No self-respecting cinephile should miss the opportunity to see Vertigo, Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece, on the big screen. One of most closely studied and carefully parsed works in film history, Vertigo is hypnotic and dreamlike in its rhythms, rich in visual symbolism and ironic dialogue. The film tells a convoluted story of obsessive love involving a vertigo-afflicted former San Francisco police detective (James Stewart) and a haunted, apparently suicidal beauty (Kim Novak) entrusted to his care. Hitchcock, who preferred to share information with his audience while denying it to his characters, perversely solves the central mystery well before the film’s climax. Far from diminishing our interest, however, this daring gambit effects a key shift in identification from the tortured, still-sympathetic Stewart to the cruelly manipulated Novak. Other Hitchcock films may offer more immediate pleasures, but Vertigo deepens and reveals more with every repeat viewing. With Barbara Bel Geddes as Jeff’s pal, both dependably funny in her whip-smart observations and heartbreaking in her clearly unrequited love, and lush, entrancing music by composer Bernard Herrmann.

To attend both the film screening and post-screening discussion, please purchase a ticket for the Thursday 1:00 PM screening. Discussions are offered exclusively at this Thursday matinee.

This presentation is part of the film & lectures series Getting Hitched in partnership with St. Louis Oasis. Thursday matinees for six of the films: Blackmail, The 39 Steps, Shadow of a Doubt, Notorious, Rear Window, and Vertigo. will be followed by a discussion of 30 minutes led by Cliff Froehlich, retired executive director of Cinema St. Louis and former film critic for The Riverfront Times.