Pocket notebook sighting

[“A woman in the building, an Ann Stewart, apartment 421, she just called in. Says she saw the man we’re after. Whatever that means.” That’s a streetlight behind the notebook. Click for a larger view.]

An anonymous detective and his notebook, as seen in Pushover (dir. Richard Quine, 1954). The film, which stars Fred MacMurray, Philip Carey, and Kim Novak, has strong overtones of Double Indemnity (dir. Billy Wilder, 1944). Pushover looks to the future too: the story seems to foreshadow Rear Window (dir. Alfred Hitchcock), released just two days later. And because Kim Novak drives around and gets followed a lot, Pushover seems to foreshadow Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958).

And there’s a telephone booth.


[Kim Novak as Lona McLane, in her first credited film role. Click for a larger view.]

More notebook sightings
Angels with Dirty Faces : Cat People : Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne : Dragnet : Extras : Foreign Correspondent : The Honeymooners : The House on 92nd Street : Journal d’un curé de campagne : The Lodger : Murder at the Vanities : Murder, Inc. : The Mystery of the Wax Museum : Naked City : The Palm Beach Story : Pickpocket : Pickup on South Street : Quai des Orfèvres : Railroaded! : Red-Headed Woman : Rififi : Route 66 : The Sopranos : Spellbound : State Fair : T-Men : Union Station : The Woman in the Window