A Few Words About A few words about...™ Vertigo -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[AstonMartin007]

Err, this is a strange segue, but I just stumbled across this, and my mind is blown...actually, this whole page is mindblowing.

http://030726d.netsolhost.com/WordPress/?p=267

Determined to succeed, Hitchcock brought Billy Eckstine on board early in production on Vertigo (1958) to write the title tune. The scene as shot shows James Stewart taking Kim Novak to the Andar Pedo, a (fictitious) San Francisco Latin nightclub where Eckstine is performing. In the scene, Eckstine sees Stewart's character and, with a wink as acknowledgment, says "This one goes out to my good friend, Scottie Ferguson." Eckstine then performs the title song, but once again, Hitchcock ultimately decided not to use the musical interlude. (Hitchcock's most famous marketing misstep,Vertigo Painting by Numbers, above, was featured in a previous Isn't Life Terrible post).

I knew there was a pop tune made, but this is the first time I've ever heard of a "music video" being filmed, with Stewart and Novak no less! Has anyone ever heard of this, or seen it?!

None of the pictures on that site work, but the link is definitely the Vertigo song...first time I've ever heard it, I don't know about the song itself but I can't imagine Herrmann approving...

Bonus: The last link on that page has Hitch himself presenting "Music to be murdered by"...

EDIT: Cary Grant as a radio ID announcer!!! My god, what a performance!

 

[Matt Hough]

To my eye, some of the Blu-ray looks very nice. Not fully correct, but very nice. Other sequences look like garbage. And for the record, resolution and sharpness are not a part of the equation. They simply are.

RAH

Exactly what I thought when I watched it from the UK box set. A masterful film like this deserves the very best, and it didn't get it.

 

[Moe Dickstein]

Aston,Just to follow up, making DTS discs to work with that print isn't "hard" it's just something that isn't going to realistically happen. It's like wishing to find the uncut Ambersons, it would be nice but we're not going to realistically get it. The trouble to make it is not at all worth what it would take.If Universal were to go in and create a new restoration using digital tools for DCP screenings, that of course would carry the new sountrack, but you're not going to have the new track with the old 70mm prints from the '96 restoration.

 

[haineshisway]

Err, this is a strange segue, but I just stumbled across this, and my mind is blown...actually, this whole page is mindblowing.

http://030726d.netsolhost.com/WordPress/?p=267


I knew there was a pop tune made, but this is the first time I've ever heard of a "music video" being filmed, with Stewart and Novak no less! Has anyone ever heard of this, or seen it?!

None of the pictures on that site work, but the link is definitely the Vertigo song...first time I've ever heard it, I don't know about the song itself but I can't imagine Herrmann approving...

Bonus: The last link on that page has Hitch himself presenting "Music to be murdered by"...

EDIT: Cary Grant as a radio ID announcer!!! My god, what a performance!

I have had the sheet music to the song for years - I'd have to find it, but I do not believe Mr. Eckstine had anything to do with its writing. Furthermore, while he may have recorded the song, I don't know anyone (and I know a LOT of Vertigo experts) who has even hinted at such a sequence being filmed - I think it's totally in this weirdo's mind. I have every single draft of Vertigo, from Darkling, I Listen on, and no such sequence exists in any of them. And anyone who thinks Mr. Hitchcock would shoot something off-the-cuff and not in the script clearly knows nothing about Mr. Hitchcock. But the wonderful thing about the Internet is you can just print anything you like and people will just automatically assume it's true.

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

I have had the sheet music to the song for years - I'd have to find it, but I do not believe Mr. Eckstine had anything to do with its writing. Furthermore, while he may have recorded the song, I don't know anyone (and I know a LOT of Vertigo experts) who has even hinted at such a sequence being filmed - I think it's totally in this weirdo's mind. I have every single draft of Vertigo, from Darkling, I Listen on, and no such sequence exists in any of them. And anyone who thinks Mr. Hitchcock would shoot something off-the-cuff and not in the script clearly knows nothing about Mr. Hitchcock. But the wonderful thing about the Internet is you can just print anything you like and people will just automatically assume it's true.

The "Making of Vertigo" book says the composers of the Vertigo song were Livingston & Evans. I think that Internet page is mostly satire (really, The Beatles recorded a song written for The Birds? I don't think so...)

 

[haineshisway]

Ah, satire. Certainly not to the person who posted it here I'm not sure Livingston and Evans is right either - I'll have to unearth it.

 

[AstonMartin007]

Look, I wasn't born yesterday, I was also incredulous while reading it, but the links to the MP3s, especially Cary Grant's, made me pause. There's definitely info in there that's wrong (the Beatle's song was written in 1966, so that's wrong), but there's also stuff that can be corroborated. I thought the Psycho song was a joke, but this site also mentions it.

I found the original post with pictures in the Internet Archive, click the thumbnail to see:



I agree there's no way this scene was meant to be in Vertigo, but that doesn't automatically rule out its existence. If such a scene was ever shot, it would have to be later on by Paramount's promo dept., not Hitchcock, just like those promo pictures of Scottie strangling Judy that don't look like anything in Vertigo.

I've emailed the author to try and get some info...if it is a hoax, it's awfully elaborate and detailed for a blog no one reads. Stewart and Novak only appear together in Bell, Book, and Candle and the 1958 USO Christmas Show, it'd be pretty damn cool if there was other footage of them together. At the very least, I'd like to know where that Cary Grant audio is from...never in a million years did I expect to hear him sing!

 

[Douglas R]

I found the original post with pictures in the Internet Archive, click the thumbnail to see:

Here's the original LP cover. Is that a genuine "Psycho" sticker on the cover on that site? The style doesn't look right to me. I think somebody was having some internet fun.

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

Look, I wasn't born yesterday, I was also incredulous while reading it, but the links to the MP3s, especially Cary Grant's, made me pause. There's definitely info in there that's wrong (the Beatle's song was written in 1966, so that's wrong), but there's also stuff that can be corroborated. I thought the Psycho song was a joke, but this site also mentions it.

I found the original post with pictures in the Internet Archive, click the thumbnail to see:



I agree there's no way this scene was meant to be in Vertigo, but that doesn't automatically rule out its existence. If such a scene was ever shot, it would have to be later on by Paramount's promo dept., not Hitchcock, just like those promo pictures of Scottie strangling Judy that don't look like anything in Vertigo.

I've emailed the author to try and get some info...if it is a hoax, it's awfully elaborate and detailed for a blog no one reads. Stewart and Novak only appear together in Bell, Book, and Candle and the 1958 USO Christmas Show, it'd be pretty damn cool if there was other footage of them together. At the very least, I'd like to know where that Cary Grant audio is from...never in a million years did I expect to hear him sing!

Cary Grant appeared on radio dozens of times. Based on the content and sound of his voice, I'd guess it's from around 1940 or so. Certainly nothing to do with North by Northwest as that blog says it does.

 

[Robin9]

Ah, satire. Certainly not to the person who posted it here I'm not sure Livingston and Evans is right either - I'll have to unearth it.

Billy Eckstine's recording of Vertigo is included on the compilation CD Billy's Best. The sleeve notes say Jay Livingstone and Ray Evans wrote the song. Not their best by any means.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

No doubt that Vertigo song influenced this:

 

[David Weicker]

No doubt that Vertigo song influenced this:

Gee thanks. Now I'll go around all day humming 'High An----ZI-eteeee, whenever you're near'

 

[haineshisway]

Look, I wasn't born yesterday, I was also incredulous while reading it, but the links to the MP3s, especially Cary Grant's, made me pause. There's definitely info in there that's wrong (the Beatle's song was written in 1966, so that's wrong), but there's also stuff that can be corroborated. I thought the Psycho song was a joke, but this site also mentions it.

I found the original post with pictures in the Internet Archive, click the thumbnail to see:



I agree there's no way this scene was meant to be in Vertigo, but that doesn't automatically rule out its existence. If such a scene was ever shot, it would have to be later on by Paramount's promo dept., not Hitchcock, just like those promo pictures of Scottie strangling Judy that don't look like anything in Vertigo.

I've emailed the author to try and get some info...if it is a hoax, it's awfully elaborate and detailed for a blog no one reads. Stewart and Novak only appear together in Bell, Book, and Candle and the 1958 USO Christmas Show, it'd be pretty damn cool if there was other footage of them together. At the very least, I'd like to know where that Cary Grant audio is from...never in a million years did I expect to hear him sing!

At this point I have to believe that YOU'RE making with the satire. You can't possibly think that sticker on the Tony Perkins album is real or that that song was ever part of Psycho. C'mon now, really. The site you keep going to is a JOKE. End of story. I'm sure if the author of that completely unfunny bit of stupidity responds to you he will give you exactly what you're looking for because he'll see you coming a mile away and it will be fun for him. None of this is real and it's becoming baffling as to why you'd carry it on, frankly.

 

[haineshisway]

Here's the original LP cover. Is that a genuine "Psycho" sticker on the cover on that site? The style doesn't look right to me. I think somebody was having some internet fun.

perkins.jpg

Of course the style doesn't look right - it's laid on there by an idiot who thinks he's being funny. You want to see the musical version of Psycho, you can see it right here:

 

[Peter Apruzzese]

Of course the style doesn't look right - it's laid on there by an idiot who thinks he's being funny. You want to see the musical version of Psycho, you can see it right here:

Now THAT's funny! Love the big production number at the end...I almost wish it were real.

 

[AstonMartin007]

Haha, I never knew Anthony Perkins was a singer, now I'm listening to Mel Brooks warbling, it's not too bad actually. Wonder how many star actors today could belt out a halfway decent tune.

Psycho the musical needs to happen. "Nobody here but Mother" ha! Only thing it needs is a bird reference.

I should clarify, I'm not taking this stuff that seriously, I'm also leaning toward it being some kind of joke. Sean Connery lip-syncing to Nat King Cole??? I sent the guy an email, other than that I'm not going to pursue it further. I was just intrigued by the Vertigo paragraph, I'd heard that various elements were destroyed in 1967 and Paramount was promoting the song (again, one wonders what Herrmann thought).

Here's Cary Grant's radio performances, the timbre of his voice does sound pre-50s.

http://www.carygrantradio.com/

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Gee thanks. Now I'll go around all day humming 'High An----ZI-eteeee, whenever you're near'

Well, there are worse things you could be doing...it is a catchy little number...

 

[Matt Hough]

Anthony Perkins did a Broadway musical (GREENWILLOW) and earned a Tony nomination for his performance. He was also in the Stephen Sondheim TV musical EVENING PRIMROSE.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Hey, I'm not surprised they were going to use that Tony Perkins song in Psycho...they cut this little tune out of Star Trek The Motion Picture:

 

[Robin9]

Anthony Perkins did a Broadway musical (GREENWILLOW) and earned a Tony nomination for his performance. He was also in the Stephen Sondheim TV musical EVENING PRIMROSE.

He made a few albums at one time and several years later sang a few numbers on those Ben Bagley "revisited" albums. He wasn't a very good singer. His tone was as flat as his stomach!