Pack and go! That scene in old movies.

[mecch]

Please help!
We're trying to find the actual scenes in movies, mostly old, but why not new, too!

The wife, lover, is packing a small bag to leave. In the classic scene, the lady pulls a small bag from the closet, puts it on the bed or chair, and lifts a few pieces of lingerie from a drawer and put them in. Then the armoire - maybe a shirt, and a sweater. That's it.  Husband comes home and the wife says, closing up the bag, "Darling I'm leaving you".

The key to the scenes we are looking for is that its a small bag and only a few things go into it.  As if that's all thats needed to leave and start a new life.  Could be a man or woman.

Can you name some movies with this scene? Please!

There's a scene in Sunset Boulevard that ironically reverses the role, cause Joe the gigolo writer packs a bag and announces he's leaving. 

So could be a man or woman, and could be an old movie or new one.

[PozBrian]

I can't name a movie but I know the scene. It must be in hundreds of films. It probably is more of a literary device to show that once character is leaving. Another archetypal scene is at a railway station or boarding a ocean liner. But there is much more luggage, particularly steamer trunks. Actually now that I think of it in films from the 30's I saw more trunks than suitcases.

I was recently standing in a line waiting to go through custom and there was a couple decked out in vintage 40's clothing right down to their luggage. My carry-on has a shoulder strap and my large suitcase has four wheels. They had old cases that had to be hand carried. No straps or wheels at all.

I for one am glad that luggage technology has advanced. Wouldn't it be great if it could be easily miniaturized so it would all fit in you pocket!

[camille07]

Hitchcock was big with packing the metaphorical suitcase:
 Marnie,
 Rearwindow
 Psycho
- Kubrick's Lolita.
- Douglas Sirk's All about Eve (A lot of the melodramas of the fifties incorporated the "pack and go" scene.
- Fassbinder Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant  (fassbinder was a huge fan of Douglas Sirk which makes sense in this particular film.

I can come up with probably a lot more since I studied film and hold a bachelor's degree in art and film.  I am also a certified film dork pre and post school.

I'm thinking Fellini's Juliet of the spirits because she leaves him, but I can't specifically remember a suitcase scene.

I'm sure to remember more as I walk my dog.

[mecch]

Hey I studied film too! 

Thanks for the list. Love Sirk.

(But Joseph L. Mankiewicz directed All About Eve, i think?)

[camille07]

Oh great!  I was trying to think older films, but you can understand when you've seen so many films they're hard to mentally retrieve.

I meant Sirk in reference to Imitation of Life.   

Some Like it Hot (a great pack and go scene)
The Lost Weekend
Midnight  Cowboy
White Christmas
Wizard of oz
Cat on a hot tin roof
Yentl
Sound of Music??? I vaguely remember Julie Andrews going back to the convent quickly.
Angel Face 
Suspicion
Oscar 1967
Safe in Hell 1931

I'm aware it's not a casual packing of the suitcase, it's a "determinedl packing and getting the hell out". Hope some of these work.

[mecch]

Oh my amazing! Many thanks!

[WillyWump]

Joan Crawford was a hell of a "Pack and Go" bitch, but she always seemed to be so tidy about it, folding and such, and you never saw any lingerie sticking out of the luggage as she left. And who could forget that indomitable Crawford voice as she said "I'm leaving you darrrrling".  Off the top of my head Crawford's "The Damned Don't Cry" comes to mind in the scene where she leaves her husband for the gangster.

I've got about 25 of her movies on DVD, seems like a good time to have a movie marathon this weekend and seek out the "Pack and Go's"

-Will

[mecch]

Thanks, I never saw that Crawford flick I'll have to look for it!

[skeebo1969]

   Wizard of Oz, Dorothy took the dog and house when she left.

[WillyWump]

   Wizard of Oz, Dorothy took the dog and house when she left.

ah yes, The ultimate "Pack and GO"

-W