Continuity mistake: Near the end, when Scotty is driving Judy to the Mission, the view from inside the car of the road shows that Scotty is driving on the left-hand side when he should legally be on the right. It is not a one-way road, and it appears that the shot was flipped.
Vertigo (1958)
Plot summary
Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: James Stewart, Kim Novak, Barbara Bel Geddes, Tom Helmore
San Francisco police detective Scottie Fergusson (James Stewart) develops a fear of heights and is forced to retire when a colleague falls to his death during a chase. An old college friend, Gavin Elster (Tom Helmore) hires Scottie to watch his wife Madeleine (Kim Novak) who has reportedly become possessed by her ancestor's spirit named Carlotta. Scottie follows her around San Francisco and is drawn to Madeleine and her obsession with death. He unwittingly becomes a figure in a complex plot when Madeleine kills herself by jumping off a bell tower. Later Scottie discovers a woman named Judy Barton who has a striking resemblence to Madeleine. Still in love with Madeleine, Scottie starts to transform Judy into Madeleine by dying her hair blonde and changing her clothes and what not. They later go to the bell tower, the same place where Madeleine died, where Scottie is determined to discover the truth behind everything.
More mistakes in Vertigo
Madeleine: Here I was born, and there I died. It was only a moment for you; you took no notice.
Trivia: The McKittrick Hotel was a very real building in San Francisco. The indoor set was the same one used by Hitchcock two years later in the film "Psycho."
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Suggested correction: The McKittrick Hotel lobby and staircase scenes were all shot on location in San Francisco in the Henry F. Fortmann mansion. Proof can be seen in a book about the house in photos taken before it was demolished by Sacred Heart Prep School. The Psycho mansion interiors were all shot on a Hollywood soundstage.
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