MovieChat Forums > Communion (1976) Discussion > Good movie, time to share my thoughts......

Good movie, time to share my thoughts.........spoi lers

posted 14 years ago by jonathanstatsny
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I get the feeling Alice is used primarily as a classic red herring. She's weird, she's spooky and she has "crazy eyes" too. The audience never forgets her as a potential suspect.

Now I know Mrs. Tredoni killed Karen. Her motives seem to be based on children getting punished for their parents' sins which is why she feels HER child died. What these sins are would be anyone's guess. The premarital sex, or I always found the parents' divorce was another indication. This movie is set in 1961, divorce was rare outside the church let alone inside the church. Plus doesn't Mrs. Tredoni imply that Catherine shouldn't get Communion either since she isn't pure?

The one thing that gets me is this. Why in the world does Mrs. Tredoni attack the aunt? What was her motive there? I can see killing Karen. I can see killing Karen's dad since he was closing in on the killer (or trying to). I can see killing the landlord since he interupted on her plans. But the aunt I don't understand. Makes me wonder if it were Alice, but I guess we are always just to wonder about it.

Also one weird thing struck me. At the end the cops have the church surrounded. I know the last thing they want to do is come into a holy, solemn place and make an arrest of a person who wouldn't go quietly. But why did they do that. I know Father Tom tells them "not in my church you won't" but you'd think the cops would override him and figure they can nab Mrs Tredoni while they can.

Lastly, at the end I too got the feeling that it was implied Alice might just take up where Mrs. Tredoni left off. But was there an alternate message that was being displayed? Were we to believe Alice was involved more than we think?

[–] SCAREORAMA 14 years ago

SPOILERS BELOW...............................

Tredoni attacked Aunt Annie as she undoubtedly feared the net was closing in on her with the police presence around the area, and by doing so, implicated Alice even further in the murder case (since it was well known that Annie and Alice didn't exactly mesh well). Proof of this was evident when Alice was almost immediately taken in for police questioning and a lie detector test.

Tredoni knew Alice was a problem child. And she milked it to the max.

[–] kdl234 14 years ago

I'm not 100% sure, but I think Mrs. Tredoni attacked Aunt Annie by mistake -- I think the person she wanted was Catherine. Would Mrs. Tredoni even have known that Aunt Annie was staying at the apartment?

Either way, the logic doesn't really follow, because any resident of the building could have come down the stairs at any time. It makes more sense in the novelization, because Mrs. Tredoni rings the buzzer several times to lure somebody (presumably Catherine) down.