Original subtitles

Good afternoon, Mr. Sutton.

All

right,

this letter is to Governor Abelson, state capitol.

Dear Joe, just read the legislature plans to extend the new school bond

That's a big mistake, Joe.

My papers and broadcasting interests can't support that, or any legislator

does.

I suggest you put the word out to your people.

Now, there's an election coming up, Joe, and I'm disinclined to help faint

hearts.

All right, let's play some golf next time you two come down to date.

Beautiful day, Mr.

Sutton.

Yes, yes it is.

I don't think I'll be going back to the office this afternoon, William.

Yes, sir, Mr. Sutton.

Sarah? Good afternoon, Mr. Sutton.

Afternoon, Sarah.

Will Mrs. Sutton be joining you for lunch, sir?

She'll be down in a minute, Sarah.

Oh, Sarah, sir, first she's late to a hospital charity auction.

Yes, sir.

Perfect weather for the auction.

We should make a considerable sum for the hospital.

Oh, and thank you, darling, for helping us with all that marvelous publicity.

Well, it was no great task, since I own both the newspapers and the TV station.

I know, Art. But nowadays, with the independent attitude of editors and

reporters, well, ownership doesn't seem to matter much. Oh, which reminds me. I

spoke to my brother Henry yesterday.

Well, as you know, he has decided to run for the Senate again.

So we must do our best to support his efforts, hmm?

Now, haven't I always done my very best for you, brother?

Well, I must say, you've always been very good about it.

It's just that, well, Henry's getting older.

And he has a very young and attractive opponent.

So we must be even more clever this time.

Oh, and Archie, please be discreet in your relationships

with people, hmm?

Martha, my relationships are a figment of your imagination.

Not quite, dear.

There was that young woman.

That young woman, to all intents and purposes, doesn't exist. She's happily

married, has two children, lives in Brazil.

Why do you keep dragging up a minor indiscretion at the end of ten years

Because that minor indiscretion almost caused Henry his seat in the Senate.

Oh, there's Carl.

I'll probably join her for dinner, dear, so don't wait for me.

You have a successful auction, dear. Thank you, dear.

Hello?

How you doing, Art? Just called to remind you that you're a tad bit behind

your, shall we call it, contribution?

I told you never to call me here, never.

Marla, I've been very generous with you, much more generous than those other

victims of it.

Sarah, would you do that later, please?

Now, look, you've broken our agreement.

Well, prices are going up, Archie. There is that thing called inflation, you

know.

Inflation? Are you insane?

My love, I am fed up with this blackmail business. Do you understand me? Fed up.

Now, you'll get your usual payment today, and that's it.

He's in a terrible rage.

Where's the gold, Mr. Paul?

It's not what's fallen, it's what's going up that got him snarling.

Probably his blood pressure.

His girlfriend.

Ex -girlfriend, that is.

She wants more money, who's about to bust.

That's some nervy woman, that Miss Marla Scanlon.

Seems to me she's been blackmailing him now for about two years.

$2 ,000 a month, I imagine.

Imagine she saved herself a pretty penny for her retirement.

I imagine it's a good deal more than we've put away for ours, William.

Now, don't go worrying yourself about that again, Sarah.

I'm doing the best I can.

I know, William.

But the best don't seem to matter.

It won't get us that sweet little Rocky Mountain farmhouse Cousin Lee showed us

last time we was home.

Now, Sarah, you married a simple Rocky Mountain boy.

I never claimed to be clever.

Just gonna have to make do.

Yes, sir, Mr. Sutton.

I'll be right down, sir.

Ask him, will you?

Maybe he'll give you a little raise.

And that way we could send a little Sutton to Cousin Lee every month for the

house.

Please.

William, do it for me.

I don't want to die being a maid in somebody else's home.

I want to live out my days and get buried in the foothills of the beautiful

Colorado Rocky Mountain.

Oh, Sarah.

I'll try.

I'll try.

I'll ask him, Sarah.

Same place, same person, sir? Same place, same person. William, I

your discretion in this matter.

Not at all, Mr. Sutton.

Mr. Sutton, sir?

Well, Sarah and I, we haven't forgot how good you treated us, two Rocky Mountain

hillbillies. Gave us good jobs, a decent place to stay.

Well, that's perfectly all right, William.

Well, Sarah and me, you...

We've been talking about maybe in a few years or so going back up to the

mountains and... Well, perhaps we could talk about that some other time. I

suspect our friend is waiting for her honorarium.

Sir? The envelope.

Oh, yes.

Well, I suppose we can talk about that other matter later.

Good. Good, William.

You sure are a pretty little house.

What's the matter, William?

You did go to Marla Scanlon's apartment?

Yes, sir.

She was there?

Yes, sir.

She wouldn't accept the money?

That's right, sir.

William, I simply can't believe it.

But she's... She's dead.

Dead?

Looked to me like someone strangled her to death.

I didn't hang around to make sure.

There's a scarf lying next to her and some mean bruises around her neck.

I see.

She wasn't that same fine -looking female.

No, sir, lying dead like that on the living room floor.

No, I imagine not.

Well, she don't look so fine now, Mr. Sutton.

Was she alone in the apartment?

I reckon I didn't feel the urge to poke around. I just took a quick look at her

and figured I'd hightail it out of there.

Well, she was alive three hours ago. She called me just before I came out here.

I gave you the envelope.

You went to her apartment, found her dead.

That means she must have been killed between two and five this afternoon.

There could have been a lot of traffic in and out of that apartment in that

amount of time, Mr. Sutton.

No, no, not today. Today she was expecting a caller with an envelope.

Did you see anybody when you came out of the building?

No, sir.

Did you talk to anybody, phone anybody?

Not at all, Mr. Sutton.

Good.

You're a good man, William.

Thank you, sir. I try to be.

And that'll be all, Mr. Sutton?

Yes, that's all for now.

You can go.

Uh, William.

Meet me in my study in about a half hour.

A half hour.

Yes, sir.

Uh,

William, you look pale. Are you all right?

She's dead.

Dead? Dead?

Who's dead?

Miss Marla Scanlon.

That's who.

Oh, I didn't know she was ill.

She wasn't ill.

Not ill? Then how?

Murdered.

Strangled.

Pretty little scar.

Does Mr.

Sutton know?

Yeah, he does.

I told him and I returned the money.

Oh, William, that... was foolish. You should have kept it and never said a

thing.

They'd have found the tramp sooner or later. Mr.

Sutton would have had no reason to think you hadn't just made your usual

delivery.

That money would have made a nice down payment on Cousin Lee's house.

Hi, Judge. Art Sutton.

I think you better get over to my place real quick.

That's right.

Right away.

Well, Arch, what's the mystery?

I have a dinner engagement.

Well, you may not want any dinner when you hear what I've got to say.

Now, to avoid a lot of repetition, let's wait for the state's attorney to get

here. Bob Greenwich? Now, what's he to do with this?

Bob?

I just hear my name.

Oh, Judge. Arch.

Well, what have I got to do with what?

I don't understand what's going on.

You will in a minute.

William, would you close the door, please?

Gentlemen.

Oh, by the way, gentlemen, William is aware of some of the circumstances of

situation, and he's completely trustworthy.

Go on, William.

Um...

Miss Marla Scanlon is dead.

Marla Scanlon?

Yes.

How did she die?

Murdered, I reckon.

By what means?

Looked to me like she'd been choked to death.

When?

Sometime between two and five today.

Well, what makes you think I'd have any interest in this?

Until, of course, the murderer is apprehended and I act in an official

I hardly knew Marla Scanlon.

Oh, come off it, Bob.

Marla Scanlon was blackmailing all three of us. My information tells me she

restricted her activities to just the three of us. I categorically deny any

involvement. Will you please shut up?

Now, none of us is on trial, not yet.

Now, we are the three who might have killed her.

And that's reasonably certain that one of us did.

Judge, she was milking you the longest.

I was the next victim and you were last, Bob.

Now, between us, over a period of time, we contributed something like $100 ,000.

It's a pity we didn't tell the income tax people about all that stashed cash.

They would have taken her off our backs.

And our hides along with it.

How did you find out about this?

About me, I mean.

Oh, Bob, that's a silly question.

It's not difficult when you own two newspapers and a television station.

Besides, I'm still one of the best reporters in the business.

All right.

It's laid out among the three of us. We were her patsies.

Adrift, you might say, in the same leaky boat.

That remains to be seen whether or not we have a paddle.

Unfortunately, I don't have an alibi for the three hours between two and five

this afternoon.

Do you, Bob?

What?

Where were you between two and five this afternoon?

Well, I was...

on, Bob.

Well, I didn't go in, you understand.

Half a block away, I turned the car. I didn't go all the way to her apartment.

You went to see Marla Scanlon?

Yes.

I was going to appeal to her, prove to her I couldn't afford that blackmail

tariff any longer. I was going to persuade her that she'd just have to be

satisfied with less money or no money at all.

I just couldn't scrape the cash up anymore.

I'm not as well -heeled as you two.

But you got cold feet.

You didn't actually see her.

No, and that's the truth, Arch. You've got to believe me. Whether we believe

or not is of no consequence. The important thing is you have no alibi.

How about you, Arch?

Well, she called me about two o 'clock to remind me that it was payday. I sent

William out on his errand and I took a long walk out in the woods back of my

place and...

In fact, when William found me, I was examining some ferns.

So, any of the three of us might have killed her.

Well, I didn't do it.

If this scandal brushes off on me, I'm ruined.

The three of us are ruined.

You know, there are a lot of people down at City Hall and police headquarters

who'd love to have our scalps.

And we're not going to hush up anything as big as murder, even if Hodge does own

the press and the TV.

Not precisely. You know, Bob, sometimes you almost make me think you have a

mind, along with the cunning you've shown in the political jungle.

You know, gentlemen, the truth is there's no way we can cover this thing.

So, Arch, what do you propose?

Well, what I propose is an unbreakable gentleman's agreement.

Whichever one of the three of us is nailed will have to bear the brunt of

entire thing.

He can't call on his friends for help.

And he can't implicate them in any way. He must stand by his statement that he

and he alone was involved with Marla Scanlon.

Now, the doomed man would at least then have the satisfaction of knowing that he

shielded his friends.

That might be rough, Arch.

When a man is slapped with a murder charge, the natural tendency is to name

others to confuse the issue, to direct suspicion elsewhere. Well, I know.

why I've asked you all to come here. I think we have to decide in advance. I

think we have to agree that the two who escape...

We'll stand by the loser's loved ones.

Mr.

Sutton, sir?

Yes, William.

Well, while you all were talking, I was thinking.

I got an idea.

William, we have more important things to consider than any ideas you make.

We have nothing to lose by listening. Go on, William.

Thank you, sir.

Gentlemen, Mr. Sutton has been real good to me and the wife, Sarah.

Giving us a chance when we first come down from the Rocky Mountains.

We have no time for these asinine emotional speeches. I'm sorry, sir.

The speech is done. I just want Mr. Sutton to know one of the reasons why

I'd be willing to do all of you the favor.

I'll stand in trial for Marla Scanlon's murder.

Well, I... I'm touched, William.

But I suspect that you're not finished.

No, sir, Mr. Sutton, not quite.

You see, you three are kind of sitting on top of the world, so to speak.

I mean, fine homes and families, reputations,

country clubs and all that sort of thing.

You stand to lose a whole parcel.

Now, me, all I got is Sarah.

And, well, let's say...

I never did have a chance before to really put together some real money.

How much?

Well, you've all been paying Miss Marla Scanlon plenty.

One final payment to me would finish it all up.

Yeah, if you each just chipped in... It's about a $10 ,000 piece.

I'd take care of your little problem for you.

William, how do you propose to do this?

Well, with your newspapers and television station being on my side, and

Corday here doing the judging, and Mr. Greenwich here doing the prosecuting,

I should come out all right.

Go on.

Well, I could say that I've been fooling around with Miss Marla Scanlon, and

she's about to boot me out, and I'd say that we had a big fight.

And I lost my head and killed her.

Without meaning to.

Nobody's gonna... Nobody's gonna miss Marla Scanlon around this town.

And nobody's gonna question or suspect what you do.

I figured Judge will give me three years for manslaughter.

I'd behave real good and probably be out on parole within a year.

And then?

I just...

Just take my $30 ,000 and going back to Colorado.

I don't think any of us has to worry about any of the others going back on a

deal. On account we're all in this together.

I figure together we sink or swim.

I think we have a deal.

You think it'll be just a year, you'll be away.

Well, not any longer than that, Sarah.

Even the judge has self -agreed.

Well, I guess I can manage that time without you.

Sarah, it was the only way we'd get enough money to buy Cousin Lee's farm.

How much are they paying you?

Thirty thousand.

A piece?

The lot.

The lot?

I think you made a bad deal, William.

$30 ,000 will hardly pay for Cousin Lee's farm, and there won't be anything

over to live on.

That's true enough, Sarah.

But this $100 ,000 I got from Marla Scanlon's wall safe after I strangled

it should do nicely.

Oh, yes, nicely indeed.

I think there'll be a bit left over for her quiet. Retirement.

In the beautiful Colorado.

Rocky Mountains.

Yes, sir, Sarah.

Well, that $100 ,000 ought to pay for Cousin Lee's farm even a bit more.

Yes, indeed.

I do believe.