Hitchcock Week...and more...at the San Francisco Symphony

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVX-wczSvLpB0a9Gsuto9lXfJ38szFDfx6FUbKAeoWOMXZNtfjNcQlKsNa2TcqdSyrJ2nzX3sstbfCS1lTJ4y5tAXdu0fPW7azbr_9AwVaOPnnecvVvczFqymK1sTrkXwZVJ_W1HhVCuc/s1600/psycho.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVX-wczSvLpB0a9Gsuto9lXfJ38szFDfx6FUbKAeoWOMXZNtfjNcQlKsNa2TcqdSyrJ2nzX3sstbfCS1lTJ4y5tAXdu0fPW7azbr_9AwVaOPnnecvVvczFqymK1sTrkXwZVJ_W1HhVCuc/s400/psycho.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Just over two years ago I attended – and was astounded by - “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Casablanca</i> with the San Francisco Symphony” at Davies Hall. Conductor Michael Francis led the orchestra in accompanying the beyond-iconic classic with Max Steiner’s unforgettable score. What an experience it was (<a href="http://eves-reel-life.blogspot.com/2011/07/casablanca-with-san-francisco-symphony.html"><span style="color: #cc0000;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">click here</span></span></a> for my reaction)...</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Now the symphony is about to present a Halloween season series, <b>Hitchcock Week</b>, spotlighting several of the Master’s films with live musical accompaniment. The <span class="st"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">pièce</i></span><i>de résistance</i><i><span style="font-style: normal;"> will be “World Premiere: </span></i><i>Vertigo</i><i><span style="font-style: normal;">” on Friday, November 1, with the symphony accompanying Hitchcock’s great masterpiece with Bernard Herrmann’s brilliant, haunting and, some would say, peerless score.</span></i> </span><br /><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Bay Area film lovers, get thee to a box office, online or otherwise! Hitchcock Week is about to begin…<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Wednesday, October 30, 8pm, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Psycho</i></b>, with Joshua Gersen conducting Herrmann’s legendary score<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Thursday, October 31, 7:30pm, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog</i></b>, live organ music will accompany Hitchcock’s early silent thriller on Halloween night </span><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpvVQAs_cYsBf2DoSIBAuEdLXgwqu55s0RN1LSGCmmalRlo-8MlogbNlUV1oN7FfCyAJLslAyS7DXNqhCFTJ7_n6l6rePCyH0FOPAebR8HrsdlZ5I_LnDt91C9UwmO4GgCpK2P5JCpMl4/s1600/vertigo2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpvVQAs_cYsBf2DoSIBAuEdLXgwqu55s0RN1LSGCmmalRlo-8MlogbNlUV1oN7FfCyAJLslAyS7DXNqhCFTJ7_n6l6rePCyH0FOPAebR8HrsdlZ5I_LnDt91C9UwmO4GgCpK2P5JCpMl4/s400/vertigo2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Kim Novak and James Stewart, </span><i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Vertigo </span></i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">(1958)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Friday, November 1, 8pm, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Vertigo </i></b><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">-</i></span> <i>Vertigo </i>accompanied by the San Francisco Symphony…what more is there to say?<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Saturday, November 2, 8pm, Hitchcock! Greatest Hits</b>, clips from several Hitchcock classics – <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">To Catch a Thief, Strangers on a Train, Dial M for Murder, North by Northwest</i> – to be hosted by Eva Marie Saint, with Joshua Gersen conducting</span><br /><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdeqmiCwtJZxnDukC9UFY-DtbtdZSWKuX0AsOziij6YKZvD_IGcWQxH7zZyd38YNyKPjigyiQ5zxtPXaFSo9H5ZXPBCSsSmnu86M7aJkT2AvWVKfvmw6MN_744yC5F720hF9IV-h9HDTc/s1600/NxNW.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="347" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdeqmiCwtJZxnDukC9UFY-DtbtdZSWKuX0AsOziij6YKZvD_IGcWQxH7zZyd38YNyKPjigyiQ5zxtPXaFSo9H5ZXPBCSsSmnu86M7aJkT2AvWVKfvmw6MN_744yC5F720hF9IV-h9HDTc/s400/NxNW.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint in <i>North by Northwest </i>(1959)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The symphony has scheduled more classic films with orchestral accompaniment through the rest of its 2013/2014 season:<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Friday and Saturday, December 6 and 7, 7:30pm, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Singin’ in the Rain</i> </b></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Saturday, February 15, 8pm, A Night at the Oscars </b>will feature celebrated scenes and scores from memorable films<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Saturday, April 12, 8pm, Charlie Chaplin's <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">City Lights</i> </b></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Saturday, May 31 at 8pm and Sunday, June 1 at 4pm, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Fantasia</i></b> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">A “Compose Your Own Film Series” package offers savings to those who buy tickets to three or more of these film concerts: <a href="http://www.sfsymphony.org/Buy-Tickets/Calendar.aspx"><span style="color: #cc0000;">Click here</span></a> to go to the symphony website or call (415)864-6000.</span><br /><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix3vnW-q7jVEyRNX9kgQQ107VC1DTbYE1Lmqyx1W-JOp6ag73bSMT36AFmooLCYVYF9TAnUMKSlgQtdMGp0ZC3qDpltZMk4tN2al8uubTKwVuF57Xz49XHcw0dwnKpGEooAgB2apQmR-A/s1600/Fantasia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEix3vnW-q7jVEyRNX9kgQQ107VC1DTbYE1Lmqyx1W-JOp6ag73bSMT36AFmooLCYVYF9TAnUMKSlgQtdMGp0ZC3qDpltZMk4tN2al8uubTKwVuF57Xz49XHcw0dwnKpGEooAgB2apQmR-A/s400/Fantasia.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Fantasia </span></i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">(1940)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br />

Alfred Hitchcock Psycho San Francisco Symphony The Lady Eve (author) The Lodger Vertigo Hitchcock Week...and more...at the San Francisco Symphony

Just over two years ago I attended – and was astounded by - “Casablanca with the San Francisco Symphony” at Davies Hall. Conductor Michael Francis led the orchestra in accompanying the beyond-iconic classic with Max Steiner’s unforgettable score. Wha…

Read more »

A TV Tour of Hitchcock Film Locations and Edna May Wonacott's First On-Camera Interview

<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixyWr3N6_7k5-q1-lePLVwrjLNEKrnp5WKupFtyDZBL-GGyUi78GTBotWuue0iIvxmUTHkzoJnTLNUks16z0TKGySpMM2FdCPKPKpTl7enz8G6TvEGT_AsP9KRbG8jJHjfHrtQhuxdOgff/s1600/bodega+school+house+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixyWr3N6_7k5-q1-lePLVwrjLNEKrnp5WKupFtyDZBL-GGyUi78GTBotWuue0iIvxmUTHkzoJnTLNUks16z0TKGySpMM2FdCPKPKpTl7enz8G6TvEGT_AsP9KRbG8jJHjfHrtQhuxdOgff/s400/bodega+school+house+2.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bodega School House</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span style="font-size: small;"><in 2012="" i="" may=""><i>Eye on the Bay</i>, a feature of KPIX, CBS’s San Francisco TV outlet, was recently on the trail of director Alfred Hitchcock, traveling around the Bay Area to take an up-close look at locations used in his films. The 20-minute piece, <i>Hitchcock Step-By-Step</i>, focuses on sites featured in <i>Shadow of a Doubt </i>(1943), <i>The Birds </i>(1963) and <i>Vertigo </i>(1958). Aaron Leventhal, co-author of the definitive Hitchcock-in-the-Bay-Area guidebook, <i>Footsteps in the Fog</i>, discusses the director’s work in the region, providing fascinating production background as well as information on many locations. Hitchcock’s granddaughter, Tere Carruba, talks about her grandfather from a personal point of view and <a href="http://eves-reel-life.blogspot.com/2011/08/akaann-newton-of-shadow-of-doubt.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #cc0000;">Edna May Wonacott</span></a>, the last surviving featured cast member of <i>Shadow of a Doubt</i>, speaks on television for the first time about how she was chosen for the film and what it was like to work with Alfred Hitchcock.</in></span><br /><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><in 2012="" i="" may="">Clips from each movie accompany location visits. <i>Eye on the Bay</i> host Brian Hackney, a Hitchcock fan, guides the tour. </in></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><u>Note</u>: A brief (15 sec.) commercial spot opens each segment. Closing spots at the end of segments can easily be skipped.</span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1p2b1hZ64G1TzKVN4oercdU8JK-995LbEAfRBiBdBPv3XfS4GdQICc4Qp_1PTO23Kk6v0xnmx3XU0tMC93ZtXVsQ38eUM_i3y1lU1LWqgqO3UHQdrQsrTB2x2fQdw80YGt8Ed5W0aZGki/s1600/old+courthouse+square.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1p2b1hZ64G1TzKVN4oercdU8JK-995LbEAfRBiBdBPv3XfS4GdQICc4Qp_1PTO23Kk6v0xnmx3XU0tMC93ZtXVsQ38eUM_i3y1lU1LWqgqO3UHQdrQsrTB2x2fQdw80YGt8Ed5W0aZGki/s320/old+courthouse+square.jpg" width="268" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Old Courthouse Square, Santa Rosa</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/video/7314224-eye-on-the-bay-hitchcock-step-by-step-pt-1/" style="color: #cc0000;" target="_blank">Click here</a> to view Part 1. An 8-minute segment with a tour of Santa Rosa locations for <i>Shadow of a Doubt </i>and an interview with Edna May Wonacott Green ("Ann Newton"), now living in Arizona. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div style="text-align: right;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/video/7314281-eye-on-the-bay-hitchcock-step-by-step-pt-2/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #cc0000;">Click here</span></a> to view Part 2, a 5-minute segment shot in Bodega Bay, where <i>The Birds</i> was filmed in 1962. The Hitchcock production has had a lasting effect on the small Bay Area town; it’s estimated that 10,000 tourists come each year specifically to visit locations featured in <i>The Birds</i>.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/video/7314313-eye-on-the-bay-hitchcock-step-by-step-pt-3/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #cc0000;">Click here</span></a><b> </b>to view Part 3, a 5-minute segment that spotlights sites seen in <a href="http://eves-reel-life.blogspot.com/p/month-of-vertigo-schedule-of-bloggers.html" target="_blank"><i style="color: #cc0000;">Vertigo</i></a>. This tour takes us from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Mission at San Juan Batista and many locations in between.</span><br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/video/7314373-eye-on-the-bay-hitchcock-step-by-step-pt-4/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #cc0000;">Click here</span></a> for Part 4. Just over 1-1/2 minutes long, it references <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rebecca </i>(1940) and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Marnie </i>(1964) and ventures to the estate Hitchcock purchased in Scotts Valley while shooting location footage for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Rebecca</i>, his first American film. It was Hitchcock’s much beloved home away from Hollywood.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRAsuLsMVKmf-xCu4RePtdmMyN35igpGmfgq0qpF02lyASwOruIVwdm-HdcLs75F0BfPYTx_WoF6aC0b_D6ppYO4a1cVoUJtPZugm_6ZptHz68xMVhuEXRHcj7csYAN6DJssT9Cr33xvOK/s1600/Edna+and+Hitch+2+resized+small+cropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRAsuLsMVKmf-xCu4RePtdmMyN35igpGmfgq0qpF02lyASwOruIVwdm-HdcLs75F0BfPYTx_WoF6aC0b_D6ppYO4a1cVoUJtPZugm_6ZptHz68xMVhuEXRHcj7csYAN6DJssT9Cr33xvOK/s320/Edna+and+Hitch+2+resized+small+cropped.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Edna May Wonacott on the set with Alfred Hitchcock, 1942</td></tr></tbody></table></div></div>

Aaron Leventhal Alfred Hitchcock Brian Hackney Eye on the Bay Marnie Rebecca Shadow of a Doubt Tere Carruba The Birds Vertigo A TV Tour of Hitchcock Film Locations and Edna May Wonacott's First On-Camera Interview

Bodega School HouseEye on the Bay, a feature of KPIX, CBS’s San Francisco TV outlet, was recently on the trail of director Alfred Hitchcock, traveling around the Bay Area to take an up-close look at locations used in his films. The 20-minute piece, H…

Read more »

Woody Allen, Master of Suspense?

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHdCBaLPwrWstMYKgqVUZM_xuVsHIQNCkQZuYuSLh2zXabu9mcf5iU-E_0abwSR9B0rB_CZOfm9C0L3L4SfDff7c5sCJqvQnVqqS1cykTo8TtWaIo64BiWZTUcSiNcFT6oCGPYqY20pROW/s1600/movie+poster+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="343" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHdCBaLPwrWstMYKgqVUZM_xuVsHIQNCkQZuYuSLh2zXabu9mcf5iU-E_0abwSR9B0rB_CZOfm9C0L3L4SfDff7c5sCJqvQnVqqS1cykTo8TtWaIo64BiWZTUcSiNcFT6oCGPYqY20pROW/s400/movie+poster+1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This post is my contribution to The Best Hitchcock Films Hitchcock Never Made blogathon hosted by Tales of the Easily Distracted and Classic Becky's Brain Food. <a href="http://doriantb.blogspot.com/p/best-hitchcock-movies-that-hitchcock.html" style="color: #cc0000;" target="_blank">Click here</a> for more information and links to participating blogs.</span></span></i><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">~</span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: small;">On the face of it, the only thing Alfred Hitchcock and Woody Allen seem to have in common is the distinction of being aknowledged as preeminent auteurs. As Michael Newton put it in <i>The Guardian</i> earlier this year, </span><span style="font-size: small;">"Along with Alfred Hitchcock, Allen must be the most recognizable director in the history of cinema."</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span><br /><a name='more'></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: small;">Hitchcock, who spent most of his career working within the studio system, developed the habit early on of planning and shooting his films so carefully that they were virtually immune to being re-cut by anyone else. Then, in 1954, he entered into a deal with Paramount that allowed him to work autonomously, provided generous production budgets and gave him ownership of those films he both produced and directed. Allen‘s career as a director took off in the 1970s, just as a new generation of independent-minded filmmakers swept into Hollywood. Almost from the beginning he had a remarkable arrangement with his financiers and distributors: as long as he stayed within budget he would have complete artistic freedom. Hitchcock, who began in the silent era, was influenced by German expressionism and Soviet montage theory and approached film as visual storytelling. Allen began as a writer and, naturally, has relied more on dialogue and use of the long master shot in his films. Hitchcock became synonymous with big movies with high production values while Allen has made films </span><span lang="EN" style="font-size: small;">with an "art house" sensibility and appeal</span><span lang="EN" style="font-size: small;"> on relatively small budgets. </span><br /><br /><span lang="EN" style="font-size: small;">And yet, in 2005 Woody Allen made a film of distinctly “Hitchcockian” elements. <i>Match Point </i>is a sexy thriller about luck and morality set in modern-day London. The film showcases two intensely magnetic stars, Jonathan Rhys Meyers (<i>Bend it Like Beckham</i>, <i>Mission Impossible III</i>, <i style="color: black;">The Tudors</i>) and Scarlett Johansson (<i style="color: black;">Lost in Translation</i>, <i>Iron Man II</i>, <i>The Avengers</i>).</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: small;"> </span> <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ZCcRkBMhllI" width="420"></iframe> </div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">With a little luck it goes forward and you win. Or maybe it doesn't, and you lose...</span></div><br />Chris Wilton (Rhys Meyers) is a former professional tennis player hired by a posh London tennis club as an instructor. There he meets Tom Hewett (<span style="color: black;">Matthew Goode</span><span style="color: red;"></span>), scion of an extremely moneyed British family. The two become friendly and when Tom discovers Chris enjoys opera, he invites him to join his family in their box at the Royal Opera House for a performance of <i style="color: black;">La Traviata</i>. There Chris meets Tom’s parents and his eligible and instantly smitten sister, Chloe (<span style="color: black;">Emily Mortimer</span>); romance blooms. Soon after, Chris meets Nola Rice (Johansson), Tom’s luscious fiancée, an aspiring American actress. While the Hewett progeny are attractive enough physically, their wealth, position and lifestyle of culture and privilege are even more appealing. Chris and Nola are good-looking, charismatic creatures and, much as each knows they are onto a good thing with their respective lovers, sparks fly between them.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT2n2OOyQbXoQjCnWP-juxIsmlGPLNEEJ8hZZxfsC9DdVxZvavvsFSDCp_qXYQ0r20RhyphenhyphenvGOazvLJ5q7vo9BRGOcpQZA9i0peKjDIzf_8GTF7L1nnM-tpGEuG7d7eon3svGLATz_hH4Or5/s1600/Woody+Allen+blonde.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT2n2OOyQbXoQjCnWP-juxIsmlGPLNEEJ8hZZxfsC9DdVxZvavvsFSDCp_qXYQ0r20RhyphenhyphenvGOazvLJ5q7vo9BRGOcpQZA9i0peKjDIzf_8GTF7L1nnM-tpGEuG7d7eon3svGLATz_hH4Or5/s320/Woody+Allen+blonde.jpg" width="298" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Scarlett Johansson as Chris Wilton and Nola Rice</td></tr></tbody></table><br />This Woody Allen-penned, Oscar-nominated story could easily have appealed to Alfred Hitchcock who knew not only the value of a good, well-scripted story, but also made two films about tennis playing protagonists with problematic relationships and status issues who become involved in murder. In <i style="color: black;">Strangers on a Train</i> (1951), competitive tennis player Guy Haines aspires to a loftier position in life and hopes to divorce his small-town floozy wife so he can marry the daughter of a U.S. senator. In <i>Dial M for Murder</i> (1954), retired tennis player Tony Wendice, who has discovered that his wealthy wife has been carrying on a serious love affair, fears he may lose his meal ticket and cushy lifestyle.<br /><br />But before any inkling of murder surfaces in <i>Match Point</i>, Chris, who is headed for marriage to Chloe and a good job with “one of” her father’s companies, develops a fascination with Nola. When, one day, he runs into her on the street, the two end up having drinks together. They talk about themselves and their relationships with Chloe and Tom and the elder Hewetts. Nola remarks that Eleanor, Tom and Chloe’s mother, hates her but that Chris is more fortunate, he’s “being groomed.” </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: small;">Nola: You’re going to do very well for yourself, unless you blow it.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: small;">Chris: And how am I going to blow it?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: small;">Nola: By making a pass at me.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: small;">Chris: What makes you think that’s going to happen?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: small;">Nola: Men always seem to wonder. They think I’d be something very special.</span><br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqHduv9W5vE3va16FHrc2e6KXLo6eRZoR3h7Fm_hnEJ1TSCpENeuqZbX-pSoFqogmbn8Euom_aWidHRSOrFhyphenhyphenOQdQPxxqrQZ6OH0UZVCPNgFqGHXkl2AdSXc6MTJdHZ_Rd302iU8zQExGA/s1600/Chris+and+Nola.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqHduv9W5vE3va16FHrc2e6KXLo6eRZoR3h7Fm_hnEJ1TSCpENeuqZbX-pSoFqogmbn8Euom_aWidHRSOrFhyphenhyphenOQdQPxxqrQZ6OH0UZVCPNgFqGHXkl2AdSXc6MTJdHZ_Rd302iU8zQExGA/s320/Chris+and+Nola.jpg" width="311" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Scarlett Johansson will portray Janet Leigh In "Hitchcock" (2013)</td></tr></tbody></table><span lang="EN" style="font-size: small;">The two laugh, but Chris is powerfully tempted. Scarlett Johansson's Nola Rice begins as an assured, almost taunting beauty confident of her sexual appeal. She isn't quite the Grace Kelly version of the <a href="http://eves-reel-life.blogspot.com/2011/08/hitchcock-blonde.html" style="color: #cc0000;" target="_blank">Hitchcock blonde</a>, but falls somewhere between the worldly hedonism of Ingrid Bergman at the beginning of <i>Notorious</i> (1946) and Kim Novak's subdued sultriness in <i>Vertigo</i> (1958). A blonde who flirts with danger, Nola is Hitchcock's kind of woman.</span><br /><br /><span lang="EN" style="font-size: small;">When fate eventually provides the moment, the two indulge in a frenzy of passion, but Nola warns, "this can't lead anyplace." Chris goes on to marry Chloe and Tom later breaks off with Nola (Tom: "mother poisoned the well"). Chris adapts to life on the corporate fast track, he and Chloe move into a spectacular, glass-encased apartment overlooking the Thames and she is soon fixated on becoming pregnant. The vitality begins to drain from Chris's life. As luck will have it, he and Nola meet again and this time she, who is beginning to lose her self-confidence and show slight signs of wear, is available. A torrid affair begins. As Chris embarks on a double life, the atmosphere quickens with tension. When his romance with Nola hits the wall of reality and she begins to pose a threat, unrelenting suspense mounts until a neatly executed plot twist brings unexpected resolution.</span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/NCNhPLortkk" width="560"></iframe></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The man who said, "I'd rather be lucky than good" saw deeply into life...</span></div><br /><span lang="EN" style="font-size: small;">What helps to create the film's tension and suspense are themes and motifs that echo Hitchcock: </span><br /><ul><li><span lang="EN" style="font-size: small;"><i>The Wrong Man</i> - Occasionally Hitchcock turned this theme on its head and the innocent man accused would be a secondary character rather than the protagonist. This character's sudden death puts an end to further police investigation. The device is employed in both <i>Blackmail </i>(1929) and <i>Shadow of a Doubt</i> (1943)  - it also occurs in <i>Match Point</i>.</span></li><li><span lang="EN" style="font-size: small;"><i>Doubles </i>- A recurrent Hitchcock theme in which two characters seem kindred spirits until their bond is broken. Classic examples are the relationships between Guy Haines and Bruno Anthony in <i>Stangers on a Train </i>and "the two Charlies" in <i>Shadow of a Doubt</i>. Chris and Nola appear to be two of a kind when they meet over a ping pong table. But, as she learns, he plays "a very aggressive game."</span></li><li><span lang="EN" style="font-size: small;"><i>Obsession</i> - <i>Vertigo</i> is a virtual meditation on obsession, but Hitchcock contemplated fascination several times. Young Charlie is enchanted by her Uncle Charlie in <i>Shadow of a Doubt</i>, Bruno is obsessed with Guy in <i>Strangers on a Train</i>, two young men are enthralled with a philosophy in <i>Rope </i>(1948), </span><span lang="EN" style="font-size: small;">in <i>Rear Window</i> (1954) </span><span lang="EN" style="font-size: small;">L.B. Jeffries becomes obsessed with his neighbors' lives and his belief that a murder has been committed.</span></li><li><span lang="EN" style="font-size: small;"><i>The staircase motif</i> is an image Alfred Hitchcock used frequently - famously in <i>Suspicion </i>(1941), <i>Shadow of a Doubt, Notorious, Strangers on a Train, Vertigo </i>and <i>Psycho </i>(1960). Staircases are prominently featured in <i>Match Point.</i></span></li><li><span lang="EN" style="font-size: small;"><i>The dominant mother</i> is another Hitchcock trademark. Mrs. Bates is a powerful unseen presence in <i>Psycho;</i> in <i>Notorious</i>, Mme. Sebastian has all but emasculated her son<i>. </i>Outspoken Eleanor Hewett's disapproval of Nola in <i>Match Point </i>is pivotal.</span></li><li><span lang="EN" style="font-size: small;"><i>Landmarks</i> are common backdrops for important scenes </span><span lang="EN" style="font-size: small;">in Hitchcock films - t</span><span lang="EN" style="font-size: small;">he list is long, from the British Museum in <i>Blackmail</i> forward. <i>Match Point </i>showcases London landmarks including The Tate Modern museum, The Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, the stunning Parliament View Apartments and The Queen's Club. Unlike Allen's treatment of New York in <i>Manhattan </i>(1979), <i>Match Point </i>is no homage to a city, rather, the attractions of London enhance the film's narrative.</span></li></ul><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_9cI720lOtaqflVMPBJ217t6ro2B7ht5inyWq1nbbPzTFLtVhJkFRMBnr_BrV7v3yRtqY4wB-AwRsDFp2jCZkQut_2Ah-4RXR9WkWlfWhP445TrHtYkbzyX42nbv98P_l4fR4zB1bh1tP/s1600/jonathan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_9cI720lOtaqflVMPBJ217t6ro2B7ht5inyWq1nbbPzTFLtVhJkFRMBnr_BrV7v3yRtqY4wB-AwRsDFp2jCZkQut_2Ah-4RXR9WkWlfWhP445TrHtYkbzyX42nbv98P_l4fR4zB1bh1tP/s320/jonathan.jpg" width="215" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jonathan Rhys Meyers</td></tr></tbody></table>As well known for his ability to cast a film as Alfred Hitchcock, Woody Allen has said that his philosophy is to “hire the best actors, shut up and get out of their way.” One of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Match Point</i>’s great strengths is its cast, especially Jonathan Rhys Meyers in the central role. His Chris Wilton subtly and evocatively transforms from a beguiling “boy from Ireland come to London” who would like to do something special with his life, to a remote and preoccupied rising executive with dark secrets on his compliant conscience. Rhys Meyer’s sympathetic introduction along with selective point-of-view camera work engages the viewer; Chris is captivating. By the time he has fallen into desperation and is entangled in murder, we find ourselves complicit and anxious about his fate. Hitchcock managed this trick many times with his proclivity for point-of-view editing and masterful casting. Who could help but identify with Robert Walker’s Bruno Anthony in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Strangers on a Train</i> as he struggles to retrieve a lighter from a drain so that he can plant it as false evidence? Who doesn't share the nervousness of Anthony Perkins’s Norman Bates in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Psycho </i>as he waits for a car to sink after he’s pushed it into a swamp? <br /><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Woody Allen was elated with <i>Match Point </i>and was widely quoted at the time of its release in 2005 that he considered it his best film to date. Everything had come together, he said, and the production had been blessed with luck. Every actor exceeded his expectations, there was no trouble gaining access to desired locations and even the weather cooperated. He reflected that the storyline lent itself to the film medium and he’d been able to take advantage of that, focusing on action as much as dialogue. The movie, best described as a “moral thriller,” was his first successful drama and reinvigorated his career. Allen’s screenplay was nominated for an Oscar and Jonathan Rhys Meyers was awarded the Chopard Trophy at Cannes.</span></span><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQOL6IHJ0NTX2F3qAzyslae25Hj15HoUtQUsU9nrcKarhXkvM-H_-8l2msWJmH3U_wPb3-nbfhnyCy2R5oAOE2pGXgu7g6SbTwdk2Tvscf83K3sp58aqhSJEECyWWAjHFbCJ-VMbF49-QP/s1600/woody+and+his+blonde.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQOL6IHJ0NTX2F3qAzyslae25Hj15HoUtQUsU9nrcKarhXkvM-H_-8l2msWJmH3U_wPb3-nbfhnyCy2R5oAOE2pGXgu7g6SbTwdk2Tvscf83K3sp58aqhSJEECyWWAjHFbCJ-VMbF49-QP/s320/woody+and+his+blonde.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Filming <i>Match Point</i>: Scarlett Johansson and Woody Allen on the set</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">~</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><u><b>Sources</b></u>:</span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>Conversations with Woody Allen</i> by Eric Lax, Knopf (2007)</span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>Woody Allen: cinema's great experimentalist</i> by Michael Newton<i>, The Guardian</i>, January 13, 2012 (quote only)</span></span></div></div>

Alfred Hitchcock Blackmail Dial M for Murder Jonathan Rhys Meyers Match Point Notorious Psycho Scarlett Johansson Shadow of a Doubt Strangers on a Train The Lady Eve (author) Vertigo Woody Allen Woody Allen, Master of Suspense?

This post is my contribution to The Best Hitchcock Films Hitchcock Never Made blogathon hosted by Tales of the Easily Distracted and Classic Becky's Brain Food. Click here for more information and links to participating blogs.~On the face of it, the …

Read more »

Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo" at Oakland's Paramount Theatre

<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhflegAPtn7trGsqJGV6HqGNPd9Fpgx6PgkA2RjvJ0_AGof815O1zqPSTjWFuBgiN1XvmhXvVxj49oN8qU9dLJ2I-92WiNwJl1PntQ2MibaPFrFoua6K37JYZqJmE4Oq85-zkZio-ub0sbw/s1600/paramount+lobby.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhflegAPtn7trGsqJGV6HqGNPd9Fpgx6PgkA2RjvJ0_AGof815O1zqPSTjWFuBgiN1XvmhXvVxj49oN8qU9dLJ2I-92WiNwJl1PntQ2MibaPFrFoua6K37JYZqJmE4Oq85-zkZio-ub0sbw/s1600/paramount+lobby.jpg" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">THE PARAMOUNT THEATRE, AN ART DECO MASTERPIECE</span> </span></div><br /><span style="font-size: small;">Friday night, March 9, Alfred Hitchcock’s <i>Vertigo </i>(1958) will screen at Oakland, California’s spectacular Art Deco movie palace, The Paramount Theatre, as part of its Spring Movie Classic Series. The ticket price is an amazingly low $5.00. And…Movie Classic Night includes a newsreel, cartoons and Jerry Nagano at the Mighty Wurlitzer. Kudos to the sponsors of the series, Vo’s Restaurant (authentic Vietnamese cuisine) and the Pacific Pinball Museum.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF5HfybzrafiAiSYJpinSokZ1pnoJMasQU6HmNWGEKOJdvrY3LGTmPJVoPpWJ2mIT1vngoPZAc9eVQnYc2NSHRk6KwVoqkmhYZIgtKgyWwArvurQ4-t6ohyphenhyphenV19bWh2um-Czc30OmFWHxwT/s1600/Paramount+exterior+night.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF5HfybzrafiAiSYJpinSokZ1pnoJMasQU6HmNWGEKOJdvrY3LGTmPJVoPpWJ2mIT1vngoPZAc9eVQnYc2NSHRk6KwVoqkmhYZIgtKgyWwArvurQ4-t6ohyphenhyphenV19bWh2um-Czc30OmFWHxwT/s400/Paramount+exterior+night.JPG" width="261" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Above, the marquee; at top, the lobby entrance</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span style="font-size: small;">The Paramount is one of two great Art Deco movie theaters remaining in America – the other is Radio City Music Hall. Designed by celebrated San Francisco architect Timothy L. Pflueger (who also designed that city's Castro Theatre), its construction was begun by Publix Theatres, the exhibition arm of Paramount Pictures, during the Great Depression. Financial problems forced the sale of the building-under-construction to Fox-West Coast Theatres who completed the project and opened the Paramount in December 1931.</span><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1-bE-BsvSqMO5oj2lozVhGf_bcSpW9i5DcAa6kmbpFBGPNc1tbxPTx0Qxm_Q0ouOy7iFr4C-j9GbC6rfbPlPYvQhKOjHLtEQii4qBOD16nUEOEX-mwIfBWk-F6lhHD2Gs3RNUYk7jksDI/s1600/paramount+mosaic+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1-bE-BsvSqMO5oj2lozVhGf_bcSpW9i5DcAa6kmbpFBGPNc1tbxPTx0Qxm_Q0ouOy7iFr4C-j9GbC6rfbPlPYvQhKOjHLtEQii4qBOD16nUEOEX-mwIfBWk-F6lhHD2Gs3RNUYk7jksDI/s400/paramount+mosaic+2.jpg" width="266" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mosaic exterior</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGkMNhHcJNSg5QxqeHlkocCufwfzeKjJxNAcqszxipZr-5esyIykfn8uEESrxrXVph2Ecn2X92IyAfgcG614kRx6n6OW4mIIyf8xfLh89ntFVqndfhB-u5fUG5bEq3ZbQppddiBDOuyQAD/s1600/mosaic+detail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGkMNhHcJNSg5QxqeHlkocCufwfzeKjJxNAcqszxipZr-5esyIykfn8uEESrxrXVph2Ecn2X92IyAfgcG614kRx6n6OW4mIIyf8xfLh89ntFVqndfhB-u5fUG5bEq3ZbQppddiBDOuyQAD/s400/mosaic+detail.jpg" width="277" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mosaic detail</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span style="font-size: small;">Though Hollywood studios owned all the major theaters and controlled film distribution completely during the “The Golden Age,” the Depression would bring change and the Paramount would be the last studio-owned movie house built in the U.S.  In its day, with 3,000+ seats, the Paramount boasted the largest auditorium seating on the West Coast. </span><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5V1YoFWGTmYt0UE0IF0wDQQatHi9sRCEh51w_Ggsr-gThY34AAP3luExwgUTSu-cr5rFZvjdqMndX-SRS_jMNCVKBgwKeGu_a1wrlmKqUQ6wW1zvCyjh6TuK2WaHqji4eSGprzsbURDkF/s1600/paramount+stage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5V1YoFWGTmYt0UE0IF0wDQQatHi9sRCEh51w_Ggsr-gThY34AAP3luExwgUTSu-cr5rFZvjdqMndX-SRS_jMNCVKBgwKeGu_a1wrlmKqUQ6wW1zvCyjh6TuK2WaHqji4eSGprzsbURDkF/s400/paramount+stage.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A balcony view of the stage</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;">As with so many of America’s once-grand movie palaces, the Paramount suffered a long period of decline following its glory years - but it was more fortunate than most. In 1972 it was purchased by the Oakland Symphony and given a thorough and authentic restoration that was completed in 1973. In 1975 the City of Oakland assumed ownership and the theater became </span><span style="font-size: small;">a California Registered Historic Landmark in 1976 and </span><span style="font-size: small;">a National Historic Landmark in 1977. Today the Paramount is home to the Oakland East Bay Symphony (formerly the Oakland Symphony) and the Oakland Ballet. The theater is a premiere year-round performing arts facility that hosts concerts of all musical genres (from B.B. King to Leonard Cohen), variety shows, stage productions and movies.</span></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC4DoHq-p1vcai0McSnB_UNCCn_P8UZOhtg9LJmTcXMHS6o_hONN5NkIN9-Xu1CdqWRdLQgd1p-8JAbbrQNKa7yx0eGuGSTt54voIZyqrLHagNsM3RXchikdNExm0Qvh0JhS6MqK9lYQzH/s1600/paramount+lobby+detail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC4DoHq-p1vcai0McSnB_UNCCn_P8UZOhtg9LJmTcXMHS6o_hONN5NkIN9-Xu1CdqWRdLQgd1p-8JAbbrQNKa7yx0eGuGSTt54voIZyqrLHagNsM3RXchikdNExm0Qvh0JhS6MqK9lYQzH/s400/paramount+lobby+detail.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lobby detail</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR98mG_7_wsgiojBa2s6cdVxM-ZZMJMPbIzl4O_Scv5tjn_GPcrG13gjLnhDOcN6jWhLOrJvYQQZJ5fsCZ4JYzm0UAvFSAgkKZoAVuLT_tg8rpvvJX2x0nrxE0XLtY6OFg0QD2hvlbxoD_/s1600/paramount+lounge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhR98mG_7_wsgiojBa2s6cdVxM-ZZMJMPbIzl4O_Scv5tjn_GPcrG13gjLnhDOcN6jWhLOrJvYQQZJ5fsCZ4JYzm0UAvFSAgkKZoAVuLT_tg8rpvvJX2x0nrxE0XLtY6OFg0QD2hvlbxoD_/s400/paramount+lounge.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Theater interior</td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA4QwPOBePX9sCjvHZo_02YQglD-Wkc1e-XfLlR6WKDcJcTaXiSvUlU0IqC5NU7dOLmJ1FVskh6HUDbA4CCDWiwcQMSqcfE2UsrWkAV_Im8AdsrUbsXB-NDr2y-bqtP4ERax2Z6f_7epYD/s1600/oak+para+interior+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="381" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiA4QwPOBePX9sCjvHZo_02YQglD-Wkc1e-XfLlR6WKDcJcTaXiSvUlU0IqC5NU7dOLmJ1FVskh6HUDbA4CCDWiwcQMSqcfE2UsrWkAV_Im8AdsrUbsXB-NDr2y-bqtP4ERax2Z6f_7epYD/s400/oak+para+interior+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Theater interior</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: left;"></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijkylappTWwMDzHc-SK6t-aJtcXfOiReWF2GBR_u7oKvynzPJR6_CzeOVyB468Ad6hNHnTkQxg3nScLHbVmZ1C44SGwCbuWEQ6E-9O4eNTayCxd7qFFefUUjp-J95lSsIRGTBZKWqMf7d_/s1600/oak+para+corner+chair.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="353" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijkylappTWwMDzHc-SK6t-aJtcXfOiReWF2GBR_u7oKvynzPJR6_CzeOVyB468Ad6hNHnTkQxg3nScLHbVmZ1C44SGwCbuWEQ6E-9O4eNTayCxd7qFFefUUjp-J95lSsIRGTBZKWqMf7d_/s400/oak+para+corner+chair.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Theater interior</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: small;">Tours of the Paramount, located in the trendy Uptown district, are scheduled on the first and third Sundays of every month, excluding holidays and holiday weekends. Ticket price: $5. <a href="http://www.paramounttheatre.com/welcome.html" style="color: #cc0000;">Click here</a> for more on what’s happening at Oakland's Paramount Theatre. <a href="http://decoarchitecture.tumblr.com/tagged/paramount+theater" style="color: #cc0000;">Click here</a> for more photos.</span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtKw-h0omNV9WHs4Ity0Sn_GQtWEkjN4AzrJDJy7FicXFcxHcJNLQCPqZwkJo9IWmTySJ26gC6GQq93rX2cesDRRqIiWsU75wNALm9xdXTbQ6ybQkC5Vg_7g1sKSgjdE2KYzRTw64xYbta/s1600/paramount+auditorium+from+stage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtKw-h0omNV9WHs4Ity0Sn_GQtWEkjN4AzrJDJy7FicXFcxHcJNLQCPqZwkJo9IWmTySJ26gC6GQq93rX2cesDRRqIiWsU75wNALm9xdXTbQ6ybQkC5Vg_7g1sKSgjdE2KYzRTw64xYbta/s400/paramount+auditorium+from+stage.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Auditorium view from center stage</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Vertigo </i>is little mentioned in this post, but for those interested in reading about it at length - <a href="http://eves-reel-life.blogspot.com/p/a-month-of-vertigo-bloggers-their-posts.html" style="color: #cc0000;">click here</a>. It goes without saying that The Lady Eve isn't about to miss her chance to see <i>Vertigo</i> at the Paramount…</span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/O888bu0QrMg" width="560"></iframe></div></div>

A Month of Vertigo Alfred Hitchcock The Lady Eve (author) The Paramount Theatre Vertigo Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo" at Oakland's Paramount Theatre

THE PARAMOUNT THEATRE, AN ART DECO MASTERPIECE Friday night, March 9, Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958) will screen at Oakland, California’s spectacular Art Deco movie palace, The Paramount Theatre, as part of its Spring Movie Classic Series. The tic…

Read more »

A Month of "Vertigo," The Final Chapter

<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">by The Lady Eve</span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge6XJQvDzJ_mQUq1AaToFJNSqPGXggVIXddj4xIgJSDv6M2GxhlEXqkEO1Hf0SqeZRkru1hPGKOdZjzz6Vn58KbF5jmKAPVDfqoX6nNy1iSjlXPRmwcDl7Uc3IP66pmwzu4v-VP96YqvR1/s1600/rooftop+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge6XJQvDzJ_mQUq1AaToFJNSqPGXggVIXddj4xIgJSDv6M2GxhlEXqkEO1Hf0SqeZRkru1hPGKOdZjzz6Vn58KbF5jmKAPVDfqoX6nNy1iSjlXPRmwcDl7Uc3IP66pmwzu4v-VP96YqvR1/s1600/rooftop+4.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: small;">It was 1948<i> </i>in post-war France<i> </i>when mystery writers Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac met for the first time at an awards ceremony for the <i>Prix du Roman d'Aventures</i>, a literary award for crime fiction. Narcejac received the prize that year and Boileau had taken the honor ten years earlier; in another two years they would become writing partners. Together the pair forged their own approach to the French mystery novel, placing new emphasis on character and suspense.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Today their work is considered a hybrid of two genres: the traditional whodunit and <i>le roman noir</i> (thriller). <i>Le roman noir </i>of that era was influenced by crime writers like Hammett and novelists of the naturalist school like Emile Zola<i>, </i>but Boileau and Narcejac were more inspired by the likes of Edgar Allen Poe. </span><span style="font-size: small;">What most post-war French crime fiction did have in common was a dark vein of fatalism and, according to Michel Lebrun, another genre writer, Boileau-Narcejac’s work was marked by such persistent gloom that “...the hero, for them, should never wake up from his nightmare.”</span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"></span><br /><a name='more'></a><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div style="text-align: left;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkyyY5jQZia52HQnhPGb_HDu-rohFoK7RABqT1iz-rLw4BMUd8Chy2nwCAZw0x146hajGylYBoZ88ghOxvTPE82RV4S6OCpocBTCGI1rnmTQsnzihxAHf4gFqoLbxPGMMYiERYfrZpGo0j/s1600/les+diaboliques+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkyyY5jQZia52HQnhPGb_HDu-rohFoK7RABqT1iz-rLw4BMUd8Chy2nwCAZw0x146hajGylYBoZ88ghOxvTPE82RV4S6OCpocBTCGI1rnmTQsnzihxAHf4gFqoLbxPGMMYiERYfrZpGo0j/s320/les+diaboliques+3.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Les Diaboliques</i> (1955)</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: small;">Their first novel was not immediately published, but their second, <i>Celle qui n'était plus</i>, was adapted to film by director Henri-Georges Clouzot. Re-titled <i>Les Diaboliques</i> and released in 1955, it became a suspense classic. The writing duo’s next book, <i>D’entre les morts</i> (<i>From Among the Dead</i>), appeared the same year. A moody psychological thriller, it tells the story of former police detective Roger Flavieres who agrees to help shipping magnate Paul Gevigne, a one-time college friend, by keeping an eye on the man's unstable wife Madeleine.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Flavieres is a disaffected loner living in Paris at the outset of World War II. He broods endlessly, roams empty streets at night and listens to war reports on the wireless. He loathes Gevigne, envies him, and soon covets his elegant, morose wife to the point of fixation. Flavieres first meets Madeleine when he rescues her from a leap into the Seine. They form an off-balance alliance; he is bewitched by her and she calls him “my poor friend.” When one day she takes him to a remote church with a high tower and disappears up into the belfry, Flavieres is unable to follow. His detested lifelong acrophobia has paralyzed him on the steps. And then, through a window, he sees Madeleine’s body plummet to the ground. Before he flees the scene he laments, “Poor little Eurydice! She would never come back from the nothingness into which she had plunged.” Flavieres will next vanish into the war and out of the country, telling no one, not even Gevigne, what he has witnessed. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This scenario would be re-envisioned and brought to life on film a few years later:</span></span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/GnpZN2HQ3OQ" width="560"></iframe></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br /><span style="font-size: small;">Paramount Pictures bought the rights to <i>D'entre les morts</i> for Alfred Hitchcock not long after it was published. The film went into production in 1957, a significant point in the director's career.</span><br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2pWZxGpyw4_uZ0mI956sHNyjELjLyS47ju7nCb-slcWb5JaJ45AMwi0T81bnVxOCoENXqgecpU3ybkuKC5UHIG9AvjGvFC8GrjzFTcrrrvCEN0DkNJoYvB7ygkBjm6wNNr7TQ9FQBib7Q/s1600/Dial+M+For+Murder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2pWZxGpyw4_uZ0mI956sHNyjELjLyS47ju7nCb-slcWb5JaJ45AMwi0T81bnVxOCoENXqgecpU3ybkuKC5UHIG9AvjGvFC8GrjzFTcrrrvCEN0DkNJoYvB7ygkBjm6wNNr7TQ9FQBib7Q/s320/Dial+M+For+Murder.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Dial M for Murder </i>(1953)</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: small;">Though<i> </i>Hitchcock's last three films of the 1940s had failed to attract audiences, he began the 1950s with a series of box office successes for Warner Bros. that reestablished his reputation.</span><i> Stage Fright</i> (1950) was respectably popular, <i>Strangers on a Train</i> (1951) was a rousing hit and <i>I Confess</i> (1952) achieved modest success. In 1953, Hitchcock unearthed his muse Grace Kelly and cast her for the first time - in <i>Dial M for Murder</i> (and 3-D). It was very popular. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In 1954 Lew Wasserman brokered a deal between Hitchcock and Paramount that virtually opened the skies<b> </b>for the director. He would be able to work independently, be granted production budgets far more robust than he'd known at Warners, and would own those films he both produced and directed. The films Hitchcock made for Paramount during the '50s comprise an oeuvre within his oeuvre: <i>Rear Window </i>(1954), <i>To Catch a Thief</i> (1955), <i>The Trouble with Harry</i> (1955), <i>The Man Who Knew Too Much</i> (1956) and <i>Vertigo</i> (1958). <i>North by Northwest</i> (1959) is also part of this collection though it was made for MGM.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtAl7QHrcT5-pZCPJxoWZRnk85UVp3YxKvIb75Gi_nZ_W29R7XBsKSpjBIeMlRX1F6srwQOHcx5oz8NXbGw-D-rX3MNCAXYTew0Xt-b5k0o7v6hugchpZM51YKXabW_l-0A4WS9X2XoZ5x/s1600/the+man+who+knew+too+much.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtAl7QHrcT5-pZCPJxoWZRnk85UVp3YxKvIb75Gi_nZ_W29R7XBsKSpjBIeMlRX1F6srwQOHcx5oz8NXbGw-D-rX3MNCAXYTew0Xt-b5k0o7v6hugchpZM51YKXabW_l-0A4WS9X2XoZ5x/s320/the+man+who+knew+too+much.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Man Who Knew Too Much </i>(1956)</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: small;">Granted free rein and big budgets, Hitchcock was able to operate both autonomously and lavishly. He was able to attract top stars as well as handpick his creative and technical team. Involved in most or all of these films were cinematographer Robert Burks, film editor George Tomasini, associate producer Herbert Coleman, </span><span style="font-size: small;">composer Bernard Herrmann</span><span style="font-size: small;"> and </span><span style="font-size: small;">costume designer Edith Head. </span><span style="font-size: small;">On <i>Vertigo</i>, legendary title sequence designer Saul Bass began the first of three collaborations with Hitchcock. </span><span style="font-size: small;">All of the Paramount films were shot in Technicolor and, beginning with <i>To Catch a Thief</i>, all were filmed in the VistaVision wide-screen format. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIqk0Kd1rwOMQeTnwy17L8sHqgLI1Ql2yS5bti5s-t1ZZvDiI529pp2F8Kw9zvKLpz0TnJFB2Ew9aLk_ArUeMy6QZvjx2Ob0KYXhcx_hX9opEKKpScPjoxe_MYTPdZ7XqHntKMX6F_vofS/s1600/hitchcock+with+truffaut.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIqk0Kd1rwOMQeTnwy17L8sHqgLI1Ql2yS5bti5s-t1ZZvDiI529pp2F8Kw9zvKLpz0TnJFB2Ew9aLk_ArUeMy6QZvjx2Ob0KYXhcx_hX9opEKKpScPjoxe_MYTPdZ7XqHntKMX6F_vofS/s320/hitchcock+with+truffaut.jpg" width="246" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alfred Hitchcock and Francois Truffaut</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: small;">There was more. In 1955 <i>Alfred Hitchcock Presents </i>debuted on American television. Hitchcock became a popular TV personality as the series host who opened and closed each episode with dry wit and macabre humor. The series would run until 1962 and help to make him a wealthy man.<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> At the same time, Hitchcock’s reputation as a serious filmmaker was gaining momentum. In the summer of 1956 a month-long Hitchcock retrospective was held at the esteemed <i>Cinemath</i></span><i style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">èque Fran</i></span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">ç</span><span style="font-size: small;"><i style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">aise</i><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> in Paris, and in September the influential French film journal <i>Cahiers du Cin</i></span><i style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">éma</i><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> devoted an entire issue to his work. In France during the 1950s, the cinema of Alfred Hitchcock became a subject of deep and lengthy discussion. Eventually, the French view would make its way around the world.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">And so it was that Alfred Hitchcock embarked on the film adaptation of <i>D'entre les morts </i>just as he arrived at the pinnacle of his career.</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">In 1940 Hitchcock had battled producer David O. Selznick for creative control on the 'picturization' of <i>Rebecca</i>. When he adapted Patricia Highsmith's <i>Strangers on a Train</i> to the screen in 1951 it was under a tight Warner Bros. budget. Regardless of power struggles and financial constraints both films became classics on the strength of Hitchcock's mastery of his medium. By the time he began the film he would christen <i>Vertigo</i>, Hitchcock had reached full maturity as an artist and possessed the resources and the control to conjure a wide-screen Technicolor dreamscape; a very personal expression of timeless themes.</span> </span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;">Familiar motifs surface in <i>Vertigo</i> - voyeurism, the lure of an exquisite blonde, a man wrongly accused. And though its plot is set in motion by a mystery and laced with tension, <i>Vertigo </i>was never intended to be a thriller or tale of suspense. Instead, Hitchcock conceived a meditation on desire and illusion, obsession and loss. Rather than "putting the audience through" nerve-jangling terror, he sweeps the viewer into an emotional tailspin.</span><br /><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-size: small;"> <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Ko9QYkIFezs" width="560"></iframe></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span></span></div></div></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Boileau-Narcejac's well-honed "suspense narrative" would provide the springboard for Hitchcock's imagination...</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh52uVuchgoSD1-DF3AoY095lx65sfahAf8_ijIZ97HKskFhUJLOwMpwF45DRHLsVb-8yUaz40s1Oo8_kqr9ogQWmN_yGlulx9097norqtHDW0yBzd2agEej9blJYI6UoVDH6affVOh5NP-/s1600/Narcejac+Hitch+and+Boileau+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh52uVuchgoSD1-DF3AoY095lx65sfahAf8_ijIZ97HKskFhUJLOwMpwF45DRHLsVb-8yUaz40s1Oo8_kqr9ogQWmN_yGlulx9097norqtHDW0yBzd2agEej9blJYI6UoVDH6affVOh5NP-/s320/Narcejac+Hitch+and+Boileau+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thomas Narcejac, Alfred Hitchcock and Pierre Boileau</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">When Roger Flavieres returned to Paris after the war, he found that Gevigne had been killed in an air raid as he fled the police scrutiny that followed his wife's death. Even Madeleine's grave was blitzkrieged into oblivion. Despondent, Flavieres muses that when Madeleine plunged to her death, he died with her.  Then one day in a movie house he spies a woman in a newsreel who closely resembles her. He manages to locate this woman - Renee Solange, the mistress of a Marseille black marketeer. Flavieres, who has begun drinking steadily and is slowly losing his grip, pursues the woman and despite her denials, tries to bully her into admitting she is Madeleine. He manages to lure Renee away from her lover and then begins making her over in the image of Madeleine. Finally, distraught by Flavieres' incessant badgering, Renee breaks down. She insists she is not Madeleine but confesses she did impersonate her as part of a plot by her lover, Gevigne, to kill his wife for her money. Gevigne had relied on his old friend's well-known acrophobia when he chose Flavieres to be the dupe. But Flavieres had failed to play his part as witness to suicide and the scheme was ruined. Unhinged by her revelation and filled with rage as well as liquor, Flavieres strangles Renee to death. As the police are about to lead him away in handcuffs, he kisses Renee's forehead and whispers that he will wait for her.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span> <br /><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span id="goog_254110101"></span><span id="goog_254110102"></span><span id="goog_254110104"></span><span id="goog_254110105"></span>Keeping the novel's essential elements, its basic structure and plot, themes of obsession and destruction, the vague outlines of its principal characters, Hitchcock would re-imagine <i>D'entre les morts</i>. He would shape from it an allegory of aesthetically and technically meticulous images and sounds and with allusions to ancient myth, Medieval legend, 19th century philosophy and modern psychology. And he would endow Boileau-Narcejac's desolate tale with a romantic heart and an eternal soul.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">In transforming a genre piece into an enduring masterpiece, Hitchcock would also create a fascinating portrait of his own inner landscape; a work of art will always reveal the artist.  At the same time, much of <i>Vertigo</i>'s allure stems from its looking-glass effect upon the viewer. French New Wave icon Jean-Luc Godard, one of Hitchcock's great champions at </span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>Cahiers du Cin</i></span><i style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">éma</i><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">, could have been contemplating <i>Vertigo</i> when he observed, "Art attracts us only by what it reveals of our most secret self."</span></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit9e-Vjttcjz0u3clrMOAFRB_6trWax0atNXziYOeipMDV0zpxgvd5Z8RnpGZ8mApfS4EP2zb-ptOqTMFaMIFW4u6qbJwXGr-389cl7krU0wM7YwfeiTdrMhd-b0dL-0tYg4bjy8VzWnFl/s1600/the+end+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit9e-Vjttcjz0u3clrMOAFRB_6trWax0atNXziYOeipMDV0zpxgvd5Z8RnpGZ8mApfS4EP2zb-ptOqTMFaMIFW4u6qbJwXGr-389cl7krU0wM7YwfeiTdrMhd-b0dL-0tYg4bjy8VzWnFl/s1600/the+end+2.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">  </span></span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">~</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">A Month of VERTIGO</span></span><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> began on January 1 and, over the last month (plus), has featured a series of posts by 12 diverse and talented guest contributors - and me - on the subject of </span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Vertigo</span></span><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">. Individually, we have scrutinized Alfred Hitchcock's great masterwork from nearly every conceivable angle. For a complete list of posts, <a href="http://eves-reel-life.blogspot.com/p/month-of-vertigo-schedule-of-bloggers.html" style="color: #990000;">click here</a>.</span></span></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> </span></span></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">A Month of VERTIGO</span></span><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> has been a success far beyond anything I imagined when the idea first took hold. </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">My deepest gratitude goes out to all who have made it so - from guest bloggers and vloggers to commenters, tweeters, re-tweeters, Facebook friends and those who simply thought it was an interesting concept. A special nod to Dan Auiler whose very fine book, </span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Vertigo: The Making of a Hitchcock Classic</span></span><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">, inspired me to read the English language edition of Boileau-Narcejac's novel (now simply called </span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Vertigo)</span></span><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"> - which led to this blog event.</span></span></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><i>TLE</i></span></span></div>

A Month of Vertigo Alfred Hitchcock Pierre Boileau The Lady Eve (author) Thomas Narcejac Vertigo A Month of "Vertigo," The Final Chapter

by The Lady EveIt was 1948 in post-war France when mystery writers Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac met for the first time at an awards ceremony for the Prix du Roman d'Aventures, a literary award for crime fiction. Narcejac received the prize that…

Read more »

Hitchcock’s Most Beautiful Shot Ever; Or, A Single Frame So Good, 2000 Words Don’t Do It Justice

<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.23324399016222996" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">by guest contributor Joel Gunz </span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeZBpyK9P0sQyZDDBD8rjYleisi7JMz8cxbgrBjXk8xoZIsXur4KhcMiJYpdi7GdL4HIMAon4jrjlxpFiSLGAcFup27rs343j5KPHXJa6S_JuxEP2YIt6_c0n4FqCW8pUOfkYJ81nlKHXp/s1600/Madeleine+by+bay+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeZBpyK9P0sQyZDDBD8rjYleisi7JMz8cxbgrBjXk8xoZIsXur4KhcMiJYpdi7GdL4HIMAon4jrjlxpFiSLGAcFup27rs343j5KPHXJa6S_JuxEP2YIt6_c0n4FqCW8pUOfkYJ81nlKHXp/s1600/Madeleine+by+bay+2.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.23324399016222996" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Practically every frame of every movie Alfred Hitchcock made could be blown up and hung on a museum wall. He had such a clear sense of composition that you can turn off the sound, forget the story and set your DVD player to slo-mo, letting the images parade by.* </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Among the many iconic pictures that his camera has captured, the one pictured above is arguably the most sublime.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.23324399016222996" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Practically everything that happens in the first half of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Vertigo</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> is carefully designed to lead the viewer to Madeleine’s (Kim Novak’s) trip to Fort Point, at the foot of the Golden Gate Bridge. Let’s take a closer look at this single frame from the movie. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span><br /><a name='more'></a><span style="font-size: small;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Self-consciously artful, the shot is as architecturally balanced as the bridge it depicts. The lighting, the colors, the framing, the composition and, of course, the subject matter leave nothing to chance. For instance, the graceful curve of the bridge draws the eye downward to the lone figure standing before us in the frame’s Golden Mean, while its vertical lines accentuate her statuesque femininity. Likewise, the balance between the man-made (the bridge and sidewalk) and the natural (the bay and mountains) seems to be deliberate as well, signifying Madeleine’s entrapment between these two worlds. Such a composition demanded precise camera placement, blocking and timing to capture the right light. That—among other things—seems to be the point. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Vertigo</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> is Hitchcock’s most sustained and deeply felt meditation on the art of film and this shot is its pièce de résistance. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The scene is observed from Scottie Ferguson’s (James Stewart’s) point of view. For two days now, he has been following Madeleine at a discreet distance, gradually moving closer as he becomes emboldened by her apparent obliviousness to his presence. Yet, he is still far enough away that he could plausibly deny having anything to do with her if she was to turn and question him. He is as close to her as any voyeur would dare get. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The difference between this framing and what Scottie would have actually seen, however, is worth noting. In real life, Scottie’s field of vision would have been much higher and wider. But here, that’s been cut off by the edge of the frame. (Conversely, because of our capacity to focus on small details at a distance, the framing could have been much tighter. And, if all Hitch wanted to do was further the story along, he would have used a lens that allowed Madeleine to fill the frame, but that’s not the case, either.) In other words, though we look through Scottie’s eyes, we are seeing what Hitchcock has decided to show us. The interchangeable relationship between Hitchcock’s protagonist and his camera—always a fluid proposition—has never been more apparent—or transparent. We may share Scottie’s eyesight, but we’re granted Hitchcock’s vision. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">But the </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">beauty</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> of this picture! Before we go any further, let’s take a moment to let it simply </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">be</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. Look again. </span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeZBpyK9P0sQyZDDBD8rjYleisi7JMz8cxbgrBjXk8xoZIsXur4KhcMiJYpdi7GdL4HIMAon4jrjlxpFiSLGAcFup27rs343j5KPHXJa6S_JuxEP2YIt6_c0n4FqCW8pUOfkYJ81nlKHXp/s1600/Madeleine+by+bay+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeZBpyK9P0sQyZDDBD8rjYleisi7JMz8cxbgrBjXk8xoZIsXur4KhcMiJYpdi7GdL4HIMAon4jrjlxpFiSLGAcFup27rs343j5KPHXJa6S_JuxEP2YIt6_c0n4FqCW8pUOfkYJ81nlKHXp/s1600/Madeleine+by+bay+2.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This is the moment that VistaVision was made for. Until this point, we have been driving around with Scottie as he follows his charge up and down the streets of San Francisco. Now, however, the camera comes to a full stop at the city’s lowest point: sea level. The camera goes still, along with the actor and even time itself. Now is the time to freeze the frame. It’s as if Hitch was saying to us, “let’s take a bit of time to relax and enjoy the scene I’ve selected for you.” </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Filmed in the late afternoon, Madeleine’s visit to Fort Point occurs during what photographers call the Magic Hour, that special time when shadows deepen and the lowering sunlight results in softer contrast, bringing the subject into almost 3D relief, while the sunset’s golden hues bring out the colors to dramatic effect. (As Dan Auiler notes in </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Vertigo: The Making of a Hitchcock Classic,</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> shooting wrapped at this location at 5:25 PM.) Even if you’re a hack, it’s almost impossible to take a bad picture during the Magic Hour. If the artist is Hitchcock—and the cinematographer is Robert Burks—it can be a masterpiece.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Yet, for all its beauty, the Magic Hour is also a melancholy time of day. A lull in the final minutes of sunlight, it’s a prelude to dusk and nightfall, a perfect correlative to Madeleine’s doleful mien. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In fact, everything in this picture is a projection of Madeleine’s character. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Starting with the bridge. As I said earlier, almost everything in the movie up til now is part of a carefully laid plan leading to this moment. The first scene of the film—the rooftop chase—gives us a view of the Golden Gate Bridge at night, enticing us to want a better look. Later, at Midge’s apartment, Scottie muses over the new strapless brassiere that’s modeled on the cantilever bridge. (History nerds will note that the Golden Gate is a suspension bridge. While the original design called for two cantilevers, one at each end, it was rejected because they were as visually unappealing as the cantilevers in Midge’s prototype bra!) In Scottie’s mind (and in the mind of any San Franciscan), the Golden Gate Bridge is the greatest height someone could conquer—or fall from. So, as Scottie pulls out a footstool to stand on in hopes of devising a cure for his acrophobia, he quips to Midge, “Where do you want me to start, with the Golden Gate Bridge?” These moments hint at the scene we’re examining now. As does, of course, Gavin Elster’s yarn (performed by Tom Helmore) about Madeleine’s obsession with Carlotta Valdes and his need for Scottie’s help.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">But look again at the framing. While, at the beginning of the film, Hitchcock’s nighttime camera objectively records the entire length of the bridge, this time the nearest end juts out of the top of the frame and the far end is hidden behind a distant suspension tower. As a result, our view of the Golden Gate takes in only its midway point. In effect, it is without beginning or end. And the viewpoint, from underneath, is emphatically </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">subjective</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Such a formal composition emphasizes the artifice before us: sure, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Vertigo</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> is only a movie, but the events unfolding before us once actually occurred for the benefit of Hitchcock and his film crew. It connects the internal reality of the movie with the external fact of its very real location.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Further, the bridge hanging unanchored in midair echoes Madeleine’s suspended condition, caught halfway between the physical world and the spiritual one toward which she hastens. She is neither here nor there. If the Golden Gate Bridge is a masterpiece of suspension, it is a fitting symbol for Hitchcock, the Master of Suspense. I interpret it to be a symbolic cameo appearance by the director, looking down on his creation. At the very least, it is a signature touch, in the fullest sense of the term.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The scene is classical, formal, idealized. A tip of the hat to such 19th century Symbolist illustrators as Maxfield Parrish or R. Atkinson Fox, with all the goofball Blavatskyesque spiritualism fully intended:</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsBZZqd_QW7tXCxQgQ2436xveh91-V6Advhizvn7Gh10GFXkLZnsFANpVSfGzkjVbJY9T08sb0mWMQfCC-wbLQcLsYN-0fjJjvdy2jY8sh6hQeNDdCdXP6S1KEYiRMSGpOBoRZwBjvu9JK/s1600/R+Atkinson+Fox+-+Dawn+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsBZZqd_QW7tXCxQgQ2436xveh91-V6Advhizvn7Gh10GFXkLZnsFANpVSfGzkjVbJY9T08sb0mWMQfCC-wbLQcLsYN-0fjJjvdy2jY8sh6hQeNDdCdXP6S1KEYiRMSGpOBoRZwBjvu9JK/s1600/R+Atkinson+Fox+-+Dawn+2.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">R. Atkinson Fox, "Dawn"</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.23324399016222996" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In Sigmund Freud’s dream world, bridges are phallic symbols, standing for the male organ that unites man and woman. Deriving further meaning from that basic symbol, Freud added that a bridge “acquires the meaning of something that leads to death, and … at a further remove from its original sense, it stands for transitions or changes in condition generally.”</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">While those phallocentric interpretations might be outdated, I believe there is a great deal of truth in what he had to say. (And I don’t think it’s much of a leap to suggest that the bridge in this scene is, in fact, phallic.) Bridges carry similar import in the Tarot deck, taking on additional meaning as harbingers of spiritual transformation, linking the earthly world and the spiritual. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Golden Gate’s looming presence also emphasizes the low point at which Scottie and Madeleine have arrived. Looked at in this way, the water carries less of an erotic charge than it does the hellish. This is the level on which the diabolical shipping tycoon Gavin Elster operates. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Classical Chinese</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> shan shui </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">art conceives of bridges as a route to the (inaccessible) divine. The landscape painter Shitao (1641–1720) strove "to express a universe inaccessible to man, without any route that led there,… where only the immortals can live, and which a man cannot imagine. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">That is the vertigo that exists in the natural universe. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">To express it in painting, you must show jagged peaks, precipices, hanging bridges, great chasms." (Italics mine.)</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Hitchcock’s </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Vertigo</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> is filled with all sorts of references to Chinese wisdom, and I wouldn’t put it past him to have been aware of, if not inspired by Shitao’s aesthetics, perhaps even this painting, which could be read as a schematic diagram for the film’s conceptual design: (<b>look for the tiny bridge</b>)</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI9w5xcmQw0RmkyfMgbbdMvNU2GC1HMfJ39uMsVdckGg_4-xP7zAknz6fzOnRbtsMyavBCNlt4Nx6TBheGd78BQCrNAFGXwf59NojJKm5ofR0b2DU6AGx2yrOBgk10RoeYwhn0qurzAWLx/s1600/Chinese+painting.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI9w5xcmQw0RmkyfMgbbdMvNU2GC1HMfJ39uMsVdckGg_4-xP7zAknz6fzOnRbtsMyavBCNlt4Nx6TBheGd78BQCrNAFGXwf59NojJKm5ofR0b2DU6AGx2yrOBgk10RoeYwhn0qurzAWLx/s1600/Chinese+painting.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.23324399016222996" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">At the very least, Hitch participated in this tradition in a general sense.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Not long after it opened in 1937, the Golden Gate Bridge gained notoriety as a favored spot for suicides. In 1956-57, while </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Vertigo</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> was in development and production, no fewer than six people jumped from its heights into the bay, to their death. Thus its status as San Francisco’s most famous landmark is tarnished by this reputation, and Scottie’s earlier crack takes on a darker tone than we might at first have imagined. As such, the location itself points forward to Madeleine’s “suicide,” as well as back to the suicide of her grandmother, Carlotta Valdes.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">For a journeyman Symbolist like Hitchcock, all of this was old hat. Here are a couple more symbols, lifted whole from the Romantic art that provides so much inspiration for the film: </span></span></div><ul style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">the bay itself, representing Madeleine’s fathomless subconscious; her sexuality; her feminine mystique and </span></span></li><li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">the distant mountains rising voluptuously above the bay, as inaccessible as Madeleine herself. </span></span></li></ul><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Adding to the somber mood is Madeleine’s navy blue dress, with its high collar and tea-length hem, fit for a funeral. And notice the lavender scarf tied around her neck that drifts and curls in the breeze like ectoplasm, riffing on the multicolored spirals, many of them lavender, that accompany the opening credits. On one level, it enhances Kim Novak’s beauty, who was promoted by Columbia Pictures as a “lavender blonde.” On another level, in Hitch’s color scheme, the color is often associated with death (recall the  lavender “Rest in Peace” ribbon that florist Phillippe Dubois attached to a funeral wreath in </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Topaz,</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> prefiguring the lavender dress Juanita de Cordoba wore at her death, which was staged to resemble a blooming flower). So much of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Vertigo</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> is rooted in 19th century history that it comes as no surprise that in Britain at that time, lavender was, along with black, the color of mourning. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Special attention seems to have been given to her shoes. With her feet placed one directly in front of the other, we can’t help but get a good look at them. It’s an odd pose, flattening her profile and drawing our attention downward. The camera angle emphasizes the length of the heels and their sharp edges. There’s a hint of danger or fetishism or both. Later, as she is dragged up the stairs of the bell tower, we’ll see those same feet upended by the man who idealized them in this shot.***</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">And what is there to say about the nosegay she holds? It’s the bouquet of a bride in mourning.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As beautiful as this shot is, then, upon closer examination, it acquires ominous overtones. You may or may not agree with everything I’ve written above. But on one point we can agree: this picture is at once achingly beautiful and profoundly sad. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Let’s take a closer look at Madeleine herself. We see her in profile, just as we first saw her at Ernie’s Restaurant and at the museum (and, later, bathed in green light, at the Empire Hotel). Shadows in the foreground nearly reduce her to a silhouette, yet in the distance the blue sky also places her out in the open for all to see. The truth about Madeleine hides in plain sight. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Significantly, her body language duplicates the pose she struck moments earlier while standing before the portrait of Carlotta—feet and all:</span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3s6wC58fgkNAP8AA74jkECofPZ1YiGLQ5kdbhrK7LhCDmLfwEmSDAhVJKBjFMtolwFYzKDNnPgWDUzldRRP2Ov73WqY5QnybsiYx4OHeRCTZy_WoTsuph_GtSC2w_lQdCmdzRtY44OM5k/s1600/Museum+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3s6wC58fgkNAP8AA74jkECofPZ1YiGLQ5kdbhrK7LhCDmLfwEmSDAhVJKBjFMtolwFYzKDNnPgWDUzldRRP2Ov73WqY5QnybsiYx4OHeRCTZy_WoTsuph_GtSC2w_lQdCmdzRtY44OM5k/s1600/Museum+2.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.23324399016222996" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A classical stance, it shows off the beauty of her form while revealing nothing else. Madeleine displays her surface beauty to Scottie while concealing her true self, intentions and identity. As William Rothman writes in his chapter on </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Lodger</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> in </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Murderous Gaze</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">: </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">“It is characteristic of Hitchcock to frame a figure in profile at the moment of his or her most complete abstraction and absorption in an imagined scene to which we have no access. In such a profile shot, the camera frames its subject in a way that does not allow the figure's interiority to be penetrated. Indeed, such a shot declares that impenetrability; it announces that we have come to a limit of our access to the world of the film.”</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">As beautiful as the Fort Point image is and as rife as it is with meaning and symbol, it is ultimately unknowable. Scottie, for whom “there is an explanation for everything,” has met the limits of his knowledge of Madeleine Elster, of women and perhaps of human nature. Unless something new and dramatic takes place, he, along with us, can do nothing more for Madeleine but watch her. If the plot is to move forward, she needs to make a big splash. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Hitchcock’s lesson, delivered from the other side of the bridge, is that, despite the books, the articles and, yes, the blog posts, at the end of the day, we are no closer to the truth than Scottie Ferguson. Watching, always watching, but rarely seeing, until it’s too late.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">--------</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">*If you think this is an exaggeration, drop by </span><a href="http://www.hitchcockwiki.com/wiki/1000_Frames_of_Hitchcock"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">1000 Frames of Hitchcock</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, where you’ll see Dave Pattern’s massive frame capture project, where he copied 1000 high-quality frames from all 52 of Hitchcock’s extant movies and posted them on the Alfred Hitchcock wiki for scholars, students and fans to peruse and use. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">**Hitchcock framed bridges similarly in previous movies, notably </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The 39 Steps</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> (1935), which depicted the Forth Rail Bridge, one of the world’s great bridges and one of the greatest achievements of Victorian British engineering. In a way, this was at the time the Golden Gate Bridge of Britain. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkrGSYrhRGYfZmTMtkv7f4z_xu786BjQyc-DDrviQGYinHUluSUwPFHdAc6b5vfAynPceQPsSUm34NlqH9Gj3eFZDmDkeE1MGLn5DPaAZtviBySMTdd-IVZwz_j2am2Jw-CdsYSQDaDF8X/s1600/British+Bridge+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkrGSYrhRGYfZmTMtkv7f4z_xu786BjQyc-DDrviQGYinHUluSUwPFHdAc6b5vfAynPceQPsSUm34NlqH9Gj3eFZDmDkeE1MGLn5DPaAZtviBySMTdd-IVZwz_j2am2Jw-CdsYSQDaDF8X/s1600/British+Bridge+2.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b><i><span style="font-size: small;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.23324399016222996" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Just as Freud suggested, for Hitch, bridges often signify psychological, emotional or spiritual transition. It is at this bridge that Richard Hannay escapes from the train to evade the police and is fully transfigured into his role as a fugitive from the police. It’s generally assumed that Hannay jumped into the river. However, I don’t think that’s the case. For one thing, from his perch, as is clearly shown in the movie, such a leap would have landed him at the concrete base of the bridge and killed him. Even a jump into the water from that height would have been too risky. Instead, I believe that he remained hidden until the train left and that he simply walked off the bridge. The reason I bring this up now  is that, up until this point, we’ve tracked Hannay’s movements very closely. So, from whose point of view is this shot taken? It probably isn’t Hannay’s. Instead, it seems to be Hitchcock’s own view, a case of author intrusion into the story. As such, it anticipates the similar framing of the Golden Gate Bridge being discussed here. As in the 1958 film, time stops for a moment. In this case, it gives us a chance to catch up with the action and Hannay’s radical transformation away from an ordinary bloke as he inhabits his extraordinary new role as fugitive, sleuth and espionage agent. </span></span></i></b></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjK_SFyfX7DhOJmxyOZ_D7wqw81mEgBQYTaXCTZ9-bgr0v_BAFzArJYhP4_EfgC4u6545ABJQTsIyGT4HjYmxdcptIj5K8v3TKrmvqgscJ3YfRvedDXSwKkb5OOrx9r3UWUBQHKI0VCTh0/s1600/Scottish+Highlands+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjK_SFyfX7DhOJmxyOZ_D7wqw81mEgBQYTaXCTZ9-bgr0v_BAFzArJYhP4_EfgC4u6545ABJQTsIyGT4HjYmxdcptIj5K8v3TKrmvqgscJ3YfRvedDXSwKkb5OOrx9r3UWUBQHKI0VCTh0/s1600/Scottish+Highlands+2.jpg" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN9W_tmp1H05-5Vq9VnQWCHkKnh7zdteJ_sQMp2t2KF8XbFXk4DxBxwJlF9WBZ7p8QPBUFgSZzisG3mWNSvAW3mYSeunxe-pP1iROio1iG0VK-_n4JwPfzJw8qn_7rc5Sti7b04HVutsT8/s1600/Last+Bridge.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN9W_tmp1H05-5Vq9VnQWCHkKnh7zdteJ_sQMp2t2KF8XbFXk4DxBxwJlF9WBZ7p8QPBUFgSZzisG3mWNSvAW3mYSeunxe-pP1iROio1iG0VK-_n4JwPfzJw8qn_7rc5Sti7b04HVutsT8/s1600/Last+Bridge.JPG" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span id="internal-source-marker_0.23324399016222996" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In the shot immediately following, Hannay crosses a small bridge whose ancient stones are a marked contrast to the ultra-modern Forth Rail Bridge previously shown. The previous montage hints at a spiritual journey comparable to that suggested by Madeleine and Scottie’s destined appointment under the Golden Gate Bridge, but with a very different outcome.</span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">***While making </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Rear Window</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> (1954), Hitchcock spent half an hour arranging a shot of Grace Kelly's shoes. When assistant Herbert Coleman asked why, Hitch remarked blandly, “Haven't you heard of the shoe fetish?” Unfortunately, it was never used in the film. </span><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">~</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9qQSbA5vl0WkwmoceHg2ToDV1bcq6nJH25mq8pnJoi4B-2Z46mHki3YQXjSL7ronNl3hLQe_Ar_vPcwT4HdoK1RIAAGfef0xudKKcAd-0jhQBFmAuM1CFcFDA_jIchszDCEOA17Pm8Ug0/s1600/AH+Geek+Image.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9qQSbA5vl0WkwmoceHg2ToDV1bcq6nJH25mq8pnJoi4B-2Z46mHki3YQXjSL7ronNl3hLQe_Ar_vPcwT4HdoK1RIAAGfef0xudKKcAd-0jhQBFmAuM1CFcFDA_jIchszDCEOA17Pm8Ug0/s320/AH+Geek+Image.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div>Noted for its fresh perspective and first-rate scholarship, Joel Gunz's <a href="http://www.alfredhitchcockgeek.com/" style="color: #990000;" target="_blank">www.alfredhitchcockgeek.com</a> has been described as the "best Hitchcock blog on the Internet." Meanwhile, its social center, <a href="http://www.facebook.com/HitchcockGeek" style="color: #990000;" target="_blank">www.facebook.com/HitchcockGeek</a><wbr style="color: #990000;"></wbr>, enjoys an enormous and passionate international following. Joel is preparing to publish his next book, <u>Notes from an Alfred Hitchcock Geek</u>. Watch for it!</div><div><br /></div></div>

A Month of Vertigo Alfred Hitchcock Alfred Hitchcock Geek Joel Gunz Vertigo Hitchcock’s Most Beautiful Shot Ever; Or, A Single Frame So Good, 2000 Words Don’t Do It Justice

by guest contributor Joel Gunz Practically every frame of every movie Alfred Hitchcock made could be blown up and hung on a museum wall. He had such a clear sense of composition that you can turn off the sound, forget the story and set your DVD pl…

Read more »