(E) The Stanford Theatre on University Avenue is presenting a Spring film festival about the “Master of Suspense” Alfred Hitchcock from April 9th to June 9th. I went to see last weekend, “Vertigo“, and this weekend, “To Catch a Thief“.

I enjoyed discovering San Francisco, and its surroundings in the late 50s in Vertigo. Surprisingly besides the lack of traffic, the City has not changed much. The Golden Gate was there, the fog was there, the Legion of Honor was there, the Mission San Francisco de Asís was there, the steep hills were there, the narrow streets and the small downtown were there, a few luxurious apartment complexes, but not too many, were there.

But the movie took me by surprise with the performance of Kim Novak that I did not know. The metamorphose of Ms. Novak from Judy Barton to Madeleine Elster felt to me like the center of the story. There is a before and an after with a line that is clearly defined. And, James Stewart as John “Scottie” Ferguson does not know how to forget about Judy and his past, and live in the present with Madeleine.

The story of “Vertigo” is much more tragic than “To Catch a Thief”. But while the themes of the stories are quite different, the characters and the locations of both movies have different perspectives which in some extend could be correlated (or more exactly negatively correlated).

The lack of strength of Scottie Ferguson is in sharp contrast with the confidence and wisdom of Cary Grant as John Robie, “The Cat”. And, while both Judy Barton and Madeleine Elster’s vulnerabilities are in their softness quite touching, Grace Kelly as Frances Stevens is moving, without a second thought, toward her goals, and achieving them just at the end of the movie.

The closeness of San Francisco and the authenticity of Mission San Juan Bautista seem to have shaped the romance of James Stewart with Kim Novak, while the elegance of Grace Kelly resonates with the beauty of the French Riviera landscapes and its “arrière-pays” which is both the perfect retreat and nest for an elegant ex-thief Cary Grant.

How incredible it would have been to live in the “arrière pays” of Nice and Monaco in the 50s and 60s?

Note: The picture above is a scene from the movie in the apartment in San Francisco of Scottie Ferguson.

Copyright © 2005-2024 by Serge-Paul Carrasco. All rights reserved.
Contact Us: asvinsider at gmail dot com.