50 Fun Facts About Vertigo

In what year was Hitchcock's Vertigo released?

It arrived between The Wrong Man and North by Northwest, and was only a modest earner on first release.

Who plays retired detective John 'Scottie' Ferguson?

Hitchcock later blamed the film's soft box office on the 49-year-old star looking too old opposite a 24-year-old leading lady.

Vertigo was adapted from a 1954 French novel by which writing duo?

Hitchcock had wanted their earlier book too, but Henri-Georges Clouzot got it and made Les Diaboliques.

What was the English title of the source novel D'entre les morts on its 1956 translation?

Paramount had commissioned a synopsis in 1954, before any English edition existed.

Which Paramount second-unit cameraman actually devised the dolly zoom for Vertigo?

He went uncredited; the shot has since turned up in Goodfellas and The Lord of the Rings.

How was the famous vertiginous shot down the bell shaft actually filmed?

Shooting it on a full-sized set proved too hard, so a miniature was built and laid on its side.

Kim Novak's character(s) go by which two names?

Judy claims to be from Salina, Kansas; the other options are Hitchcock heroines from different films.

Who was originally cast as Madeleine before withdrawing because she became pregnant?

She had even modelled for an early version of the Carlotta portrait; Hitchcock refused to delay and hired Kim Novak.

Which college acquaintance hires Scottie to follow his wife?

He uses Scottie's fear of heights to pass off his murdered wife's fall as suicide.

Madeleine appears to be possessed by the spirit of which long-dead woman?

In the novel the equivalent ghost is Pauline Lagerlac; Carlotta died in 1857 after a rich man kept her child and cast her aside.

At which real California site does Madeleine fall from the bell tower?

The tower had been torn down for dry rot before filming, so it was matted in with a painting; Hitchcock was reportedly annoyed to find it gone.

Where does Madeleine jump into the bay?

Scottie dives in and hauls her out, and the next day she brings him a letter of thanks.

Where does Scottie first see the Portrait of Carlotta?

The portrait itself was later lost after removal from the gallery.

The redwood grove Scottie and Madeleine visit is presented as Muir Woods. Where was it really filmed?

The cutaway showing the tree's age was copied from a real display that is still at Muir Woods.

Why did the writers have to place the Valdes grave at Mission Dolores?

The prop headstone was left behind at the mission after filming.

Ernie's, where Scottie first sees Madeleine, was a real restaurant in which San Francisco area?

It stood at 847 Montgomery Street, about a mile from Scottie's apartment; the Empire Hotel on Sutter Street was also real.

What is the address of Scottie's apartment, one block down from the 'crookedest' road in the world?

The Brocklebank at 1000 Mason is Elster's building; 940 Sutter is the Empire Hotel and 847 Montgomery was Ernie's restaurant.

Where does Hitchcock make his cameo in Vertigo?

The shipyard scenes used an old San Francisco ironworks, by then owned by Bethlehem Steel.

Who composed Vertigo's score, often called his masterpiece?

He scored nine Hitchcock films in all, from The Trouble with Harry to Marnie.

Why was Vertigo's score recorded in London and Vienna rather than Hollywood?

Muir Mathieson conducted; the music leans heavily on a Wagner opera about doomed lovers.

Which Wagner opera does Vertigo's score extensively reference?

Critic Alex Ross notes the music, like the film, is built around spirals and circles.

Which graphic designer created Vertigo's spiral-themed title sequence and poster?

He went on to design the titles for North by Northwest and Psycho.

The rotating patterns in the titles were animated by John Whitney using what device?

The Kerrison Predictor let him plot animated Lissajous curves years before computer graphics.

Which costume designer worked with Hitchcock on Vertigo's colour-coded wardrobe?

Madeleine's famous grey suit and the pervasive greens were part of the scheme.

Vertigo's alternative ending shows Scottie's ex-fiancée listening to a radio report about what?

It was demanded by the Production Code office, not foreign censors, and resurfaced in 1993 for home video.

What was Vertigo's working title during production?

Maxwell Anderson's rejected first screenplay had been titled Darkling, I Listen, from Keats.

Maxwell Anderson's rejected screenplay had a title taken from which Keats poem?

'Darkling, I listen' is a line from the poem's sixth stanza.

Roughly what did Vertigo cost to make?

It earned $3.2 million in North American rentals, breaking even but lagging Hitchcock's other hits.

In which poll did Vertigo replace Citizen Kane as the greatest film ever made in 2012?

It had not even made the top ten in 1962 or 1972; in 2022 it slipped to second behind Jeanne Dielman.

Which film pushed Vertigo into second place in the 2022 edition of the same critics' poll?

Chantal Akerman's 1975 film became the first directed by a woman to top the poll.

Vertigo was among the first 25 films chosen for the National Film Registry in what year?

The Library of Congress picks films that are 'culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant'.

How many Academy Awards did Vertigo win?

It was nominated only for art direction and sound, and lost both.

At which festival did Hitchcock share a Silver Seashell for Best Director for Vertigo?

His leading man tied for Best Actor there too, with Kirk Douglas in The Vikings.

Which studio reissued Vertigo and Rear Window in 1983 after acquiring rights from Hitchcock's estate?

The films had been kept out of circulation for years; the 1983 re-release finally brought Vertigo commercial success.

Which two restorers produced the controversial 1996 70 mm restoration of Vertigo?

They added extra seagull cries and a foghorn to the Cypress Point scene to hide hisses and pops.

Which car maker's paint sample helped 1996 restorers match the film's crucial green?

Green runs through the film's symbolism, from Judy's neon-lit hotel room to her dress.

At which cinema did the restored Vertigo premiere in October 1996, introduced live by Kim Novak?

A new 4K restoration was shown at the same theatre in October 2014.

Who suggested the mission with the bell tower as a location, according to the production history?

Herbert Coleman's daughter Judy Lanini pointed Hitchcock to it.

Kim Novak's real first name is what?

Columbia boss Harry Cohn wanted to rename her; she kept Novak and settled on Kim.

Which critic argued Vertigo can be read as Scottie's dying fantasy while dangling from the roof?

Donald Spoto, by contrast, simply watched it 27 times before writing The Art of Alfred Hitchcock.

Hitchcock revealed Judy's secret two-thirds through the film. When is it revealed in the novel?

He wanted viewers to understand Judy's dilemma rather than be surprised with Scottie.

In the source novel, where does the heroine jump into the water?

Lawyer Roger Flavières fills the Scottie role in a story that opens in Paris in 1940.

The dolly zoom is also nicknamed after which 1975 blockbuster that used it on the beach?

Spielberg used it for Brody's moment of realisation; Scorsese used it in Goodfellas.

Vertigo's composer won his only Oscar for which 1941 film, not Citizen Kane?

His final score, recorded just before his death, was Taxi Driver.

What triggers Judy's fatal fall at the end of Vertigo?

The nun rings the mission bell as Scottie stands on the ledge, cured of his fear but bereaved twice over.

What object finally reveals to Scottie that Judy and Madeleine are the same person?

She slips it on after agreeing to dye her hair and dress as Madeleine.

Where did Vertigo rank in the American Film Institute's 2007 list of the greatest American films?

Its critical stock rose steadily from the 1983 reissue onwards.

Podesta Baldocchi, which Madeleine visits while Scottie tails her, is what kind of business?

Pop Leibel's bookstore, the Argosy, was by contrast a set built to imitate the real Argonaut Book Store.

Which artist designed Scottie's nightmare 'special sequence' and also painted the Portrait of Carlotta?

Dalí had done Hitchcock's dream sequence for Spellbound thirteen years earlier.

How many times had Donald Spoto seen Vertigo by the time he wrote The Art of Alfred Hitchcock in 1976?

He was not alone: the film's reputation was rebuilt largely by obsessive repeat viewers after the 1983 reissue.