[deleted]

It never dragged for me, the film is one of Hitchcock's best.

A good movie can't ever be too long, and this one gets better each time I see it.

I guess it depends on what engages or entertains the particular viewer. Vertigo will seem "slow" to contemporary viewers, but it came from a time when filmmakers tended to be more patient in developing plot and character. When I watch "Roman Holiday" now, I am struck by how patient and careful Wyler was, because it does take some time for that film to get going.

As for Vertigo, I have to say that I have always considered the film's structure to be something like a whirlpool (and I'm sure it's not just that I have a vivid imagination - watch the opening credits with all the spirals). Think how a whirlpool works. at the outer edges it goes slowly in wide circles, but as you get towards the center it speeds up considerably until the object in question is sucked right in. Vertigo takes its time in drawing the viewer in, but in the last 20 minutes you feel a speed up in the action.

After Judy informs the audience in a flashback that she, in fact, is the woman Scottie fell in love with, that she took part in Elster's' plot to murder his wife, etc., I was on tenterhooks just wondering how this was going to turn out, what was Scottie doing in transforming this woman, was Judy going to demean herself to win him, what would happen if Scottie found out the truth, etc.

Now that I know the plot, I marvel at the artistry of the film, the music, Hitchcock's use of color and lighting, the brilliant acting. I think Novak's job is underappreciated. It is said she must play two roles. Actually I think she is playing three: she is Madeleine and she is Judy, but what we should realize is that Judy is also a false persona (okay, maybe that's just my take on it). There is also the REAL Judy. She comes out in brief flashes, when she is playing Madeleine and urges Scottie to let her go into the mission alone and at the very end when she is struggling with Scottie to prevent from being dragged up to the tower and, just before she falls as she pleads with him to just love her.

Too long! And not a single explosion! No taglines! No closeups of smart phones with texts on the screen! How the hell did people ever watch stuff like this?