After Scotty follows Madeleine to Carlotta's grave and the portrait, Midge takes him to see Pop Leibel, who tells the story of Carlotta--so she knew the story from the beginning. Midge doesn't miss much of anything.

Incidentally, "Vertigo" is, among other things, a wonderful tour of San Francisco, and most of the places in the movie still exist and still look as they did. If one has a certain tendency, one might make the trip to the Palace of the Legion of Honor to see the portrait of "The Mad Carlota"(who seems to be a fictionalized version of the Empress Carlota of Mexico) which appeared not only in "Vertigo" but also in the "Tales of the City" television series.

One will then be gently told that the portrait was strictly a Hollywood prop, which mysteriously disappeared, that the creators of "Tales of the City" had to recreated the portrait for their Vertigo-esque scenes, and that that portrait also mysteriously disappeared. Whether this is true or not, I can't say, but it is delightful to hear on a damp, foggy afternoon.

I am also fond of "Family Plot", which was kind of Hitch's tribute to Truffaut. The twisting race along the mountain highway is familiar to anyone who has driven to Santa Cruz as Highway 17, and is also the road to Hitch's ranch in Scott's Valley.