Vertigo

Give me your hand!

Give me your hand.

I thought you said no more aches or pains.

No, it's this darned corset. It binds.

No three-way stretch? How very un-chic.

You know those police department doctors. No sense of style.

Well, anyway, tomorrow will be the day.

Why, what's tomorrow?

Tomorrow? The corset comes off tomorrow.

I'll be able to scratch myself like anybody else tomorrow.

I'll throw this miserable thing out the window.

Be a free... I'll be a free man.

Midge, do you suppose many men wear corsets?

- Mmm. More than you think. - Really?

What, do you know that from personal experience or...

Please.

What happens after tomorrow?

What do you mean?

Well, what are you going to do once you've quit the police force?

You sound so disapproving, Midge.

No, it's your life.

But you were the bright, young lawyer that decided

he was going to be chief of police someday.

I had to quit.

Why?

Well, it's because of this fear of heights I have, this acrophobia.

I wake up at night seeing that man fall from the roof,

and I try to reach out to him, and... It's just...

It wasn't your fault.

I know. That's what everybody tells me.

Johnny, the doctors explained to you...

I know, I know.

I have acrophobia, which gives me vertigo, and I get dizzy.

Boy! What a moment to find out I had it.

Well, you've got it, and there's no losing it.

And there's no one to blame. So why quit?

You mean, and sit behind a desk, chair-borne?

Where you belong.

What about my acrophobia? What about...

Now suppose I'm sitting in this chair, behind the desk. Here's the desk.

And a pencil falls from the desk down to the floor,

and I reach down to pick up the pencil. Bingo! My acrophobia's back.

Oh, Johnny-O.

Well, what'll you do?

Well, I'm not gonna do anything for a while.

You know, don't forget, I'm a man of independent means, as the saying goes.

Fairly independent.

Mmm-hmm.

Well, why don't you go away for a while?

You mean, to forget?

Oh, no, Midge, don't be so motherly.

I'm not gonna crack up.

Have you had any dizzy spells this week?

I'm having one right now.

Midge, the music. Don't you think it's sort of...

Oh.

What's this doohickey?

It's a brassiere. You know about those things. You're a big boy now.

I've never run across one like that.

It's brand-new.

Revolutionary uplift. No shoulder straps, no back straps,

but does everything a brassiere should do.

Works on the principle of the cantilever bridge.

- It does? - Mmm-hmm.

An aircraft engineer down the peninsula designed it.

He worked it out in his spare time.

Kind of a hobby.

A do-it-yourself type of thing.

How's your love life, Midge?

That's following a train of thought.

Well...

Normal.

Aren't you ever gonna get married?

You know there's only one man in the world for me, Johnny-O.

You mean me. We were engaged once, though, weren't we?

Three whole weeks.

Good old college days.

But you were the one that called off the engagement, you remember?

I'm still available. Available Ferguson.

Oh, Midge, do you remember a fellow in college by the name of Gavin Elster?

Gavin Elster?

Yes, funny name.

You think I would. No.

I got a call from Gavin today. It's funny, he sort of dropped out of sight during the war.

Somebody said he went East. I guess he's back.

It's a Mission number.

Well, that's skid row, isn't it?

Could be.

He's probably on the bum, and wants to touch you for the price of a drink.

Well, I'm on the bum. I'll buy him a couple drinks and tell him my troubles.

But not tonight. How about you and me going out for a beer?

Mmm-mmm. Sorry, old man. Work.

Well, then, I think I'll go home.

Midge, what'd you mean, "There's no losing it"?

What?

The acrophobia.

I asked my doctor.

He said that only another emotional shock could do it and probably wouldn't.

You're not gonna go diving off another rooftop to find out?

- I think I can lick it. - Well, how?

I have a theory.

I have a theory. I think if I can get used to heights, just a little bit at a time,

just a little, like that, progressively, you see?

I'll show you what I mean.

Here. I'll show you what I mean.

- We'll start with this. - That?

What do you want me to start with, the Golden Gate Bridge? Now, watch.

Watch this. Here we go.

There. There.

Now, I look up, I look down.

I look up.

- All right, there's nothing to it. - You're kidding.

- Wait a minute. - There's nothing to it.

Here.

That's a girl. I'll use that. Put it right there.

All right, here's the first step.

There.

Okay, now step number two.

All right. Step number two coming up.

There we are.

See? I look up, I look down, I look up...

I'm going right out and buy myself a nice tall stepladder.

Take it easy now.

All right, now here we go.

No problem.

Why, this is a cinch. Here, I look up, I look down.

I look up, I look down.

Oh, Johnny, Johnny.

How did you get in the shipbuilding business, Gavin?

I married into it.

Very interesting business.

No, to be honest, I find it dull.

Well, you don't have to do it for a living.

No, but one assumes responsibilities.

My wife's family is all gone.

Someone has to look after her interests.

Her father's partner runs the company yard in the East, Baltimore.

So I decided, as long as I had to work at it, I'd come back here.

I've always liked it here.

How long have you been back?

Almost a year.

You like it, huh?

Well, San Francisco's changed.

The things that spell San Francisco to me are disappearing fast.

Like all these.

Yes. I should have liked to have lived here then. Color, excitement, power.

Freedom.

Shouldn't you be sitting down?

No. No, I'm all right.

I was sorry to read about that thing in the paper. And you've quit the force.

Is it a permanent physical disability?

No, no.

It just means that I can't climb stairs that are too steep or go to high places,

like the bar at the Top of the Mark.

But, there are plenty of street-level bars in this town.

Would you like a drink now?

No, I don't think so. No, it's a little early in the day for me.

Well, I guess that just about covers everything, doesn't it?

I never married. I don't see much of the old college gang,

I'm a retired detective, and you're in the shipbuilding business.

What's on your mind, Gavin?

I asked you to come up here, Scottie, knowing that you'd quit detective work.

But I wondered whether you'd go back on the job as a special favor to me.

I want you to follow my wife.

No, it's not that. We're very happily married.

Well, then...

I'm afraid some harm may come to her.

From whom?

Someone dead.

Scottie, do you believe that someone out of the past,

someone dead, can enter and take possession of a living being?

No.

If I told you that I believe this has happened to my wife, what would you say?

Well, I'd say take her to the nearest psychiatrist, or psychologist,

or neurologist, or psycho... Or maybe just the plain family doctor.

I'd have him check on you, too.

Then you're of no use to me. I'm sorry I wasted your time.

Thanks for coming in, Scottie.

Okay.

I... I didn't mean to be that rough.

No, it sounds idiotic, I know.

And you're still the hardheaded Scot, aren't you?

Always were. Do you think I'm making it up?

No.

I'm not making it up. I wouldn't know how.

She'll be talking to me about something.

Suddenly, the words fade into silence.

A cloud comes into her eyes and they go blank.

She's somewhere else, away from me, someone I don't know.

I call to her, she doesn't even hear me.

Then, with a long sigh, she's back,

looks at me brightly, doesn't even know she's been away.

Can't tell me where or when.

Well, how often does this happen?

More and more in the past few weeks.

And she wanders. God knows where she wanders.

I followed her one day,

watched her coming out of the apartment, someone I didn't know.

She even walked a different way.

Got into her car and drove out to Golden Gate Park, five miles.