The Crystal Trench story
Mountaineer Mark Cavendish falls in love with Stella Ballister, a young widow. Stella is devoted to her late husband, who died on a mountain and fell into a glacier, and refuses to move on until she sees his body. After 40 years they find the body, but there is a locket on him with a picture of another woman. Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock. Story by: A. E. W. Mason, Stirling Silliphant.
11 total · 1 choice · 3 major · 7 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| coping with the death of a spouse | choice | So devastated was Stella by the tragic death of her husband, who died on a mountain and fell into a glacier, that she refused to move on from him until she beheld his dead body. This she did some 40 years after the fact. |
| letting go of a lover | major | Stella refused to move on from her tragically deceased husband until she beheld his dead body, which she ultimately did some 40 years after the fact. |
| mountaineering | major | Mark was a mountain climber. There was talk about mountain climbing and all the things that the had gone wrong in the lead up to Stella's husband's death in his climb up the Schwarzhorn. |
| unrequited love | major | Mark spent 40 years trying to win Stella's love, but she'd been unable to move on from her tragically deceased husband. |
| delivering bad news | minor | Mark regretted to inform Stella that her husband had perished while climbing a glacier covered mountain. |
| extramarital affair | minor | The story concluded with this dramatic happening: Stella found on the frozen body of her husband, who'd remained committed to for some 40 years after his death, a locket containing a photograph of another woman. |
| geology | minor | Professor Kersley explained how one might calculate the rate at which a glacier flows down a mountain. |
| human health condition | minor | Mr. Ranks had lost limbs due to frostbite. |
| ironic twist of fate | minor | Helen spent 40 years trying to recover her lost lover's corps only to find out that he'd probably been unfaithful. |
| pleasure in nature | minor | Mark spoke of the "majesty" of the Schwarzhorn mountain glacier. |