Click here for my first blog post about Affair in Trinidad.
It seems that I had made some assumptions about Neal Emery’s death based on a bit of knowledge about U.S. history—World War II history in particular. After seeing numerous films noir and other classic films from the war era, my curiosity about certain historical topics and issues led me to do some research. And after seeing Affair in Trinidad again, I found out I needed just a little more background information. Viewers in 1952 would not have needed to do the kind of research that I needed to do. The writers of the film’s screenplay could assume that viewers knew a lot of background information because, for them, many of the film’s details would have been current events, maybe even very similar to their own experiences, not a lesson in history.
(This blog post about Affair in Trinidad contains spoilers.)
Neal Emery, Chris’s husband, is already dead, murdered, at the start of Affair in Trinidad. His death is first thought to be a suicide, but the coroner discovers that he died of blunt force trauma to the skull. Mr. Anderson, from the U.S. consulate, is summoned to Inspector Smythe’s office because Neal Emery is a U.S. citizen living in Trinidad. Inspector Smythe, who works for the British government because Trinidad is under British rule, suspects Max Fabian, or someone close to him, in Neal’s death. Neal Emery and Max Fabian were friends, and Fabian is attracted to Neal’s wife Chris.
The film explains that Trinidad and Tobago are owned by Great Britain. Because he is already under suspicion, Max Fabian is known to the British authorities in Trinidad. Viewers in 1952 would have known that Great Britain and the United States were on friendly terms and would not have been surprised that the U.S. consulate would have become involved in the investigation surrounding Neal Emery’s death. Great Britain, France, the United States, and the Soviet Union were World War II allies. The Soviet Union was breaking away from its wartime alliance after the war, but the remaining three allies were still working together on the international stage to keep the peace and root out Nazism. Many Nazis had escaped from Germany after the war and were hiding in South America and the Caribbean.
Steve Emery, Neal’s brother, flies down to Trinidad because Neal wrote a letter inviting him and because Neal has found a job for Steve. Steve Emery’s first appearance in the film is on the plane traveling to Trinidad. He is sitting next to Peter Bronec, although Bronec doesn’t identify himself at this time, and Steve and viewers don’t know who he is. Steve talks about his younger brother Neal, and the passenger says that he doesn’t know Neal, but he acts suspiciously after his conversation with Steve. Even the flight attendant notices Bronec’s behavior and inquires about him.
After Neal’s death, Fabian feels free to pursue the widow Chris, so he is not too happy to hear that Neal’s brother has arrived on the island asking questions. But he invites both Steve and Chris to dinner at his home. Additional houseguests arrive while Fabian is entertaining Chris and Steve for dinner, and Fabian introduces all his guests in one scene:
◊ Peter Bronec is an electronics and radar specialist. (Steve Emery recognizes Bronec as the passenger sitting next to him on the plane.)
◊ Dr. Franz Huebling has written articles about V-2 rockets just after World War II. (Steve Emery recognizes Huebling’s name and knows that Huebling has written these articles. Steve Emery mentioned on the plane trip to Trinidad that he is a pilot and flew a B-29, so he knows something about the subject of Huebling’s articles.)
◊ Veronica Huebling is Franz’s wife.
◊ Walters is working for an unnamed government that has paid huge sums of money to Max Fabian for industrial and technological information and secrets. (Viewers learn later in the film that this unnamed government is hostile to the United States.)
Steve Emery mentions that he flew a B-29, and Huebling says that he wrote articles about V-2 rockets. Viewers in 1952 wouldn’t have needed more information to know that Emery is a World War II veteran and that Huebling is a German scientist who had worked for the Nazi government. A modern-day viewer like me, however, had to do a little bit of research to find out more about these plot details. An online search led me to britannica.com (click on each list item for more information):
◊ V-2 rocket:
“In German, Vergeltungswaffen-2 (“Vengeance Weapon 2”), also called V-2 rocket or A-4, German ballistic missile of World War II, the forerunner of modern space rockets and long-range missiles.”
◊ B-29 plane:
“Also called the Superfortress, a U.S. heavy bomber used in World War II. Its missions included firebombing Tokyo and other Japanese cities and dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, on August 6 and 9, 1945, respectively.”
Inspector Smythe is already investigating Max Fabian. He tells Chris Emery what he knows about Fabian’s activities and his involvement in the trade of international government secrets. Inspector Smythe also knows about Steve Emery’s arrival in Trinidad because he is keeping an eye on all arrival lists from the customs office. He needs to do a thorough background search on Steve Emery before Emery can be a trusted participant in his investigation. Inspector Smythe is more than willing to use Chris Emery as a spy because it is common knowledge that Fabian is attracted to her.
The reason(s) why Max Fabian had Neal Emery killed are not stated directly in the film. But I think the plot details give vital clues—details that would have been obvious to contemporary filmgoers but not to modern viewers. Neal Emery had found out that Max Fabian was involved in smuggling of some sort. He knew that Fabian had at least one private plane and that is why he had asked Fabian to hire his brother Steve, who is an experienced pilot. Whether Neal knew about the smuggling of state secrets isn’t important: He was asking questions and that was dangerous enough. Fabian wants Neal’s brother Steve Emery killed because Steve is digging into the circumstances of his brother’s death—and he becomes Fabian’s romantic rival for Chris Emery’s affections. Although the specific details are a bit different, Fabian wanted both brothers killed for the same general reasons.
It's also common knowledge that Fabian has resorted to violence and will do so again to get what he wants:
◊ Neal Emery is murdered, most likely by someone working for Max Fabian.
◊ Peter Bronec is killed, run over by a car at the airport. Bronec had finished his work for Fabian and was no longer useful to him. The fact that Wittol’s car (Wittol is the owner of Club Caribe in Trinidad) was used in the murder is probably a way to frame Wittol instead of anyone connected to Max Fabian.
◊ By the end of the film, Fabian has plans to kill both Steve and Chris Emery. Once he discovers that Chris has been using his affection for her to spy on him, she becomes expendable, too. Steve has been expendable all along because he has been asking too many questions.
One tiny detail that I couldn’t find any information about occurred during Steve Emery’s plane conversation with Peter Bronec. Steve is excited about visiting his brother in Trinidad:
• Steve Emery: “They tell me Trinidad makes the rest of the tropics look like Callahan’s backyard.”
• Peter Bronec: “Yes, it’s very beautiful.”
It’s clear that “Callahan’s backyard” is something everyone in 1952 knew something about, but I couldn’t find anything at all about it. If anyone wants to solve this last piece of the film’s puzzle by leaving a comment, I would be grateful.
Thank goodness for the ability to search online because I was able to find out a lot of information very quickly. A little bit of knowledge about World War II history helps a lot when it comes to understanding the plot of Affair in Trinidad.
July 29, 1952, release date • Directed by Vincent Sherman • Screenplay by Berne Giler, James Gunn • Based on a story by Virginia Van Upp, Berne Giler • Music by George Duning • Edited by Viola Lawrence • Cinematography by Joseph Walker
Rita Hayworth as Chris Emery • Glenn Ford as Steve Emery • Alexander Scourby as Max Fabian • Valerie Bettis as Veronica Huebling • Torin Thatcher as Inspector Smythe • Howard Wendell as Anderson • Karel Stepanek as Walters • George Voskovec as Doctor Franz Huebling • Steven Geray as Wittol • Walter Kohler as Peter Bronec • Juanita Moore as Dominique • Mort Mills as Martin, Wittol’s henchman • Ralph Moody as the coroner
Produced by The Beckworth Corporation • Distributed by Columbia Pictures
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