Reward to Finder

Oscar Homolka, who played one of the most despicable villains in Hitchcock's canon (the movie Sabotage where he is responsible for the deliberate killing of poor unsuspecting child), plays the ugly, bent over, self-centered husband of a poor woman who uses every waking hour to make his life better. He offers her nothing in return but more of the same. One day the brute finds a wallet containing 5200 dollars. I figure this is like finding nearly 50,000 dollars in 2013. It is a fortune. Of course, what ensues is the conflict of doing what is right or doing something to make their lives better. The wife has some modest wishes, but Homolka browbeats her into submitting to his wishes, that is for him to have total control over the money. To complicate matters they find an ad from the wallet's owner in the newspaper. He lies to her and says that he has seen the man and has been given nothing more than a thank-you. Eventually, she sees him counting the money and knows he is a liar. Now she has an epiphany while sitting in the dump he has provided for her (it reminded me of the buildings in Renoir's "Lower Depths."). She decides to start spending what she see as rightfully half hers. This is the set up for a great conclusion. This is one of my top five best in this series.