MovieChat Forums > Homicidal (1961) Discussion > Emily's murder weapon a private joke?

Emily's murder weapon a private joke?

posted 15 years ago by mlraymond
4 replies | jump to latest

Has anyone else ever noticed the frequency and detail with which Emily's knife is shown, both in her overnight bag, and being wielded by her? The handyman who sharpens it for her specifically states that he's never seen one like it, and Emily responds that it's a knife used for surgery. When he asks her what she uses it for, she doesn't answer.

I find it hard to believe that the specific choice of this type of knife wasn't deliberate, on either Castle or screen writer White's part. Taken together with the references to Denmark, it has to be a perverse joke, referring to Emily's (presumed) sex change surgery to make her into Warren.Thus, her use of it to murder the people responsible for her miserable condition becomes a sort of poetic justice. ( Notice the crazy, infuriated look she gets, right before stabbing the justice of the peace, when he lecherously announces " Now I get to kiss the young lady").

And when he crossed the bridge, the phantoms came to meet him

[–] nvasapper 15 years ago

Actually, she does give him an answer when he asks what she uses it for. She says "Various things."

I agree wholeheartedly with your thoughts in the second paragraph. I think you're right on target. Very insightful and intelligent remarks.

[–] Fargo_North 15 years ago

I agree with your idea about the knife. I think Freudian theory may also be applied whereas the knife could be seen as a phallic symbol and the stabbings a metaphor for penetration.

I'M A TRAVELING SALESPERSON. I SELL BANJOS.

[–] nvasapper 12 years ago

To mlraymond:
That scene when she stabs the JP to death is the most realistic stabbing murder that I have ever seen on screen. It was so real looking that it's indistinguishable from what an actual stabbing would look like. I have never seen anything like it, before or since. The film deserved an Academy Award for Special Effects just for that one scene alone. And to this day, even though I know what's going to happen and I know how the bloody effect was done, I still can't fully watch that scene. It's just too too intense.

"WE INTERRUPT THIS PROGRAM TO BRING YOU A POLICE BULLETIN. JUSTICE OF THE PEACE ADRIMS WAS MURDERED IN HIS HOME IN VENTURA TONITE BY A YOUNG WOMAN WHOSE DESCRIPTION FOLLOWS- ABOUT FIVE FEET SIX, BLOND, ABOUT 20 YEARS OLD. SHE IS DRESSED IN A BEIGE COAT, NO HAT, AND IS BELIEVED TO BE DRIVING A 1953 CHEVROLET, LICENSE IMR-1405. ANYONE KNOWING ANYTHING ABOUT THIS WOMAN IS ASKED TO CALL THE POLICE. APPROACH HER WITH EXTREME CAUTION AS SHE IS CONSIDERED TO BE- HOMICIDAL."

[–] SAMRubinsky 10 years ago

"It was so real looking that it's indistinguishable from what an actual stabbing would look like."

And you'd know, of course, how exactly?

Bizarre.