Elsa spots O'Hara inside the Mandarin theater and calls Li, her servant, from backstage. The call is routed through the Chinese Telephone Exchange to his room.
Then ... Li may be a humble servant but his place has a spectacular view of Telegraph Hill and the waterfront.
... and Now, this is the same view - it was taken from the tower of the Fairmont Hotel, so we conclude that Li's room was a studio set using, for the window view, a photograph taken from the Fairmont Hotel on Nob Hill (map). Columbus Avenue bisects the picture at an angle from left to right - the buildings below it have seen many changes, those above it, few.
Then ... When Li exits his house with two cronies the studio setting is confirmed ...
... on the back lot ... because this, as were several other scenes in the movie, was filmed at the Columbia Ranch back lot in Burbank, Southern California, on Brownstone Street near Skid Row. (see here for a map of the ranch). Below is a shot from a 1949 Batman and Robin TV show, filmed at Columbia Ranch, showing the same houses. The back lot is now called Warner Ranch and is still operational but these particular houses and streets were destroyed by fire years ago.
Then ... Director Welles adds more trickery when he cuts to the police heading towards the theater.
... and Now, why trickery? Because this isn't San Francisco's Chinatown - it's Los Angeles' Chinatown! (CitySleuth thanks reader Opium Museum who brought this to his attention). It looks south down Sun Mun Way just inside the East Gate of Old Chinatown at 951 N. Broadway (map).
Below, Elsa joins O'Hara in the theater to find him struggling to stay conscious under the influence of the pills he downed at the courthouse. But he's aware enough to figure out that she was the one who killed Grisby, the murder he was being tried for. We see from her ice-cold reaction that he is right but he collapses and Elsa's Chinese mafia move in and cart him off.
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.
