Impact - Confrontation
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).