Then … Henry and Susan are on their way abroad to a rendezvous while George faces his appointment with the gas chamber in San Quentin. Below, Henry exits the terminal at the airport in Paris.
This is the South terminal at Orly airport. Other than the new control tower under construction above, it was little changed from how it looked in this early 1960s postcard image.
… and Now, the terminal has been jazzed up today with a fancy mural. In 2019 it was renamed Terminal Orly 4.
Then … He enters his destination, the Vagenende restaurant at 142 Boulevard Saint-Germain in Paris’s left bank (map). Originally a 19th century patisserie, it became a restaurant in 1904, an iconic art nouveau establishment still there today.
We see in this 2010 photo that the restaurant had still retained a similar look four decades later; along the way though the exterior patio’s streetside entrance had been opened up and it had gained art nouveau embellishments on the side panels.
… and Now, today however the exterior has been modernized. Fotunately, not so for the classic interior.
Then … He makes his way to his table.
… and Now, the restaurant’s art nouveau interior has survived untouched, but the stylish brass lamps spaced out on the filigreed partitions are no longer there. In this daytime matching view, Boulevard Saint-Germain is reflected in the mirrored walls.
Then … He takes his seat alongside another one of those fine lamps, checking his watch knowing his lover will soon join him. But, uh-oh, eagle-eyed viewers may recognize the man sitting in the background…
… and Now, Henry’s table was the one just past the pillar by the end of a banquette which has been added since the movie was filmed.
Then … Susan enters, anxiously looking around for Henry. The busy Boulevard Saint-Germain is seen behind her.
… and Now, here’s a recent photo of the entrance looking out through the exterior patio.
The star-crossed lovers meet…
Then … But their stars weren’t aligned after all; her obsessed client Benjamin Wormser who she had peremptorily dismissed from her life is there for revenge. The pain in his face says it all; he doesn’t want to do it but he must. He shoots them both dead, the scene carefully framed to capture the victims’ demise reflected in the mirrored column next to him.
… and Now, here’s that same column. (Tap or click on the arrows to see the mirror’s reflection step back in time).
Henry had planned the perfect murder. He had anticipated everything. Except this.
Then … The deep knife wound inflicted by Callahan at the Mount Davidson Cross forces Scorpio to seek treatment. He limps into the small emergency hospital at 811 Stanyan Street close to Kezar Stadium at the southeast corner of Golden Gate Park (map).
… and Now, the building, a designated City Landmark, was built in 1902, one of four emergency hospitals in San Francisco during the early 1900s. It continued in this capacity until 1978 then as an ambulance station until 1991. It now serves as offices for the city’s Recreation and Parks District.
Its original name is still engraved in the stonework above the entrance.
The doctor who treated Scorpio calls the police to report the unusual situation. Inside the hospital Callahan desperately wants to know if he recognized the patient - Scorpio’s buried victim Ann Mary Deacon only has one hour of oxygen remaining.
Then … The doctor does indeed remember him. He takes Callahan outside the rear of the building and beckons across the parking lot to Kezar Stadium … apparently the man occasionally works for the groundskeeper who lets him stay in a room there.
… and Now, this aerial shows the matching buildings relative to the hospital. In the movie image above, the stadium stands are behind and to the left of the “NO THRU TRAFFIC’ sign; that structure was demolished in 1989 when the stadium was downsized to its current configuration. The other buildings visible above, circled in yellow below, are still there.
Then … George is running out of time - his execution date is just days away. His attorney and Henry visit him at San Quentin Prison in Marin County (map), where director Fulcio was allowed remarkable access for all of the prison scenes.
… and Now, decades later the main gate and gatehouse have changed very little.
Then … They are waved through, here approaching an observation tower with the prison buildings in the background. The crowded visitor’s parking lot is on the left.
… and Now, CitySleuth has been here before, successfully talking his way past the gate to get a matching photo for a scene from the 1947 movie Dark Passage. This time he wasn’t allowed to photograph inside the gate - “You’re wearing a blue shirt; the prisoners wear blue” - but through the open gate he took this fairly closely aligned match.
The attorney tries his best to comfort George in the cell.
There are many parallels between this movie and Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, including what happens next: the director presents a surprising early whodunnit reveal. Alone in the cell with George, Henry stuns him by confessing, a smug sneer on his face, to framing George for Susan’s murder. He has always been jealous of his younger brother’s success and wealth; now he will inherit the valuable clinic. But that’s not the half of it, he tells him that he and Susan have been lovers for years and what’s more, she is not dead after all; he faked the death by killing her nurse Elizabeth O’Neill, burying her as Susan. Instead of Henry having to deal with George he has devilishly arranged for the State to do it instead.
Then … Of course Henry knows that George will tell his attorney but in the absence of corroborating evidence no one can be sure this isn’t just one more fake claim by a desperate man. Nevertheless, in a TV news interview the district attorney announces the Governor of California granted a 24 hour stay of execution to allow the police to exhume the corpse a second time to check it against Susan’s dental records.
… and Now, this was filmed alongside the lawn in front of the State Capitol Building in Sacramento, California’s capital (map). (Reader Paul Penna has pointed out that the TV reporter is Harry Martin from Sacramento’s KCRA Channel 3).
The coroner debunks George’s claim by declaring the corpse is indeed that of Susan based on a match with her dental records. But the records were from the Dumurrier clinic, provided by Henry - couldn’t he have given them the nurse’s dental records instead? But neither Susan nor Henry can be located and there’s no time to investigate further; the execution will take place tomorrow.
Then … Mount Davidson Park is on the right as Gonzalez drives up a steep hill and pulls over.
… and Now, this is Dalewood Way in the Sherwood Forest neighborhood (map) where the view looks west across Forest Hill, West Portal and beyond. For locational reference, the house at far left by the power pole is 125 Dalewood Way.
Then … Meanwhile Callahan reaches his destination atop Mount Davidson, San Francisco’s highest hill. As he approaches he is dwarfed by the massive illuminated cross.
… and Now, the cross is still there, a reverent attraction for thousands of visitors every year.
In 1934 this 103 foot tall reinforced concrete structure replaced a succession of three smaller wooden crosses that had been built here between 1923 and 1931, each destined to be destroyed by fire. The new cross was illuminated year-round with twelve 1,000 Watt lamps until the energy crisis of 1976 dictated otherwise but this 1971 Dirty Harry scene is a record of its former dramatic luminance. (Go here for an interesting history by FoundSF of Mount Davidson Park and the cross)
The nearby Twin Peaks isn’t the only vista point with sweeping views of downtown and the surrounding city; check out this view across Diamond Heights just steps from the cross.
At the base of the cross Scorpio’s voice from the shadows commands him to drop the bag, raise his hands and turn to face the cross.
From behind, Scorpio rifle-whips Callahan to the ground. Barely conscious, our helpless hero appears doomed but before the gloating killer dispatches him (…“Goodbye, Callahan!”…) Gonzalez arrives and engages him in a fierce gun battle.
During the confusion Callahan grabs a concealed knife - he had taped it to his shin just in case - and manages to stab Scorpio. Shrieking, the startled psycho grabs the ransom bag and staggers off with the knife protruding from his thigh; Callahan and Gonzalez, both wounded, are in no shape to stop him. As police arrive in response to the gunshots Scorpio escapes but drops the bag along the way; at least the ransom has survived intact.
