The Impromptu Murder story
England, 1916. Solicitor Henry Daw kills a client, Miss Wilkinson, and buries her under a slab of stone next to the river. A body is found floating in the river a few days later, but Daw refuses to identify it properly, igniting Inspector Charles Tarrant's suspicions. Placed under pressure, Daw confesses to the murder, but it turns out that the body belongs to someone else. Directed by: Paul Henreid. Story by: Roy Vickers, Francis Cockrell.
10 total · 1 choice · 2 major · 7 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| murder | choice | The solicitor Henry Daw murdered his client, Miss Wilkinson, when she came requesting the money he'd been managing for her - the problem was he didn't have it to give back. |
| how to murder someone and get away with it | major | Henry hatched an elaborate plot to murder Miss Wilkinson and then cover his tracks. He buried the body in what he thought was a safe location and then impersonated her on a train trip to another town. |
| law enforcement | major | Police Inspector Tarrant was putting some tough questions to Henry over the disappearance and possible murder of Henry's client, Miss Wilkinson. |
| attack from outer space by a powerful conquering enemy | minor | In his monologue, Alfred Hitchcock alerted his viewers that a Martian invasion of Earth was underway as he spoke. |
| brother and sister | minor | The way Marjorie glared at her brother Henry hinted that she knew full well that he'd killed old Miss Wilkinson. |
| criminal fraud | minor | The solicitor Henry Daw didn't have the money he was managing for his client, Miss Wilkinson, when she requested that it be returned to her. |
| Martian extraterrestrial | minor | In his monologue, Alfred Hitchcock claimed that what by all appearances were three fashionable young women were in fact Martians. |
| risk taking vs. playing it safe | minor | Miss Wilkinson was determined to make a risky investment in her brother's factory against her solicitor's advice to play it safe with her money. |
| the military-industrial complex in society | minor | Miss Wilkinson was about to invest in some sort of industry that would both double her investment and quicken the end of "the war". |
| World War I | minor | Henry presided over a solemn ceremony to honor a number of English soldiers who'd presumably perished fighting in this war. |