FaNtAsY HuT

Two Poirots converse while three other Poirots tend to their unique agricultural endeavors.

every 1940s movie watched (26 - ∞)

Ministry of Fear (1944)  dir. Fritz Lang

Claudette Colbert as Augusta Nash

Ray Milland as Tom Martin

Joan Fontaine recalls Ray Milland’s amusing behavior at a party she threw in the December 1950 issue of Screenland:

Mal [Ray’s wife] and I will never forget one particular party I gave a short time ago, for instance.

I had just had my house remodeled, and the place was done in such a way that what seemed like the second floor was actually where most of the activity went on, the building being on a hill. The living room and dining room were on top, and there was a wing of bedrooms for myself and Deborah. And beneath these I had put in a small guest suite and an office.

Ray was working when the party began, so Mal came alone. Time passed. All the guests had appeared but Ray. We asked ourselves if he could possibly be working so late. It didn’t seem right. We phoned the studio and discovered that the company had broken for the night hours before. Where, then, was Milland?

I went out to the parking lot, finally, and asked the boy I had hired for the evening if Mr. Milland had come, by any chance.

“Sure, Miss Fontaine,” he answered. “He’s been in there for hours!”

“He has?” I said, astonished. “But where.”

“I dunno. But he came a long time ago.”

I told Mal. And together we started a search of the house. We began with the main floor. No Ray. We went out into the garden. No Ray. Finally, we descended to the office and the guest suite.

There was Ray in an easy chair, calmly reading a book.