One of the Family story
A family discovers that the nanny that they hired to care for their baby is a wanted child killer. Directed by: Joseph Pevney. Story by: Oscar Millard.
12 total · 1 choice · 6 major · 5 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| coping with a loved one being in peril | choice | Joyce was deathly afraid for her infant's life as she came to believe that their new nanny had a track record of infanticide. |
| being on the run from the law | major | Freida was wanted by the police after having been wrongfully accused of poisoning a baby with arsenic-laced milk. |
| caring for a baby | major | The Dexters' and their stereotypically no-nonsense German nanny were shown taking care of the Dexters' infant boy, Junior. Christine explained that it was quite rational to kill babies as they are manipulative, domineering little monsters - or something to that effect. |
| human mental condition | major | The true baby killer Christine was deeply deranged. Joyce mentioned to Christine that the infanticidal nanny was insane, but Christine demurred. In his closing remarks, Alfred Hitchcock conveyed to the viewer that Christine was placed in a sanitarium. The idea was floated that one would have to be deeply mentally ill to kill a baby. |
| husband and wife | major | Dexter and Joyce Daily hired a live-in nanny to take care of their infant with the idea that they'd go galavanting around in Europe for a couple of months. |
| infanticide | major | The story turned on the Dexters' nanny Freida being wanted by the police for having murdered a baby in cold blood by nursing it with arsenic-laced milk. The infanticidal nanny was not, in fact, the woman Joyce thought it was. |
| master and servant | major | Dexter and Joyce hired a strong willed German nanny to take care of their infant. |
| discipline of a child | minor | Christine said that her nanny beat her as a child. |
| framing someone for a crime | minor | Christine framed Frieda for the baby killing by planing an arsenic poisoned milk bottle in Freida's room. |
| jealousy | minor | Christine killed the baby in part out of jealously over the attention it got from its parents. |