It was pretty awesome to get to see this at the Castro. I should've known, I think, that this was filmed in San Francisco, but I didn't. I guess that made me enjoy it even more, since I was watching it at my favorite place in the whole city.
Hitchcock fuckin' knew how to make movies. It's as simple as that. And this one is probably about as perfect as they get.
My five favorite things:
1. The opening shot, with the extreme closeup of the ladder rung, the city all blurry behind it, and then the fairly quick pull out until it's just a small part of the overall shot, and then the criminal guy, the least important person in the whole movie, is the first guy we see.
2. The animation in the dream sequence. It surprised me, but it was beautiful.
3. The opening credits. I didn't get to watch the whole of 'em, but what I did see was astonishing. Possibly the best title sequence ever. No joke.
4. Midge literally painting herself into the position of object of desire, since no way would James Stewart ever actually do that himself. This was all really transparent Freudian stuff, but done so well that all you can do is just applaud it.
5. The whole introductory sequence of Madeline/Carlotta. That should be studied in school the way they make you study the Odyssey.
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