At the end, when Deborah Kerr and Donna Reed meet on the ship, she tells him that Prew was shot or whatever at the bombing. Was this something she made up, or was it that Burt Lancaster had lied to her to protect Prew's honor with her?
shareThere's no scene where Lancaster lies to her about Prew's death although I can see him doing that out of respect for Prew and kindness toward her. I've always felt that Donna Reed fabricates the manner of his death because, although Prew does go back to the army and fight with his comrades, she doesn't want to reveal that messy thing about his having gone AWOL. She's hoping to enter into a more "respectable" middle class society and this is the story she wants to take to them. When she tells Deborah Kerr the name of her dead soldier notice how the music score goes silent as we get a close up of Deborah Kerr's reaction. Kerr knows the truth but she keeps silent out of respect for a greiving woman.
Victor Pagan
Donna Reed's "Lorene" character tells Deborah Kerr's "Karen" a made-up, fantasy story about her officer fiance, who died gallantly during the Pearl Harbor attack, because that's the story she'll tell when she gets back to the States and starts her new, "proper" post-social club hostess (whore) life -- with no one the wiser.
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How the heck does Deborah Kerr's character know anything about Pruitt? Although she gave that suprised look as if she knew.
Lancaster told her about a soldier going on AWOL at the beach, but did he say his name?
Donna Reed's character got back the buggle mouthpiece from Lancaster so she made it up to sound respectable
Yes, when Warden (Lancaster) told Karen (Kerr) about Prewitt, he mentioned him by name.
It stands to reason that sometime during Warden and Karen's affair, Warden would have mentioned Prewitt, his situation (getting "The Treatment" from Dynamite Holmes and the company boxers), and his "social hostess" (whore) girlfriend Lorene from the New Congress Club to Karen.
When Alma (Reed) tells her fantasy tale of her fiance's death to Karen at the rail of the liner leaving Honolulu, Karen reacts when hearing the name "Robert E. Lee Prewitt," because she knows Prewitt was definitely NOT a heroic bomber pilot, and realizes the girl in mourning dress next to her is the "social hostess" (whore) Lorene -- both of whom she knew about through Warden.
Yes Burt does tell Deborah his name when he is talking to her. After he runs up to that soldier to turn him around and discovers its not him he says to her remember that soldier I was telling you about and he says his full name. But she seemed to be so upset about his not wanting to be an officer and marry her that I didnt think she was paying attention to a word he was saying. Somehow that name still registered for when Donna says his name on the boat she has that look of recognition of the name and says did you say Pruitt or something like that.
I did realize until reading this thread that when we see her with the bugle mouthpiece that Burt had gotten that and given it to her for I just assumed Monty had more than one but it makes more sense now how she would have gotten it.
And I felt the same as others that she was making up the story to make him sound more heroic instead of having to mention the awol thing.
Love the answers! I agree with the general notion that she lied.
The giveaway is the Silver Star that she says his mother gave her. We know there is NO way he would have been awarded a silver star and since it didn't exist, it's all a lie.
Too bad. He was a good man and that's all she needed to say. By lying about it all, it makes her seem even more shallow.
I watched the movie recently. I liked it very much... all of it but the end. This lie was meant to be a 'white lie', but the whole imagined story was ugly - lies are always ugly. Silence would have been better. Lying about Prewitt, Lorene fell low, very low.
shareShe absolutely knew that it was not the truth she was telling. Prewitt was with her on Dec. 7th so Warden couldn't have sold her some lie about Prewitt being a hero. Besides, she know that Prew was only a private and not an aviator officer.
She was just making up a story to promote her new life in the states.
For Kerr's character, Karen, the most important thing just before the sneak attack was that her husband had been drummed out of the Army allowing her to consort with Lanchaster's character, Warden, without penalty. Warden already knew that Holmes was gone as a result of the Prewitt incident. You have to know that Prewitt was an important individual in both their situations and his name would have been cemented into memory (esp, as Robert E Lee Prewitt). That he was a bugler may have come up after the Maggio taps playing incident too. So Karen knew Alma was full of it. But which way did the leis float for Karen? That is left unresolved (they are only depicted going toward the back of the boat which was parallel to shore) and with both characters (Karen & Warden)alive, a reunion was possible. Karen might have changed her mind and gone back to Warden at some later point (she might even have thought more highly of Warden if she thought he'd made up heroism for Prewitt' manner of death). Or did the leis float out to sea indicating the end of the story?
share If you haven't seen it by now - Spoiler Alert. Well stated rac701. When Deborah Kerr was listening to Donna Reeds’ sad story of her "fiancée’s" death, she was just sort of staring into the distance. But when she heard the name “Prewitt,” she did a double take. Donna Reed didn’t notice because she was into her “story” and her eyes were misty as she held Prew’s encased trumpet mouthpiece (Even now, when I hear Taps being played, I think of the tears in Prew’s eyes, and the circunstances, as he played it). But Deborah Kerr’s reaction was one of recognition. She knew all about the story of Robert E. Lee Prewitt from her ongoing relationship with Burt Lancaster. She was gracious and understanding of Donna Reed’s situation, and pretended to believe her.
With the way this ending was done, and the music theme in the background, it was a sad, but beautiful ending. DOES ANYONE KNOW THE NAME OF THAT THEME that has stayed in my head from the first time I saw it to every time they rerun it on the movie classics station??? I thought it was the Hawaiian Love Song, but it’s not. I’ve heard it a number of times outside of the movie, but they never mention the name. Can anyone help me here?
The song playing is Aloha Oe.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeLXcHWxjkQ
This is Elvis's version.
Thank you so much vega-37. Sorry this reply was so long coming, and I so hope you receive it. No one answered for quite a while, and I kind of gave up and failed to check back. I was really pleased with your response. Thanks again!
Window555
You're very welcome! It took me just as long to tell you what the song was!
sharethe general notion that she lied. "
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Both women had been living lies in Hawaii and were going to different lives in the States (presumably truthful ones). Aloha.
" See dat scenery floatin by, you're now approaching NewportRI." Cole Porter
Chito, if you're going to quote Cole Porter lyrics, you might as well get them right:
Just dig that scenery floating by,
We're now approaching Newport, Rhode I.
I tend to think that she was saying what Lancaster told her. Her holding the mouth piece inferred that Lancaster met with her to break the news of his death but didn't have the heart to tell her the true story.
shareMy own take on it (not having read the novel( is that Warden (Lancaster) did meet with Lorene/Alma to give her Prew's mouthpiece and at that time they either concocted the story together or he told her the fabricated story, even though he knew that Alma probably knew it was a lie -- if Prew was AWOL he likely was with Alma during that time. I like to think that Warden told her the story, if for no other reason but to reassure her that the secret would not be in the official record -- that the story he was saying was the story that everyone would be told -- and that Prew's and her secret was safe with him. Whether she let on to Lancaster that she knew it was a lie or not we'll never know -- she probably feigned ignorance and latched onto the lie herself for the future, in order to make herself look more respectable and to allow Prew to keep a hero's reputation. She just didn't realize that on the ship she was telling the lie to the one person who knew the truth and could have exposed it for a lie, but chose not to do so.
Life's a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death!
Yes, happening to bump into the one person who knew the true story gave the film an ironic ending.
shareI agree. And before meeting Prew, Lorene/Alma had been very shallow and devoid of soul, using men just to save money to go back home and put on a facade of respectability. I think that when she fell in love with him, she really seemed to have changed and for the first time was envisioning a real, long-lasting relationship with him and freedom from pretense. After he died, she reverted back to that shallow woman whose plan was nothing more than going back home and hobnobbing in society and pretending to be respectable. Even her relationship with him had been reduced to nothing more than a tragic tale to use to her social advantage back home. She would always live a lie and would never have self-respect. I could easily see her marrying a man for his money or social standing and ending up in the sort of loveless, unhappy marriage that Karen had with Capt. Holmes. That was the saddest part.
Life's a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death!
geoffrey jackson:
The word you are looking for is "implied" not "inferred".
Thanks. I stand corrected.
shareI was in the Navy on Oahu in the late '80s, and worked at a place right next to Schofield Barracks. There are bases all over the island, and you quickly learn what services have what kind of facilities at which bases. It's clear Alma knew Prew was a low-ranking infantry soldier, as they talked about it when he told her he was a 30-year man. And she would know that Schofield is not an air base(though there is an air base across the street from it), so he had neither the rank nor the base to be a pilot. So without a doubt she was making up the tale at the end...it wasn't something Warden told her. By the way, when I was there, Schofield still looked very much like it did in the movie, with those distinctive barracks with balconies.
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