Vertigo Screening Report:
1. During
the late 1940’s, there was a period in Hollywood where studios were having
problems trying to get people to see their films. In addition, U.S. monopoly
laws caused studios to sell their theatres and jobs that involved producing,
distribution and exhibition were eradicated as well. Along with additional laws
being added to Hollywood, television was becoming more popular amongst the
general public, even though it did not make the full transition to color until
1964. In 1962, the low box office numbers, which was the lowest box office year
in film history, resulted in studios laying off workers and studios were forced
to adapt new technology such as 3D, Cinerama and cinemascope. Furthermore, The
House on Un-American Activities Committee began investigating actors, producers
and writers for any connection to communist activity. If someone was caught
they were blacklisted and banned from Hollywood. Dorothy Comingmore, who played
Susan Kane in Orson Welles’ “Citizen Kane”, was among the actors blacklisted in
1951.
2. The
article entitled “The Big Idea Behind Vertigo” talks about the Alec Coppel and
Samuel Taylor’s inspiration for adapting French writers Pierre Boileau and
Thomas Narcejac’s bestselling book “The Woman Who Was No More.” A French
director named Henri-Georges Clouzot filmed the book previously; however, the
film rights were later purchased by Paramount for Hitchcock in 1955. After
acquiring the rights Hitchcock enlisted close friends Maxwell Anderson and
Angus MacPhail to pen a first draft of the script. However, Anderson’s script
did not measure up to Hitchcock’s standards and MacPhail “bowed out” of
development. Eventually Hitchcock landed Alec Coppel to re-write the script and
Hitchcock “loved” his first draft; but scenes needed to be re-written for
chemistry purposes. Therefore, Hitchcock brought on a new writer named Samuel
Taylor to pen the new scenes. After the final draft of the script was done,
Taylor wanted to take full credit for writing the film but the Screen Writers
Guild awarded both writers credit for the screenplay. Principal photography
began on the film in August 1957.
3. The
article mainly talked about the Hitchcock’s inspiration for the film and why he
always had this film at the top of his to-do list. It mentions how Paramount
acquired the rights before the original first film was even translated to
English. In addition, it goes into depth about the divide between both
screenwriters and their relationship moving forward.
4. Overall,
the film was solid and the actors did a great job portraying their characters.
In my opinion the film started off strong but it fell flat as it went on. The
story seemed to be all over the place, which probably attributes to the two
screenwriters different perspectives on the story. I did not like the way James
Stewart’s character turned out in the end of the film; because, in the
beginning, even though he had a mental deficiency he came off as a very strong
willed individual but towards the end he came off as very obsessive and
unstable. I personally do not like when films leave the protagonist in limbo
and leave you thinking that there could have been a better resolution. However,
the score was my favorite part of the film and it made it even more suspenseful
and thrilling.
CHECKLIST
FOR PLAGIARISM
1) (X) I have not handed in this assignment for any other
class.
2) (X) If I reused any information from other papers I have written
for other classes, I clearly explain that in the paper.
3) (X) If I used any
passages word for word, I put quotations around those words, or used
indentation and citation within the text.
4) (X) I have not padded the
bibliography. I have used all sources cited in the bibliography in the text of
the paper.
5) (X) I have cited in the bibliography only the pages I
personally read.
6) (X) I have used direct quotations only in cases where it
could not be stated in another way. I cited the source within the paper and in
the bibliography.
7) (X) I did not so over-use direct quotations that the
paper lacks interpretation or originality.
8) (X) I checked yes on steps 1-7
and therefore have been fully transparent about the research and ideas used in
my paper.
Name: Wayne Clark
Date: 4/6/14
No comments:
Post a Comment