MovieChat Forums > The Prestige (2006) Discussion > SPOILERS: Breaking glass

SPOILERS: Breaking glass

posted 8 years ago by angeles_st_ides
7 replies | jump to latest

Just a random thought, but though Borden tying the Langford double knot was definitely a big contributor to Julia's death, so was that seemingly unbreakable glass! What good is it having an ax or sledgehammer there in case of emergency if the glass is so strong one or two blows doesn't shatter it?

We see the same again at the end when Borden tries to free Angier from the water tank. What gives? Not glass, apparently, even when slammed, with great force, by a large metal object.

They did not have safety or tempered glass back then, so the whole thing was a bit of a stretch on the "suspension of disbelief" scale. Especially happening twice.

No reason to have an ax/sledgehammer etc for emergencies if it doesn't actually do the job.

[–] lisa-yaeger 8 years ago

Good question. The glass had to be very thick in order not to crack under the pressure of the water. Perhaps therein lies the answer to why it was soooo hard to crack.

"This man is dead, Jim." ~Bones

[–] angeles_st_ides 8 years ago

Good answer. So why bother having the "in case of emergency" ax/sledgehammer, which clearly won't break the glass? Just for showsies?

[–] mad_weather 8 years ago

They *thought* that it would work, but they never had a chance to test it in action. In hindsight, it was a big mistake to not verify their expectations, but... "that's what people DO!!!" (c).

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[–] lisa-yaeger 8 years ago

I was thinking the same thing. What they needed was two people swinging axes at the same time.

"This man is dead, Jim." ~Bones

[–] liisbdn-907-683473 8 years ago

they also gave her a minute and *then* started breaking the glass (another 10-20 seconds later), by that time she may have already panicked, inhaled water, what ever..

[–] Forlong 8 years ago

Well, as already mentioned the glass had to be very thick to hold all those liters of water.
As you said, there was no tempered glass back then, so it was just really thick.
In turn, this explained why they never tested the case of emergency beforehand as this contraption must've been bloody expensive, so you don't just break one for testing purposes.

It actually always bothered me that they managed to get her out so quick, because in every other movie ever, she would have survived this.
I dunno, maybe it's the first movie that's being realistic about it but I just suspend my disbelief by telling myself they didn't know CPR and stuff back then. 😉

By the way:

We see the same again at the end when Borden tries to free Angier from the water tank. What gives?

Keep in mind, Angier actually wanted to keep Borden from being able to rescue his drowning self. So he might have made that glass even thicker.

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[–] ehbunner 8 years ago

What really bothered me was, wouldn't it make way more sense to just have a key and ladder on stand by, surely that would be easier than breaking the glass, just open the lock(which in the trial is implied to be a trick lock of some kind anyway if I'm not mistaken)and pull her out?