Whoa. Just whoa. That was my only thought upon seeing the ending of this. I love, love, love Claude Raines. He's good whether he's playing a nice stable character, a mean character, even a side character where he's not the star, (like in Now, Voyager), or a crazy character. Here, he's crazy(not as crazy as when he was the phantom in the 1950s Phantom of the Opera, but that's kind of a given). Even when he's the "bad guy", I feel sorry for him, and I feel sorry for his character here, John Fabian.
Since this is Hitchcock, we go right to the scene of a murder. The detective comes, (I don't remember the character's name, but he's played by Charles Bronson, and while I normally don't say this about him, since I've never seen him so young before, I gotta say it now...hubba-hubba!) He first talks to one of the people who found the body, who directs him to the ventriloquist, Fabian, saying that the deceased had been wanting to talk to him. So he goes to talk to him. His wife is also there, and just one look at her, you know it's not a happy marriage. Fabian denies knowing the dead man's name, but the dummy (who's name I cannot even hope to properly spell) demands (politely of course) to be let out of her box, (in case this is your first time watching anything with a dummy, spoiler alert; this is a very bad sign). At first, the dectective is annoyed (instead of properly creeped out). The wife makes it known how much she hates the thing. The doll is actually quite beautiful, and realistic, but in a non-creepy way (believe it or not).
Anyway, the dummy suggests the detective talk to Fabian's manager. This angers the wife more, and the detective, possibly to cool down the situation, and talk to the wife alone, asks Fabian to get him. We learn that she has been his assistant for 8 years, and has been married to him for nearly the same amount of time, but she says he's more in love with his work than her, and largely ignores her. The manager comes, and it's revealed they're having an affair, giving the manager a motive, only he says that Fabian already knows all about it, so it didn't have to be kept a secret. Fabian concurs, then for some reason, laughs (and is properly chastised by his dummy for it)
Now, this part is a little unclear, the inspiration for the dummy. He fashioned it after a previous assist, who he was in love with, when he was using a male dummy. Now, I can't figure out who was abusing who, or even what happened to the girl. Something is said about amnesia, but that's not explained, she might have been killed, but suddenly, that's dismissed. At any rate, she's gone. Fabian tried to find her, even getting the police involved, but she was never found. It was at that time, that he decided a male dummy wasn't working anymore, too many copy cats, so he made the female dummy himself, making it look and sound like his lost love. The way he describes how he made it, how it came to life in his hands is super creepy.
Spoiler: In the end, the dummy tattles on him. Raines is brilliant in this. The close up is just of him and the dummy. His mouth moves ever so slightly, like a real ventriloquist, even though an actress is providing the voice for the dummy. You see the conflict on his face, he wants to tell, but he doesn't want to at the same time. The dummy describes the murder as she 'heard' it in her box. The detective at first thinks it was because he knew that he murdered his lost love, but she says he didn't murder her. The detective asks for a motive, and with the dummy's prompting, Fabian himself tells it. How they got away with this in 1955, i'll never know. The victim wanted $1,000 to keep quiet about Fabian's relationship with the dummy. That's right folks, he'd rather get it on with the dummy he created than with his wife. What he says next shows that on some level, he understands that this is wrong, very twisted behavior. Tears in his eyes, he says that if that got out, it would ruin their relationship. They'd be mocked, ridiculed, called freaks trying to be some version of Romeo and Juliet. He couldn't have that, it would ruin the best thing in his life. The dummy says it's already ruined.
At this point, the detective just plain looks embarrassed to be there. If this were in color, he'd probably be blushing. He wanders off to a corner, maybe to give them privacy so the dummy can 'break up with him'. Fabian pleads with her not to leave him, but she says she may have been able to live with his lies, but she can't live with something (that's right, something) that kills. Her voice begins to fade away as she mutter 'how can I live' and her eyelids flutter close. The deceive reluctantly, or sadly, takes the crazy man to jail, (or the looney bin) as he drops the doll to the floor in despair.
So, in summary, the ventriloquist would rather be with his dummy than a real woman, like his wife, and after he murders, the dummy would rather 'kill herself' than be with him, (hence th title of the episode). Yikes! Not even Romeo and Juliet had it this bad!
11 out of 12 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink