MovieChat Forums > Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1965) Discussion > Drew and Miriam's plan (possible spoiler...

Drew and Miriam's plan (possible spoilers)

posted 15 years ago by mikwalen
8 replies | jump to latest

I watched "CHARLOTTE" yesterday on TCM, and again, I asked myself...how could Miriam and Drew have been so absolutely sure that Charlotte would find the gun and then actually fire it? Their scheme depended on this, and it would seem that there could have been a chance that the scenario would not have played out so perfectly.

By the way, I love reading the comments on this board! I'm gonna buy the dvd soon!

"Samantha! You picked a lemon in the garden of love!"

[–] Doylenf 15 years ago

Good point. That's just one of the holes in the plot. Everything depended on split second timing.

How could Miriam let Charlotte stare for a long time at Dr. Drew when he rolled down the embankment into that pond? His faking it could only last so long (staring underwater with his eyes open) and it could have been a giveaway at any moment if he moved. The viewer is really asked to suspend a lot of disbelief for the whole plot. Still, I love the film.

[–] mikwalen 15 years ago

Thanks! Drew-in-the-lake was something that crossed my mind too!

"Samantha! You picked a lemon in the garden of love!"

[–] jdmartin61 15 years ago

There are certain things in this movie that can't be neatly explained, of course. It is a fine movie, nevertheless, in spite of the original cast inturruption. The movie was made on a very tight shooting schedule.

As for Dr. Drew and Miriam's plan, the final stage played out the way they wanted it to, in one way or another, mainly because they had made Charlotte loopy with drugs and illusions over the last few days. The whole climax need not have played out exactly the way it did. As long as Charlotte believed that she had killed Drew, etc. then the plan was successful for Drew's and Miriam's purpose.

John Martin, 48

[–] c7c7c7r 15 years ago

After the meat cleaver scene, Cotton's staring, underwater eyes was the scariest moment for me. Cotton was really good in this.

[–] onepotato2 15 years ago

How could they know Charlotte would just flee the butcher knife stuck in the floor?
How could they know Charlotte wouldn't look at John Mayhews fake head after it falls down the stairs and say "That's just a plastic head! What the xxxxx are you trying to pull?"
How could they know the British journalist would drop by in the middle of the night, and that the 'dead' Cotten could milk it to make Charlotte more perturbed?

I cut the movie some slack on these things, cause there's other thoughtful stuff going on.

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] moosefeathers 15 years ago

remember, they were giving charlotte hallucinagenic drugs thanks to Dr. Drew. this is why she was not in control.

at first the gun was a bouquet of flowers in Charlotte's mind. then when she saw john without his head, the gun became clear to her.

i'm sure they were watching her, being one step ahead of her to make sure she did not have time to figure things out.

this movie works fine for me.

[–] Jes' Sayin' (6544) 3 months ago

Yeah, it's a bit dubious, but the movie tends to get away with it because most people are so caught up in the action at that point, and busy trying to figure out what's going on and what's going to happen.