Another anonymous letter has arrived for Sheila, this one hinting at her involvement with Mason's death. So Mason had been wrongly killed after all. Rivera is now convinced the chauffeur Cobb must have sent them. In a rage he grabs him in a violent choke-hold.
To save his skin, Cobb blurts out that it was Sheila who had asked him to mail the letters! Rivera is shocked at the realization she was behind it - all because she was desperate to keep him from leaving. After a pitiful soul-searching exchange they kiss in an emotional embrace then look guilty as sin when they realize Cathy had walked in and overheard their every word.
Then ... Rivera by now is a basket case ... he tries to grab Cathy even as he babbles that they had to do it. She runs upstairs and locks herself in a bedroom but is forced to climb out of a dormer window as Rivera batters down the door. He climbs out after her ...
... and Now, this rooftop view at 2898 Broadway hasn't changed one bit.
Then ... Somehow Cathy reaches the safety of another window but behind her Rivera is less fortunate ... he slips and falls.
... and Now, it's still a long way down.
Then ... The ghosts of Cabot and Mason probably said a collective 'Amen' at the sight of Rivera's crumpled body on the vertiginous Baker Street steps (map).
In a closing shot that mirrors the classic movie Vertigo, Sheila, just like Scottie Ferguson before her, stares out in stunned disbelief, mortified by the loss of the one she so dearly loved.
Lester's scheme progresses well - he and Myra have become newlyweds. They spend their honeymoon at Myra's summer house, a delightful waterfront home on a steep hillside with spectacular views. The owners of the house, well aware of its association with the movie, generously allowed Citysleuth to visit and take the matching photographs below.
Then ... From the house a steep path switchbacks all the way down past a small cottage to a private pier.
... and Now, the house, still there and looking much as it did 60 years ago, is at 250 Beach Road in Belvedere, just a few miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin County (map). It faces Tiburon across Belvedere Cove.
Lester wakes up his new bride and suggests they go for a swim. This was filmed inside the house in the end room on the right at the exterior balcony level (above). For the film shoot the room was converted to a bedroom; the fireplace and exit door on the left are props. The balcony post outside the window though is real, it can be seen above.
Then ... They exit the room to make the descent to the pier, seen far below. Although the movie convincingly makes it look like this is the door leading out of the bedroom (far left, above) this room is in fact one floor below it.
... and Now, the boat dock at the end of the pier is smaller and an arbor has been added outside the house.
Then ... Lester descends one level then runs ahead ...
... and Now, the posts on the retaining wall support the arbor mentioned above.
... he jerks back after almost falling over the exposed edge ...
"Woahh! It's a precipice! ... There isn't even a guard rail!"
Then ... This is what he saw that gave him pause.
... and Now, it still would!
Then ... They continue on but play it safe by holding hands. The chimney on the right projects from a cottage lower down.
Then ... They have passed the cottage - almost there!
... and Now , the pathway has an added brick edging and the cottage a replaced window, otherwise there's little change. From the owner, CitySleuth discovered that these retaining walls were built to last using cobblestones from old San Francisco streets.
Then ... As they run to the end of the pier we see the hills of Tiburon stretched out on the other side of Belvedere Cove. The pier was built with sections of a catwalk used in the construction of the Golden Gate bridge.
... and Now, Tiburon has seen its share of development since 1952 but still retains its charm. The white building at the water’s edge across the cove is the Corinthian Yacht Club, established in 1886.
... on location ... The actors and reportedly up to one hundred support crew spent two days filming these scenes. The owners of the house at that time were Mr. and Mrs. Jack Heidelberg. CitySleuth thanks the current owners for sharing this on-location photo showing Mrs. Heidelberg and friends on her balcony watching Joan Crawford and Jack Palance rehearsing the scene captured in the second Then photo in this post.
... and Now, the room above the exit door (the bedroom in the movie) has since been extended out, one of the few exterior changes to the house.
Joan Crawford was known for corresponding diligently with friends and fans. Here's a letter of thanks, sent after the movie was completed from her rented suite at Hampshire House on Central Park South, to Mrs. Heidelberg (note the typo in the salutation!).
The Barbary Coast bandleader tells Joey and Linda that they have landed a gig "at a society party on Nob Hill" at the mansion owned by Vera Prentice-Simpson (Rita Hayworth), a wealthy socialite widow. (But as we are about to find out, it wasn't on Nob Hill ...)
Then ... The guests roll up to the mansion by way of a large circular driveway with a grassy knoll in the middle. In the distance off to the right are a cluster of buildings on top of a hill.
... and Now, but this mansion doesn't exist and never has. For the bottom half of the scene above the parking activity was filmed at the Coit Tower parking lot on Telegraph Hill then a sneaky matte painting of the mansion was added in the upper half. The matching recent photo below of Coit Tower shows a statue of Christopher Columbus on the knoll (why? ... he never set foot in North America), erected in 1957 not long after the movie was filmed.
... an aerial view ... this vintage aerial of Pioneer Park shows Coit Tower and the parking lot before the statue was installed. As we will see later in the movie there's a scene on Mrs Simpson's patio that was filmed on the lawn to the right of the tower. So the Coit Tower site itself (map) was the virtual location of Vera Simpson's mansion.
What about those buildings off to the right in the first 'Then' image above? Although they too were part of the painting, they were images of real buildings atop Russian Hill. They can indeed be seen from Telegraph Hill - here they are below in a 1952 photo taken from the top of Coit Tower. The building on the left of the group is the prestigious 945 Green Street Apartments.
... and Now, the same buildings viewed through a gap in the trees from the parking lot today. Newer buildings intrude but the original three (arrowed) are still there.
The society party is a fundraiser and after Joey sings a wonderfully relaxed 'There's A Small Hotel' he persuades Vera to reprise, for a generous donation, an act she used to do in her former life as a striptease performer. In the number, titled 'Zip', Rita Hayworth spoke the lead-in lines but her singing voice was dubbed by Jo Ann Greer.
Sheila's young son Peter tells Cathy that he had been awakened by a gunshot on the night Mason was murdered. Unaware of the affair between her step-mother and Dr. Rivera she goes to Rivera's office and tells him that Sheila must have killed Mason. Rivera tries with increasing desperation to talk her out of it and, confused, she rushes out.
Then ... Rivera is even more confused; he wanders around town with the Hippocratic oath reverberating inside his head - an oath he has twice violated. We see him here in an open park area with a Western Airlines ticket office behind him.
... and Now, this was filmed in Union Square. The view looks from the square to the 200 block of GearyStreet. The square's layout has changed significantly and the Western Airlines office at 287 Geary (map) is now a barber salon, The Art Of Shaving - it's name is inscribed within the yellow oval.
... from the early 1960s ... this vintage postcard image shows the Western Airlines office, at far right, as it was when the movie was filmed. I. Magnin is at the left end of the block with Macy's/Blums and Dohrmanns in the center.
... and Now, here's the same view today. I. Magnin is now part of Macy's and the main Macy's entrance has swallowed up Dohrmanns.
Then ... He wanders up a narrow lane with the banner behind him revealing that this is the two block Maiden Lane that runs between Union Square and Kearny Street. He is walking west towards Union Square - that's Grant Avenue crossing behind him (map).
... and Now, a recent photo from near the same spot. A street tenor was singing to no-one in particular at the end of the lane while CitySleuth was there.
Then ... As he approaches Stockton Street Rivera darts into a doorway when he sees a cop passing by. The entrance to the garage under Union Square is visible across Stockton. Interestingly, this same location was seen ten years earlier in the 1950 movie Woman On The Run.
... and Now, Union Square has undergone extensive changes since the movie was filmed. The underground garage is still there but there's no longer an entrance on this side of the square. The St. Francis hotel faces us from the other side of the square. Note the gate, added to convert the busy shopping lane to a vehicle-free precinct..
