Museum Piece story
Mr. Hollister is curator of a small museum that displays trinkets and human remains. He is visited by Newton B. Clovis who claims to be an archaeo- psychologist. Hollister tells him that the museum's collection was made by his son, Ben, who died after being erroneously convicted of first degree murder. It is revealed that the modern skeleton in the museum belongs to the district attorney who convicted Ben, and Clovis is investigating that murder. Directed by: Paul Henreid. Story by: William C. Morrison, Harold Swanton.
18 total · 8 major · 10 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| coping with a loved one being in peril | major | Mr. Hollister was distraught over the possibility that his son might get convicted of first degree murder. |
| coping with the death of a child | major | Mr. Hollister coped with his beloved son dying in prison by murdering the district attorney who was ultimately responsible for the son's conviction. |
| crime and punishment | major | At the heart of the story is the legal dilemma around whether mild mannered Ben deserved any of the legal punishment that was lawfully meted out to him. |
| father and son | major | Mt. Hollister spoke wistfully of his late son, Ben. Then a story-within-a-story about the two ensued. Mr. Hollister tried and failed to save his son, Ben, from being falsely convicted for murder. |
| law enforcement | major | Mr. Clovis turned out to have been sent from the district attorney's office to investigate Mr. Henshaw's murder. District Attorney Henshaw prosecuted Ben for murder. |
| murder | major | Mr. Hollister murdered District Attorney Henshaw out of vengeance and put his skeleton on display in a museum. He subsequently stabbed the suspicious Mr. Clovis in the back and put up his skeleton on display as well. Ben was accused of first degree murder, although the viewer knows it was somewhat an accident as well as self-defense. |
| the desire for vengeance | major | As the story unravels, it is revealed that Mr. Hollister had extracted vengeance for his son's unjust demise in the slammer. |
| what if I was accused of a crime that I didn't commit | major | Ben was sentenced to life in prison for a murder he didn't commit. The case is, in fact, ambiguous and left ambiguous but the idea is apparent that Ben was perhaps punished more harshly than the offense warranted. |
| Ancient Egyptian mythology | minor | In his sketch, Alfred Hitchcock jested about ancient Egyptian burial rituals. |
| archaeology | minor | Mr. Clovis pretended to be an archaeo-psychologist (i.e., a specialist at inferring the psyches of ancient people by examining the artifacts they left behind). The apparent archaeo-psychologist Mr. Clovis examined a couple of ancient obsidian knives. Mr. Hollister was a museum curator. |