I don't get the character of 'Joyce' at all! I just don't understand her. I mean, one minute, she's acting like a friend and the next, she's lying to Babs' character and even trying to choke her!
What was her motivation? Why was she being to devious to Babs? I thought she would end-up guilty of something, yet she dies at the end.
Could someone please explain?
Please excuse typos/funny wording; I use speech-recognition that doesn't always recognize!
I was a little confused by this at first too but then it came out at the end that Joyce was the detective/Barbara's "dream lover"'s wife. So I suspect that she was in on the scam that he and Barry Moreland (Robert Taylor) had going to make Irene (Barbara) go crazy. Does that make sense? I'm not the best at explaining things haha.
Sweet merciful crap!
It's just tea! *sips* Needs more gin.
Hey, thanks for the reply.
Yeah, that probably explains it. So, was it her husband that ended up killing her though? It makes sense that she was in on it and that because of Irene's dream-lover being her husband, Joyce would naturally not like Irene if she felt threatened, but now, what gets me is---why was Joyce killed? I thought it was her husband who did it (or maybe I'm remembering wrong?), but it seems like with her being in on the scam, he wouldn't want to kill her.
Please excuse typos/funny wording; I use speech-recognition that doesn't always recognize!
No, I think it was Barry that killed Joyce. We don't see the murderer's face but I think George (the detective, I think that's his name) says at the end that he (meaning Barry) killed Joyce. I assume Barry killed her because he wanted to get rid of both her and the detective so he would get all the money for himself. It's been a while since I watched it so I might be missing details here.
Sweet merciful crap!
It's just tea! *sips* Needs more gin.
Thanks for the reply. It all makes much more sense now. I think my problem is that I viewed it sleep-deprived. And, this is clearly a film that one must really be awake for, oddly enough, given the subject-matter, haha!
Please excuse typos/funny wording; I use speech-recognition that doesn't always recognize!
We do see the murderer's face. It is Irene's dead husband Howard who comes through the back door of the apartment in the rear of the salon and stabs Joyce in the back.
However, in the laboratory it is revealed that it is really Barry wearing a mask with Howard's face who murdered Joyce, that Howard is dead after all, also murdered by Barry.
I read the novelization of Robert Bloch's screenplay. It's a mass market paperback called "The Night Walker" by Sidney Stuart. It's one of those movie tie-in books from the 1960s. You can normally find the book for sale on-line.
I was glad I read it because it cleared up some vague and confusing plot elements for me. For example, Irene's drink is drugged in that apartment she is taken to before that nightmarish wedding ceremony. The drugging is not clear in the film.
Wow, I had no idea! But that does make a lot more sense. It would have seemed to convenient for her to be sleeping at all the right times, haha! I need to check out the book...thanks for letting us know.
Sweet merciful crap!
It's just tea! *sips* Needs more gin.
I believe you're absolutely right, but Joyce renighed on the plan, so that prompt Barry Moreland to sneak in a plant the dagger into her back encase she gives away the entire plot. In turn this caused the Detective to turn on Moreland, which they killed each other in the end.
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