Before he did such films as HIGH NOON and A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS, Fred Zimmerman did this short film of only ten minutes length. It was a retelling, complete with narration by Carrie Wilson, of Frank Stockton's classic short story THE LADY OR THE TIGER?
Stockton is part of a lost generation of Gilded Age writers who once flooded the American literary scene with novels and short stories that are rarely recalled today. They were part of the so-called "Genteel" tradition of literature, trying to turn their fiction into perfect productions in terms of plotting and dialog. But the result frequently became too mechanical. The best of them, William Sidney Porter ("O Henry") survives as a major figure in the field of short story writing due to his surprise endings, sense of humor, and vivid use of different sections of the American society of 1900 from the dying embers of the old West to the "reconstructed" South, to the urban melting pot of New York. Stockton was (at the time of his death in 1902) another major literary figure. He wrote such popular novels as RUDDER GRANGE and THE CASTING AWAY OF MRS. LECKS and MRS. ALESHINE (which spoofed shipwreck tales). But most of his work is forgotten except for this one short story.
It is a very simple tale. In an ancient kingdom the punishment for serious crime is turned into a public spectacle in an arena. Before thousands of people, the felon is brought out and made to decide which of two doors to open up. One has a man-eating tiger behind it, which will attack and kill the felon if released. The other has a beautiful woman behind it, who the felon will marry.
The daughter of the king in the story is caught with her young lover by her father. The young lover is sent into the arena. He is watching the Princess, who knows which is the "safe door". She is also aware that her rival at court for the young lover is behind the "safe door". She signals the lover quietly which door to open. But we never see the result - the story is from an ancient writing and the end is lost. So we have to guess what happened. THe Princess is torn between him dying horribly or being forced to marry her rival. So at the end we have to ask ourselves what do we believe the Princess did - did she knowingly allow her lover to wed her hated rival, or did she knowingly let him die.
The narration is straightforward here, based on Stockton's prose story. Zimmerman's script made the narrator be a 19th Century gentleman at a party who relates the story, and shows the difficulties in guessing the Princess's behavior from the stresses of that situation.
Vince Barnet, who played many small time hoods, but had some good parts too (SCARFACE, THE KILLERS, SEVEN SINNERS) here plays the "barbaric" King, who determines that his daughter's boyfriend will be punished in the normal way of the choice of doors. Barnet usually had a mustache, but is clean shaven here (and looks younger as a result). Marie Windsor is his daughter, who is troubled at the no win situation that her lover's punishment leaves her with. The sets are rather spartan in their appearance, but the brevity of the film allows us not to notice the poor sets. Zimmerman's direction holds the pace of the fast film quite well.
I was lucky to find a small paperback book of eight stories by Stockton THE LADY OR THE TIGER AND OTHER STORIES, put out by Airmont, about 1968. Stockton later complained that THE LADY made him famous, but that he was constantly pestered by people writing to him and asking what was the result when the lover opened the door in the arena. Most people don't recall that he wrote what he called "A Continuation" of the short story, entitled, THE DISCOURAGER OF HESITANCY. It is close in spirit to the funnier, dark humor tales of Ambrose Bierce, for the plot is that the King in the story is receiving a party of visitors, who have heard of the events in the first story, and want to know what was the upshot of the choice in the arena. The King sets up a lesson for them that they won't forget, that if there are secret things that they run across maybe it's best they remain secret.
It was reasonably good as a short subject. For that, for being an early credit on Zimmerman's resume, and for Vince Barnet's jolly King, and for keeping part of Stockton's work still alive the film is a "7" out of "10".
Stockton is part of a lost generation of Gilded Age writers who once flooded the American literary scene with novels and short stories that are rarely recalled today. They were part of the so-called "Genteel" tradition of literature, trying to turn their fiction into perfect productions in terms of plotting and dialog. But the result frequently became too mechanical. The best of them, William Sidney Porter ("O Henry") survives as a major figure in the field of short story writing due to his surprise endings, sense of humor, and vivid use of different sections of the American society of 1900 from the dying embers of the old West to the "reconstructed" South, to the urban melting pot of New York. Stockton was (at the time of his death in 1902) another major literary figure. He wrote such popular novels as RUDDER GRANGE and THE CASTING AWAY OF MRS. LECKS and MRS. ALESHINE (which spoofed shipwreck tales). But most of his work is forgotten except for this one short story.
It is a very simple tale. In an ancient kingdom the punishment for serious crime is turned into a public spectacle in an arena. Before thousands of people, the felon is brought out and made to decide which of two doors to open up. One has a man-eating tiger behind it, which will attack and kill the felon if released. The other has a beautiful woman behind it, who the felon will marry.
The daughter of the king in the story is caught with her young lover by her father. The young lover is sent into the arena. He is watching the Princess, who knows which is the "safe door". She is also aware that her rival at court for the young lover is behind the "safe door". She signals the lover quietly which door to open. But we never see the result - the story is from an ancient writing and the end is lost. So we have to guess what happened. THe Princess is torn between him dying horribly or being forced to marry her rival. So at the end we have to ask ourselves what do we believe the Princess did - did she knowingly allow her lover to wed her hated rival, or did she knowingly let him die.
The narration is straightforward here, based on Stockton's prose story. Zimmerman's script made the narrator be a 19th Century gentleman at a party who relates the story, and shows the difficulties in guessing the Princess's behavior from the stresses of that situation.
Vince Barnet, who played many small time hoods, but had some good parts too (SCARFACE, THE KILLERS, SEVEN SINNERS) here plays the "barbaric" King, who determines that his daughter's boyfriend will be punished in the normal way of the choice of doors. Barnet usually had a mustache, but is clean shaven here (and looks younger as a result). Marie Windsor is his daughter, who is troubled at the no win situation that her lover's punishment leaves her with. The sets are rather spartan in their appearance, but the brevity of the film allows us not to notice the poor sets. Zimmerman's direction holds the pace of the fast film quite well.
I was lucky to find a small paperback book of eight stories by Stockton THE LADY OR THE TIGER AND OTHER STORIES, put out by Airmont, about 1968. Stockton later complained that THE LADY made him famous, but that he was constantly pestered by people writing to him and asking what was the result when the lover opened the door in the arena. Most people don't recall that he wrote what he called "A Continuation" of the short story, entitled, THE DISCOURAGER OF HESITANCY. It is close in spirit to the funnier, dark humor tales of Ambrose Bierce, for the plot is that the King in the story is receiving a party of visitors, who have heard of the events in the first story, and want to know what was the upshot of the choice in the arena. The King sets up a lesson for them that they won't forget, that if there are secret things that they run across maybe it's best they remain secret.
It was reasonably good as a short subject. For that, for being an early credit on Zimmerman's resume, and for Vince Barnet's jolly King, and for keeping part of Stockton's work still alive the film is a "7" out of "10".