Death and the Joyful Woman story

ahh1x27 · 1963-04-12

A man loses his life upon winning a gamble with his disinherited child. Directed by: John Brahm. Story by: Ellis Peters (novel), James Bridges (teleplay).

19 total · 9 major · 10 minor

Theme	Level	Motivation
facing financial ruin	major	Al came crawling to his wealthy father for money, but to no avail.
fatherly disappointment in a son	major	Luis disowned his only son, Al, for refusing to marry in the financial interest of the family winery. Luis humiliated Al when Al returned, desperate for money.
greed for riches	major	Luis was driven by a desire to expand his wine empire to the point that he disowned his only son when the son married the woman he loved, rather than the heiress of a rival winery.
hell hath no fury like a woman scorned	major	As Luis made it clear that hell would freeze over sooner than he would make good on his promise to marry Ruth, she summarily bashed his head in with a magnum wine bottle, tried to murder young Dominic who was a witness, and then attempted suicide with sleeping pills (prompting the viewer to wonder why she bothered to torment Dominic so first).
infatuation	major	Dominic had a teenage crush on the beautiful winery heiress, Kitty Norris.
law enforcement	major	The policeman George Felse was investigating Luis' suspicious death.
murder of a lover	major	Ruth bashed Luis' head in in a jealous rage, and then left Dominic for dead in a wine cask to cover it up.
romantic jealousy	major	In a jealous rage, Ruth bashed Luis' head in with an empty wine bottle.
unrequited love	major	Ruth had been besotted with Luis for a long time and expected him to marry her, but then he suddenly made it clear that he would do no such thing and, in fact, that he want to marry someone else. Dominic had a teenage crush on a beautiful, but out of reach winery heiress.
coping with a loved one being in peril	minor	The policeman George Felse was particularly troubled over the unexplained disappearance of his son, Dominic.