According to Dan Auiler, in his excellent study of
Alfred Hitchcock’s film — VERTIGO: THE MAKING OF A HITCHCOCK CLASSIC (New York: St. Martin’s Press,
1998)– when the director was making his
now classic film, released in 1958, the executives at Paramount were not happy with the film’s title. Believing that most of the movie-going public would not know the meaning of vertigo, the suits sent over a list of titles they preferred. Here is a selection of titles that Hitchcock wisely ignored:
Afraid to Love Malice
Alone in the Dark The Mask and the Face
The Apparition Never Leave Me
Behind the Mask The Phantom
Cry from the Rooftop Shadow on the Stairs
The Dark Tower Shock
Don’t Leave Me Steps on the Stairs
The Face Variations To Live Again
Footsteps Two Kinds of Women
A Life Is Forever Without a Trace
Louis Phillips’ recent poetry publications include The Domain of Silence, The Domain of Absence: New and Selected Poems (Pleasure Boat Studio, 2015), The Domain of Small Mercies: New & Selected Poems ], Volume 2 (Pleasure Boat Studio, 2017), How Wide the Meadow (World Audience Publishers, 2019).