Mr Evans


I'm slightly puzzled. The red haired woman, Miss McDonald, was the one who came to the playwright regarding the job and was also "Mr Evans" in the final scene. But earlier on, when the playwright is in the pub and hears the plot being discussed between Mr Evans and Janet Murch, was McDonald also Mr Evans at that point, speaking in a raspy voice? Why would Janet Murch have called her Mr Evans if she could see that she was talking to a woman? We know that the person Janet Murch was conversing with wore the perfume - this was established later.
I understand the involvement of the two men - the nanny agency director was part of the plot and the Irishman was his hitman.
Thanks to anyone who can enlighten me.

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Yes that was McDonald posing as "Mr Evans". It would be easy to suggest that Murch didn't know she was talking to a woman-hence the raspy voice and possible disguise. However, the expensive perfume that "Evans" was wearing would surely have been a give away?

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I agree that it's a small plothole but given that Hannon's sense of smell was accentuated due to his blindness, I doubt the whiff of scent was overpowering (he only really smelt it because Mr Evans dropped a glove and bent to pick it up right next to him).

When you think about it, the central conceit about why the Macdonald lady would need to pose as a man is pretty inexplicable in the first place.

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Not necessarily. I knew a guy who wore SHALIMAR. My first thought was "censorship". Has anyone read the book?






"I do hope he won't upset Henry..."

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I thought MacDonald was the one with the perfume. At the end he says, "When someone tells you it's a man and a woman, and you smell perfume, you assume it's on the woman." When he meets MacDonald, he smells the perfume so he's sure that she's Janet Murch. I think MacDonald was the one wearing the perfume all along, not Janet.

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Based upon the superb suspense thriller "Warrant For X" by Philip Macdonald. ******SPOILER ALERT FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T READ THE NOVEL****The book has a different premise. The playwrite is NOT blind. He overhears the conversation pretty much as depicted in the film, and likewise has a frustrating time with the police. He got a brief glimpse of the 2 women as they left the pub. The name "Evans" is mentioned along the way, but HE is not either of the two. Through a mutual friend the playwrite is introduced to super-sleuth Anthony Gethryn. And in contrast to the skeptical police he immediately realizes that something diabolical in the works. (This is the same Anthony Gethryn who was the brilliant detective in the novel "The List Of Adrian Messenger and portrayed in the film version by George C. Scott. Several characters in Warrant For X were in the other novel as well.) So the novel is really about Gethryn, with little to go on, getting involved with the investigation. Great suspense, and some great twists which I won't reveal. I strongly recommend both novels. They've long been among my ultra-favorite reads.

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I just re-watched the scene in the pub. "Mr Evans" has a silhouette that is clearly female (for example, she has a thin womanly neck). She wears a hat but her face is not covered (you can see her profile and lips moving as she speaks), so Janet Murch knew she was talking to a woman, despite the weird voice, and thus would not have thought the perfume was odd. However, when they both leave the pub, it is clear that the person who dropped the glove was acted by a man, from the size of the hands, gloves, and shoes, all of which are glimpsed.

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the most famous Mr. Evans was Waldo Evans in Sorry Wrong Number played by harold vermilyea (a lookalike of J. Edgar Hoover)

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