EDITOR'S NOTE: You may have heard that Kim Novak, costar of Vertigo, took out an ad in Variety protesting the use of Bernard Herrmann's Vertigo score in Michel Hazanavicius’s modern silent film The Artist. "I WANT TO REPORT A RAPE," the headline blared. "I FEEL AS IF MY BODY—OR, AT LEAST MY BODY OF WORK—HAS BEEN VIOLATED BY THE MOVIE, “THE ARTIST," Novak wrote, and went on to decry the “USE AND ABUSE [OF] FAMOUS PIECES OF WORK TO GAIN ATTENTION AND APPLAUSE FOR OTHER THAN WHAT THEY WERE INTENDED.” Novak's word choice was unfortunate — more than one person, including yours truly, said that was akin to somebody sitting through the Star Wars prequels and witlessly declaring, "George Lucas raped my childhood."
Press Play contributor and film editor Kevin Lee followed this Novak/Lucas line of thought to its logical — or illogical — end. Just for the hell of it, he matched the Vertigo cue used in The Artist with the last three minutes of the Death Star battle in Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope, uploaded it, and sent the link to several Press Play contributors to get their reactions.
And it's here that things got interesting: rather than generate cheap laughs at the expense of Novak, Lucas, The Artist or Star Wars, the mash-up inspired delight. Simply put: Kevin's experiment confirmed that Bernard Herrmann's Vertigo score is so passionate and powerful that it can elevate an already good scene — and a familiar one at that — to a higher plane of expression. Score one for the master of film scoring!
We encouraged Kevin to put the same piece of music under a bit from Star Wars: Episode I, The Phantom Menace and the training sequences from Rocky and Rocky IV. Same result: The scenes seemed deeper, subtler and more haunting, solely because of Herrmann's music.
Kevin joked that these clips had been "Vertigoed" — a reference to the low-budget "Swedeing" of Hollywood movies in the cult classic Be Kind, Rewind. The term stuck, and inspired us to declare a Press Play "Vertigoed" contest.
THE RULES:
1. Take the same Herrmann cue — "Scene D'Amour," used in this memorable moment from Vertigo — and match it with a clip from any film. (You can nick the three-minute section from one of Kevin's mash-ups if it makes things easier.) Is there any clip, no matter how silly, nonsensical, goofy or foul, that the score to Vertigo can't ennoble? Let's find out!
2. Although you can use any portion of "Scene D'Amour" as your soundtrack, the movie clip that you pair it with cannot have ANY edits; it must play straight through over the Herrmann music. This is an exercise in juxtaposition and timing. If you slice and dice the film clip to make things "work," it's cheating. MONTAGES WILL BE DISQUALIFIED.
3. Upload the result to YouTube, Vimeo, blipTV or wherever, email the link to pressplayvideoblog@gmail.com along with your name, and we'll add your mash-up to this Index page.
The Press Play Vertigoed contest ends at 5 PM Eastern time on FRIDAY, JANUARY 20. No mash-ups posted after that time will be considered. Press Play staff will choose a winner over the weekend and award a $50 Amazon gift certificate. The pairing that our judges decide is most imaginative and altogether satisfying will win the prize. The victor will be announced Monday, January 23.
Now get Verti-going!
–Matt Zoller Seitz
1. STAR WARS: EPISODE I – THE PHANTOM MENACE by Kevin B. Lee
2. ROCKY by Kevin B. Lee
3. ROCKY 4 by Kevin B. Lee
4. THE GREAT DICTATOR by Jonathan Amerikaner
6. BONNIE AND CLYDE by James Grebmops
7. STRAW DOGS by James Grebmops
8. AKIRA by Greg Stevens
9. VAMPIRE'S KISS by Jake Isgar
10. THEY LIVE by Chris Mastellone
11. INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS by Brandon Brown
12. GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO by Miguel Martinez
13. OLDBOY by Steven Santos
14. SWINGTIME by Rocco Sardoni
15. THE JETSONS by Rocco Sardoni
16. Mädchen in Uniform by Matthew Cheney
17. WALL-E by Donka Aleksandrova
18. Edward Dmytryk's THE SNIPER by Catherine Grant
19. NIGHT MOVES by John Levy
20. BLOODSPORT by Andre Khazar
21. INDIANA JONES AND THE RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK by Brad Hansen
22. BADLANDS by Emma Phelps
23. FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF by Hugh Lilly
24. THE BIG LEBOWSKI by Will Woolf
25. EASY RIDER by James Grebmops
26. 127 HOURS by Jason Bellamy
27. DESTINATION INNER SPACE by R.Q. Dale
28. Martin Arnold's ALONE. LIFE WASTES ANDY HARDY by Hoi Lun Law
29. BRAVEHEART by Michael Pollard
30. MINORITY REPORT by Cole Smith
31. TOP GUN by De Maltese Valk
32 THE ROOM by De Maltese Valk
33. HAROLD & KUMAR ESCAPE FROM GUANTANAMO BAY by Lynn Guest
34. HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HOLLOWS, PART 2 by Rob Cooper
35. THE THIN RED LINE by Cole Smith
36. TROLL 2 by Gustavo Costa
37. DEEP IMPACT by Richard Bellamy
38. ANIMAL HOUSE by Chip Midnight
39. ZOOLANDER by Athena Stamos
40. HANGOVER 2 by Richard Haridy
41. BLACK SWAN by Jason Bellamy
42. THE RIGHT STUFF BY Matt Rosen
43. AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON by Bri Frazier
44. GOD TOLD ME TO by John Keefer
45. GUMMO BY David Jenkins
46. JEANNE DIELMAN by David Jenkins
47. WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER by Brandon Nowalk
48. PEE-WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE by Emmy Serviss
49. THE LION KING by Brandon Nowalk
50. LITTLE DARLINGS by Tanya Goldman
51. THE NOTEBOOK by Tanya Goldman
52. ED WOOD by Justin Smith
53. TOY STORY 3 by Bri Frazier
54. MEAN GIRLS by Kate Aldworth
55. BOOGIE NIGHTS by Jonathan Pacheco
56. HEAT by Jim Gabriel
57. STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN by Jake Isgar
58. MEAN STREETS by Anthony Vitello
59. Fritz Lang's METROPOLIS by Guy Handelman
60. TRADING PLACES by Peter Scully
61. SECONDS by Matt Maul
62. TOY STORY 2 by Jason Haggstrom
63. MELANCHOLIA by Maximilien Proctor
64. BLADE RUNNER by Dan Seagraves
65. SILENCE OF THE LAMBS by Brittany Carter
66. SPEED RACER by Jim Gabriel
67. THE WIRE by Jason Mittell
68. PSYCHO by Matt Cheney
69. MY VIDEO FOR BRIONA (viral video) by Joseph Carson
70. VERTIGO by Matt Rosen
71. EL TOPO by Maximilien Proctor
72. DON'T LOOK NOW by Maximilien Proctor
73. DRIVE by Maximilien Proctor
74. MATILDA by Barrak Sitty
75. PLAYTIME by David Blaylock
76. THE 400 BLOWS by David Blaylock
77. CHILDREN OF MEN by Matt House
78. E.T. by Chris McCullah
79. 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS & 2 DAYS by Matt Rosen
80. A PERFECT WORLD by Ethan Murphy
81. OUT OF SIGHT by P.J. Rodriguez
82. OLD SCHOOL by Colleen Koestner
83. RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES by Steven Boone
84. FREDDY GOT FINGERED by Dan Seagraves
85. TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT DAY by Dan Seagraves
86. OBSESSION by Brandon Brown
87. Hannibal by Arnzilla
88. SEVEN by Sasha Stone
89. NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN by Sasha Stone
90. JACKASS NUMBER TWO by Kevin B. Lee
91. PAN'S LABYRINTH SCENE 1 by Alex Mekos
92. PAN'S LABYRINTH SCENE 2 by Alex Mekos
93. EVANGELION 2.22 by Larson Yellowhair
94. KISS MY DEADLY by P.J. Rodriguez
95. TOY STORY 2 by David Blaylock
96. NORTH BY NORTHWEST by David Blaylock
97. THE FIVE OBSTRUCTIONS by David Blaylock
98. VINTAGE DODGE CAR COMMERCIAL by Jeremy Butler
Press Play Video Blog 
Can't get enough of the FERRIS BUELLER, BASTERDS, JETSONS, AMERICAN WEREWOLF, and MEAN GIRLS entries.
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Wow…7K views on the Zoolander one! And well deserved, it's the best one by far.
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I love ALIEN by William D'Annucci. I've watched his mashup three times. What's really impressive is I think about it at various times of the day. Way to go.
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I'd say either TROLL 2 or INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS. One is hilarious, the other is perfect.
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I'm pulling for Alien. Eerily beautiful.. The last scene becomes a tragic and heroic ballet.
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I second the ALIEN piece. To turn a horror/action climax into something sad and almost romantic brings home the point of how just altering one element of a movie can dramatically alter it.
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So much good stuff. I like how my pal Bill D'Annucci's ALIEN/VERTIGO blend makes it seems as though Ripley thought she had left her murderous lover behind, and is forced to finally destroy him through a musical haze of the passion they'd known.
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Old news. Swap these two soundtracks: The 'trench' scenes from "Star Wars: A New Hope" with the 'trench' scene from "633 Squadron". It's a perfect fit. I experimented with this over 20 years ago.
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Nobody did A PLACE IN THE SUN yet?
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Akira is my favorite so far. and i wont mention Wall-e, because they stole my idea D:< (before i could even think of it, no less!)
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Brilliant idea.
My favorite thing about this whole Novak/Vertigo/Artist kerfluffle is that this Hermann theme is an unbelievably obvious "rape" of the very famous love theme from Wagner's Tristan & Isolde. So. Whatever.
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Just added a clarifying sentence: "The pairing that our judges decide is most imaginative and altogether satisfying will win the prize." Hope that helps.
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What is the contest? The piece in which the music best fits the scene, or worst fits the scene? i.e. "Is there any clip, no matter how silly, nonsensical, goofy or foul, that the score to Vertigo can't ennoble? Let's find out!" It's not very clear what you are looking for.
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The German captions are a great touch. Together with the music they bring out a flavor I hadn't noticed before in the very familiar Death Star sequence. May have to re-watch the film with German audio just to see if that effect works throughout.
Thanks kevin!
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I think Novak's feelings deserve respect. To call the use of Herman's score ârapeâ is certainly a poor choice of words, but I see no reason to make fun of her. She has a point and while we have gotten used to a culture of remix and reappropriation, she obviously did not. Herman did write the score for a specific use, and for a much worthier film. I can see why she gets upset. Of course Herman himself âstoleâ quite a lot from Wagner (Tristan und Isolde, Parsifal) for his Vertigo-score…
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kim novak is jut an old and angry lady
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