All language subtitles for The.Greene.Murder.Case.1929.1080p.BluRay.x264.AAC-[YTS.MX]

Downloaded from
YTS.MX

(ominous music)

Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

(moves to gentle ominous music)

(moves to gentle music)

(water sploshing)

(knocking on door)

(knocking on door)

- Come in.

- Mr. Canon is here, sir.

- Mr. Canon?
- Yes.

- Oh, yeah.

- [Sproot] In your mother's room.

- Oh, yeah.

- Well, each year finds
you better, Mrs. Greene.

- It does not!

Nurse, tell Miss Ada to come here.

- Hello Mr. Canon.

Well, fire away, Canon. (laughs)

- Chester!

See, what do I matter?

A paralyzed old woman like me. (scoffs)

Ada, the only comfort of all
these ungrateful children.

And she only pretends to love me.

- Miss Sibella.
- Alley-oop.

- Mr. Rex. Good evening.

- What's good about it?

- Or any other evening in this house.

- I must say, 10 years of these meetings

have made me dislike being a policeman

as much as you dislike each other.

But as you know,

your father's will requires me

to determine every year whether
you have lived according

to the provisions thereof,

and to remind you that you
must live in this house

and maintain this property intact

for 15 years after your
father's and husband's death,

that's five years more,
or be disinherited.

And that on this date, 1934,

if you have carried out this provision,

the estate will be divided
equally between you,

or in the event of death,

between any of you who are still alive.

- Have you got a match?
- A-

A- (groans)

Uh, remembering, of course,

the bequest to the servants
who have been with you

since the death of Mr. Greene.

- Sibella, put that out!

- [Chester] Mm-hmm.

- And the exception that Miss Ada,

not being of the family blood,

may live elsewhere if she marries.

Now, Mrs. Greene, you
haven't left the house?

- Use your head, you fool!

How could I?

Haven't I-

- Been lying here for 10 years,

making life miserable for
everybody, including myself.

- Oh, shut up!

- See!

- Well, Chester?

- Still here.

- Miss Sibella?

- In person.

- Sibella, where are you going?

- To the theater, little buttercup.

- With, uh, with Arthur?

- Yes, darling.

- (chuckles) You're after
Arthur yourself now, eh?

- Stop it!

- Mr. Rex?

- Why, certainly I've been here.

- Thank you, thank you.

- And going crazy in the
middle of this loving family.

- Uh, Miss Ada.

Miss Ada?

- Yes, I'm here.

- Well, that's everybody.

Thank you.

Good evening.

Good evening.

- Ada.

- Yes, Mother?

- Bring me my bouillon.

- Yes, Mother.

- The lawyer was here again.

But the law can't chase the
devil out of this house.

It's a wicked family, doomed to death!

- Shh!

- Here, mein herr.

- Thank you, Gertrude.

(Gertrude speaking German)

- How do you know about the family?

- From the Lord.

All the Greenes are doomed, so they are.

Hating each other like poison

and rotting with evil both.

I shall rise up against them,

saith the Lord of hosts,

and sweep them with a
besom of destruction.

- Now read to me.

Oh, no, no, no.

The novel, where you left off last night.

- All right.

Well, it stopped snowing anyways.

- Hmm.

- Oh, I'm awfully sorry.

"In five minutes,

we were outside the door,
starting upon our expedition.

We hurried through the dark
shrubbery amid the doubt..."

(Chester cackling)

(knocking on door)

- Come in.

(door clacking)

(gun fires)

(gun fires)

(Ada moaning)

(Ada thuds)

(Mother grunts)

- Ada!

Nurse!

What's happened?

Why doesn't somebody come?

Ada?

Sibella?

Rex?

I'm all alone.

Chester? Anybody?

Where are you?

Something's happened.

And, oh, and that I'm alone.

Why don't you come, you filthy children?

It's your mother.

(sobbing) Call Dr. Von Blon.

- [Sproot] Yes.

- What is it, mother?
- What's the trouble?

It's Mr. Chester and Miss Ada,

they've been shot.

- Are they dead?
- Who found them?

- Did you see anybody?

- No. No, no, no, I'm trying
to get Dr. Von Blon...

- Yes, the newspapers had it right.

Chester Greene was killed instantly

but the girl was only wounded.

Why, of course it was attempted robbery.

Why, the silverware alone was-

Just a moment.

It's Philo Vance.

- What's the matter?
Somebody been bumped off?

- Oh, it's this Greene business.

- Oh, that job.

- It's the first case in which Vance

has shown any interest
since the Canary murder.

- That's right.

- You see, he doesn't go
for your burglar theory.

- He don't, huh?
- No.

- Well-
- Do you want to talk to him?

- Sure.
- Go ahead.

- Hello, Mr. Vance.

This is Sergeant Heath talking.

- Oh, good morning, Sergeant.

- Say, what's wrong
with the burglar theory

in that Greene case?

- Well, nothing, Sergeant, except, uh...

Uh...

Doesn't it strike you as rather odd

that a burglar should dally about

in the hall for three minutes
between the two shots?

- Why no, he just, uh-

Say, Mr. Vance, maybe you could, uh...

- Thank you, Sergeant.

I'll be ready in half an hour.

- He'll be ready in half an hour.

- Thank you, Sergeant.

- Oh, that's all right.

- That's correct, sir.

The first shot came to me in my room,

uh, came to my ears, I mean, sir.

Then when I got to the door here-

- You're quite sure that
three minutes elapsed

between the two shots?

- Something like that.

Yes, sir.
- All right.

All right.

It must've been two burglars.

Don't let me catch any of you trying

to leave the house, get that?

- They don't know anything about this.

- Do you?

- I told you, no!

- Uh, your room is just across
the hall there, isn't it?

- Yes.

- And yet you heard nothing?

- No.

- [Vance] Hmm.

- How do you figure that?

- Mr. Greene was shot from the front,

and from the powder marks, at close range,

and yet he made no sound.

- That's right.

- You remember the expression
on his face, Sergeant?

- Why, sure.

He was flabbergasted.

- Exactly.

Possibly because he knew the murderer,

just as the murderer knew his way

about this house in the dark.

Mr. Greene was probably so surprised

to see an acquaintance, let's say,

suddenly point a gun at him,

that he was killed
before he could recover.

- Say, I wonder if anybody
in this house owns a gun.

- Certainly.

Suspects own everything you
want them to, don't they?

- Who owns a gun?

- Well, I did but-

- What caliber?
- 32.

- We got these out of
your brother and sister.

They're 32s.

- Are you accusing me of-

- What did you do with that gun?

- I haven't got it, it's gone.

I looked for it after this happened.

I knew you'd find I had one and accuse me,

but I couldn't find it.

- Go look for the gun.
- Yeah.

- And tell Miss Sibella
Greene to come here.

- They won't find anything.

Oh, we're all going to
be killed, I tell you.

And you can't stop it.
You can't do anything.

- Rex!

- Keep out of this.

You're always here,
nosing into our affairs.

But I know why. Sibella.

With all her money,

she'd make you a delightful
Mrs. Arthur Von Blon,

wouldn't she, Doctor?

But her money is not enough,

you want ours too.

That's it. You did this.

You took my gun.

- Now, Rex, you said enough.

- You knew I had a
revolver. You remembered!

You saw me with it when

we went camping last summer!
- Stop it.

Now, Rex.
- You saw and you took it!

You stole it, you hear?
- Snap out of it.

- Give it back, give
it back, back! (groans)

- You're the doctor the butler sent for.

I've been wanting to talk to you.

How long did it take you to get here

after you got this call?

- Uh, perhaps the doctor can tell us

when we may see the
young lady who was shot.

- Why, certainly.

I will let you know.

- Miss Greene?

- Right.

You must be the detective.

Quite a wild party we
pulled here last night.

- Miss Greene, do you
know anyone who would

want to hurt your brother and sister?

- Oh, we'd all come under suspicion there.

We all hate each other.

Rex thinks we're so beneath him mentally.

So of course we irritate him.

Oh, thanks.

Even little Ada.

She'd just love to see us all erased.

The only reason Mother hasn't
killed the whole family

is that she can't move.

- Hip! hip!

- I've often thought of
murdering us all myself.

Only I couldn't think of any way

that would be thorough enough.

- Hooray.

- You may see Miss Ada now if you like,

but please, no excitement.

- Thank you.

- I'll see you later.

- Why not?

Arthur?

- Yes?

- Of course, after what's happened,

we better wait.

- Yes. Yes, you are right.

It would be too soon now.

- I heard the shot.

That's what woke me.

But I thought it was an
automobile backfiring outside.

And I was just getting to sleep again

when there was a, a shuffling noise.

And I got up, and-

- Was the light on?

- No.

I started to turn it on,

when a hand touched me.

Oh, I, I tried to scream,

but I couldn't.

Then there was that awful
shuffling sound again.

And I ran.

And then there was a noise,

and something hot hit me.

Oh, I can't remember anything more.

- Uh, just what do you mean by
shuffling sound, Miss Greene?

- I don't know.

Like sliding footsteps.

- A man's or woman?

- Go on, say it was I.

You'd like to.

Haven't you nerve enough to lie?

- Sibella!

- You angelic little snake in the grass.

I wouldn't be surprised
if you murdered Chester.

- Yeah, and probably shot
herself in the back too.

- Sibella, why do you hate me so?

What have I ever done to-
- Oh, nothing.

Everything.

You've always wanted-
- Sibella.

- I'm sorry.

- All right, Miss Greene.

Let's you and I go out on the balcony

and examine those
footprints and get some air.

- Oh, dear.

Here, I'll give you something
that will make you sleep.

- Now, after shooting the girl,

he came out here.

See?

He beat it down these steps and ducked.

- [Vance] The burglar?

- Well, maybe it wasn't a burglar.

Oh, Simpkin, did you get
those footprints measured yet?

- All set.

- Fine.

Trouble is, they disappear
when they hit the walk.

- And it stopped snowing
about 11:00 last night.

So it's impossible to know

whether they were made
after the murder or before.

- That ain't all.

The marking sole were made by
rubbers, probably galoshes.

- So we can't tell how
much bigger they are

than the guy's feet.

- I can't find any gun.

- Where'd you look?
- Everywhere.

The old lady said to
stay out of the library.

Says there hasn't been anybody in there

since, uh, her husband died.

But the nurse showed me where the key was,

so I got in okay.

- Anything there?

- Well, nothin' but the creeps.

I never been in such a house.

- You see any galoshes?

- No.

- Well, go find some
galoshes that will fit these.

- Yes, sir.

- Mrs. Greene would like
to see you, officer.

- Sergeant.

- Uh, Sergeant.

And I wouldn't come down on Rex too hard.

His accusing mere-merely self-protective.

The result of your question
about his revolver, of course.

If there's anything I can do,

I'm glad to be of help.

- Thanks.

- Is Miss Ada badly hurt?

- Oh, no, no, no.

Merely the shock.

I gave her something-

- Yes, I noticed your case, Doctor.

You must have been trained
abroad to carry so many drugs.

American doctors don't, you know?

- You are observant.

- Thank you.

You've known the Greenes
a long while, haven't you?

- My father attended them
before me, so naturally.

- Naturally.

- Don't forget Mrs. Greene, Sergeant.

And remember, no excitement please.

- Oh yeah?

- Yes.

- Now what kind of
paralysis is Mrs. Greene's?

- Organic, both legs.

It's quite hopeless.

Good morning.

- Why, good morning.

- Oh, but Mother-
- Be quiet!

I've sent for the policemen.

- Well, make them get out.

What right have they to
come into this house?

- Officer, I command that
you drop this investigation.

I've got worry and trouble
enough without this publicity.

- But, madam, uh-

- Keep your mouth closed.

Chester got what he deserved.

I'm a poor, helpless old woman,

but I'll keep you from torturing me.

Why haven't you spoken
to me about this affair?

- But that's exactly what the Sergeant

wants to do, Mrs. Greene.

For example, whether you
heard anything last night

before the shot?

- [Mother] No.

- Now Miss Ada there
heard a shuffling sound.

- Oh, she did?

Oh, that reminds me.

I did hear something.

A door blowing back and forth in the hall.

- [Heath] Then why
didn't you hear the shot?

- Well, it must've been
before the shooting,

because I got up and shut my
door and went back to sleep.

And that door blowing
must've been what Ada heard.

- If you please, sir.

Miss Ada.

- Uh...

A good morning.

- Goodbye.

- I remember now.

I heard that noise Rex
just told you about,

like a door closing.

- Oh, Sergeant, just a minute.

- Pardon me.

- Uh, but, Miss Ada,

Rex says that he heard
the closing of a door

before the shot.

- [Ada] No.

Why, why, he couldn't have.

- Mr. Vance.

- Well, don't let it worry you.

Everybody's upset.

- Thank you.

(Gretchen speaking German)

- Get a load of that.

I guess they'd make that
shuffling sound, all right.

If I could just find that-

Are those your galoshes?

- Well, what of it?

I wasn't out of the house last night,

but I'm getting out.

- No you're not!

- If anyone's after us,

he'll get me, won't he?

Do you think I wanna be murdered too?

Do you think I wanna stay here-

- You bet you are.

Watch this baby.

- Watch till you rot and
see where that'll get you.

(door thuds)

- Do you like this family?

Sure it's funny,

and so is a chicken crossin' the road.

But nobody's ever solved that yet.

I've had my boys hanging around that place

for a week, checkin' on everything.

And where are we?

If it was a burglar, it'd be a cinch.

- But it wasn't.

A burglar simply wouldn't
have turned on Ada's light

after he shot her, now would he?

- Well, who was it then?

- Well, the psychological pattern-

- My dear Vance,

I'm afraid you're not
going to get very far

delving into what you call
the psychological patterns

of the Greenes.

- Well, my dear Markham,
I'm afraid that the only way

you're going to find this murderer.

These shootings were thought out,

planned, timed, by someone
familiar with the family.

Someone who lay in wait,

knew when everyone was asleep,

knew just how and when to strike.

That family-

- is nutty, if you ask me.

- A young lady to see you, sir.

A Miss Greene.

- Miss Greene?

- Probably Sibella, the older sister.

Have her come in.
- Yes, sir.

- She's probably found that gat

in her younger sister's stocking.

- Oh, how do you do?

This is Miss Greene, Miss Ada Greene.

The district attorney.

- How do you do, Miss Greene?

I'm glad to see you're so much better.

- Oh, I'm quite all right now, thank you.

- Won't you sit down, please?

- There's something I, I want to tell you.

It's about Rex.

You see, I, uh-

- Yes, well?

- Well, the night Chester was killed,

our lawyer was checking on Father's will.

You must have heard of the Greene will.

- Oh yes.

- Well, after the lawyer left,

I saw Rex take his galoshes
out of that closet.

- How's that?

- Oh, he can explain, I'm sure.

- Uh, pardon me just a moment.

Gordon!

- Sir?
- Get Mr. Rex Greene

on the phone please.

- Yes, sir.

- Continue.

- Well, then there was another thing.

Last night-
- Yes?

- Well, last night I heard Dr. Von Blon

tell Sibella something
about Mother's illness.

I didn't understand it.

It was a medical term, I guess.

But I wrote the word
down on a piece of paper.

I thought probably, you'd know.

- May we see that piece
of paper, Miss Greene?

- Oh, I'm awfully sorry, it's at home,

but I'll get it for-

- Uh, just a moment, please.

- Mr. Rex Greene is on the
phone now, Mr. Markham.

- Thank you, Gordon.

- Say, Chief, maybe he could bring

that piece of paper down to us.

- Oh, well, then perhaps
you'd better let me speak

to Rex first, he resents strangers so.

- [Markham] Why, surely.

- Rex dear.

Wait.

There's an envelope in our
private mailbox, you know?

- Yes.

- Well, get it and read
it to me, will you please?

I want to tell Mr. Markham.

- Oh, all right.

(gun fires)

- Rex! Rex!

- Here, let me have it.
Let me have it, please.

Hello?

Hello, hello, Mr. Greene?

Mr. Green!

- Mr. Greene is dead.

- He's dead.

(Ada shrieks)

- Oh.
- Gordon.

- [Ada] Oh, Rex!

- Get my car ready on the patio.

- All right.

Everything's gonna be all right.

Take it easy.
- It's all right, Miss Greene,

it's all right.

(reporters chattering)

- Here comes the DA's car now.

(reporters clamoring)

- [Heath] You better
stand by for a few minutes

to talk anyhow.

(reporters clamoring)

- Hello, boys.
- Hello, Sergeant.

- Now wait a minute.

I tell you, we're not ready
to give you any story yet,

we don't know what it is ourselves.

No, I said I'm not ready
to give you a story.

- He was shot from the front too.

- But Chester was horrified.

This boy's face shows nothing.

- (clears throat) if Dr. Von
Blon can be of any help, sir,

he asked me to tell you-

- Oh, the doctor was
here this time too, hey?

- Yes, sir.
- Get him.

- And, Sproot, let's have
another go at the servants.

You see, Sergeant,

the murderer and his weapon

couldn't have been invisible.

But this boy's expression is natural.

The look on his brother's face was,

well, to say the least, surprise.

It's all wrong, Markham.

It's mad.

And I have a feeling
that if we don't stop it,

it will go on and-

Well, how do you do, Doctor?

- Now this is the district attorney.

Uh, Dr. Von Blon.

- How do you do, Doctor?

You were here in the
house when this happened?

- Yes, yes, yes.

I was in Miss Sibella's room.

Uh, uh, uh, uh, she was complaining of-

- Well, that doesn't matter, Doctor.

Neither of you heard the shot?

- That is correct.

Although, I, I can't quite make it out.

The door was open when Sproot found him.

- Oh, Sproot was first on
the scene this time too, hey?

- Yes, yes.

- I see.

Well, thank you, Doctor.

- Say, the police doc's coming up.

Don't forget, Ada told
Rex to get that note

and read it to her over the phone.

There's no sign of a note on him now.

Somebody must-
- Nobody knew he

was coming to see me.

- The servants are waiting
in the drawing room, sir.

- Thank you.
- How many telephone

extensions in this house?

- Telephones?

Four.

One in Mrs. Greene's room,

Miss Sibella's room, the kitchen,

and the hall here.

- Thank you, Sproot.

You see, anybody might have listened in.

- How are you, Mr. Markham?

- Hello, Doctor, how are you?

- Sergeant.
- Hiya, Doc.

- Well, when it's not my breakfast

you fellows interfere with, it's my lunch.

I presume this is the body.

- Yeah.

You get me that bullet
and then you can eat.

- Till the next bullet.

(knocking on door)

- Come in.

Oh, hello.

- I beg your pardon.

- Things getting rather ghastly, isn't it?

- You're taking it a bit
more seriously today, hmm?

- I'm beginning to wonder
if I won't be the next.

But I know who you are now, Mr. Vance.

I remember the Canary case.

So I suppose if anyone
can help us, you can.

- Thank you.

Uh, the doctor says you
didn't hear the shot.

- No, I was in there giving Pompom,

that's my little dog there, a bath.

Dr. Von Blon was sitting there smoking.

Mother hates the smell of pipe,

so he often comes in here for a smoke.

And then Sproot called us.

- Uh, isn't it curious
that no one heard the shot?

- But someone did.

Didn't he tell you?

- Who?

- Sproot.

Why, he told me-

- The Chief's waiting for you
down in the parlor, Mr. Vance.

- Oh, quite right.

Well, thank you.

- Oh, Arthur, I'm frightened.

- What? No no, please, please, don't.

- Oh, but I am.
- No, darling.

- I wish we could talk alone.

- Yes, but, but where?

- Mm-hmm.

I know.
- Where?

- On the roof

- Good.
- I'll get my coat.

- So now, sir, I know
there's something funny.

Mr. Chester was nice to me,

but the others.

This family's queer, sir.

Mrs. Greene is an old witch,

the way she keeps after Miss Ada.

Though Miss Ada's no saint
when she gets mad either.

Miss Sibella is a regular icicle.

And this Dr. Von Blon,

there's something between Sibella and him,

or I'm crazy.

Sproot and Hemming,
they're as bad as the rest.

And the cook too, going around and crying

and talking to herself
in German all the time.

You give me my pay, Mr.
Sproot, I'm through.

- That will be all.

- Oh, Sproot.

Why didn't you tell us
you heard this last shot?

- No one asked me, sir.

- Oh.

Where were you when you heard it?

- I'd just called Mr.
Rex to the telephone.

- Which phone did he use?

- The one in the upper hall.

I was in the dining room
replacing the silver

when I heard the shot.

- Uh, Mr. Rex's room, uh,

where you found him,

is over the dining room, isn't it?

- Over this room, sir.

- Well, whose room is
over the dining room?

- Miss Ada's.

- Miss Ada was not in the house.

- No?

That's all, Sproot.

Ah, Mrs. Mannheim,

uh, how long have you
been with the Greenes?

- 13 years, since my husband died.

Old Mr. Greene knew my husband.

- Were you in this country when he died?

- Yes.

- Well, that will be all, thank you.

- Say, Vance, what connection
has that last question

with this case?

- Possibly none.

On the other hand, if we can
relate these various facts,

and to get the psychology back of them-

- Yes, if I could find that gun,

I'd report all these shootings as suicides

and resign from the force.

- Not a bad idea, Sergeant.

Interesting character, old Greene.

I've been reading about
him in the newspaper files.

Threw 'em out though.

We'd better have a copy of
the old boys' will, Sergeant.

- Well, I can dig that up anyhow.

- Well, that'll be something.

- Mr. Markham.
- Yes.

- Someone's been in my room.

- Say, I've got news for you.

- Wait a minute.

Who's been in your room?

- Well, I was with Mother,

and when I went back to my room,

the doors to the balcony were open

and there where mud tracks across the rug.

- Those are the tracks I got.

Somebody went from the front walk,

across the mud in the yard

and up those steps to the
balcony outside her room,

and within a couple of hours,

because there were no tracks there

when I made the rounds this morning.

And what's more,

these prints are the same as
the ones we found last week

in the snow, but there
are no tracks comin' down.

The guy that made them
didn't come down that way.

- So he went up those balcony steps,

crossed Miss Ada's room to the hall,

did his dirty work and vanished.

Uh, you better come with us, Miss Ada.

- Yes, of course.

- Come on, Simpkin.

- Yeah, how could anyone
come up the balcony

and get into her room and get
out again without being seen?

- Perhaps he didn't get out again.

- You mean?

- Suppose you have dinner with me tonight,

Markham, in my apartment.

By then, I may have something.

- I hope so.

- Oh, Mr. Markham.

Here's your bullet.

32 caliber again, you see?

Looks like all three of 'em
were shot from the same gun.

Anyway, I'll have the autopsy after lunch.

- Very well.
- Mr. Vance.

We measured those new footprints

and they're all from the
same galoshes, all right,

but now the galoshes are gone.

- How did that happen?

- Well, I put them back in
the closet the other day

expecting to catch the guy if
he came back for 'em again.

He must've copped them right

from out from under our noses.

- Well, I wouldn't put too much stock

in those footprints if
I were you, Sergeant.

I rather feel they're
the only childish move

this clever murderer has made.

- Well, we gotta have
somethin' to go on, ain't we?

- Oh, Miss Ada.

Well, it's nothing important.

- Oh, I'm so nervous.

- Yes, naturally.

Uh, when you spoke to Rex
from Mr. Markham's office

about the note you wanted
him to read to you,

uh, you told him it was
in your private mailbox.

- Oh, that.

Oh, that's right here in Rex's room.

I'll get it for you.

That's what we called this incense burner.

You see, we used to leave notes in it

for each other when we were children.

We called it our private mailbox.

- Uh, you put the envelope here.

- Yes.

And when you brought me back,

I looked for it, but it was gone.

Rex must have taken it.

- No, he didn't have it.

- Well, then somebody must have-

- Well, can't you remember
what it was you wrote

on that piece of paper?

You told us that it was a
medical term about your mother.

- Perhaps Dr. Von Blon could tell you.

He's up on the roof garden with Sibella

if you care to ask him.

- Oh, uh...

- Oh, the stairs are right
behind that door there.

- I see.

Thank you.

I, I beg your pardon.

I meant to ask you, Doctor,

uh, have you by chance
thought it advisable

to withhold any phase
of Mrs. Greene's illness

from the family?

- Why, no.

Mrs. Greene's illness
is a very simple type

of paralysis of the legs, paraplegia.

- I see.
- Oh, hello, Arthur.

- Oh, hello, Ada.

- [Ada] I just wanted to tell you,

you left your medicine
case in Mother's room.

- Oh, yes. Oh, yes, thank you.

- Could be a perfect spot
for murder, wouldn't it?

Why shoot anyone,

when all you have to do is take them

to a roof garden and push
them over into the river.

Just another accident, a suicide.

And no one the wiser.

You know, I think I'll take
up crime in a serious way.

- Oh. Oh, stop it!

Oh, Arthur, please,
let's go down from here.

- Will that be right, Vance,

and Rex's murderer did
not leave the house,

it's someone we've been talking to?

(door bell ringing)

- And by the way, Sergeant,

did you dig up old Greene's will?

- Yes, I have a copy of it here.

- Go get it, will you please?

- Dr. Von Blon.

- Well.

- Uh, show him in, Sam.

- How do you do?
- How do you do, Doctor?

Coffee?
- No, thank you very kindly.

- Now won't you sit down?

- Uh, thank you, I have
something very important

to tell you.

Some drugs, strychnine and morphine,

have been taken from my medicine case.

- How much?

- Four and eight grains.

I noticed that they were missing

when I got home this afternoon.

But the drugs were my case

when I made my usual call on Mrs. Greene.

- But you didn't keep your case with you,

did you, Doctor?

I remember Ada saying
that you had left it-

- Oh, yes, yes.

I left it in the hall first,

and then Sproot brought to
me in to Miss Sibella's room.

- Did you leave it alone there?

Why, uh, why, yes, until this morning.

Mrs. Greene needed a stimulant,

she was very weak,

so I had the nurse bring it in for miss,

Misses Greene's room.

- So anybody might have swiped the poison.

- [Markham] I hope this
is not gonna turn out

to be a poisoning case.

- Well, there ain't any
need looking for the stuff.

There's 1 000 places in the
house where it could be hid.

Say, chief, what do you think

about replacing Mrs. Greene's
nurse with a police nurse?

She can watch better than we can and-

- Yes, that's very good,
officer, uh, Sergeant.

I have a (indistinct) nurse there myself.

- Well, I'll put in the nurse
and I'll put in a doctor

across the street with
the men who are watching

from that apartment house.

He'll be able to get there quick,

if anything should break.

- Thank you.

- Good evening.
- Good evening, Doctor.

This is one of the most carefully

worked out plots I've ever known.

It's so logical it's insane.

- Well, here's old Greene's will.

Mr. Markham and I went through it.

- And nothing that we didn't know before.

Except for a few bequests to the servants,

Sproot, and Mrs. Mannheim,

who receive an income for
life whenever they retire.

- And we get the library.

Why do you suppose that old bird did that?

- Oh, I remember, the newspapers printed

a story about it at the time.

Here it is here.

"At the expiration of 15 years,

the library goes to New
York Police Department."

As for the rest of it,

those still living benefit
equally from the murders.

- And there's three of
the family still left.

- And two from three leaves one.

- Strychnine and morphine.

- Well, not if I can help it.

I'll have that doctor and
nurse there in half an hour.

- Why should old Tobias
Greene leave his books

to the police?

I think we'd better look
into that library, Markham.

- Right.

- [Heath] Anything new?

- No, sir, everybody's in their
room but the Sibella girl.

She's out riding with this Dr. Von Blon.

- Turns rather easily,

to have been locked so long, hmm?

Hinge is smooth too.

Did you oil this lock when
you opened the door last week?

- No.

And if you ask me,

it's a lotta baloney about this thing

havin' been locked for 10 years.

- Mac, where's the light switch?

- Uh, they ain't a working,

but you'll find some candles
over there by the fireplace.

- Anybody ran into those galoshes yet?

- No.

But I've been looking all
over the house for them.

- Well, keep after 'em.

- You bet.

- Oh, Mac.
- Yes, sir.

- Before you go, uh,
let me have your light.

- Yes, sir.

- Well, they haven't been
opened in a long time.

(chair clattering)
(Heath thuds)

- [Vance] What happened, Sergeant?

- I tripped over something.

- [Vance] What was it?

- Uh...

The galoshes!

- [Vance] Good work, Sergeant!

- [Vance] Apparently we've
had a frequent visitor here.

- [Vance] Yes, and a recent one.

- I've got it!

Somebody's been sitting
in this chair reading.

- Excellent, Sergeant.

Now, let's see.

Hmm.

- No wonder old Tobias left his books

to the police.

- [Markham] How's that?

- The complete library of criminology...

In several languages, too.

Uh-oh.

No dust on the shelf here.

Apparently this is where our
bookworm has been nibbling.

"Complete History of Crime", by Thack.

That's a realm.

- "Poisons: Their Effects and Detection".

- "Hysterical paralysis and Sleepwalking".

- Say, Mrs. Greene.

The old lady, she can walk.

And she read in that book

where she can lay it on
to walking in her sleep

if she gets caught.

- But Dr. Von Blon told me-

It's possible, Sergeant,
but I don't think it fits.

(knocking on door)
- What's that?

(knocking on door)
- The door.

- Well, Mrs Greene.
- Mr. Markham,

I've got something terrible to tell you.

Oh, about an hour ago,

I was up in my room.

I heard that shuffling noise.

It was going down the stairs there.

Oh, I was sick I was so afraid.

But I forced myself to
look over the banister

and I saw someone standing

in front of the library door here.

- Who was it?

- It was Mother!

- Mother?

- She was walking.

- [Vance] Are you sure?

- Yes.

She had on her oriental shawl.

And, and when she stepped into the light,

I saw her face.

- Well, Markham, we'd better

have a specialist examine Mrs. Greene.

Suppose you get Oppenheimer, you know him.

- Then very well I will.

No, listen. Sergeant, help me.

- May I have some malt, please?

- [Markham] Take it easy,
little girl, it's all right.

Take it easy.

- I'll get the nurse.
- Where's the nurse?

(group speaking faintly)

- Mr. Vance?

- Oh, good morning, Sergeant.

Well, I'm afraid I must have fallen-

Well, what is it?

- Ada.

- Ada?

Poison, I suppose.

- Yeah, the morphine.

I laid down in the drawing
room for some sleep.

And the first thing I knew,

the doctor I had planted across
the street was shaking me.

The nurse found the kid and signaled him.

- She's not dead?

- No, Doc got to her in time.

- Hmm. Oh, Von Blon is here again, eh?

- The butler phoned him,

but he'd gone to his hospital.

I left word I wanted him.

Of all the dumb luck.

Wait till you see what gave the alarm.

- Take it slowly.

There's the girl.

Now, steady. Steady.

- How is she, Miss O'Brien?

- Oh, she's coming on fine.

- Turn her over to the doctor
and you hop right back here.

- [O'Brien] Steady.

- The butler found her when
her bell rang downstairs.

Miss Sibella's dog was on the bed,

with this in his mouth, playing with it.

That's what saved the
kid, can you beat it?

- Oh, Miss O'Brien, tell Mr.
Vance about the bouillon.

- Why, Mrs. Greene sent
me in with the bouillon,

keeping a cup for herself
as she always did, she said.

- Uh, did Mrs. Greene touch Ada's cup?

- No, sir, I brought it up
from the kitchen myself.

The young lady was in the bathroom

so I set it down there.

Then I told Miss Ada it was waiting

and I went down to my breakfast.

Then the butler hears her bell,

comes up, and finds her laying on the bed.

- Were all the others in their rooms?

- Yes, sir.

- And Miss Sibella?

- She got in at three this morning.

She's still asleep.

- Oh, Miss O'Brien, when you
went to breakfast this morning,

did you see Miss Sibella's dog?

- No, sir.

- That will be all, thank you.

- The old lady jumped outta bed,

slipped the stuff in the cup there,

and got back while Ada
was in the bathroom.

- Sproot has told me about Ada.

Uh, how is Miss Sibella?

- Asleep.

- Where were you?

- Why, I was in Connecticut
in Greenwich on a case.

Didn't return until late.

- Uh, Sergeant, will you see if Miss Ada

can talk with us now?

- Sure.

- Uh, Doctor, uh, you won't
object if our police surgeon

continues with Miss Ada's case, will you?

- Not at all.

- Was your diagnosis of Mrs. Greene's case

the only one that was made?

- I believe so.

I saw no reason to-

- Of course not.

But under the circumstances,

the police think they should
have a more detailed report.

- Naturally.
- So you won't mind

if we call in a specialist?

- If you wish.

- Thank you.

- We'll have to wait,

she's in no condition to talk.

- We're getting warm, Sergeant.

Our murderer will do
anything to stop us now,

so keep alive.

- That's some job...

In this house.

- Uh, information.

Uh, let me have the county clerk

at Greenwich, Connecticut, please.

Oh, Markham.

What's up?

- It's all over, Vance.

- You've got the specialist's report, huh?

- There won't be any report.

Mrs. Greene is dead.

- The strychnine, huh?

- Yes, it was in the bicarb
she takes before going to bed.

Suicide, of course.

She knew that we were on to her.

- Oh no, Markham, that doesn't fit.

- Oh, nonsense.

There's no psychology here.

The poor woman was mad.

Thank heaven it's over.

- Markham, I still want an examination

of Mrs. Greene's leg muscles.

- What?

- I'll be dressed in just a minute.

- [Markham] Oh, Doctor.

- Oh, evening, chief.

Say, don't this murderer of
yours know it's Saturday?

I promised to take my kids
to the pictures this evening.

- Hey, Doctor, I want you
to make enough of an autopsy

to make a report on Mrs.
Greene's leg muscles,

whether she could have
walked or not, understand?

- [Doctor] Right.

- I am the resurrection and
the life, saith the Lord.

The Lord gave and the
Lord hath taken away.

Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Worms destroy this body,

yet in my flesh shall I see God.

Oh, vanity of vanities.

Oh, the Lord's been busy again.

I told you, all the
wicked shall be destroyed.

- What are you doing here?

- Cleaning out the
corruption of Tobias Greene.

- Hey, you turn that off!

- Miss Sibella's doomed too.

I had a dream. The hussy.

The way she's been carrying
on with Dr. Von Blon,

oh, she'll be the next!

The man that is born of a
woman hath but a short time

to live and is very miserable.

He cometh up, and is cut down.

- What do you make of that?

- Oh, she's just a cuckoo.

Old lady Greene did these killings.

- Um-um.

Mrs. Greene's leg muscles
are entirely wasted away.

Been that way for years.

As for walking or even moving,

not a chance in the world.

- There you are, Sergeant.

- But Ada was certain that she
saw her mother at this door.

- Markham, I know I'm
on the right track now.

And once I can put all the facts together,

I'll have a solution.

If you'll excuse me.
- Thank you, Doctor.

Keep in touch with me, Sergeant.

- All right.

(Gertrude speaking German)

- I'm sorry to bother you again, Miss Ada.

You're feeling better this evening?

- Yes, much better. Thank you.

- Now, you told us you saw your mother

walking in front of the
library, didn't you?

- Why, yes.

- The medical examiner's autopsy show

that your mother couldn't walk.

- Why, I don't understand.

It must've been Mother.

- Are you positive the person you saw

was wearing your Mother's shawl?

- Yes, that was the first thing I noticed.

- Ooh.

She maybe saw me.

- Oh, don't be silly, Gertrude.

- Oh, you have worn Mrs. Greene's shawl?

- Why, of course she hasn't.

- Uh, who has worn the
shawl besides your mother?

- Why, I don't know.

Let me see.

Oh, it couldn't have been Sibella because-

- Oh, Sibella has worn it?

- Why, yes, she's often-

Oh.

Oh, I didn't mean to say that.

I'll have to ask you to excuse me.

- Uh, Mrs. Mannheim, you told me you, uh,

were in this country when
your husband died, didn't you?

Uh, where were you?

- Trenton, New Jersey.

My husband was working there.

- I see.

- Did you notice anybody walking

around the house last night

with Mrs. Greene's oriental shawl on?

- No, sir.

- Sure?

- Yes, sir.

- Sergeant.

- All right, Sproot.

- Will you phone that address

and get me the record of that name?

- Surely.

Oh, Mr. Markham had to leave.

- I see.

And, Sergeant, when you make this call,

will you cover all the extensions

so that no one can listen in?

- Surely.
- Good.

Oh, Sproot.

- Yes, sir.

- Uh, do you know if any of the family

reads or speaks German?

- Ah, yes, sir.

Old Mr. Greene had all
the children learn it.

They spent so much time in Germany

when he was on business there.

- I see.

- Now, Sproot, a particularly
important question.

You found Miss Ada after
she was shot, didn't you?

- Yes, sir.

- When you found her,

was the window beyond
her dressing table open?

Now please think carefully.

The window that overlooks the
balcony steps, was it open?

- Yes, sir. I closed it.

- Thank you, Sproot.

- Oh!

- Oh, Mrs. Mannheim, if you please.

- Yeah.

All right, I'll wait.

- Ada, I told you to
bring Pompom back to me.

I want to take her up on the roof.

- Sibella, please let me go
to the roof garden with you.

I'm afraid alone here.

- Let me help you.

- Oh.
- Take care of yourself,

Miss Ada.
- Thank you very much.

- Yeah.

What? Wait.

Yeah.

Okay.

- Well, do you know any reason then,

why the Greenes should
be attacked like this?

- (speaks German) I don't know.

Mr. Chester and Mr. Rex maybe.

(speaks German) understand,
they hated everybody.

But little Ada (speaks German)

(Gertrude sobbing)

- Got what you wanted
all right, Mr. Vance.

- Uh, Mrs. Mannheim.

Suppose we have the truth.

You say your husband died
at Trenton 13 years ago.

- Yes.

- And it was just 13 years ago

that Mr. Greene adopted Ada.

- You know then?

- Yes.

I suspected for some time
that she is your daughter.

- I promised Mr. Greene
I wouldn't tell anybody,

not even Ada, if he'd let me stay by her.

- Why hasn't she recognized you?

- Oh, she was away to
school since she was five.

Mr. Greene brought her here,

then I told him that-

- Yes? What?

- Nothing.

Nothing more.

- You mean, when you told
Mr. Greene that your husband,

who had helped him with some

of his questionable business deals,

was dead at the New Jersey State Hospital

for the criminally insane.

All right, Sergeant.

- Say, what's the matter?

I can handle that dame.

- Who?
- Frau Mannheim.

The dope on her husband.

Say, if it wasn't old lady Greene,

it's got to be the cook.

She killed them to get
the money for her Ada.

Nobody else could've.

- But somebody else did though.

- Who? How?

I can't pinch somebody without evidence.

- Here it is, exhibit A.

- What do you mean?

- It's no wonder we've been confused,

to say the least, Sergeant.

The murderer copied every detail

of the crimes from these books,

from actual criminal history.

The experience of hundreds of criminals,

plus the science of the world's
greatest criminologists.

- Say, gimme a break, will you?

Who is it?

- If you'll come with me to Rex's room,

I think I can verify how he was killed.

Then I'll have everything.

If you remember, Sergeant,

Rex fell here, close to the fireplace.

We know from his expression
that he never saw the gun.

- That's right.

- He was about your height, Sergeant.

I wonder...

- Secret panel stuff, hey?

- They sometimes put
safes in these old mounts.

- What?

- Be careful, Sergeant.

- What!

- Hold on.

There you are, Rex's gun.

- Well, the old man-killing safe idea.

- Just that.

- When Rex opened this panel,

the string pulled the
trigger and fired the gun.

- The whole idea came
right from that book,

even to the bootjack.

Will you hold that, Sergeant?

Thank you.

I thought so.

Straight through to the other room.

- Say, everyone on this floor

was at the other end of the house.

The sound went down the flue.

That's why Sproot heard
it in the room below.

- Exactly.

- I have it.

She listened in on Rex's phone call,

knew that he was going after a note

that would tip the whole thing off to us.

She came in, fixed the gun and then-

- Who?

- Sibella!

She was afraid Ada would cop Dr. Von Blon.

She read German, got the
dope out of these books.

- No, Sergeant, not Sibella.

Ada.

- What?

- That's the private mailbox.

When Ada spoke to Rex
from Markham's office,

she sent him for a note
that never existed.

And now that we've got that, Sergeant,

I think you can make your arrest.

- Now wait a minute.

Ada can wait, she's on the roof.

But I still don't get it.

Her motive?

- First of all, jealousy, Sergeant.

Jealousy of Sibella over Dr. Von Blon.

Hatred of being the
Cinderella of the household.

A mad desire for the freedom she'd have

if she inherited the estate.

And don't forget,

her father who's a criminal and insane.

- Hmm.

- Ada has unquestionably
inherited this taint.

She discovered these books in the library

and read and reread them,

until she gradually became obsessed

with a mad fantasy of freedom and murder.

The snowfall the night of the first murder

gave her her chance.

She got Rex's revolver and galoshes,

sneaked down the balcony stairs,

around and into the front of house,

killed Chester and shot herself.

The galoshes and the footprints

were simply to throw us off.

- She shot herself in the back?

- There's a case in that
book exactly like it.

- How did she get rid of the gun?

- Again the book.

The case of a suicide,

who killed himself on a bridge.

He tied a cord with a
weight on it to his gun

and hung the weight over the side,

so that after he shot himself,

the weight pulled the gun into the water.

When Sproot told me
that her window was open

the night she was shot, I knew it was Ada.

She had her gun pulled
through the open window.

- And she poisoned Miss. Greene?

And herself too?

- To throw us off again.

She caught that bell
cord in the dog's teeth

to get the alarm.

The bed was too high for the dog

to have jumped there himself.

- Sure it was.

- And Sergeant, when Dr.
Von Blon took Sibella

with him to Greenwich the other night,

he probably saved her life.

Before Ada had another chance at her-

- But Vance, Ada and Sibella
are together on the roof now.

- [Vance] Quick, Sergeant.

- Simpkin, have a couple
of men up here, quick.

What's the matter?

- The door to the roof is locked.

- Come on, boys, we'll break it in.

- No, wait.

She'll hear us coming.

The only way we can save Sibella

is to get up there without being heard.

- You're right.

- We try a window.

When you boys get our signal,

break through that door to the roof,

do you understand?

- Yes, sir.
- Come on, Sergeant.

- Stand by, boys, for the signal.

(foghorn bellowing)

(water sploshing)

(Ada giggles)

(foghorn bellowing)

- Look, Sibella, you can
see the boats from here.

- Well, what of it?

(pot clattering)

(water splashing)

- [Vance] Shh!

- Sibella, look!

(Ada grunting)

(Sibella screaming)

- Oh no!

Help, help!

(Ada monas)

(whistle trilling)

(door thudding)

(Ada sobbing)

(door thudding continues)

- [Simpkin] One more heave.

- Oh, help!

(Sibella moaning)

Help, please.

Oh, help.

Help me.

Oh, help.

Oh, help.

What is this?

Oh!

(Sibella moaning)

Help me!

(Sibella moaning)

Please, quickly!

- [Vance] Steady.

Easy. Easy.

(Sibella moaning)

Hold it.

(Sibella moaning)
(door thudding continues)

- Where is she?
- She's not here.

Where'd she go?

(Ada gasps and screams)

(water splashing)

- Let's get downstairs, quick.

- Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Vance.

Arthur told me it would be
all right with you around.

- Oh, well, thank you.

- [Heath] Oh, Mr. Vance.

- You'll excuse me.

Yes, Sergeant.
- Well, it's all over.

She went straight through the ice.

The boys are still at it,

but there's not a chance.

She must have been cuckoo
to go after Miss Sibella

with us right here in the house.

- Not at all, Sergeant.

Miss Sibella's death would
have looked like suicide

and a confession of guilt, don't you see?

Well, goodbye.

I'll telephone your husband.

- You know?

- Yes.

When you and Dr. Von Blon
were missing the other night,

and when he told me he
had been at Greenwich,

I rather suspected you had been married,

so I verified it through
the county clerk there.

May I wish you great happiness.

- Thank you.

- Goodbye.

- [Heath] Uh, just one thing more, huh?

- What's that, Sergeant?

- What did Ada do with the gun?

There was no water for it
to fall in like you said.

- No, but there was snow.

- Snow?

- Snow.
- Oh!

Well, after all, Mr. Vance,

life's just a problem.

- [Vance] Right again, Sergeant.

(gentle accomplished music)