MovieChat Forums > Clue (1985) Discussion > How did the maid get in? (Dog scene make...

How did the maid get in? (Dog scene makes no sense)


We're shown how the 'butler' (Curry) has to go through an elaborate process to get through the dogs (bad dog handler that he is, Dog Whisperer would slap his forehead seeing this), and even steps on some p00. This is of course played for humor later on (although I still think it's disgusting and they should've not included it in the movie).

However, the maid is already in.

So, if the dogs are in the 'alert mode', and it takes the butler's 'food bribe + chain handling' to switch them to 'sleep mode', my question is:

How did the maid get in?

Did the maid also do the same thing the butler did, except then somehow put the dog back to 'alert mode' once she was in? How did she do this?

Or did someone (who?) trap her in the house, guarded by dogs in 'alert mode' so she can't go in our out, and she had to be in the mansion all night?

I can't figure out this any more than I can figure out the 'shower scene' in the movie 'Planes, Trains and Automobiles' (it also makes zero sense when you try to piece together how the events unfolded).

I mean, if the maid did what the butler did, except she SOMEHOW put the dogs back to alert mode afterwards (again, how?), then shouldn't the dogs be still gnawing their previous food from the maid, or at least have some remnants of it somewhere?

Maybe the maid was a good dog handler (somehow it doesn't fit her character, though), and was able to just do what the Dog Whisperer would've done and got in that way, and then the dog eventually fell back to 'alert mode'?

I can't really figure out a realistic way how this maid character could've gotten past those dogs, AND for the butler to have to go through that elaborate procedure just to get past the dogs again.

Can someone explain this, or is this another 'movie nonsense that no one thought about so it doesn't make sense'-situation?

Just to be clear, I have the same question about the COOK as well... did everyone have to do what the butler did, and why would it work for three separate people? Surely the dogs would've not be 'bribable' after so much food.

reply

Could be a couple possibilities:

1. "Wadsworth" sort of looked like he was returning to the house after running errands or something, I've always thought. Didn't get the impression that he's arriving for the first time. Perhaps they all arrived together earlier, and "Wadsworth" performed the same trick?

2. Similar to the above option, the cook and Yvette could also have just bribed the dogs with meat.

3. The dogs weren't actually going to attack anyone, they were just hungry and he was just giving them dinner.

reply

I assumed she had been there before and the dogs were familiar with her. I admit the thing with Wadsworth and the dogs makes no sense with the third ending where it's revealed he's Mr Boddy.

reply

Even if he was Mr. Boddy and the dogs were his, they could still hate him; he was of course an "odious man" who probably didn't treat them well.

reply

I suppose.

reply

Maybe they had servant quarters where Yvette, the cook, and the butler lived. In which case it might have been a few days since Yvette had even left that house.

reply

I assumed the Maid and Cooks were already there.

reply