MovieChat Forums > On Borrowed Time (1939) Discussion > Sweet?! Charming?! Heartwarming?! **Spo...

Sweet?! Charming?! Heartwarming?! **Spoilers**


Despite the glowing reviews, this is no fairytale and should not be shown to children.

The Dog dies.

Death in the form of Mr. Brink, lures a heartbroken 10 year old boy to climb a fence in order to get him in his clutches and he falls and breaks his back. He spends the rest of his short life paralyzed and in pain and fear. The fact that prior to this act, Mr. Brink had been charismatic and likable, if implacable, makes this cruel turn even worse.

The greedy villain, who was disturbingly planning to send this boy’s boy to a girls school by the way, inherits all of the money she was scheming for the whole movie. Nice.

What was with Pug and Gramps meeting Nellie the Grandmother with no mention of the boy’s recently dead parents and their son and daughter-in-law? WTH? Did this good mother and father go to hell?

I could mention the horrendous act of Gramps shooting a guy in the gut to prove a point (the most painful type of gunshot ever) but I don't want to pile on.

Bottom line. A whole family is snuffed out without mercy. A nice family. Including the dog.

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I'm not so sure of Demetria inheriting anything. Gramps makes it clear in the lawyer's office that he wanted his money to go to Marcia. And since Demetria never became the legal guardian of Pud I suspect Puds' estate would go to Gramps. His act of putting out his will in Pud's bedroom signals (to me anyway) Gramps left his estate to Marcia.

That said, I mainly agree with your sentiment. I think the good acting performances can't sustain a 'family' movie that has a body count that practically matches 'The Silence of the Lambs'. I wonder why they even had to show the parents killed when they could have started the movie with him already an orphan.

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Ok, well that I am relieved at least that you have convinced my that Miss Gouch did not inherit. Great analogy re Silence of the Lambs and Great point re showing the car accident. As far as great acting performances though, I think Lionel Barrymore played Lionel Barrymore in this. Pug got on my last nerve. Everyone else was fine, and Una Merkel and Cedrick Hardwick were fantastic.

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[deleted]

Fairy tales could be really creepy too, read Hansel and Gretel, as Stephen King liked to point out.

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