First of all,
We all have different tastes in movies. When I say "Godfather is #2" it goes without saying that I am giving MY opinion based on MY tastes and preferences.
Vertigo -- a trite and boring film -- to near the very top of many "best film" lists.
Wtf? You're mad. And wrong. Vertigo is the fourth greatest film ever put to screen.
The way you phrase this, without naming your #1, #2, #3 films, makes me wonder if you're referencing a slightly "authoritative" list which ranks it #4. I Googled just now trying to recall the specific list and this turned up:
Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo has replaced Orson Welles's Citizen Kane at the top of a poll that sets out to name one film "the greatest of all time".
The British Film Institute's Sight and Sound magazine polls a selected panel once a decade and Citizen Kane has been its top pick for the last 50 years. This time 846 distributors, critics and academics championed Vertigo, about a retired cop with a fear of heights.
To support my claim that
Vertigo is VASTLY over-rated, let's compare TWO Hitchcock-directed films, each about a man who wants to murder his wife, with the crime eventually solved by a detective. (For brevity I will write "Milland" to denote the character portrayed by Ray Milland, and so on.)
In
Dial M for Murder Milland designs a clever approach to murder his wife, Kelly. In
Vertigo the "perfect murder" plan makes no sense. It relies on Stewart NEVER seeing the husband at the critical time, NEVER getting a glimpse of the corpse, NEVER seeing Novak after the murder, and so on. Even with his disability, these "Nevers" could NOT be relied on. For example, it is most likely that a real-life Stewart would have stayed around to talk to investigators, and would have caught a glimpse of the corpse and seen that it was not Novak.
In
Dial M for Murder the clever London detective solves the crime, tests his theory, explains all this to us. The movie ends with that detective proudly twirling his moustache.
Vertigo's crime is solved only when Stewart chances upon Novak by coincidence. (And that scene is unrealistic; Stewart KNEW she was Novak, or an identical twin.)
It makes zero sense. The whole reason for Stewart's involvement at all was to have a "witness" saying the wife had fallen to her death. But this "witness" had no idea what the wife looked like, and never viewed the corpse whose circumstance he was attesting to? Nonsensical!
The story in
Dial M for Murder is interesting, partly because it is somewhat intricate.
Vertigo -- What story? Man wants to kill his wife. He pushes her off the top of a building, after wasting GREAT effort -- it's almost all the whole movie is about -- setting up his old buddy Stewart in a nonsensical witnessing scenario.
Dial M for Murder has interesting scenes that contribute to the crime and its detection. Milland has a long conversation with an old college chum, coercing that guy into committing the murder.
Vertigo? A typical scene is Stewart and Novak staring at the ocean. We stare at them wondering when one or both will get wet. Whippeee!
Dial M for Murder doesn't even appear oni some "Top 10 Hitchcock Films" lists, while
Vertigo is rated #1 by the British Film Institute. This certainly proves that opinions differ!!
I am BAFFLED by
Vertigo's high ranking. (It may be sexist for me to admit that some actresses are beautiful, but I do wonder if Kim Novak's photogenicity contributes to the high regard for this film.)