The Three Dreams of Mr. Findlater story
Ernest Findlater, who has suffered years of verbal abuse by his wife, fantasizes about her death. He invents Lalage, an imaginary exotic lover from the South Seas. Lalage encourages him to murder his wife, and Ernest spends weeks preparing every detail to ensure success without discovery. When Ernest finally returns home to commit the deed, he finds that his wife has died of natural causes. Directed by: Jules Bricken. Story by: A. A. Milne, Sarett Rudley.
12 total · 1 choice · 7 major · 4 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| how to murder someone and get away with it | choice | Ernest and Lalage spent weeks preparing every detail of how Ernst would knock off his wife. |
| coping with a nag | major | Ernst's wife Minnie berated and otherwise verbally abused him at every opportunity. |
| escape from reality | major | The aged gentleman Ernst imagined about leaving his nagging wife for a beautiful, young South Seas woman that his imagination had conjured up. |
| fantasy romance | major | Ernst invented an imaginary exotic lover from the South Seas. |
| husband and wife | major | Ernst was plotting to murder his nagging wife, Minnie. |
| infatuation | major | Ernst and his imaginary South Seas lover Lalage were head over heels for each other. |
| ironic twist of fate | major | Ernest arrived prepared to knock off his horrid wife after weeks of careful planning, only to be told that she had just died from natural causes. |
| spouse murder | major | Ernst spent weeks plotting the murder of his nagging wife, only to find that she'd died of natural causes when the moment came to go through with it. |
| medical occupation | minor | In the preamble, a stereotypical shrink was interpreting Alfred Hitchcock's dreams as Hitchcock laid in a relaxed pose on the shrink's couch. |
| reverse psychology | minor | Ernest deftly used reversed psychology to manipulate Minnie into writing a will that would not benefit him, that he could murder her without suspicion. |