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“Criminals are a superstitious, cowardly lot. So, my disguise must be able to strike terror into their hearts.” — Bruce Wayne, “Origin,” Detective Comics #33, November 1939

There is a beautiful moment during the climax of Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins when a small boy, just saved from doom by our spectacularly revised and revivified superhero, turns to his companion and says, “I told you he would come.”

Defiantly corny and old fashioned in the midst of a smart, hip movie, the moment resonates with the whole world of superhero codes and conventions, with all previous incarnations of Batman, and with his successors throughout the 20th century. This is a movie made by people who care about movies, and who care more about Bob Kane’s original Batman creation than they do about how previous films have portrayed him — in some cases, betrayed him. Long before the moment occurred, I knew I was watching an authentic rarity,  (more…)

“Too late. It’s too late, there’s no bringing her back.”

- Scottie Ferguson

Vertigo (1958)

running time: 2 hr., 7 m. / original studio: Paramount Pictures

produced & directed by Alfred Hitchcock; screenplay by Alec Coppel & Samuel Taylor, from novel D’Entre les Morts by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac; director of photography, Robert Burks; edited by George Tomasini; music by Bernard Herrmann

with: James Stewart (Scottie), Kim Novak (Madeleine/Judy), Barbara Bel Geddes (Midge), Tom Helmore (Gavin Elster)

If ever there was a movie that illustrated the unpredictable whims of art and commerce, it is Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo. When first released in the summer of 1958, during the most productive and profitable era of Hitchcock’s career, Vertigo was a box-office disappointment, considered by audiences and critics alike to be nothing more than an unsatisfying curiosity from a popular entertainer. But as film studies blossomed in the sixties and Hitchcock’s image began to change, Vertigo accumulated recognition from many different quarters around the world, gaining in stature until it is now regarded as one of the greatest films ever made, a hypnotic masterpiece of uncomfortable insight and disturbing beauty. (more…)