Gratitude story
New York, 1916. Meyer Fine is a casino owner with a crippling fear of death. When he makes a mistake that threatens his business, his former partners put a hit out on him. Meyer is terrified of waiting for them to act, so he begs his loyal valet, John to help kill him first. Directed by: Alan Crosland, Jr. Story by: Donne Byrne, William Fay.
10 total · 1 choice · 3 major · 6 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| loyalty to a leader | choice | The point of the story, it transpires, is John being so loyal to his master that John actually obeys and kills him when he requests it. |
| gambling | major | Mr. Fine was running an underground casino. A young gambler shit himself dead after losing big at Mr. Fine's underground casino. |
| master and servant | major | Mr. Fine maintained a close relationship with his loyal valet, John, throughout, and ultimately entrusted the valet to take his life before some rival gangsters took him out. |
| organized crime | major | The underground casino owner Mr. Fine and his associates were involved in some kind of feud with a group of rival gangsters. |
| cowardice | minor | Mr. Fine confessed that he was too much of a coward to take his own life. |
| fear | minor | John revealed his fear of lobsters to Mr. Fine. |
| fear of death | minor | Mr. Fine may have had a crippling fear of death. |
| law enforcement | minor | A police lieutenant warned Mr. Fine and his associates that their private gambling establishment would not much longer be tolerated by the law. The same lieutenant chastised John for shooting Mr. Fine dead, but what he didn't know was that Mr. Fine had begged John to do it. |
| life in the American Wild West | minor | In his sketch, Alfred Hitchcock watched a scene of two cowboys erupting into fisticuffs in an 1878 Tombstone, Arizona saloon. |
| suicide | minor | The young gambler Combs was reported to have "blown his brains out" in the immediate aftermath of a bad night at the casino. A desperate Mr. Fine put a revolver to his temple, but lacked the courage to pull the trigger. |