The Midnight Story - Cold Shoulder
Then … Joe is mortified by the news that Malatesta lied about his alibi; he’s now convinced of his murderous guilt. Conflicted, he goes on a walk to try to gather his thoughts. When Malatesta drives up, Joe spurns him and walks away.
… and Now, this was filmed on the upper level of Calhoun Terrace in Telegraph Hill. Note the Ferry building in the distance Then and Now. Note too the vintage street lamp mounted on the wall and the wall’s embossed art deco patterns.
Calhoun Terrace is an unusual two level cul-de-sac just two blocks away from where Joe was staying, at Malatesta’s house (seen earlier in the movie) next to the Montgomery Steps.
In a scene in the 1952 movie The Sniper the eponymous killer hid behind that same lamppost awaiting a victim as she exited her home at 36 Calhoun Terrace via an exterior stairway.
… and Now, from the same viewpoint we see that the original lamppost is still there but the building’s stairway has since been enclosed (the front corner of 36 Calhoun can be seen at the left edge of the Now image above). The lamppost sits atop one of the art deco chevron decorations cast into the concrete wall.
Calhoun Terrace has an interesting history … It has been seen in several other movies, The House On Telegraph Hill, Vertigo and Days Of Wine And Roses amongst them. It was the site of the notorious Hoeffler compound, a revolving-door home to artists and writers in the early 20th century. Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo lived at 42 Calhoun in 1940. Here’s an 1860s photo taken when the street used to connect through to Green Street but before the lower level was established. A descending row of Union Street houses faces us in the background.
The double cul-de-sac is accessed from the end of Union Street at the top of Telegraph Hill. This whimsical realistic drawing by Paul Madonna captures it. (He too picked up on the wall’s art deco touches).
There’s a sheer drop below Calhoun, accentuated by the blatantly illegal quarrying activities of the infamous Gray Brothers at the turn of the 20th century. In this recent upslope view of the precarious cantilevered roadway we see the lamppost pictured in the images above, with 36 Calhoun at far right. Photo by Chris Carlsson.
And one last piece of related trivia … After decades of mutilating the hill and flaunting the law through repeated dynamiting, bribing and cheating, George Gray, one of the brothers, was shot and killed by an employee, Sicilian immigrant Joe Lococco, for not paying his wages. So that was that. End of dynamiting, end of story.
Meanwhile, back at the house, Joe cannot look his fiancé Anna, Malatesta’s cousin, in the eye. She cannot understand the sudden change in him and pleads, to no avail, for an explanation.