i don't understand. lucy barnard describes the man she's to go away with as handsome and from a good family. or maybe not handsome, but good-looking. and julien is not. he's creepy-looking from the get-go. so who would she have been describing? any ideas?
Lucy never said what he actually looked like. What she said was that he was a real gentleman. In fact, I immediately assumed that he must NOT be handsome from the way she deliberately avoided that particular description.
You think Julian was creepy? I don't believe I thought one way or another. Although I didn't expect him to be into poetry.
Joan Rivers once described Prince Charles, not too long ago, as incredibly handsome. There are some women who are into this type, who mistake or prefer poise and charm for good looks.
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"Joan Rivers once described Prince Charles, not too long ago, as incredibly handsome."
And Princess Diana and Jacqueline Kennedy are always referred to as "beautiful". I don't find either of them attractive at all. It's so subjective.
Look at the lugs at the dance palace. Julian, with his manners, must have seemed like a dream to Lucy.
"Fortunately, I keep my feathers numbered for just such an emergency."
Spoiler below
Actually, Lucy did describe him as handsome. I don't think they should have had any dialogue of the killer because Cedric Hardwicke's voice is so distinctive that I realized it was him though he only spoke one word to Lucy. I too wondered why she would describe Hardwicke as handsome but beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
I think it was moreso to throw the viewer off the scent. True, to some, his character could be perceived as handsome, and depending on Lucy's taste, she may have found him so, but when someone says handsome, even though it's in the way the perceive it, it's often put in our mind our perception or society's perception of beauty. George Sanders is a suave, handsome, caddish man with charm, poise, and money, based on the description Lucy gives, he fits the bill, so we are left (at first of course) to assume he is the killer.
shareGood point. Those other fellows were such ill-mannered jerks.
This Julian fellow was probably all chivalrous and Lucy noticed that. Maybe she even thought that this older fellow had money...
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Jim Hutton (1934-79) & Ellery Queen =
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SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
Throughout most of the movie, until it became evident near the end that Julian was the bad guy, I kept rejecting the possibility it was him because I couldn't imagine him turning the heads of attractive young women. I still don't quite get how he managed, unless he used money to convince them he was a sugar daddy. For a middle-aged guy with his looks and personality, I think it would take more than being "a gentleman".