317 Vertigo (1958)
Description
This article is from the Movie Trivia, by Murray Chapman muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au with numerous contributions by others.
317 Vertigo (1958)
- DIRCAMEO(Alfred Hitchcock): about 11 minutes in wearing a gray suit
walking past Gavin Elster's shipyard.
- The film is based upon the novel ``D'Entre les Morts'' which was written
specifically for Hitchcock after the authors heard that he tried to
buy the rights to their previous novel ``Diabolique''.
- San Juan Batista, the Spanish mission which features in key scenes in the
movie doesn't actually have a bell tower - it was added with trick
photography. The mission originally had a steeple but it was demolished
following a fire.
- The screenplay is credited to 'Alec Coppel' (qv) and 'Samuel Taylor' (qv),
but Coppel didn't write a word of the final draft. He is credited for
contractual reasons only. Taylor read neither Coppel's script nor the
original novel, he worked solely from Hitchcock's outline of the story.
- Hitchcock reportedly spent a week filming a brief scene where Madeleine
stares at a portrait in the Palace of the Legion of Honor just to get the
lighting right.
- Hitchcock invented the famous combination of forward zoom and reverse
tracking shot to convey the sense of vertigo to the audience. The view
down the mission stair well cost $19,000 for just a couple of seconds of
screen time.
- Hitchcock originally wanted 'Vera Miles' (qv) to play Madeleine, but she
became pregnant and was therefore unavailable.
- The film was unavailable for decades because its rights (together with four
other pictures of the same periods') were bought back by Hitchcock and left
as part of his legacy to his daughter. They've been known for long as the
infamous ``5 lost Hitchcocks'' amongst film buffs, and were re-released in
theathers around 1984 after a 30-years absence. They are
"Rear Window (1954)" (qv), "The Trouble with Harry (1955)" (qv),
"Rope (1948)" (qv), "Vertigo (1958)" (qv) and
"The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)" (qv).
- DIRTRADE(Alfred Hitchcock): [bathroom] Madeline emerges from the bathroom,
ready for lovemaking.
- DIRTRADE(Alfred Hitchcock): [hair] Carlotta and Madeline have spiral
hairstyles, and Judy's hair color is significant.
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