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SUMMARY
The classic Hollywood cinema of the thirties and forties witnessed the
Crisis of 29 and its repercussions. A philosophical study of this makes it
possible to find in the
director Frank Capra's mography suggestive interpretation
criteria. Following
Stanley Cavell's orientations it is discovered that there is a fruitful
interrelation
between marriage in equality in which the man and the woman are
committed and the
education in personal dignity, which allows not only to overcome
economic crises
cas, but even prevent them. In this second notebook on Arsenic and Old
Lace
We will deal with recounting the film as a filmic text, stopping at: a ) the
words of the young spouses as the only ones that will escape an exclusive
gaze.
sively subjective, who does not recognize others as they are; b ) the
temptation to give
Of course, others are known as attention deficit regarding how they are
truly others; c ) empty words referring to the other; d ) resistance
Mortimer, the male protagonist, in the face of disconnections with the
reality of
the others, especially the Brewster family; e ) reflection on euthanasia
characterized as a better-looking murder; f ) stoppage of
police and other institutions in the fight against evil; g ) the healing sense
of
marriage as a remarriage .
NOTEBOOK 54. THE WORDS OF
THE ABSENCE OF RECOGNITION
IN ARSENIC AND OLD LACE (1941/1944)
NOTEBOOK 54. THE WORDS OF NONRECOGNITION IN
ARSENIC AND OLD LACE (1941/1944)
José Sanmartín Esplugues and José Alfredo Peris Cancio
Catholic University of Valencia San Vicente Mártir
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L A Fullness of personalismo IN VIDEO
FOOTAGE F RANK C ARPA ( II )
168
Keywords : philosophical personalism, film personalism, marriage, love
nuptial, family, community, affectivity, sentimentality, innocence,
madness
evangelic spirituality without disembodied spiritualisms, empathy,
compassion
sion, disconnections with reality, isolations, marriage, remarriage.
ABSTRACT
The classical Hollywood cinema of the 1930s and 1940s bore witness to
the Cri-
sis of 1929 and its aftermath. A philosophical study of it may find in the
filmography
of the director Frank Capra suggestive interpretation criteria. With the
guidance of
Stanley Cavell it is discovered that there is a fruitful interaction between
marriage
equality in male and female education and personal dignity, which allows
not only to
overcome the economic crises, but also to prevent them. In this second
Notebook
about Arsenic and Old Lace we will attempt to narrate the film as a filmic
text, pay-
ing special attention to: a ) the words of the young spouses as the only
ones which
will escape from an exclusively subjective view, which does not
recognize others as
they are; b ) the temptation to assume that others are known as an
attention deficit
with respect to how others really are; c ) the empty words referred to the
other; d ) the
resistance of Mortimer, the male protagonist, before those disconnected
with the re-
ality of others, especially the Brewster family; e ) the reflection upon
euthanasia char-
acterized as a murder with better appearance; f ) the paralysis of the
police and other
institutions in the fight against evil; g ) the healing sense of marriage
as remarriage .
Keywords : philosophical personalism, filmic personalism, marriage,
spousal
love, family, community, affectivity, sentimentality, innocence, dementia,
evangeli-
cal spirituality, disembodied spiritualism, empathy, compassion,
disconnections with
reality, isolation, marriage, remarriage.
1. A HALLOWEEN STORY IN BROOKLIN, WHERE EVERYTHING
MAY HAPPEN
And it usually happens
Arsenic and Old Lace begins with some scenes shot by Capra that does
not appear
dine in the original play. We have already commented on it in the
previous post. A
voice off says: "This is a story of Halloween in Brooklyn, where
everything can
happen and it usually happens.
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C UADERNO 54. L AS WORDS NO ...
169
Here are shots from a baseball game. Insults, expulsion
nes, a passionate audience ... We can wonder why Capra begins its
film. An intertextual answer of his filmography can be given. One can
imagine that
John Willoughby's dream in Meet John Doe has been fulfilled . We are
facing a
professional league match.
But all this could also be interpreted as a warning. American life
it is not as simple as a sports show. Anything can happen. The
American dream is not an invitation to banality. You have to be
attentive. With MU-
Things are often not what they seem. Anything can happen ... and usually
happens.
«Romance in the air»
Marriage has been for classic Hollywood the emblem of the search
personal happiness. Stanley Cavell has developed this matter with
remarkable
netration (Cavell, 1981), not always well understood (Carroll, 1982). But
the cinema
de Capra makes this conviction explicit in a very plastic way.
The invisible narrator continues: «At the same time, across the river in
the streets
of the American city, there was romance in the air. A sign warns:
«LICENSE-
MATRIMONIAL CIAS ». In Kesselring's play, the protagonists,
Mortimer
and Elaine, only express their desire to be married. Capra, in
On the other hand, it places a scene of marriage at the first moment. It
should be noted
You do not need this information to get around censorship. That is, there
are no scenes of
privacy or bedroom required by this parapet . The "romance in the air" is
presented,
then, with an interpellation, a call to depth. It will be essential for
understand the movie.
«It seems that the same wretches always get married»
However, Capra begins with a contrasting expression. the marriage
as an ideal it always finds the counterweight of cynical thinking about
itself.
mo 1 . This forces us to think more penetratingly about it , renouncing
any
common place . A journalist (Charles Lane) and a photographer (Hank
Mann) attend the
marriage license office. They converse with an unmistakable sense of
boredom and routine: 'Is some big shot getting married today? It seems
that I always know
the same wretches marry. Let's go".
1 Among us there is the aphorism «heritage: set of goods; marriage: set
of evils ».
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When they spot Mortimer in the queue they react with
enthusiasm. «Nothing me-
us that the author of the Bible for singles ». As we have already
commented in the entry
above, young Brewster scurries away. But taking refuge in a cabin with
Elaine
it is captivated by its beauty and charm. And come back to definitely
commit
get into marriage.
The counterpoint that marriage introduces in the story is twofold. For one
thing, no
he shies away, but faces the aversion that his seriousness often
arouses. On the other, it
presents as a paradigm of inner growth. It is the one that involves mutual
education
cation in the difference and in the complementarity between male and
female.
A kind of dialogue that leads to recognition
In the aforementioned Pursuits of Happiness Cavell he makes a similar
contrast.
It alludes to the film Private Lives (1931), by Sidney Franklin, based on
the homonymous
play by Noel Coward. He will compare it with those of his genre
trimony. And draws insightful conclusions about it.
… A work that openly describes a couple's divorce and remarriage
rich and sophisticated, conversing with keen intelligence, and
They love and appreciate each other more than anyone else. But their
exchanges
resourceful, sentimental, and aggressive lead nowhere; their
reconciliations
never incorporate mutual forgiveness (they don't get anywhere that can be
considered
a home) and have come from nowhere (their constant reminiscences
never
they reveal a past that they can recognize as shared). They look endless
miserably caught in the orbit of desire and depreciation. It is a perception
quite familiar with what marriage is (Cavell, 1981: 18-19) 2 .
This perception of marriage doesn't do it justice. Cavell reflects this in the
sation that discovers its gender of remarriage:
This conversation of what I call the genre of remarriage belongs, to judge
by the films that in my view define it, to a kind of dialogue that leads to
knowledge; to the reconciliation of genuine forgiveness; such a deep
reconciliation
as to require the metamorphosis of death and resurgence, the achievement
of a
new perspective of existence; a perspective that presents itself as a place
that
it has moved away from the city of confusion and divorce (Cavell, 1981:
19) 3 .
2 We have consulted the translation into Spanish (Cavell, 1999: 28-29).
3 Cf. Cavell (1999: 29).
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Capra and Cavell agree on the centrality of marriage in a true society.
truly free and egalitarian. In Arsenic and Old Lace the words of husbands
they will be the only ones to escape the absence of recognition. On the
contrary,
they go to this.
2. THE TEMPTATION TO ASSUME THAT IS KNOWN
TO OTHERS IN ABSENCE OF RECOGNITION
Everything he knew as the world disappears
We can interpret as a finding of Cavell's philosophy the need to
balance knowledge ( knowledgement ) and acknowledgment
( acknowledgment ). The
The great claim - and the pride - of the modern age is knowledge. The
heel of
Achilles of this same era is recognition, treating each other as per-
sonas. To this is dedicated the fourth part of his magnum opus, The
Claim of Reason
(Cavell, 1979) 4 .
It can be illuminating to have an impact on Mortimer's character
discovering how to
a blow this opposition. In general, according to Cavell, it is the procedure
habitual. Analyzing Shakespeare's tragedy Antony and Cleopatra , Cavell
des-
This is how Antonio has had to live:
Everything he knew as the world disappears, Rome and Egypt. The work
does not offer
has no explanation of, if I may, the contraction of the world for him, itself
same. What explanation can there be? The disappearance of the world is
the interpretation
tion of the work of what I have called the truth of skepticism, the fact that
the
abode of humans in the world is not guaranteed by what philosophy calls
knowledge (Cavell, 2003: 25) 5 .
The power to disassociate from the community
The association we make between Shakespeare's tragedy character and
the
Arsenic's protagonist is propitiated by Cavell. Match between
Antony and Cleopatra , The Winter's Tale, and the Remarriage Comedies
of Ho-
llywood (Cavell, 2003: 18). The remarriage is an opportunity for
repetition,
4 Translated as Claims of Reason (Cavell, 2003) .
5 We follow the very careful translation into Spanish by Antonio Lastra
and Adolfo Llopis
Ibáñez (Cavell, 2016: 39).
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perseverance, strengthening in the relationship. A suitable exit strategy
of skepticism. Mortimer finds her with Elaine. Cavell invites us to reflect
on it.
What skepticism threatens is precisely an irretrievable exteriority,
an impassable line, a position from which it is obvious (without
argumentation)
that the world is unknowable. What does "threaten" mean? It does not
mean that the is-
cepticism has in its power a certain place in which to confine and isolate
us,
Rather, it is a power that all those who have language possess and can
desire: that of
dissociate oneself, excommunicate oneself from the community by whose
agreements and mutual
words exist in harmony (Cavell, 2003: 29) 6 .
At the end of the film - not the play - Mortimer will escape with Elaine
from the world
who has disappeared at his aunts' house. His kisses will momentarily
silence
the voice of his wife. Everything she has to tell him about her aunts, she
already knows. He has
The power of old women to dissociate has been thoroughly verified. Now
you need
to Elaine to reaffirm her confidence that community is possible.
And now let's go back to one of the best residential neighborhoods in
Brooklyn ...
From now on, I leave you to your own devices »
These are the last words of the voice- over of the extradiegetic
narrator. The
pronounced at the end of the scene in which Mortimer decides to commit
himself to
Elaine. He leaves us to our own devices because he is going to draw us an
idyllic world that soon
it will be transmuted into the opposite. Capra invites you to see the film
from the eyes of the
young 7 . That is the luck that is offered to us.
The camera focuses on a sign: «THIS CEMETERY WAS CREATED IN
APRIL
1654 ». Next, in the conversation between two policemen, Brophy
(Edward Mc-
Namara) and O'Hara (Jack Caron), the excellence of the neighborhood is
explained. All of it oozes
more so. A church and some old houses, in one of which George slept
Washington. And as the center of all those virtues, the Brewster
sisters. Already
6 Cf. Cavell (2016: 4).
7 Cary Grant repudiated his intervention in Arsenic . He saw
himself overreacting . Criticism
has almost unanimously agreed to consider it a masterful comic
performance. Both things are
certain. The overacting was necessary for the various transitions to be
manageable by the
viewer. The cynic is actually naive, the adorable ones are really killers,
the police
is actually an accomplice to crimes, the sanatorium does not discriminate
against those who are sick from those who are not ...
But Grant's style usually claimed otherwise. As he himself once pointed
out:
«Making oneself, truly oneself, is the most difficult thing in the
world. Notice
on people during a party: they are doing themselves ... but nine times out
of ten
the image they present is a mistake »(Balmori, 2007: 4).
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we refer in the previous notebook. They consider them: «the sweetest and
most affectionate old women
ñosas »,« pressed rose petals »...
Even the modus operandi of his crimes (the claim of lonely old men) is
interpret from a perspective of kindness. The announcement of renting a
room
It's not real.
Brophy: 'They don't. But surely, if someone comes looking for a room, I
don't know
it goes without a good meal and a few bucks. It's his way of looking for
people to help.
Modern man derives the feeling of his existence from the judgment of
others
All communities need models of virtue. But what really
represent those to whom they are attributed is more problematic. In
relation to
world presented by Hitchcock, Robert Pippin makes an observation that
we can
also apply here:
… It is a historical world, a complex modern world of deep dependence
social and consequent uncertainty, famously captured by the observations
of
Rousseau in the Second Discourse 8 that the modern "sociable man" lives
"always
pre outside himself », capable only of living on the opinions of others
and, so to speak
thus, it derives the feeling of its existence from the judgment of others
». This situation raises
also the famous criticism: «Always asking others what we need, without
never dare to ask ourselves […] we have only one trick.
ugly and frivolous exterior »(Pippin, 2017: 17-18) 9 .
One of the roots of the lack of recognition is provided here. Others
they are not by themselves, but by the utility -including the
representative- that we
lend. Pippin completes this idea like this:
We desperately need to understand others about whom we are
vulnerable because of the increasing division of labor and social
dependency.
We fear being misunderstood or often we fear being truly understood,
missing us so much during a part of daily life the public person and
scenic or partially scenic (Pippin, 2017: 18) 10 .
8 Cf. Rousseau (1982).
9 We follow the excellent Spanish translation by Tania Martínez (Pippin,
2017: 33).
10 Cf. the translation by Tania Martínez (Pippin, 2017: 34).
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A self-deceptive insistence on self-reliance
Pippin interprets that for Rousseau being subjected to this dependence
produces
conformism and inauthenticity, but contributes that the opposite case also
occurs:
Rousseau seemed to think that being subjected to this dependence
produced conformity.
and inauthenticity that he saw emerge as a prominent feature of societies
modern daities, but there is also the case […] that there is a reaction
against that
so tempting state of being, the implications of which are so pernicious: a
false
feeling or affirmation of individual autonomy, a self-deceptive insistence
on
sufficiency (Pippin, 2017: 18) 11 .
It seems like a good guide to playing Arsenic's characters . All of me
Mortimer and Elaine expose that self-deceptive smugness. Self-confident,
they judge others in an empty way. It doesn't matter if they are praised or
denigrated. In
actually, they don't look at them like others. They are only elements of his
story. Direct them
empty words.
3. EMPTY WORDS REFERRED TO OTHERS
" Gentlemen, if I know the meaning of true kindness and generosity ...
it's thanks to the Brewster sisters »
This pompous expression of the Reverend Harper (Grant Mitchell) serves
as a frame
reference to "empty words." It is a compliment, certainly, but so deep and
hyperbolic that raises doubts about its authenticity.
Emptiness and the cultivation of appearances are logically linked. That
link-
tion is very clear in the following dialogue.
Abby Brewster: Reverend Harper, I hope you don't mind Mortimer
because
Be a theater critic and take your daughter to the theater. '
Rev. Harper: «I don't like that he's critical, but no one with that familiar
attitude
hers 12 … should take no one's daughter anywhere.
11 Cf. the translation by Tania Martínez (Pippin, 2017: 34).
12 Shows the title of the book, Marriage. Fraud and failure .
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«Nobody ... with that familiar attitude of yours ... should take nobody's
daughter
to nowhere"
It's hard to say less in more words. It seems that the true intentions
Mortimer's thoughts don't matter. Miss Brewster's sentimental
explanation either
add nothing. Indeed, after a brief interruption from "Teddy Roosevelt"
Brewster,
the lunatic nephew, the aunt continues:
Abby Brewster: 'We must not be angry with Mortimer. He is so in
love. My brother
mana Martha and I are so happy. Before he only came to see us from time
to time
and now… he's in Brooklyn six nights a week. "
Brophy and O'Hara knock on the door. The first explains that the second
is going to
for your position. Capra and the Epsteins also rework the profile of these
characters from
the work of Kesselring. They contribute decisively to the absence of
recognition.
Brophy seriously cautions O'Hara about the language to use when faced
with
cyan. Brophy: "You'd be surprised what they call tacos." Cult of the
apparent.
The agents come to collect toys. Sisters repair abandoned toys
two to give to orphaned children.
He thinks he's Teddy Roosevelt. It could be believed that it is someone
much worse
In the course of the visit, Teddy and his delirium become more
present. Your fantasy
calling himself President Teddy Roosevelt allows him to live in a
disjointed world.
part of the community. The film allows you to see that what makes it
different
of the others it is rather little. Only that you have a clinical reason to live
So. But their isolation and inability to see others is not exceptional. So
only the annoyances produced by his bugle calls will be grounds for
confining him
in an asylum.
Brophy explains to O'Hara: “He thinks he's Teddy Roosevelt. It could be
believed that
he is someone much worse. The expression does not appear in the work
of Joseph Kesselring.
It might reveal a certain irony, alien to Capra's usual patriotism. But it's
not like that.
The respect with which the character is treated indicates rather cult of
personality
of the president.
The care that the aunts devote to their nephew is an expression of true
affection.
dad. More admirable than making broths or fixing toys. But the character
of
The police register him wrong again: 'Isn't it a shame, Reverend, that this
family is
taking care of a nut? ». They are unable to appreciate that caring for
people
wounds –vulnerable or with physical or psychological problems– mark
the moral height
of the community or family that cares for them.
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Before "doing to for" you want to "be with"
The philosopher and theologian, Jean Vanier (1928), founder of the
L' Arche communities ,
This explains the value of caring for the injured person. Before "doing to
for"
he wants to "be with."
The communities of El Arca are very particular as we try to live with per-
are mentally handicapped 13 to help them grow, but before "doing to
stop"
he wants to "be with." The suffering of the diminished metal 14 , like that
of any person
marginalized, is to feel excluded, not loved (Vanier, 1983: 11).
This is the most virtuous aspect of the Brewster sisters' performance. But
the
police don't see it that way. Rather, throughout the entire film, she is only
attentive to claims
mations of the neighbors, who are startled by Teddy's bugles. They want
lock it up. Gestures of this type have echoes of eugenics 15 .
It is not even certain that the Brewster sisters take care of Teddy
completely
apprehension. Rather, bonds of codependency appear to be
observed. When in the end
decide to accompany him to the Happy Valley sanitarium, they will give
some clues about it.
Without Teddy, it will no longer be possible to continue living his
lifestyle, maintaining his "pe-
what little secrets ». The young man's madness is representative of the
family climate. More than
a community of healing, the Brewster family share the same insanity
with different modulations.
4. MORTIMER'S RESISTANCE IN THE FACE OF
DISCONNECTIONS
WITH THE REALITY OF THE BREWSTER FAMILY
From marriage as madness to marriage as a point of support of good
sense for
rebuild your world
We have pointed out that in the film we are invited to see things from the
perspective
Mortimer's pective. The theater critic, skeptical of marriage and accepting
it
13 The language of the eighties today must be expressed in another way:
«people with disabilities
mild, medium, severe intellectual city ... ».
14 See note 13.
15 The writer Gilbert Keith Chesterton referred to this in his
work Eugenics and other descriptions
cias (Chesterton, 2012).
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reluctantly, you will find your world collapsing. And you will only find
support starting a new life with Elaine.
Among the main causes of the collapse of "his world", it is possible to list
the following:
1. The discovery of a corpse in the living room chest, which Mortimer
attributes
because Teddy's madness has turned violent.
2. Actually, the culprits are his aunts, whose true personality and behavior
ta he does not know. They practice euthanasia with elderly people
without families to whom
they murder by poisoning them for their own good.
3. In addition, they use the basement of the house as a cemetery.
4. They've got their lunatic nephew, Teddy, completely conned up to act
of undertaker.
5. The appearance of his other brother, Jonathan (Raymond Masey),
confirms the
genetic character of the murder tendency in the Brewsters - along the
lines of
the eugenic approaches of the moment–.
6. Jonathan is accompanied by a German doctor, Dr. Einstein (Peter
Lorre),
who practices medicine at the service of crime and the dissolution of the
nality.
7. The police are unable to understand the real problem, and only act out
of appearance.
according to the eugenic way of removing the weakest.
8. Finally, Mortimer discovers that he is not a Brewster: he is the son of a
cook
who entered the house three months pregnant. His father contracted ma-
I married her because she cooked very well.
Mortimer's moral reaction
Mortimer's moral reaction to this sinking world runs through a
dizzying pace a whole series of stages:
1. Experience a total collapse: you have to make a phone call to have the
response from the operator confirms that you are there and that it is
someone.
2. Find a solution for your aunts that prevents so much that they continue
to perpetrate crimes
Menes like they end up in the hands of justice. It will obtain ju-
records, medical signatures, Teddy's own signatures, application for
admission to
sanatorium.
3. Give up consummating your marriage to Elaine - going on your
honeymoon - until
not solve your aunts problem.
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4. Defend your aunts against the appearance of the serial killer Jonathan,
without
hand it over to the police.
5. Make your sinking an opportunity, a source of grace. Free from your
Family ties may join Elaine and form one flesh.
The well-meaning madness of the Brewster sisters
Both the play and especially the film masterfully narrate the madness
of the Brewster sisters. Happy comment:
Abby: “The reverend is charming. You know, Martha. I think it's starting
to see the light.
Martha: "We don't have to worry."
What can be interpreted as an innocent expression of desire for happiness
nephew, soon acquires other borders. A budding intelligence appears
puladora that both share.
The first time you attend the movie you see them exchanging mystery
words-
sas. In the following viewings you will taste what it is about. They say
that there is
good news. They invite Teddy to "dig another lock for the canal."
Martha, excited, only reproaches her sister for having happened while she
was out. Abby replies with justified excuses. The reverend had to arrive
and she has been forced to act alone. Whatever it is he has kept in the
chest
under window. But he can't get to see it, because Elaine is looking out
that window.
She wants to tell them that she and her nephew have gotten married.
From the cloud of spousal love to the most complete perplexity: «pon
cara
surprised when I tell you »
We leave for later to comment on the nuptial love scenes that Capra
relates at this time. We are interested in continuing to focus on the aunts.
From the window they have seen the new husbands kiss. They are
delighted. Abby
recommends to Martha: "Make a surprised face when I tell us." The
phrase will have a
very broad sense. It goes way beyond what they think right now.
Mortimer follows suit when it comes to announcing it. Mortimer: 'Hold
on to the corset.
We have married. Elaine and I are married. Before his gestures he adds:
«He does not
You need to put on those faces, you old rascals.
The nephew believes that he is in a very deep and natural empathic
communication with
they. You will soon be disappointed. They announce to him that they
have preparations for
jar it. Mortimer anticipates that 'Surely since the day I met her. But was I
the
The only one who did not know that I was going to get married? ».
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"The whole country is with you"
He is happily searching around the house to destroy the papers of the
book he was preparing-
do, Intelligence and marriage . He greets his brother Teddy, announcing
that «everything
the country is with you » 16 . The phrase reflects the feeling of harmony
that floods you.
He wants to get it to his brother somehow.
On the contrary, her aunt Abby, looking in a drawer, finds a photo of her
brother-
Jonathan hand, and expresses the fear it caused them. Enter a gag that
repeats
in the movie and in the novel. His resemblance to a horror character, in
many
moments expressed literally as Boris Karloff 17 .
The young man tells of Abby's comment the beginning of a play by
theater of that style. Mortimer: «When the curtain rises, the first thing you
see is
a corpse…".
«Forget you have seen that gentleman»
Mortimer opens the chest and sees that. You need to lift the lid again to
make sure it is a deceased man. Alarmed, he tries to tell his
aunts with the greatest delicacy what he has discovered. Consequently, it
is already unavoidable
probably time to take Teddy to the Happy Valley sanitarium because he
committed murder.
Mortimer: 'I'm so sorry, but I have to give you a great dismay. Teddy has
killed a man! ».
Martha: "Nonsense!"
Mortimer: «There is a corpse in the chest!».
Abby: «Yes, honey. We already know".
Mortimer: "Do you know?"
Abby: 'Of course. Yes, but it has nothing to do with Teddy. Look,
Mortimer. Forget
of the. Forget you've seen that gentleman!
Mortimer: "Forget it?"
Abby: "We never imagined you were going to look."
16 Remind yourself that Teddy thinks he is Teddy Rooselvelt.
17 In the play, Boris Karloff himself played Jonathan. That increased the
lite-
rationality of the joke.
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The conversation continues with a very natural tone on their
part. Mortimer
He couldn't be more stunned and disappointed. They, on the other hand,
continue to prepare the
table as if they were dealing with a trivial subject.
Mortimer: "Who is it?"
Abby, happy to reply, 'A Mr. Hoskins. Adam Hoskins. Is everything
that we know about him, besides that he is a Methodist.
Martha: 'Is he a Methodist? How good".
Mortimer: 'Is that all you know? What are you doing there? What has
happened to him?
Martha: "He's dead."
At their impassive responses, Mortimer grows impatient and causes them
to stop being-
look at the table. Ask how he died.
Abby: 'Mortimer, don't be so curious. The knight died because he drank
wine with a
little poison.
Mortimer: "Why was there poison in the wine?"
Martha, giving a purely technical answer: «We put it in the wine because
it
note less. In the tea it gives off a particular smell ».
"I think Martha and I have the right to have our secrets."
Mortimer takes care that they know what they are doing. They have
hidden the corpse to
not to be seen by Reverend Harper at tea time. They put it in the
chest. The
young man does not doubt that it is a murder in the first degree. But they
react
undaunted.
Abby: 'Now, Mortimer, you know everything, so forget it. I think Martha
and I
we have the right to have our secrets.
As we've already noted, Mortimer is stunned. They keep on chattering
complaining about scary movies, so they scare. At that time is in
The one Mortimer calls the operator.
Mortimer: 'Operator? Do you hear my voice? Yes? Are you sure? Then I
must be
here".
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Come on, Mortimer, behave yourself. You are too old to take those
tantrums »
We believe that the underlying conflict has been drawn with great
skill. The
Brewster sisters live their own world, guided exclusively by their codes
tasteful. Others and their demands as people are exclusively
subordinate to him. Mortimer's empathy for them was
dilutes. You doubt the accuracy of your perception of reality. He doesn't
even know who he is anymore.
The young man tries to make his aunts aware of the seriousness of the
situation.
They react with terrifying superiority. They blurt out, "Come on,
Mortimer, buy
behave. You're too old to take those tantrums. In effect, they act with an
im-
plausible command of the situation. Capra perfectly follows the resource
designed by
Kesselring in the original work. Posing the augmentative gesture in the
absurd pro-
Giving in to old women creates hilarity… And a deep sense of isolation.
When asked by their nephew, they explain that they are not going to leave
the body in
the chest. That they are going to bury him in the basement, "the same as
we did with the others."
This is why Teddy is digging the lock. And that the total number of
graves already reaches
the twelve.
«At that very moment we decided ... that if we could help other old people
lonely ... to find that same peace, we would "
There are no words to express Mortimer's state of mind. Not even
Elaine's whistles come, reminding her that she was with her when she
she would ask from her aunts and that she would come like a thunderbolt
as soon as she was ready. Mortimer
it is in other things. Those of his aunts. Elaine has disappeared from his
eyes. We will be back
about it.
The aunts explain that it all started by chance. An old man without a
family who
he had come to visit them and died suddenly of a heart attack. He stayed
dead in the chair with a serene face. So,
Abby: «At that very moment we decided ... that if we could help other
elderly-
lonely little children ... to find that same peace, we would do it ».
To do this, they designed the strategy for Teddy to consider it to be a
disease.
We got yellow fever. They had to be buried quickly. Of course, «with a
burial
Christian, as God intended. And they happily conclude: «Do you
understand now? That's why I
We said not to worry, because we know well what to do ».
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"Get it now? That's why we told you not to worry, because we know
well what to do »
The augmentative resource continues to work. There is not only full
awareness of
what they are doing. There is complete machination. Even Aunt Martha is
the author
of the poison formula, which gives title to the work and the film.
Martha: «Well, for every four liters of elderberry liqueur ... I put a
teaspoon
of arsenic… and half a teaspoon of strychnine. And finally a pinch of
cyanide ».
Mortimer: "It must be infallible."
Kesselring / Capra have perfectly drawn what we might consider «the
"compassionate argument" in favor of euthanasia. Candid in appearance,
but with
all their iniquity. The other, reduced to our experience of him, seems
better
dead than alive. As if dying were just an external event, a gesture
social at the mercy of the interpretation of others.
«We know that we have to be careful, sometimes very careful, about how
we are
perceived »
Pippin sharply emphasizes:
… In a very general sense, it is quite easy to see some link between the
growing
social dependence (something that, for Rousseau, begins with the division
of labor) and
a growing fear of the theatrical or untrustworthy public person,
subjected to such dependence or self-deceptively insisting on
independence.
We are aware of this dependence and we know that we have to be careful,
sometimes
We are very careful about how we are perceived, if we are to achieve our
ends,
and that we must depend on others, knowing that they too are careful »
(Pippin, 2018: 18-19) 18 .
The social acceptance of euthanasia shows that terrible truth. There is
nothing else
dangerous in our day than to be considered compassionate, a candidate
for a
well deserved rest.
From that moment on, Mortimer will act with histrionic zeal. Will
continue to postpone
nding Elaine, without giving her any good explanations, to focus more on
her strategy
to protect your family. You will work on the hypothesis that everything is
due to the lo-
18 Cf. Pippin (2018: 34).
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Teddy's cure. Will seek the support of Judge Cullman (Vaughan Glasser)
to justify
the need to intern him. Will chase away Gibbs (Eddwardd McWade), an
old man
that her aunts welcomed as a new victim. Will convince Mr. Witherspoon
(Edward
Everett Horton), director of the Happy Valley Sanitarium, on the
desirability of inter-
tell Teddy now. You will get the report from a doctor, Dr. Gilchrist
(Chaster Clute),
the one who literally pulls out of bed to examine Teddy. His exercise is
one
complete resistance to not be overcome by the reigning madness. Almost
overwhelmed by
this will maintain the orientation points that allow it to alleviate the
problem.
"I don't know how to explain it to you ... but not only is it against the law,
it is wrong"
Among these points of orientation, one cannot find recovering the moral
sense of
her aunts. After preventing a new attack on the Gibbs case, he tries to
persuade them, with more pain than conviction.
Mortimer: 'Hey, you can't do those things! I don't know how to explain it
to you ... but no
It is only against the law, but it is wrong […] It is not right for you to do
it. People don't
would understand. He [because of Gibbs who has fled] wouldn't
understand. What I want to say is…
It's becoming a bad habit! "
A habit that seems to obscure the function of the conscience, its rational
interpellation
tional about good and evil 19 . Mortimer resigns himself to confirming
that his aunts suffer
that kind of madness.
But he will still have the acid test in the reunion with Jonathan.
19 In question 94 of Sum I-II, in article 6, Thomas Aquinas asks whether
he can
natural law will be abolished in the human heart. To answer this question,
Thomas Aquinas
rests on the authority of Saint Augustine, who in the second book
of Confessions affirms:
«Your law has been written in the hearts of men, where no restlessness
can erase it.
rrar. And identifies this law written in the hearts of men with the natural
law, which, for
therefore, it attributes to it the quality of not being able to be suppressed
or indelible ». And again distin-
gue between the most common precepts of natural law and secondary
precepts. About
the former, which are known to all, claims that they cannot be erased
from hearts
of men as for universal. Yes, on the other hand, they can be abolished in a
specific case
due to lust or any other passion. Regarding the second, «the law
natural can be erased from the hearts of men or by bad persuasions, in the
manner
that errors also occur in the necessary conclusions of the speculative
order, or because of
depraved tumbles and corrupt habits »(Aquino, 1993: 793). Cf. Peris
Cancio (2009: 85).
Illustrative is the moment when a new corpse appears, Mr. Spenalzo. Jona
has killed him-
than accusing him of blackmailing and now he wants to hide him in the
house. When Mortimer finds out,
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5. EUTHANASIA AS MURDER AND CULTIVATION
OF APPEARANCES OR GOOD WAYS
Euthanasia as murder ... with the pretense of better appearances
The appearance of Jonathan Brewster and Dr. Einstein characters changes
the resource of the augmentative for another. Now humor is promoted
from a gloomy
analogy. Many critics of the film consider that this change has as a
consequence
sequence that the rhythm of the action slows down.
Jonathan is Mortimer's brother, like Teddy. This is a killer psychopath
you're on the run from the police and trying to find a place to get rid of
his latest victim (Mr. Spenalzo). At the theater Boris Karloff played
Jonathan.
This actor could not participate in the film because the recordings
coincided with
performances on Broadway. For this reason, in the film it is said that "he
resembled
Karloff ».
Certainly the atrocities of Jonathan's crimes no longer increase ab-
surdo of the situation. Rather, they provide an item to compare with
the murderous behavior of his kind aunts. It is important not to lose sight
of
Jonathan is a serial killer to use 20 , that is, someone who kills more than
two people.
you are just for the pleasure of making them suffer. The kind aunts and
Jonathan Mortimer
they do it for the moral satisfaction of helping them die well, believing
that
they allow them to abandon a situation that they assume as painful.
In sum, the Brewster sisters have kindly developed a
crime pension genetically rooted in his family that was already present in
the first Brewster that came with the Mayflower and cut hair 21 . Now
that
he thinks it's up to his aunts. And he accuses Abby, distrusting his
version. Mortimer: How am I
to believe you? Below are twelve men whom you admit to having
poisoned! Abby: «Yes, that's right.
to. But you won't think that I can stoop to telling lies! " In older women,
synderesis,
principles of morals have been replaced by codes of good manners.
20 It is worth making a brief digression between the difference between
psychotics (the majority
of the critics say Jonathan is a psychotic) and psychopaths. The former
can, in their
more serious forms, not distinguishing right from wrong (aunts could be
psychotic); the seconds
they know right from wrong, but they like to do wrong. Jonathan is one of
those (Raine and Sanmartín
Esplugues, 2000).
21 Remember that, from the end of the 19th century until well into the
20th century , it dominated even in the
official science the thesis (not hypothesis) of the inheritance of moral and
mental qualities. Cf.
López Cerezo and Luján (1998).
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This tendency is cruelly evident in Jonathan's behavior and in a
falsely compassionate on his sisters.
Regarding Dr. Herman Einstein, masterfully played by Peter Lorre,
it could be said that it is both a suggestive and disturbing
symbol. Kesselring and
Capra seem to use it to show the role of science on its darker side. The
doctor is not only an accessory to Jonathan's crimes. It also gives you a
particularly cruel hedging strategy. He is a plastic surgeon who modifies
the facial features of his accomplice. This explains his resemblance to
Boris Karloff. The
doctor operated his face after seeing a movie of that actor.
What would the neighbors think? People who enter with one face and
leave with another »
Beyond the anecdote what is being presented is the power of science
when
do is transformed into technology. If it is not accompanied by moral
criteria, it ends
using the human being as experimentation material (Sanmartin
Esplugues,
1987). The aunts repudiate this procedure with the only moral criteria
they have:
riences: «What would the neighbors think? People who come in with one
face and come out with another ».
The technique that nullifies the human face seriously compromises
humanity.
It is essential to quote Emmanuel Levinas:
The face refuses possession, my powers. In his epiphany, in expression,
he
Sensitive yet graspable becomes total resistance to apprehension. This
muta-
tion is only possible by opening a new dimension. Indeed, the resistance
to the socket is not produced as an insurmountable resistance, like the
hardness of the rock
against which the effort of the hand crashes, like the distance of a star in
the
vastness of space. The expression that the face introduces into the world
does not challenge
the weakness of my powers, but my power of power. The face, even
among things, pierces
the shape that, however, delimits it. What he specifically means: the face
He speaks to me and therefore invites me to an unparalleled relationship
with a power that is exercised,
either joy or knowledge (Levinas, 2012: 211).
The Jonathan and Einstein subplot
The Jonathan and Dr. Herman Einstein subplot provides in synthesis the
following
your data. These should be listed so that the accelerated pace of action
does not
blur:
1. Show an expression of the Brewster family alien to Teddy's candor or
the apparent naivety of the aunts. Jonathan kills for the pleasure of killing
and his
victims - something common in these cases - are strangers . Aunts kill for
false
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compassion and its victims are gentlemen . Also among serial killers
there are classes.
2. Expresses a false wish to return home, as it is only understood as a
return
fugue.
3. The family's scientific precedents turn sinister. Beyond
Martha preparing the deadly concoction, Einstein and Jonathan want to
use the la-
Grandpa's lab for the face change. Or for Mortimer's torture.
4. Make a macabre parallel with the old women. Compete for the number
of victims. They are unfazed. They are convinced they did it for
charity.
5. Jonathan is arrested by chance and Dr. Einstein escapes
unpunished. Mor-
timer maintains with his brother a sense of protection that prevents him
report it. Despite his murderous attempts.
The Brewster Sisters Revelation Through Jonathan
The most decisive contribution of this subplot affects a better
characterization
of the old women. There is a true revelation of who the sisters are
Brewster through Jonathan. We can detail something else:
1. He comes to the house with a corpse to hide (Mr. Spenalzo).
2. At first he also hides it in the chest.
3. Instigated by Dr. Einstein, he will bury him in the basement, laughing
at
the occurrence, and the surprise it will bring to her aunts.
4. You think the body you discover in the basement is Mortimer's
thing. They will
They make it appear that they are not: that it is their thing. Earlier they
cleared Teddy to Mortimer.
Now they do it with respect to the latter against Jonathan.
5. The number of victims is exactly the same, twelve.
6. The police consider Jonathan's accusation against his aunts crazy about
of the corpses in the basement. But to Mortimer that same madness will
allow
justify your admission to Happy Valley .
7. The extent and severity of the family insanity makes Mortimer feel
freed upon learning he is not one of the Brewsters.
A significant exception to the parallelism: cruelty to Elaine Harper
The cruelest scene in the play seems to us to be the treatment of the three
Brewster brothers to Elaine. It is an exception in the parallelism. The san-
Cyianas have great affection for her. They would never treat her badly.
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187
As we will see later when analyzing the Elaine-Mortimer relationship, the
rematri-
The relationship between the two takes the form of rejection /
reconciliation. Mortimer has a
taxi waiting to go to the station with his wife, heading to Niaga Falls-
ra. They have agreed that, with a hiss from her, he will come like
lightning. But elaine
he insists over and over again, and only receives evasions that he cannot
understand.
In one of those forays he runs into Jonathan. When you recognize who
you are,
young man wants to flee quickly. But to Boris Karloff's imitation his
attitude seems
suspicious. You think you can give it away. He kidnaps her in the
basement under surveillance
of Dr. Einstein. He tries to drown her. Elaine escapes miraculously.
But she has become invisible to the three brothers. Jonathan doesn't think
it's
Mortimer's wife. Teddy says it's his sister Alice. And he recriminates
him. Teddy:
Don't act like a boy. Don't be rude to these gentlemen. And when he
refers everything
past Mortimer, he dispatches her with complete callousness. Mortimer:
"Be good
girl and go home. We will return to the scene more extensively. Now we
leave
pointed out to what extent Mortimer might have been affected by cruelty
and
Unlike the Brewster brothers. And we can also see a trickle of hope
in the sisters' kindness to Elaine, and in her marriage to Mortimer.
The competition for the number of victims
On the contrary, the darker side of the sisters is shown in their com-
petition with Jonathan for the number of victims. Convinced that they act
for
charity, they don't want to give up space in the basement
to Jonathan's stiff . Furthermore,
they consider this victim to be a classless stranger, unworthy of receiving
funerals or being
buried with his knights. But there is not the slightest reproach to the
nephew for
having committed murder.
When Mortimer informs him of the presence of that corpse, Abby gives
free rein to
to his classist feeling. For her, death does not make everyone the same, as
she will sing between
us Jorge Manrique 22 .
Abby: This man is an impostor. And if he has come to be buried in the
cellar-
He is not very wrong […] I have always wanted a double funeral. But I
refuse to
say the prayers for a complete stranger! ».
Jonathan, on the scene of the competition, is amazed that his kind aunts
have killed twelve people. They are justified. Abby: 'Killed? Well of
course
no. It is a charity work. We do it out of mercy.
22 "Those who live off their hands and the rich are the same as those who
live on their hands" ( Coplas a la muerte de su
father ).
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188
Faced with this situation, Dr. Einstein cannot contain his laughter. He
interprets it with the
rawness that dismantles the good- natured arguments of the Brewster.
Dr. Einstein: “It's amazing, Johnny! It's amazing, Johnny! They chase us
all over the world ... and they here in Brooklyn, doing exactly the same as
you. […] Grandmothers are just as good as you ».
6. THE PARALIZATION OF THE POLICE AND OTHER
INSTITUTIONS
IN THE FIGHT AGAINST EVIL
A resemblance to Jean Renoir's Rule of the Game
In his antebellum characterization, Arsenic has a point of contact with the
film.
cula of Jean Renoir, La règle du jeu (1939) 23 . Both show the decline of
a
society based on appearances. Both the divide between rich and poor ( La
règle )
such as between gentlemen and strangers ( Arsenic ) leads to identifying
morality with
appearances. And to let the murder go unpunished, convinced of the
ineffectiveness of the
State institutions. World War II will set off a crisis, of which
we cannot be sure that we have recovered.
In the interview with Judge Vaughan, he came to affirm something very
significant
on the moment they are living: «Sometimes I think that, with the world in
such
chaotic situation… Yes, we would all do better in Happy Valley. Part of
that cha-
The only situation is the very central plot of the film. But there are other
subplots
that contribute to this diagnosis: the direction of the sanatorium and the
action of the
police.
"Another Roosevelt, my goodness"
Mortimer's conversation with Mr. Witherspoon (Edward Everett
Horton), the director of Happy Valley, borders on surrealism. Then we
will check
which is just a first impression. There is still tenderness and
understanding in
words of the director of the sanatorium.
Mortimer: 'Happy Valley? I wish to speak to Mr. Witherspoon.
Witherspoon: “Speaking. How are you, Mr. Brewster? How are you? "
23 Cf. Renoir (2011: 188-194) and Bazin (1999: 69-72).
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189
Mortimer: 'Good, thank you. And you? Do you remember we talked
about entering my brother-
not in Happy Valley? Yes? Well, we want to enter it as soon as possible.
Witherspoon: 'Oh no. Oh no. It is impossible. Well, I hoped I didn't have
it to enter-
sar in a while. We have several Theodore Roosevelts right now… and we
it would give a lot of trouble. Well, if you believed that ... Mr. Brewster,
currently
we don't have many Napoleons. Bonaparte. And if… Ah, I
understand. Clear. Well yes it is
decided. Yes. Do you already have the papers? ».
Mortimer: «No, but I'm going to have them. I'll call you as soon as I have
them. Thank my Lord…
What? Agree. Thank you, Mr. Witherspoon.
Witherspoon, looking deeply pained: 'Another Roosevelt. Good heavens.
A fancy secondary like Edward Everett Horton gives a high density
seemingly trivial dialogue that what really reveals is the dubious
border between sanity and dementia, and the absence of a true scientific
rigor.
All this compensable to a certain extent if one acted with true
humanity. The
The last word on a person is not the medicine, but the recognition of
its unrepeatable uniqueness.
"It will be the end of the Roosevelt family in the White House"
Nor is Dr. Gilchrist (Chester Clute) much better off. You accept
inspect Teddy going through the Brooklyn cemetery. Start by expressing
their reservations to lock up anyone because they blow the trumpet. But
after having a brief
conversation with him does not hesitate to ask for the papers urgently: «I
will enter him where
want".
Capra takes advantage of the scene to insert a phrase with a double
meaning, which the public
The American co would not stop reading current codes.
Teddy: 'Doctor, I can run a third time, but I won't be chosen. Will be the
End of the Roosevelt Family in the White House.
Gilchrist: "That's what you think."
Teddy: "Of course if the country insists."
The inefficiency of the police
Recall that Sergeant Brophy (Edward McNamara), at the beginning of the
film,
he flattered in an exaggerated way the personality of the old women. The
conduct of the officer
Patrick O'Hara compounds this lack of perception of what is really
happening.
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190
1. He goes to the Brewsters' house and is unable to detect anything
strange about Jonathan
and in Einstein.
2. Dazed by meeting Mortimer - a theater critic - takes advantage of the
opportunity
Zion. He is dedicated to asking you for help with a work of his, of which
he has the ideas,
but he does not know how to put them on paper . In doing so he
completely abandons his
duty of vigilance.
3. When Mortimer is blackmailed by Jonathan - in the form of a threat to-
Ditch the aunts–, he dates O'Hara at a club. Their intention is to keep you
away from
home - although it will never, as we are going to see, fulfill the
commitment.
4. When Teddy plays the trumpet and O'Hara returns to the sisters' house
Brewster, see Mortimer tied up. Einstein's version is believed; instead of
being
being tortured, he has voluntarily put himself like this to explain a work
of
theater.
5. O'Hara, hurt that Mortimer has not come to the club, keeps him
gagged-
zed and bound to listen to your ideas of the work you want to write.
Certainly, Officer O'Hara's lack of professionalism will be detected by his
superiors. It will mean a two-month suspension. But they won't get the
better of you
in insight.
There are thirteen bodies in the basement.
Indeed, when Sergeant Brophy and Agent Saunders (John Ridgely) ac-
Go to the Brewsters' house, Jonathan is arrested by chance. They are
searching
O'Hara, but the murderer escaped from the asylum thinks Mortimer has
denounced him-
do and gives away.
The presence of Lieutenant Rooney (James Gleason) adds neither
expertise nor interest.
lightness. He reproaches his subordinates for not being aware that
Jonathan was
in search and capture. But don't lift a finger to check if what Jonathan
says
–There are thirteen bodies in the basement– it's true. Take for granted that
it is an indication
incontestable madness. And at Mortimer's urging, he believes the same
when the aunts
they insist on the data.
Rooney is clear that Teddy must be admitted to a sanitarium. And agree
that
the aunts are too. But it indicates that they need a physician's
signature. Mortimer
asks Dr. Einstein for his collaboration, which he has no choice but to
agree to. TO
Rooney then receives the description of Jonathan's accomplice. Einstein
spe-
to be stopped. But Rooney is unable to recognize it. On the contrary, it
thanks you
service that has been performed by signing the aunts' admission order.
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191
"We prefer to call it a rest home"
The final presence of Mr. Witherspoon brings together the ineffectiveness
of the police and the
uniqueness of the mental health health system. In a way he anticipates the
'ethics
of care »versus repression in the treatment of mental illness.
The taxi driver refers to Happy Valley as a madhouse. Mr. Witherspoon
responds with
good judgment that "we prefer to call it a nursing home." Indeed, his
professional rigor
sional is above all a matter of delicate forms. Nor do they use the ambu
lancia to transfer their inmates, but they take them by taxi. And they
commit
to offer the best of care. The surreal conversation that accounted for
number of Roosevelts or Bonapartes now makes more sense. They aspire
to
the sick feel at ease.
Therefore, like Officer O'Hara, Mr. Witherspoon will try to sell Mor-
timer your play. «A staging of many details that have happened
there »(Happy Valley). But perhaps it can be seen in this work that
Witherspoon
he does not look at his patients without involvement. Believe that behind
each of them can
have a story worth telling.
"If he leaves, so do we!"
Lieutenant Rooney insists that Teddy be admitted. The sisters resist
but the policeman reminds them that the law is the law. Mortimer sees in
that inclination the
favorable occasion to solve the problem. Get to convince the
lieutenant. East
gets to exclaim a phrase that could summarize the film. Rooney: «Now I
don't know
what is rare and what is not.
Mortimer is overcoming obstacles of all kinds. Teddy is convinced that
his
mandate has ended. And that Witherspoon is your guide for the trip to
Africa. The director
The tor from the sanatorium humbly climbs up to pack her mat. Mortimer
also satisfies
the bureaucratic demands that Mr. Witherspoon marks. The need for your
signature
He moves his aunts' confession that he is not really Brewster blood.
Initially the film closed with the aunts poisoning Mr. Withers-
poon, considering him a lonely old man. The preview to the public
changed
the scene. Edward Everett Horton's popularity made that ending
unpleasant.
(Capra, 1997: 211). But the success is probably greater.
Mr. Witherspoon was not a lonely old man. He was someone committed
to a
humanitarian mental health. Even when he sees Teddy walking up the
stairs with his head-
The characteristic cry of "charge!" he is tempted to imitate. Appears as
someone from
compassionate heart. His murder would have raised the malice of the
action a notch
of the Brewster sisters. But it probably would have introduced excessive
ne-
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192
gritud in a Capra film that, in case something is characterized, is by
always leaving open
a door to hope. His illusion for Mortimer's marriage projects this.
7. THE HEALING SENSE OF MARRIAGE AS
REMATRIMONY
The disposition to remarriage
We refer to the healing meaning of marriage as a remarriage of the
in which Stanley Cavell explains:
… What I call «the disposition to remarriage», which is a way of
continuing to affirm
I send the happiness of the initial gesture by which we have overcome
difficulties. How
if the possibility of happiness only existed when it seconded itself
(Cavell,
2008: 38).
We can point out that the remarriage between Elaine and Mortimer
entails strict-
Mind overcoming the possibility of divorce. From the get-go, Mortimer
it is a sea of doubts. The opening scene, to which we have alluded, ends
in a way
significant. After the long kiss with which Mortimer obeys the spousal
love that
She feels for Elaine, they join the line to apply for the marriage license. A
young lady (Jean Wong) gives Elaine a knowing wink, who responds illu-
sionada. Mortimer, on the other hand, acts with disdain at the smile of the
girl's boyfriend
(Spec O'Donnell).
Elaine seems more determined to be happy by getting married than
Mortimer.
Elaine: "But Mortimer, will you also love me for my
intelligence?" Mortimer:
"Each thing at it's time"
The most explicit scene of the attraction between the new spouses occurs
little
after. After the announcement of Elaine's marriage to the aunts through
the window, and before
let Mortimer talk to them.
The taxi driver (Garry Owen) warns Mortimer.
Taxi Driver: Hey, boy. This old taxi has seen kisses, but… ».
Mortimer: 'He hasn't seen anything yet. He has to take us to the station.
Taxi driver: «Take the hat. Just a moment. And the brooch ».
Mortimer. If you find the hairpins, keep them.
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193
The change is evident. It is no longer hidden. Mortimer is more sure of
the passing of
be married. He doesn't care that there are witnesses. His aunts, from a
small window, also
they enjoy looking at them. That is why he approaches his wife with total
disinhibition:
Mortimer: "Your hat."
Elaine: Throw it away. I don't like that look.
Mortimer: "What's wrong with him?"
Elaine: "Dad talked about her in the Sunday sermon."
Mortimer: «Yes? What did he say?".
Elaine: "He spoke against."
Mortimer: "But that was Sunday."
Capra modestly places what we sense a warm kiss behind the tree.
Elaine: «Please! Oh my god! But, Mortimer, out here? With everyone
looking?".
Mortimer, beaming with happiness: Yes, out here, with everyone
watching. Let them look at the
over 16 from Brooklyn.
Elaine: "But Mortimer, will you also love me for my intelligence?"
Mortimer: "Everything in its own time."
This last expression has been very repeated. It can be understood in two
ways.
A trivial and certainly offensive one: physical attraction does not require
intelligence.
gence. Another, more integrated: the happiness of the union does not
detail its reasons.
Capra never despises the value of women. The second is the most
accurate sense.
We are going to see it.
Do you know what we are doing? Wasting time"
The game lasts a short time longer, until Mortimer pronounces that they
must
plir with the honeymoon ritual. Now he's enchanted with all that had been
object of his irony.
Mortimer: 'Do you know what we're doing? Wasting time. I'm going to
tell my
aunts and you your ... No, don't tell your father. Or his cold will
degenerate into pneumonia.
Elaine: «I know how to treat Dad. Is very good".
Mortimer: "Why don't we send him a telegram from the falls?"
Elaine: 'Niagara Falls? That's why you stopped at the office.
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194
Mortimer enjoys telling him that he has spared no expense and urges him.
Mortimer: "Go pack your bags, darling."
Elaine, making a radical confession: “It is not necessary. I started the day
after
meet".
Mortimer, between ironic and flattered: «You see it? That's what I
mean. It's what I hate about
women".
The testimony of illusion in marriage is contagious and spreads easily-
mind to others. Capra shows it through the taxi driver who asks himself:
«What will be
Mary doing now? ».
Mortimer hurries Elaine. But the impossibility of non-compliance with
the
signa del whistle will mark the successive crises of the new marriage:
Mortimer: "Hurry, the train leaves in an hour."
Elaine: «It doesn't take long. Dad will want to pray for me.
Mortimer: Whistle when you're ready. When you whistle, open the door
quickly. If you see a
tall and dark ray, it is me ».
Elaine whistles playfully.
Mortimer: 'What? Already?". Elaine, amused: "No, not yet!"
The avoidance of love
"The avoidance of love" is the expression Cavell uses to title his
comment.
tary on Shakespeare's King Lear tragedy 24 . It can be applied with
properties
Give to what Mortimer is experiencing right now.
Since he discovers the first corpse his world vanishes, to the point
of doubting himself. Elaine's hiss is nowhere to be found in
the. Shame and the urge to act prevent me from acknowledging such
moments so
next in which he was happy. And the person who made them possible.
This is how you make yourself deaf to whistles. Others, when she insists,
he recriminates it.
Mortimer: 'Not yet. For God's sake don't be impatient! But with regret:
'Elaine,
I did not want to".
24 Appeared first in Cavell (2002; Spanish translation in Cavell, 2017),
and later
te en Cavell (2003; Spanish translation in Cavell, 2016).
Page 29
195
«I thought you were a tall, dark lightning bolt»
Obviously, for Elaine Mortimer's attitude is inexplicable. But according
her husband is grasping the density of the matter and is drawn by
him. Lose the cape-
to see it. But she does not decline and goes to meet him.
Elaine: 'Hey you! I thought you were a tall dark bolt.
Mortimer, upset. "What are you doing here?".
Elaine, stunned: What am I doing here? Didn't you hear me whistle?
Mortimer: 'Whistle? Oh yeah. I heard you whistle.
She turns around to show him her new dress, which truly
favors.
Elaine: "How am I?"
Mortimer, listless and absent: 'You're fine. Run home. I'll call you
tomorrow".
Elaine, in the height of amazement: "Tomorrow?"
Mortimer, giving a mechanical reply: "You know I always call you every
two or
three days".
Elaine, thinking he's not serious: You and your jokes! And your hat? The
bol-
they are in the taxi. Let's go!".
Mortimer, seriously: I'm sorry. Something has happened.
Elaine can't figure out what it is about, so she doesn't ask what is going
on.
Rather, he believes that he is the victim of his usual hesitations.
Elaine: 'What? Where is that nerve? Where is that look that would see so
many
times?".
Mortimer: «Enough! Don't whistle in my ear, please.
Elaine, noticing something better that it is something different from what
she has experienced until then.
ces: "What is it?"
Mortimer, somatizing the problem: «Look what hair. What color is it?".
Elaine, already worried: Have you got gray hair? Honey, is something
wrong? What happen?".
"If I could tell you ..."
Mortimer doesn't seem able to tell him the truth. He is evasive, but
affectionate again:
Page 30
196
Mortimer: «The flowers are very pretty. If I could tell you, Elaine. You
smell very
good…".
But he cannot return to that state of happiness with her. Not at least for
the
moment.
Mortimer: "Come on, go home!"
Elaine, completely lost: "But honey, we got married today."
Mortimer, fleeing from that happy memory, looking for another
impossible normality:
"Lie down, get some rest!"
Elaine: "Rest?"
The conversation is interrupted by Judge Vaughan's call. Mortimer was
get completely into it; when he sees that Elaine hasn't left yet, he
reproaches harshly.
Mortimer: 'Elaine! Do you want to leave here? ».
Elaine, hurt: What is happening? I do not know which is my situation!".
Mortimer, indelicately: "Anyone but that!"
Elaine: "What about the falls?"
Mortimer: "Let them fall!"
Elaine, reacting logically: 'Wait a minute! Listens. You can not
marry me and then kick me out! ».
Mortimer, in complete contradiction: 'I won't kick you out of the
house! Could you walk away
please?".
Finally, Elaine leaves. The aunts, completely absent from this tension,
they comment with proverbial naivety:
Martha: "What did you say about Mortimer?"
Abby: "I think I know why he's so upset."
Martha: "Why?"
Abby: 'He just got married. I think it always makes men a little nervous. "
Martha: "Yes, the poor."
Abby: "I'm so happy for Elaine."
The dark panorama of the Brewster has in his illusion for the marriage of
Elaine and Mortimer a counterweight to hope.
Page 31
197
“We got married today, we were going to go to Niagara Falls, your
brother in-
he's trying to strangle me, a taxi is waiting for us ... AND NOW YOU
WANT TO SLEEP
ON THAT SITE! »
We have noted that the scene of Elaine's attempted abduction by
Jonathan is the cruelest in the movie. There is no greater and more
flagrant absence of
recognition . The threatened young woman becomes nobody for Teddy
and Jona-
than. But what is worse, for Mortimer himself.
Arsenic clearly appears as a remarriage comedy. But it reaches
describe true chasms of human relationship. Elaine's humiliation has no
comparison. Not even the comic character of the film makes it easily
bearable. Alone
The consideration that Mortimer is blind and not him opens the only gate
of
possible hope.
Mortimer: "Elaine, what are you doing here?"
Elaine: "Mortimer!" Mortimer: "What's wrong, darling?"
Elaine: "They almost killed me."
Mortimer: "Do they kill you?" -Looking at the old women. Aunt Abby,
Aunt Martha!
Elaine: «No! It was Jonathan!
Abby: "He mistook her for a thief."
Mortimer, belittling: "Oh, that was it."
Elaine: “It was much worse. He's a maniac. It scares me".
Mortimer casually: 'Honey, don't worry. I'm with you now. Ol-
see it ».
Despite her proven ability to lace, Elaine has a new bang:
Elaine: “We got married today, we were going to Niagara Falls, your
brother!
try to strangle me, a taxi is waiting for us ... and now you want to sleep in
that
site!".
But Mortimer without paying due attention to him continues trying to
communicate with
Mr. Witherspoon.
Mortimer: "You should go home."
Elaine: "What?"
Mortimer: Be a good girl and go home. I have things to do".
Elaine: «But…».
Mortimer: "Please."
Page 32
198
Elaine: "He was going to kill me!"
Mortimer: "Wait a minute, you won't let me hear."
Mortimer is back on the phone. Seeing that she is still there, he insists on
let it go
Mortimer: "Didn't you hear what I just told you?"
Elaine, shocked: "Your own brother Jonathan has tried to strangle me!"
Mortimer, unbearably unreceptive to her: 'Please! This is
important!".
Elaine: "That?"
Elaine is silent for a moment. Then he insists:
Elaine: 'I don't understand you. He was going to kill me!
Mortimer, without listening to him: "Wait a minute, you won't let me
hear." Keep talking and push her away
on his side: "Please, darling."
Mortimer shuts her down again and Elaine already replies with all irony.
Elaine: "Take the honeymoon, the wedding ring, the taxi, the chest… put
them in a
barrel and throw them over the falls! ».
But Mortimer doesn't listen to her in the slightest:
Mortimer: 'Thanks, darling. Thank you".
This last expression clearly indicates how far Brewster is
absent in his words. He does not speak. It is the accumulated
tension. Therefore, when
Continue to fix the doctor, you will have the first honest conversation
with Elaine.
Mortimer: «Honey, I love you so much that I cannot continue with our
marriage"
Indeed, when he finally leaves Dr. Gilchrist inspecting Teddy in the
Brooklyn cemetery, the young man experiences relief.
Mortimer: 'Well that's it. It gives me time to rest a little. For now
everything goes
good".
Page 33
199
He looks at Elaine in the window of her house and thinks: "Not so good."
He approaches, and with tears in her eyes she asks him: "Do you love me
or don't you love me?"
Mortimer responds as if returning from somewhere:
Mortimer: How can you say that? Honey, of course I love you.
Elaine, listening to it, collects herself: "Really?"
Mortimer: "Yes, darling."
The conversation is going well. It raises what is essential to clarify:
Elaine: "So why are you treating me the way you have?"
Mortimer responds indirectly but sincerely: "Honey, I love you so much
that I don't
I can continue our marriage.
Elaine: "Have you suddenly gone crazy?"
Mortimer, caustic, raises his deepest fears, a eugenics that is
applies to himself.
Mortimer: 'I don't think so, but it's a matter of time. Baby, wouldn't you
like to have children
with three heads, right? Nor would you be happy to have your home in an
isolation cell.
to ».
Elaine, amazed: "What are you talking about?"
“Madness runs through the veins of my family. Actually, he is galloping
»
Mortimer is sincere, although to preserve his aunts he does not count
everything that happens.
Mortimer: 'Well, I don't know for sure. Maybe I should have told you
before, but you know ...
madness runs through the veins of my family. Actually, he is galloping.
Elaine tries to relativize the seriousness of the issue from what she
knows: "Let Teddy be
strange does not mean that ... ».
But Mortimer interrupts him to raise the seriousness of the matter.
Mortimer: 'No, darling. It comes from much further back. It comes from
the first Brewster, the one that
arrived on the Mayflower. Do you know that back then the Indians cut
her hair
to the settlers? He cut it off the Indians ».
Elaine, understanding: "Honey, it's a past story."
Page 34
200
The scene is interrupted to show Teddy's conversation with the doctor
about his re-election. When she returns to the young husbands, Elaine,
very sweet,
he insists, although his arguments hurt more than they relieve.
Elaine: “Honey, all that doesn't prove anything. Look at your aunts. They
are Brewster, right?
They are the most loving and sane people I know.
Mortimer can no longer subscribe to that image of them, although he does
not want to give them away:
Mortimer: "Well, even they have their quirks."
Elaine comes to express her love in the fullest way.
Elaine: 'Well, so what? Your family is crazy. You're crazy. I love you the
way you are.
I'm crazy too, kiss me.
Mortimer hesitating: 'No, no. I…".
At that moment, the doctor interrupts them. Mortimer loses his peace and
reacts
leaving Elaine with honey on her lips, almost literally. Watching him
return at
gone, Elaine angrily closes the window.
They are going on their honeymoon. A good start awaits you »
In the final scene, everything will become clear. The aunts inform him
that he is not a Brewster.
But with conviction they point out:
Martha: "Don't feel bad about it."
Abby: "I'm sure Elaine will care."
Mortimer has been released from all burdens. Of the exteriors because all
they go to Happy Valley. From the interiors because genetically he is no
longer a Brewster.
Now he runs after his marriage, which is a remarriage.
Mortimer yells at Elaine: Where are you? Do you hear me? I'm not a
Brewster!
I am the son of a ship's cook! '
Elaine appears through the cellar door. He has entered through the outer
hatch that
gives direct to it. He has found the graves. At first it was
scandalizes. But then he receives a warm kiss from Mortimer who
explains it
everything. That has been the cause of its oddities.
Page 35
201
Elaine: «It's true! I have seen them. It is true. It is true! There are 13
bodies down there! '
Mortimer picks her up and kisses her. Her voice is drowned out: "But I've
seen them ...".
Lieutenant Rooney asks, opening up the latest uncertainty as to whether
you will discover everything:
Rooney: "What are those screaming about?"
Elaine, still reluctant to speak despite the kiss: But I've seen them….
Mortimer, remedying himself: "It's time for him to go to bed."
Rooney: "Hush!"
Mortimer says goodbye to his aunts.
Rooney: "What is all this?"
Abby: 'They're going on their honeymoon. A good start awaits them.
Brewster: 'We're going to Niagara Falls. Call a taxi. Elaine: "Yes, love."
Taxi driver: "I'm not a taxi driver, I'm a coffee maker"
In the next scene, Mortimer is seen running with Elaine in his arms. To
travel
the living room and pass outside in the direction of her neighboring
house. The movie
reorder everything quickly. The chaos of chaos is order.
Elaine: "I've really seen…".
But keep silent. You have probably begun to understand or soon
go do it.
Taxi driver: «He is going to own two taxis! I'm talking about the meter!
Mortimer, in addition to Elaine, has systematically ignored the taxi
driver. Now what
redo:
Mortimer: 'We're going to Niagara Falls. Call a taxi.
Elaine: "Yes, love."
Capra has been interspersing throughout the film the taxi driver's notices
about the
taximeter race. In a way, it acted as a measure of reality. His expression
sion marked the real time, altered by the oscillations of the moods
Page 36
202
Of the youngs. But now, in the final scene, it breaks completely. It is no
longer before
the tyranny of the present. All the promise of the future remains. The
possibility of happiness
to second herself.
Taxi Driver: "But Mr. Brewster!"
Mortimer, triumphant: I'm not a Brewster. I am the son of a ship's cook.
Taxi driver: «I am not a taxi driver. I am a coffee maker!
8. BALANCE SHEET 54
The part that we have just narrated is the one that contains the most Capra
innovations.
We have already pointed out the success of José Ignacio Wert (Wert
Moreno, 2012) in
rent it with the screwball comedies . We have gone one step further by
inserting it into
Stanley Cavell's remarriage comedies (Cavell, 1981; Echart, 2005).
We must stop at the expression "a beginning awaits them" which in the
end produces
the aunts announce. On the one hand, it belongs to the spirit of starting
over from the rematri-
cute. On the other, it marks the hope for the new times. That hope
encompasses
the old women themselves.
For Cavell, remarriage is cause for hope for husbands, but also
good for society. The skepticism of knowledge and recognition does not
has the last word. Especially not the key to properly interpret
human relations. The pursuit of happiness, ideal of American society
na since its Declaration of Independence, offers a new strategy. The new
ones
Ties created will not work by themselves, politically or maritally.
They will require the active collaboration of the subjects involved.
Skepticism is not easily overcome, but it does not defeat us either. Asks
us
that we see it for what it is, a tragedy and that we put our best energies
gias to overcome it. Mortimer in Arsenic presents himself almost as a
hero of that place.
cha… in which I would have fallen defeated without Elaine. His
perseverance allows us to find
bring some solution to the problem of familial dementia. Without
destroying her aunts, but
without letting his madness continue to wreak havoc.
But it is not decisive. His marriage to Elaine has learned perseverance
necessary. Now he is free not to succumb to his own prejudices, nor to
depend
only of erotic attraction. The moment of intelligence has arrived. It has
been ful-
do the "each thing in its own time."
The beginning was what awaited American society, the world, with the
development of
I trust the Second World War. The major difference between Arsenic and
the Règle de
Page 37
203
jeu is here. The Brewster insanity opens to a new beginning. The castle of
the Cheyniest cover and conceal their crimes so that everything remains
the same.
Throughout our presentation we have insisted on the sinister nature of the
Brewster kyanites. There is nothing in your presentation that can make
euthanasia nice
in Capra's eyes. Nor the Kesselring. But the director adds with the
remarriage one more argument of hope.
When they sign the admission papers at the sanatorium they express their
satisfaction. "It is-
I'm looking forward to going. This neighborhood has changed a lot. They
are recognized as belonging to a
past to be overcome. It is no longer the aristocracy of the Mayflower that
supplies
hope. The beginning is in the hands of the young, of the remarriage.
Insanity runs in the Brewster blood. But in the adopted nephew
rren those ideals that they no longer know how to live in their weakness
and madness, and so
severely corrupt. Love does not end in feeling. Starts there for
bring us to the knowledge of the other. The community that most deeply
educates in
recognition has a name, marriage. And a procedure: perseverance
in the pursuit of happiness, remarriage.
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