All language subtitles for The Woman in Brown 1948

[Music]

[Music]

[Coughing]

Here, George.

[Coughing]

Take a little more of this.

Come on, George.

[Coughing]

[Coughing]

[Coughing]

May I use the phone?

Right ahead. How is George?

Worse. I'm calling the

doctor again. I'm afraid.

Why'd you call the doctor before?

Hello. Dr. Stevens, quickly, please.

This is Mr. Stark, 239

Adams, Hogan's apartment.

What? Well, how soon can he get here?

Oh, thank you.

Is he coming?

Dr. Stevens is on a maternity case, but

his wife's already called another doctor.

He should be in.

What's he doing? He told

us what's been here and him.

We know it's his heart.

Oh, once that taker goes...

A fine time for Dr. Stevens

to go on a maternity case.

I think I'll go and

straighten up his bed.

Nothing we can do. It's your deal, Greg.

[Knocking]

Good evening. I'm Dr.

Miles. I was sent by Dr. Stevens.

Oh, hurry, doctor. It's

a good thing you're here.

The poor thing's been

suffering something terrible.

This is Dr. Miles.

How do you do, Dr. Miles?

How do you feel? Where's the pain?

He can't speak, sir. He's a mute.

Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know.

Please wait outside.

Father, forgive me.

Forgive me.

He spoke. He spoke.

His pulse is very low.

He spoke, dear Mom.

Did I? Why, it's a

miracle. I can't believe it.

He did speak. He said, "He's been

grooming with us for over ten years,

and he always wrote his

answers on that little blackboard.

And now he talked. Mr.

Stark, did you hear that?

Yes, he spoke, but it was no miracle.

It was not. I heard him, didn't you, Mom?

Later this day. Father, forgive me, he

said. Father, forgive me.

George was not a mute.

He just didn't speak.

For years, he's never uttered a word.

Why would a man do such a thing?

I don't believe it.

A man who kept in his

mind shop for years?

No.

George's story was very

strange, almost beyond belief.

His real name was not George Turner.

It all began in Hungary, many years ago,

in the little province of

Erudy, not far from Budapest.

The Baron of this province

owned most of the land there,

but when he discovered

there was oil on the property,

he kept the discovery a secret,

and he immediately began to negotiate

through various pretenses

for the purchase of all

the neighboring farms.

Good evening, Baron.

Good evening, homie. Come over here.

Secret?

No, thank you. Thank you.

Well, have a drink. Come here.

No, I don't drink, Baron. I don't.

Well, homie, we have

been neighbors for years.

Forget reality, we are not.

But why?

This land of yours, homie.

Those acres which are

rented to these people.

I don't want them near me.

I hear that you are a

cylinder land to them, hmm?

No, it's a good price to honor me.

Homie, look, you have no agreements.

Getting rid of them would mean all crops

would belong to you.

I'm not a farmer.

The crops will be ruined.

I'll help you. My men will bring it in.

What?

In fact, I might even buy your property

if you still want to sell it.

Baron, I didn't know. I

didn't know you wanted my property.

You can have anything you want.

But now you have to

excuse me. My niece is waiting.

Darling car. Come in, darling car, and

don't forget what I told you.

Good evening.

Good evening. Good evening.

It's about your buying part of my land.

I heard you made the

same deal with Hornet.

Yes, I'm acquiring

several parcels of land.

It has to wait until after

election time, you understand.

But we've come to an agreement.

Oh, yes, yes, Baron.

But Baron met with no

opposition to his deals,

except for one.

And although Hornet wanted

to sell his land to the Baron,

he had at least out at the time,

and the tenants who'd been there for

generations refused to move.

Well, a short time later, an incident

occurred in this province.

A young girl mysteriously disappeared,

and not being found, her case was put

into the unsolved files.

Well, the Baron called up one of his

political lackey Budapest,

and acting on the Baron's

orders, this lackey took over,

and went to the local authorities.

Yes, sir.

State Attorney Stark?

No, no, Mr. Stark isn't here just now.

I'm his assistant. What can I do for you?

How do you do?

I'm Cullerman Belloq, Special

Investigator of Budapest.

Here are my credentials.

Pleased to meet you.

My name is Erno Miller.

But our office has already made a report

at the missing on a Thomas sheet.

That's exactly why I am here.

You see, my very good friend Baron Araday

has taken a personal interest

in the question of why you gentlemen have

been unable to find the

murderer of this girl.

You see, she happened to have been made

for one of the Baron's neighbors.

Murderer? What, my superior, Mr. Stark?

Of course, the Baron has told me enough.

It'll give me the information that this

girl simply could not have vanished into

thin air, just like that.

Well, you may have

something there, Mr. Belloq.

Of course I realize that you gentlemen

from the provinces have a limited

knowledge of criminal investigation.

Mr. Belloq, this is confidential.

You see, I'm sort of handicapped by my

superiors' policies.

He's a stickler. Vax,

rules, abstract justice.

But now that you're here, I'm sure I can

be of great service to you.

And will you please tell

Baron Araday I am at his disposal?

Oh, splendid. We hope

to call on your services.

Now I shall get a room at the inn. I want

you to prepare an office for me.

And please tell Mr. Stark that I have

taken entire charge of the investigation.

Belloq's first orders were

to arrest Horny's tenants.

I want you to sign

this confession right now.

But, sir, there is nothing

I could possibly confess.

I haven't done a thing, not a thing.

None of you has anything to confess. You

all lie right into my face.

You killed Anna Tamashie. Put them in

chains. Lock them up.

But listen, just another word. Listen.

At last, the trial

against the tenants began.

This case was brought to the attention of

a brilliant lawyer and humanitarian

who offered to defend the accused.

This is the press, Mr. Nemesch.

Yes.

All right, Mrs. Schwartz.

Sneak in. But you must leave

as soon as the judges come in.

Mr. Fisch.

Mrs. Schwartz.

Don't worry. It'll be all right.

Sharp.

Sharp.

I haven't seen my wife for two months.

Please.

Please.

Papa.

Samuel.

My boy.

Now you must go.

Everybody rise.

Stay.

Mr. Stacey Turner, will

you read the indictments?

Members of the royal

court, on August 3rd,

14-year-old Anna Tamashie

disappeared mysteriously.

She was last seen when she called in

Joseph Schwartz Barn.

Mr. Coloman Ballog, assigned to this case

a special investigator,

discovered that the missing girl was

present during a violent argument

between Farmer Schwartz

and his landlord, Mr. Horny.

The argument between these two men

climaxed with Schwartz's

attempt upon the life of Mr. Horny.

The contention of the state is that Anna

was done away with because she was a

potential witness against Schwartz,

as well as against the other accused who

were on the scene and thereby involved.

The indictment charges the defendants

with the murder of Anna Tamashie.

Thank you, Mr. Stacey Turner.

Your Honor, gentlemen, I move for an

immediate dismissal.

There's no sound basis for this case.

There's not the slightest evidence that

defendants even saw the missing girl on

the day of her disappearance.

The prosecution cannot produce the body

of the allegedly murdered girl.

Who knows but what at this very moment

she may be living peacefully,

perhaps romantically,

a few miles from here.

Mr. Namash, you come for Budapest, huh?

Yes, why?

One can easily see that you live in the

sophisticated atmosphere of a big city

and do not know the pure

nature of a country girl.

Baron Araday, I'm sure no one will

dispute the fact that you are an

authority on virtue.

Order, gentlemen. Will the

court please call the witnesses?

Gustav Horny.

Gustav Horny, 51, landowner.

Mr. Horny, tell us what happened on the

evening you called Mr. Schwartz's house.

Well, you see, my wife, she didn't want

me to lease our land

out any longer and so I--

Mr. Horny, how long has

Schwartz been on your land?

I only see his father, at

least the land of my father.

That must have been about 45 years ago.

Mr. Horny, tell us what happened the

evening you called at

Mr. Schwartz's house.

Well, you see, my wife, she told me to go

and see Schwartz and

tell him about our decision.

And later she talked

to the other tenants.

Well, Schwartz isn't very

easy to handle, you know.

But I went just as him.

Have you had any

previous clashes with Schwartz?

No, no, no, no. I

always kept out of his way.

Well, that night I

found Schwartz in his bar.

When I told him he had to

leave, he went for my throat.

He almost killed me.

That is not true!

It is, it is. Why, he was

choking me. He almost killed me.

You told me to pack and leave at the end

of the mountains, just before harvest.

I have to take care of my

family during the winter.

Quiet. Schwartz was provoked,

Your Honor, understandably so.

But where is the proof

that he wanted to kill Horny?

I picked up a picture for it and he said,

"I see you dead

before I leave this land."

Well, my wife would be a widow if it

wasn't for poor Anna.

Why?

Because she just came

in there. That's why.

He happened to look up and that gave me a

chance to dutch and run out of the bar.

I ran from my way.

As I whipped up my horses, I heard a

scream from the bar.

When I finally got home all in cold sweat

and all the trouble,

I told my wife that Schwartz almost

killed me and that Anna had seen us.

She said, "Anna is your witness."

When she gets home, take

her to the police with you.

What happened then?

Well, Anna didn't get

home, so we began to worry.

Then we put two and two together.

And then we began to suspect what

actually happened to Veronica.

Your Honor, the defense insists the

missing girl never came to the bar.

Is there anything else you

can tell us about this case?

Well, that's all, Your Honor.

You may go.

Thank you.

If I may, Mr. State Attorney, sir.

It's quite clear, Your Honor, that a

meeting of the defendants took place in

the home of Schwartz,

where it was decided to use violence on

the landlord so they

could stay on the land.

Gathering is quite harmless, Your Honor.

The question remains, was Anna Thomas,

she really present at the scene?

Can there be any doubt?

The testimony of the landlord can hardly

be considered reliable

when he had such a stake in

getting rid of his tenants.

Call you next, witness.

Mrs. Giuliani.

Good morning. Good morning.

Good morning, Your Honors.

You and Mrs. Juliana Horny.

Tell us what you know about this case.

Well, to start with,

Anna was like a child to me.

I quite forgot she was my servant.

Were you actually related to the murders?

Missing.

Please answer the question.

My father, God bless his

soul, married Anna's grandmother.

God bless her soul.

But apart from any blood bonds, Anna was

like a daughter to me.

And now she's gone.

Murdered! That's what she was.

How do you know that?

It's as sure as night follows day.

I sent Anna to

Ecclemires to get some paint.

I keep my house neat as a pin.

Now, when did Anna leave

the house to get the paint?

At seven o'clock, right after supper.

She wouldn't even wait for the dumplings.

I told her to come home quick.

To get on with the painting?

Because it was getting dark.

She came back in no time,

but with the wrong paint.

When was this?

At seven thirty.

And you sent her back

to get the right paint?

I knew she wouldn't sleep if I hadn't,

she hadn't gone back.

And you sent her back this time in spite

of the growing darkness.

She insisted on finishing

the painting that night.

She liked working that much?

About fifty coppers a week.

She cleaned the house, made the beds,

washed the dishes, did the laundry,

fed the animals, milked the cow, and you

saw to it that she lacked

no-one to enjoy herself.

What happened after the girl left the

house the second time?

I waited for her.

When my husband came home

and told me he saw her at...

At Schwartz's barn, I...

I was frightened.

I rushed to her mother,

hoping she would get there.

But I couldn't find her anywhere.

My poor husband had to run for his life,

and Anna was there too and saw it.

That's why they killed her.

Keep them in jail, Your Honor.

Mrs. Horny.

Any further questions, Mr. Stark?

Mr. Nemesch?

No.

You may go.

I am told the witnesses have been led to

be leave by certain parties.

That it is not unlawful to break a note.

Nonsense.

As special investigator for this case, I

assume that Mr.

Nemesch is referring to me.

I had bigger game in mind.

I shall not remain

unanswered, Mr. Nemesch.

Unfortunately, I have to deliver his

speech and parliament.

I have to catch a train.

Therefore, I ask Your

Honor to be heard at once.

Considering the pressing nature of Baron

Arady's official duties,

the court has decided to waive procedure.

Thank you.

Your Honor,

ever since the murder of Anna Temerci...

Object, Your Honor.

There's no proof of murder.

Very well, then, Mr. Nemesch.

Ever since the

disappearance of Anna Temerci...

Ever since my own good,

kind neighbors came to me...

With their suspicions growing ever

stronger and stronger.

Ever since this tragic, shattered ghost

that was once Anna's happy mother...

Came to me and begged me

with tears and eyes for justice.

And then, my good friend,

the special investigator,

presented to me fact of

defect of damning evidence.

Then I knew, beyond any

possible shadow of doubt,

that he was the most dreadful murder ever

committed in cold blood.

Baron, have you any material evidence to

offer concerning this case?

Nothing beyond the conclusifance of the

special investigator.

Any further questions?

What for?

Your Honor, this witness

has no real evidence to offer.

Thank you, Your Honor.

Call your next witness.

Will Your Honor please

call witness Andreas Molnar?

Molnar, perhaps.

Andreas Molnar, age 52,

labor on Baron Aradiz estate.

May I, Your Honor?

Proceed, Mr. Investigator.

Molnar, you had an unusual experience the

night that Anna disappeared.

Yes, yes.

Tell us in detail what you saw.

I saw Anna dead with a big cut in her

throat, right across here.

Tell me, what exactly did you see?

Those five men were digging.

Digging? Where was this?

In the backyard of Schwartz's house.

I knew what they were digging

from what I heard at the end.

What did you hear at the end?

What everybody else did.

Mr. Horny came in and said, "I bet my

last copper those five men killed Anna in

Schwartz's barn because

she was a witness for me."

And that makes you sure they

were digging a grave for Anna.

Yes.

Didn't the prosecution investigate

Molnar's story and dig up the body?

Naturally, we investigated Molnar's story

and we found evidence of freshly dug

earth behind the barn.

But the defendants must have gotten wind

that we were on their trails so they dug

up the body and buried it elsewhere.

You admit you let these

defendants get the best of you?

Why, Mr. Bello?

Any further questions?

No.

No, Your Honor.

The witness dismissed.

Your Honor, request that the missing

girl's mother be

called Mrs. Maria Thomashe.

Maria Thomashe.

Maria Thomashe, widow.

Profession, laundress.

Tell us what happened on August 3rd.

What happened?

With the permission of the courts.

All right.

Mr. Investigator, you

may question the witness.

Thank you, Your Honor.

Did your daughter Anna

come to see you on August 3rd?

Yes.

Mrs. Thomashe, did you ask your daughter

Anna to go to the Schwartz's?

Gentlemen, I object to the way these

leading questions are put to the witness.

In view of the state of mind and emotions

of the mother, I am forced to get her

testimony by this simple method.

You may continue.

You asked your daughter Anna to stop off

the Schwartz's and tell them that you

were to be unable to come and help Mrs.

Schwartz the next day.

Yes.

And your daughter was

14 when she disappeared?

Yes, 14.

How old was she when you

first sent her out to work?

11.

You mean to say your daughter was only 11

years old when she first started to work?

I worked when I was eight.

Did she ever complain that

Mrs. Horny had treated her badly?

Mrs. Horny has clearly stated her

relationship with the missing girl.

You've heard Mrs. Horny state that she

considered the missing

girl as her daughter.

When did you first learn that your

daughter had disappeared?

I don't know.

Mrs. Thomashe, what did you tell me you

knew happened to your daughter?

I'll never see you.

How do you happen to know that?

I saw it.

You mean to say you were present when

your daughter was killed?

She had her head cut off.

I saw it in my dream.

Gentlemen, for the record and for your

particular attention, please note that

this witness has just testified under

oath that she saw her

daughter killed in a dream.

Any further questions?

No.

No questions.

Mrs. Thomashe, that is awful.

Doctor, will you help

the witness, please?

Call your next witness.

Call her Thomashe.

Clara Thomashe, age 17, domestic servant.

Calm yourself, my child.

When and where did you

see your sister last, Clara?

It was in my mother's house.

I went to see her because she was sick.

What was Anna wearing?

Her dress.

What dress?

The only one she had.

What did you talk about?

She told me that mother said for her to

stop off at Schwartz to say she couldn't

go to work the next

day because she was sick.

What time was it when your sister left?

About 5.7 in the evening.

Did she have anything else to say to you?

She told me she was going to buy a new

dress for Sunday and asked me to meet her

in front of the inn. She wanted me to

help her pick it out.

When your sister left, did she not go

directly to the Schwartz's?

Yes, she did.

Object, your honor. There's no proof that

the missing girl actually went there.

Mr. Horny has testified that he has seen

Anna at the Schwartz's. Her mother has

stated that she sent her there, and this

witness has verified that.

How much proof does the defense require?

Any questions?

No questions.

Gentlemen, that is all

my child. You may go.

I'll call you next witness.

Margaret Darosch.

Margaret Darosch, A-17.

You are the daughter of Dr. Darosch?

Yes, your honor.

Mr. Darosch, you do not

live far from the Schwartz's.

Not far.

Tell us what you particularly noticed on

the evening of August 3rd.

I was about to close the shutters of my

room when I heard a distant scream.

And where did that scream come from?

From the direction of Schwartz's barn.

What else did you notice?

The scream was

followed by a choke crying.

Miss Darosch.

Couldn't it have been an animal?

No, it was a girl.

Do you have that, gentlemen?

I want the records to show that Miss

Margaret Darosch on the evening of August

3rd heard a girl crying, screaming,

choking, and that these sounds came from

the direction of the Schwartz's barn.

Just how far is

Schwartz's barn from your home?

About a five minute walk.

It's too vague, Miss Darosch. Would you

say it was half a mile?

Not quite.

You mean you could distinguish clearly

the cry of a girl from that far away?

I found out later I was correct.

How so?

Someone else heard it too and told me.

Who told you?

Mr. Investigator, it would be advisable

for you to produce the

witness for the prosecution.

Mr. Ballog, can you produce this witness?

I think I can produce the witness to

confirm Miss Darosch's

statement with the court's permission.

Is young Samuel Schwartz out here?

Me.

Samuel.

Take off your hat.

What is he doing here?

You are the son of Joseph Schwartz.

Yes.

How old are you, Samuel?

I was 14 on the 24th of June.

Samuel. Did you not tell Darosch that you heard a

girl scream on August 3rd?

No. No, I didn't.

Is that your answer?

Remember, you want the truth?

I object, Your Honor.

This boy has been

questioned time and time again.

His various

testimonies are in the record.

Very well, then.

Miss Darosch, according to this young

man's testimony, it is you who have lied.

You're under oath and can be punished.

Miss Margaret never lies.

All I told her was that

I saw Anna in the barn.

Samuel, they're using

this girl to trap you.

Don't lie.

My son is not lying.

It's true.

Anna did come to the barn,

but the land float was there.

- Joseph! - What did he say?

You never told us that.

Why did you conceal

that from your attorneys?

Schwartz.

Did you commit this crime?

I haven't committed any crime.

As for the others, they

didn't even see the girl.

Here it is.

This man has as good as confessed, but he

is trying to cover up for the others.

Schwartz, tell me here and now,

why did you conceal the fact that Anna

did come to the barn?

I took one look at my sick wife, and I

was afraid to see it.

Samuel, we now know

that Anna was in the barn.

Now, why not admit that you actually

heard the girl scream

as Miss Darragh said?

But I didn't hear it.

If you did, I don't

ever want to see you again.

Well, Miss Fallog,

you can't sway this boy to lie in spite

of the pressure that's

been brought to bear on him,

his adolescence, and all

your charms, Miss Darragh.

Gentlemen.

Excuse me.

Captain.

This police sergeant reports the finding

of a female corpse in the river,

which may well have some

connection with this case.

What makes you think that this corpse has

any connection with Anna Thomas?

It's the dress, sir.

It answers the description

we have in our police records.

Besides, we have no report of any other

girl missing here about.

Where is the body?

Outside. We brought it in the cart.

Your Honor, the mother of the missing

girl is in the witness room.

I request the court's permission to have

her look at the body

immediately for identification.

- Grant. - Constable.

Would you conduct Miss

Thomashey to the cart?

And Mr. Miller, would

you please go along?

Yes.

I'd like to have my associate advocate

Fisher view the body with him.

Grant.

Who are these men? The two

rafts who found the body.

What are your names?

I am Herman.

And you?

My name is Joseph Martin.

How and where did you find the body?

Well, when we were

making for sure on our raft,

I saw something stuck in the weeds.

I took one of our long oars

and tried to get it loose.

When we saw it was a dead woman,

Martin wanted me to throw the body back,

but I was afraid.

Afraid somebody might be watching.

So I made him help me,

and we dragged the body

out and put it on the grass.

Martin ran for the police,

and I stayed with the body.

Gentlemen!

Gentlemen, the body of that girl shows no

mutilation whatsoever.

There is no cut on the neck of that girl.

No mutilation!

Sergeant, they take them away.

Quickly.

[crying]

Mrs. Tamaschi, was that your daughter?

Yes.

My poor Anna, my child.

Is there a dress?

Your Honor, the mother

has positively identified

the body as that of her

missing daughter Anna.

It's been put on record

that the murdered girl

was killed with a cut across the throat.

Precisely.

Therefore, gentlemen,

this cannot possibly be

the corpse of the

girl we are looking for.

Isn't it possible, Mr.

Balog, that your witness,

Molnar, has lied?

Your Honor, this

mother's positive identification

speaks for itself.

Your Honor, Mrs.

Tamaschi is obviously demented.

My superior, Mr. Sark, has

formed his own conclusion.

But the state could not accept her

identification as positive.

She's not a sound mind.

This whole procedure must

be stricken from the record.

The body has been

identified by a mother and the dress.

It's generally known that

Mrs. Tamaschi has accepted

the sight and presence of any girl as

that of her own daughter.

It's understandable

what she would have said

when she saw the body

of a girl clad in a dress

like the one her murdered daughter wore.

Gentlemen, a prosecution.

Is this another

maneuver of yours to further

persecute these innocent men?

I move that we recess immediately.

The investigation will

discredit any enough.

The charge of murder

against these defendants

has collapsed like a prick balloon.

I move that we absolve

these men of the charges

as they appear in the indictment.

Surely more concrete

evidence, more positive assurance

to satisfy our courts are in order.

Excuse me, gentlemen.

A verdict rendered in haste

would be rash and ill-considered.

In view of the

astonishing events and developments

that we have witnessed,

the court calls for time

that both the defense and the prosecution

might have an opportunity

to confirm their respective

intentions.

Fourth gen.

My sympathies and

convictions with nimage in the defense.

Your members of the royal

court, as this trial resumes,

I find it necessary to

tender my resignation

with profound regret and

with the most vigorous protest

against what has become

a travesty of justice.

Look, one thing.

I will use all of my

influence to prevent any further use

of your service in public office.

Farin Erudy, I knew that

you would say just that.

I realized that my resignation will be

hoped by him and his partner.

However, let me hasten to add,

were it not for the legal

impossibilities which bar me,

I would be seated at

that table with the defense.

Mr. Stark, this is very irregular.

Your resignation will have to be reported

to the Ministry of Justice.

It is yet that you do so without delay.

Mr. Miller, will you assume

the duties of the prosecution?

Yes, thank you, Your Honor.

Mr. Stark, you have my deepest respect.

God be with you.

Good luck, Mr. Nemesch.

Your Honor, more than a month has elapsed

since the positive identification of Anna

Tamash's body by her mother.

The laws prescribe a

quick execution of the guilty,

not a slow killing of the innocent.

Innocent?

The defense is asking for

the acquittal of these killers.

I owe material.

Your Honor, here is the evidence

that of an incredible

conspiracy to thwart justice.

The investigator has any new evidence I

demand that it be

produced here in the flesh,

not by means of these documents.

I was trying to save Your Honor's time.

However, we anticipated that counsel for

the defense would prove obstinate.

So we have our witnesses right here.

May I suggest that we first call Dr.

Daros of Tarnivar, general practitioner?

If any new witnesses have to be called,

I demand that we pick

up where we left off.

The defense would like

to have Mrs. Maria Tamash.

She repeat her last statement.

I would like you to decide

for yourself, Mr. Nemesch,

if you wish of her call.

In fact, that's why

we're calling on Dr. Darosch.

Call Dr. Darosch.

Good afternoon, Your Honor.

Dr. Darosch, you are the only resident

physician of Tarnivar,

and I assume your practice

embraces the entire community.

It does.

Tell us what happened to Mrs. Tamash.

She is suffering from delusions and is

thoroughly incompetent.

She is now confined to a mental

institution, which I recommend.

Just when did you find

her to be mentally ill?

Since the very day her daughter...

It's obvious, Your

Honor, only too obvious.

But this woman was declared to be insane

the moment she made the most damaging

statement to the prosecution,

when she identified the body as that of

her missing daughter.

No one could identify that

body. It had been decomposed.

It must have been in the water at least

six or seven months.

Not only did the mother

identify her daughter,

but the dress of Honor as well.

Oh, yes, the dress. I am

prepared for that, too.

But now can anyone doubt the integrity of

our esteemed physician?

Just how does the

doctor justify his opinion?

I wish to add that

Hannah was only 14 years old,

while the body was unquestionably that of

a girl 18 years old.

There are certain anatomical facts that

do not melt away in motor, Mr. Lynch.

With all due respect for Dr. Darash as a

general practitioner,

I question whether he's qualified to

voice such a definite opinion.

May I call County Physician Dr. Georges

Samash for corroboration.

Dr. Samash.

Good afternoon, Your Honor. Dr. Darash.

Dr. Samash, your colleague

has stated that the corpse

which was found in the Tarnavar River was

not that of Anna Tamashi.

Do you share his opinion?

I do, Doctor.

Did you know the missing Anna Tamashi?

Not personally.

You never saw her, and yet you say this

body cannot be hers.

I know my medicine as well as you know your law.

There is no question that the dead girl

had ever done any hard physical work.

Furthermore, I should judge the corpse to

be that of a woman in

her 20s, fully matured.

Your colleague has just told us the body

was that of an 18-year-old girl.

If my colleague estimates 20 years, I

naturally bow to his superior knowledge.

When a corpse has been in the water for

three or four months,

it's really quite difficult

to establish the exact age.

The anatomical--

You gentlemen don't agree here, either. I'm not sure I'm going to be here. The gentlemen don't agree here, either.

I want to emphasize that Dr. Samosh has

stated that the body was that of a person

belonging to the better classes,

and that in his opinion the body was also

that of a mature woman.

Pick the best from each witness and

discard the

contradictions, a very convenient method.

Differences?

How can a mother's sure knowledge be

dismissed by any professional assumption?

Any further questions?

No, no questions.

Thank you, gentlemen.

Now I see what has taken

place during this adjournment.

The gentlemen, the bodies of young ladies

don't fluke up and down the river.

Whose body is it, if

not out of time issues?

Does it not occur to Mr. Nimesh that the

body might have been stolen by an

accomplice from the Mark and

Budapest or from the cemetery?

Baron, I already--

Your personal interest in

this case needs to be exposed.

Gentlemen--

You'll hear the rest of it, Baron.

I don't put up this dilemma.

Whatever these people have accumulated,

whatever seeds they've sown by their

sweat and labor will be

picked up for a song. What loot?

Piling for these murderers.

On the record, my colleague, Mr. Karl

Nimesh has volunteered his services in

this case without any

compensation whatsoever.

Order, gentlemen. This is

not getting us anywhere.

I restrain you from any further

disturbance of this sort.

Mr. Miller, will you continue?

I propose, Your Honor, that the state be

allowed to call the

rest of the witnesses.

Granted.

Constable, call Rasman Herman and Martin.

What is a charge against these men?

Accomplices in the crime.

They too.

Will you please tell the court the events

that led up to your arrest?

I confess to the investigator.

You want your confession to be read?

Yes.

One evening, during the middle of June of

this year, I don't remember the date

exactly, a woman dressed in brown and

carrying a small parcel under her arm

offered to give us a hundred gulden if we

would carry out her instructions.

She pointed to some bushes on the other

side of the river and said that we would

find a female corpse

hidden under a blanket.

In the parcel were some torn clothes,

which we were to put on the girl.

We were to tie the body under a raft

where nobody could see it, float it

downstream as far as old Tarnivar, and

then pretend we had

just found it in the river.

Your Honor, are we expected to believe

this, this nightmare?

This work of fiction. Just

who is this woman in brown?

What's her name?

You took the clothes from the woman in

brown and dressed the strange corpse, and

then went to the place she told you to,

and acted as if you just found the body.

The defense wants proof.

Can you produce this witness, Mr. Barlow?

No, unfortunately, we have been unable to

produce the woman in brown.

Apparently, she's the

only one you've overlooked.

Your Honor, have I your permission to

examine those records?

Thank you.

Herman, just how often did Mr. Balog

cross-examine you

during your imprisonment?

Answer the question.

I don't remember.

Once a week, every day, Sunday, too, did

he wake you up at night? To drag these

lines out of you, he...

I protest against this continuous attack

on an official carrying out his duty.

Farinara, please.

Has the counsel for the defense any proof

that these confessions were obtained from

the witnesses by force?

Unfortunately, no, Your Honor. Until this

woman can be produced here in court.

I demand in the interest of justice, at

this case, be adjourned.

I cannot favor any further

loss of time in this trial.

Will the investigator use every means in

his power to bring this woman into court?

Certainly, Your Honor.

The court will proceed with the evidence.

Any further questions?

No questions.

No questions.

Take them away.

I would like to enter a

strong complaint for the record.

We of the defense have been unable to

contact either the defendants or the

witnesses during this recess.

We haven't even been able to reach young

Samuel Schwartz, who's been

placed in the care of the state.

Is it the practice of the prosecution to

hold witnesses in communicado?

Very well, Mr. Namish. Young Samuel

Schwartz is here now in my office.

You wish to call him?

I most certainly do.

With permission of the court.

Please call Samuel Schwartz.

Mr. Bell.

Could you explain why

you kept this boy isolated?

We had good reason to keep him in the

care of the state. You see, no one ever

knows what might happen to this boy.

He could have been intimidated.

Look at my boy.

Your Honor, Samuel Schwartz is here in

the capacity of a witness for the state.

The court must warn Samuel that the law

cannot force him to

testify against his father.

Oh, there's no need for that, Your Honor.

You have before you his sworn statement,

which the prosecution

would like to have read.

Mr. Investigator, will you

read this statement, please?

This is the sworn statement of Samuel

Schwartz has given to me, and I quote,

"On the evening of August 3rd, just

before eight o'clock, I saw Anna Tomerchi

enter my father's barn.

Our landlord, Mr. Horny, and my father

had a heated argument.

My father ran after him with a pitchfork.

I heard Anna's voice saying, "Schwartz

will kill him. Call the police."

Then I heard a commotion. I looked

through the keyhole.

There was only one lantern lit inside the

barn, so I could not distinguish who

said, "She's a witness for the landlord.

We will all be in trouble."

I could see another one take this sickle.

He cornered Anna and cut her throat, and

I saw the blood flow

down her neck. She was dead.

Son.

Did you say that?

Samuel, you will repeat here now.

Papa wasn't there

when the girl was killed.

That is correct. You testified that your

father was outside chasing Mr. Horny,

while the others committed the murder.

Your Honor, I will prepare a motion to

review Schwartz's name from the

indictment for murder.

However, we will detain him temporarily

for complicity in the crime.

The court's permission, I'd like to

question the witness.

Granted.

Samuel, we just heard

your sworn statement.

First, let me say you look quite

different now. You're not the same boy

who was here before. You've changed.

Tell me, Sam, and just what has been done

to you. How did this all come about?

I object!

You object to my questioning the witness?

Now, Samuel, isn't it true that you were

a guest at the Baron's Castle?

You and Miss Darash were

escorted there by Mr. Ballard?

Nothing wrong with

being nice to a poor boy.

And is your left there?

It was in these fine new

clothes you're wearing now.

I didn't get them

there. The tailor came to me.

And the barber, too.

And weren't you taken for a jaunt to

Budapest in the Baron's carriage?

Didn't a young lady

accompany you, Miss Margaret Darash?

The defense seems to have a great deal of

information, although it claims to have

been denied access to this young man.

This is one time the defense has taken

the liberty of putting

two and two together.

And as for this record, there it is,

gentlemen, just a blank piece of paper.

You thought it was clever by such a

compromise to say the father was out

chasing the landlord at the actual time

the killing took place.

That gentleman is a dead giveaway, a bad

piece of construction.

Your assumptions are insulting and

unfounded, Mr. Nemesch. They are another

attack on the state's integrity.

Your Honor, I request the court's

permission for this

father to speak to his own son.

Thank you, Your Honor.

Samuel, go to your father.

The others couldn't have killed Anna.

The only one who saw the girl was Iso, if

you say a murder was committed in our

bond, you are only accusing your father.

But Papa, you didn't kill her?

Of course I didn't. And neither did they.

See, look at your father.

See, I haven't told the truth.

He couldn't have

changed that way by himself.

You have done this to him. You have made

him a rotten traitor, a dreadful sliver.

Keep yourself!

This man is insane.

Oh, a hospital. Will you take this boy

back to my office, please?

Your Honor, we of the defense could not

have anticipated the

unprincipled tactics of the prosecution.

Consequently, we've been forced to

improvise our defense

from moment to moment.

This case has become

both tragic and ridiculous.

The namly hope of helping me accuse was

to discredit the testimony of every

witness called by Ballard.

Professor Barr from the University of

Budapest readily agreed to testify.

Here, gentlemen, is the River Tulliver.

You will observe the winding course of

the river down to the

old village of O'Tulliver.

Here is the town of Tulliver.

Considering the current, the time of the

year, the whirlpools and other handicaps,

I would estimate that the corpse needed

four to six weeks to cover this stretch.

It is not easy to estimate with accuracy

how long a corpse has

been lying in the water.

However, I can assert with authority that

it could not have been less than four

weeks, nor more than six weeks.

Dr. Daraj estimates the body was in the

water six or seven months.

Dr. Samaj asserts it was

only three or four months.

Dr. Samaj attended my lectures for years,

but I cannot guarantee

that he absorbed them.

As for Dr. Daraj, he is unknown to me.

Do you gentlemen

agree with the professor?

No, I do not.

No. The discrepancy is rather large.

That in your opinion, Professor, these

two experts are both mistaken.

There is no doubt.

You may laugh, gentlemen, but that does

not conceal your professional blunders.

I am no longer your pupil, Professor, and

I am free to laugh at obsolete analyses.

Professor Burr, did you estimate the

approximate age of the corpse?

Around fifty. That's ridiculous.

This was a fully matured woman.

I have known girls to be fully

matured at the age of twelve.

What it does many things, but it does not

change people's ages.

It will make any skin soft and smooth.

Even the calloused feet of a girl who

went barefoot all her life.

Then there's no proof as to what class

this girl belonged to.

Professor Burr, you studied the sworn

statements of the two ratsmen.

What is your opinion of their testimony?

It is improbable that they could have

transported the body, as they say,

without attracting the

attention of the ratchet.

A body in such a state of decomposition

would have slowly

spread a very strong burden.

Professor Burr, you are employed at the

University of Budapest.

I am.

Lately, your appearances in court have

been largely in behalf

of an insurance company.

The Hungarian...

Insurance companies frequently need

expert medical analysis.

I wish to point out to the court that the

president of the Hungarian alliance has

been very much interested in this case.

Is it not too obvious that...

That has nothing to do

with my opinion as an expert.

Oh, no, of course not,

Professor. Nothing whatsoever.

Your Honor, this is shameful.

One of our country's former scientists

subjected to this slander.

Do not disturb yourself, Mr. Namish.

These gentlemen are not in a position to

change my views, or to

affect my personal integrity.

Have the medical experts any further

statements they would care to make?

None. None. In view of

the circumstances, none.

Thank you, thank you, Professor Burr.

And I'm very sorry.

Your Honor, these

contradictions mean nothing.

According to two eyewitnesses, Samuel

Schwartz and Molnar,

Anna Tomasi was killed with

a sickle. Her throat was cut.

It's exactly what we intended this proof.

Therefore, I demand the state produce

this woman in Brown.

Unfortunately, we have been unable to

find the woman in Brown either this

witness is in hiding or

has mysteriously vanished.

Even if the mysterious woman were

produced, she would only serve to

reinforce the case

for us, the prosecution.

So why delay any longer?

Your Honor, it is a status fail to

produce this witness.

I promise to bring her here.

The defense has promised to produce a

witness who could not

be found by the state.

This is another forgery in the network of

lies which has been exhibited.

A most ingenious house of cards, topped

by that decked out in Anna's clothes.

And the so-called medical expert coming

down from the capital city,

trying to throw the dust of his pretended

learning in your eyes.

While on the other hand, the state has

offered many witnesses to testify in an

unpretentious way as

simple, well-meaning people do.

Mr. Prosecutor, I must interrupt and I

request the court's attention.

We have here a new witness who awaits

immediate examination.

You are too late, Mr. Nimish.

This case is not closed, Mr. Prosecutor.

Your Honor, it's important

this woman be heard at once.

I insist that you insist.

I shall be forced to resign, Your Honor,

together with my colleague with the

defense at this last hour

if our motion is rejected.

Let them resign.

The court does not wish to deprive the

defendants of the benefit of counsel.

Bring the witness in, Mr. Fisher.

Your name?

Iren Pater.

Where are you from?

Budapest.

What connection has

this woman with the case?

I've given a chance.

I'd bring out my point.

I understand from the investigator that

this woman has been jailed for

drunkenness and disorderly

conduct in the last ten days.

But State Attorney Miller has just said

that you were jailed on

various counts. Is that true?

Yes.

And where were you imprisoned?

Right here. Women's section, second

floor, cell number three.

What did you learn in prison

that might concern this case?

There was a woman in the cell next to

mine who was being given

sedatives to keep her quiet.

Her name is Mrs. Ethel

Mihaly from a village nearby.

How do you associate

that person with the case?

She kept repeating that she wanted to

come to court to testify.

Your Honor, this witness

knows what she's saying.

No decent person could

possibly believe a woman of this sort.

Mr. Ballack, you have said too much.

I demand an immediate apology.

My dear colleague, these gentlemen cannot

possibly know that this

lady happens to be your wife.

Mr. Nemeche, I demand an explanation.

Your Honor, the wife of my associate

submitted to this experiment pretending

to be drunken and disorderly.

You see, we simply had to get someone

inside that prison to find out what was

being kept so secret.

Your Honor, I demand that Mrs. Ethel

Mihaly be produced

here at once to testify.

This woman wants to be

heard and should be heard.

Thank you.

Will the court please sign this order to

produce this witness now?

This is all a pack of lies.

Madame Fisher, I thank you.

I would like to have the state witness,

young Samuel Schwartz, recalled.

Constable, call in.

Samuel.

Samuel, on December 5th, you described in

detail the actual murder of Anna Tamashe.

I want to ask you just one question, and

I don't want anyone to answer it for you.

Just how did you see the

actual killing of Anna?

I saw it through the keyhole.

Thank you, Samuel. That

will be all you may go now.

Your Honor, you've heard the witness

repeat that he witnessed the crime

through a keyhole in the barn door.

Gentlemen, there's only one door in that

barn, and there's nothing in that door

that faintly resembles a keyhole.

That's a lie.

Mr. Schwartz, you've stated

you built that barn yourself.

Was there a keyhole in that door?

No. There was no keyhole.

Your Honor, we now have proof that young

Samuel Schwartz has been lying.

Come here, Mrs. Mealy. Step right up.

Gentlemen, please note the brown dress.

Mrs. Mealy, where are you from?

Oh, Tanavar.

And when were you arrested?

On December 8th.

What has this to do with the case?

Please don't be cross for me, mister.

They all shouted me.

But it was Dr. Barroza

who first told me the story.

What story?

They were looking for a woman in this

dress from oh, Tanavar, a woman who had

given a package to two raftsmen.

The doctor told me to keep my brown dress

on and to report to the investigator.

When I came, he told me I had no business

coming to him without the summons, and

that man arrested me.

That's a lie.

Mrs. Mealy, did you know the two

raftsmen, Herman and Martin?

Yes.

And did you give them a hundred gulden?

When did I ever have a hundred gulden?

Did you give these two men a package

containing a woman's clothes?

A woman's clothes? Oh, no. They give me

their clothes to men for a few coppers

every time they go off the river.

Then I meet them on the

shore on their way back.

Exactly what did you give them last time?

A jacket and two shirts.

Then it's not true you gave them a

package containing anything belonging to

the missing Anna Tamashie.

No.

Gentlemen, the woman in brown had just

testified that she did not give any of

Anna's clothes to the two raftsmen.

Thank you, Mrs. Mealy. You are no longer

in custody. You are free

to go any time you choose.

Last of all...

Thank you.

I shall forgo the pleasure of

discrediting your two raftsmen and

bringing to light the methods used by the

state to procure all their testimonies.

Let me recall the absurd testimony of the

grieving mother who dreamed she saw her

daughter slaughtered by these defendants.

That dream, gentlemen, we've discovered

was inspired by a gypsy woman to read the

cards for this poor woman and make her

believe the preposterous story which

ignited the entire case

against these defendants.

And when she testified against you, you

took this simple gullible woman, declared

her to be incompetent, insane.

My mother isn't crazy! You

died! It will be my fault, too.

Why? Why will it be your fault?

I could have saved Anna. I saw her a

second time that night. I met her in

front of the inn. She came running along

the street. She was crying and sobbing.

Why was she crying? Why?

She did not get the money for the new

dress from Mrs. Horny because she got the

wrong paint. And Mrs. Horny beat her.

Do you remember what time it was?

Yes. It was the time we

planned to meet. Eight o'clock.

Eight o'clock?

In the testimony of young Samuel

Schwartz, he stated he saw Anna Tamashie

murdered in his father's

barn at exactly eight o'clock.

The state she saw her sister alive and

well and in the village at

precisely that same hour.

Nobody killed her!

Anna ran for the river, and I saw her

jump over the bridge.

Why didn't you go over hell?

I was always jealous of her. She had that

appointment for Sunday.

What appointment?

I can't tell, but she wanted that dress

to look more beautiful.

You must tell us, my dear. You must.

I can't. I can't.

Did someone warn you not to tell us?

Who warned you not to tell us?

It was the investigator.

That's not true!

Yes, it is. You told me not to say it was

His Excellency the Baron. He was going

there to take piano lessons.

Baron Eredi. This trial

has become an outrage.

Your title does not permit you to--

I'll have you off this

bench before you know it.

You two gentlemen stay here.

Thank you, my dear. You may go.

Mr. Nemesch, do you wish

to sum up for the defense?

Yes, thank you.

There are people living among us today

who seem to belong in the dark ages.

The man whose ambition to rise in the

world is so great,

they'll shirk at nothing.

They'll forge testimonies, torture

witnesses to perjury.

They'll connive, lie, practice deceit

even in its foulest form.

Here the greatest sin

of all was committed.

The youth of 14 who falsely accused his

own people of a gruesome murder and gave

it every appearance of truth.

A bewildered child betrayed into thinking

he was saving his father.

This trial began

against five innocent men.

It should end with the arrest of those

who hatched this part.

I shall not ask the court for the

acquittal of these defendants for to do

so would be to insult your honors.

But gentlemen, this much I must say.

Nothing you can do for them now would

compensate or console them for the

miseries and horrors

they've been subjected to.

That is all.

[Music]

In the name of his apostolic majesty, the

King of Hungary, this court pronounces

the five defendants

acquitted of all charges.

The case against them dismissed.

They're free to leave at any time.

Court adjourned.

[Music]

The Baron's scheme was exposed.

But just as he was about to be tried by

the superior Hungarian court, he was

found dead as the result of a stroke.

I came to America and Nemeche went on to

become the greatest attorney of his day.

Strange. Very strange.

It is that. But what became of the boy?

Was that boy, George?

Yes. His real name was Samuel Schwartz.

He repented for his lie so deeply that he

never spoke a word since

the last day of that trial.

Until this is dying day.