In 1902, British author W.W. Jacobs first published the story of a monkey's paw talisman cursed by an Indian holy man before being transported from India by a soldier returning home to England. The Jacobs' story was made into a play and, later, many film versions. Hitchcock takes the story out of the 19th century and into the 20th. Paul and Anne White acquire the paw from a gypsy while in the Bahamas to see their "beautiful" only son, Howard, race in the Grand Prix. The paw comes with three wishes. In the book the couple is given the paw and told it is more of a curse than a blessing. The Whites soon find this out when financially-strapped Paul White uses the paw to wish for money. Not long after, the couple is visited by an insurance man with a check; insurance payment on the life of their son who was crushed to death in a terrible racetrack crash. Paul identifies the body and knows how horribly their "beautiful" son was disfigured. After a séance arranged by Howard's creepy girlfriend fails to bring Howard back to grieving mom Anne, Anne urges Paul to use the paw again to make Howard "alive again." Paul gives in and makes the wish. Immediately a knock comes at the door but it is only the girlfriend, who they learn, never really loved Howard. She gets the house and they must get out by morning. After she leaves, the couple go upstairs. Knowing the cursed nature of the wishes granted by the paw Paul begins to fear what it means to make Howard alive again. After all, he saw their son's remains. "He had no face," Paul recalls. Just then they hear the sound of a car drive up. Anne, undaunted, runs down to unbolt the front door. Paul looks out only to gaze upon the nightmarish face of his son (unseen by viewers). He yells a warning to Anne who is struggling to unbolt the door. Paul fumbles through their luggage to find the paw. Just as Anne slides back the last bolt, Paul makes the third and final wish that Howard not be alive. The door opens and all that Anne finds heaped on the stoop is the scarf, now torn, that she had given her son for luck before his fatal last race. Chilling. One of Hitchcock's best in the series.
Review of The Monkey's Paw--A Retelling
