MovieChat Forums > Mirage (1965) Discussion > A Few Qs of My Own

A Few Qs of My Own

posted 13 years ago by rorysa
5 replies | jump to latest

...about one of my favorite films:

* How does Stillwell suddenly have what appears to be a full-size flashlight when he enters the stairwell at the beginning of the film? And why are he and Shela the only ones using the stairs?

* Why would a bookstore prominently display in its window a book (which Stillwell uses to contact Broden) presumably written at least twelve years earlier?

* How does Josephson suddenly appear in the park just where Stillwell is running?

* Why would The Major be surprised that Shela calls him The Major in his office at the end of the film, when she has obvioulsy been referring to him as that throughout the story, and his employees (which she certainly appears to be) we are repeatedly told are the very ones who call him that?

[–] ecarle 13 years ago

SPOILERS

How does Stillwell suddenly have what appears to be a full-size flashlight when he enters the stairwell at the beginning of the film? And why are he and Shela the only ones using the stairs?

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Weren't they passing them out? Wasn't everybody else staying upstairs for the "orgy"?

And remember, some of those stairs...don't exist.

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* Why would a bookstore prominently display in its window a book (which Stillwell uses to contact Broden) presumably written at least twelve years earlier?

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I don't remember. I'll have to watch it again. I saw it the other day but from the middle on.

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* How does Josephson suddenly appear in the park just where Stillwell is running?

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That one I'll guess: Kennedy killed fellow henchman Jack Weston so he needs some help. The Major probably ordered the "non-violent overpaid lackey" Josphenson(Kevin McCarthy) to take over for Weston...by blocking the exit from the tunnel.

Jospehson was probably with or near or following Kennedy and saw Peck running towards the tunnel.

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* Why would The Major be surprised that Shela calls him The Major in his office at the end of the film, when she has obvioulsy been referring to him as that throughout the story, and his employees (which she certainly appears to be) we are repeatedly told are the very ones who call him that?

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That one I got: The Major TELLS her he is surprised "because only my employees call me that." The inference to me is that Sheila is the Major's sexual lover. She loved Stilwell, too, but she is "from the streets"(so she tells us) and probably "played both sides." OR: given that we learn that she "played house" with Stilwell(lived with him?) that the Major didn't know that and simply pined for Shiela, asking her "don't call me Major" early on.

One thing: when she DOES call him "Major"...he knows her loyalty is going.

[–] rorysa 13 years ago

Hi, ecarle.

1) Sorry, can't buy it. Stillwell is invited to a "braille party" where presumably everyone is going to be groping around in the dark. I see no one passing out flashlights; in fact, the only one shown with a flashlight is Josephson, until Stillwell (still) mysteriously produces one in the stairwell.

2) It's hard to imagine even a used bookstore displaying so many copies of an old psychiatry book.

3) Okay, okay. But Josephson is not shown at all until he suddenly appears at the tunnel. On the other hand, I admit it probably wouldn't have been as cinematically effective had he been shown before that.

4) That's plausible, except you don't address why she had called hime "The Major" throughout the film and presumably before the action starts.

[–] ecarle 13 years ago

Heh. I don't have the time right now to rewatch these scenes so I'll just have to go with the flow.

However: on a recent re-watch I did learn that Sheila had indeed left Stilwell FOR The Major and was The Major's mistress(and no longer Stilwell's girlfriend) at the time we are first meeeting her. She probablly called him the Major to Stilwell during the movie because she didn't want to help Stilwell remember exactly who the Major was.

With this information, the climax of "Mirage" takes on more heft as to why The Major(I can't remember the characters name -- was Crawford his first or last name?) is so angry at Stillwell at the film's end. Not only does the Major want his information from Stillwell -- he realizes that Sheila still has feelings for Stilwell. He's jealous.

Its rather like Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, and James Mason's triangle in "North by Northwest." And Sheila -- like Saint's Eve Kendall in "North by Northwest" -- can be dangerously willing to sacrifice people. Shiela, for instance, clearly identifies Matthau's private eye, after she meets him, to the bad guys so they can murder him.

I've always felt that Stilwell and Sheila getting together at the end of the movie is a bit "sour" -- Sheila fingered nice Walter Matthau to get killed!

[–] rorysa 13 years ago

But Shela (the strange but correct spelling) calls him "The Major" right away, on the staircase, before she even knows that it's Stillwell or that he has amnesia.

You can't get too mad at Shela: (1) she wasn't the only one who could tell The Major about Casselle, (2) she tells Stillwell she'll stand in front of him when the shooting starts (she doesn't, but after Willard draws one empty chamber, she kills him), and (3) she saves Stillwell from big problems after the Turtle murder. Also, unlike Eve Kendall, she never even pretends to be on The Major's side during the film--remember, Eve sent Thornhill to the Prairie Stop!

[–] ecarle 13 years ago

Well...OK. Good points.

I still think much is made of Shela meeting Casselle in Stilwell's apartment and getting his full name ("Ted Casselle") and listening in as he briefs Stilwell.

But who knows?