Edward G Robinson in an apron

There are some awesome "brushstrokes" in this movie, so to speak. And, Chris Cross in the apron cleaning dishes is one of them. He is the emasculated man in a loveless marriage. It is easy to understand how he so easily falls for Kitty and we can empathize with him.

I think a great thing about that image, like a lot of the other images of Chris in first hour or so of the movie (e.g. the portrait of his wife's ex-husband towering over him, him clutching the knife and glaring at his wife, Kitty snickering in disbelief at how naive he is when they eat together early on), is that it's both funny and sad. It really shouldn't be funny, but I can't help laughing at him.

But being laughed at and (correctly) thought a fool is what ultimately drives him over the edge, which does tend to make our laughing at him a little more problematic.