Reviews

One of the greatest films ever made! Everything is perfect: the story, the setting, the direction, the acting, and the cinematography! It even has one of the greatest quotes ever written (it was supposedly written by Orson Welles himself): "Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock. So long Holly." With a quote like that how can it be bad?

This film is one of the greatest I have ever seen. It depicts some events in the life of Antoine Doinel, a young French boy who gets into a lot of trouble no matter what he does. This was the first film by Francois Truffaut, and I believe that it is filmed with such an innocence that you can really feel some of the emotions that Antoine feels. I love the simple style of this film, and I think it adds to its charm. The story is can even be painful to watch as one sees all of the things that happen to Antoine. I think that the reason for the strong emotions embedded in this film is that it is semi-autobiographical. I think the cinema is what rescued Truffaut from a life like his protagonist.In short, an inspiration to all filmmakers-they DEFINITELY don't make them like this anymore!

How can I begin to describe how much I truly adore this film? To me there is no there story that expresses the intense emotional desires depicted here. I believe that Jimmy Stewart truly outdid himself here-an even greater performance than his portrayal of Jefferson Smith. The metamorphosis Scottie undergoes is the highest emotional arc of a character I have ever witnessed. Kim Novak's inexperience and nervousness led to her stiff portrayal of Madeline. A truly brilliant script that has no real equal. I believe that Hitchcock truly revealed more of himself here than in any of his other work. North By Northwest, Psycho, and Notorious are all great movies-but I find that they will never match up to the masterpiece that is VERTIGO.