Bigelow has just received a confirming diagnosis of a fatal poisoning giving him only a few days to live. He becomes totally unhinged (who wouldn't?) and rushes out of the Southern Pacific Hospital at 1400 Fell Street on a frenzied dash through town.
Then ... The hospital is in the Nopa neighborhood but in the next frame (below) he is rushing along busy Market Street two miles away - some run! Just ahead of him is Taylors at 925 Market and J C Penney is next it. These scenes were filmed without a permit using a hidden camera to ensure a genuine reaction from the surprised pedestrians.
... and Now, Mid-Market does not have the hustle and bustle as it did back in the 1950s. It was far livelier back then.
... in 1956 ... here's a vintage photo of a view down this stretch of Market Street showing J C Penney and Taylors at the far right. The big E of the Emporium is visible in the next block and the Ferry Building can just be made out at the far end of Market Street.
Then ... He continues along Market having just passed the Emporium on his right on the 800 block. Gensler-Lee Diamonds at 818 Market, Moss clothing store and Bartels coats are seen on the left. The Gensler-Lee and Moss stores also show up through Lancey's Diner's window in the movie 'Woman On The Run'. Past Bartel's Coats, across Stockton Street, is the Roos Bros. department store (click image to enlarge).
... and Now, the bus stop island is still there but those stores have long since moved out. The Roos Bros. site was until recently home to the Virgin store.
Then ... The mad dash continues below as Bigelow, now at the waterfont, races across the Embarcadero towards Market Street. The Bay Bridge is behind him and the top of the YMCA near Howard can be seen above the passing bus.
... and Now, the Y is still there today, hidden by the palm trees. What these 'Then' and 'Now' shots don't show is the eyesore two-level freeway that ran along this section of the Embarcadero from the late 50s until the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake forced its demolition.
The frantic dash ends as Bigelow, exhausted, stops at a newsstand on the corner of Market and the Embarcadero. In a cruel irony the magazine rack proclaims 'Life!' at the very moment when he is facing imminent death.
On a trivia note, reader Tom Shieber points out that the Life Magazine on the newsstand above was the September 12, 1949 issue. It features a cover story about how Yugoslavia's Marshal Tito defied the Kremlin. That was a pretty ballsy thing to do in those days.
Baker forces Parry at gunpoint to drive to Irene's place on Telegraph Hill to confront her. Instead, Parry drives through the Presidio and heads for an isolated spot under the Golden Gate Bridge. Baker, not the sharpest knife in the drawer, doesn't seem to notice ...
Then ... They are on McDowell Avenue passing under the section of Highway 101 that traverses the Presidio the red marker on this map). Is that a chimney stack in front of the building behind them?
... in 2003 ... the junction looked very similar as recently as 2003 except for changes to the base of the highway pillars but the building and the stack, if that's what it was, are no longer there.
... and Now, In this recent photo we see great change as a new section of Highway 101takes shape. The section of freeway on the left is slated to be retained but rebuilt.
Then ... Next they turn into Long Avenue about to head up the hill to Lincoln Boulevard.
... and Now , viewed from what is now a parking lot the double-gabled building is still there.
Then ... Here they have turned onto Lincoln Boulevard and are approaching the Golden Gate Bridge (the blue marker on this map). This is the same spot where Irene drove by earlier on her way to her apartment.
Then ... Finally Parry turns onto a service road alongside the bridge.
... and Now , the recent bridge view shows the service road running alongside the bridge to a bluff overlooking Fort Point (map).
They stop at that bluff and Parry manages to grab the gun. The classic shot, below, with the young Golden Gate Bridge as background (it was only 11 years old at that time) anticipated by a decade Alfred Hitchcock's use of the same location in Vertigo.
Then ... A struggle ensues and Parry holds himself back as Baker falls over the edge to his demise.
... and Now , the rocky bluff as viewed from the parking lot at Fort Point.
... on location 1 ... Baker, Parry and crew rehearsing the climactic struggle.
... on location 2 ... Hangers-on join the crew for this impromptu snapshot on the bluff.
Eleanor and Leggett, still searching for her husband Frank, visit a favorite club of Frank's called Man Loh's Oriental Roof Gardens where club dancers Sammy and Susie suggest they try Sullivan's Grotto, a bar across the street. Susie tells Leggett he reminds her of a portrait drawing that Frank had given her and Leggett realizes it must have been Frank's recollection of the killer he had witnessed. This doesn't bode well for the unsuspecting Susie.
They leave the Roof Garden and cross the street to Sullivan's Grotto.
Then ... This is Commercial Street in Chinatown looking east from Grant Avenue. The Roof Gardens is the building with the arched doorway on the far left at 776 Commercial.
... and Now, Chinatown mercifully hasn't changed much since then. 776 Commercial is the green building.
Then ... Leggett briefly excuses himself from the bar (the door behind him) and sneaks across the street back to the Roof Gardens. He returns with the drawing and tears it up before rejoining Eleanor.
... and Now, despite changes, for example that door has been filled in, the exterior is still clearly recognizable. But this is no bar, it's the side of the Eastern Bakery to the right, the corner business at Grant Avenue.
... and Now, below is the Eastern bakery at 720 Grant. The Sullivan's Grotto entrance was actually its Commercial Street side door which led to the rear of the bakery. Eastern Bakery, the oldest bakery in Chinatown, has been at this location since 1924 so the bar interior scenes must have been shot in a studio.
When Leggett returns, bar owner Sullivan confides that Frank had just been there before heading off to an Army and Navy store to get a change of clothes.
They leave to the sound of wailing sirens as passersby gather round the body of young Susie who had fallen from the balcony of the Roof Gardens. The ruthless Leggett had silenced her once and for all.
Then ... the passersby are standing in front of the club, at 776 Commercial.
... and Now, the only obvious change appears to be the supports for the balcony; the railing is the same one.
This location is especially interesting because it doesn't exist any more. Long gone. It's Sutro's Baths and Museum, built in 1896 by Adolph Sutro, which was located next to the Cliff House on Point Lobos Avenue at the north end of Ocean Beach (map). Sutro's was in its heyday hugely popular as a go-to family entertainment place and featured seven different pools and a large concert hall. By the time the movie was filmed in 1958 the pools had been closed to the public, replaced by an ice rink.
Then ... Dancer forces Dorothy and daughter Cindy to go with them to Sutro's in case the drug ring doesn't buy his explanation of why he failed to retrieve the drugs from Cindy's doll.
... and Now, viewed from the same spot, Sutro's sadly is but a distant memory.
Here’s a great photo of Sutro’s entrance taken around the time the movie was filmed. It closely matches the movie shot above but in glorious color. (source: Michael Gorth Collections).
... in 1952, this is an earlier vintage photo of Sutro's taken from Sutro Heights across the road. Steep stairs inside the entrance connected to the baths spread out below. Note the towers on the left flanking the entrance; they were removed by the time the movie was filmed six years later.
... and Now, only foundations survive after a suspicious fire destroyed the entire structure in 1966. A 70 year old icon gone forever.
Then ... A policeman cruising by on his motorcycle spots their parked car - he recognizes the plate number and pulls over to call in for reinforcements. This shot looking south down the length of Ocean Beach gives us a good view of the Cliff House restaurant, situated right next to Sutro's (map). The Cliff House has occupied this site in one form or another since 1863 having been rebuilt twice after devastating fires in 1894 and 1907.
... and Now, the always popular Cliff House with its lovely views of Seal Rocks and Ocean Beach is still in business. Look at how much the beach has changed.
This 1958 photo, taken the same year the movie was released, also adds color to the movie view. The beach ‘pier’, the intake for the Lurline Baths, was removed a few years after, in 1965.
When the bulletin comes through Lt. Guthrie and Inspector Quine are driving north along Mason between Bay and North Point Streets. They do a quick U-turn (below) and head post-haste for Sutro's.
Then ... The Fairmont and Mark Hopkins hotels can be seen at the top of Mason on Nob Hill.
... and Now, the Fairmont Tower extension, built after the movie was filmed, is on the horizon on the left. The highrise in the center, also post-movie, is the Royal Towers Apartments at 1750 Taylor on Russian Hill.
Inside Sutro's, Dancer, instead of dropping the drugs in the hiding place and leaving as instructed, hangs around until the drug ring's head honcho 'The Man' (Vaughn Taylor) shows up, in a wheelchair. Dancer's attempt to explain the failed third pickup falls on deaf ears. Director Siegel's cinematography from these scenes fortuitously left us with rare video footage of the interior of Sutro's.
When 'The Man' tells him his days are numbered Dancer flies into a rage and pushes him to his death through the railing to the skating rink below. He then rushes with the drugs up the stairs to the street exit where he and his cohorts flee from the police with the terrified mother and daughter cowering as hostages in the back of their car.
