The Big Idea Behind VERTIGO

French writers Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac had a worldwide bestseller with their first novel Celle qui n'etait plus (The Woman Who Was No More) in 1952. This book was filmed by Henri-Georges Clouzot and released as Les Diaboliques, starring Simone Signoret, in 1955. It was noted by many at the time that the resulting movie was very "Hitchcockian." In fact, the film rights for the writers' next novel, D'Entre les Morts , was purchased by Paramount for Hitchcock before it had even been translated to English (as From Among the Dead). The film rights cost $25,275.

Hitchcock first engaged famed playwright Maxwell Anderson to adapt the novel, with the immediate assignment to change the setting to San Francisco. For a hefty fee of $65,000, Anderson returned a first draft script entitled Darkling, I Listen which was deemed practically unfilmable. Hitchcock's friend Angus MacPhail was brought on next, but bowed out of the assignment, so the next serious stab at a screenplay was undertaken by Alec Coppel. It was at this point that Hitchcock was able to spend time and enjoy his favorite collaborative methods when fashioning a film: leisurely daily meetings during which Hitchcock himself contributed major material in terms of story structure, characterization, pacing - enough, in fact, to qualify as a co-writer.

Coppel's draft of the script carried the title From Among the Dead. It contained many important scenes that would carry through to the final film, such as the rooftop opening, the dream sequence, and the two scenes at the Spanish mission. Hitchcock was still unhappy, though, as was James Stewart, now attached to the project and armed with script approval. A new writer, San Francisco native Samuel Taylor, was brought in. He worked closely with Hitchcock until the director was sidelined by a medical emergency - a gallbladder operation. While Hitchcock convalesced from March to May of 1957, Taylor humanized the Stewart character, added Midge, and decided to reveal Madeleine's secret to the audience two-thirds of the way into the film rather than at the end.

Taylor claimed that he wrote his drafts only from Hitchcock's notes, never reading Alec Coppel's script or the novel. He petitioned the Screen Writers Guild to have sole credit for the screenplay. Reviewing the evidence, the Guild assigned credit to both writers. Principal photography on Vertigo was set to begin in August, 1957.

by John M. Miller