Do you think Blaney was telling the truth about the divorce petition? Do you think Brenda's divorce petition was just a quick way to get through the red tape, or do you think Blaney really was violent towards her? From what we've seen about Blaney, he certainly seems capable of mental and physical cruelty.
shareA fair question, and difficult to answer with any certainty.
Brenda and Richard's conversations seem to veer from "pleasant memories of good times past" to Richard's bitter explosions over all the failures SINCE then.
The movie suggests that Blaney had something in him back then that made him a good man -- a military leader, for instance. I tend to believe that he WASN'T violent to Brenda, didn't hurt her. But he failed at business, and he probably had a whiner's mentality, and she divorced him, and he dutifully signed off on the "cruelty" papers to speed the divorce (divorces were not "no-fault" back then; you had to have a REASON stated to divorce. Now, "irreconcilable differences" covers all bets.)
For all my belief that Blaney was OK back then, and didn't harm Brenda, who knows: if the seeds of a hot temper were with him back then, he may well have been cruel to her in some way, mentally if not physically.
As I say, a fair question. A good one, given this story and these characters.
If you listen to their private conversations, she reveals that he never physically harmed her. Divorcing in England is often a very long experience to go through. Could take up to five years, sometimes longer. That's why Brenda sited the chief reason for her divorce from Richard was "mental and physical cruelty." A lot of people never get divorced. They just seperate - unless one or the other wants to remarry someone else. It took notable people like Laurence Oliver, Peter O'Toole, James Mason and John Lennon years to get divorced because they couldn't lie about the reason and cause a public scandal.
"It's only a mooovie!"
alfie
Thanks for pointing that out. I'd almost forgotten that line from Brenda;
"I never said you were violent towards me Richard,..."
Now I agree Richard was never violent towards her. Still, with Blaney's personality and obvious jealousy you've got to wonder where things would have progressed had the marriage continued.
SPOILERS
Helps to have all these Hitchcock buffs around. Some of us know all the right lines, some of them know some of them...
People often zip over to the brutality and horror of "Frenzy" (rightfully so, I guess), but Hitchcock is to be commended for having taken up the somewhat depressing topic of a hero brought very low, and the dangers of life on the edge of poverty. I think Blaney's raging character throughout "Frenzy" needs to be taken with a grain of salt regarding his powerlessness as the story progresses.
We meet Blaney as he is getting fired from a job as a bartender. We learn that he was an RAF hero, and tried to build his own business (which he had to tear down "with my bare hands") and failed. Brenda hung on for ten years, but finally left him, and became quite the business success herself (the film speaks to the ascent of women in the 70's.)
Blaney spends the night before Brenda's murder in a Salvation Army homeless center, and his personal human power is just about nil. Now, does the REAL killer (who KNOWS that Blaney was fired and broke) start enacting his (sadistic, of course!) frame-up of "the wrong man," a man who can do nothing to save himself save whine and yell.
One bright light for Blaney: the unconditional trust and love of Babs Milligan, cast rather expertly by Hitchcock to suggest that Blaney has "stepped down in class" from Brenda (in bearing AND looks), and yet gotten an essentially good woman.
And then Hitchcock kills Babs!
It's a good thing "Frenzy" is funny and gripping in places. Otherwise, its an awfully bleak film.
I've always been amused by Hitchcock's claim that Babs murder isn't shown in the film; just the camera slowly tracking away from the door and down the stairs. But Hitch had us fooled again! The brutal murder is, in fact, shown when Rusk recalls the incident by memory when he is desperately searching for his tie clip. Old 'sly boots' Hitch (to quote Mrs. Oxford) is at it again!
"It's only a mooovie!"
alfie
If I remember correctly, in the conversation between Blaney and Brenda, she once mentioned that in the past, when Blaney got angry (or drunk?), he started to throw or beat up the furniture. This certainly fits my definition of "violent".
shareTrue, though we know at least he didn't physically strike her.
shareHolly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's busted up her furniture. I wouldn't call her a violent person.
H.M. Killer
I think that Blaney went along with Brenda's divorce petition because they were friends, not because he was a wife beater.
He may have been violent against grapes and furniture, but not against women.
No two persons ever watch the same movie.share
I think he was hot-headed, but not a spouse abuser. He is the opposite of Rusk. Rusk looks all serene and friendly, Blaney seems to be a surly fellow prone to lose his temper. However, Rusk is the guy who abuses (and eventually kills) women, not Blaney.
shareProbably why Rusk zeroed in on Blaney. In addition to being a good patsy, Blaney was the flipside of Rusk when it came to women.
No two persons ever watch the same movie.share