Footsteps in the Fog

What's a Christmas without a fee movie related gifts! One in particular I'm paging through now is Footsteps in the Fog by Jeff Kraft and Aaron Leventhal. It's a look at Alfred Hitchcock's San Francisco. The book is a nice change of pace in that it's not a rehash of Hitchcock information and mental analysis. It's a look at the films made in the Frisco area and Hitch's connections to the area.


A pleasant surprise, which I'm reading now, is a chapter on Shadow of a Doubt. It never clicked with me that Santa Rosa was north of Frisco.

The book goes into great depth on the buildings used in the film, what they look like today, maps, etc. The Newton home, at 904 McDonald Avenue, is still there. What really impressed me were photos from the film with prominent Santa Rosa landmarks in the background, compared to today. Also neat tidbits on filming at night during the war, the Til-Two Bar, Edna May Wonacott, and KSRO ("...with studios in Vallejo and Santa Rosa").

The book also touches on Vertigo, The Birds, Psycho, and even a bit on Rebecca (yes, you heard that right). Check out the information on Hitch's ranch in Scotts Valley too.