FredCDobbs

We haven't given up, we are just stuck. That guy on the right in the boat sure looks like a younger Oskar Homolka, but I think he looked older in the 70s. The guy on the left and in the office looks very familiar but I don't know his name. Looks like a spy or caper movie.

The killer the novel and movie were based on: HARRY POWERS: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Powers

Tonight.

Perfect screenwriting, directing, acting, lighting, photography, editing, and sound effects.

Both of these scenes still frighten me, after more than 50 years of watching this film. Darkness, being alone, hearing odd sounds and seeing odd shadows. Yikes!

I like the ending. He finally met a widow who owned a shotgun and who saw right through his phoniness and she was ready to kill him before he killed her and the kids. His "strength" was phony, since he could only mistreat and kill weak unarmed people.

Grand Coulee Dam - Woody Guthrie Vernon Dalhart The Prisoner's Song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ziha9ZkNBE

I wonder if Laughton was trying to hint that the Mitchum character was physically impotent, and he blamed it on the women? Usually, a lonely hearts killer will go to bed with older women to get at their money, before he kills them. Laughton made a point in this film that the Mitchum character took an odd and different approach.

The medical profession has full access to all the best/easiest painless suicide drugs.

Seems like I remember such a story in HITLER'S CHILDREN 1943, and a loudspeaker scene near the end of the film. Here's a trailer: http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/34542/Hitler-s-Children-Original-Trailer-.html

Dang, that looks like TOPPER with the car on its side.

Years ago, I think I saw some old film where people slide down into a bar.

Tori Spelling The daughter of Hollywood producer Aaron Spelling.

I think I see a large palm tree and a curved stairway, and a guy doing something at some kind of small machine or piano.

Well..... are we going to have to humiliate ourselves and get down on our knees and beg for the next clue?

I think the film might require multiple viewings in order to fully understand it and appreciate it. I would love to see a whole long documentary of Laughton directing it. He seemed to know exactly what he wanted and he seemed to already have the entire film inside his own mind. I love the way the boy actor takes Laughton's rather rough directing without getting upset and trying to do what Laughton wanted him to do. The kid was a real pro as an actor.

scsu and Kid, When I was in school, they always taught hitory from the beginning and going forward, and it was always dull to me. Now I think schools should teach history of the last 20 years FIRST, and then gradually go backward, to see where we came from and how we got here. I think that would be more interesting, AND it would teach the kids what our parents, grandparents, and other ancestors went through before the world came around to us.

I loved his "iris-in", where he showed the kids hiding in the basement window. That took some guts to do, since modern studios would have used a zoom lens for that, and his iris technique had not been used in at least 20 years.

Thanks for that information. I've been wondering about it for years.

I’ve watched the underwater scene several times and it seems to be real. She seems to really be underwater. And I notice the camera cuts happen at about the time Shelly would need to take another breath. So how did they do it? They might have used an air hose, which some underwater dancers use so they can stay underwater yet take a breath about every 30 seconds. Someone hands them a hose, and they exhale and then take in some air, then the hose is moved off camera until the next time. There is a short delay while some air bubbles disappear, then the editor makes the cut so that we see no bubbles. The longest single scene is only about 14 seconds long. The scenes start about 2 minute and 6 seconds into this clip:

I never would have guessed it if you had not posted that second photo, because there are so many old movies with steam yachts in them. I think the two masts are for sails, for emergencies in case the steam engine goes out.

Yes, I think I have it. Thanks.

All I know so far is that design seems to be called an early 19th Century Steam Yacht.

Lav & Kid: If I don’t keep my obsessiveness under control, I could spend days and days just working on one puzzle, and that is often a waste of time and very upsetting if someone else guesses the title first. I kept hoping that Kid would post just one picture that had some really good clues in it, but finally, for me, it was a little in each of his photos. Finally, that last photo showed an old sick lady teacher and some school ground equipment (plus the earlier classroom). So, on IMDB I searched for Keywords: “female teacher” and sub-searched for the key number 195 (for the decade of the 1950s), and the correct title came up second on the list. A lot of people don’t realize that they can use Google, then a sub-search engine at a website, then a sub-sub-search, such as the decade. That uses three search engines at the same time and it gave me the answer right away. The hard part is coming up with exactly the right keywords.