Helen Was A Latent Homosexual...

Helen:
Latent homosexuality is an erotic inclination toward members of the same sex which is not consciously experienced or expressed in overt action. This may mean a hidden inclination or potential for interest in homosexual relationships, which is either suppressed or not recognised, and which has not yet been explored "for real" or may never be explored in fact.

The term was originally proposed by Sigmund Freud. Some argue that the latent homosexuality is a potentially iatrogenic effect. Others argue that the term "latent" is not truly applicable in the case of homosexual urges, since they are often not in the unconscious or unexpressed category, but rather exist in the conscious mind and are (often violently) repressed on a conscious level.


Joecant9:
MORON was originally a scientific term, coined by psychologist Henry H. Goddard from a Greek word meaning "foolish" and used to describe a person with a genetically determined mental age between 8 and 12 on the Binet scale. It was also once applied to people with an IQ of 51-70 and was a step up from "imbecile" (IQ of 26-50) and two steps up from "idiot" (IQ of 0-25). The word moron, along with "retarded" and "feeble-minded" (among others), was once considered a valid descriptor in the psychological community, though these words have all now passed into common slang use, exclusively in a detrimental context.

In his later years, Goddard recanted his previous theories, but they had already been published and translated into German. His writings inspired the Nazis who sent people deemed "morons" to the gas chambers

Director Curtis Harrington, who worked extensively with screenwriter Henry Farrell on the script, referred to Helen as "a latent lesbian" in a 1971 interview for "Films and Filming" magazine. It's pretty apparent that was the intention, and I read somewhere that one of the producers insisted Harrington tone down the implied lesbianism.

It's not only her husband that brings up these potential lesbian tendencies. Up until the final two scenes of the film, during every interaction that Helen has with men, she's uncomfortable. True, for a while she's fearing "someone with asthma" is coming to kill her, but during her final scene with Hamilton Starr, she'd have no logical reason of suspecting he had been the phantom caller, which makes her overwhelmingly fearful reaction a bit illogical. Particularly given her calm demeanor when the detective arrives, at which point, the male villain still hasn't been fully revealed.

Helen doesn't "sniff anybody's underpants," but after Adelle screams, "I want you out!," Helen wanders into Adelle's bedroom, throws a rent check on the bed, picks up Adelle's negligee, holds it to her face, fondles and caresses it. In the script, it reads:

"She turns away, sees Adelle's black lace teddy on the bed."

The nightie in the film was actually pale pink. The novelization reveals the rest of the scene virtually identically to the script, but it's described a bit more eloquently:

"Going over to the bed, she picked up the garment, held it against her body and ran her fingers over it caressingly. Then she slowly and reluctantly dropped it back on the bed, her expression one of ineffable sadness."

That moment seems pretty telling to me.

In a 1993 interview, Shelley Winters discussed the film: "[The public was] a little scared of it, 'cause I played a lesbian. In those days, they were very scared of it. [The studio] didn't want me to play it too directly, but I did."

I don't think it was a secret or a spoiler that Helen was a lesbian. IMDB trivia notes, a kissing scene was even filmed between Debbie Reynolds and Shelley Winters, which was later dropped to avoid an R-rating!


"the best that you can do is fall in love"