MovieChat Forums > Cape Fear (1962) Discussion > What REALLY happened to Diane Taylor?

What REALLY happened to Diane Taylor?


It's an earlier version and this film does push boundaries, but...what happened to make her almost catatonic yet driven to pack and leave?

I don't get a kick out of this question; just wondering if some film students/fans have knowledge I don't.

Was she emotionally and mentally threatened along with a beating?

I ask because this is a young woman 'who likes it rough' (not direct quote) but it's pretty obvious she's...done a lot.

Not sure what is allowed on these boards and I don't enjoy offending people.

So if it's edited I understand but I think it is either:

1. threat of disfigurement.
2. violation with something like a bottle
3. forced intimacy in an area of some sort.

I like fade outs. I get tired of graphic sex scenes. I know the human body and I know what happens during people having intercourse.

To me, fade outs are an efficient way of making clear what's happened, and getting back to the story.

But in this case, I'm a little irritated.
She can walk...she doesn't wince when she moves, though she moves slowly, that could be shock, or pain from a beating...no bruises on her arms, though. Notice that?
Again, I don't need to see the monster to be scared, but it helps to have a rough idea of how you'll be destroyed in order to dread it yourself.
I guess it doesn't matter what he did so long as it is frightening enough to, ironically, make her remember her sense of pride and "the newspapers back home."

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I would say rape, because of the shutters, the way they moved back and forth a few times, like sex. Camera work, giving a clue.

A punch in the face, and I assume very scary threats.

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I like films that give implications yet leave enough to the imagination. In my imagination she was definitely raped--violated sexually in some perverse, horrible way that shocked even the jaded easy lay that she was. She had a low opinion of herself and liked bad men, but had never been through anything as horrific as what psychopath Cady did to her.


"Who's running this airline?!"

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Exactly. It is scarier and more effective to leave it to the imagination.

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I say Cady slapped her around and maybe he raped her or touched her inappropriately. When the shutters close after Cady grabs Taylor, you can hear a slap like Cady is slapping her in the face. Is spine chilling just to write that.

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This film is scary enough by implication. The remake is too awful to watch.

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