Love Me Madly

Peter X. Peter, a psychoanalyst, explains to the audience that although he reads a lot, listens to the radio and watches television, he has difficulty finding the kind of entertainment he likes. By way of explanation, he turns on a projector and shows a short film called "A Strange Tale" in which a young woman, on board an ocean liner, is reading about a woman who saved a hundred lives and wishes that she were so heroic. She then remembers how the ship's captain made amorous advances to her and on their third encounter, the previous evening, threatened to explode a cargo of dynamite, killing everyone on board, unless she agreed to make love with him. The next day she writes in her diary, "Last night I saved two thousand persons." After the film ends, Peter then informs the audience that he enjoys the talents of exotic dancers. He presents short films featuring a dancer in a cat costume; a slave girl who dances before her captor, but when denied her freedom, plunges a sword into her chest; and a montage of brief scenes featuring dancer Honey Harlow. While looking at some travel brochures, Peter remembers the experiences of a young American woman in Mexico and presents another film revealing how the woman, a three-time divorcée, confided to a travel agent her desire to have children. After he advises her to go to Yucatania, where polyandry is still practiced, she simultaneously marries a bullfighter, weightlifter and a pianist. All of her mates prove ineffective, however and, when she gives birth, the baby resembles the travel agent. Peter then decides to go to Mexico and, after asking his secretary to book him a flight, remembers a story set there and envisions himself playing the principal character in another short film: Señor Cansino calls on a widow to collect a debt owed him by her late husband, the widow denounces him and they decide to settle the issue in a pistol duel. Intrigued by the widow's beauty and spirit, however, Cansino proposes marriage. Peter's dream is interrupted by his secretary, whom he recognizes as the prototype of the widow. The secretary eventually understands Peter's explanation of his sudden interest in her and, as they kiss, Peter tells the audience that this is the kind of entertainment he really likes.