Original subtitles

Good evening.

I'm doing a bit of surveying. We thought we would straighten out this channel.

Some of the commercials have been scraping their sides as they go through.

It would be dreadful if one of them were to become stuck.

Since no one will hear of making the commercials smaller, we must make the

channel larger.

So much for television surveys.

This evening we are presenting a story of the business world and of an

ingeniously planned crime. It is called...

Crimson witness.

I have a target in my sight that is most tempting, but I have no ammunition.

You may see for yourselves.

You're early.

What's the matter?

Ernest, it's just too early.

It is never too early.

Don't.

Barbara, you've been brushing me off all week.

Yes, I know.

What's the matter, Babsy?

Will you please stop calling me that? Can't you call me Barbara like everybody

else does? Since when?

So coy, Babsy. I hate it.

Anyhow... Anyhow what?

I am your secretary.

You are my boss. This is a place of business, and these are working hours.

And I am giving you five minutes off. Come here.

Don't. Just don't, that's all.

Barbara, there's something I want you to do.

Pay off all your bills.

No.

I don't want to. I'll pay them off myself.

You gotta be kidding.

No.

Barbara, can you explain something to me?

Oh, lots of things.

But not now.

Tell me why you're so storm-tossed this morning.

A lot of reasons, but not now.

When?

I don't know.

Well, tonight.

I'm seeing you tonight, aren't I?

And we'll talk.

All right.

Ernest, you are a married man.

You seem to keep forgetting that, but I can't.

Also, you're a thief.

I know how much you make.

You can't afford to pay off my bills.

You're going to get in a lot of trouble.

Don't you worry about it. Did I say I was worried? Did you hear me say that?

All you have to be is bright.

Know how to handle a ledger and an eraser.

The money will be put back.

I hope so, Ernest.

See you tonight.

And we'll talk.

Oh yes, we'll talk.

Yes?

Mr. Baldwin wants you in his office right away.

What for?

Because he's the boss, and that's what he said.

Okay.

What I don't want you to think, Ernie, and this is really the sum total of our

meeting here this morning, what I don't want you to think is that you're fired.

Divorce yourself from that idea.

Okay?

What's the name of that?

What? That rose in your lapel.

It's a golden rapture. Why?

I don't know why.

Every morning you wear a different rose, don't you?

Not every morning, no. It seems so.

Mr. Bowman, I've been working for you for 15 years. You're my good right arm,

Ernie. But we're entering a new phase.

I don't think you've got the muscle to take the great leap forward, which is

what we're planning to do.

But I interrupted you. I beg your pardon.

You were saying that you've worked for me for 15 years.

Now, what's your point?

I was about to say there aren't that many varieties of roses that I could

wear a different one each morning.

Well, where's my cup?

In transportation, Mr. Mullet.

What is it doing in transportation?

It's the most expeditious way for it to get to where it's going.

Oh.

I'm a student of human nature, Ernie.

Not in the terminology of your psychologist, you know, but... I study a

man, and I get a feeling about him.

I study him under stress.

That way it comes out about a man. Whether he's the kind that can start

with nothing, win, or whether he has to start with everything.

And he loses anyhow.

Ernie? I don't think you get any real joy out of winning.

You're wrong, Spock. No, no.

Well, the men in the shops say I'm the best plant manager they ever had.

When I worked on the Punch Press, I used to tell my plant manager the same thing.

I wound up firing him.

Drive.

You haven't got much of that, Ernie.

What you've got is loyalty.

Which is fine.

Which I'm willing to repay with security.

There'll always be a place for you on our table of organization, Ernie.

At the present time, it's cost estimating.

Ernie?

Would you like to know who's replacing you as plant manager?

I'll kill him.

That's an honest reaction.

Who? Your brother.

My brother?

Farnham's a very bright man, Ernie.

And I can thank you for bringing him to my attention.

I got him the job here. I just said that.

And I thanked you for it.

He's only been here two years.

He's a tiger.

Ernie, your brother Farnham is a real tiger.

My brother the tiger.

Farnham?

Hello, dear.

This is the one I was telling you about.

Wonderful. Judith, I've told you about not cutting roses at night.

Your brother suggested it.

My brother the tiger.

Has he told you what else he's done?

What else has he done?

Oh, it's not enough that he's been a guest in our house.

Of course, I was expected to get him a job.

Judith, guess who the new plant manager is?

Well, darling, I thought you were going to be the... No, no, not me.

Him. My job, right out from under my nose.

Were you fired, Ernie?

No, no, I wasn't fired.

You see, I'm loyal.

Well, then, so what?

I don't think I understand you.

Well, what don't you understand? What kind of a wife are you to say, so what,

when I've just been aced out of my job?

I don't know.

What kind of a wife am I?

She's been a fine wife to you.

Farnham, you've been a guest in my house long enough.

Now get out.

All right.

Right now.

Oh, come on. Don't mimic some bad play you read in high school.

Right now.

Thank you.

She loves me.

Judy loves me.

She's leaving you.

Now, pussycat.

Right now.

Chin-chin.

Chin-chin, Ernie.

That about sums it up. Chin-chin. Hello and goodbye.

You don't know what just happened.

Tell me about it.

You tell me.

Tell you what?

What does my brother Farnham have that I haven't?

It's time you should know.

He has all the qualities of a rat.

Well, I mean it.

I mean it, too.

Now, you check me.

He's self-centered, cunning, greedy, and calculating.

And bright.

You gotta give him that.

Oh, yes, he's bright.

Like a computer.

Do you know what else he is, Ernie?

Fascinating. What?

Cruel.

You're putting me on. My brother found him?

Oh, boy.

My brother is the biggest flab. Why, compared to him... You're nothing.

Compared to him, you're nothing.

Oh, you're very sweet, Ernie, and most pleasant to look at, but your problems

are pretty uncomplicated and kind of stupid.

I mean, that's the truth, dear.

You're kidding.

Oh, no.

I'm not kidding.

Being with Farnham is like living on the edge of a slide area.

Being with him is like being with him.

He opens his heart like most people open a door.

As easily.

With as much importance and closeness as easily.

Being with him.

You?

I love him. Oh, how I love him, Ernie.

I don't believe that.

I just don't believe that.

It's true.

I'm sorry.

No.

No, I'm not.

I'm not sorry.

I love him.

And maybe it'll be a disaster.

And maybe there'll be pain to it.

But I'll feel it and know I'm alive.

Barbara.

Barbara,

you mean it's sort of a...

A worship love.

What do you mean?

Well, like an infatuation.

Oh, no, no. I love him.

Yes, but love from afar.

I mean, love from afar.

There has been something going on behind my back with you and Farnham.

You said that. I didn't.

Let me ask you something.

He's a tiger, isn't he?

What? My brother, Farnham.

He's a real type.

Oh, yes.

Burns bright and proud.

Well, it might interest you to know that he went off with my wife tonight.

What?

Mm-hmm.

He went off with my wife.

I must say something.

You don't believe me?

You want to get on the phone, we'll find them, you can talk to them.

You'll believe me.

It's exciting, isn't it?

It's fascinating.

To feel pain and know that you're alive.

I'll kill him.

When?

Ernest. Ernest.

I don't know what made me say that.

Because it's something you have to do.

To pay him back for all these... I love him.

You still love him.

He's just having his little fling. When it's all over, we'll sit down together

and talk about it and laugh.

Oh, how we'll laugh. You'll laugh?

When you sit and talk about Farnham coming between me and my wife, you'll

laugh? Oh, I'm sorry, Ernie. I really am. But don't you see that's what makes

your brother the exciting man that he is? He's evil and unpredictable.

He shatters me.

Call me Madeline.

Or Maddie.

Either one, Mr. Mullet.

You'll share me with five other cost estimators. And if there's anything I

don't know about this department, it hasn't been written in the manual yet.

So if there's anything you need, just ask.

Thank you very much.

Oh, about the coffee.

There's always hot coffee, and each of us chips in a dollar a week, but since

you're coming to us on Thursday, you'll be our guest. That's very kind. Thank

you. Oh, and, uh, transportation just delivered your coffee cup.

That's very clever of them.

Everything just works out, doesn't it?

I'll try to remember that.

I guess that's it.

I'll try it on this party.

Oh, um, that's your brother that's taking your place, isn't it?

He's putting it mildly.

Well, Mr. Mullet, I sat behind him one day in the cafeteria when he was talking

to a group of visiting engineers, and I overheard him.

He is a highly intelligent man. He is one of the brightest men that I have

ever heard in my life.

You really have quite some brother there.

I'll show you something.

We can stand lightening the color of this paneling a shade or two.

What do you think?

Ernie.

Ernie, come in. Sit down. Sit down, boy. We'll talk.

You and I have got a lot to talk about.

Barnum said you were busy.

Never too busy to see you, brother.

No matter what Babsy says.

Should the occasion arise where you wish to discuss something, anything should

come up in cost estimating you can't handle.

I'd be hurt if you didn't come right to me.

What has nothing to do with... Oh, Ernie, would you mind the doors?

It has nothing to do with cost-estimating, Farnham.

I've taken it up, have you noticed?

Never forget to borrow a quality you admire.

Try to remember that, Ernie. It may do you some good.

Mine's called a white Indian pipe.

I'm afraid they don't thrive in these environs, though.

I have to have them flown in specially.

Different esoteric blooms.

Look, you can do me a favor, Ernie. I've got to change the combination on this

safe. Which one of the gadgets behind this door does it? One on the right.

Ah, yes.

Thank you.

Now, brother, what can I do for you?

How's Judy?

When I left her...

Your wife was fine.

Is she happy? Happy?

Well, happiness is such a... Generic?

Generic, yes.

Thank you. Generic term, isn't it, Annie?

I think felicity applies more aptly to Judy.

I know no one more entitled by unpretending merit, more deserving,

because of habitual suffering, to receive and enjoy felicity.

If you remember your Jane Austen.

I stopped in to see Judy this morning to discuss our separation from you.

Nearly made me late for work, too. And this, my first morning on the job.

Farnham, you don't deserve to live.

I don't censure you for saying that, Ernie.

Psychology teaches us that rejection causes pain.

Pain, fear. Fear, hate.

And when we hate, we want to strike out. To destroy.

Right now, you hate me, don't you?

For openness.

And yet this morning, the very first thing I came into this office, I took a

few moments out to scan the ledgers.

You've been dipping into the till, brother.

That is the most just, isn't it?

Dipping into the till.

Of course you have.

But don't worry about it.

I think I can rectify your rather clumsy falsifications, and not a word will ever

be said.

Therefore, how can you hate me?

My job, my wife, my girl.

Every possession must be evaluated according to how well equipped the

possessor is to hold it.

Read your Hegel.

Brother, you just aren't well equipped.

I should have killed you when you were 15 years old when I had the chance.

With that shotgun we borrowed from Mr. Westfall.

You'd have missed.

Point blank with a shotgun, and you'd have missed.

And that's the story of your life.

You must change.

You must seize opportunity by the throat and never let go.

You must remember, Ernie, opportunity is a juncture that provokes action.

Be alert.

Pounce.

I agree.

You should have killed me when I was 15 years old.

Just looking for the middle of the program.

There seems to be a break here, which we plan to repair.

In the meantime, why don't you detour by way of your local station, then join us

again for the second half.

You probably won't believe this, but I had one of those in my teeth in Old

Mexico City.

A Gallica Maximum?

A what?

Well, that's the name of the flower.

Oh, I'll remember that.

Thank you.

Good morning, Ernie.

Morning. Is the boss in?

I don't know.

He's gotten in the habit lately of going in and out of his office through his

back door without telling me.

I have to speak to him about that.

I'll see.

My, that's a pretty rosebud.

Yeah, it's a Gallica maxima.

Where do you see what your brother's wearing?

Oh, these are very hard to grow.

Well, you see, he is, if he's in.

Yeah. Your brother would like to see you, Mr. Mullet.

Have him come right in.

Yep.

Oh, Farnham, there's... 2,724.

What? Dollars.

The number of dollars you have stolen.

From Baldwin Mills, Inc.

I guess so.

It's close enough.

No, not close.

On the nose.

But your little secret rests with me.

I can adjust those ledges in less than five minutes, and no one need ever be

the wiser.

That is, assuming we have a nice relationship.

No trouble.

After all, there's no reason why there should be any trouble between us.

We should be men of goodwill.

We should share a closeness each to the other.

The friendship between me and you I will not compare to a chain.

For that the reins might rust or the falling tree might break.

William Penn.

I'm offering you my friendship, brother.

I hope you'd feel that way, Farnham. That's why I'm here.

I'm glad.

O'Farnham. Yes, brother, what is it? I left something in the safe. I wonder if

you'd mind... Oh, I don't think you'd be able to open it.

I've changed the combination.

Yes, yes, of course.

I wouldn't dream of asking for the new one.

It's not in my department anymore.

No.

What have you left in the safe?

An insurance policy.

Oh, well, it's perfectly safe in there.

My wife is the beneficiary and I want to change it.

Well, after all, she did give you eight good years. You don't feel any

obligation to that?

No.

To quote Santiana... A new broom sweeps clean.

Quote Ernie Mullet.

I want that policy, Farnham.

Very well.

I know you feel a sentimental attachment toward this old safe, Ernie, but the new

combination is privileged.

You don't think for a minute... No, no, no, no, no.

I wouldn't dream of it.

Thank you.

I think I'll get it if you don't mind.

It's on the top shelf.

Is that it?

Yes, thank you.

Well, if there's nothing else I can do for you right now, I'm pretty busy at

the moment.

Well, I hope I haven't been too much trouble. No, no, no, no trouble at all.

Oh, Farnham.

What is it? There's something else I forgot in the safe.

What? An isometric drawing.

Do you need it right now? It's a design problem I'm working on. Yes, but design

is no longer your department, brother. It's a neat problem, and no one said I

couldn't work on it in my own time.

No.

Forget it.

Design isn't your province anymore.

That's an engineering function.

All right.

Why don't we just stick to cost estimating for a while, Ernie, and then

maybe something will turn up for you in engineering again. Well, that's fair

enough. Thank you.

By the way, that's a beautiful blow.

What is it?

It's a flaming star.

Thank you for noticing it.

They don't live long, do they?

Ray, your letter of the third.

I am returning the blueprints post-haste.

Sincerely, Ernest Mullet.

Personal question.

Please. You like Mexican food.

Why, I love it. How did you know?

Your jewelry, the way you dress.

Well, now, don't you observe.

I observe, I evaluate, I make up my mind, come to the point.

Will you have dinner with me tonight?

Well, I'd consider it my pleasure.

I want you to know that I'm a married man at the moment I'm not living with my

wife.

Well, we're adults, and I evaluate, too, and I would consider it my pleasure to

take dinner with you this evening.

Wonderful.

Do me a favor.

Straighten up my desk a little. I've got to go down the hall.

Please

don't

be long, Ernie.

I'm going to leave right at five.

I'll be with you in a minute.

There's no hurry.

Yes, Barnum. It slips my mind, something by Oliver Goldsmith.

What is it? Some quotation of his in reference to being pestered, but it

slips my mind. You're taking advantage, you know, coming in here so often.

It'll stop.

What is it you wanted now?

Something else from the safe?

No, no.

If I wanted anything from the safe, I'd just walk over and open it.

What?

I saw the first two letters, Barnum.

J.U.

The second two would have to be D.Y.

Judy.

My wife's name.

Only you would think of something like that.

Oh,

That didn't take long.

I have to be out of here in one minute.

You miss me?

Oh, Ernie, don't start that.

You're a very nice man, and you're nice to look at, and you wear nice rosebuds.

Oh, you like it? And that's what you are, nice.

And that's all you are.

Let me know.

What? That he was leaving.

I'm going to have to train him about that back door.

He's probably going to hurry to get home to my wife.

Ernie, what are you going to do with a man like that?

Take Malaga now.

Did I mention Malaga to you?

Well, that's the Spanish city on the Mediterranean, right around the British

colony of Gibraltar.

Didn't I mention that?

No, I'd like to know about it.

Well, every year I take my two-week vacation to another part of the world.

Didn't I mention that to you?

Oh, I'm prone to repeat things when I get carried away.

That's very refreshing.

Now, where was I?

I believe it was Malaga.

Well, our party stopped there a day and a half, and I had experiences that would

last me a lifetime.

I'd like to know all about them.

Well, we're not all the kind of terms where I could just plunge right in and

tell you all about Malick and Mr. Mullen.

Mr. Mullen?

Ernest.

Ernie.

Salud y dinero y amor y tiempo para Gustalo's.

Health and money and love and time to enjoy them. I'm for that.

Hey, hey, take it easy.

Are you taking care of me?

One of the first rules of friendship is to protect one another.

That's lovely. You said that.

I did.

I just made it up.

You know, I must tell you something, Ernie.

I perceive in you something shy and wild.

Deep waters.

You're a very exciting man. Did you know that?

A girl doesn't know where she stands around you, though.

Do you mind my leaving the conversation down these roads?

No, not at all.

It's almost midnight.

Oh, well, I've been complimented on my margaritas. We could go to my place and

have a few.

Next time.

Tonight I'll just drop you at home.

Come on, let's go.

Well, it's been a lovely evening.

At about a quarter to five, I came in here to talk to my brother.

We chatted about an idea I had for corrugated steel foil.

It was a few minutes before five, without the conversations really being

finished.

My brother seemed to be in a hurry to leave.

Outside the office, I spoke with his secretary for a few minutes.

Then she came in here.

She returned in a moment and told me he had gone.

Then I went back to my office, and a few minutes past five, I left the building

with my secretary.

We went to dinner.

It was a long dinner.

A little after midnight, I took her home.

She was with me the whole time.

Is there anything else you'd like to know?

I understand your brother recently took over your job.

That's correct.

Do you hold any ill feeling toward him on account of it?

He's my brother.

But he took your job.

The only ill feeling I had about that is against myself.

I couldn't hold it.

All right, Mr. Muller.

Thank you.

Just a minute.

I want to get it absolutely straight.

Now, you were here in this office for a couple of minutes yesterday, a little

before 5 o'clock.

That's right.

And you never at any time opened this safe.

How could I?

I didn't have the combination.

You did once.

Yes, but you see, when my brother took over the job, he changed it.

And only he and the president of our company knew the new combination.

I suggest that you investigate that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Well, what do you think?

Robbery.

Medical examiner says the victim was killed somewhere between four and seven

last night. According to the secretary out there, he left at five by the back

door, which he had a habit of doing.

Then he returned, probably after a quick dinner.

To do some work.

The murderer was either waiting for him or surprised him opening the safe,

killed him, took the money.

About 5,000 short, according to the bookkeeper.

Simple as that.

No big deal.

Well, uh, how about you? What do you think?

Well, a brother's alibi checks out, doesn't it? Oh, he was with the

secretary, all right, from a little after five to midnight, no question.

I guess that lets him off the hook.

Ernest.

Oh, Ernest, are you all right? I'm fine, fine.

Was I long coming to you, dear?

You called and told me what happened. I said to myself, oh, Ernest, poor Ernest.

And I came to you right away.

You do forgive me for everything, don't you, darling?

Yeah, I'll try.

Ernest, your brother was a man who attracted violence.

You know that now, don't you, dear?

He attracted you a little too, didn't he?

Darling.

You want to know my first reaction when you told me what happened?

Oh, it's a terrible thing to say, but... Relieved.

I confess it.

I felt relieved.

Confession is good for the soul. Oh, no, don't do that.

Farnham always did that.

He always had a quote for everything.

Farnham was a bright man.

Exciting.

He was a tiger.

He wasn't. None of those things.

Darling, you know what's so wonderful about you?

You're without guile.

A woman always knows where she stands with you.

You give her a sense of security.

Did you know that?

No. You see what I mean?

Without guile.

The one thing I don't understand, now that my brother is dead, how is it

suddenly he wasn't a tiger?

When this is such a child.

Darling, a woman gets restless, just like a man does.

When that happens, she feels guilty.

She searches for someone to feed that guilt, not someone splendid like you

are. She looks for a rat, huh?

Psychology's really taken some giant steps.

Darling, don't be cruel.

Hello. Thank you.

Oh, yes, Mr. Baldwin.

Oh, I'm... I'm fine, thank you.

What?

Oh, that's... that's very kind of you.

Well, there... there has been another offer.

Yeah, well, I'm... I'm weighing it.

Oh, yes, yes, for the good of the company.

Yes, thank you, Mr. Baldwin.

Goodbye.

Well, now, Mr. Baldwin wants me back at my old desk.

Was it a good one, dear?

A good what?

The other offer you told Mr. Baldwin about.

Oh, well, that was a sort of fib.

I think Mr. Baldwin will worry a little, won't you?

Oh, Ernest, you're something.

Am I a tiger?

You're learning.

Come in.

Now you're going to forgive me?

I told you I would try.

Please do.

I'm sorry to intrude on you at a moment like this, Mr. Mullet, but you're

wanting in your old office right away.

It's urgent.

I thought you were kissing your wife, you rat.

You wanted to see me?

Your wife was in your office or I would have come to you.

What's going on in there?

Oh, I don't know. There's a vacuum or something. I don't know. Can you tell

I've been crying?

You look meek.

I like that.

Let me tell you something.

The world is made up of givers and takers.

The givers are the winners.

The takers are the losers.

Every time.

Oh, that's lovely.

Who said that?

I don't quote, Barbara. I just make things up.

Your brother was a taker, wasn't he?

And you're a giver, aren't you?

If you have to be told, forget it.

I want to talk to you, Ernie.

Will you come to my place tonight?

I'll think about it.

Oh, don't be cruel, Ernie.

I said I'll think about it. Now, what else do you want?

Look, I'm busy.

Ernest.

Well, what do you want?

Don't be too cruel.

All right.

Mr. Mullet, I was just on my way down to your office.

Well, let's walk together.

Let's try it in here.

In here?

Very well.

Sit down, Mr. Mullet.

Oh, it's all right, thank you.

Suit yourself.

Mr. Mullet, I'd like to ask you one more time.

You never opened this safe since your brother's tenure in this office.

Never? How could I?

I told you to check.

We checked. We took your advice, Mr. Mullet. We checked.

Then you know it's impossible for me to get into that safe.

Do you happen to know the name of the field flower your brother's wearing

yesterday? Yes, Flaming Star. Why?

A field flower.

You wouldn't expect it to shed a rose petal, would you?

Hardly.

That's why we'd like you to explain to us how we came to find this rose petal

in the safe a few minutes ago.

I have a confession to make.

This surveying has nothing to do with television.

We are putting a superhighway through your living room, and this was the only

way we could do our preliminary work without facing all you angry homeowners.

The bulldozers should be along any day now.

We should try very hard not to allow it to interfere with your enjoyment of next

week's story, scenes of which will be shown in a few moments.

Thank you.