Sheila receives an alarming anonymous note - somebody out there knows! But who? Rivera in particular is shaken to the core.
Then ... They surreptitiously meet in a park to discuss their predicament The camera follows Sheila as she walks towards her lover, tracing out a panorama of the location.
... and Now, this is the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park (map). The path they are on borders the east side of the Main Pond (arrowed on the detailed map below). The bridge in the center background is the Long Bridge, leading to the Pagoda in the center of the garden.
The Japanese Tea Garden was originally built on its present site in 1894. During World War II, when the word 'Japanese' became an anathema, it was renamed the Oriental Tea Garden, officially reverting back in 1954. A detailed map of today's 5 acre garden is shown below with the arrow marking precisely where this scene was filmed.
Then ... They walk a few steps along the path and perhaps overdo the guilty look as a warden cautions that the park will soon close. We now see a stone lantern behind them and across the pond steep steps lead up to the Pagoda.
... and Now, the same lantern may be listing, but it's still there, as too are the steps and the five-tieredPagoda. (Incidentally, the Tea Garden was also seen again eight years later in the movie Petulia).
Without knowing who had sent the note there is not a lot they can do, but Rivera is already anticipating where this could lead ...
" ... it depends on who it is and how dangerous ... you can trap a fox but - a wolf has to be killed"
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Walter tells his story to the investigators but, to minimize scandal, tells them the man who attacked him was a hitchhiker - a stranger, a fabrication he would soon regret. The police then bring in his jailed wife Irene and the two confront each other. She is shocked, not only to see Walter alive, but also to realize it was her lover Torrence who had died in the car crash. She quickly and cleverly accuses Walter of having killed Torrence and, because he had falsely claimed he picked up a stranger, the police arrest him and release Irene.
Then ... Once again the newspapers, the only source of in-depth news coverage in those days, trumpet the latest twist in the closely followed case.
... and Now, this is Union Square at the corner where Post Street crosses Powell (map). Cable car tracks of the Powell - Hyde and Powell - Mason lines still climb the hill up Powell Street and note too the decorative row of globed lamp-posts which, more than sixty years on, still span the whole block in front of the St Francis Hotel.
Then ... Another newspaper vendor is shown on the first block of Market Street in front of the Ferry Building. He is facing where Steuart Street tees in and over on the left Sacramento Street angles in to the Embarcadero.
... and Now, today's view from the same spot, (map), is far more expansive because that Sacramento corner block and the original first Market block were demolished as part of the Embarcadero waterfront redevelopment. The 'Welcome To San Francisco' roof sign that faced the incoming ferries, above, now reads 'Port Of San Francisco'. (What's mercifully missing from the time between these Then and Now images is the monstrous Embarcadero freeway, built in the late 50s and torn down in the early 90s).
... from 1964 ... OK, CitySleuth will relent and show you the ugly two-level edifice that for more than 30 years (until the divine intervention of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake) isolated the iconic Ferry Building from the rest of the city. The result, above, more than justifies the decision to remove, not repair, the freeway.
Then ... Finally, we see papers being sold at the intersection of Powell and Market Streets (map). The view looks along Powell, and a cable car is on the turntable behind the crossing crowd. The Owl Drugstore on the right is on the corner of Market.
... and Now, the turntable is still an essential part of the cable car system and the Gap clothing store has replaced the drugstore. (This same junction was featured two years earlier in the movie Dark Passage).
Lynch takes Toby to a dark and dusty hideout. When he orders the terrified girl to take off her clothes we all fear the worst, but his main concern is the money so he calls Kelly at the bank and tells her to get the $100,000 to a phone booth at Fisherman's Wharf and await further instructions.
Then he chillingly adds: " ... if anything goes wrong ... I'll kill her".
Then ... Kelly, closely watched by the police, arrives at Fisherman's Wharf, here seen turning from the Embarcadero into Taylor Street (map). Behind her is Shed A, one of the twin Pier 45 sheds (also briefly seen in the 1950 movie Woman On The Run). The phone booth is just visible at far right and on the left is the Fishermen's Grotto restaurant which first opened in 1935.
... and Now, not much has changed. The Fishermen's Grotto is still there, as is the Pier 45 shed, except it is no longer the home of shipping lines - it now houses the Musee Mecanique, an arcade of antique coin-operated displays, where tourists can see and hear the Laughing Sal exhibit and others rescued from Ocean Beach's demolished Playland-At-The-Beach.
Then ... In the same block, she passes Alioto's restaurant and parks in front of the Lighthouse Fish Grotto (CitySleuth composited this image from different views in the movie). These two restaurants have been there since the mid 1930s.
... and Now, both businesses continue to thrive. The family-owned businesses at Fisherman's Wharf have been hardy survivors over the decades thanks to this popular destination's constant stream of visitors. The address number of each restaurant (Alioto's is number 8) dates back to the number assigned to the fish stall that originally occupied the site.
Then ... Kelly crosses over to the phone booth. In the background, across the Embarcadero, is the Franciscan restaurant, another family-owned business, since 1957 combining fresh seafood with panoramic bay views. To its left is the Pier 43 1/2 Bay Cruise sign, seen again in an updated version six years later in the movie Petulia.
... and Now, the Franciscan is still there and so is a Pier 43 1/2 sign but a new restaurant, the Chowder Hut, blocks its view from here.
Then ... While agent Ripley watches her approach the phone booth we get another perspective of Alioto's, Fishermen's Grotto and Pier 45. The popularity of Fisherman's Wharf in movies dates way back, here's the same location from the 1949 movie Impact.
... and Now, the booth isn't there but it used to be about where the 'RIGHT TURN ONLY' sign is now. Click on this image - there are at least 10 public signs - parking, turning, tsunami, rest rooms, wheelchair etc. CitySleuth prefers the uncluttered past when the obvious was not overstated.
Then ... The agents see Kelly take the call then slowly follow her when she walks to the end of the block, crossing Jefferson Street to a waiting cab parked outside the Sea Captain's Chest, at far right. This view looks south along Taylor towards conjoined apartment buildings on the Russian Hill skyline.
... and Now, those same distant apartments, at 945 and 947 Green Street, still stand tall, next to the newer 999 Green. There's a remodelled building on the left corner where the A. Sabella restaurant was, above, but it is still called the Sabella Building. The Sea Captain's Chest building has been rebuilt and now houses different stores.
In the cab the driver hands over a package containing, to Kelly's alarm, Toby's sweater. There's also a ticket to their destination, a Giants - Dodgers ball game at Candlestick Park. Meanwhile the police car behind and a helicopter overhead are determined to not let her out of their sight.
Orson Welles was a master at intermixing location and studio footage to create seamless action, as demonstrated by the following sequence.
Then ... Elsa chases after O'Hara along Grant Avenue, seen here crossing Washington Street (map). (Once again we see another Chop Suey restaurant!) This is a pure location shot.
... and Now, today's view, looking west along Washington, is very similar. The corner store, above at far right, is now a dive bar, the Buddha Lounge at 901 Grant. The hazy outline of the apartment building at 1360 Jones is at the top of the hill - its rooftop was used by the camera which filmed a panoramic city view shown earlier in the movie, see it here.
Then ... Next we have a shot filmed in the studio with a rear projection of location footage. Elsa stops on the 900 block of Grant and draws from her Shanghai experience to ask a local in Chinese if she saw a man dash by. Behind her is the venerable Li Po bar at 916 Grant.
... in 2012 … Li Po, there since 1935, is still going strong. The old dive bar with its cave-like entrance looked the same in 2012, especially its ancient sign, but inside it had morphed into a gaudy watering hole with a funky music club downstairs.
… in 2018 … The neon sign has just been restored and repainted, seen here in this recent photo by Caleb Pershan. CitySleuth, a diehard nostalgist, prefers the faded original; not unlike after a drastic face job, it has lost its matured personality and no longer shows its age.
... and Now - inside, CitySleuth can't find an old interior photo but he can at least share this one he took on a recent afternoon while enjoying a Tsingtao beer. One can only close one's eyes and imagine how it looked in the past - dark, opium-filled, who knows what else.
Then ... The local alerts Elsa that O'Hara is in the Mandarin Theatre a block north at 1021 Grant (seen earlier here). She wastes no time heading for the ticket kiosk.
... a similar image, but wait a minute, the street view above looks nothing like Chinatown's Grant Avenue. And CitySleuth remembers seeing this view before, here it is below, from the 1952 movie The Sniper. The sidewalk railing and the houses across the street all match up. But where was it filmed? ... read on ...
... the studio backlot, both of the scenes above were filmed at Columbia Ranch, Columbia Pictures' backlot in Burbank, Southern California. Below is a contemporaneous image taken at the ranch of its Brownstone Street, showing the houses and the railing, also seen above. The ranch is still operational, now known as the Warner Ranch, but these houses were destroyed by fire years ago. (Go here for a map of Columbia ranch).
Welles continues his trickery when next we get the ticket seller's point-of-view of Elsa in front of the kiosk, but he gets careless. Again it's a studio shot but the projected view behind her is of Li Po's bar which we just learned above is at 916 Grant. The Mandarin Theatre is a block away at 1021 Grant, a rare example of lack of attention to detail. Or then again, it might just reflect Welles’ well-known penchant for bars.
