Nurse Freddie's clue


Midway through the movie two of the doctors and three nurses are gathered in the nurses' quarters. Freddie says something like, "I've had a thought about that hole in the gown, I've just realized something that may be important."

She's just about to tell them what that something is when Trevor Howard says, "Shut up! Don't tell anybody but the Inspector!"

This always bugs me. Not one of them says, "Wait a minute, if she keeps it to herself until later she could be in terrible danger. The safest thing she can do is speak out. The murderer then has to kill all of us to keep the clue from coming out."

It's a small point in a wonderful film but it's always nagged at me. Still, I guess if characters always acted sensibly we'd have no thrillers!

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[deleted]

Exactly, she was the only one who knew. And that is why she should have quickly told the others. The clue would then have been known to all and it would be pointless to kill her unless the others were killed as well.

Keeping quiet was the worst thing she could have done, as it proved when a murder attepmy was made on her soon after.

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[deleted]

I agree...she should not have kept the clue to herself. However, they were all specially ordered to tell the Inspector their ideas and not each other. I wrote it off to them following instructions.

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Good Point by original poster. If you are threatened by what you know the best way to ensure your safety is to alert the media!

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Exactly. Announce it to the world. The killer wouldn't have been able to do a thing about it.

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💕 JimHutton (1934-79) and ElleryQueen 👍

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