Christopher J. Lindsay

Classic films, mystery novels, short stories, short films.

Recent Posts

  • Beautiful and Courageous: Case with Three Husbands by Margaret Erskine

    In Margaret Erskine’s 1967 novel, Case with Three Husbands, the female protagonist is Charlotte Dickson, a woman in peril. The novel has a third-person narrator, the genre is a murder mystery, and there is a romantic subplot.

    Charlotte is a beautiful woman. She has a “passionate mouth” (22), “wonderful blue eyes” (95), and a “lovely face” (95). The narrator describes Charlotte’s beauty throughout the novel, and her beauty is seen in a positive light: Septimus Finch “looked at her with pleasure” (90). A beautiful woman is a positive image in the mind. If the reader values beauty, then Charlotte is a character that many readers will feel drawn to.

    Charlotte is often in a state of fear. Following the search of a lake in which no body was found, Inspector Finch observes that Charlotte had “an unnatural pallor like that of a shock” (100). Recounting her experience of being watched in the house, the narrator says there is “a note of panic” in her voice, and Finch could feel her “shivering slightly” (103). Charlotte experiences fear even when she isn’t in immediate danger. Her fear is rooted in the unknown — not knowing who the murderer is — and the possibility that she may be murdered.

    In the climax of the novel, Charlotte acts while still experiencing fear. To catch the murderer, she walks alone to a cottage with “the idea of using herself as bait” (145). This is a courageous act, for she has no weapon to defend herself with. When she senses she is being followed, her heart is “thudding”, but she does not run (145). Running might save her life, but she walks, allowing more time for the police to arrive. At the cottage, she “shivered in a sudden spasm of fear” when she discovers that Millie is the murderer (148). However, when Millie attacks Charlotte, she knocks Millie out with a shovel (152). Charlotte has learned to control her fear, taking action to defend herself.

    Charlotte is defined by three main qualities: she is beautiful, fearful, and courageous. Her beauty increases reader empathy. If the reader likes her because she is beautiful, they will be concerned for her when she is in danger. The plot places her in situations where she is afraid, but her character arc is to overcome her fear, and she becomes an active protagonist in the climax of the novel. As a woman in peril, Charlotte does not need a male character to rescue her. This plot choice reflects the changing gender roles for women in the late 1960s.

    Works Cited

    Erskine, Margaret. Case with Three Husbands. Ace Gothic, 1967.

    I wrote the screenplay for this short film on YouTube:

  • Intellectual Yet Idiot: The Thing from Another World (1951)

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    The term Intellectual Yet Idiot (IYI) was first coined by Nassim Nicholas Talebis. He defines an IYI as “paternalistic semi-intellectual experts with some Ivy league, Oxford-Cambridge, or similar label-driven education who are telling the rest of us… what to do… how to think…”

    An IYI is highly educated and intelligent. Because of his academic learning, he will often reject the viewpoints of the common man. The chief character flaw of an IYI is hubris: “excessive pride or overconfidence, which drives a person to overstep limits in a way that leads to their downfall.” When an intellectual has hubris, he can become an idiot.

    In Christian Nyby’s The Thing From Another World (1951) Dr. Arthur Carrington (Robert Cornthwaite) is an Intellectual Yet Idiot. He doesn’t want the Thing to be destroyed, even after it murders people. Instead, he believes the alien can be reasoned with because of its superior knowledge.

    Carrington is an intelligent man. A Nobel prize winner, one of his character flaws is an obsession with knowledge. He says, “knowledge is more important than life.” He doesn’t want the Thing to be destroyed because its knowledge would benefit mankind. He doesn’t tell the captain that the Thing was in the greenhouse, which results in two men being murdered. Carrington’s obsession with knowledge has given him poor judgment.  

    Unlike the other characters in the film, Carrington never laughs or tells a joke. He takes himself very seriously. He is confident in everything he says and never regrets his choices. Carrington is a proud man, and his pride makes him overconfident.

    When a person is proud and overconfident, they believe they are always right. Carrington is blind to the obvious: the Thing is an evil monster that cannot be reasoned with. Although he says the Thing only regards humans as important for food, he denies the creature has come to conquer Earth. He believes the Thing is a victim who only acts in self-defence. Carrington is an idiot because he doesn’t believe an alien with advanced technology could be evil.

    When an idiot is overconfident in a belief, they often act upon it. In the climax of the film, Carrington’s belief about the Thing is put to the test when he tries to become its friend. Soon after, the creature strikes him down, breaking his collarbone. If a man has hubris, he can only overcome it through failure. Carrington’s beliefs about the Thing are proven wrong through his experience. He survives his injury, and he may have learned some degree of humility as a result.

    I wrote the screenplay for this short film on YouTube: