After watching this film, I feel Capra wins a point in my heart. The overall expressiveness of the film is very strong (although I don’t like the exaggerated acting of the handsome guy Gary Grant in it), in a residence, it contains a series of spaces for killing, hiding corpses, and "burial". The design of the scenes Very characteristic with layout. An unbelievable story, under Capra’s comic narration, always reminds me of Hitchcock. To be precise, it is reminded of Hitchcock’s two films: "Rope" (Rope, 1948). ) And "The Terror" (Pyscho, 1960). Well, there will be spoilers next.
The story of "Poison and the Old Woman" mainly took place in a small villa in Brooklyn. There were three permanent residents: the two aunts of the male lead (the film later explained that his family had a history of mental illness. It can be assumed that these two look extremely The kind old lady is actually a mentally ill "patient") and the male protagonist's younger brother Teddy who has a serious mental illness. Yes, a mental illness. In addition to the similar plot elements of killing, hiding the corpse, and mental illness, the corpse coffin (that is, the windowseat under the window), the dining table and chairs, the stairs and the basement in the film, these elements are in the two parts of "Imperial Soul" and "Cry of the Soul" There are separate appearances in the film, which is the most direct cause of my association.
"Chair of Death"
Since the key word is "killing", how did this first step take place? The "perpetrators" are the two aunts of the male lead. The depiction in literary works has been since ancient times (probably because it is true in history), and women are good at using poison. The poisoning is carried out during the meal. The targets of their poisonous killing are people who are as old as them, and people who have nowhere to rely on old age. The two old ladies believed that giving poisonous wine to strange old people was a kind of relief for the lonely old people alive. The location of the poisoning is on the dining table, a special armchair becomes the "chair of death"-so it also has a terrible sense of ritual. Yes, death requires a sense of ritual. Later, the male protagonist also sat on the "chair of death", tied to the same seat by his fugitive brother Jonathan. Of course, the male protagonist would not die like this. When the police arrived, Jonathan and his accomplices attempted to commit a murder. The male protagonist finally broke away from his chair halfway, and later in the fight, the seat tied to his body was completely crushed by the male protagonist— -"The chair of death" is broken, which means that all death is over here. Among them, it is worth noting that this was an accidental attack. Jonathan cut the rope from the window to tie the curtains and used it as the rope to tie the male protagonist—the objects of daily life became a murder weapon.
Inserting a not-so-related association, dining and corpses seem to be a very "fascinating" pairing. People can die during the meal, on the dining chair by the dining table; they can also be packed into a box after death to become a meal ("The Soul"); even, (not related to the films mentioned) become a meal Itself (such as Greenaway's "The Chef, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover").
This film is similar to Hitchcock's "Imperial Tooth", and the killing behavior is quickly explained at the beginning of the film (of course, "Imperial Tooth" is faster and more direct, the first shot is). Therefore, there is no suspense about the murder, and the murderer also explained it from the beginning. The suspenseful point is, what to do after the murder. The stories told in the two films are murders in the house, and there will be other people visiting afterwards, so the corpse needs to be hidden. The hiding of the corpses in "Poison and the Old Woman" is not only the behavior of the two old ladies, but also the man's desire to hide the murder of the two aunts.
The corpse: Windowseat VS "dining table"
The setting of windowseat in "Poison and the Old Woman" is very clever, in my opinion, it is the finishing touch of the scene design. Windowseat is a variant of the sofa, the sofa under the window; and at the same time, it often has the storage function; in addition, its special position-under the window, makes it a passage between indoors and outdoors. The use of these three functions is reflected in the film. Shortly after the beginning of the film, this important windowseat appeared in the audience's field of vision following the discussion and guidance of the two old ladies: it seemed to be at least half a meter wide, with only a thin layer of soft cushions on it. There is no pillow (it does not seem to be suitable for daily sitting). Therefore, the male protagonist unconsciously opened the windowseat and saw a corpse. In the following conversations between the male lead and the two aunts, it can be learned that this windowseat as a corpse coffin was only an expedient measure after the “murder” that day. The corpse was put in it. The director only took the action of opening windowseat, but did not see what it looked like (like the door on the second floor). Only a close-up shot revealed the scene after it was opened: the corpse was removed and left behind. The next hat-a hat means a corpse, Capra used the technique of borrowing here.
In Hitchcock’s "Imperial Soul", the box that originally contained the books became a temporary corpse coffin, and the rope for the murder was also regarded as a daily necessities by the conceited murderer, and was placed in the cabinet. middle. The box was draped with a table cloth, arranged as a dining table, and placed in the living room. Although it seems to be used normally in banquets, it still cannot conceal the weirdness of this function conversion. The doubts revealed by the maid and the observation of the witty male lead can easily reveal the real hiding place. Similarly, Hitchcock did not take a shot of the corpse in the box.
Both directors associate everyday objects with the extraordinary behavior of "homicide," and everyday objects are given an extraordinary meaning.
Floors and Stairs: "Poison and the Old Woman" VS "Terror"
The stairs in "Scary" is probably a kind of representative on the screen. In "The Movie Guide to the Pervert", Zizek interprets the second floor, the entrance floor and the basement connected by the stairs from the perspective of psychoanalysis, corresponding to the characters' "superego", "self/Ego" and "self/Id" ". In "Poison and the Old Woman", although this residence also has two floors above ground and one underground floor, although the people living in it are all mental patients, Capra's spatial arrangement should not have these psychoanalytic principles. . Capra focuses on the scene of the living room on the entrance floor. There is a fireplace, a large dining table, a sofa and coffee table for receiving guests, and even a piano for Teddy to play. It is a very daily and warm suburban villa. Indoor scene. And the more routine the scene, the more dramatic the act of killing and hiding the corpse. Here, the stairs leading to the second floor bedroom are also very important. There are many stories on the stairs, but the stairs are basically shot from the upward angle in the living room (of course, there are also some shots taken from a high place). The rooms of the two old ladies on the second floor, and the room of the mentally ill brother Teddy, have never been fully opened to the audience, just like the basement we will talk about next.
basement
The door leading from the living room to the basement appeared in multiple shots. It was clearly expressed-especially the bridge where the neuropathic brother Teddy went downstairs after the lights were turned off. Only the light from the basement illuminates the room. The door, like a silhouette, is very visually stunning. The entrance to this basement is very eye-catching, but the scene in the basement is very rare. There are only two very short scenes shot in the basement, and the focus is on shooting Jonathan and his doctor. The close and middle shots did not show the basement. Spatial layout-this basement/cemetery where more than ten people are buried, is the same as the room of the male protagonist's neurotic brother Teddy, but it actually only exists in the imagination of the audience. Including two old ladies dressed in black preparing to attend the "funeral" dress, which also enriches the audience's imagination of the basement. It is worth noting that at the end of the film, after the police intervened, almost all the neuropathic patients were talking about the basement. The situation was very tense, and even the door of the basement had been opened. The police wanted to see what happened, but they were finally taken by the man. Obstructed, no one went to the basement (except the male protagonist’s newlywed wife sneaked in from outside, but only shots of the wife entering and leaving). The secrets of the two old ladies were finally covered up-just like the basement that has never been revealed.
In addition to Grant's exaggerated acting skills, the image of the hero's wife in the film is also quite strange, and the hero's character is machismo, and some small plots will be uncomfortable to watch. But given the historical background and artistic techniques of this film, it can be considered quite a shocking work.
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