MovieChat Forums > The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946) Discussion > (*Spoiler*) why I'm not convinced yet

(*Spoiler*) why I'm not convinced yet


don't like spoiling films for anyone please do not read if you have not seen it yet)

Throughout the beginning of the film I see Sam as a fairly benign all - American type. Sure he has a mildly shady past and unexplained dollars in his pocket but nothing too dramatic. I mean he gives lifts and all.

Likewise I didn't get the impression he was the blackmailing kind at all.

So the bit were he says he ' wants half' jars with me. It seems completely out of the character depicted so far, moreover, to request half of what looks like an immense fortune would seem to require something major to blackmail with, and it seems he had nothing.

So I may be told 'he is a gambler and that it what gamblers do' but I'm not sure. As I said requesting 100k in cash out of the blue on a hunch is one thing, requesting half of a 30'000 worker business empire is another! I think a gambler would want immediate cash, not illiquid assets like a factory.

So that why so far I'm a little unconvinced about this film.

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At that point it wasn't blackmail, I think he was talking about marrying her. It wasn't until later by the campfire he really found out what happened to Martha's aunt.

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Yeah, Sam was as much into the sex=death madness that Martha inspired in Walter, until Toni saved him. And Toni *did* save Sam. God I love this movie.

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YOU saw him as he really was but they did not. All they knew is that after 15 years he waltzes into town and immediately the DA's office and wants a favor for a criminal. I'm sorry, but there is absolutely no reason, from their point of view, NOT to believe he's there to blackmail them.

Random Thoughts: http://goo.gl/eXk3O

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