Kim Novak

Kiss Me, Stupid
$14.98
This is a REALLY funny movie, from the very beginning! Kim Novak is awesome, as usual, and Ray Walston is absolutely hilarious! Seems a little ahead of it's time, a surprising twist, totally enjoyable!

Kim Novak on Camera
$24.87
This is a book worthy of it's subject. While the major focus is on Kim Novak's films, there is plenty of well researched biographical information as well. This book offers much more than the usual listing of films and reprints of old reviews --- the author made it a point to view each of Miss Novak's films and he discusses them in great detail, exploring the different way she approached every role. The book has the ring of truth due to Kleno's keen eye for spotting (and shunning) the kind of phony quotes and false rumors that mar so many celebrity books. At the same time, he does not ignore the areas of conflict and controversey in her personal life that at times negatively impacted her career, and her life. Of particular value are the interviews Kleno conducted with Novak's co-workers, which provide welcome illumination about this reclusive actress. Larry Kleno's painstaking research and thoughtful analysis has produced a book which is essential to anyone interested in the work of Kim Novak. PUBLISHERS TAKE NOTE: In view of the recent restoration and re-release of Vertigo (including it's inclusion in the AFI's top 100 list), isn't it time for a publisher to issue a reprint of this fine book?

Strangers When We Meet
$14.94
Based on Evan Hunter's bestselling novel, STRANGERS WHEN WE MEET (Richard Quine, 1960) is a fascinating romantic drama, very indicative of the conservative period in which it was made, yet still fresh and vibrant in it's depiction of a pair of married lovebirds whose affair is doomed from the start...

Successful architect Larry Coe (Kirk Douglas) and housewife Maggie Gault (Kim Novak) meet during the daily ritual of dropping their kids at the bus-stop. Larry is married to Eve (Barbara Rush), a woman who'd rather Larry drop his principals and design for money, not artistic freedom. Maggie married "the first nice guy that came along" and has since enjoyed occasional meaningless flings during her husband's various business trips. Together, they find a rare kind of love. But how long will it be before their happiness is halted--by the discovery of a loved one, or the cry of a conscience?

STRANGERS WHEN WE MEET no doubt raised more than a few eyebrows in it's day, with many comparing it to "Peyton Place" in it's themes of peeking through tidy middle-class curtains to discover the debauched lifestyles playing behind. It's really much more than that. I've always felt that it shares a closer kinship to the Douglas Sirk melodramas, most specifically "All That Heaven Allows". Though essentially a morality tale, Douglas and Novak add a great deal of sympathy and strength to their characters. We feel for both these people, because even though they are committing adultery on their partners, we believe their own love-bond is stronger and more valid than their respective married unions.


Another reviewer has pointed out the similarity between Kim Novak's character in this movie and her most famous role, Madeleine Elster, in "Vertigo". Both share the same haunted, elusive quality. We never really feel that we know her. It's one of the many reasons why I count Novak among my all-time favourite actresses. It's always a pleasure to see Ms Novak work her magic on the screen.

Director Richard Quine always loved working with Kim Novak, and had previously guided her through 1954's "Pushover" (her official movie debut) and "Bell, Book and Candle" in 1958; reuniting with her again for the underrated comedy gem "The Notorious Landlady" two years after this film. STRANGERS WHEN WE MEET also features familiar Quine faces Ernie Kovacs ("Bell, Book and Candle", "It Happened to Jane") and Paul Picerni ("Operation Mad Ball").

Also keep your eyes peeled for talented Broadway actress Helen Gallagher playing neighbour Betty Anders, and former Disney moppet Roberta 'Jymme' Shore as the babysitter. An overlooked masterpiece.

Vertigo (Collector's Edition)
$19.98
Hitchcock's "Vertigo" (1958) is said by some to be his most personal film. "Vertigo" is about a San Francisco detective, John "Scottie" Ferguson (James Stewart) who has acrophobia (vertigo). He is hired as a private detective, after having retired from police work, by Gavin Elster (Tom Helmore) in order to follow his wife, Madeleine Elster (Kim Novak), who is delusional. The weakest part of the film is in this early going after the dramatic opening chase sequence as we get scene after monotonous scene of Scottie following Madeleine. But once Scottie sees Madeleine jump into the water, in the famous scene below the Golden Gate Bridge, the film picks up appreciably as Scottie begins to develop a romantic relationship with Madeleine. From this point on he is by her side guarding her from any other suicidal attempts. There is a haunting scene at Muir Woods National Monument, among the coastal redwoods, where it appears she has slipped away from Scottie, but she is merely resting against the back side of a tree. The forest acts like a metaphor for the labyrinth of loss, and confusion, as no matter what Scottie does it seems he is unable to save her from the inevitable. Eventually it does happen. Madeleine gets ahead of him at the Mission at San Juan Bautista. He realizes his mistake, and chases her up the tower, but he is too late to help as his vertigo prevents him from catching up to her, and he sees her fall from the roof top.

This is only the beginning, however, as Scottie's guilt pesters him, and he begins to see Madeleine whenever he sees a blond. This is Scottie's hell on earth as his obsession takes over and he circles back to the same moment, again and again. He seems to be losing his mind, and is eventually confined to a sanitarium. Though after a visit from his friend Majorie (Babara Bel Geddes), where we see him in an unresponsive, catatonic state, he miraculously is next seen walking about as if nothing had happened. I hate to point out flaws in such a highly esteemed film, but this seems like one that is hard to ignore. Never the less, once Scottie is out of the sanitarium, this film builds unrelentingly in suspense, as he eventually finds a girl who looks like Madeleine. We wonder if he has totally lost his mind, and is only seeing what he wants to see.

The vertigo that Scottie experiences, which is repeated in various circular motifs throughout the film, from spiral stairways, to the circular form of Madeleine's hair style, seems to be pointing Scottie down a vortex of confusion, as his life gets ever more lost in a madness that he can't seem to control. Hitchcock employs many ingenious devices to convey Scottie's plunge into insanity, from dream sequences, to scenes that spiral about him. In one brilliant scene Scottie and Judy are embracing in a room that spirals about them to reveal them now in a horse stall, and then again in the room, with the background turning to a brilliant, hypnotic blue. It is scenes like this, and the hypnotic pacing, as the film progressively speeds up, that reveal this movie to be the masterpiece that it is. In the last half of the movie we see why Hitchcock is the master of suspense. The film builds to a feverish pitch as Scottie's passion, and obsession, seem to be overriding his reason, as he apparently becomes as insane as Madeleine had become. Like an infectious disease that he can't cure Scottie spirals ever more out of control.

As a footnote, this film has been remastered. The original film was badly faded, and has been greatly improved through modern techniques. In October 1996, the restored "Vertigo" premiered for the first time in DTS, and 70mm, which is a format similar in frame size to the VistaVision system that the film was originally shot in. The one caveat though is that Foley's sound effects were totally re-recorded. Harris and Katz sometimes also added extra sounds, and it is said that the new mix puts too much emphasis on the film score by Bernard Hermann over the sound effects. For one wanting to hear the original mono track it is available as an option in the 2005 Hitchcock Masterpiece Collection DVD set.