Behind the Locked Door story
A woman is told by her mother that she will be cut off from her inheritance if she does not divorce her husband, whom the mother claims is a gold digger. Directed by: Robert Douglas. Story by: Joel Murcott (teleplay).
19 total · 2 choice · 10 major · 7 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| curiosity killed the cat | choice | The central theme alluded to in the title was revealed early and came back in the end with panache: A mysterious door in Bonnie's ancestral home sorely tempted Dave's greedy fingers and he could just barely keep a lid on it not to give his game away. When he finally came into possession of the house in the end, he excitedly opened the door and barged headlong through it plunging to gruesome and prolonged death at the bottom of an abandoned elevator shaft. |
| disapproving parent | choice | The central component of the story is that Bonnie's mother didn't approve of the man she had chosen and withheld all her inheritance and possession, forcing them to live in poverty out of spite it seems. As it were, she was right about Dave. |
| greed for riches | major | Dave revealed his true colors at the very end when he gleefully pranced down the corridors of Bonnie's ancestral home which he had now inherited, albeit in a roundabout manner. He really had cared nothing for Bonnie and only wanted her wealth. |
| husband and wife | major | Dave and Bonnie tied the knot a second time after their first marriage was annulled on account of Bonnie having lied about her age and failed to acquire her mother's permission for the union. |
| love vs. material gain | major | Bonnie resolved to give up her material wealth for seven years and live in poverty to be with her husband Dave. |
| mother and daughter | major | Mrs. Daniels and Bonnie. |
| mother-in-law and son-in-law | major | Mrs. Daniels and Dave. |
| rich character vs. poor character | major | Dave was a poor man trying to make it in the world while Bonnie was a rich kid born with a silver spoon in her mouth. |
| romantic love | major | The scoundrel Dave and his ever-loving wife, Bonnie. |
| sacrifice for a loved one | major | In one interpretation of the story Bonnie knowingly took a lethal dose of sleeping pills to free the love of her life, Dave, from her powerful mother's grip. The mother was preventing Dave from getting a job because she thought that he would leave her daughter and stop pursuing her inheritance, if life was hard for Dave. |