(SOLVED) Is Vertigo Colorized?

Judy is introduced wearing Madeleine’s green—and with a green florist’s vehicle parked at the curb behind her. But when she tries to assert her own identity (I.e., not Madeleine), she chooses a lavender outfit. A bold and distinctive (if somewhat garish) statement of her selfhood, it fits Judy’s slightly trashy personality perfectly. Near the climax of Scottie’s nightmare, his disembodied head floats amid flashing colours of green and purple; he hasn’t met Judy yet, the one who will remind him so strongly of Madeleine, but his dream seems to be a portent of his confusion between them: green, purple, Madeleine, Judy… When (in a radical departure from the structure of the source story) Hitchcock tips his hand and explains the mystery to us, but not to Scottie, two thirds of the way into the movie, it’s through Judy—who’s wearing the green associated with Madeleine. (edited by Eric Nelson from Laixi, China on September 12, 2020) [2]

The protagonist decides to meet the request of his friend, Gavin, who asks him to follow his wife because she is obsessed with her past. Madeleine, Gavin’s, is surrounded by green, probably the colourr that remains most impressed in the memory of the viewer. The protagonist drives a green car and, while visiting a cemetery, the screen is dominated by green, enveloping the scene in a dreamlike atmosphere. The woman proves to be a victim of strange obsessions: she identifies herself with the grandmother Carlotta who, abandoned by her daughter’s lover, committed suicide at twenty-six, the same age as Madeleine. From the minute 2:30 onwards, the green controls all images related to death. (a massive thank you goes to Lucy Madsen for their most recent revision). [3]

After despairing that the original soundtrack was lost, Harris and Katz discovered that Paramount still had the original orchestral recordings of Bernard Herrmann’s haunting musical score. But even this discovery came with complications: The Hollywood Musicians Guild targeted “Vertigo”in a 1958 strike, so the first two-thirds of the score was recorded in stereo in England. Then the British musicians decided to sympathize with their Hollywood counterparts, so the remaining third was recorded in mono in Vienna. Still, Harris says, the quality was high enough that listeners probably wouldn’t notice the difference once the’s having score had been processed through modern audio equipment. (many thanks to Jeaninne Waggoner from Lianyungang, China for their insight). [4]

For example, Jimmy Stewart’s character, Scottie Ferguson, is represented by red ‐ his clothing, the furniture that surrounds him, the door to his apartment ‐ while Madeline, the object of his obsession, is represented by the hue directly opposite red on the colourr wheel, green ‐ her dress the first time we see her, her car, the sea she plunges into causing Scottie to rescue her and initiate their relationship. As these two characters come together and grow closer, so too do their colours co-mingle. After Madeline’s suicide attempt, Scottie takes her to his apartment, where amidst all his cherrywood furniture he dons a green sweater, taking her colourr as she has taken his heart. When she awakens, he hands her a red robe to put on, thus taking possession of her, metaphorically, by dressing her in his colourr. And this is really just the tip of the iceberg. (we really thank Reggie Guillory for their revision). [5]