I just watched the first two books on DVD and when I started the third, I was so surprised to see new actors and I was completely confused. I came on to IMBD and after reading posts, I decided not to watch the third movie. However, I am dying to know if Ashton finally got what she deserved. Can someone tell me about it?
shareShe becomes a prostitute in Texas and meet Will Fenway, a piano salesman. Soon he is a regular and she gets the idea to manufacture "Fenway" pianos to make enough money so she can buy Mont Royal. They steal the start-up capital from the madam and go to Chicago. There they make the first piano "the Ashton" which they plan to sell to saloons and dancing halls. Ashton marries Will at some point, and they buy a swanky house in Chicago. Ashton is still up to her old tricks, cheating on her husband. Only this time, he's not dumb like James and he calls her on her cheating with wealthier men than him. She blows up and asks him when is he going to get Mont Royal back for her. She's just been trying to get enough money from whoever will give it to her for this purpose, she really loves him and no one else, blah, blah, blah. Finally, she returns to Charleston to meet Cooper, her brother played by Robert Wagner, and negotiate buying Mont Royal from him. He tells her that Madeline is still living there and as long as she pays the mortgage on time, she can stay. Ashton says she can arrange to have Madeline removed, and they make a deal for her to buy the plantation. Ashton tells Will to deposit the money in Cooper's bank so that the deal will be complete. A few days later they arrive at Mont Royal. Ashton sees Madeline and gloats in her usual manner that Mont Royal is now hers and Madeline will have to leave, as she has the eviction notice from the bank. Ashton then walks around to where she sees the house, learning for the first time that it has been burned down. She runs to it and asks it in despair "What happened to you, my beautiful Mont Royal?" It is at this moment that Will informs her he never paid Cooper and has no intention to. Mont Royal will never belong to her.
In my opinion, Ashton would leave Will, marry another rich man, and find a way to get Mont Royal, but in the movie this is how they leave it. I don't know if you would say she finally got what was coming to her.
Yes, she would try...but with George and Madeline together (I assume they are going to marry), Ashton would have a hard time getting Mont Royal--at least, legally.
My...my...ain't you purty, and just look at them shiny shoes!
I didn't understand how she didn't know that her mother died and Mount Royal was burned to the ground? She finally sees Mount Royal in part 3 and starts to cry. Weird.
The other thing I couldn't understand is the fact that she never had a child with the promiscuous lifestyle that she lead. My guess is that she had numerous abortions.
She was estranged from the family, which would explain why she didn't know about her mother's death and Mont Royal being burned. And yes, she either had numerous abortions, or she knew how to prevent a pregnancy. There were ways back then; admittedly, they didn't always work, and I'm sure they were pretty harsh -- another reason (one of many) that prostitutes didn't live long.
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In the book (the first one) Ashton visits West Point and sleeps with a lot of the cadets. She comes home and discovers she is pregnant. She is engaged to marry James Huntoon, although she doesn't love him, and is horrified because the wedding is far enough off so that she can't pass the child off as his. So she goes to Madeline LaMotte and begs her to help her get an abortion. Madeline takes her back in the swamps, where an old slave woman lives, who gives Ashton some kind of brew to induce an abortion. Ashton is deathly ill for a few hours but her quest is successful. Afterward, according to the book, Ashton doesn't ever become pregnant after her wedding and realizes that the abortion probably damaged her to much that she can't have children. She is a little sad about it in the book. I think in the books, she is portrayed as having a little more heart (not much though).
shareIn the novel, Ashton loses pretty much everything, ends up back in Chicago, running a fancy house and calling herself Mrs. Brett (as a poke at her sister).
Previous to this, Ashton actually manages to get the mortgage on Mont Royal, intends to throw everyone off the place, but Madeline and Virgilia come up with a scheme to get it back (it involves threatening to throw acid on Ashton's lovely face). Of course, in the miniseries, Virgilia has been executed for murder years before this, which IMHO was one of the worst mistakes the scriptwriters made with the films was in killing her character off. Anyway, Madeline does end up with Mont Royal, and Ashton loses all.
Sorry this is a little off, but what happened to Huntoon, does anyone know?
Also What???!!!! Whats the go with virgilia?
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In the movie, Huntoon just disappears. We last see him in the 2nd movie, telling Ashton it's over and he wants nothing more to do with her. He isn't in the 3rd movie.
In the book, Orry goes to the Huntoons' house and tells them to leave town immediately or face arrest. Ashton has been plotting with yet another of her lovers, a man named Powell (not in the movie). Somehow, Ashton and others escape Richmond with gold ingots belonging to the Confederacy. The ingots are hidden in the false bottoms of covered wagons.
James and Ashton travel via ship and later meet up with the covered wagons and Powell. She and Powell plot to kill James. Ashton is in love with Powell and wants to marry him. They don't realize that James is aware of their affair.
James writes two letters, one to his former law partner in Charleston and the other to Ashton. In the first letter, he directs his partner to leave what remains of his estate to relatives, instead of to Ashton. In the second letter, which is only to be opened in the event of his death, he tells Ashton what he has done. He tells her that it is a fitting revenge for the way she has spurned his love over the years. He gives the letter to Ashton as she is leaving on a stagecoach. She and Powell decide they should travel separately, so she won't be suspected when James has an "accident" on the trip.
Ashton and Powell are supposed to meet in Texas. James and Powell travel in the covered wagons. Several men go along as drivers; they are not aware of what the wagons really contain. Powell lures James away from the campsite to have a private talk with him. He shoots James and shoves him over a cliff. Just then, the campsite is attacked by Indians. Powell and the others are killed, all but one man, and the wagons end up at the bottom of the gully.
Ashton, waiting in a cheap boardinghouse, which doubles as a house of ill repute, bcomes desperate when Powell and the wagons don't come. Her money is running out. A man comes into the bar and tells about an accident where some men were killed and their wagons pushed into a gully and burned. Ashton realizes this must be Powell's party, and is frantic to figure out how she can get to the wagons for the gold. She reasons that the Indians don't know it was there and didn't take it. She opens James's letter and is enraged. Then the man who survived the attack shows up, and Ashton seduces him. She pretends to have an interest in seeing the scene of the accident. He knows who she really is and plays along with her. The next morning, the man is long gone. He leaves her a note saying he had found the gold and it is all his. After that, Ashton is forced into prostitution.