Yes, Hitchcock has seen better days. The parts preceding the train ride creak and the origin of the not-very-good-at-all play comes through all too often. This was the year that saw "Old Dark House" and "Night of the Crossroads. Whale was aiming at humor and succeeded brilliantly and Renoir's film was visually stunning. For that matter "The Bat Whispers" showed Roland West's penchant for odd angles, eye-popping miniature sets plus a wide screen back in 1930, no less! In these films the plots, motives and characters weren't clear at all but who cares? When watching a film like "North By Northwest" I don't remember why things happened, nor do I care at all. "Vertigo" is another example of this. It's the telling that counts. True, there were all the expressionistic shadows and all but Hitchcock DID spend time in Germany during the expressionist binge so this was familiar to him. The train sequence alone makes this quite worthwhile. I'd agree with Francois Truffaut on that one.
Curtis Stotlar
Curtis Stotlar