Hot and steamy’s not the kind of weather you typically associate with the east coast of Scotland, but that’s what it was like this afternoon as I headed along Perth Road to Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA) to see Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Vertigo’ in a new 4K print released to mark the film’s 60^th anniversary.

‘Vertigo’ is kicking off a mini-season tribute to director Alfred Hitchcock here at DCA, and the other films look just as enticing as today’s offering.

It was good to get into the auditorium and out of the sultry afternoon heat.

The recent heatwave of sunshine and clear skies came to an abrupt halt yesterday, with grey blankets of cloud appearing just in time to ruin everyone’s chances of seeing the blood moon last night.

We’re now into a phase of torrential downpours, gusty winds and intermittent calmer spells of clinging mugginess.

Good weather for sitting in a cinema.

The film’s opening sequence is visually arresting. It starts with extreme close-ups of an eye before going into whirling animation and then returning to the close-up of the eye, an effective means of establishing the film’s intense and obsessive atmosphere.

What follows is an utterly absorbing and brilliantly edgy relationship between John ‘Scottie’ Ferguson (James Stewart) and Madeleine Ester / Judy Barton (Kim Novak), set against a beguiling San Francisco backdrop.

Kim Novak’s performance is wonderful – her character coming across as strong, troubled, and down-to-earth yet distant; a complex and intriguing individual.

James Stewart’s character is not as deeply layered, but still captivating, particularly as his mental stability starts to fray and his eyes assume a glittery madness.

Much of the power of this great film comes from the superb score by Bernard Herrmann.

Some lengthy scenes feature no dialogue at all, and in these scenes it is the subtly ominous music that conjures a mood of impending doom.

The abrupt emotional jolt at the end of ‘Vertigo’ sent me out of DCA slightly reeling.

Outside the weather had completely changed from when I got here.

Gone was the heat and humidity, replaced by cool and breezy conditions.

Walking back along Perth Road I admired the spectacular vistas that can be glimpsed down towards the Tay, the river churned by the wind and looking purple grey in the early evening sunlight.

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