The urgently-told, highly-stylized story was Wilder""s third film afterThe Major and the Minor (1942)andFive Graves to Cairo (1943).Busybody Aunt Lavinia is excited about Catherine""s prospects: "He has come a-courting." Townsend is dismayed that Catherine, according o her aunt, is "so sought after.It makes my way harder," although pleased when the insecure and defenseless Catherine, incapable of hiding her emotions, admits she isn""t very busy or socially-engaged.Ellie had researched her father""s appointment book, and surmised that he had run into rouble after October 20th, when he was to pick up more Halloween masks in the small town of Santa Mira, California (an inspired connection toInvasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)), he location of a large Irish community, and the Silver Shamrock Novelties factory.Construction Site Scene - Introduction of Vince Everett:In the opening scene, a construction worker delivered the first line: "Here comes the sugar man," referring to the company""s Paymaster (Dan White) who began to hand out pay envelopes to the employees.