initiated by carol on September 17, 2008 (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0508099/)
The structure presents this as incident and trial with contradictory evidence given as flashbacks from two viewpoints.A woman is married and widowed at 17, left with child, studies fashion modeling, puts the boy in care of a friend and widow, is married again, this time to her former husband's employer, takes the friend with her as housekeeper and mother of the boy.The husband is wealthy but the w more
The structure presents this as incident and trial with contradictory evidence given as flashbacks from two viewpoints.A woman is married and widowed at 17, left with child, studies fashion modeling, puts the boy in care of a friend and widow, is married again, this time to her former husband's employer, takes the friend with her as housekeeper and mother of the boy.The husband is wealthy but the wife is extravagant. The boy is something of a nuisance to him. The housekeeper is fired, and poisons the husband's nightly glass of warm milk. The wife is tried for murder.The mother-in-law testifies against her as frivolous and adulterous, but the general tenor of Smight's direction supports the defense. Two scenes are played twice, the wife confronted with bills she either scoffs at or modestly acknowledges, and an old romantic interest (who has made a fortune mining South American tin) whom she either encourages in his lecherous advances or whose kindness she relies on for a loan.The dramatic conclusion leads to a wry and fleeting consideration of justice in its course. The housekeeper, Hitchcock explains, was arrested and tried for murder. "She hoped for a suspended sentence," but what really happened was, "they suspended her."
