Breaking into Victor's room? and more Q's??--Possible SPOILERS!
Enjoyed the movie 7 out of 10, but just why did "the killer" break into Victor's room?
And who tossed the flowers into Lottie's dressing room?
possible answers...
I know it's been a while since you posed your questions but i just finished the movie and i believe i can answer them for you.
Your comment:
"Enjoyed the movie 7 out of 10, but just why did "the killer" break into Victor's room?
And who tossed the flowers into Lottie's dressing room?"
1) Both Sydney Greenstreet (the killer) and Peter Lorre realized that the nephew had killed his aunt and framed an innocent man for the crime. Greenstreets plan was twofold - he wanted to punish the nephew and embarrass the man who had replaced him at Scotland Yard Supt.Buckley. His plan was to commit the 'perfect murder' and then leave clues to frame another innocent man (Clive Russell) so that Buckley would arrest him for the murder. Greenstreet would late until the very last minute before the execution to confess that He himself was the murderer in order to make his rivals humiliation complete.
Now here are the answers to your two questions:
Lorre who played Greenstreets friend had figured out that Greenstreet was the murderer. Remember the scene where he is hiding in a closet spying on Greenstreet? Greenstreet KNEW that Lorre was close to figuring out the truth - he had found one of Lorres buttons in his closet. Greenstreet broke into his apartment to make it look like someone else was trying to scare Lorre off the track. He tried to make it look like there was an actual killer on the loose.
Why did he throw flowers into Lottie's dressing room? That is just part of his original plan to frame an innocent man. The note that was attacked said "do not speak about Frida." Frida was the mistress of the man he was trying to frame - Clive Russell. Who else but Clive Russell would want to keep his mistress' name out of the investigation? Russell must be guilty! Right?
I hope this helps clear things up a bit.
It really is a brilliant movie.
"Life's true gift is the capacity to enjoy enjoyment."
--Majel Barrett Roddenberry as Luxanna Troi
I have a question of my own. Why would Greenstreet's character go to the trouble of touring around France looking for the "other woman" as an alibi, when he knew very well an alibi wouldn't be needed?
share[deleted]
I would think his original plan was to find the other woman just as the priest was found at the beginning. Finally find the witness to prove innocence. When it became impossible, he was stuck with his plan B, which is confessing. He still gets to say "i told you so" with plan B, but he also will hang.
shareHe didn't want to turn himself in. He wanted to find the woman who could free the innocent man the same way that minister proved that an innocent man had gone to the gallows (start of film). His objective was to prove to the new superintendent that he (the new guy) could make the same sort of mistake that was made at the start of the film.
Since that witness was dead, he had to either turn himself in or else let yet another innocent man go to the gallows. He did the right thing at the end. If he hadn't turned himself in, Lorre's character would have done so.
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Jim Hutton (1934-79) & Ellery Queen =