MovieChat Forums > The Time of Their Lives (1946) Discussion > Question about ending...

Question about ending...

posted 18 years ago by ann337ph
17 replies | jump to latest

I have seen this movie so many times since I was a child. I love it and consider it to be the best A&C movie. But I have always had a question about the ending. I understand how the letter from George Washington clears Horatio's name, but how does it clear Melody's? Her name is not mentioned anywhere in the letter. The letter would not prove that she wasn't a traitor. She would still be stuck at Danbury Arces. Anyone have any answers to this one?
And I know that it is just a way to give the movie a happy ending and I should just accept it, but it has always bothered me. Not enough to not like the movie but it is always in the back of my mind that something is not quite right.

"Insanity runs in my family...It practically gallops!" --Cary Grant in Arsenic and Old Lace

[–] sfmar 18 years ago

Really a minor plot point, but a valid question. There are some possible explanations. Maybe the plot should have addressed it, but this was essentially a light comedy, not a dramatic film. Two possibilities:

The "curse" was inflicted on them as a pair of traitors, not as individuals, so once it was lifted, both of them were freed from it.

Even if the letter only cleared Horatio, the fact that Melody was with him and was associating with him clears her also, albeit only by implication.

[–] ann337ph 18 years ago

I did think of both of those possibilities and I do realize it is a minor thing to complain about, but it has just always bothered me. I still love the movie and just watched it yesterday. But it is always a question in the back of my mind.
And if association is enough to prove someones innocence, then wouldn't her association with Danbury have labeled her a traitor? She certainly knew Tom better than Horatio.

"Insanity runs in my family...It practically gallops!" --Cary Grant in Arsenic and Old Lace

[–] sfmar 18 years ago

And if association is enough to prove someones innocence, then wouldn't her association with Danbury have labeled her a traitor? She certainly knew Tom better than Horatio.

Yes, but she died in companionship with Horatio, not Tom; and regardless, Tom wasn't apparently under any curse (after all, at the end he was in Heaven too).

[–] ann337ph 18 years ago

True. Very true. Oh, well. It's just a movie. A good movie at that. I'll never stop watching and enjoying it. But I don't think that nagging doubt will ever go way. It's just been there too long.

"Insanity runs in my family...It practically gallops!" --Cary Grant in Arsenic and Old Lace

[–] bgh48 17 years ago

I know it's just a movie, but I've always wondered about the metaphysical, religious aspects of it; how can Costello and Reynolds be cursed by a fellow human when God knows they are not traitors? Do you see what I mean? The Almighty we might assume, knows they are innocent, so how can they be cursed to Danbury Acres till crack of doom??

[–] mam13143 17 years ago

You're right, but just think of all the horror movies today based on the same idea. I think in horror and comedy movies, anything goes.

[–] zensixties 17 years ago

BGH good point, but then there would be no plot for the movie. Maybe God works through humans. On the other hand the guys who shot them, cursed them, and threw them in the well (really could be called a war crime) are supposed to have the moral authority to have a curse that sticks in spite of the victims really being patriots, not traitors.
Another point is that didn't Washington once trust Benedict Arnold? So couldn't his letter praising Horatio be mistaken. Oh well, just a movie...but a good one.

Play the game existence 'til the end...of the beginning...

[–] stevenackerman69 16 years ago

Well, she was going to warn the colonists when she got killed with Horatio. That sort of showed she wasn't a traitor as well.

[–] progman62 16 years ago

The curse assumed that both were men. Remember that Sheldon, when they discovered that one was a woman, said that it had always been assumed they were both men. Then when Melody brought her picture in to show who she was, he read from Danbury's book that she had gone missing the night of the fire. I assumed that at some point Danbury had cleared her of any involvement. Then when they discovered Lou's profession, he read from the book where Danbury had taken Lou's letter from his girlfriend and hidden it. So, when they found the letter, it proved that since Danbury, the traitor, had forcibly taken the letter and hidden it, that Lou couldn't have been involved in the plot and wasn't a traitor.

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Nikon11 14 years ago

And is the assumption also, that Nora was killed by Danbury and his cohorts? If so, then you might be right, and he is in Hell. But, then, why would Melody be wanting to be there?

[–] PaladinNJ (20310) 5 years ago

He didn't kill her. Didn't they mention in the memoirs that Nora approached Tom after the war to find Horatio's whereabouts.

[–] jtyroler 13 years ago

That could explain why the Pearly Gates were closed for Washington's Birthday, which is what I thought the thread would be about. Why did Melody get to go to heaven but Horotio, following right behind her, arrived at the gates to find them closed? The obvious might be that Melody didn't go to heaven.

[–] caladon 12 years ago

Finding the letter seemed like a waste of time. In Danbury's journal he details the fact that he had read the letter, states it was from George Washington, which the folks at the seance admit that if he had a letter from George Washington that proves that they couldn't have been traitors. It was at that point that the curse should've been lifted. As the curse was originally invoked, "if some evidence proves them wrong;" once the fact of the letter and Danburys confirmation were brought to light and the two ghosts were identifed, that was proof enough.

Also, Nora was not killed by Danbury or his associates since in his journal he mentions that Nora had written him at a later date asking if Danbury knew what had happened to Horatio.

[–] crood 12 years ago

If you really want to get technical. Having a letter from George Washington would in no way clear someone of being a traitor. After all, Benedict Arnold was one of his most trusted and respected generals prior to turning to the other side.

[–] scribe1270 12 years ago

I think it's a matter of association. A patriot with a personal letter of recommendation from General George Washington wouldn't knowingly associate with a traitor to the American cause so if the letter clears him it clears his confederate. Also prior to the seance where the two are identified it is believed that both are men and it's only after that point that anyone knows that one was Melody Allen the fiancee of the real traitor. So half the curse on her is broken just by the fact that one of the traitors is discovered to have been a woman and not a man. And there is the wording of the curse, "And unless some evidence appears to prove me wrong I sentence their miserable souls to haunt Danbury Acre til crack of doom." The evidence that is needed is the letter which shows that one of the 'traitors' was actually a patriot who had served under George Washington. Both were bound by the curse and therefore both were freed by the evidence of the letter.

[–] vpilutis 10 years ago

I'll talk about the Washington's birthday ending GW's day is in Feb. which is winter
time, they were in NY State and yet it was warm weather on Earth and Soooooooooooo?

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