The Impossible Dream story
Has-been actor Oliver Mathews is being blackmailed by Grace Dolan for an affair he had with Grace's late daughter. Having had enough, Oliver murders Grace. Oliver's assistant, Miss Hall, who is in love with Oliver but has been rebuffed for years, learns about the murder and asks him to have a relationship with her in order to keep her from going to the authorities. Directed by: Robert Stevens. Story by: John Lindsey.
12 total · 6 major · 6 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| blackmail | major | Oliver was being blackmailed by Grace Dolan for an affair he had with Grace's late daughter. Miss Hall blackmailed Oliver into marrying her. |
| coping with being washed up | major | The once-celebrated film actor Oliver lamented that time had moved on and he was no longer being cast for the prominent roles that he used to be. |
| murder | major | Oliver drugged his blackmailer Grace with a sedative and dumped her body in the river. |
| obsessive love | major | Miss Hall's obsessive infatuation with Oliver had made her forego marriage and, as Oliver candidly put it to her, she was now nearly past the point where she had any chance of finding a husband. |
| superior and subordinate | major | Oliver and his assistant, and ultimately blackmailer, Grace. |
| unrequited love | major | Oliver's assistant Miss Hall was head over heels for him, and in the end she blackmailed him into marrying her. |
| acting | minor | Oliver acted in a scene that was being shot for a movie. |
| coping with the death of a child | minor | Grace spoke of her late daughter that she accused Oliver of having murdered. |
| filmmaking | minor | We saw the shooting of a movie scene. |
| husband and wife | minor | Oliver and Miss Hall attended a film together as a married couple at the story's conclusion. |