Original subtitles

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

I have only myself to blame for this embarrassment.

I insisted that every phase of our organization should be run on a business

-like basis.

Of course, one bright employee thought it would be appropriate to put the

program in the dead file.

We put him there instead.

But I see that we have something for you which is marked immediate attention.

So I think we should show it to you now.

Please, please.

All right, Mrs. Phillips. Dr. Tabaldi can make it on Thursday next.

You're very welcome.

Goodbye.

Good morning. May I help you?

I'd like to see Dr.

Tabaldi. Did you have an appointment, Mr.? The name's Cavender, yes. I've got

appointment. Dr.

Steers called about me yesterday.

Oh, yes. Mr.

Cavender, one moment.

Mr. Charles Cavender is here, Doctor.

Yes, sir.

You can go right in, Mr. Cavender.

Leave your coat here if you like.

We're certainly getting some cold weather lately, aren't we?

Come in, Mr. Cavender.

Please sit down.

Dr. Steers and I went to school together.

Did he tell you that?

Only he elected to become a GP and I went on to psychiatry.

Is he your regular physician?

I've only seen him a couple of times.

He didn't tell me what your problem was.

Only that he thought I could help you more than he could.

Well, he meant by that, of course, that he doesn't feel your problem is organic.

What is your problem, Mr. Cavender?

Insomnia.

How's that?

Insomnia. I can't sleep. I haven't slept in months.

Well, lots of people claim that.

Say they never sleep.

Not for a minute.

Well, it's not really true, of course, you know.

It only seems that way.

Well, I know that I doze off from time to time, but it's maybe an hour or two

hours. It's certainly not enough. I can't think straight. I'm tired all the

time. I've lost three jobs in the past eight months.

I see.

Well, let's get some of the details out of the way first, shall we?

then we'll talk about it.

Your full name?

Charles Morton Cavender.

Age? 35.

Occupation?

Well, I used to work in a steamship company in the statistical department.

working for a mail order outfit now.

Are you married?

Single. I should say widowed.

Your wife died young, Mr. Cavender?

An accident.

What sort of accident?

Does it matter?

Well, it might.

It was a fire.

I don't know how often I've had the dream.

Four or five times, maybe.

And it's always the same?

Always.

Everything's like it was a year ago. We're living in the old house on Grassy

Heights, Linda and me.

I'm in the living room sitting on the couch, not doing anything in particular.

I'm just sitting there.

I see every stick of furniture in the room.

Cherry mahogany break front.

White fuzzy rug that always messed up my trouser cuffs.

Linda's upstairs in the bedroom, so I get up and I go to the foot of the

and I call her.

She comes out.

That kind of gypsy skirt of hers.

Stands there at the head of the stairs, smiling.

Her hand on the banister.

Then from behind her I see the flames.

She doesn't seem to be aware of them. She just... They come at her from the

bedroom. She just stands there smiling.

I... I yell at her. I scream until my throat's dry and I can't yell anymore.

And then the flames grab her and pull her back.

I can hear them roaring crackly.

Is that the end of the dream?

Yes.

That's the way the dream is. Of course, that isn't the way it really happened.

Well, how did it really happen?

It was in the middle of the night and Linda and I were both asleep.

I don't know how the fire actually started. I had some paints and things in

workshop in the basement and the fire inspector said something about

I don't know.

All I know is that neither one of us woke up until the whole room was

It was so full of smoke that I couldn't see anything.

And I called Linda's name and...

She didn't answer.

I went to the bedroom door, and I couldn't get it open.

The knob was so hot.

I couldn't get it open, so I went to the bathroom door. It was half open.

I went inside.

I was hysterical, I guess. That's a word for it.

I started working on the window and it came open and I jumped out.

It wasn't a very big drop. There were some bushes there that broke my fall.

When I hit the ground, I got up and I started running. I didn't stop until I

about halfway to the road. I looked back and the whole house was just covered

with flames.

It was an old house, wood frame.

I'd never seen anything burn so fast.

Your wife was killed.

Do you think you could have saved her? I mean, does it trouble you that you

didn't try?

Do you feel guilty, Mr. Cavender? No.

Well, it wouldn't be unnatural if you did.

Even if you had done the only sensible thing.

Even if there wasn't a chance that you could have saved your wife.

It's inevitable that you should feel some guilt.

After all...

You're still alive.

No, it's not that. I don't blame myself. I don't blame myself.

Well, perhaps not consciously.

Well, consciously or unconsciously, no matter what.

No matter what?

What do you mean by that, Mr. Cavender?

Well, this brother of hers is Jack Fletcher.

Your wife's brother?

Yeah, now there's a guy you ought to see, Doc. He needs a head shrink a lot

than I do.

Why do you say that? Because he's crazy. That's why he's got this nutty idea in

his head and he can't get rid of it.

What idea is that?

Does he hold you responsible for his sister's death?

Yeah.

Do you know why?

Now, why should I know? I don't even know the guy. I never even met him.

He's 500 miles away when it happened. The way he talks, you'd think he was

next door.

Well, where was he?

He was in a veteran's hospital over in Maryland someplace.

He heard about Linda's death, naturally, and he got some newspaper clippings

about the fire, and I suppose that's how he got this idea about me.

What idea is that, Mr. Cavender?

Well, I saved my own skin. I let Linda burn. That's what he thinks. That's what

he wrote in the letter.

It's a real psychotic letter, Doc. You'd be interested in it.

Where is this man Fletcher now, do you know?

Oh, I don't know.

Said in his letter he was leaving the hospital. Said he was getting out at the

right time.

The right time? Time?

What did he mean by that?

Well, how should I know?

I suppose he wants to make trouble. Look, the guy is half out of his head.

He was very fond of his sister. They grew up together without parents. You

what I mean. Well, I don't blame him for being upset, except he's wrong. He's

absolutely wrong. I couldn't have saved Linda, not in a million years.

Peter wasn't in that room, Doc. He doesn't know what it was like. It was a

furnace in there. It was an absolute furnace.

For all I know, Linda was already dead when I woke up.

There wasn't a chance in the world.

You don't have to persuade me, Mr. Cavender.

Well, I... I know that it's... It's all

connected up somehow. I know that.

The insomnia and the fire.

Except I slept all right after the fire. That's the thing that bothers me. I

slept all right after the fire.

When did your insomnia begin, Mr. Cavendish?

When Jack Fletcher left the hospital?

Yeah.

Come to think of it, yeah.

Hello? Charlie Cavender.

Who is this?

It's Jack Fletcher, Charlie.

Hope I didn't wake you up, buddy, but I just got into town.

Fletcher?

Couldn't wait to call you, Charlie. You understand?

I had to tell you I was here.

You know why, don't you, buddy?

Now listen, Fletcher.

Hold it a minute, Charlie.

Just a minute, Mr. Attorney. I'm trying to get these... Oh, don't bother. That

can wait. Well, you wouldn't want me to lose track. You've already lost track.

This is what I got back from accounting this morning. How much it's worth.

Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. Attorney. I could have sworn they were all right.

It must be this sickness of mine. What kind of a sickness is this, Charlie? You

don't hit the bottle, do you? No, no, it's nothing like that. It's insomnia.

It's a bad case of insomnia. I'm being treated by a doctor. Look, Charlie, it's

not like we didn't give you a chance. I mean, one or two mistakes that we can

afford, but you know what kind of a business this is. We've got a small

margin here, and mistakes cost too much. Well, it won't happen again.

No, you're right, Charlie.

Sorry, but the front office told me to give you a notice.

You have a check waiting at the cashier's.

You can't do that. You can't fire a person for being sick. Look, Charlie,

there's no way to talk in a business office. No way at all. Now, you pick up

your check from the cashier before noon and leave your desk the way it is. We'll

clear it all up later.

Hello, I'd like to call Dover Veterans Hospital, Dover, Maryland.

Uh, no, I don't know the number.

My number?

Schuyler 49970.

Yes, yes, I'll speak to anyone.

Yes, I'm trying to find the forwarding address of a recently discharged

His name is Jack... No, it would be John, I guess. John Fletcher.

Well, I don't know for sure. I know that it's been within the past two months.

Yes, yes.

It's very important that I find him. I'll hang on.

3 -1 Stanton.

Manhattan.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Would it?

Well, what do you want?

You Jack Fletcher?

That's right, buddy.

Who are you?

Charlie Cavender, Linda's husband.

Come on, let me in. I want to talk to you.

How'd you find me?

How'd you know where I was?

I thought we ought to talk this over. I called the Veterans Hospital and got

your address.

You're a boy, only you're wasting your time.

Now look, Jack. I've got nothing to say to you!

Well, there's no sense in acting like a couple of kids.

Best thing for us to do is just lay our cards on the table. Lay it off!

I don't want any friendly chats with you. That's no way to talk.

Sure sounded big on the telephone the other night.

Of course, I'm willing to forget all about that. I see you had it pretty bad

the war. Linda never told me how bad. Don't worry about me, buddy. You worry

about yourself.

Well, you must have been pretty rough.

I was in the Air Force in World War II myself.

Only for you.

Any decorations for bravery? Cut it out.

I know what you feel about the fire. You never gave me a chance to tell you my

side. I know your side.

You were looking out for number one. I would have saved Linda if I could. Don't

you think I loved her? Your type doesn't love anybody. I did the only sensible

thing. So that's why you had to come here, huh?

Because you're so sensible?

You thought you could explain yourself to me.

Never have another bad dream.

That's not true. You thought I would forgive and forget, huh?

Makes everything okay again.

Well, you were wrong, buddy. You were dead wrong.

Because I'm going to be your bad dream from now on.

I'm appointing myself to the job. Do you understand?

Your official nightmare.

You'll never be rid of me, Cavender, never.

You'd like to kill me, wouldn't you? Yeah, yeah, I'd like to kill you. You'd

like to see me dead. I'd like to get my hands around your throat. Holy, you

can't. Isn't that right, Fletcher, a man like you?

You think I need legs? You think I need legs to get you, you crumb?

To think how I sweated about you, how many sleepless nights you gave me.

You're right, Fletcher, you're nothing but a bad dream.

That's all you can ever be, is a bad dream.

Cavender?

here's my legs i'll show you the kind of man i am

I don't think we'll need that extra crew. Good.

You call O 'Brien and tell him.

How about the casualties? Did you get a report yet?

Only one fatality so far.

Everybody else got warned out in time.

They're bringing him out now.

Name's Cavender, apartment 2B.

Fire started in his place.

We think it was a faulty heater.

One of the people down the line... about these old heaters.

You just can't leave them burning when you go to bed.

You'd think all the noise would have woke him up.

Sure must have been a heavy sleeper, that one.

You must have heard months ago that certain things in our land were

in and others out.

It has taken me all this time to comprehend just what all this meant.

Now, to my dismay, I am told that the whole subject is no longer in.

In other words, if you understand in and out, you are now out.

As for those of you who have the slightest idea what I'm talking about,

find consolation in the fact that this makes you in.

I think there is very little I can say at this juncture, but I must say that I

am disturbed by the unabashed glee with which my assistants booted me into this.

Next time we shall return with business very much as usual. Until then, good

night.