Some reviewers say she was killed. The murderer chokes her to force her to tell where she stashed the pistol, but is she then killed? I don't recall. Can anyone give a definitive answer? BTW, the Imdb credits identify her as "Mrs." but in the film she admits ("not exactly") to having never been married, so why is she called "Mrs."?
shareShe lived for a little while, not clear how long, probably a few hours and then died.
shareWhat exactly tells us that she died?
shareThe doctor told the detective that "the coroner can have her now".
shareThanks; I'll listen for it next time I watch it.
shareThe actual line, spoken by the medical attendant, was, "Going to telephone the medical examiner. He can have her now."
It is better to be kind than to be clever or good looking. -- Derek
It may sound awful but I was happy the landlady was killed. I hated her. She was a mean old hag who was only concerned about money. She was going around tampering with evidence that could cause an innocent man to remain behind bars and face death and she didn't even care.
Woman, man! That's the way it should be Tarzan. [Tarzan and his mate]
Spoilers -> Yes, she is killed. After being choked, when Grace Shanway rings the bell to the room and Mrs. Smerrling goes to open the door, Mrs. Smerrling is struck on the head by Harkley with something like a candlestick and she falls to the floor. Later on, like "straykitten" wrote, the doctor said "the coroner can have her now."
shareShe replies to Lt. Morales that she was 'not exactly' married. She was 'living in sin' (the 'Mr.' is now long gone) but used the Mrs. to preserve her 'respectable' boarding house reputation.
No doubt she took advantage of her usual 'B-girl' clientele, so the house's respectability-level would need all the help it could get.
The choking didn't kill her. He did it to threaten her. She was killed by a blow to the head as she ran for the door. She died later as she was being examined while lying unconscious in her bed. That was made evident when they said "the medical examiner can have her now".
share