Original subtitles

Once upon a time,

there were three little girls who went to the police academy,

two in Los Angeles...

the other, in San Francisco,

and they were each assigned very hazardous duties...

but I took them away from all that,

and now they work for me.

My name is Charlie.

Hello?

Yes, this is Leland Swinnerton.

I thought I'd made it clear to you people,

I'm not interested in selling to your client, whoever he is.

I don't mean to be rude, but you'll have to excuse me.

I'm very busy.

The Mother Goose appellation's

been mine for about 50 years,

and in all that time we've never produced

a truly violent or even an unpleasant toy,

and we've brought happiness to millions of children.

I'm proud of that.

You ladies probably played with my toys

when you were little ones.

Well, they said

they came from Santa Claus, but I knew it was really you.

I must admit, I still have one of his koala bears in my closet.

Hello, Charlie. Mr. Swinnerton is here.

Good. How are you, Leland?

In health, Charlie, but troubled.

I hope you can help me.

I'm sure we can. Fill us in.

Several months ago, a law firm, Dunstan and Wheeler,

approached me about selling my company.

They made me a fabulous offer, which I naturally declined.

Toys are my life.

Did they say who they were representing?

A rival toy company. Above that, they refused to say.

Of course, that did nothing to engender trust.

You were right to be suspicious, Leland.

Some of their clients have underworld ties.

They buy legitimate companies to use them as fronts.

They won't take no for an answer.

Since I've refused their offer,

there have been several incidents...

A week's production of sailboats sank,

a whole roomful of rag dolls burned up...

and the smoke bomb in the train last night.

Sounds like more than coincidence

and worth looking into, huh, Charlie?

It also sounds like

maybe somebody's working from the inside,

one of the employees.

No, no, no, no. I refuse to believe that.

We're all one big family at Mother Goose.

No, absolutely not.

No offense intended, Leland.

Thank you for coming in. You'll be hearing from us.

Well, maybe I should leave it to you.

You're the professionals.

Ladies... So lovely.

Oh, to be 50 again.

I don't understand, Miss Duncan.

Mr. Swinnerton... Collins.

Jennifer Collins, from Hong Kong.

You must try to remember that, because it's very important.

That's what I mean... All this subterfuge.

Mr. Swinnerton, it is necessary.

I know, but I have never lied to my employees

about anything.

Mr. Swinnerton, we understand your feelings,

but you've got to face the fact

that if we don't put a stop to this,

someone could get hurt.

I know.

Very well. Let me introduce you around.

And believe me, we will be most discreet.

Your employees will never know.

Hello. Hello.

Oh, Miss Collins will be with us for a few weeks, Mrs. Cooley.

We'll give her that empty office down the hall.

Oh, how nice.

I know you'll be very happy at Mother Goose, my dear.

Well, thank you very much. Please call me Jennifer.

Will you come this way? Yes.

I want you to see our design room.

This is the nerve center of our company.

It all comes from here, the brains...

More like the loins.

I mean, after all,

it is the creative end, right?

This brash and brilliant young man

is our vice president in charge of Design,

Gordon Roclair.

Gordon, I'd like you to meet

Miss Jennifer Collins... How do you do?

And her attorney, Mr. John Bosley.

How do you do?

Hi. You suing Mother Goose, here?

Well, no, on the contrary, I'm here to learn from him.

My father is in the toy business, also.

Oh? Where's that?

Well, we are an international organization.

We have offices in several countries.

I've just spent the last few months

at our main branch in Hong Kong.

My father would like

for me to take over the operation there.

Oh, I see. Sounds like Daddy's quite an operator.

Gordon, really... It's quite all right.

I... I don't mind brashness,

as long as it is, as you say, combined with brilliance.

Well, Jennifer,

maybe you and Mr. Roclair can get acquainted.

He might show you some of his designs.

That'll give us a chance to look into some legal matters.

Oh, certainly.

Thank you, Mr. Bosley.

Okay, bye. Bye.

Let me show you some of my work.

Now, I'm curious. If you're a vice president,

why don't you have a separate office?

Practically everybody in the company's a vice president.

He doesn't want anyone to feel left out.

Ah, do I detect a note of dissatisfaction?

Look, I am what Mother said I am...

I'm a brilliant designer...

But I'm sick and tired of cute, cuddly trash.

I want to do modern work, things that reflect today's world.

Now, look. Look here...

That's a complete guillotine.

That's a most unusual toy.

Mother almost had a heart attack when I showed it to him,

and he ordered me to keep it out of sight.

Tell me, is this the direction

that you think the toy market should go?

Oh, absolutely.

If we got into horror toys, we could double our volume...

Oh. And I've also got a gallows

with a functional trapdoor, and look here...

This is a driving game.

The cars are all souped up on a simulator,

and you get pedestrians who are the targets,

and you get points for every pedestrian you hit.

Points? Uh-huh.

Do you think this is good for the children?

Children have always lived in a world of fantasy,

and besides, they actually

get rid of their little aggressions this way.

Uh, tell me, Mr. Roclair... Gordon, please.

Gordon, tell me, why are you telling me all this?

When you show up here with the family attorney, I...

I detect the sweet smell of money.

My father is very successful.

You're not here to learn the toy business, are you?

I think it's time I met the other employees.

Okay, but just remember, Mother Goose is down the tubes.

Uh... yeah.

Nice.

If he plays that one more time, I am going to require insulin.

Shh, Bosley, Mother Goose'll hear you.

Now, that music is inspirational.

He's inventing.

Why here, and why in the middle of the night?

Bosley, we're supposed to protect him,

not run his life.

This is where he feels creative.

Well, I'm going to go walk off some of these cobwebs.

I may even commune with the teddy bears.

Hey, I think I heard a prowler.

Where?

Sounded like the Design Room.

Hey...

Is he dead?

He's dead.

Oh, wow.

Bosley! What?

This door is locked from the inside.

Hey, Sabrina, he was a wire tapper.

How did they do that?

He was bugging the place.

He got shot...

by somebody that wasn't here.

The deceased was one Larry Wilkes, an ex-con,

and a professional wire man, just as we suspected.

His clients have usually been as crooked as he was,

therefore, well-concealed.

So we don't know who he was working for?

No, not a clue.

The only thing Charlie's been able to come up with

is a girlfriend named Donna.

Charlie says that Wilke" funeral is today,

and he suggests that we pay our last respects

and see who else shows up.

That means you and me, Kris.

Yes. Kelly, we have all the fun.

Bree, what about this Roclair guy?

Gordon Roclair...

Well, he may be very bright, but he is also el whacko.

He wants to make a whole line of little horror toys.

He wants to make a little guillotine

that cuts little heads off,

and he wants to make little automobiles

that hit little pedestrians.

He also said, "Mother Goose

is going down the tubes," and that's a direct quote.

A whacko... And a definite suspect.

Yeah, but if Roclair's a suspect,

then there's got to be somebody else involved,

because why would he need to hire anybody

to go in there and bug the place?

He works there. He could have done it himself.

Okay, Kris, let's go.

That must be Wilke" girlfriend.

Donna... can we speak to you?

What do you want? Sorry about your fiancee.

He didn't seem to have many mourners.

Why would he have? Larry Wilkes was a jerk.

I mean, he was my jerk, but that's what he was, you know.

You were pretty close to him?

Okay, come on... I mean, you knew my name,

so you've got to know he was my fella, right?

You're cops, right?

Well, we used to be. Used to be and still are.

We're private detectives.

Listen, did the police

interrogate you about Larry's death?

Sure.

Oh, I didn't tell them anything. Nothing, honest.

You know, if you loved the guy,

I should think you'd want to see his murderer caught.

Look, one, I don't know who killed him, okay?

And, two, nobody offered me a dime, you know.

Well... we operate differently.

Well, I hope it's a lot differently.

He didn't leave me much.

That's funny. Larry Wilkes was considered

one of the best wire men in this town.

Well, not by me, honey.

I just knew him as the guy that paid the bills,

occasionally, you know.

What do we get, and how much?

I can tell you who he was working for,

and from the looks, I mean,

the way you're dressed and everything,

I'd say that's worth, oh, five bills.

Okay.

Boy, what a jerk.

I should have asked for a grand, huh?

Okay.

The dude's name was Tony Phelan. Yeah, that's it.

He was supposed to be some kind of legitimate businessman,

but Wilkes told me he was a mob guy.

Did he ever mention a man by the name of Gordon Roclair?

A designer. Works for Mother Goose toys.

No.

If he had, it would have cost you extra.

Okay, thanks a lot.

One thing. Yeah?

Would you do us a favor? Yeah? What?

The man's dead, so cry or something.

Boo-hoo.

Oh, my.

Let's see what we can find out about this Tony Phelan.

Right.

There it is.

Charlie says Phelan seldom goes out,

and it looks like it's well guarded.

How do we get in?

I got an idea.

I think maybe I'll just drop in.

Now, this is the back entrance, see?

Design Room, Swinnerton's office.

You seem particularly well-informed

about the Mother Goose company, Mr. Phelan.

Not half as informed as you're going to make me.

I got a guy on the inside,

but the problem is he's crazy. I can't trust him.

What happened to my predecessor, Wilkes?

Well, he got inside, but somebody surprised him

and he never got the place wired.

I heard he was dead.

He is.

Got into a beef with his old lady,

and she shot him.

That's why I sent to London for you.

Now, look, Orwell, don't worry about it.

This is no big deal.

My company wants to buy their company, and that's all.

I see. What specific information is it you require?

Well, this Mother Goose company is in trouble financially.

I want to find out how bad, and also about the new line of toys

for the Christmas season.

You'll get it.

You're damn right I will.

Oh, oh... You've got to be careful.

Oh, hi. I'm very sorry.

Can you hold this? Thanks.

See, this is my first time,

and, well, I guess I ran out of wind.

I'm very sorry.

Don't worry about it.

Just as long as you're okay.

Oh, you're very nice, and very understanding.

I'm always understanding

when a gorgeous girl like you is concerned.

You're being very nice again.

Well, I guess I should introduce myself.

Hello. I'm Kris Munroe.

I'm Anthony Phelan.

Nice to meet you, Mr. Phelan.

Do you suppose that I could...

use your telephone?

And then my friends could come and pick me up.

Don't worry about it.

We'll get you home safe and sound.

But what's your hurry? You look a little shook up.

Why don't you come inside and have a drink, huh?

Oh, terrific. What should I do with this?

Orwell, you take care of that, huh?

We'll finish our talk later.

What do you do for a living, honey?

I'm a model.

Hey, I'll bet you are.

This way, huh? Thanks.

You two, take care of that.

His name is Jack Orwell.

He's one of the top wire men in the business.

He lives in England, flies over for the jobs.

Charlie checked him out and came up with that picture.

So I would say Phelan obviously has brought in

a replacement for the late Mr. Wilkes.

Sabrina's locked in at Mother Goose,

and Kris is working on Phelan, so I guess Orwell's mine.

Wait a minute... how do we know

that he's never met Wilkes' girlfriend?

Well, I was worried about that myself,

so, well, I took a chance. I called Donna.

She said she'd never heard of him.

Cost me another $100.

Cost Charlie. Yeah, well...

Listen, what else do we know about Orwell?

He's single, he likes the girls,

and he hangs out in an English pub in Santa Monica.

Cheerio.

Cheerio.

Mr. Orwell?

Well, if you say so, love, yes.

Kelly Garrett. I've got a proposition for you.

I don't believe this.

You're propositioning me?

Well, you haven't heard it yet.

I was a friend, a good friend, of the late Larry Wilkes.

Wilkes. Sorry, love, don't know no Wilkes.

Order me a black and tan,

and I'll tell you a lot of things you don't want to hear.

That's bad logic.

If I don't want to hear it, why should I listen to it?

They may save your life.

All right. I'll listen.

You're here to wire up the Mother Goose Toy Company.

Oh, yeah.

Who told you that, then?

Someone in the Phelan organization.

He knows I'm broke

and thought I could use a little extra work.

I work alone. I don't need any assistance.

Do you know how Larry Wilkes died?

All right.

Wilkes, Larry.

Shot by some bird he was living with.

Could be you, for all I know.

He was shot and killed

on the premises of the Mother Goose Company.

Look, if you don't believe me,

go to the newspaper morgue and get a back copy.

How was he caught? And who did it?

Now, if I told you that, you wouldn't need me, would you?

I also know how to get in and out of there safely.

That's your proposition?

That's it, and for that I get a third.

All right, you say you worked with this Wilkes.

What kind of equipment would you use in a noisy location?

A high impedance mike.

What kind of VOX did you use on your last job?

You mean, what kind of Voice Activated Switch?

AMG Security.

You're good, lady, you're good.

How about if I buy you lunch to go with that?

Now that I'm working, I'll buy my own.

Cheers.

You take this room.

I'll take the offices, okay?

Okay. Okay.

I don't understand... Shh!

There. Now you can talk.

Good Lord, the things that are happening...

It's all right, Mr. Swinnerton.

You see, last night, the whole place was bugged,

but we know the locations.

Then you can get rid of them?

Well, we're not going to get rid of them,

but we are going to move them around a little.

You see, we think we can use their own bugs

against the people who planted them.

You know, lately I have been thinking

I should get out of the toy business,

get into something similar, like cuckoo clocks...

If you did, the Swiss would probably send a hit man.

Uh, listen, Bos, you better watch over Kelly.

I'm going to send her a little message.

How are you this morning, Mrs. Cooley?

Oh, delightful, Miss Collins.

I hope you're having just a wonderful stay with us.

Well, yes, I am, and I'm certain

that it will be better and better.

Good.

Mr. Swinnerton's office.

Greta, how are you?

Would you like to have lunch, dear?

Well, what about Chico's down the street?

He's so adorable...

That's his secretary's voice. I...

I don't understand this.

I put the bug there myself.

That girl was never remotely good for him.

I told him when he married her, but he wouldn't listen...

Maybe she's in her boss's office using his phone.

Oh, and while we're having lunch,

I want to tell you about... Turn it off.

Turn it off.

All right. Okay.

What went wrong? I don't understand this.

Switch on the one in the Design Room, love, okay?

The one you planted there.

All right.

There's something

I think you should know, Gordon.

What is it?

Well, you said when we first met

that you expected Mother Goose to go under soon.

I still do.

Well, I hear otherwise.

What do you mean?

I hear that Swinnerton

has come up with a Christmas toy collection

that is so good it's going to save the company.

How do you know this? He asked my father

if he would like to become involved in it.

Why didn't he tell me?

The old fool's never kept anything secret from us before.

Well, I don't know.

It would appear that he has this time.

He wants to surprise everyone.

Do you know if it's, uh...

what line of toys it is? One or many?

He says he's going to keep it secret until the last moment,

but I do know

that the designs are hidden somewhere in the plant.

The toff's going to want to hear that right away,

I'll tell you.

You mean Phelan?

Don't bandy names around, all right?

Besides, I liked your ideas.

I was right about you, wasn't I?

You were right about my father.

He does want to buy into the American toy market,

but at a price.

No, no, no, no.

I meant something else... As a person.

We're a lot alike.

If things go our way, Gordon,

perhaps we'll be able to find out.

My designs, your financial backing.

If... If we can find Swinnerton's designs.

Just give me a chance. That's all I ask.

You were right about my father.

He does want to buy into the American toy market,

but at a price.

No, no, no...

Wait outside, huh?

Hey, this broad must be something else, huh, Gordon?

She's attractive and very intelligent.

It didn't take her very long to get to you.

Well, if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have known

about the old man's plans to save the company.

And if the Englishman hadn't bugged you,

I wouldn't know about your plans, Gordon.

You should have told me you had the place bugged.

If I had told you, I would never have found out about your plans

to sell us out to some Hong Kong operator and his daughter.

Our first toy design for Mr. Phelan's company.

Smashing.

Coffee break. Excuse me.

There's no question of loyalty, Mr. Phelan.

I don't work for you.

I was paid to perform certain acts of sabotage, and I did it.

It's not my fault the old man doesn't scare.

The first wire man I sent in there, Wilkes,

he got shot. Nobody knows how.

I got a feeling you know how.

I do, and it was absolutely ingenious.

You see, I rigged a toy gun to fire a small caliber bullet,

and it was guided by an electric eye,

but, of course, it was an accident.

After all, you didn't tell me you were sending a man in.

Okay, ingenious, who were you trying to snuff?

The old man, of course.

He's outlived his time. I hate him.

I told you I didn't want no hit on Swinnerton.

And as I explained before,

I don't see myself as being employed by you.

You jerk!

You're a genius, huh?

You're an idiot!

Now, this is what I want you to do.

You're going to ask the Collins girl

to find out where the designs are.

You're going to steal them

and you're going to hand them over to me.

Now, that's clear and simple, huh?

So even a genius can understand.

She thinks I'm working for her and her father.

Well... There's nothing wrong with that.

Only you're not, because we'll give you something

no Hong Kong operator's gonna give you.

Oh? What? A bullet.

Mr. Orwell?

Well, you're a bit of all right.

This must be my lucky pub.

It is now, honey.

My name's Donna.

Well, that's nice.

Larry Wilkes was my old man.

What do you mean? What are you trying to say?

The answer to that depends on how much you're willing to pay.

I thought you were going to bring me something to eat.

I'm sorry. I forgot.

Anything interesting happen when I was away?

Roclair just called Phelan,

and he said he's still trying to find the plans.

That's it?

Well, he also had a little message for us

if we were listening.

What was it?

You wouldn't want a lady to repeat it.

You're no lady, love, you're a copper.

All right, what are you going to do about it?

Oh, that's easy.

I'm going to kill you, love.

Get up front and drive.

Hurry!

Jack, what are you going to...

Look, cut the chat,

and put it down a little, will you?

Come on.

What is it?

Is there somebody back there?

What are you slowing down for now?

It's a red light.

What are you doing?

You'll get us both killed, woman!

Listen, if he catches us, you're dead!

Think about it, Orwell. Just think about it.

Hey, what's going on here?

This man's kidnapping me.

Kidnap?

She's just trying to get me into trouble, officer.

We had a lover's quarrel, you know.

Would she be driving my van if I was trying to kidnap her?

He's lying. He forced me to drive.

You call that driving, lady?

He had a gun to my head! That's right...

A machine gun, wasn't it?

Look, officer, I insist that you search me.

Excuse me, sir?

You dropped your gun out of the window.

Hello?

Jennifer. Did you... did you find out...

Yes, I did, Gordon.

The designs are hidden, appropriately enough,

in the Design Room.

They're in the Doll's House.

Wonderful! When did you find out?

Gordon, I've just come from dinner with Mother Goose.

Go and get them. I'll be right over.

Okay. Great.

Did you find them?

Yeah, I got them.

Do they have any potential?

I hate to admit it, but, you know,

they're better than anything he's turned out in years.

Then they could save the company, huh?

They could... If we didn't have them.

I'll make some copies of these and put the originals back.

He'll never know.

Then I'll have them for you tomorrow,

and then you can put them on the first plane to Hong Kong.

My father will be very grateful, Gordon,

and so am I.

Hello, Mr. Phelan?

Yeah, yeah, I've got them. Yeah, the whole Christmas line.

If you'll send someone over, I'll meet them out front.

Okay.

Okay, he should have called Phelan by now.

He's going to make copies

and then put the original plans back.

Is Kris in the Design Room?

Yeah, trying very hard to hold her breath.

Let's just hope Roclair doesn't decide

to redesign her. Yeah.

Ooh!

Please see that Mr. Phelan gets this

as quickly as possible.

That was one of Phelan's bodyguards.

Yeah, and there went the "secret plans."

Should we make our move on Roclair?

No, let's give Phelan

a little time to enjoy those new designs, huh?

Right.

Well, what do you think? You're the expert.

Don't mean nothing to me.

Just looks like a bunch of blueprints.

Well, they are, but I'm afraid

someone's playing a joke on you, Mr. Phelan.

What do you mean?

Well, these aren't designs for toys.

This one seems to be

a blueprint for some kind of a vacuum cleaner.

And this one is...

Well, it's a blender for fruits and vegetables and things.

There's no mistake?

No, I'm afraid not. I'm sorry.

It's a joke!

Why, that screwball's trying to doublecross me.

Vince, get the car. We're going over there.

Leland, this is Gordon.

Listen, something's come up.

I think you'd better get down to the office right away.

Yes, I know what time it is, but it's terribly important.

No, I don't want to tell you over the phone,

not with all the bugging that's been going on.

Good. I'll meet you in the Design Room.

Uh, you know what?

I think he's had about enough time to hang himself.

Let's go.

Hold it, Gordon.

What...? What's going on?

You're not leaving.

Why don't you sit down?

Aren't you the attorney?

We're private detectives.

How could you do this to me? Why?

We switched the plans that you gave to Tony Phelan.

By now he thinks you tricked him.

You're a lot safer with us than you would be with him.

Provided you give us a confession.

You switched the plans. Yeah.

Okay, okay. You win.

Ah-ah, no, no. No.

Move!

That's it.

Stay right where you are, and don't move.

Roclair, you little creep!

All right, drop them!

All right, up against the wall.

Okay, move.

Kris!

It's okay, Bree.

Is he dead?

No... I think he fainted.

Fainted?

Yeah.

See, he rigged the cannon to shoot people,

and then he ran in here and he got it himself.

Only he didn't really get it,

because I put my chewing gum in the barrel.

You did what?

Tony Phelan is being charged with Conspiracy and Assault.

Roclair is undergoing psychiatric observation.

And they are both so anxious to accuse the other

that the D.A. says he can hardly wait to bring them to trial.

Poor Gordon. I believe the boy really is demented.

All those horrible toys he wanted me to produce...

Gallows, monsters, weapons of war.

Speaking of toys, Leland, how's the new line going?

Oh, quite well, thank you, Charlie.

Here, I've added to it. Let me show you.

Oh, wait a minute. Wait a minute.

Those look like us. They sure do.

Hold it a second here.

Oh, can I have a set for my niece?

Well, naturally.

Not only that, you'll get royalties from the sale.

Royalties... Terrific.

It certainly is, Bosley... And they deserve them.

They do, indeed.

Thank you, Bosley. That's very sweet.

Of course, Charlie, with this additional income,

they won't be needing raises.