflexivity.”
A lot of big words, but who doesn’t love a movie that makes you discuss heavily after its done over dinner and drinks?
Tickets are $15 and are on sale now at coronadofilmfest.com, or at the CIFF table at the door, if available, on the night of the screening. Early arrival at the theatre is highly recommended for best seat selection.
CIFF is hosting the 8th annual 5-day Coronado Island Film Festival Nov. 8 -12. Badges and tickets are on sale now at coronadofilmfest.com.
