Free | Trailer Addict
Posted: 10/7/2011
On her piano, Rhoda Penmark (Patty McCormack) plays the French song 'Au clair de la lune', while her father (William Hopper) says his goodbyes to her and his wife, Christine (Nancy Kelly), as he goes away on military duty. Their neighbor and landlord, Monica Breedlove (Evelyn Varden), comes in with a present for Rhoda (a locket). Rhoda, looking pristine and proper in her perfect dress and pigtails, thanks Monica for the gift. She then tap dances on the hard floor. Monica notices the tap shoes, and Rhoda says the shoes were her own idea. They then discuss a penmanship medal that Rhoda lost to her schoolmate, Claude Daigle, and how infuriating it was for her to lose. Christine and Rhoda leave for the school picnic at a nearby lake.
Later, Christine is having lunch with Monica and friends when they learn on the radio that a child has drowned in the lake where Rhoda's school was having their picnic. Christine worries that it could be Rhoda, but a follow-up report indicates that it was Rhoda's schoolmate, Claude Daigle. Relieved that her daughter is alive, Christine worries that her daughter might be traumatized by seeing the boy s corpse. When Rhoda returns, however, she is unfazed by the incident and goes about her daily duties.
Rhoda's teacher later visits Christine, revealing that Rhoda was the last person seen with Claude that day on the wharf and was seen grabbing at Claude's penmanship medal. The two women are visited by Mrs. Daigle (Eileen Heckart), who drunkenly accuses Rhoda of knowing something that she is telling no one.
Later that night, Christine finds the penmanship medal in Rhoda's room and orders an explanation. Rhoda lies that Claude let her have the medal after winning a bet. Later, however, Christine catches Rhoda trying to dispose of her tap shoes and Christine figures out that Rhoda must have hit Claude with the shoes, which explains the half-moon shaped bruises on his forehead and hands. A tearful Rhoda admits tha