Joe Clay (Jack Lemmon) works at a public relations agency. One of his unofficial duties is to provide escorts for his clients. The movie begins with Joe working the phone, rounding up girls for a party being held on a yacht on the bay.
Then ... A cab pulls up alongside the bay and a young woman gets out.
... and Now, this is the St Francis Yacht Club parking lot at the West Harbor in the Marina district (map). The bridge needs no introduction.
Then ... She makes her way towards a small boat berthed at the yacht club - in the background is a domed structure very familiar to San Franciscans.
... and Now, it's the Palace of Fine Arts fronting Baker Street at the eastern edge of the Presidio (map), built in 1915 for the Panama-Pacific Exposition. Fans of Vertigo may remember that Scottie and Judy were once there.
Then ... Joe and the girls are waiting for her in the boat - she climbs aboard to a sharp dressing-down from Joe for not dressing up ...
"You're dressed wrong, it's supposed to be a cocktail dress ... something peek-a-boo!"
... and Now, as they head out Fort Mason is straight ahead with Marina Boulevard alongside the harbor off to the right.
Then ... Their tender pulls alongside the party yacht.
... and Now, Citysleuth never could reconcile this location to the Bay Area. He had asked Ann Brebner, the movie's location casting director, about it and she recalled that the yacht shoot was moved to Southern California because of poor weather in San Francisco. Reader Natalie commented (see below) that it looked like Newport Beach but it took a comment from Mr. Newport Beach to nail the precise spot. This is the turning basin of Newport Harbor (map). The Lido Isle is to the right and the trees at far right border the approach to the Lido bridge. The recent photo was taken from the same spot at the Lido Marina Village.
The yacht, built in 1927, was the 'Pioneer', so-named by owner George Washington Vanderbilt III. When Citysleuth read that it was berthed in Newport Beach for most of the 1950s into the early 1960s he looked for it on aerial photos from that era. Bingo! Here it was in 1953 moored at the same spot as in the Then movie image above.
Further confirmation was found in this clipping from a 1962 newspaper.
On the yacht Joe realizes that the underdressed woman isn't one of the escorts after all, she's Kirsten Arnesen (Lee Remick), the secretary of the client hosting the party. He tries to make amends but she plays it cool. They couldn't have gotten off to a rockier start.
After the society party at Vera Simpson's mansion Joey and Ned, the bandleader, take Linda home.
Then ... They take the cable car to Nob Hill, seen here coming down Washington Street towards Taylor Street. (San Franciscans would never take this highly circuitous route from Telegraph Hill). Reader CDL has pointed out that this section of track was closed down in 1957 awaiting a new turntable at Hyde and Beach Street. Not a problem for the moviemakers from Hollywood - they used a motorized car with a bumper and fenders to hide the wheels.
... and Now, the real cable car resumed service and still traverses this street - CitySleuth was able to capture the perfect matching shot.
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Then ... They hop off at the junction and walk along Taylor to the building at far right where Linda has a room. As the cable car heads over the incline we see a rear tire outside of the track, confirming that a motorized version was indeed used. Note too that this car is the 'double-ender' style, displaying 'Presidio Ave, California and Market Streets' front and back, unlike the real Powell Street 'single-ender' (compare them here).
... and Now, the corner houses are mostly unchanged but several high rise buildings now block the view down Washington of the Ferry Building and the Bay Bridge except for part of its massive central caisson.
Ned opens the door of Linda's rooming house and the two men bid her goodnight. The building's address is 1250 Taylor Street (map) which, by the way, is just one block from Frank Bullitt's apartment in the movie Bullitt. A wider view of it is seen from across the street in the next image, a composite of several shots that gives an unobstructed view of the location.
Then ... Ned's place is one of the two up the stairs in the foreground below (1239 or 1241 Taylor) and after he retires, refusing to let Joey stay with him, Joey returns across the street to 1250 Taylor and rents a room there, conveniently as it turns out right next to Linda's.
... and Now, from the same spot. But Citysleuth wonders if this scene was filmed on a studio set modeled closely on the real location below. It has that 'slightly phony' look in the movie and the stair bannister, though similar, doesn't match exactly.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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).
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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!).
