On board a literal slow boat to China, Laura Bowlby is using a Ouija Board to steal money from unsuspecting rubes, much like the producers of Ouija. Her husband James St. George Bernard Bowlby has invited her to be with him in Hong Kong where is he working for a bank which I’m sure is entirely reputable.
We see her do a reading with an Asian man for which he lauds her. Her performance is impressive as the Ouija Board produces an answer in Chinese, which she does not speak; and even more impressive, as there are no Chinese characters on the board. She also established her bona fides earlier by telling the bartender where he was born.
Laura is greeted at the port by her husband who immediately has to take off to oversee an acquisition. He leaves Laura with is assistant and asks him to order her cards with her name engraved on them. Apparently, this is a thing in Hong Kong — new people give out cards of introduction. As the cards read Mrs. J. St. G. B. Bowlby, they really aren’t much of an introduction for Laura.
He tells Thompson to rent a car and driver from Nixon’s Garage as he is a reliable fellow. I wonder if this was some sort of sly political reference to buying a used car from then Vice-President Richard Nixon. He suggests a sight-seeing drive to Repulse Bay which is a real place and must be better than it sounds.
At the garage, Laura is immediately draw to a particular car. She says she would like it better if it were canary yellow. The salesman tells her it originally was that color. So apparently she is a Silver Ghost-Whisperer also.
Laura (Jessica Tandy) gets in the car and begins her 30-year career of being driven around by non-white men. Along the way, she hears a ghostly voice say, “You’re so silly Jacques.” It is implied that the voice is coming from a flower in a sconce in the car.
AHP (1958), Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
The next day, James St. George Bernard is back in town. The Bowlby’s are riding in the car and Laura says, “I’m sorry I upset you Jim, about the car.” James St. George Bernard replies, “Oh, I just felt it was too big for our needs.” So the script seems to indicate this is different car. However, it looks the same, the upholstery is the same, and it has the same sconce with a talking flower in it. A different car is not necessary to the story, so I am baffled by this reference.
She takes the flower from the sconce and hears voices again. This time, the woman’s voice describes her house and the driver is able to find it for Laura. An old man answers and says there is no woman there. After the man closes his door, as in every post on this blog, Laura feels free to open a gate to his China Garden (not the one by the airport) and walk right in.
It is a lovely garden with a brook, a bridge, some sort of exotic bird. It’s all fun and games if you describe fun as breaking and games as entering. Laura is all smiles until she sees a carved stone by the water.
Sweetest Love, I do not go, For weariness of thee, They who one another keep alive,
Ne’er parted be.
Which is more fun and games if you define fun as cheating and games as bastard. The inscription at the bottom is ADA and JstGBB. She had determined that the disembodied voice was a woman named d’Ardennes (I’m not sure A first name was mentioned), and of course, we now understand the point of the writer giving her husband that ridiculously unique moniker.
Not a lot going on here, but it is a unique episode in that there is a supernatural element which is never exposed as fakery. There still are questions, though. Why was the flower the conduit for the voices? Didn’t Francois (husband of Madam A. d’Ardennes) object to having another man’s love for his wife carved into a rock in his garden?
Nothing great going on here, and I’m disappointed to see AHP stray into the paranormal. Still, Jessica Tandy was quite good and the stock footage of Hong Kong was nicely cut in.
Post-Post:
- AHP Deathwatch: Once again, Nixon got the last laugh.
- OK, the driver is still alive also.
In Hong Kong, as in England, cars drive on the left of the road. Therefore, unless for some unknown reason, the canary yellow auto is a left hand drive. The autos in Hong Kong , with few exceptions, are right hand drive.
Thank you for the review.
It’s an interesting episode of AHP but indeed, a few puzzling questions remain.
The episode doesn’t do that, but I also wonder how the flower sconce in the sedan acts as a supernatural audio conduit; perhaps the original 1930 story, “The Buick Saloon” explains why.
And, if the Countess d’Ardennes is still alive and back in France, it can’t be her ghost that’s sharing her past with Laura!
“Didn’t Francois (husband of Madam A. d’Ardennes) object to having another man’s love for his wife carved into a rock in his garden?”
The voice of the Countess d’Ardennes mentions that she found a lovely little house for her and Jacques so the house with the Chinese garden was actually the secret rendezvous for the lovers. Also, when Laura Bowlby asks the old bearded Chinese caretaker who the previous owner was, he replies in Cantonese, “A French lady”, which Laura somehow immediately understands!
So nobody is dead
The countess left Hong Kong to end the affair, though still in love and left the message for Jim.
Laura had an actual gift that allowed her to channel the pieces of the story from the car.
Or so it seems
So, she found out that her husband, Jim, was having an affair with the French woman (who went back to France)? Very odd plot! I’m still not sure I “get it.”
GREAT puns, I’m surprised no one else brought it up! 😀
It’s funny that everyone assumes that the Countess d’Ardennes in fact went back to France. We have no absolute proof of that – from the story. It’s what the various characters believe to be true. It’s more likely she was murdered and that is why Laura Bowby can hear her. The inscription is from a John Donne poem, which ironically – albeit perhaps metaphorically – mentions death in the first stanza.