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THE MOVIE ITINERARY

LAURA CHUBB heads to San Francisco to track down scenes from Alfred Hitchcock’s classic thriller Vertigo

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The Hitchcock tour of Vertigo’s San Francisco hotspots. By LAURA CHUBB

A SETTING AS good-looking as San Francisco has understand­ably starred in its fair share of movies. But film aficionado­s agree there’s one true classic: Vertigo, Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 tour de force.

The story follows John ‘Scottie’ Ferguson ( James Stewart), a retired detective with a fear of heights, as he carries out a strange assignment to spy on a friend’s wife, Madeline (Kim Novak), who it is feared may be possessed. Scottie quickly becomes obsessed with her, and as the twisty-turny tale unfolds, San Francisco landmarks play integral parts in the plot.

Though filming wrapped 60 years ago, you can still revisit several key scenes from the movie – and pick up some titbits about the city along the way.

三市藩 景色迷人,難怪經常在電影中亮相,但在一眾影癡心中,無論如何精采,都比不上「緊張大師」Hitchcock於­1958年推出的經典­傑作迷記《 魂。》

《迷記魂 》講述一名患上畏高症的­退休偵探John「Scottie」Ferguson(James S tewa r t 飾)受朋友所託,調查其妻Madeli­ne(Kim Novak飾)是否被邪靈附身。Scottie很快就­迷戀上Madelin­e,引發一連串曲折離奇的­劇,情故事三市在 藩 多個著地名 標上演。

雖然電影拍於60年前,但你仍可然 在今日的三藩市內,重訪電影中經典場面的­外景場地,同時了解這個城市的一­些趣聞瑣事。

NOB HILL諾布山

Vertigo’s dramatic opening shows a police chase over Nob Hill rooftops. The swanky neighbourh­ood features heavily in the rest of the film, too, as it’s where Madeline lives. Nob Hill was where California’s 19th century railroad barons built their extravagan­t mansions; today, several posh hotels such as Stanford Court still bear their names. California Street, where you’ll find the grand gothic Grace Cathedral, is captured in a number of Vertigo shots. It’s a groovy institutio­n, with rotating art installati­ons, yoga sessions and some rather secular stained glass windows (spot Einstein on the right as you walk in).

LEGION OF HONOR美術館

One of Vertigo’s most beautiful frames occurs as Scottie pulls up outside the Legion of Honor – a glorious French neoclassic­al palace gifted to San Francisco by wealthy socialite Alma Spreckels in 1924. It’s here that Scottie watches Madeline become entranced by a mysterious painting. Today, the museum shows off Medieval and Renaissanc­e art.

MISSION DOLORES傳教會

The oldest building in San Francisco, this small, whitewashe­d adobe mission marks the ‘founding’ of the city by Spanish missionari­es – although it was Native Americans who were tasked with constructi­ng it. Completed in the late 1700s, it has stood the test of time, surviving both the great 1906 earthquake and the Bay Bridge- collapsing tremors of 1989. Bright painted wooden rafters are true to the vegetable- dyed, native designs of the time. In Vertigo, we see Scottie walk under these rafters and out into the cemetery, where he observes Madeline visiting a gravestone.物提取的顏料塗。層 在迷記《 魂 》內, Scot t ie就是在這顏色鮮明­的屋椽下踱步,走進墓地,靜靜觀察Madeli­ne掃墓。missiondol­ores.org

FORT POINT堡壘

Fort Point, directly under the Golden Gate Bridge, is the site of Vertigo’s most iconic moment, when Madeline leaps into the freezing bay. The coastal defence dates back to 1853, and protected the Golden Gate Strait until the end of the Second World War. Inside are exhibition­s about the history of the fort and the bridge. But the real treat is the view, which can also be enjoyed from the pier outside Warming Hut cafe, a kilometre before the fort.

5 PALACE OF FINE ARTS 藝術宮

Scottie’s a bit of a creepy hero: he spends the first half of Vertigo stalking Madeline, and the second dating Judy because she looks like Madeline (both played by Kim Novak). On an early outing, Scottie and Judy stroll by the Palace of Fine Arts. The domed building might look more at home in Rome, but it’s a genuine city landmark built for the 1915 World’s Fair, which was meant to put the city back in business after the devastatin­g earthquake a decade before. Today, it’s the only remaining vestige of the fair – but it isn’t the one you see in the film. The deteriorat­ing site was demolished in 1964, and a sturdier version was built from a cast of the original. It looks the same, anyway: recalling a majestic Roman ruin, with a strip of serene parkland curving around a lagoon.

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