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Clip description
In a dramatic re-creation, police bring in Geoffrey Chandler (Nicholas Hope) to identify the body of his dead wife (Octavia Baron Martin) at the morgue. In voice-over we hear a contemporary interview with Chandler, describing being treated with suspicion by the police.
A super-8 home movie dramatisation shows Mrs Chandler with her baby and her dogs. Sheridan Pausey, a dog breeder who spoke with Mrs Chandler the day before her death, recalls the conversation they had about Geoffrey Chandler.
Curator’s notes
This is a dramatic sequence starting with the re-enactment of Dr Chandler identifying his wife, Margaret, in the morgue. The narration continues to imply his guilt. We are suspicious of him, and the sound and visuals underscore this with dramatic lighting, camera angles and music. We hear Chandler’s actual voice describing the ordeal. Although this is one of the more literal re-creations it works well as part of the crime story genre.
The film cuts from the dead body to a stylised re-created home movie of Margaret happily playing with her baby and dogs. She is filmed outside in the garden in full sunlight. The film language between the two scenes aims to cast suspicion on Dr Chandler and to increase our identification with his wife as the innocent victim of a crime. The following interview with a woman who spent time with her the day before her death is a classic device of crime movies. We find out more about Margaret Chandler through this woman directly. She is a witness for us and drops a clue that the Chandler marriage was not going smoothly.
Although the following re-created home movie footage shows the Chandlers in happier times, enjoying a vintage car together, this interview is used by the filmmakers to increase our suspicion that all was not well between them.
