The Baby-Blue Expression story
Scatterbrained Mrs. Barrett conspires with her lover Philip to kill her husband James while he is away on a business trip. She mistakenly mails an incriminating letter about the murder plan to James, and frantically tries to get it back, but fails. Directed by: Arthur Hiller. Story by: Mary Stolz, Helen Nielsen.
9 total · 5 major · 4 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| dumb blonde stereotype | major | That Mrs. Barrett embodied the dumb blonde stereotype was struck home when she asked whether Toronto was overseas. If that's not enough, she is furthermore described as a "scatterbrain" (on Wikipedia), and the concluding misfortune of the conspiring antagonists is solely due to her inability to carry out simple instructions. |
| extramarital affair | major | The story concerns the sordid conspiracies of Mrs. Barrett and her lover Philip against the former's husband. |
| husband and wife | major | Mrs. Barrett conspired with her lover to knock off her husband, James, while he was away on business in Toronto. |
| love triangle | major | The story concerns the sordid conspiracies of Mrs. Barrett and her lover Philip against the former's husband. |
| spouse murder | major | Mrs. Barrett conspired with her lover to bring about the untimely demise of her husband in Toronto. |
| master and pet | minor | Mrs. Barrett looked after her yappy chihuahua. |
| master and servant | minor | Mrs. Barrett dressed down her housekeeper for lollygagging about with cleaning instead of making canapes for the cocktail tête-à-tête Mrs. Barrett had not yet announced to anyone, least of all the housekeeper. |
| music | minor | In his sketch, Alfred Hitchcock feigned to play a one minute waltz on the piano in record time. |
| romantic love | minor | Philip proclaimed his love to Mrs. Barrett in the restaurant. |