THE ENDING - MAJOR SPOILERS
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TANSD76 — 13 years ago(February 03, 2013 06:40 PM)
I think he waited that long because he was more of a symbol than a real person. Especially with plays, I find myself having to suspend my disbelief at recurring themes and symbols and phrases. To me, he's like any play where people keep mentioning a certain flower or where characters echo phrases though they've never heard other characters say them. He's meant to hang around and be ominous until it's time for him to play his role.
I actually hoped that he would have a greater purpose and that there would be some secret to his character. I hoped he had something to tell her or that he would be revealed as someone from her past. But no, I think he was just a symbol and it's highly doubtful that he would be her next lover. -
HoferPM-1 — 14 years ago(December 09, 2011 02:32 PM)
Just watched it again for the upteenth time. I felt bad for her, but she should not have invited that guy up. The minute I saw him I became afraid and Paolo said something about a woman being murdered after she took up with some street urchin. Paolo was a male whore and she should have realized it would never last.
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info-3508 — 16 years ago(February 24, 2010 08:40 PM)
I think that your analysis is very astute. Watching it again, I believe that the act of the vagabond putting Mrs. Stone's keys in his own pocket is significant. We are meant to see this, it implies to me that his intentions are not good. A "friendly presence" would have smiled, returned the keys to her, or at least placed them on the table. He is desperate, there for taking. She is vain, so in despair over her youth and beauty fading, so willing to sacrifice her morals for the illusion of desirability, she doesn't care anymore.
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maryannhwrd — 14 years ago(January 31, 2012 01:42 PM)
I noticed that he pocketed her keys, but didn't realize the action's significance. You're so right. Until now I thought the movie's ending was a lot more hopeful than the book's.
In the novella, Tennessee Williams shows this young man as much more sinister. He can be heard tapping something metallic sounding as he stalks Mrs. Stone. Also, he waits until he's sure she's watching before relieving himself against the stone wall. -
mark.waltz — 13 years ago(July 27, 2012 09:53 AM)
Tennessee Williams used "the angel of death" character in his play "The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore" which premiered in New York just a year or two after this. This does create a pattern, although you can also see sort of a reverse "Pygmallion"/"My Fair Lady" story where she helps him turn his life around. I don't recall if this scene was in the original, but having just seen the remake, I felt that the part where the young man grabs the pizza dropped by an American woman and devours it to indicate that he was mortal. Even if the man is unbalanced, I don't think he'd stoop to killing her when at least he'd have a roof over his head for a while. If he did eventually kill her, it would have to be in a moment of passion, not right after he entered the apartment for the first time.
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TANSD76 — 13 years ago(February 03, 2013 06:34 PM)
I agree. He seems like the kind of character you'd find in a play, more symbol than person. And the foreshadowing of the earlier discussion of the woman killed by a stranger seems to make it pretty clear that even if he didn't kill Karen, she certainly wanted him to.
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tgemberl — 17 years ago(January 17, 2009 12:16 PM)
ID-21 wrote:
Through the whole film, there has been no squeamish avoidance of sexual innuendo.
But it seems like that's kind of beside the point. This is not a "sexploitation" flick, so it only shows two people coming together when there is some level of emotional intimacy between them. The young man from the street is a complete stranger, so Williams wouldn't show intimacy between them. Of course he is a harbinger of doom for Mrs. Stone, as everybody on this thread has said, but we can't necessarily draw the conclusion that he killed her on this occasion. It just shows how desperate she is at this point, and of course this doesn't bode well for her future. She may be found dead someday, but not necessarily now.
"Extremism in the pursuit of moderation is no vice." -
huweyjenkins — 17 years ago(February 21, 2009 06:04 AM)
Hmmm interesting interpretation. I must admit I didn't think that he killed her - she just didn't want to be left alone on the night her lover was off with someone else but the more I think about it..A lovely film, Vivien Leigh is rather understated and it's an effective interpretation.
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mark_g_1 — 16 years ago(August 23, 2009 05:22 PM)
dead giveawayexcuse the pun.of course people are to make up their own mindsother wise why leave it as a cliffhangeri thought in a previous post it was good of them to point out he put the keys in his pocketa part of me wants him to just be in love with her and all through the film he wanted to get close to her but my better judgement considering what others have said about the whole feel of the last couple of minutesits so darkhe must have killed her but i feel like he had other intentions.like when leigh ran from one of her friends trying to tell her the truth about paolo, he was trying to say something to heri dont think a killer would want to speak to hermaybe to befriend her to get into her apartment to kill her but i just dont think that
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gregorynipper — 16 years ago(October 22, 2009 10:44 AM)
If he wanted to kill her, why would he constantly hang around in front of her apartment where he's sure to be seen? One might argue in response that he's crazy and couldn't think about avoiding getting caught, but then why didn't he kill her earlier, such as in the alley, if that's really what he was after?
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CheeryToes — 16 years ago(February 07, 2010 01:39 AM)
I don't know why he would hang out all the time and have opportunity to hurt her several times in the film and then go "woo hoo, I got what I wanted, NOW I'll kill her." But yet, that's where the film leads you. Listening to all the dialogue going on in her head and the comment about throat slitting - she was commiting suicide by drifterthe drifting did end up killing her.
That being said, when they left it that the kid was going to kill her I thought that's the dopiest thing I ever saw - I stayed up till 4AM for that!! Love TW - but ehthis film was not for me. Though Beatty was beautiful and so was Vivien Leigh. (and the street guy)
"I jumped off a roof for you" -
badnomad — 15 years ago(May 15, 2010 12:37 PM)
Knowing Tennessee Williams work, the stranger is a benevolent Angel of Death. He saw in her from the very beginning that she would want to die, and he waited and waited until he had her consent to do her in. That's why he comes to her like a lover and with a smile. It's a benevolent act (mercy killing) in a warped "Tennesee Williams" way.
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SuzieWrong — 15 years ago(July 19, 2010 11:59 PM)
Eh, Jill St. John is wrong. Well, maybe not 100% wrong. This is a death scene.
Watch the final scene when Karen is alone. She breaks down and cries knowing that she has lost Paolo. She rings Meg, but discovers Meg has just left for New York. Meg was her last bridge to society and life, and now that bridge has been burned. The audience hears the 'voices' in Karen's head about all she has lost in her life. The final straw is when Karen sees Paolo arrive at Miss Bingham's hotel (Karen refuses to call her Barbara. Heh). Back at her apartment the last words we hear is Karen's 'voice' when she told Paolo, "all I need is four years. After that a cut throat would be convenient." Then she wraps the key and tosses it to Mystery Guy. She sits in a chair, lights a cigarette, and waits passively. We see Mystery Guy walk towards the camera (Karen's POV) and his form obliterates everything from view until the screen is completely black.
This is Karen's act of passive suicide. It is a descent into utter degradation and deprivation by submitting to this dark angel of death. Perhaps Mystery Guy does not kill her that night, but we know that there are only days or hours left in Karen Stone's life. -
socorso — 14 years ago(November 06, 2011 10:54 AM)
great take, SuzieWrong.
It was just on TCM and I had to watch the end again. It's one of THE saddest (and most depressing) scenes ever committed to film, IMHO.
Cold sober, I find myself absolutely fascinating.