The Door Without a Key story
Captain Shaw works the night shift at a police station when he is approached by an old man who is suffering from amnesia. A lost boy then appears. Shaw tries to send the man to a hospital and the boy to home. Both, however, refuse to go. Eventually more people arrive. Each lost in some way or another. Eventually Shaw manages to clear out everyone, but the boy and the old man. The boy reveals that his father left him at the police station so that he would be sent to a home. When he hears this, the old man's memory returns. He is wealthy and has lost his family. He lives all alone in an enormous mansion. Shaw urges the old man to adopt the boy so that both of them can have a family. Directed by: Herschel Daugherty. Story by: Norman Daniels, Irving Elman.
9 total · 5 major · 4 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| abandonment | major | Mickey came to grips with that his father had ditched at the police station and ran off with a woman not his mother. |
| being bitter about one's life | major | Bit by bit, we hear Mr. Eldridge explain how he had pursued wealth and power in his life, and now to his dismay finds that he lives in a big fancy house surrounded by servants and sycophants who care nothing for him personally. |
| law enforcement | major | The story took place in a small town police station. |
| money isn't everything | major | A point of the story is that Mr. Eldridge's money was insufficient to the task of making him happy. He needed companionship. |
| what if I had amnesia | major | Mr. Eldridge went to the police station suffering from amnesia. |
| alcohol abuse | minor | An inebriated old woman was taken in by the police. We understand that it was a habit of hers to get soaked and trouble the law. |
| reminiscence about one's youth | minor | Mr. Eldridge reminisced about his boyhood spent on his father's farm. |
| sports | minor | In his monologue, Alfred Hitchcock proudly explained that he finished "first" in a bicycle race by quitting after five minutes. |
| substance intoxication | minor | The old woman was tipsy and scared the young boy. |