Satisfactory Movie Endings

 A friend of mine complained that she has watched many movies and streaming TV series that did not provide satisfactory conclusions to the stories. She urged me to write about ones that ended well. So, before analyzing the next film, here are a few well known motion pictures that have noteworthy endings.

The Shawshank Redemption

I’m not talking about how Tim Robbins’s character Andy escapes from Shawshank Prison and acquires the corrupt warden’s money, although that is something the audience has reason to cheer about. I want to focus on the very end of the film when Morgan Freeman’s Red has finally received his release from incarceration. He has become what he calls an “institutionalized” man, meaning he has spent so much time behind bars, he doesn’t know how to deal with the outside world. But, Andy left him a note and some money so he could join him on a beautiful beach in Mexico, restoring boats for tourists. Earlier, Red spoke about how dangerous it was to hope in prison, because those dreams would just be crushed. Now he can finally allow himself to look forward to something. He says, “I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope.” Some of the best lines ever spoken at the end of a movie.

Casablanca

How could I not include the ending to this movie. It’s not just because of the rounding up of the “usual suspects” line that allows Humphrey Bogart’s Rick to escape arrest for shooting Major Strasser. And yes, the surrendering of Ingrid Berman’s Ilsa to Paul Henreid’s noble Victor as Rick gives his “hill of beans” speech is a wonderful scene of romantic aching. But the ending filled with baptismal rain is a scene of redemption for Rick and Claude Rains’s (appropriate name give the scene) Louis Renault. United now, their “beautiful friendship” will go on to symbolically point toward the movement away from isolationism to battling the Nazi threat before them.

The Maltese Falcon

This film contrasts fantasy with reality, as film noir characters dealing with the seedy underbelly of life seek escape by acquiring an almost mythical object that they hope will transport them away from their dark realm. When Gutman (Sydney Greenstreet), Cairo (Peter Lorre), and Brigid (Mary Astor) realize that the black bird they have sought is a fake they come crashing back to the real world. Brigid must take “the fall” for her crimes, and she boards the elevator, going down, of course, to be arrested. The elevator grating looks like prison bars, so she already appears imprisoned. Humphrey Bogart’s private detective, Sam Spade does not buy into the delusionary vision of the others (his last name reminds one of calling “a spade a spade,” a saying that appreciates facing facts). The quote he uses to describe the phony falcon is perfect for the film. He borrows it from William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, as he says the object is, “the stuff that dreams are made of.” The stress here is on the imagined ideal world versus the harshness of transient mortality.

When Harry Met Sally …

At the end of all Hollywood romantic comedies, one person either runs, takes a cab or airplane, whatever, to reconnect with that individual’s love interest, leaving the audience with the fairy tale “They lived happily ever after” ending. This film is no different in that way. Harry (Billy Crystal) is alone on New Year’s Eve and finally decides he wants to be with Sally, so he runs to the party where she is. What’s great is the speech, by screenwriter Nora Ephron, he gives that finally wins her over, which, in my opinion, is the best dialogue about loving another person. Harry delivers it not in a sweet manner, but like he’s delivering an argument to make a point. It’s almost like he wishes the illogical truth weren’t so, but he can’t escape it. He says, “I love that you get cold when it’s seventy-one degrees out. I love that it takes you an hour and a half to order a sandwich. I love that you get a little crinkle right there when you’re looking at me like I’m nuts. I love that after I spend the day with you, I can still smell your perfume on my clothes. And I love that you’re the last person I want to talk to before I go to sleep at night. And it’s not because I’m lonely. And it’s not because it’s New Year’s Eve. I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.” Doesn’t get much better than that.

The film actually ends, appropriately, on the couch where throughout the film couples briefly state how their long relationships began. Harry and Sally now are included among those others.

The Graduate

This whole film appears to be about protesting the false values of the white upper-middle class, with Benjamin (Dustin Hoffman) realizing the banality and hypocrisy of his world, and revolting against it. The conclusion of the film has him driving and running (there it is again) to unite with his love, Elaine (Katharine Ross). He is a Christ-figure, presenting a crucifixion image as he bangs on the glass partition of the church’s second floor as Elaine is about to be wed to a clone of the established order. When she calls out to him he springs into action, wielding a crucifix (director Mike Nichols stressing the Christian symbolism). They run off, supposedly toward that fairy-tale ending.

But wait. Despite taking action here, throughout the film, Benjamin looks like he is passive, letting the world’s current carry him along. We first see him on a conveyor belt at the airport, and he exits the building through the wrong door. He floats in the family pool, and later appears to be running in place as he approaches the church. Is he really able to escape the forces around him holding him back? When he and Elaine get on the bus to take them away, the looks they present are not joyful, but appear to show what is to follow is a letdown. They may be wondering: What do we do now? They are leaving on a bus (again, passively being carried forward), but Simon and Garfunkel’s “Sounds of Silence” plays, as it did in the beginning, repeating its pessimistic message, implying that, in the long run, no progress has been made.  

Gaslight

 SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

The title of this film, Gaslight (1944, although there is a shorter 1940 version), directed by George Cukor, has become a psychological term which indicates when a person manipulates another to the point where there is doubt on the part of the victim about the perception of reality. So, the theme of illusion versus reality dominates the story. The movie also deals with how love for a person is not as important to some who value materialism as the primary source of affection.

 

The film begins with the street gas lamps being lit in London around 1874. The image is meaningful since brightness is supposed to shed light on what has been obscured by darkness. Ironically, in this film, the gaslight is used by the villain to suggest what is not there, and thus makes the heroine not believe her own eyes. There is a flashback to Thornton Square in the city and a newspaper headline notes there has been a strangling at this location, with the killer still at large. Paula Alquist (Ingrid Bergman, winning the Best Actress Oscar for this role) is dressed in mourning black as she leaves the house where her Aunt Alice, a concert singer, and she lived. Alice Alquist was the victim noted in the newspaper. Paula is to go away to Italy and is advised to forget the gruesome past and focus on her own future as a singer. 

 

Time has passed and Paula is practicing singing opera with the help of Maestro Guardi (Emil Rameau). Her selection is from Lucia Di Lammermoor, an opera which has a woman going insane, an instance of foreshadowing. Gregory Anton (Charles Boyer) is playing the musical accompaniment. After he leaves, Guardi tells Paula that her heart is not in her singing, that she seems too happy to be playing a part that is tragic. He guesses that she is in love, and tells her that she did know tragedy in her past, but she should enjoy her current joy because “happiness is better than art.” He is advocating a vacation away from her singing and immersing herself in life instead (the Victorian Age poets such as Browning, Tennyson, and Arnold were torn between withdrawing from society to create art versus engaging in life’s adventures). However, while she believes she is choosing an outgoing life, the result is just the opposite.

It turns out that Gregory is the man she is in love with. Outside, he states how he wants to marry her. She admits she is hesitant because she doesn’t know much about him, having only known each other for two weeks. That is the first red flag waved at us. He asks if she is afraid of him, and she says “never,” which will turn out to be an ironic statement. Paula does decide to slow things down a bit and go away for two weeks.

 On the way to her retreat at Lake Cuomo, an elderly British woman, Miss Bessie Thwaites (Dame May Whitty), who loves a lurid tale of murder, exhibits her excitement about a book she is reading that has a woman finding out that the man she married has six previous wives “buried in the cellar.” Here is more foreshadowing about the hidden sinister nature of a lover. The woman resides in Thornton Square, where Paula lived and her aunt was murdered. It is a spooky coincidence. Appropriately, as it turns out, Paula, after hearing about murders from Miss Thwaites, encounters Gregory, who surprises Paula right outside her train car door. Even though she said she wanted to be away from him for this trip, she is so under his spell that she is happy to see him.

The two get married and go on their honeymoon. It seems very romantic, but then he suggests that they settle in London, because he was there once and always thought it would be comfortable living in a house in one of the city’s squares. London is the place that embodies disturbing ghosts of Paula's past, and she is upset to hear about it. She tells him that she didn’t know her father and her mother died when she was young, so her Aunt Alice raised her. She left the house to Paula, which came to feel like a “house of horror” in Paula’s dreams. (It does seem convenient that Gregory wants to live in the type of house in London that Paula just happens to own). But, she says that she hasn't lived in fear since she has known Gregory because he has driven it away. Her statement turns out to be ironically inaccurate. She proclaims that she has found “peace” with his love, and declares, despite his false objections, that she can now live in the Thornton Square house with him.

 Paula and Gregory arrive at the Alquist house. The couple enter the building to a soundtrack with slow bass tones, suggesting Paula’s dread of the place. The house looks like an abandoned museum with furniture and chandeliers cloaked in cloth, looking like burial shrouds. The dark lighting and shadows add to the macabre feel. The appearance is reflected in Paula’s words when she says the drawing room used to be full of light and life, and now, “the whole place seems to smell of death.” She is caught up in the remembrance of the horrible loss of her aunt. There is a painting of her aunt in the role of the Empress Theodora over the fireplace, and Gregory appears awestruck by the portrait. Gregory points out that Paula resembles her aunt, which is another ominous fact. Paula found her body right under the painting. Paula says she can’t be there with all these reminders of her aunt’s death. According to IMDb, the crowded interior setting symbolizes “Paula’s increasing sense of claustrophobia.” Gregory suggests that they put all of Aunt Alice's stuff in storage so Paula will not be reminded of her death. Paula wants to have parties in the house again, but Gregory wants their privacy for a while. This isolation will be used for devious reasons. Gregory begins to play the piano, and Paula comments that the music he plays is what her aunt used for an encore. It is another interesting coincidence, showing how Gregory may know more about Paula’s aunt than he divulges. Paula picks up some sheet music which contains a letter to her aunt written two days before the murder from a person named Sergis Bauer. It relates wanting to see Alice again after Bauer followed her to London. At the man’s name, Gregory hits a symbolically discordant note, stands up, and forcibly grabs the letter out of Paula’s hands. He tries to recover by saying that it isn’t the letter, but the fact that all of these reminders of what happened to her aunt will bring back Paula’s fears. He says she must forget her. It is interesting here that Gregory encourages forgetting something and later accuses Paula of being absent-minded. But, Paula quietly disagrees, distinguishing between remembering her aunt from forgetting what “happened to her,” as she looks sideways in a wary way at what Gregory suggested. 

 

Miss Thwaites questions the Antons’ cook, Elizabeth (Barbara Everest) about the couple receiving visitors. Elizabeth tells her that Gregory doesn’t feel that seeing others is good for Paula, and she notes that Paula “hasn’t been feeling too well lately.” By being more isolated, Paula has no means of diverting herself from her grief about her aunt, and doesn’t have objective reference points to gauge her emotional status. She becomes more dependent on Gregory, and also more vulnerable. Interestingly, Miss Thwaites says the house looks fine from the “outside,” which metaphorically suggests that the benign appearance may be misleading. 

 Gregory is giving instructions to the new housemaid, the sassy Cockney, Nancy (Angela Lansbury, in her first film role, for which she received an Oscar nomination), who reveals an immediate attraction for Gregory. During the film she comes onto Gregory which he fuels with his compliments and thus makes her an unwitting ally in undermining Paula. He brands Paula as disturbed by saying Nancy must not “bother” Paula “about anything,” with the excuse that his wife is “highly strung.” Gregory issues a warning when he says Nancy should remember his instruction, since the prior employee did not keep her distance from Paula and was fired. Here is more evidence of Gregory’s attempt to dominate Paula's life. 

It is three months since Paula and Gregory were married and he gives her a brooch that belonged to his mother. The pin needs fixing, and he tells her that she loses things so she must remember he is putting it in her purse in the meantime. He is undermining her mental capacity here as she must defend her memory in this scene. She seems glad to get out for the afternoon, which emphasizes the impact of her recent confinement on her. Nancy comments to Elizabeth that Paula doesn’t look ill to her, and the suspicious Elizabeth comments that Gregory “keeps telling her she is,” which builds concern about Gregory’s intentions.

 

The couple visit the Tower of London, an ominous place for Paula given its history of imprisonment. The guide relates gruesome details about beheadings, the separation of the brain from the body, which, given this story, reminds one of “losing one’s head,” a possible reference to insanity. Appropriately, at this moment Paula opens her purse after using a handkerchief and can’t find the brooch. She is confused as to how she could have misplaced it. She wanders off searching for the missing object, and when Gregory approaches her, she pretends that nothing is wrong, covering up her version of the truth.

 The couple stroll outside and pass by Brian Cameron (Joseph Cotton), who appears to recognize Paula as he doffs his hat. She reflexively smiles in return. Brian tells his children that he feels as if he has seen a ghost, most likely because Paula looks like her dead aunt. Gregory interrogates Paula as to why she acted as if she knew the man if she says she didn’t. He sows more of his doubts about her sanity when he says her present behavior is, “like the other things.” He tells her that she has been forgetful and suggests maybe it’s because she is tired. She hooks onto that reason and wants to go home, reflecting fear about her own mental health. He says that they should still see the Crown Jewels in another building. Since he said he didn’t know London she wonders how he knows where the jewels are, which creates doubt concerning Gregory’s honesty. His excuse is that the guide told them and uses her inquiry to add being overly “suspicious” to her list of symptoms. As they look at the Crown Jewels, Gregory seems to know their whole history, and looks mesmerized as he relates facts about them. In the crowd is Brian who secretly observes the couple. Paula again says she wants to go home, which she has come to feel is her sanctuary.

 

At the house, Gregory asks for the brooch to be repaired, which agitates Paula, given her husband’s accusations about her absent-mindedness. She sadly confesses she doesn’t have it, and asks if he is sure he placed it in her purse. He is condescending as he wonders why she doesn’t even remember him putting it there. His plan is working since she admits that she is starting to “not trust my memory at all.” He plays it down telling her not to “worry,” but the concern has already taken hold.

 Paula wonders, if she and Nancy have not turned on additional lamps, why the gaslight in her bedroom has diminished in brightness (the fuel supply to individual lamps goes down when other lights are used). Here is the source of the title of the movie which metaphorically links the decrease in the lamp’s flame to a lack of rational powers. Alone, Paula hears footsteps in the boarded-up floor above her, where her aunt’s belongings have been sequestered. Paula’s wide eyes reflect her fears concerning her mental faculties.

 

Miss Thwaites encounters Brian in the square as he stares at Paula’s house. She assumes Brian is curious about the murder that took place there and comments that the new inhabitants are odd. She mentions that Paula never leaves. But, Paula now comes through the front door for a walk. She hesitates and goes back to ask Nancy for an umbrella. The housemaid, acting as Gregory’s proxy, asks what she should tell Paula’s husband if he asks where she is and what she is doing. Paula is so unsure of herself at this point and intimidated by Gregory’s assessment of her that she aborts her walk and retreats to the supposed safety of the house.

 

Brian’s curiosity leads him to look at the police records at Scotland Yard regarding Alice Alquist’s death. Brian is the assistant to General Huddleston (Edmund Breon), who is upset that Brian is digging through the cold case’s documents. Brian admits that he was a fan of the deceased singer, met her once, and thought her beautiful. The General says that Brian is using the case to meet the woman who looks like Alice. But, Brian says he thinks there is something odd going on. The General accidentally mentions that the famous jewels of another country, which Alice owned, went missing after her death, and this fact was thought to be the motive behind the killing. The absence of the jewels was hidden from the public, which lends to the film’s theme of concealed motives. This revelation also adds insight into Gregory’s fascination with precious gems, since he said of the Crown Jewels that they “have a life of their own,” as if they were more alive for him than other people. Brian subsequently enlists a policeman, Williams (Tom Stevenson), to aid him in his investigation.

 Gregory appears to be sleeping in a chair in front of a fireplace, but he is awake, which adds to him being a man of deceptive appearances. Paula seems to want to add fuel to the fire, but hesitates. When Gregory shows that he is not asleep he tells her to ring for the housemaid to tend to the fireplace. She says she can do it, but he sternly says that they have discussed the matter before, and he insists that she call for Nancy. At this point Gregory has caused Paula to be afraid of doing anything, in this case warning her that she might set the house on fire. When Nancy arrives, Gregory seductively comments about how pretty Nancy looks. He mentions that there is a new policeman patrolling the area (Williams), and possibly her makeup is to attract him as she has other cops before. His words instill in Paula his supposed jealousy toward Nancy. But they also show his astute observational abilities about the new patrolman. After Nancy leaves, Paula questions Gregory’s flirting with the housemaid, which has made Nancy hostile toward Paula. Gregory just uses Paula’s accurate observations to paint his wife as imagining things.  He pretends to be concerned by saying it hurts him when she is “ill and fanciful,” portraying her as prone to delusional thinking. 

 

Gregory shows his anger again when Nancy says that Miss Thwaits is there with someone else, which turns out to be Brian, and they want to visit with Paula. Paula says they have turned away the neighbor several times. Gregory erupts, saying Miss Thwaits is a “busybody” and he doesn’t want people in his house, and then tells Nancy to send them away. Paula is wide-eyed at the ferocity of her husband’s reaction. She says she would like to see Miss Thwaits, and then he calmly places the blame on Paula by saying all she had to do was to say so. 

 

Gregory tells Paula that she has no time for company since she must prepare for going out that evening. She was unaware of that fact, but is now wondering if Gregory told her and she forgot. Paula darts her eyes around in worry, as if searching her memory (Bergman visited a mental institution and found patients shifted their eyes about out of uncertainty about what was happening). He says that it is a surprise and that he is taking her to the theater, so she hasn’t forgotten about it. She is elated that this fact is not another item she does not remember. She dances and sings as he plays a waltz. But, he stops and looks stern again as he points out that a small painting has been removed from the wall. He asks her to get it, and of course she doesn’t have an inkling as to what happened to the painting. She is getting whiplash from how she is being jerked from one emotional state into another. The servants swear that they did not remove the picture. Gregory glares at Paula and tells her to find the item. She goes up the stairs and reaches for the painting behind a statue on the landing. She says it was the same place the picture was found twice before and that is why she looked there. He now deprives her of going to the theater after getting her hopes up by saying she is in no state to go out. She concludes, “then I don’t know what I do anymore,” which is exactly the desperate state that Gregory wants her to be in. She pleads that she needs his patience to deal with her as she clings to his stability to keep her sane. It is ironic since he is the one driving her mad. She begs that he not go out because she hears voices and footsteps and is afraid of the house when she is alone. He closes the bedroom door on her, as if locking a prison cell. 

 

Gregory goes out in the London fog which is symbolic of the psychological confusion in which he is enshrouding Paula. He has a studio where he says he works on his music. He acts as if he is walking there, but then stops and hides in the shadows, suggestive of his covert activities. Paula again hears walking above her in the closed-off section of the house. The gaslight dims, supposedly for no reason, adding to her fears of irrationality.

 Brian attends a concert organized by Lady and Lord Dalroy (Heather Thatcher and Lawrence Grossmith), hoping to sit next to Paula to find out why she is so isolative. But Gregory wrote they were not going because Paula was not well. However, Paula gets dressed up and asserts that she is feeling okay and wants to get out into the world and visit with Lady Dalroy, who was kind to her as a child. Gregory, not wanting to support her in this act of independence, tells her she must go by herself. When his ploy doesn’t work to keep her home, he then acts happy to go with her. He is like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde as he shifts back and forth between pretending to be loving and supportive and then acting harsh and dismissive. Nancy calls a cab for the couple and is approached by Brian’s spy, Constable Williams from Scotland Yard, and we learn that he has been seeing her on a regular basis so he can gather information. 

 As the music plays at the concert, there is a shot of Gregory and Paula listening with Brian seen in the background, pictured between the couple, implying he is coming between the Antons, like a wedge to pry apart the destructive connection between the two. Gregory catches Brian looking at them and senses a threat since he most likely remembers him from his previous walk with Paula. Paula is finally looking happy as she hears the pianist playing music she loves. But, Gregory will not allow her that pleasure as he tells her that his watch is missing, again injecting doubt as to her rationality. Her eyes dart around again as if trying to escape the fear of madness. Bergman is quite good at showing a look that implies she wants mercy and not the judgment that Gregory delivers. He takes her purse and pulls out the watch, like a policeman finding the damning evidence of a transgressor. Paula breaks down in tears and disrupts the proceedings, and he escorts her out. Gregory’s plotting substantiates his claims among those in attendance that his wife is not emotionally well. 

 

At home, Gregory berates Paula by saying he tried to confine her to the house to prevent her from doing “these crazy, twisted” things. As she questions her sanity, she searches her actually rational mind as to when his accusations began. She remembers it was when she found the letter dated just prior to her aunt’s murder from Sergis Bauer which stated he wanted to see Alice again. He agrees with her but now says that there was no such letter, and she hallucinated its existence. He says that he learned that her mother also heard voices and footsteps and went insane and died in an asylum. The thought that she may have inherited that madness pushes Paula to break down in fearful tears. Gregory is in a rage now as he accuses her of wanting to go to the concert to meet Brian, who she continues to deny ever knowing. Despite his accusations that she is a liar, she pulls it together to say that she “never lied” to him. He says that she knew Brian but probably forgot about him like everything else. He has laid the groundwork to now call in doctors, and says the required number is “two,” which means he is talking about certifying her to be institutionalized. 

 

Gregory again walks outside in the foggy night, which mirrors his dark deeds, as Williams passes him by. Gregory lights a cigarette and the match reveals a sign that shows the house next door is open to new renters. There is a man standing behind the trees in the square observing Gregory, and it is Brian. Gregory repeats his previous actions of hiding in a back alley and then he disappears as neither Williams nor Brian sees him afterwards. There is no back entrance to his own house, so the two men wonder if Gregory somehow went back to his own place for some reason through the adjacent empty property.

 

There are more noises from above Paula’s bedroom and of course we can assume that it is Gregory gaining access to the closed off section of the house and creating the commotion and drawing gas from lights to drive Paula crazy. She cries out to Elizabeth, who is hard of hearing, which seems to be the reason that Gregory hired her so she wouldn’t hear the sounds being made by him. 

 

Williams visits Brian as he is drawing a sketch of how Gregory might be getting back inside the house. Williams said he saw Gregory during the night walking back to his house and he appeared disheveled, as if he was rummaging in a cellar. The constable also says that Gregory told Nancy that Paula may be going away for some time and wanted Nancy to stay on and look after him. Brian and Williams plot to have Williams occupy Nancy that night as Brian gets inside the house to talk with Paula while Gregory is out. 

 Brian gets past Elizabeth by saying he is there to help Paula. Despite Paula’s attempts to dismiss Brian, he persists and gains her trust by showing her a glove her Aunt Alice gave him when he attended one of her performances. She is happy to see that the glove matches the one she has. He sees the light dim and hears the noises above, which shows Paula that she is not imagining things as her husband made her believe. Brian gets her to admit that all these odd occurrences happen when Gregory is away and then they stop when he returns. Brian gets her to conclude that it is her husband entering next door and accessing the boarded-up floor above from the roof. Brian discovers that all her aunt’s belongings are in the secluded area. Brian must be guessing that Gregory is searching for the missing jewels that could be hidden among Alice’s personal items. 

 

We finally get a look at this secret upper floor as Gregory tosses and rips items looking for the jewels. Brian asks if Gregory has a weapon and Paula directs him to his desk. Gregory’s revolver is missing, and Paula discovers the letter that Gregory said she imagined. The name of Sergis Bauer is familiar to Brian who remembers that he was the pianist who played for Alice Alquist. The handwriting on the letter to Alice and the one sent to Lady Dalroy are the same, so Gregory is Bauer, and hid the true reality behind a false façade. Brian says that Bauer killed Paula’s aunt and searched for the jewels but couldn’t find them. By marrying Paula and then having her declared mentally incompetent, he would have open access to Paula’s aunt’s possessions. Brian also knows that Sergis Bauer has a wife who lives in Prague. All that was deceptively hidden is now revealed. Paula is devastated because she realizes there was, “nothing real from the beginning,” no real caring, and the man who she loved and thought loved her was a fraud. The things that she felt might be delusions were real, and what she thought was true was a lie.  

 Back upstairs, Gregory sees moonlight coming in through the skylight as it illuminates a dress that Alice wore. The jewels were sewn into it and Gregory removes them. Brian, thinking Gregory will return to the house from the street, waits for the man outside. Instead, Gregory squeezes through an opening where the boarded-up door leads to the house. He goes to his desk and finds that it has been opened. He accuses Paula of breaking into the desk and she tells him that a man arrived and opened it. Gregory questions Elizabeth who strangely says there was no man, which feeds into the idea that Paula is delusional. (Is Elizabeth complicit in Gregory’s plot? Possibly not, as she may just not want to contradict her employer. The film is unclear in answering this question). Just as Paula begins to think she hallucinated Brian, he shows up at Gregory’s bedroom door. He entered the upper floor and now has the dress from which Gregory stole the gems. 

 

Gregory tries to shoot Brian, but the latter prevents him as the gun discharges. Gregory heads for the upstairs room with Brian and Williams, who heard the shot go off, chasing him. They overcome Gregory and tie him to a chair. Brian hands Paula the jewels. She wishes to speak to Gregory alone. He tries to talk his way out of it, saying Brian is lying about Gregory because Brian is in love with her. He tries to tell lies that he hopes she wants to believe. He says he changed his name because his early life was a musical failure. When he mentions Italy, she insightfully says that she felt that maybe she “dreamed” those times, since they now seem unreal because he was not who he pretended to be. He asks her to go to a drawer to get a knife and free him. She picks up the knife and is sarcastic, saying she is mad so she can’t be holding a knife, or maybe she misplaced it, but can’t remember. She then finds the brooch he hid, and yells at him, saying that because she is insane, as he said, she can have no pity for him. She calls to Brian to take Gregory away.

 

As he leaves, Gregory says that the jewels were “a fire in my brain that separated us,” and admits he always wanted them. As he says these words, his eyes widen and shine like a blaze. For Gregory, the objects he obsessed over having, came to possess him.

 

The film ends with Brian escorting Paula onto the balcony of the upper floor as the cloudy night will make way for the light of day, and will allow Paula to see things clearly again, and freely.

The next film is The Grapes of Wrath.

Notorious

SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

Yes, it’s Alfred Hitchcock time again. This 1946 film deals with the issue of who can one trust, especially when the only aspect of a person that one knows is his or her reputation. How someone appears on a superficial assessment may not truly represent the inner workings of a person.

After the titles and a statement that we are in Miami, the first scene is of news reporters peering into a courtroom as a verdict involving the crime of treason is pronounced. The shot implies that we are getting only a part of the whole story, since the camera is like a voyeur, objectifying the object of observation, not considering peripheral elements. In this case, the journalists only want a sensational story, without a search for depth. We get the ramifications of the legal sentencing as the focus shifts to the daughter of the convicted person, Alicia Huberman (Ingrid Bergman). We see her at a party, getting drunk, which is not what one would expect since her father has been sent to prison for having been a Nazi spy. So, the title of the film refers to Alicia’s father. But, it also includes his daughter by association. Add to that, we have a woman who likes to drink, have rowdy parties, and has a promiscuous reputation. On the surface, she would seem to be someone who would raise trust issues. There is an intoxicated man at the party who talks about fishing. The reference seems to imply that there is a need in the story to “fish” for clues to find out what is really going on, but one may encounter a few “red herrings,” that can lead a character astray.

The irony is that Alicia can, based on appearances, be a good double agent to infiltrate the circle of her father’s associates. We see the back of a man at Alicia’s party. This shot implies that his true character is an unknown, also. The man is Devlin (Cary Grant). The two flirt, and even in their back-and-forth there is a cynicism, a suspiciousness about anything noble or pure. She says, “Nothing like a love song to give you a good laugh,” and he confirms the feeling by saying, “that’s right.” Her overt sexual nature is evident when he asks her when they go outside if she will need a coat. She says, “you’ll do.” This statement, however, just reinforces his preconceived notion of her as being a tramp. Alicia takes him for a drunken drive. Her shame involving her father comes to the surface when she says she might as well get arrested, then her whole family will be in jail. She drives recklessly, but he is pretty cool under the circumstances, and we soon learn why. When a policeman pulls Alicia over, Devlin flashes his ID, and the cop quickly  becomes subservient. Alicia, who has been followed by authorities who think she has information about her father’s contacts, is angry that Devlin is just another policeman harassing her, and she has trust issues with him now since he was not what he appeared to be. She physically struggles with him, and he knocks her out with a short jab, effective given her consumption of alcohol. But, it does show his hard edge, that he is committed to getting his job done, no matter the means.

As Alicia wakes up, we see the surroundings through her eyes. Things seem crooked, out of focus. Devlin is there, but he appears upside down. We are in a world where things are not straightforward, right and wrong may have exchanged positions, and its deceptiveness makes it difficult to navigate morally. Devlin tells her he has a job for her. She knows her father’s Nazi associates who are in Brazil, and may be able to “sell her trust” to them so she can provide the American intelligence community with information. It is interesting that “selling” here is equated with a type of sham, which makes sense since it is self-serving. Trusting someone can be a treacherous risk. She is resistant, saying that Devlin’s patriotism is insincere, self-serving. But, he had her place bugged, and recordings show that Alicia was against her father’s activities, hated him for it, and loved her new country, the United States. So, her true American patriotism is revealed, and her morality, ironically, through deceptive eavesdropping. She agrees to help, but she will be putting herself in danger, raising the question of how much must be sacrificed to get the job done?

Before her assignment, the two spend some time together, and romantic feelings emerge. She says she is a changed woman. He doesn’t want to admit, even to himself, that he is falling in love with her. His skepticism emerges about her ability to be faithful to him when she says that he will probably say he is really married and has a family. He tells her that she must hear that line a lot. The implication is that she has been with many men, even ones that are married. They fly down to Rio together along with Devlin’s boss, Paul Prescott (Louis Calhern). On the flight, Devlin tells Alicia that her father poisoned himself in prison, and is dead. (The poisoning here turns out to be a foreshadowing event). She remembers how nice it was with her father before she found out that he was involved with Nazis. Another deception, even worse here because it involves father and daughter. In Rio, she tells Devlin that she has dreams of being an innocent child. But, her “notorious” past keeps interfering with Devlin’s ability to trust her. She has been eight days sober, and he sarcastically says that she is trying to “whitewash” her past. She feels helpless that he believes, “once a tramp, always a tramp.” When she accuses him of feeling ashamed of falling for her, he kisses her, illustrating his torn feelings.

The tension on their relationship is increased because of her assignment, which is to rekindle her relationship with German industrialist Alexander Sebastian (Claude Rains), with whom Alicia was once romantically involved. Alicia hopes that Devlin will admit his love for her, and then she would refuse the assignment. But, he can’t get past his doubts concerning her past, and his jealousy will not allow him to think clearly. He leaves it up to her. She says that their love affair is a strange one, because “you don’t love me.” In the absence of any protestations from Devlin, she feels defeated, and goes along with the mission. She may also want to punish Devlin for not committing to her.

The plan is to have Alicia meet Sebastian at a horse riding club. Horses, as was noted in the posts on Equus and Hitchcock’s Marnie, are archetypal symbols for male sexuality. A staged runaway horse allows Sebastian to rescue Alicia in manly fashion, and their reunion progresses from there. Devlin’s presence is explained as a chance meeting on the plane to Rio, where Devlin became infatuated with Alicia. This set-up promotes interest through romantic competition, but, ironically, Devlin is secretly emotionally fixated on Alicia. Whereas Devlin’s jealousy undermines his clarity of thought, so, too, does lust blind Sebastian to any possible intrigue concerning Alicia’s presence in Rio. Indeed, Sebastian says that meeting Alicia again brought back an old “hunger,” which suggests how sexual desire is associated with a person’s “appetites.” How a man allows a woman’s attractiveness to place him in a precarious situation is one of the main themes of Hitchcock’s Vertigo, as was explored in a previous post. Sebastian does recognize the spy boss Prescott, but Alicia explains, truthfully, that she has been harassed by U. S. Government officials  because of her father’s actions. She lies, though, when she says she came to Rio for an escape from those agents, and says her father was unselfish, and wanted her to leave America for her safety.

Sebastian’s mother (Leopoldine Konstantin) is immune to Alicia’s charms, and is suspicious of her. She questions why she did not testify at her father’s trial in his support. Mrs. Sebastian does not seem to buy Alicia’s explanation that her father wanted her to be kept away from the legal proceedings. Sebastian has been won over, and does not listen to his mother’s misgivings. He accuses her of her own maternal jealousy, wanting to always keep him away from romantic interests. At a party held by Sebastian with the Nazi sympathizers in attendance, Alicia notices that one of the men, Emil, gestures and makes a bit of a scene about a wine bottle. Later, the conspirators decide that Emil almost exposed their plans, and must be eliminated in what will look like an auto accident. Later, at the horse races, Alicia slips away (with Mrs. Sebastian noting her prolonged absence), and meets Devlin. She tells him about the fuss over the wine bottle. She adds, probably again to get a reaction from Devlin, that he can add Sebastian to her list of “playmates,” meaning she slept with him. Devlin seethes, and says she didn’t waste any time. She counters with it’s what he wanted. She was testing him, seeing if he would protest her role, which would show Devlin’s love for Alicia. But, at the same time, he was testing her, waiting for her to not agree to getting close to Sebastian, which would demonstrate her love for him. The suspicion, the lack of trust, caused them to hedge their bets, and kept them apart. He says if he had prevented her from doing the job, then they wouldn’t achieve the government’s mission. The thrust here is that there is a great deal of personal compromising sometimes when the bigger stakes are in play. The irony is that in the spy game, the chances of success are improved when people with moral flexibility are involved.

However, when Devlin meets with his colleagues and one comments on Alicia’s “notorious” background, Devlin comes to her defense, praising her courage. He says, “Miss Huberman is first, last, and always not a lady. She may be risking her life, but when it comes to being a lady, she doesn’t hold a candle to your wife, sitting in Washington, playing bridge with three other ladies of great honor and virtue.” He basically is saying being held in high esteem without action to back up the admired position is worthless. Alicia meets with the agents because she asks for advice about the extreme position she is in. Sebastian has asked her to marry him. They agree that she should go through with the marriage, with Devlin giving a sarcastic approval.

After the honeymoon, they return to Sebastian’s mansion. Alicia gets Sebastian to get keys from his mother so she can have access to all of the closets in the house. This action symbolically shows how she can get him to unlock his secrets through her feminine manipulation. But, the wine cellar is under lock and key, and it would be too suspicious if she tried to ask for the keys and investigate the area herself. She does take the key off of Sebastian’s chain when he is not carrying it. Devlin tells Alicia to get Sebastian to throw a party, and she should invite him to the event. Sebastian discovered them at the racetrack, but Alicia said that despite Devlin’s romantic persistence, she keeps rejecting him. Devlin says that she should tell Sebastian that when he, Devlin, sees how happy they are, he will relinquish his pursuit. When she tells Sebastian, he says, “It’s not that I don’t trust you.” But, he shouldn’t. The irony here is that her appearances with Sebastian are insincere, but he allows himself to be duped, while, she is straightforward about her feelings for Devlin, and he won’t trust her, because of her superficial reputation.

At the party, Alicia goes with Devlin to the wine cellar. He accidentally knocks over a bottle. In it, it turns out, is a mineral substance used in making a nuclear weapon. He tries to hide the broken bottle shards under the racks, and pours the contents into another bottle of wine that he has emptied of its liquid. On the way out, Devlin sees Sebastian approaching. He kisses Alicia. Their story is that he tried to force himself on her, but she resisted. Devlin apologizes and leaves. But, Sebastian sees the wine cellar key is missing from his chain. When he wakes in the morning, it has been returned. He also found spilled wine from the bottle Devlin emptied, broken glass, and sees that there was an attempt to make another bottle to appear as if it was still sealed. Sebastian goes to his mother and says he has been fooled and is married to an American spy. He fears for his own life now, because the others would kill Sebastian if they found out he allowed their plans to be compromised. Mrs. Sebastian says, to avoid suspicion, Alicia’s death must be slow. They decide to put poison in her coffee. This action again stresses the theme of how appearances can be deceiving. While the Sebastians on the surface appear to be caring for Alicia as she becomes weak and dizzy, they are in fact hiding their treachery in an innocent looking beverage.

Devlin meets with Alicia at one point, and she looks terrible. She says it’s due to her drinking, because that is what Devlin wants to believe. But, when Prescott says that they haven’t heard from Alicia for a while, Devlin starts to get over his prejudices concerning Alicia, and realizes that she looked sick, not hungover. Alicia discovers that the Sebastians are poisoning her when they refuse to let someone take her to a hospital, and yell out when a guest accidentally picks up her coffee cup. They place her isolated in her bedroom, and remove her telephone, under the pretense of not wanting her disturbed. In the meantime, agents start following Sebastian, and the latter’s conspirators take notice, so they become suspicions of Sebastian. Devlin shows up at Sebastian’s house while the other Nazis are there. He finds out from a servant that Alicia has been in bed for a week. He goes upstairs and finds the gravely ill Alicia, who says that she realizes she has been poisoned. She tells him that the mineral ore is brought in from nearby mountains. He says now that he has loved her from the start, and she professes her love for him.

Devlin carries Alicia out, warning Sebastian that he will tell his “guests" that he has been compromised by American spies. Sebastian turns to go inside the house, the fellow Nazis waiting there for him, and the door closing behind him shows that he is about to meet his doom. Devlin drives Alicia away to safety.

As Billy Joel sang, “everyone is so untrue.” Trust is, indeed, hard to come by, in international politics, and especially in matters of the heart. But, having preconceived, stereotypical notions about people, just makes it more difficult to fairly judge others.

The next film is Ex Machina.

Casablanca

SPOILER ALERT! The plot of the movie will be discussed.

“Here’s lookin’ at you, Kid,”; “Round up the usual suspects”; “Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” These are a few of the famous lines from this Oscar winning best movie of 1942 who many consider among the top five best American films ever made.

My favorite line from the movie is delivered by Rick (Humphrey Bogart). When he is asked why he came to Casablanca, he says it was “for the healing waters.” When it is pointed out that the city is in a desert, Rick responds by saying, “I was misinformed.” In that one line we sense the mystery that surrounds Rick. The film provides a slow reveal of who he is. We hear people talking about his club and what his past might be. Even the first shot of him has the camera move from his hand signing a note, up the white jacket sleeved arm to finally rest on his face. His enigmatic response about his being in Casablanca shows the wall he has erected between himself and others. His line is also funny, and there are many of them in this film that has a dark edge to it.

Who is the true hero of this story? Many could say it is Victor Lazlo (Paul Henreid). He is a Czech resistance fighter who has rallied multitudes with his moral leadership to battle German tyranny in Europe. He was incarcerated in a concentration camp before escaping. He is in Casablanca, as are numerous others, hoping to get letters of transit so that he can fly to Lisbon with his wife, Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman), and then reach America. But, even in Casablanca he puts his life at risk. He defies the German officers when he orders Rick’s house band to play La Marseillaise to remind the French in Casablanca of the need to preserve their country against the compromises yielded by the Vichy government. He meets with the local resistance members to encourage them to keep up the fight against the Nazis.

Rick is the main character in the plot, but is he a hero? We learn that in the past he helped in the fight against fascism, always siding with the underdogs. But, he felt betrayed by the love of his life, Ilsa, when she didn’t show up at a train station in Paris on the day they were supposed to leave the city to flee the Nazi onslaught. Perhaps he chose Casablanca, not for “healing waters” but for just the opposite reason – because its desert and the hopeless people staying in the city reflect the barrenness of his cynical soul. He has become a person who says he sticks his neck out for nobody and that “I’m the only cause I’m interested in.”  He has no allegiance to any country. This fact is illustrated when Major Strasser asks him his nationality, and Rick responds by saying “I’m a drunkard.” He now collaborates with criminals, such as the one played by Peter Lorre, and corrupt officials like Captain Renault (Claude Rains), who collaborates with the Nazis and takes advantage of women seeking escape from Casablanca.

But, even though he is angry at Ilsa, he still admires Lazlo. The latter says that he tries to help the cause. Rick says, “Many try. You succeed.” It’s as if Lazlo’s presence and actions in Casablanca awaken in Rick the importance of self-sacrifice and the nobility of working for a cause. After Rick finds out that Ilsa thought her husband was dead when they were together in Paris, and only left once she found out Lazlo was alive, he sees that she still loves him. His cynicism melts away. He is the one who allows the band to play the French anthem. He then rises to Lazlo’s level by sacrificing his love for Ilsa, putting her on the plane with her husband because he knows that Lazlo needs her. Rick is willing now to join the resistance. As Lazlo says to Rick, “Welcome back to the fight.” That is why Rick says that their lives don’t amount to “a hill a beans” in the larger context of the world’s problems.

So, one could say that Lazlo is the model others must emulate to become heroes. You can see Ilsa’s admiration for him in her eyes. But ideals are abstractions, and hard to touch. For example, Ilsa never kisses him on the lips. Rick is more like the type of hero that the rest of us hope to become. He is someone who feels love, anger, hurt, and jealousy, but he can transcend his self-centered life to perform heroic actions when the chips are down. Perhaps he is symbolic of the United States, which has had to overcome the comfort of isolationism to join the world in the fight against totalitarianism.

Lazlo’s heroism flows to others in the film, including those singing at Rick’s club, and the other resistance fighters. Even Captain Renault catches the patriotic fever, joining Rick at the end to form their “beautiful friendship.”

Next week’s movie is On the Waterfront.