MovieChat Forums > The Keys of the Kingdom (1944) Discussion > **POSSIBLE SPOILER** Is it me or... ?

POSSIBLE SPOILER Is it me or... ?

posted 17 years ago by mcelesia-1
10 replies | jump to latest

I recently saw the film in the Fox Movie Channel.

Is it me or there's something rather obvious but unspoken in the film? When Peck leaves for School, he promises his girlfriend, Nora, that he will not become a priest. Then he received a letter from his family and Nora asking him not to return home the following Summer. So he does not seen Nora in a year or a little more. But then Edmund Gwenn tells him that Nora gave birth to a baby girl six months before. If my maths don't fail me, the child was conceived BEFORE Peck left for school. Later on, before going to China, he laments that he'll be away from Judy, Nora's little daughter, to whom he's grown attached. So, is the little girl his daughter? Has anhybody read the book?

[–] brendast 17 years ago

I believe she conceived the child with someone else. The elder priest mentions her behavior changing. The child is not Peck's but he loved Nora and so loves the child.

[–] GJValent 17 years ago

BIG SPOILER ! I recently read the book, as my parents always told me it was Peck's performance in the film that prompted them to name me Gregory. As I read it, though it's not spelled out in so many words, she became pregnant after having been raped by her drunken father. Heavy stuff back then, and now. She then married someone else, to give the child a name, and subsequently died. Obviously, there is much more in the book that was left out of the movie, more deaths for instance. But, there you have it. The movie plot implies that Francy (Peck) is the father and her death really drives him to the priesthood.

[–] gribfritz2 11 years ago

Actually, the movie does not imply that Father Francis is the father at all. In 1944 Hollywood? Are you serious? The movie clearly states that Nora became "different" after he left. Obviously, she was a good girl, because someone who would eventually become a priest would not consort with a bad girl. Then, after he left, she conveniently became a bad girl (so she could have her out of wedlock baby).

[–] jayzee2000 16 years ago

I saw this movie a couple of nights ago, and I'm pretty sure the priest tells him that Nora's baby is 3 months old. I was doing the math in my head too and wondered if that might be where they were going with it, but I think the point was that she changed a lot after he left and conceived the child while he was away (maybe soon after he left).

[–] practicepiano 15 years ago

Just saw that scene -- they say that is has been more than a year since he's seen her, and that the baby was born six weeks ago.

So the implication is that her change in character led to her becoming pregnant by some other man.

[–] TongueFu 15 years ago

Maybe it was getting knocked up that changed her character. Pregnancy will do that to a woman.

[–] ilahilda 10 years ago

I wondered about that also. I saw the film last night. An interesting, decent flick. I also pondered if the kid was his. But I don't think so, she probably got wild and got pregnant from a one night stand. I will have to read the book.

[–] jrhpax 8 years ago

I just watched the movie. There's no suggestion that the priest fathered the child. I agree, too, that in 1940s Hollywood, such a suggestion would not have been permitted.

[–] [deleted] 2 years ago

i assume he was not the father. he would not have abandoned his own daughter.

[–] CoriSCapnSkip (2727) 3 months ago

I think he said he’d been away for a year and the baby was six weeks, not six months. In no way his.