The great movie scenes: Hitchcock's Vertigo

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What makes a film a classic? In a new monthly column, film scholar Bruce Isaacs looks at a single sequence from a classic film and analyses its brilliance.

He starts here with Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958) - recently voted the greatest film ever made in a Sight & Sound poll.

In this fabulously stylised scene, set at Ernie's restaurant, Scottie (James Stewart) lays eyes on the enigmatic Madeleine (Kim Novak) for the first time.

Bruce Isaacs, Senior Lecturer in Film Studies, University of Sydney

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.