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| 10. Shadow of a Doubt |
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| 9. Dial M for Murder |
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| 8. To Catch a Thief |
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| 7. The Birds |
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| 6. Psycho |
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| 5. The ManWho Knew Too Much |
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| 4. Strangers on a Train |
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| 3. North By Northwest |
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| 2. Vertigo |
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| 1. Rear Window |
Film critics generally agree these are two of the best films ever made — certainly in the mystery genre. The American Film Institute ranks Laura fourth in best all-time mystery movies. Vertigo is ranked number one. Laura, released in 1944, starred Gene Tierney, (no relation), one of the great, talented beauties of the era. Vertigo, released in 1958, starred Kim Novak, no doubt one of the most beautiful and most box office pleasing movie stars of hers. Both actresses portray illusive, mysterious women, pursued by investigators who fall in love with what is little more than an aura. Unlike standard noir, which Laura seems kin to and the usual Hitchcock approach to suspense, these have an added romantic dimension.Last October, I listed my top nine crime films — a set of criteria that makes it different from “mystery” movies. If the list had just one slot more, Laura would have been on it. And if I had a vote on anyone’s list, I’d rank Laura higher than Vertigo. The film is based on the book of the same name by Vera Caspary Laura and was nominated for several Academy Awards, winning one for Best Black and White Cinematography. The film was directed by Otto Preminger and has a solid cast. In addition to Tierney as the title character, Dana Andrews plays the police investigator called in to solve Laura’s death, Vincent Price portrays her playboy lover and the incomparable Clifton Webb (nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor) plays her mentor. As the story begins we learn that the beautiful Laura has been found dead in her home, shot in the face with a shotgun. Andrews, as an NYC homicide detective, after seeing a portrait of the victim and finding out about her life, slowly falls in love with her. This is a pure mystery. We only know what the investigator knows and we can, in who-dunnit fashion, try to figure out who did it before he does. Though suspenseful, there is considerable wit and humor as well, thanks largely to Webb’s impeccable performance as Waldo Lydecker.
While Andrews becomes entranced with Tierney in Laura, former cop Jimmy Stewart becomes absolutely obsessed with Kim Novak in Vertigo, all the while dealing with guilt over the death of his partner and his increasingly paralyzing fear of heights. Though many film experts claim this is Alfred Hitchcock’s most accomplished film, Hitchcock himself didn’t care for it at the time of its release. In my mind Vertigo is not nearly as good as the more grounded Dial M For Murder. On the other hand it is far better than The Birds and it is a Hitchcock film. What makes it worthwhile for me are Novak, Jimmy Stewart and the rich, San Francisco setting. The film was based on D’entre Les Morts, a novel (The Living And The Dead) by French authors Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac. According to the ever-helpful Wikipedia, Hitchcock had originally wanted to buy the rights to another novel by the French duo, which was later made into Les Diaboliques.
As far as accompanying libations, if you watch Vertigo first, maybe a dry red wine and then a switch to a nice dessert wine for Laura.
CAPTION: (Top) Gene Tierney with Vincent Price in Laura. (Bottom) Jimmy Stewart recues Kim Novak in Vertigo.
P.S. The New Yorker’s film critic Anthony Lane dabbles in film pairings in the January 2, 2012 issue of The New Yorker. He too picked Laura to exalt. But he paired it with Rebecca. Laura is playing now at the Film forum in NYC, he said.
We began this series talking about how many of the big bookstores have disappeared in the recent but fast-breaking wave toward ebook domination. No Borders or Barnes & Noble inside San Francisco’s city limits. Virgin, Stacey’s, and Cody’s are gone from here. But some, who were around before these stores were even built have come and gone.
During my brief but enjoyable stint as editor of the Nob Hill Gazette, I assigned myself a story that required me to explore Francisco’s bookstores. What a job. (What would I assign myself next? Bakeries, gelato joints?) That would be 1983. Many of the bookstores I wrote about then have also disappeared. However, some have survived.
So, as I contemplated what bookstores would be next in this ongoing series, I began to look at Antiquarian bookstores. That’s when I remembered doing that article I wrote a little more than a quarter of a century ago. I wondered which bookstores I wrote about and what I said.
Of course, there was City Lights, which still exists and still shines as does its owner and co-founder Lawrence Ferlinghetti. But there was another famous bookstore owner here in the City — Warren Howell.
“Warren Howell, son of the man who founded John Howell Books in 1912, is regarded as the “dean of bookmen,” a title he both earned and relishes,” I wrote then. He was the person to go to if you wanted first editions of works by Keats, Whitman and Spencer. He once possessed a Samuel Johnson dictionary and first-edition hand-printed copy of Ulysses signed by James Joyce. His store on Post Street was often regarded as the best Antiquarian bookstore on the West Coast. It is gone now.
However, the Argonaut Book Shop, founded in 1941, still exists and is a highly respected dealer in antiquarian books, particularly about the history of California and the American West. If you want to know what a bookshop is supposed to look like, this is it. At least that was Alfred Hitchcock’s opinion when he ordered a replica of the store built in Hollywood for a scene in his film, Vertigo. In addition to its Western literature orientation, the shop has a broad selection of books on the American Civil War as well as posters from World War One and other maps, prints, and photographs.
786 Sutter Street, (415) 474-9067, www.argonautbookshop.com
For those who miss John Howell Books, don’t despair. There’s a fine, antiquarian bookshop just off Union Square. John Windle Antiquarian Booksellers occupies a large suite in a building full of highly respected, fine art galleries. Unlike the galleries, wide open and generously lit, the shop seems more like a sacred library, a place where one might uncover the next DaVinci code. And as the mood suggests, the store specializes in medieval illuminated text manuscripts and “illustrated books and fine bindings from the 15th through the 20th centuries.
49 Geary, Suite 233, (415) 986-5826, www.johnwindle.com
I wouldn’t consider Fields Bookstore to be antiquarian. However, the fact that it has been around since 1932 — in the same location — gives it some historic authority. This shop was in my original story in the Gazette under the category of “Metaphysical.” This wasn’t the stereotypical California “vibe” kind of metaphysics. This is oriented to series readers of esoteric and magical studies, major Eastern religions, Jungian psychology and considerably more. They deal in both new and used books and because this is the only bookstore for what is now being called “Polk Village,” they also have a selection of general interest bestsellers as well.
1419 Polk Street, (415) 673-2027, www.fieldsbooks.com
Other bookstores have disappeared since my original article was published. You might remember Small Press Traffic, which specialized in books by individuals and independent publishers. Richard Hilkert Bookseller, Ltd., was a rare books shop on the pre-trendy Hayes Street. There was McDonalds, a gigantic used bookstore, noted for its dust and lack of organization. Two stores devoted to film and theatre — Limelight and Drama Books — are now among the missing. Old Wives Tales was a store was devoted to books for, by and about women. And well before Different Light bit the dust recently, the first of its kind in San Francisco, Walt Whitman Gay Bookstore, went out of business. You might also remember Paperback Traffic, which had a huge store on Polk and a second later on Castro. There were others. And there will be others even as the whole idea of reading approaches new frontiers.
Caption: Detail from the celestial ceiling mural at Fields Bookstore. The artist is Shelley Masters
