All language subtitles for Perry Mason S05E25 The Case of the Angry Astronaut.DVDRip.NonHI.en.CBS

♪♪

This memo...

If it's some kind of
joke, I'm not laughing.

It's no joke, Mr. Kendall. We
need at least a week's delay.

Heller, Mitchell
Heller, our test pilot...

The results of our human
stress runs in the last two weeks

are completely unreliable.

- Then replace him.
- We can't.

It's either nurse Heller along or
drop him and start over with other men.

We do have two standby
pilots beginning the test series,

but orienting them into
the Moonstone program

will mean at least a
three or four week delay.

Mr. Owen, I remind you
this Human Factors Section

is six weeks behind
schedule now.

Heller is only psychologically
upset, Mr. Kendall.

It's nothing serious
or permanent,

a mild sort of anxiety neurosis.

Dr. Carey, you're asking me to shut
down a $500 million priority defense effort

because one man's broken
out in some sort of rash?

Mr. Kendall,
that is not why I...

If you'll come to my office,

I'd like to show you a test film

that may give you the
answer you're looking for.

This is one of our tests

to determine minimum
levels for safety,

actually a test of the
limits of a man's endurance.

For this test, Heller,
in the space suit,

was under anesthesia.

While he was still
in the Air Force,

Major Heller applied for selection
as one of the Mercury Astronauts.

He was removed
from consideration

by his commanding
officer, a... a General Brand.

Major General Addison Brand?

Yes... Yes, that's the name.

Heller resigned his commission,

came to Winslow Aeronautics

and became a grounded
astronaut in our stress tests.

He's overworked himself
almost to the point of exhaustion,

where there's no longer a line
between real and imagined illness,

these occasional attacks of
what appears to be asthma.

We knew he was
overextending himself,

but his work was
so amazingly good,

so free of any
possible criticism,

and Heller himself was so
anxious to finish his work,

that we kept on with him.

Then suddenly a dormant,

up-to-then unimportant, buried
hatred for some Air Force General

was pushed by his strain
and exhaustion to the surface,

affecting him and his work.

This is Heller, taken by a
hidden camera after the test.

So Heller saluted from habit.

The place is full of officers.

What's that got to do
with General Brand?

When he saluted in that film,

there was nobody
else in the room.

I've only been filling in
since Mr. Winslow's death.

The Board of Directors has hired
a new man to head the company.

You can take the matter
of the delay up with him.

I wish you luck.

He's a retired Air
Force Major General,

and his name is Brand,
General Addison Brand.

Project Moonstone,
three basic missions...

Earth orbital flight,
circumlunar flight,

manned landing and
exploration of the moon.

Shephard and Grissom have
penetrated space and returned safely.

Colonel Glenn has successfully
orbited the earth three times.

The pressure to bring Project Moonstone
in ahead of schedule is building up.

Is the Project
ahead of schedule?

On schedule?

No, this top
priority space effort

is six to twelve months
behind schedule.

I'm sorry I'm late.

I had to arrange a pass
at the gate for a visitor.

General Brand, this
is our test subject

Mr. Heller and I, unfortunately,
are already acquainted.

- Look, General...
- Would you please be seated, Mr. Heller?

The critical path lies here,

the physiological data.

All basic design is dependant on

statistical evaluation
of stress tolerances,

the astronaut's
stress tolerances.

Human Factors Section.

Even a superficial analysis
can pinpoint the flaw.

Mr. Kendall, as acting president of the
company since the death of Phillip Winslow,

you were aware that the project
was badly behind schedule?

Why, yes.

Mr. Owen, as chief
of Project Moonstone,

you were aware that the
work of dozens of departments

was literally at a standstill

because of one man's
inability satisfactorily to perform

his assigned duties?

Yes, sir,

but it was a case of nursing along the
only one qualified test subject we had.

As the testing
department's physician

and psychologist, Dr. Carey,

you were confident in your ability
to nurse this incompetent along,

that is, until, of course, you
concurred in Mr. Owen's request

for suspension?

As confident of my ability, General,
as I suspect you are of yours.

Mr. Heller, I've always had
consummate regard for your qualifications

for, as well as your
dedication to, space research.

My only reservation has been

the question of where best to
use what talent you possess.

That's why you had me taken
off of Project Mercury, isn't it...

In order to "best
use" my talent?

It takes thousands
of skilled specialists

to push a piece of hardware
carrying a man into space and back.

I can see you in many,
many places in that concept,

but not as the one man
riding that hardware. No.

You made that plain when
we were both in uniform.

Major Heller or Mister Heller,

these test results confirm
my considered judgment.

You show no more stability
or consistency on the ground

than I anticipated you
would in a space capsule,

stability under crisis
100,000 miles out in space.

A control panel malfunctions.

- How do you react?
- Brand!

- How do you fix it?
- Brand, I warn you...

Violence, Mr. Astronaut?

Would you smash
your fist in the panel?

And that secretary he
brought in with him, Terry Faye.

You take it from one of the top
PR men in the racket, Mitch...

Yours truly, Eddie Lewis...

I tell you there's smoke and
fire in that cozy, little wigwam.

Yes, sir, there's plenty of s...

What's the matter?

Mitch, you all right?

Anyway, she sends for me.

"Mr. Lewis"... As if she
didn't know my name...

"Mr. Lewis, our Public
Relations program

must personalize the project
with extensive picture coverage."

Project, my foot.

Personalize the General...
That's what she means,

and that's what he wants.

Eddie, we have some work to do.

Would you excuse us, please?

Oh, yeah, sure thing, doc.

I'll see you around, Mitch.

Mitch, if you remember, would you
send me that bio poop I asked you about?

Huh?

Linda, I'm sorry. This
work, it's all I know.

Nothing else means
anything to me.

You've accomplished
a great deal, Mitch.

You don't have to kill yourself.

You don't have to go on
proving yourself all over again.

You're like Brand.

You think I'm no
good, a failure,

that I can't do those tests.

No, Mitch.

Well, he's wrong. He's
always been wrong about me.

Oh, Mitch, please...

He's got to be wrong, and you've
got to help me prove he's wrong.

Linda... that medicine,

that special medicine
you had made up for me...

No.

The stuff's strong.

It'll stop these attacks.

Mitch, face the truth.

Linda, you've got to
help me. Please, help me.

Take off your jacket.

Roll up your sleeve.

Easy now.

Slowly.

Slowly.

Mr. Heller?

I'm Paul Drake. You
called me this morning.

When I picked up my pass at the
gate, the guard told me I'd find you here.

Oh, yes, Mr. Drake.

Linda?

We have a test
scheduled in five minutes.

I suggest it might be
politic to be on time.

Mr. Drake.

On the phone you told
me about some papers

that were stolen from you...
Blueprints, I think you said.

Yes, a space capsule
remote control valve,

a radical design I've working
on for several years, off and on.

Detailed drawings are in
an 8x11 manila envelope

with my name in the corner.

Did you keep those papers
here in the plant or at your home?

Well, I'm not quite sure
where I had them last.

Tell you the truth, I haven't worked
on or even looked at those blueprints

for several months.

You're sure they're missing?

I looked for them last night.

I sort of thought I might have to
get into a different line of work.

I couldn't find the
drawings at home,

wasn't sure whether I'd had
them there last or here at the plant.

What did plant security here
say when you checked with them?

I didn't check with them.

You see, this invention of mine
hasn't been registered or patented yet.

It could be worth a
great deal, now, to me.

I thought it would be better handled
by a reputable detective agency.

I can't exactly go snooping
around a defense...

I have to leave now, Mr. Drake.

Why don't you start
with my apartment.

You can check with my landlady,
and we'll go on from there.

And this is important to me,

very important.

- Mr. Heller...
- I'll check with you later.

♪♪

♪♪

Mitch.

Why are you so
surprised, Bonnie?

We did have a date
tonight, didn't we?

- But my maid...
- Oh, she called me, all right,

to tell me that Mrs.
Winslow was sick in bed.

I brought you these. I
was worried about you.

Went to your apartment,
but you weren't there.

How did you happen to, uh...

Find out you that you
were at Winslow lodge?

We came here often enough
with Phil before he died, didn't we?

I just thought that...

Well, I guess you're
not so sick after all.

Mitch, please.

Good friends.

Isn't that what you were
pleased to call us, Bonnie?

Good, good friends,

no need to make
fools of each another,

to blatantly lie
to each another?

Mr. Heller.

It's all right, Addison.

It's only a misunderstanding.

Mr. Heller's made a mistake.

I couldn't possibly have
had an appointment with him

when I had already made arrangements
to show the lodge to a new tenant.

Then I suggest you
leave now, Mr. Heller.

I see that your "tenant" is
carrying two copies of the lease.

I'm sure that you'll be a
very accommodating landlady,

Mrs. Winslow.

Your copy of the
lease, Mrs. Winslow.

Grip each control firmly.

You'll have to compensate
for the input bias on both dials

by nulling the X-Y
signal fed in on tape.

Cameras ready, Bruce?

Ready, Mr. Owen.

Start the cameras. Tape on.

Increase vibration.
Raise noise level.

Stage one, mark.

More vibration, more noise.

Stage two, mark.

More vibration, more noise.

Stage three, mark.

What are you testing for?

Performance decrement...

How much physical
and mental torture

an astronaut can take before
he cracks up and loses control.

Increase noise and vibration.

Stage four, mark.

Mr. Young,

I called and arranged for you to be
at the General's quarters last night

to take some photographs.
You didn't show up.

I'm sorry, Ma'am.

The Public Relations Director, my
boss, asked me to do something else.

Mr. Lewis?

Yes, Ma'am.

He said there were some night "hot
shot" tunnel pictures that couldn't wait,

might be weeks before
we could get to them.

Miss Faye, give Mr. Lewis
two weeks' notice. He's fired.

General, please,
don't touch that.

Look at this data compilation.

I've permitted you to continue
these tests for 10 days.

Look at these results.
Well? No comment?

Sir, they're a little erratic.

Erratic?

That's a masterly
understatement, Mr. Owen.

This indicates either gross

and utter incompetence
on the part of the test subject

or mental and physical
deterioration so marked and obvious

as to render his work
worse than useless.

We can afford neither time nor
money wasted on unreliable testing.

Miss Faye, inform
the Legal Department

that Mr. Heller's services
as testing astronaut

will no longer be needed

by Winslow
Aeronautics, as of today.

♪♪

Heller?

Come in. Come in.

Door's open.

Lieutenant Anderson, police.

Mind telling me who you are
and where you're coming from?

Heller, Mitchell Heller.

I've just been at
the Winslow lodge.

Just? Five, maybe
ten minutes ago?

I suppose so.

Spoke to a man named General
Brand. You can check with him.

What's this all about?

When you spoke to this
General Brand, he was all right?

Everything, so far as you could see,
was normal at this Winslow lodge?

Of course. Look, what is this?

I think you'd better
leave your car here

and come with us.

Now, wait a minute.

I'm afraid we'll have
to insist, Mr. Heller.

♪♪

Now would somebody please
tell me what this is all about?

Mr. Young?

I was here at 8:45.

The place was a shambles,
like there'd been a fight,

and General Brand was dead.

What?

The phone was ripped out,

so I had to drive all the way
down into town to call the police.

I came out here
to take pictures.

I took them at 8:45.

Now, what is this, Bruce?

You know that isn't the truth

because I was here after that,

and there isn't one single stick of
furniture out of place inside that lodge,

and as for General Brand,
what do you mean he's dead?

I spoke to him not 10 or 15 minutes
ago, at 9:00, right inside there.

Suppose we go inside and see.

♪♪

Paul, you're sure that medicine
vial was labeled "Distilled Water?"

Yep, I'm sure.

No antihistaminic, no
medicine of any sort.

Just plain old distilled water.

One shot in the arm,

and he bounced back from
that asthma attack like a yo-yo.

He couldn't really
have been sick.

What about those drawings
he hired you to recover?

That's another thing.

Believe me, Perry, I checked,

and I'm convinced that one...

No drawings were
ever stolen from him,

and two... There probably
never were any drawings.

You picked yourself
a dilly of a client.

I'm glad he's
yours and not ours.

Not yet, but Paul has that
generous look in his eyes.

All right, Mr. Sherlock Holmes,

all that expensive sleuthing
must have turned up something.

Before he died of a heart
attack six months ago,

Phillip Winslow, even though he
was president of Winslow Aeronautics,

was running this space
project thing himself,

so he and my client Mitch
Heller became pretty friendly.

- Well...
- Don't tell me.

Let me guess.

Old friend Mitch picked up the
pieces with Winslow's widow.

Along came big-shot general,
with whom Mitch is not so friendly.

Easily consolable
widow meets general...

And my client's
up on a murder rap.

I gather, then, there
is a Winslow widow?

Pretty, easily consolable, and
an old hand at playing the field.

Name's Bonnie.

Paul, you are asking me to
help Mitchell Heller, aren't you?

I think Mitch Heller
is off his rocker.

I also think he's guilty as sin,

but I've seen his war
record as a pilot in Korea.

I know what decorations he won
and how he won them, and I know him.

I like him.

Perry, he deserves the best.

Yes, Perry, I promised
I'd ask you to help him.

I know it sounds crazy, like
some sort of hallucination,

but I swear to you, Mr. Mason,

there wasn't a sign of a struggle
in that room when I spoke to Brand.

You couldn't be
mistaken about the time?

No, the clock on the mantle
and my wristwatch both said 9:00.

It had to be 9:00.

Did you see him?

No, he was upstairs dressing,

said he had somebody coming up
and couldn't see me at the moment.

Did he tell you who
that somebody was?

No. I agreed to meet him at a
restaurant down the road in half an hour.

The police stopped me
on my way to the restaurant.

Feeling as you did about Brand,
why did you go to the lodge to see him?

He sent for me.

After firing you?

He told me, on the phone, he didn't
like me any more than I liked him,

but he did want me
to stay on at Winslow,

as Director of Testing in
the Human Factors Section.

He asked me to come to
the lodge at 9:00 to discuss it.

When did he call you?

Oh, let's see, it was
about 3:00 in the afternoon.

I was in the locker room, alone.

It was after the
noise-and-vibration test.

He called me from his office.

Well, Perry Mason.
What do you know?

Hamilton.

Mr. Heller, you've already
met Lieutenant Tragg.

This is Hamilton Burger,
the District Attorney.

You representing Heller, Perry?

Yes, I am.

Fine. I'm glad you're here.

I'd like permission
from both of you

to have Mr. Heller examined
by a competent psychiatrist,

just in case we find ourselves arguing
a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity.

Not guilty of what?

Murder, in the first degree.

We found the murder
weapon, a .45 service automatic.

Perry, it belongs to your
client, Mitchell Heller.

You say Mitch Heller said

that he received a call from
General Brand yesterday afternoon?

Yes, at about 3:00.

It would have been impossible

for the General to
have called Heller

at 3:00 or at any time
yesterday afternoon.

Impossible?

Yes.

From the moment the
test was over at 2:00,

until 6:00, we left
for the evening,

General Brand was dictating
confidential reports to me in his office.

Neither one of us left
that office at any time,

and there were no
phone calls in or out.

Now, Mr. Mason, if
there's nothing more,

may I please be excused?

Yes, of course.

Thank you.

Mr. Lewis, did Mitch Heller keep a
.45 service automatic here at the plant?

Yes, in his locker.

He let me use it
any time I wanted to.

Security has a range
right here on the plant.

I understand you were
discharged yesterday?

I was fired yesterday,
Mr. Mason, re-hired today.

Mr. Kendall took care of it.

The Chairman of the Board
called me this morning,

told me I'd be named to head the
project, possibly, within a few months,

take over the duties of the late
Mr. Winslow as company president.

This may or may not be
related to Brand and the murder,

but can you tell me anything
about the Board of Directors

and the difficulty it's
having with Mrs. Winslow?

The trouble began when Winslow started
divorce proceedings against his wife.

Phillip Winslow agreed
to a cash settlement.

He was getting out of
the company entirely.

The Board had
prepared a resolution

agreeing to redeem
his personal stock

and retire it as
company treasury stock.

There was even a
contract drawn up,

covering the company's
buying his stock.

You mean there was an actual
Redemption Agreement prepared

between the company
and the Winslows?

Yes, drawn up by
the company lawyers.

After Phillip died,

that Redemption
Agreement was never found,

at least, not the original.

They found the carbons,
unsigned, in his desk.

Signed, or unsigned, there
was no trace of the original.

Mr. Kendall,

the noise-and-vibration
test Heller did so badly on...

May we have someone
make the same test?

Certainly. I'll call
and have it set up.

Eddie, would you take
them down to the test lab?

Mr. Owen, Heller was an
engineer as well as a test pilot.

Did he like to tinker?

Did he like to make
things with his own hands?

Mitch?

Not particularly, that is, not more than
what he had to do as part of his work.

I guess Paul has had
enough of outer space for now.

Shut it down.

Would you help
Mr. Drake out, please?

Let's check the recordings.

Not bad at all.

Considering Mr. Drake's
total inexperience,

the results are not unusual,

but certainly
better than average.

How did Paul compare

with Mitchell Heller's
results on the same test?

Well...

We'd already asked for
a suspension of the tests

because of Mitch's
erratic results.

Mr. Owen, how do
the tests compare?

Mr. Drake was comparatively
better than Heller.

You mean an experienced subject,
like Heller, didn't do as well as Drake?

Mr. Mason, these
figures don't lie.

Dr. Carey, to do so badly,
Mitchell Heller must be really sick.

No. No, he...

He is not sick.

There's a gentleman in
blue guarding the front door.

Would you like to try to explain
to him what you're doing here

and what you're looking for?

I've been following
you for two hours,

and, lady, you've led
me a merry little chase.

Who are you, and
what do you want?

I'm a private detective,
and I don't want anything,

but the man I work for, Perry
Mason, would like to talk to you.

Well, I don't want to talk...

Ah-ah-ah-ah... The
Law, remember?

I consider Mr. Drake's behavior
inexcusably high-handed,

little short of criminal.

Mrs. Winslow, I
thoroughly agree with you.

Report him to the police,

or better still, contact the
District Attorney directly.

Well, as long as I'm here, I
suppose I may as well talk to you.

There are a lot of
questions I'd like to ask you

concerning your relationship
to Heller and General Brand,

but before we get to that,

I'm curious as to why
you were at the lodge.

- What were you looking for?
- Looking for?

Could it have been the
Redemption Agreement

Winslow Aeronautics prepared

for signature by you
and your late husband?

I don't know what
you're talking about.

Mrs. Winslow, for
three years now,

another company has been
trying to buy into and take over

Winslow Aeronautics,

and for that single outstanding
and controlling block of stock

your husband owned, they'd
pay double the market value.

If you and your husband

signed the still-missing original
of that Redemption Agreement,

and that signed
agreement now exists,

it is valid and
binding on his estate.

Winslow Aeronautics
would pay, through his estate,

the market value of
that stock... $1 million.

And if you had the agreement,

it would be to your
advantage to destroy it,

then wait for the
estate to leave probate,

and sell the stock to this
other company for $2 million.

If the agreement
hasn't been destroyed,

if somebody else has it,

then that somebody else

is in a perfect
spot to hold you up,

to make you the perfect
target for extortion.

Now, who has the agreement?

Wha...

We do, Perry.

I was telling Andy it pays
to make visits to your office...

unannounced.

You know, he's... he's right.

We don't actually have the
agreement, only a photostat.

The District Attorney
has the original,

which didn't quite burn
up in the lodge fireplace,

where somebody tossed it the
night of General Brand's murder.

We expected that someone
might come back to the lodge.

That seemingly indifferent
policeman at the door was just a decoy.

You saw us there?

And heard you

and followed you
and Mrs. Winslow.

By the way, Paul,

Mitch Heller hired you to
find some stolen papers,

drawings, I think, didn't he?

Tragg, forget those drawings.

If the original of that
Redemption Agreement...

The extortion agreement,

a million dollars' worth of
extortion, I think you said.

What about that, Perry?

Well, if it was thrown into the
fireplace, why didn't it burn?

It was protected inside a heavy
manila Winslow Aeronautics envelope.

With Mitchell Heller's
name, in his own writing,

over the company
name in the corner.

Dr. Carey, you heard the testimony of
the psychiatrist appointed by this Court,

in which Mitchell
Heller, the defendant,

was found sane now, sane
at the time of the murder,

and competent at that time,

to differentiate
between right and wrong.

I ask you both as a doctor and
as Board-Certified Psychologist

if you agree with that opinion?

Yes.

We have offered this
medical testimony,

Your Honor,

not to anticipate a plea of
insanity from the defense,

but as a means of proving that,
as the psychiatrist also testified,

Mitchell Heller, the defendant,
was at the time of the crime

not only sane, but
emotionally disturbed.

Do you agree, Doctor,

that the defendant felt he had
been a victim of great injustice

at the hands of General Brand?

Yes, but...

Would you say that defendant

harbored unreasonable
hatred against General Brand?

Well, not exactly. You see...

Excuse me.

I ask you, as a
trained psychologist,

fully aware of the
meaning of the word "hate,"

did Mitchell Heller hate
General Addison Brand?

Yes.

If anything, Mitch
Heller hated the General

even more than he
had in the Air Force.

Yes, but Miss Faye,

you were in love
with General Brand.

Don't you think it's possible that
your involvement with the decedent

could color your memory about the man
who here stands charged with his murder?

Why, certainly not.

Everybody knew that
Heller hated the General.

If the Redemption Agreement were
turned over to the Board of Directors,

Mrs. Winslow would receive,
through the probated estate,

approximately $1 million
for her late husband's stock,

but if that agreement
were... Were not found,

the stock itself would
revert to Mrs. Winslow.

Another company was prepared
to pay her $2 million for the stock.

In other words, whoever had
that Redemption Agreement

had a piece of paper worth a
million dollars to Bonnie Winslow.

Phillip Winslow died of
a heart attack in his office

within hours after getting his
wife's signature on that agreement,

and yet the signed agreement

was not found in his office

when it was searched
the following day.

Who found Phillip Winslow dead?

Who waited with him
in Winslow's own office

until the doctor arrived?

The defendant, Mitchell Heller.

The afternoon of the murder,
I received an unsigned note,

typed on company stationery,

saying that the writer
had the missing agreement

and offered to
turn it over to me

for half a million dollars.

What did you do, Mrs. Winslow?

I told General
Brand about the note.

He thought he knew
who the extortionist was.

He said he'd call me later.

And did he call you?

Yes, he said he had
contacted the extortionist...

He didn't tell me who he was...

But that the extortionist was
coming over, later, to the lodge.

He promised to get back the
agreement and... and destroy it.

Cross-examine.

"Destroy"?

Did you say General Brand
promised to destroy that agreement?

Yes. You see, by
then the General and I

had begun to see, well,
eye-to-eye on certain matters.

Mrs. Winslow,

when the General called back,
a few hours before his death,

are you sure he said nothing at all to
indicate the identity of the extortionist?

As a matter of
fact, he did, yes.

He said he thought he
knew who the man was

because he knew
him from the Air Force.

No further questions.

"The fireplace, in addition
to log and kindling ash,

contained residue
of cigarette butts,

one burnt button,

one folded-over scorched
aluminum strip, 5/8 x 3 1/2 inches,

a partially burnt 8 1/2 x
11 inch manila envelope,

and the scorched and smoke-smudged
paper inside that envelope.

The paper was the signed
Redemption Agreement.

The envelope containing it
was from Winslow Aeronautics,

with a handwritten signature
in the upper left-hand corner...

The signature of the
defendant, Mitchell Heller.

Mr. Young, picture "A"

is the one taken by you.

Picture "B" was taken
by the police later.

In his statement to the police,

the defendant claims that
the lodge was in perfect order

when he talked with the
decedent, General Brand, at 9:00.

Mitch Heller couldn't
talk to the General at 9:00.

The General was dead.

As standard procedure
in stress tests,

a complete tape recording
is made of everything said,

including what the test
subject himself says.

During the test that you
conducted on the day of the murder,

it was possible for the defendant,
Mitchell Heller, inside the chamber,

to hear every single word that
was uttered by General Brand.

That day's tapes, authenticated
by yourself and by your assistants,

also included what the
defendant said at that time.

Would you read for us, please,

the marked passage from this
transcript of your tape recording.

"General Brand's voice...

'Miss Faye, notify
the legal department

'Mr. Heller's services
services as a test astronaut

'are no longer needed at
Winslow Aeronautics, as of today.'

"Mitchell Heller's
voice... 'I... ""

Go on, Mr. Owen...

Read us what
Mitchell Heller said.

"Mitchell Heller's voice...

'I'll kill you. So
help me, Brand...

I'll kill you. ""

- I'll have no part of it!
- Why, you in...

I warned you.
Don't try to force me!

- Force you?
- I'll have no part of it!

Frightened by the
threat of exposure

in his attempt to extort
half a million dollars

from Mrs. Bonnie Winslow,

the defendant, Mitchell Heller,
kept his appointment at the lodge.

When General Brand took from him

the envelope containing
the Redemption Agreement

and threw it in the fire,
the two men struggled,

and during that struggle,

the defendant, Mitchell Heller shot
and killed General Addison Brand.

Your Honor,

I move that the defendant be
bound over for trial at Superior Court

on a charge of murder
in the first degree.

Before I rule on the
motion by the prosecution,

is it your intention to present
a defense, Mr. Mason?

Yes, Your Honor, we
shall present a defense.

We waive opening statement.

As my first witness, I call
Lieutenant Arthur Tragg.

What?

Lieutenant Tragg,

did we have an appointment
during the noon recess,

to discuss some
evidence in this case?

Yes, we were supposed to
meet in the Interview Room,

at the end of the hall.

When I got there, you
were in the washroom.

You said you'd changed your
mind and would see me in court.

What time was this?

12:30.

Would you look at this
early afternoon paper?

There was an altercation
in the Interview Room.

The reporters escorted me
to the Court Clerk's office,

where I checked
the hearing transcript,

and stayed there with
me from 12:15 to 12:45.

That's impossible.

I spoke to you myself, in
that Interview Room at 12:30.

Impossible?

You could have
mistaken my voice.

Let's check it.

I'm going to the far end of the
courtroom and speak to you.

Close your eyes,
Lieutenant Tragg, and listen.

I've changed my
mind. Sorry, Tragg.

I'll see you in court later.

That was your voice

and the exact words you used

when you spoke to
me from the washroom.

Listen again.

I've changed my mind.

Sorry, Tragg. I'll
see you in court later.

The whole incident was
staged for your benefit, Tragg.

You never heard
me say those words,

not now, not a few moments ago,

and not at 12:30 in
the Interview Room.

You were listening
to Jamison Sewall,

an actor and impersonator.

With the Court's permission,

we are going to demonstrate
what the defense contends

was the actual sequence of
events on the night of the murder.

Now, Mr. Young,

how would you characterize
the scene at the lodge,

in terms of what happened
prior to your arrival?

I'd say there had been a real lulu of
a knock-down, drag-out fight there.

I have here the two
pictures... "A" and "B".

Now, please look at them.

If there had been, as you say,

a "lulu of a knock-down,
drag-out fight,"

why isn't there one piece of
furniture in that room broken?

Not the glass lamp
bases, not the light bulbs,

not the ceramic ashtrays.

Now, there is an answer.

The actual murderer

was concerned with more
than the death of General Brand.

He was concerned with involving
Mitchell Heller as the apparent murderer.

Mr. Sewall will portray the
murderer, who parked out of sight,

then entered the lodge and
confronted General Brand.

The murderer had used Heller's gun, stolen
from his locker at the plant, to kill.

Now, he wanted Heller
to have an hallucination,

a delusion, to see
something that didn't exist.

Step two... the
murderer sets the stage.

As we shall see,

it would be necessary to have an
exact record of how the stage was set.

That camera takes, and develops,

its own photographs
in a matter of seconds.

To prove an hallucination,
you need a witness to reality.

At 8:45, the witness,
you, Mr. Young,

keeps his appointment, an
appointment made by the murderer.

You see the room carefully
arranged to suggest a fight,

you see the corpse, you leave.

But the murderer had made
a second appointment...

One for 9:00.

Now, he must work fast.

Step three...

Remove all evidence
of a struggle or a killing.

9:00, Mitchell Heller,

on time for the appointment made
by the murderer over the phone,

shows up, knocks.

Heller? Come in, come in.

The door's open.

Mind telling me what time it is?

The time is 9:00.

I tried to reach you,
but you'd already left.

I'm expecting someone here. I'd
like to see him alone, if you don't mind.

There's a fine restaurant, a place
called "The Falcon," down the road.

I'll meet you there,
in half an hour.

Heller left the lodge,

driving straight toward
the oncoming police.

You, Mr. Young,
had seen a corpse.

Step four...

Using the picture
he had taken earlier,

the murderer recreated the exact evidence
of a struggle that never took place.

Now, you, Mr. Young,

returned with the
police and with Heller...

A Heller swearing he had just seen
something that obviously wasn't so

and had talked to someone
who was already dead.

This is the negative tab on the
special film this camera uses.

What is it made of, Mr. Young?

Why, it's laminated
paper. That's all.

Paper that should
completely burn.

Please strip it
apart, Mr. Young.

Now, that is a metal pod,
containing developing chemicals.

Now, this is part of the transcript
of Lieutenant Anderson's testimony.

Please read the
underlined portion.

"The fireplace, in addition
to log and kindling ash,

contained residue of cigarette
butts, one burnt button,

one folded-over scorched
aluminum strip, 5/8 x 3 1/2 inches."

Mr. Young,

this is the counterpart of what
you took from the negative tab,

what the murderer mistakenly threw
into the fire, not aware it wouldn't burn.

Would you describe it, please?

Why, it's a folded-over,
scorched aluminum strip...

5/8 x 3 1/2 inches.

From an examination

of the physical
facts in the case,

suppose we return now
to the area of motive.

Whoever had stolen the
Redemption Agreement

made no use of it for months,

until the afternoon of the murder,
when the extortion note was delivered,

the afternoon, I believe,
Mr. Lewis, you were fired.

Yes, the same afternoon
Mitch Heller was fired.

Mitch Heller,

who fitted the General's only
description of the extortionist

because he had served
with him in the Air Force.

Now, I have a full report as
to why you left your last job

as public relations man at the Air
Base commanded by General Brand.

All right, so I was
caught peddling

advance copies of news releases

to the magazines and fired me.

That doesn't make me a murderer.

Does it make you an
extortionist, Mr. Lewis?

Mitchell Heller sent you some
biographical background material

you had asked for.

How did it come to your office, in
what kind of container, Mr. Lewis?

Well, it was a company
envelope with...

A company envelope
with his signature on it?

Was that the envelope in which
you inadvertently, or deliberately,

carried the Redemption Agreement

when you kept your
appointment with General Brand.

But that appointment
was for 7:30.

I was out of the lodge by 8:00.

Brand grabbed the envelope away
from me and through it into the fire,

but I swear to
you, I didn't kill him!

The killer had to be someone

who knew in advance
that General Brand

was coming to take
over the company.

Now, who knew that, Mr. Lewis?

Gordon Kendall, he
knew, and Mrs. Winslow.

- And you?
- No! No, I didn't know.

Yes, Eddie Lewis did know in advance
General Brand had been employed.

He told me about it.

That's a lie. He's lying.

- Silence, silence...
- I didn't know. I tell you, he's lying.

- Bailiff, silence that man.
- Yes, he's ly...

He is lying.

May I suggest, Mr. Owen,

that your memory
may be at fault,

that it wasn't Eddie Lewis who
told you the General had been hired,

but rather the Chairman of the
Board at Winslow Aeronautics?

I have this deposition.

Now, would you tell me,

or shall I read to the court,

what else the Chairman
of the Board told you?

Well, he said he wasn't satisfied
with my work as Project Chief.

And that you—you, Mr. Owen,

were responsible for the
delay in Project Moonstone?

That's ridiculous.

Every department was delayed

because of the test results.

The truth is that the entire
project was badly mismanaged

before those test results
became unreliable.

You knew it, you
knew it was your fault,

and you tried to
protect yourself.

It wasn't Heller's performance,

but your deliberate
tampering with the equipment,

that produced faulty results,
isn't that true, Mr. Owen,

little or no prospects of
another job after being fired?

It was then,
wasn't it, Mr. Owen,

you decided to steal

the radically new electronic
remote control valve

Mitchell Heller had invented?

I had to have it, Mr. Mason.

Those tampered-with tests,

hopefully made
to protect your job,

could serve an
alternate function.

They could prove Heller
mentally incompetent,

poor Mitchell Heller, saluting
nobody in an empty room.

That room wasn't empty.

You framed that episode,

as you framed the other
episodes, to discredit him.

Suddenly, with
General Brand's arrival,

your entire plan threatened
to explode in your face.

Mitchell Heller wasn't the only one
who knew of that invention, now, was he?

No.

No.

Brand knew.

In the Army, Heller had
requested Brand's permission

to have a model
built and tested.

Part of the bad feeling

was due to Brand's having
turned down that request.

Well, if Brand was dead

and a psychotic Heller
was convicted of his murder,

why, then, no one would
know there was an invention

or that it had been stolen.

The entire murder
plan, the time schedule,

the created illusions...

All designed to fit the hallucinatory
psychotic image of Heller you had built,

designed to convict another
man of the murder you committed.

I had nothing against
General Brand, believe me.

I hardly knew the man,

but I had to kill him

and put the blame on Mitch.

I had to kill him.

Don't you see, Mr. Mason?

Don't you see?

Acceleration 5 G's and holding.

Interior temperature
100 degrees. Mark.

All right, you can
shut it down now.

I think you like it, being
on this end of the tests.

Chief of the Human
Factors Section.

Poor Owen, he was prophetic

when he enticed me out to
the lodge to talk over the job.

Mr. Mason,

that actor, Sewall, you used
in court, was fantastically good,

but how did Matt Owen fool Mitch
and Bruce Young on the phone?

He had me fooled
at the lodge, too.

I could've sworn that
was the General's voice.

It's amazing what hidden
talents people have.

He just happen to
possess the wrong ones.

You ought to know what
hidden talents are, Mr. Astronaut.

Hey, I didn't do too
badly on that test, did I?

Well, now,

if you like it so much...

I'm sure it could be arranged.

Give you another
and different ride.

What do you say, Paul?

Well, if I'm not back
in time for the test,

just start without me.

Subtitled By J.R. Media
Services, Inc. Burbank, CA