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).