HarlowMGM says > There's lots of plot holes in this one. As you noted, the movie does not explain how Lucien Randall was shot without Ellen seeing who did it or how the gun landed on the floor.
I enjoyed this movie a lot so I can't agree that the things you mention are plot holes. I felt I figured it all out immediately but I was never sure until the very end because we weren't shown many of the details it sounds like you would have liked to see. As it turns out, I was only partially right. That made me happy because I didn't feel I'd wasted my time. Giving away too much would have helped me sort out the things I had wrong and ruined the suspense.
Also, the fact Kent says he took the time to plan things out, including the fact she would have to kill him, kind of covers all the details we didn't see. In regards to shooting Lucian, Ellen was already upset and agitated. It wouldn't take much to trick her into thinking she'd shot him.
Kent probably told Lucian, as part of the deception, they'd fake his death. From what we see, Lucian could have fired and dropped the gun himself, thinking it was blanks or maybe it was. Kent had clearly been there but hid somewhere else; they took a long time to let Ellen and David in. Also, Lucian planted the idea of Ellen wanting him dead in the mind of the blond female on the sofa. The person who ran in and shook his head indicating Lucian was dead was one of his pals. The scene ends there. The room would likely have been cleared prior to the police arriving and without anyone else checking to make sure Lucian was in fact dead. If Kent didn't get Lucian to shoot himself, perhaps he came in after all the others had left, killed him, then slipped out.
And how is it that the hood would kill Vivian Vance's maid character the very night David was going to meet her?
After leaving the marriage license location David called Kent to fill him in on what he had found out. He would likely have mentioned the woman with the scar on her hand but even if he didn't Kent knew who had gone in to impersonate Ellen. He sent his goon out to kill her and to take care of David. Kent knew what car David drove. As far as strangling him, he probably would have put the wire around David's neck to get control of him. He would have forced him off the road into a secluded place to kill him. Yes, it does seem an odd way to do it but a gunshot would have attracted attention and, clearly, trying to approach David any other way might have led to a fight. We see how that turned out.
The dumbest plot twist to me is after all of David's clever snooping and finding information he never once stopped to think who might have been plotting to frame Ellen - or who might have a reason. Worse of all, after David discovers the "justice of the peace's" home was a fraud and the JOP was bogus he does not consider that Gregory is the one that brought him to the JOP in the early scenes to "prove" Ellen was not married!!
While I like the movie I did question why David never figured out the link to Kent. At the point the guy attacked him, Lucian and Leah were dead so someone had to be behind keeping things going; the attacker wasn't acting on his own behalf. If he had just thought about it, David might have figured out it was Kent or, at least, he'd have suspected someone close to her had to be involved. Kent taking them to the JOP was not an issue though because he could have gotten that information even if he wasn't behind it. What I found hard to believe was the fact the prosecutor, who had previously hoped to marry Ellen, would be allowed to stay on the case. I know it was addressed in the movie but I think he was too quick to believe she was lying about being married and killing Lucian. Either way it was a conflict of interest and the explanation provided didn't cut it.
At first, I was certain that guy was involved in the deception too. I thought he was working with Kent. His motive would have been jealousy, pay back, and to keep Ellen from marrying David. I did suspect Kent but I thought his motive was good old fashioned greed. He was her guardian so I thought he was trying to get her institutionalized so he could take full and complete control of her money.
Woman, man! That's the way it should be Tarzan. [Tarzan and his mate]
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