Uno, Dos, Tres, Catorce: Brief Thoughts on Vertigo

Thanks to the Music Box Theater's 70mm Film Festival, I saw Hitchcock's Vertigo for the first time this afternoon.

• Vertigo's appearance in this series is something of a misnomer as it wasn't shot in 70mm but rather VistaVision, and was restored and converted into 70mm in 1996.  This probably matters more to film wonks than it does to me.
• 70mm supposedly adds more clarity and depth to the picture than 35mm; the depth of field in Vertigo is certainly impressive but I don't know if I would especially notice it otherwise.  What's most notable to me is how warm the colors are on the analog images.
• Cursory googling suggests that the Music Box seats 800 and the showing was nearly full, which was a pleasant surprise (the wait to buy tickets excepted).
• I preferred the spunky Barbara Bel Geddes to Kim Novak so I guess I'm crazy or something.
• For some reason, I missed the Hitchcock cameo.  Fail.
• Jimmy Stewart's obsessive behavior towards the end was curiously treated as laugh lines by a good portion of the audience.  This part of the film does dip a bit into melodrama, and I'd imagine that one or two Lifetime movies have borrowed Vertigo's plot.  Nonetheless, I couldn't help but think of Matt Zoller Seitz' recent article about modern audiences at a showing of From Russia With Love.
• I haven't seen a Hitchcock movie in several years so I can't say how it places amongst his filmography, but I enjoyed it.
• I'm not sure if it's at Greatest Film of All Time status either, though I prefer it to the technically proficient but mostly lifeless Citizen Kane, for what it's worth.
• Something something male gaze; something something feminist film theory.