Was the old lady in the house-hotel paid by Judy to play along?

Yes, I guess it wasn't important to Hitch. He's usually thorough in his story-telling.


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Hitchcock referred to this scene as an "icebox" scene: you watch the movie and go home and you're pulling food out of your icebox and suddenly think "hey, they never explained how Judy disappeared in that one scene!" Judy could have paid the woman, she could have simply had her back turned and Judy snuck up quietly, or, since both of these are unlikely due to the missing car, it is simply one of those small elements that will never be explained and makes you wonder whether there wasn't a slight supernatural element after all.

I'm watching it now and had a simple idea. Couldn't Judy have told the old woman that a man was following her and she needed help getting away from him? Maybe she even said he was only pretending to be a cop.

It makes a bit of sense; the old woman babbles on when Scottie asks who rents the room, and when he's about to go, the old woman says Judy isn't there, proving that eats up a little more time. Was it just an awkward scene or was the old woman trying to keep him still as long as possible so Judy could get away?

I think women are all too eager to play along in the game of male entrapment...with or without money.

I'm sure she was coached and instructed in advance. We can't be sure of what she was told to make her play along.

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good (wo)men to do nothing.E. Burke

A good movie doesn't require the audience to speculate so all ideas about the landlady and Madeline/Judy were in cahoots and all other speculations are bogus and a waste of time and mind. So, safely assuming that Hitchcock didn't make a mistake we must assume that the character never entered the house, that Scottie was imagining it. This realization reinforces that Scottie is not in his right mind, an idea which pervades the story.

Well, this scene fits well into the film. Scottie is following Madeleine and he becomes entangled in the mystery. This incident adds to it. At the end of the film, we get a totally rational explanation for what actually happened. Accordingly, I would have to conclude that the older woman polishing her rubber plant was in fact paid off. Elster formulated everything in such meticulous detail that I cannot imagine he left this to chance. Part of the point of this incident was to confuse and mystify Scottie, so that he was successfully hoodwinked. That could only work if the old woman was convincing. Knowing the ending, obviously Judy playing Madeleine had rented the room quite recently before Scottie followed her there, so the woman would not have had that ready made story unless they told her to tell him that.

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The hotel manager (Ellen Corby) may not have noticed her eccentric guest Miss Valdes coming into the hotel. Ellen Corby herself appears from nowhere when her voice is suddenly heard in what seems like an empty reception lobby. I don't know if that's a duster in her hand. I always think she has been doing a bit of cleaning below the reception counter. If she had been, she may well not have seen her guest, who moves like a ghost, come into the hotel.