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The Life Work of Juan Diaz

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28 July 2009, 05:30 AM
Viktoria
The Life Work of Juan Diaz
Well, insomnia set in a few days ago, and I channel surfed yet again to find something worthwhile. I instantly stopped surfing when I landed in the middle of a Hitchcock episode that I immediately recognized--"The Life Work of Juan Diaz." Also like "The Jar," I had not seen this episode in many years, but I remembered it well. It was just as creepy as I remembered it, but I noticed something else--how very moving it was when Maria spoke to the mummy of her dead husband, begging his forgiveness for putting him on display so she could earn a little money to feed her and her children, to keep them alive. The light in his dead eye (just like the light in Boris Karloff's/Im-Ho-Tep's eye as he was brought back to life by the reading of the Scroll of Thoth) tells her that he understands and does forgive her. I remember reading something that Bette Davis said about Charles Laughton: "He understands the human heart. No one but a man of sorrows could have played Quasimodo like that man did." Indeed. And Mr. Bradbury also understands the human heart. I see it in his stories all the time--
28 July 2009, 10:10 PM
Braling II
Well said, Vik!
Something in your epistle reminds me; I'm running short of tanna leaves...
29 July 2009, 01:10 AM
philnic
Viktoria, I'm pleased to hear that you saw the episode again (you enquired about it a while ago here!)

One of the spookier moments is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3m-NMROwVfA


- Phil

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