Original subtitles

'There's something incredibly fascinating about the sea.

It has inspired both dramatist and poet alike.

It can be beautiful, sombre,

dangerous and deceptive, a friend or a foe,

hiding its dark secrets in its fathomless depths.'

What is it? What's wrong?

Go on, wait in my car. I'll cope.

Look at the hand. The ring.

It's him.

Who?

My uncle.

He was...missing for a week.

Now, go on, wait in my car. I'll look after things. Go on.

Thank you.

I-I'm sorry but...who are you?

Simon Templar.

Thank you, Mrs Haggerty.

It's very cooperative of you, Mrs Flemming,

to let me go through your husband's private papers.

Did he seem at all worried or depressed about anything?

What you mean, Inspector, is, do I think my husband committed suicide?

Do you?

Well...he hadn't been happy for some time.

As you can see from the accounts,

the Flemming fishing fleet hadn't been doing well for quite a while.

The Captain... Well, he didn't take easily to modern methods.

He held to the old ways.

The world was changing, Inspector.

My uncle couldn't change with it.

I think he...felt his life was over.

And therefore...killed himself.

What other conclusion is there?

Possibly several.

Thank you, Mrs Flemming, for your time and the tea.

My sincere sympathy.

Coroner's inquest is scheduled for the day after tomorrow.

Dr Russell, you performed an autopsy on the late Captain Flemming?

Yes, sir. And who identified the body?

There were three identifications.

The deceased's widow, Mrs Arlene Flemming,

his nephew, Mr Andrew Carter,

and his niece, Miss Diana Flemming.

Positive identification was difficult

because of the condition of the body,

which had been in the sea for six or seven days.

A tattoo mark on the right forearm

and a distinctive signet ring on the fifth finger of the left hand

were positively identified.

Was alcohol found in the body?

Yes, sir.

The deceased must have been highly intoxicated just before his death.

There was water in the lungs?

Yes, indicating the deceased was alive before he entered the water.

Thank you, Dr Russell. You may step down.

In the case of Captain Charles Wallace Flemming,

the means of his death have not been determined.

I therefore record this court returns an open verdict

of death by drowning in unknown circumstances yet to be determined.

Inspector.

Are you here as a mourner?

I'm here as a policeman.

Mrs Flemming.

Mr Ballard, did you come here to sympathise or to gloat?

Your husband and I had many differences, Mrs Flemming,

but I deeply regret his death.

I'm sure you do.

He's sailing on calm seas now in a temperate latitude.

The finest skipper that ever lived.

God rest his soul.

Thank you, Frank, very much.

Mrs Flemming, if there's ever anything I can do...

Yes, I know I can always rely on you. Oh, you can that.

Goodbye. Goodbye, all.

Goodbye, Frank.

Goodbye. You'll look after her, won't you?

I will.

Mr Templar, you've been most kind. I-I can't thank you enough.

Hello?

'Molly? It's Charles.

Sorry not to have called earlier.'

Diana!

What is it?

'Go ahead with dinner. I'll be home as soon as I can.'

Mrs Flemming, what's the matter?

It...it's my husband. He's still alive.

He isn't dead after all...

It was his voice! I recognised it!

It was him ringing on the phone. I know it!

He's alive, I tell you! He's alive!

He's dead and buried, that's all there is to it.

I identified the body. I couldn't possibly have made a mistake.

Then how do you explain the phone call?

Someone impersonating the Captain. But why?

Do you mean that somebody could do this as a horrible practical joke?

For what reason?

Revenge? Envy? Malice? Greed?

I can't believe it.

Why not? Goodness knows, the old boy had plenty of enemies.

Andrew, shut up.

I've lots of faults, Templar, but a hypocrite I'm not.

I never liked my uncle. Or anybody else.

True. Present company not excepted.

He was a wonderful man. Generous, good, kind -

The revered Captain was about as kind as a hammerhead shark.

Andrew's hobby is being unpleasant. I just face facts.

How is she? Much calmer now. I've given her some sedation.

And she's asking for you, Mr Templar.

Yes, of course you're right. He couldn't possibly be alive.

It would have been easy enough to record his voice

by planting a device in his office.

Yes, but...who?

Someone who...hated you.

Or hated him.

The Captain was greatly loved and respected by everyone who knew him.

Except, perhaps, Mike Ballard.

Ballard Fisheries? Yes.

He owns about 40 trawlers.

My husband's biggest competitor.

Recently he tried to buy us out.

And your husband refused? Yes.

There's always been jealousy, rivalry between them.

I can't think Mike Ballard would...

It's too grotesque.

Tell me again what happened that night.

You heard it all in court.

You could have forgotten something. Please.

Well, he came home at about six o'clock for dinner.

Later, about 7.15,

he said he was going to the Crown & Anchor for a drink with the boys.

He said he'd be home about 11.

When it got to half-past-one, I...I began to worry.

I phoned round to his friends but nobody knew where he was.

Then I phoned Dr Ormsby.

Why Dr Ormsby?

Because I was treating him for a slight cardiac condition.

Nothing serious but it has to be watched in a man of his age.

Mrs Flemming thought he might have had an attack.

Thank you, Andrew.

We drove to Pier 12.

Four of the Flemming trawlers were in port that night.

The Captain sometimes went on board to see the men... after he left the pub.

But he wasn't on any of them. So we just came home.

What time was that?

At about three. I checked with the hospitals. No result.

So I rang the police.

Doctor, were you satisfied with the coroner's report?

Well, an open verdict's never satisfying.

Well, there you are.

Do you think somebody knocked him off?

Why do you talk like that?

It's a simple question.

Not a simple answer.

Well, I must be running along.

I'll pop in later. Give her something to help her sleep.

Thank you, Doctor.

I'll see you out.

Did your uncle drink much?

Yes. Quite a bit.

How did he hold it?

Liquor had practically no effect on him.

That's why I can't believe he'd get so drunk he'd fall into the water.

I'd better be getting back to the hotel. I'm staying at the Preston.

I'm going to do a little snooping around, maybe find out a few things.

Our trawlers bring in 100 tons of fish a trip, Mr Templar.

It's a big business. Not to be run like a schoolroom.

Is that the way he ran it?

I couldn't so much as order ink without the Captain's personal OK.

He resisted every innovation, every modern method.

But you made money, surely?

Precious little.

Before long we'll be begging Mike Ballard to buy us out.

Mr Everett...you've been general manager for some time.

Ten thankless years.

You must have been pretty close to the Captain. Yes, I was. Why?

Was he capable of suicide?

I don't know.

He was very depressed.

Oh. About what? Business.

We have a large overdraft, Mr Templar.

The bank called it in.

Dated the day he disappeared. Yes.

He was a moody man.

Tremendous ups and downs.

Yes, I think it's quite possible he could have killed himself.

The Captain was the finest man who ever drew breath.

You were friends a long time? Aye, since we were deckhands together.

A fuzz just sprouting on our chins.

Sixteen we were. First voyage.

Forty years I sailed with him.

Trawl off Iceland. Spitzbergen Bank.

Guts? The Captain had miles of them.

I've seen a net hook bare his leg to the bone and him not even wince.

Every man who knew him loved him.

Except Mike Ballard.

Ballard sabotaged the Mary Dean.

A Stern Trawler.

The Captain's pride and joy, she were. Sank, it did.

With five hands. North Sea.

The Captain knew Ballard did it?

Yes, aye, he knew.

And the Maritime Board of Inquiry

would have cropped Ballard's mast once and for all.

The Captain was going to testify?

Aye. And he wouldn't have spared Ballard.

Would have got him a jail sentence, I'll be betting.

When's the Board sitting?

It was supposed to be next week but, er...

..without the Captain's evidence, there's no case.

Why don't you look where you're going!

Don't you shake your fist at me, mate.

You Ballard boys are all the same. You want the docks to yourself.

Like dogfish, aren't they?

Fighting over nothing.

Been like that for three years now.

The Ballard camp against the Fleming camp.

Yeah, in the old days, we all used to be mates,

no matter who we worked for.

Every night, the Ballard crews and the Flemming crews

used to go to the Crown & Anchor. Some good times we had, too.

Then the bad feelings came.

Now the Ballard boys wouldn't be seen dead in the Crown & Anchor.

They go to the Four Bells. Oh, why can't people get along?

I've got a question for you. Yeah?

Why would John Everett be using a pay telephone?

When he has a perfectly good phone in his office?

I'll see you around.

Ballard and Everett.

Murder or suicide?

Thank you, Mrs Haggerty.

Is there anything else, ma'am? Anything?

No, really. You go to bed. You look very tired.

I'm fine.

In the ten years since I married the Captain,

I have never once heard you complain.

I've nothing to complain about. Good night, ma'am.

Good night, Miss Diana. Good night.

Feeling better?

Yes. Bit shaky but better.

Arlene...could Mike Ballard be behind this?

Yes, I...I suppose it is possible.

He's so ruthless. And he wants to buy the business desperately.

I'm not going to sell out ever.

Well, perhaps Mr Templar will uncover something.

What do you mean? He promised he'd investigate. Help us.

Oh.

If you can't sleep, wake me and I'll keep you company.

Thank you. Take that.

Diana, it's obvious.

Somebody is deliberately trying to drive Mrs Flemming out of her mind.

It's the only possible explanation.

Unless...You believe in ghosts.

No, Mrs Haggerty. I don't believe in ghosts.

Did you hear this car?

No sir. But my room's at the back of the house.

It all seems incredible.

So you don't think it's possible that the Captain...

Mrs Haggerty! Captain Flemming is dead, and buried.

There's no doubt about it, none.

You understand?

Yes sir.

She'll sleep for about 12 hours.

I'll stay with her sir. There's no necessity, really.

I know sir. But I couldn't sleep now, anyway.

And what about the pipe?

When we found it, it was warm.

The Captain's?

His favourite.

Any particular significance in this?

Why this drawer, not the others? What did he keep in it?

That's where he kept his passport.

Well, it's not there now. Come on.

Diana, was this your uncle's, too?

Yes, he often wore it.

Well, Doctor. How is she?

I've given her massive sedation.

In all my years of practice, I've never seen such hysteria.

She can't stand any more.

She must get out of this house. Anywhere.

South of France for a couple of weeks.

I tell you, if anything like this happens again,

I can't be responsible for her sanity.

Is she alone? Mrs Haggerty's with her.

She should sleep through the night.

But if she does wake up, give me a call at once.

Thank you, Doctor, very much. Good night.

Good night, Templar. Good night, Doctor.

What gets me is the motive.

Why? Why would anybody do this?

What could they possibly gain if she goes out of her mind?

She did before.

Oh?

About five years ago.

She was several months in the sanatorium.

She recovered completely.

Have you ever seen the Captain's will?

Yes.

It should be in the top right-hand drawer.

That's where he always used to keep it.

Thank you.

'I bequeath my entire estate and my business to my beloved wife'

etcetera, etcetera.

Here, listen to this.

'In the event that my wife does not survive me for 28 clear days,

my business and my estate shall pass directly to my nephew, Andrew Carter.

With the exception of �15,000 to my niece, Diana Flemming.'

Isn't that a fairly standard clause, to avoid double death duties?

I suppose so.

You know, it's pretty obvious that somebody...

..who knows your aunt's past medical history, is trying to drive her mad.

They're doing a very good job of it, too.

But now suppose the end object of the exercise...

..is not to have her committed,

but to get her to the state where she'll take her own life?

Be neat, wouldn't it?

Surely you're not suggesting that...Andrew...?

Andrew is the heir apparent.

Place your bets. Winning?

I usually do.

Your luck can turn, you know?

It won't.

Zero.

Blast.

See what I mean?

Another hundred.

Are you counting on your inheritance?

Just what does that mean?

Well, we had another, what shall we call it, visitation tonight.

Well, well.

You'd better tell me about it.

Oh, wet footprints, dripping oilskin,

the Captain's pipe with smoke curling out of the bowl.

It's either visions or vapours.

Arlene should have been locked up five years ago.

Well, there's another 28 days to go.

You ARE mysterious tonight.

You don't like her, do you?

I never knew what the old man saw in her.

Mind you, Uncle Charles wasn't much either.

The Captain they called him, with a reverent look in their eyes,

as if he was one of the disciples.

They had to practically lynch him to get him to install

modern safety equipment in those stinking trawlers.

Well, why should he? He was all right.

Nobody ever drowned behind a mahogany desk.

A lot of words.

What's your angle, Templar? Why are you involved in this?

Surely not the dimpled Diana?

I think Flemming was murdered.

Whoever did it deserves a medal.

No more bets.

Thirty-two red.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you. Place your bets, please.

Thank you.

Well, cheer up. I may hang something on you yet.

Oh, by the way.

Suppose you did inherit the Flemming fishing fleet.

What would you do with it?

I'd hold my nose and sell it as fast as possible to Mike Ballard.

Morning, Ballard.

Hello, Templar.

What's on your mind?

Theories. All sorts of them.

Concerning me, maybe? You and the late Captain Flemming.

Fine man, the Captain.

Come on, now, Ballard. Everyone knows how you felt about him.

Are you trying to say something?

The Maritime Board of Inquiry.

What about it?

Suppose it'll amount to much without the Captain's testimony?

Wouldn't have amounted to much WITH the Captain's testimony.

That's where you're wrong.

He had nothing on me. Nothing.

Oh, but he had.

And he wrote it all down. Six sheets of single-space type.

I found it in the desk in his study.

Full of very ominous words.

Such as?

Ballard. Sabotage.

Lies.

The Commission won't think so.

They'll blow you right out of the water into a nice little cell.

Don't forget five men lost their lives when the Mary Dean sank.

Friends of yours?

Fist fights on the docks are nothing.

What I'm interested in is what you and Ballard were fighting about.

Inspector, you know what we were fighting about.Flemming's death.

Murder. Or suicide.

Nobody saw him on the dock that night and nobody saw him jump.

The blow the pathologist mentioned could have been delivered anywhere.

That was at the Four Bells.

The Four Bells?

His wife said he went to the Crown & Anchor.

He didn't that night.

That's important?

The Four Bells is exclusive Ballard territory.

Flemming crews go to the Crown & Anchor.

So why the sudden switch?

Why did the Captain drop into the pub

that was reserved and roped off for the opposition?

Answer? He was looking for Mike Ballard.

Possibly. Who has 100 per cent gold motive for killing him.

Yes, I know. The Maritime Board of Inquiry.

Then there's another one with a motive. His nephew.

Andrew Carter?

He inherits.

You're mistaken. Mrs Flemming inherits.

You wait and see.

Well, well. Mr Everett.

Trust I didn't give you too nasty a turn?

Ballard put you up to this?

Yes.

Which means he DID sabotage the Mary Dean?

No. Not exactly. He...he paid somebody else.

Who? I don't know.

The Captain knew. That's why he went to the Four Bells.

I suppose so.

And you're working for Ballard.

Come on, Everett. I saw you with him.

If Ballard takes over Flemming, he's promised me a big jump up.

And...stealing the envelope was just a little extra service.

Yes.

Well, you'd better read it. You've come this far.

Blank paper?

It's a trick you should try, being in the fishing business.

Fishing without bait.

Come in.

Mr Templar!

Mrs Haggerty. I wonder if I could have a couple of words with you.

Of course, sir. Won't you sit down?

Thank you.

Can I offer you a cup of tea? No, thanks.

You knew the Captain very well, didn't you?

I've worked in this house nearly twenty years. Yes, I knew him.

What sort of man was he? Moody, sir.

Terribly moody man and that's a fact.

Up on the mountain tops or in the depths.

I remember the night the Mary Dean went down.

He took it badly? Broke his heart.

He cried, Mr Templar.

Like a child.

It was shattering to see the captain with tears running down his cheeks.

And for days afterwards he didn't speak, it hit him that hard.

Then you think he could have killed himself?

Oh, no, Mr Templar. Not the Captain.

Why do you say that?

Well, I just knew him.

He wouldn't have given in, not like that.

He was too determined to find out

what had really happened to the Mary Dean.

My belief is, Mr Templar, he DID find out.

A whisky and water, please?

The last time Captain Flemming was seen alive as far as we know

was in this pub.

Maybe by you.

Or you? Or you?

Look, all I'm after is the truth.

So what are you all afraid of?

Well, somebody must have seen or heard something that night.

Why the stony silence?

Why don't you go to the Crown & Anchor?

Flemming's crew ain't welcome here.

Why not?

Because we prefer to drink with men we can trust.

So do I.

I'd be honoured, Templar, if you joined me in a drink. Thanks.

What is it? Whisky.

A whisky and a pint, Fred. Aye.

We'll sit over here away from the smell of rotting fish.

I thought this wasn't your territory?

It isn't.

But I heard you were here.

And I figured you might need a bit of help.

These boys can cut up pretty rough.

And what was Flemming doing here? He had something on his mind.

Such as? I knew he was coming here

and I guessed there might be trouble so I came as soon as I could.

But the Captain had already arrived.

And he was giving Joe Carney the tongue-lashing of his life.

I'll get you for this, Carney, I swear I will.

And Ballard too.

I'll go to the National Maritime Board and the Ministry of Shipping

and I'll take every bit of evidence I've got -What evidence?

You think you're the great white father of the sea or something.

You were on the Mary Dean an hour before she sailed.

Prove it.

Hey, come on. Let me go! You're drunk.

Come on!

You sabotaged the Mary Dean.

And I'm gonna prove it! Oh, sure, sure. Some other time.

All right.

Let me go!

So he left.

It was no good reasoning with him. It's the last time I saw him alive.

Well, what was that all about?

Guilty conscience, maybe.

Who is he?

Joe Carney.

Excuse me.

Well, this town is the friendliest place

Beat it.

Not until you and I have had a little talk about Captain Flemming.

I've got nothing to say to you.

Oh yes you have - And I'm in the mood to listen.

I said beat it!

I didn't kill Flemming.

We just quarrelled, that's all.

What time did you leave the Four Bells that night?

Early. I wasn't in the mood for drinking

and I didn't feel like company either, so I decided to go home.

I never had anything really personally against the Captain.

You murderer.

Now, Captain, will you stow it?

I'll give you the licking of your life. Captain, you're asking for it.

You're nearly twice my age. Now, please, don't make me do it.

'For a minute I thought I'd killed him.

Then I felt his heart and heard him breathing.'

I couldn't help it. I didn't want to hit him.

But you did hit him. Yes.

Did you sabotage the Mary Dean?

All I meant to do was wreck the refrigeration system so his catch would go rotten. That's all.

Something happened. It must have blown up. I don't know.

Five men drowned.

I knew them. I never meant for a second that the ship would...

Did Ballard pay you for this?

When it foundered, I...I couldn't take the money.

Very noble. Inspector Mitchell will appreciate it.

You gonna turn me in? You're gonna turn yourself in.

Yeah. I guess I am.

I swear it's been tearing my guts out.

But Templar, you gotta believe me about the captain.

He was alive when I left him.

All right.

He was alive when you left him.

Is he alive now?

I tell you, he is alive.

Arlene, stop it.

The identification wasn't conclusive.

The body was in such a state it was impossible to be sure.

But the clothes, the ring, the tattoo.

Anyone can wear the clothes and the ring

and there's hundreds of sailors with a right-forearm anchor tattoo!

You could talk yourself into believing anything.

Don't shout at her. Why not? Somebody should.

If he's not alive, how do you explain what's been happening?

Anybody can hang a raincoat on a coat rack. Who?!

I don't know but it certainly wasn't him.

What was that? I didn't hear anything.

I did.

There's someone upstairs. It's him. It is. He must be here in the house!

All right. You go and have a little chat with him.

And tell him I could do with a small loan.

Don't humour her. She's making something out of nothing.

She is not. There is nobody upstairs.

If you're so positive, go and see for yourself.

It was no hallucination, believe me. I saw it for myself.

Pyjamas on the floor, bath running over.

Even his clothes stacked up on the stool.I saw it too.

Arlene went completely to pieces.

So much so we simply couldn't handle her here.

Where is she now?

Dr Ormsby's taken her to hospital. The Millwell Sanitorium.

I brought her in. She was on the edge of a nervous breakdown.

I gave her a massive dose of sodium amytal,

enough to knock an elephant out.

You can see her but I don't think you'll be able to wake her up.

She looks so pale.

She'll be out for at least ten hours.

And then what? When she wakes up?

I honestly don't know.

She certainly can't go back to that house.

I think she's on the verge of a schizoid break.

And when the break actually happens,

the patient retreats into a fantasy world of complete unreality.

Oh, excuse me, Dr Ormsby - Just a minute, nurse.

I'll call you tomorrow. Don't worry. She'll have every possible care.

Yes, we know. Thank you, Doctor.

Good night. Good night.

Good night.

Now, then, nurse.

It's Mrs Miller. She was transfused yesterday, wasn't she?

Blood count's up. She's asking for sedation.

Says the pain in her leg is worse.

I'll be with her in a minute. Yes, Doctor.

They've gone.

Very romantic. Quite a bedside manner, Doctor.

No, I didn't leave.

Diana did. She went for Inspector Mitchell.

How did I guess?

Very simple, dear lady. Your pulse.

When I held your hand, it was racing.

A massive dose of sodium amytal would have slowed it down.

Try to understand - I do, perfectly, Doctor.

When the coroner brought in that open verdict

and Inspector Mitchell started snooping around, you panicked.

There was only one thing working in your favour.

The identification of the body was not 100 per cent conclusive.

So you decided to make it appear as if the Captain were still alive.

You made the phone call.

Yes.

You planted the dripping oilskins, the burning pipe.

Very impressive.

Then, if they didn't buy that story, you decided on a secondary motive.

To plant the suspicion on Andrew.

You made it appear to people that he was driving you mad.

Trying to get you to jump out of a window or throw yourself under a car.

Why? Because if anything happened to you, Andrew inherited the loot.

Look, we were caught in something...

Indeed you were.

You spread suspicion all around, even on Ballard...

..so there would be less on you.

Because you killed him.

We...we didn't mean to.

But you did.

You killed him and threw him in the water.

Cold, premeditated murder.

But it wasn't like that at all.

That night we went to look for him.

He'd been drinking heavily.

He was violent, abusive. We tried to get him to come home.

Come home? What for?

So I can watch you two being lovers?

Shut up, Flemming.I'll go to the Medical Association about you.

And when I'm through, you'll never practice again.

You don't know what you're saying.

You think I'm a carp maybe?

That I can sink into the mud and bury myself

so I won't see how the water's stinking and contaminated.

You've killed him.

No, he's alive.

Arlene...he'll ruin me.

He'll ruin both of us.

You hate him.

Yes, but...

..I can't.

Well, I can.

'He was a vindictive, cruel man and he meant what he said that night.'

He would have carried out his threat.

Ruined both of us.

Instead we've...done it ourselves.

We planned it all so carefully.

As Robbie Burns said,

'The best laid schemes of mice and men, gang aft agley.'