双重赔偿 Double Indemnity(EN)Subtitles

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1 00:02:29 Why, hello there, Mr. Neff.
2 00:02:43 Working pretty late, aren't you, Mr. Neff?
3 00:02:45 Late enough. Let's ride.
4 00:02:51 You look kind of all in, at that. I'm fine.
5 00:02:54 How is the insurance business, Mr. Neff? Okay.
6 00:02:58 They wouldn't ever sell me any.
7 00:03:00 They said I have something loose in my heart.
8 00:03:03 I say it's rheumatism. Yeah?
9 00:03:06 Twelve.
10 00:05:03 Office memorandum.
11 00:05:06 Walter Neff to Barton Keyes, Claims Manager.
12 00:05:10 Los Angeles, July 16, 1938.
13 00:05:14 Dear Keyes...
14 00:05:17 I suppose you'll call this a confession when you hear it.
15 00:05:21 Well, I don't like the word confession.
16 00:05:23 I just want to set you right about something you couldn't see...
17 00:05:25 because it was smack up against your nose.
18 00:05:28 You think you're such a hot potato as a Claims Manager...
19 00:05:30 such a wolf on a phony claim.
20 00:05:34 Maybe you are, but let's take a look at that Dietrichson claim.
21 00:05:39 Accident and double indemnity.
22 00:05:42 You were pretty good in there for a while, Keyes.
23 00:05:45 You said it wasn't an accident. Check.
24 00:05:48 You said it wasn't suicide. Check.
25 00:05:51 You said it was murder. Check.
26 00:05:57 You thought you had it cold, didn't you?
27 00:05:59 All wrapped up in tissue paper, with pink ribbons around it.
28 00:06:03 It was perfect.
29 00:06:05 Except it wasn't, because you made one mistake...
30 00:06:08 just one little mistake.
31 00:06:11 When it came to picking the killer, you picked the wrong guy.
32 00:06:16 You want to know who killed Dietrichson?
33 00:06:19 Hold tight to that cheap cigar of yours, Keyes.
34 00:06:24 I killed Dietrichson.
35 00:06:25 Me, Walter Neff, insurance salesman.
36 00:06:28 35 years old, unmarried, no visible scars...
37 00:06:33 until a while ago, that is.
38 00:06:37 Yes, I killed him.
39 00:06:40 I killed him for money...
40 00:06:42 and for a woman.
41 00:06:46 And I didn't get the money and I didn't get the woman.
42 00:06:52 Pretty, isn't it?
43 00:07:08 It all began last May.
44 00:07:11 Around the end of May, it was.
45 00:07:14 I'd been out to Glendale
46 00:07:16 to deliver a policy on some dairy trucks.
47 00:07:18 On the way back
48 00:07:20 I remembered this auto renewal near Los Feliz Boulevard.
49 00:07:22 So I drove over there.
50 00:07:24 It was one of those California Spanish houses...
51 00:07:26 everyone was nuts about 10 or 15 years ago.
52 00:07:30 This one must've cost somebody about $30,000.
53 00:07:33 That is, if he ever finished paying for it.
54 00:07:38 Is Mr. Dietrichson in?
55 00:07:39 Who wants to see him? My name is Neff. Walter Neff.
56 00:07:42 If you're selling something...
57 00:07:44 Look, it's Mr. Dietrichson I want to talk to...
58 00:07:45 and it's not magazine subscriptions.
59 00:07:47 Listen, Mr. Dietrichson is not in. How soon do you expect him?
60 00:07:49 He'll be home when he gets here, if that's any help to you.
61 00:07:51 What is it, Nettie? Who is it?
62 00:07:53 It's for Mr. Dietrichson.
63 00:07:55 I'm Mrs. Dietrichson. What is it?
64 00:07:58 How do you do, Mrs. Dietrichson?
65 00:07:59 I'm Walter Neff, Pacific All Risk.
66 00:08:01 Pacific all what? The Pacific All Risk Insurance Company.
67 00:08:05 It's about some renewals on the automobiles.
68 00:08:07 I've been trying to contact your husband
69 00:08:08 for the past two weeks...
70 00:08:09 but he's never in his office. Is there anything I can do?
71 00:08:12 The insurance ran out on the 15th.
72 00:08:14 I'd hate to think of your having a smashed fender...
73 00:08:16 or something while you're not...
74 00:08:18 fully covered.
75 00:08:20 Perhaps I know what you mean, Mr. Neff.
76 00:08:23 I've just been taking a sunbath. No pigeons around, I hope.
77 00:08:28 About those policies,
78 00:08:29 Mrs. Dietrichson, I hate to take up your time, but...
79 00:08:31 Oh, that's all right.
80 00:08:32 If you'll wait till I put something on, I'll be right down.
81 00:08:35 Nettie, show Mr. Neff into the living room.
82 00:08:40 Where would the living room be?
83 00:08:42 In there, but they keep the liquor locked up.
84 00:08:44 It's all right. I always carry my own keys.
85 00:08:55 The living room was still stuffy...
86 00:08:56 from last night's cigars.
87 00:08:59 The windows were closed...
88 00:09:00 and the sunshine coming in through the venetian blinds...
89 00:09:02 showed up the dust in the air.
90 00:09:06 On the piano, in a couple of fancy frames,
91 00:09:08 were Mr. Dietrichson and Lola...
92 00:09:09 his daughter by his first wife.
93 00:09:13 They had a bowl of those little red goldfish...
94 00:09:15 on the table behind the big davenport.
95 00:09:18 But to tell you the truth, Keyes...
96 00:09:19 I wasn't a whole lot interested in goldfish right then.
97 00:09:22 Or in auto renewals, or in Mr. Dietrichson and his daughter Lola.
98 00:09:26 I was thinking about that dame upstairs,
99 00:09:29 and the way she had looked at me...
100 00:09:30 and I wanted to see her again, close...
101 00:09:33 without that silly staircase between us.
102 00:09:41 I wasn't long, was I? Not at all, Mrs. Dietrichson.
103 00:09:44 Hope I've got my face on straight. It's perfect, for my money.
104 00:09:47 Neff is the name, isn't it? Yeah.
105 00:09:49 With two "F's," like in Philadelphia, if you know the story.
106 00:09:51 What story? The Philadelphia Story.
107 00:09:54 Suppose we sit down and you tell me about the insurance.
108 00:09:56 My husband never tells me anything.
109 00:09:58 Well, it's on your two cars, the LaSalle and the Plymouth.
110 00:10:03 We've been handling this insurance for Mr. Dietrichson
111 00:10:06 for three years...
112 00:10:06 and we'd hate to see the policies lapse.
113 00:10:09 That's a honey of an anklet you're wearing, Mrs. Dietrichson.
114 00:10:13 As I was saying, we'd hate to see the policies lapse.
115 00:10:16 Of course,
116 00:10:17 we give them 30 days. That's all we're allowed to give.
117 00:10:19 I guess he's been too busy down at Long Beach in the oil fields.
118 00:10:21 Couldn't I catch him at home some evening for a few minutes?
119 00:10:24 I suppose so. But he's never home much before 8:00.
120 00:10:26 That's fine with me.
121 00:10:27 You're not connected with the Automobile Club, are you?
122 00:10:29 No, the All Risk, Mrs. Dietrichson. Why?
123 00:10:32 Somebody from the Automobile Club has been trying to get him.
124 00:10:35 Do they have a better rate? If your husband's a member.
125 00:10:38 No, he isn't.
126 00:10:39 Well, then he'd have to join the club
127 00:10:41 and pay the membership fee to start with.
128 00:10:42 I never knock the other fellow's merchandise, Mrs. Dietrichson.
129 00:10:45 The Automobile Club's fine.
130 00:10:47 I can do just as well for you, though.
131 00:10:49 I have a very attractive policy here.
132 00:10:51 It wouldn't take me two minutes
133 00:10:52 to put it in front of your husband.
134 00:10:54 For instance, we're writing a new kind of 50% retention feature...
135 00:10:56 in the collision coverage.
136 00:10:59 You're a smart insurance man, aren't you, Mr. Neff?
137 00:11:01 Well, I've been at it 11 years. Doing pretty well?
138 00:11:04 It's a living.
139 00:11:06 You handle just automobile insurance, or all kinds?
140 00:11:10 All kinds. Fire, earthquake, theft,
141 00:11:12 public liability, group insurance...
142 00:11:13 industrial stuff and so on, right down the line.
143 00:11:16 Accident insurance?
144 00:11:17 Accident insurance? Sure, Mrs. Dietrichson.
145 00:11:21 Wish you'd tell me what's engraved on that anklet.
146 00:11:25 Just my name. As, for instance?
147 00:11:29 Phyllis. Phyllis, huh?
148 00:11:32 I think I like that. But you're not sure?
149 00:11:34 I'd have to drive it around the block a couple of times.
150 00:11:38 Mr. Neff, why don't you drop by tomorrow evening around 8:30?
151 00:11:40 He'll be in then. Who?
152 00:11:42 My husband. You were anxious to talk to him, weren't you?
153 00:11:46 Yeah, I was, but I'm sort of getting over the idea...
154 00:11:49 if you know what I mean.
155 00:11:50 There's a speed limit in this state, Mr. Neff. 45 miles an hour.
156 00:11:54 How fast was I going, officer? I'd say around 90.
157 00:11:57 Suppose you get down off your motorcycle and give me a ticket.
158 00:12:00 Suppose I let you off with a warning this time.
159 00:12:02 Suppose it doesn't take.
160 00:12:04 Suppose I have to whack you over the knuckles.
161 00:12:06 Suppose I bust out crying and put my head on your shoulder.
162 00:12:09 Suppose you try putting it on my husband's shoulder.
163 00:12:12 That tears it.
164 00:12:18 8:30 tomorrow evening then. That's what I suggested.
165 00:12:22 Will you be here, too? I guess so, I usually am.
166 00:12:24 Same chair, same perfume, same anklet?
167 00:12:27 I wonder if I know what you mean.
168 00:12:30 I wonder if you wonder.
169 00:12:35 It was a hot afternoon and I can still remember...
170 00:12:38 the smell of honeysuckle all along that street.
171 00:12:41 How could I have known that murder can sometimes
172 00:12:44 smell like honeysuckle?
173 00:12:45 Maybe you would have known, Keyes...
174 00:12:46 the minute she mentioned accident insurance, but I didn't.
175 00:12:50 I felt like a million.
176 00:12:53 I went back to the office to see if I had any mail.
177 00:12:56 It was the day you had that truck driver
178 00:12:58 from Inglewood on the carpet.
179 00:12:59 Remember, Keyes?
180 00:13:01 Mr. Neff, Mr. Keyes wants to see you.
181 00:13:03 He's been yelling for you all afternoon.
182 00:13:05 Is he sore, or just frothing at the mouth a little?
183 00:13:07 Park this for me, will you, sweetheart?
184 00:13:14 Hello, Walter. Hi, George.
185 00:13:18 Come on. Come on, Garlopis.
186 00:13:19 You're not kidding anybody with that line of bull.
187 00:13:21 You're in a jam and you know it. Says you.
188 00:13:23 All I want is my money. Says you.
189 00:13:25 All you're gonna get is the cops. Hello, Walter.
190 00:13:28 This is Sam Garlopis from Inglewood. Sure, I know Mr. Garlopis.
191 00:13:31 Wrote a policy on his truck. How are you, Mr. Garlopis?
192 00:13:34 I ain't so good. My truck burned down. Yeah. Now look, Garlopis.
193 00:13:39 Every month hundreds of claims come to this desk.
194 00:13:42 Some of them are phonies, and I know which ones.
195 00:13:44 How do I know? Because my little man tells me.
196 00:13:49 What little man? The little man in here.
197 00:13:52 Every time one of these phonies comes along,
198 00:13:53 it ties knots in my stomach.
199 00:13:55 I can't eat.
200 00:13:56 Yours is one of them, Garlopis.
201 00:13:58 That's how I knew your claim was crooked.
202 00:14:00 So what did I do?
203 00:14:01 I sent a tow car over to your garage this afternoon...
204 00:14:04 and they jacked up that burned-out truck of yours.
205 00:14:06 And what did they find?
206 00:14:07 They found what was left of a neat pile of shavings.
207 00:14:11 What shavings?
208 00:14:12 The ones you soaked with kerosene and dropped a match on.
209 00:14:17 Look, Mister, I'm just a poor guy. Maybe I made a mistake.
210 00:14:22 That's one way of putting it.
211 00:14:24 I ain't feeling so good, Mr. Keyes.
212 00:14:26 Here. Just a minute. Sign this and you'll feel fine.
213 00:14:29 Sign what? It's a waiver on your claim. Right here.
214 00:14:33 Here? Here.
215 00:14:38 Now you're an honest man again. Goodbye, Garlopis.
216 00:14:41 But I ain't got no more truck.
217 00:14:43 $2,600 is lot of dough where I live.
218 00:14:46 What's the matter, Garlopis, don't you know how to open the door?
219 00:14:48 Just put your hand on the knob, turn it to the left.
220 00:14:52 Now pull it toward you.
221 00:14:56 That's the boy. Thank you, Mr. Keyes.
222 00:15:03 What kind of an outfit is this, anyway?
223 00:15:05 Are we an insurance company,
224 00:15:06 or just a bunch of dimwitted amateurs...
225 00:15:08 to write a policy on a mug like that?
226 00:15:09 Now, wait a minute, Keyes. I don't rate this beef.
227 00:15:11 I clipped a note to that Garlopis application...
228 00:15:12 to have him thoroughly investigated...
229 00:15:13 before we accepted the risk. I know you did, Walter.
230 00:15:15 I'm not beefing at you.
231 00:15:17 It's the company. It's the way they do things.
232 00:15:18 The way they don't do things!
233 00:15:19 The way they'll write anything
234 00:15:20 just to get it down on the sales sheet.
235 00:15:22 And I'm the guy
236 00:15:23 that has to sit here up to my neck in phony claims...
237 00:15:24 so they won't
238 00:15:26 throw more money out the window than they take in at the door.
239 00:15:27 Okay, turn the record over, let's hear the other side.
240 00:15:29 Well, I get darn sick of trying to
241 00:15:31 pick up after a gang of fast-talking salesmen...
242 00:15:33 dumb enough to sell life insurance to a guy...
243 00:15:34 who sleeps in the same bed with four rattlesnakes.
244 00:15:36 Walter, I've had 26 years of this and let me tell you,
245 00:15:38 I'm getting...
246 00:15:39 Yeah, and you've loved every minute of it, Keyes.
247 00:15:41 You love it,
248 00:15:42 only you worry about it too darn much, you and your little man.
249 00:15:45 You're so darn conscientious, you're driving yourself crazy.
250 00:15:47 You wouldn't even say today is Tuesday
251 00:15:49 unless you looked at the calendar.
252 00:15:50 Then you'd check to see if it was this year's
253 00:15:51 or last year's calendar.
254 00:15:53 Then you'd find out who printed the calendar...
255 00:15:54 and find out if their calendar
256 00:15:56 checked with the World Almanac's calendar.
257 00:15:57 Now, that's enough from you, Walter.
258 00:15:58 Now, get out of here before I throw my desk at you.
259 00:16:05 I love you, too.
260 00:16:14 I really did, too, you old crab...
261 00:16:16 always yelling your head off, always sore at everybody.
262 00:16:19 But you never fooled me with your song and dance. Not for a second.
263 00:16:23 I kind of always knew that behind the cigar ashes on your vest...
264 00:16:26 you had a heart as big as a house.
265 00:16:29 Back in my office there was a phone message
266 00:16:30 from Mrs. Dietrichson...
267 00:16:31 about the renewals.
268 00:16:33 She didn't want me to come tomorrow evening.
269 00:16:36 She wanted me to come Thursday afternoon at 3:30 instead.
270 00:16:40 I had a lot of stuff lined up for that Thursday afternoon...
271 00:16:44 including a trip down to Santa Monica...
272 00:16:46 to see a couple of live prospects about some group insurance.
273 00:16:50 But I kept thinking about Phyllis Dietrichson...
274 00:16:53 and the way that anklet of hers cut into her leg.
275 00:17:03 Hello, Mr. Neff. Aren't you coming in?
276 00:17:06 I'm considering it.
277 00:17:10 I hope you didn't mind my changing the appointment.
278 00:17:12 Last night wasn't so convenient. That's all right.
279 00:17:16 I was working on my stamp collection anyway.
280 00:17:18 I was just fixing some iced tea. Would you like a glass?
281 00:17:20 Yeah, unless you've got a bottle of beer that's not working.
282 00:17:22 There may be some. I never know what's in the icebox.
283 00:17:25 Nettie.
284 00:17:30 About those renewals, Mr. Neff. I talked to my husband about it.
285 00:17:34 Oh, you did? Yes. He'll renew with you, he told me so.
286 00:17:37 As a matter of fact, I thought he'd be here this afternoon.
287 00:17:39 But he's not? No.
288 00:17:42 That's terrible.
289 00:17:44 Nettie!
290 00:17:47 Oh, I forgot, today's the maid's day off.
291 00:17:50 Never mind the beer. Iced tea will be fine.
292 00:17:53 Lemon? Sugar? Fix it your way.
293 00:17:57 As long as it's the maid's day off,
294 00:17:59 maybe there's something I can do for you.
295 00:18:01 Like running the vacuum cleaner. Fresh.
296 00:18:05 I used to peddle vacuum cleaners.
297 00:18:07 Not much money, but you learn a lot about life.
298 00:18:09 I didn't think you'd learned it from a correspondence course.
299 00:18:14 Where'd you pick up this tea drinking?
300 00:18:17 You're not English, are you? No. Californian.
301 00:18:19 Born right here in Los Angeles.
302 00:18:21 They say all native Californians come from Iowa.
303 00:18:25 Mr. Neff, I... Make it Walter, huh?
304 00:18:28 Walter. That's right.
305 00:18:30 Tell me, Walter,
306 00:18:31 on this insurance, how much commission do you make?
307 00:18:35 Twenty percent. Why?
308 00:18:36 I thought perhaps I could throw a little more business your way.
309 00:18:39 I can always use it. I was thinking about my husband.
310 00:18:41 I worry a lot about him down in those oil fields.
311 00:18:44 It's very dangerous. Not for an executive, is it?
312 00:18:46 He doesn't just sit behind a desk.
313 00:18:48 He's right down there with those drilling crews.
314 00:18:50 It's got me worried sick.
315 00:18:51 You mean, some dark night a crown block might fall on him?
316 00:18:54 Please don't talk like that. But that's the idea.
317 00:18:56 The other day a casing line snapped and caught the foreman.
318 00:18:59 He's in the hospital with a broken back. That's bad.
319 00:19:02 It's got me jittery just thinking about it.
320 00:19:05 Suppose something like that happened to my husband.
321 00:19:07 It could. Well...
322 00:19:10 don't you think he ought to have accident insurance? Mmm-hmm.
323 00:19:15 What kind of insurance could he have?
324 00:19:17 Enough to cover doctors and hospital bills.
325 00:19:19 Say $125 a week cash benefit.
326 00:19:21 And he'd rate around $50,000 capital sum.
327 00:19:24 Capital sum? What's that? In case he gets killed.
328 00:19:28 Maybe I shouldn't have said that.
329 00:19:30 I suppose you have to think of everything in your business.
330 00:19:33 Well, your husband would understand.
331 00:19:34 I'm sure I could sell him on the idea of
332 00:19:36 some accident protection.
333 00:19:37 Why don't I talk to him about it?
334 00:19:39 You could try, but he's pretty tough-going.
335 00:19:41 They're all tough at first.
336 00:19:44 He has a lot on his mind.
337 00:19:45 He doesn't seem to want to listen to anything...
338 00:19:47 except maybe a baseball game on the radio.
339 00:19:50 Sometimes we sit here all evening
340 00:19:52 and never say a word to each other.
341 00:19:54 Sounds pretty dull. So, I just sit and knit.
342 00:19:59 Is that what you married him for?
343 00:20:01 Maybe I like the way his thumbs hold up the wool.
344 00:20:04 Anytime his thumbs get tired...
345 00:20:07 Only, with me around, you wouldn't have to knit.
346 00:20:09 Wouldn't I? You bet your life, you wouldn't.
347 00:20:14 Wonder if a little rum would get this up on its feet.
348 00:20:20 I want to ask you something, Walter.
349 00:20:25 Could I get an accident policy for him
350 00:20:26 without bothering him at all?
351 00:20:28 How's that, again?
352 00:20:29 It would make it easier for you, too.
353 00:20:31 You wouldn't even have to talk to him.
354 00:20:32 I have a little allowance of my own.
355 00:20:34 I could pay for it and he needn't know anything about it.
356 00:20:40 Why shouldn't he know?
357 00:20:41 Because he doesn't want accident insurance.
358 00:20:43 He's superstitious about it.
359 00:20:45 A lot of people are. That's funny, isn't it?
360 00:20:47 If there was a way to get it like that,
361 00:20:49 all the worry would be over.
362 00:20:52 See what I mean, Walter? Sure. I got good eyesight.
363 00:20:56 You mean you want him to have the policy without him knowing it.
364 00:20:58 And that means without the insurance company knowing
365 00:21:00 that he doesn't know it.
366 00:21:02 That's the setup, isn't it? Is there anything wrong with it?
367 00:21:04 No, I think it's lovely.
368 00:21:06 Then, if some dark, wet night,
369 00:21:07 that crown block did fall on him...
370 00:21:08 What crown block?
371 00:21:09 Only sometimes it can't quite make it on its own,
372 00:21:11 it has to have a little help.
373 00:21:13 I don't know what you're talking about.
374 00:21:14 Of course, it doesn't have to be a crown block.
375 00:21:15 It can be a car backing over him,
376 00:21:18 or he could fall out of the upstairs window.
377 00:21:19 Any little thing like that, just so it's a morgue job.
378 00:21:21 Are you crazy? Not that crazy.
379 00:21:25 Goodbye, Mrs. Dietrichson. What's the matter?
380 00:21:29 Look, baby, you can't get away with it.
381 00:21:34 You want to knock him off, don't you?
382 00:21:35 That's a horrible thing to say.
383 00:21:37 What'd you think I was, anyway?
384 00:21:38 A guy that walks into
385 00:21:40 a good looking dame's front parlor and says:
386 00:21:41 "Good afternoon, I sell accident insurance on husbands.
387 00:21:43 "You got one that's been around too long?
388 00:21:44 "One you'd like to turn into a little hard cash?
389 00:21:46 "Just give me a smile and I'll help you collect. "
390 00:21:48 Boy, what a dope you must think I am. I think you're rotten.
391 00:21:52 I think you're swell, so long as I'm not your husband.
392 00:21:54 Get out of here. You bet I'll get out of here, baby.
393 00:21:57 I'll get out of here, but quick.
394 00:22:09 So I let her have it straight between the eyes.
395 00:22:11 She didn't fool me for a minute, not this time.
396 00:22:14 I knew I had hold of a red-hot poker...
397 00:22:16 and the time to drop it was before it burned my hand off.
398 00:22:19 I stopped at a drive-in for a bottle of beer,
399 00:22:22 the one I had wanted all along...
400 00:22:23 only I wanted it worse now,
401 00:22:25 to get rid of the sour taste of her iced tea...
402 00:22:27 and everything that went with it.
403 00:22:29 I didn't want to go back to the office
404 00:22:31 so I dropped by a bowling alley...
405 00:22:32 at Third and Western and rolled a few lines...
406 00:22:35 to get my mind thinking about something else for a while.
407 00:22:39 I didn't feel like eating dinner
408 00:22:40 when I left, and I didn't feel like a show.
409 00:22:43 So, I drove home, put the car away and went up to my apartment.
410 00:22:48 It had begun to rain outside and I watched it get dark...
411 00:22:51 and didn't even turn on the light.
412 00:22:53 That didn't help me either.
413 00:22:55 I was all twisted up inside...
414 00:22:57 and I was still holding on to that red-hot poker.
415 00:23:00 And right then it came over me
416 00:23:02 that I hadn't walked out on anything at all.
417 00:23:04 That the hook was too strong...
418 00:23:06 that this wasn't the end between her and me.
419 00:23:09 It was only the beginning.
420 00:23:12 So at 8:00 the bell would ring
421 00:23:14 and I'd know who it was without even having to think.
422 00:23:17 As if it was the most natural thing in the world.
423 00:23:23 Hello. You forgot your hat this afternoon.
424 00:23:27 Did I? Don't you want me to bring it in?
425 00:23:30 Sure.
426 00:23:33 Put it on the chair.
427 00:23:43 How'd you know where I live? It's in the phone book.
428 00:23:47 It's raining. Yeah.
429 00:23:50 Peel off your coat and sit down.
430 00:23:55 Your husband out?
431 00:23:56 Yes. Long Beach. They're spudding in a new well.
432 00:23:58 He phoned he'd be late. About 9:30.
433 00:24:01 It's about time you said you were glad to see me.
434 00:24:03 I knew you wouldn't leave it like that.
435 00:24:05 Like what? Like it was this afternoon.
436 00:24:08 I must have said something
437 00:24:10 that gave you a terribly wrong impression.
438 00:24:11 You must never think anything like that about me, Walter.
439 00:24:14 Okay. No, it's not okay.
440 00:24:16 Not if you don't believe me. What do you want me to do?
441 00:24:19 I want you to be nice to me.
442 00:24:22 Like the first time you came to the house.
443 00:24:25 It can't be like the first time.
444 00:24:27 Something's happened. I know it has.
445 00:24:30 It's happened to us.
446 00:24:35 I feel as if he was watching me. Not that he cares. Not anymore.
447 00:24:40 He keeps me on a leash so tight I can't breathe.
448 00:24:43 He's in Long Beach, isn't he? Relax.
449 00:24:46 Maybe I oughtn't to have come.
450 00:24:48 Maybe you oughtn't. You want me to go?
451 00:24:51 If you want to. Right now?
452 00:24:53 Sure, right now.
453 00:25:11 I'm crazy about you, baby. I'm crazy about you, Walter.
454 00:25:14 That perfume on your hair. What's the name of it?
455 00:25:17 I don't know. I bought it in Ensenada.
456 00:25:21 You ought to have some of that pink wine to go with it.
457 00:25:23 The kind that bubbles. All I got is bourbon.
458 00:25:27 Bourbon is fine, Walter.
459 00:25:36 Get a couple of glasses, will you?
460 00:25:46 Club soda? Plain water, please.
461 00:25:49 You know, about six months ago
462 00:25:51 a guy slipped on a cake of soap in his bathtub...
463 00:25:53 and knocked himself cold and was drowned.
464 00:25:55 Only he had accident insurance.
465 00:25:57 So they had an autopsy and she didn't get away with it.
466 00:26:00 Who didn't? His wife.
467 00:26:04 Then there was a case of a guy who was found shot.
468 00:26:07 His wife said he was cleaning a gun
469 00:26:09 and his stomach got in the way.
470 00:26:11 All she collected was a three-to-ten stretch in Tehachapi.
471 00:26:15 Perhaps it was worth it to her.
472 00:26:19 See if you can carry that as far as the living room.
473 00:26:25 It's nice here, Walter. Who takes care of it for you?
474 00:26:28 A colored woman comes in a couple of times a week.
475 00:26:31 Cook your own breakfast? Squeeze a grapefruit once in a while.
476 00:26:34 Get the rest down at the corner drugstore. Sounds wonderful.
477 00:26:37 Just strangers beside you.
478 00:26:39 You don't know them and you don't hate them.
479 00:26:42 You don't have to sit across the table...
480 00:26:44 and smile at him and
481 00:26:46 that daughter of his every morning of your life.
482 00:26:47 What daughter? You mean the little girl on the piano?
483 00:26:50 Lola. She lives with us.
484 00:26:52 He thinks a lot more of her than he does of me.
485 00:26:55 You ever think of a divorce? He wouldn't give me a divorce.
486 00:26:58 I suppose because it'd cost him too much money.
487 00:26:59 He hasn't got any money. Not since he went into the oil business.
488 00:27:02 But he had when you married him?
489 00:27:04 Yes, he had. And I wanted a home. Why not?
490 00:27:09 But that's not the only reason. I was his wife's nurse.
491 00:27:13 She was sick a long time.
492 00:27:14 When she died, he was terribly broken up.
493 00:27:18 I pitied him so. And now you hate him.
494 00:27:20 Yes, Walter. He's so mean to me.
495 00:27:23 Every time I buy a dress or a pair of shoes
496 00:27:25 he yells his head off.
497 00:27:26 He never lets me go anywhere. He keeps me shut up.
498 00:27:28 He's always been mean to me.
499 00:27:30 Even his life insurance all goes to that daughter of his.
500 00:27:34 That Lola. Nothing for you at all?
501 00:27:37 No. And nothing is just what I'm worth to him.
502 00:27:40 So you lie awake in the dark
503 00:27:41 and listen to him snore and get ideas.
504 00:27:44 Walter, I don't want to kill him. I never did.
505 00:27:47 Not even when he gets drunk and slaps my face.
506 00:27:53 Only sometimes you wish he was dead. Perhaps I do.
507 00:27:56 Then you wish it was an accident,
508 00:27:57 and you had that policy for $50,000.
509 00:28:00 Is that it? Perhaps that, too.
510 00:28:05 The other night we drove home from a party. He was drunk again.
511 00:28:08 When we drove into the garage,
512 00:28:10 he just sat there with his head on the steering wheel...
513 00:28:12 and the motor still running.
514 00:28:14 And I thought what it would be like if I didn't switch it off...
515 00:28:18 just closed the garage doors and left him there.
516 00:28:21 I'll tell you what it'd be like.
517 00:28:22 If you had that accident policy
518 00:28:23 and tried to pull a monoxide job...
519 00:28:25 We've got a guy in our office named Keyes.
520 00:28:27 For him a setup like
521 00:28:28 that'd be just like a slice of rare roast beef.
522 00:28:30 In three minutes he'd know it wasn't an accident.
523 00:28:32 In 10 minutes you'd be sitting under the hot lights.
524 00:28:34 In a half-hour you'd be signing your name to a confession.
525 00:28:36 But, Walter, I didn't do it and I'm not going to do it.
526 00:28:38 Not if there's an insurance company in the picture, baby.
527 00:28:41 They know more tricks than a carload of monkeys.
528 00:28:43 And if there's a death mixed up in it, you haven't got a prayer.
529 00:28:45 They'll hang you just as sure as ten dimes will buy a dollar.
530 00:28:49 And I don't want you to hang, baby.
531 00:28:54 Stop thinking about it, will you?
532 00:28:59 So we just sat there.
533 00:29:01 She started crying softly, like the rain on the window,
534 00:29:04 and we didn't say anything.
535 00:29:06 Maybe she had stopped thinking about it, but I hadn't.
536 00:29:09 I couldn't.
537 00:29:10 Because it all tied up with something
538 00:29:11 I'd been thinking about for years.
539 00:29:13 Since long before I ever ran into Phyllis Dietrichson.
540 00:29:17 Because you know how it is, Keyes.
541 00:29:20 In this business you can't sleep...
542 00:29:21 for trying to figure out all the tricks they could pull on you.
543 00:29:24 You're like the guy behind the roulette wheel...
544 00:29:25 watching the customers to make sure they don't crook the house.
545 00:29:29 And then one night, you get to thinking
546 00:29:30 how you could crook the house yourself.
547 00:29:32 And do it smart.
548 00:29:34 Because you've got that wheel right under your hands.
549 00:29:36 You know every notch in it by heart.
550 00:29:38 And you figure all you need is a plant out front.
551 00:29:41 A shill to put down the bet.
552 00:29:44 And suddenly the doorbell rings...
553 00:29:45 and the whole setup is right there in the room with you.
554 00:29:52 Look, Keyes, I'm not trying to whitewash myself.
555 00:29:56 I fought it, only I guess I didn't fight it hard enough.
556 00:30:01 The stakes were $50,000, but they were the life of a man, too.
557 00:30:05 A man who'd never done me any dirt, except...
558 00:30:09 he was married to a woman he didn't care anything about.
559 00:30:13 And I did.
560 00:30:26 Will you phone me? Walter?
561 00:30:32 I hate him. I loathe going back to him.
562 00:30:35 You believe me, don't you, Walter? Sure I believe you.
563 00:30:41 I can't stand it anymore. What if they did hang me?
564 00:30:44 They're not going to hang you, baby.
565 00:30:46 It's better than going on this way.
566 00:30:48 They're not gonna hang you because...
567 00:30:49 you're gonna do it and I'm gonna help you.
568 00:30:51 Do you know what you're saying? Sure, I know what I'm saying.
569 00:30:54 We're gonna do it and we're gonna do it right.
570 00:30:55 And I'm the guy that knows how. Walter, you're hurting me.
571 00:30:59 There's not going to be any slip-up.
572 00:31:00 Nothing sloppy. Nothing weak.
573 00:31:02 It's got to be perfect.
574 00:31:16 Call me tomorrow. But not from your house. From a booth.
575 00:31:18 And watch your step every single minute.
576 00:31:20 This has got to be perfect, you understand?
577 00:31:23 Straight down the line.
578 00:31:24 Straight down the line.
579 00:32:09 That was it, Keyes.
580 00:32:11 The machinery had started to move and nothing could stop it.
581 00:32:15 The first thing we had to do
582 00:32:16 was fix him up with that accident policy.
583 00:32:19 I knew he wouldn't buy,
584 00:32:20 but all I wanted was his signature on an application.
585 00:32:23 So I had to get him to sign without his knowing
586 00:32:25 what he was signing.
587 00:32:27 And I wanted another witness
588 00:32:30 besides Phyllis to hear me give him a sales talk.
589 00:32:32 I was trying to think with your brains, Keyes...
590 00:32:34 because I wanted all the answers ready...
591 00:32:36 for all the questions you were gonna spring
592 00:32:39 as soon as Dietrichson was dead.
593 00:32:41 A couple of nights later I went to the house.
594 00:32:44 Everything looked fine,
595 00:32:45 except I didn't like the witness Phyllis had brought in.
596 00:32:48 It was Dietrichson's daughter, Lola.
597 00:32:51 And it made me feel a little queer in the belly...
598 00:32:54 to have her sitting right there in the room,
599 00:32:56 playing Chinese checkers...
600 00:32:58 as if nothing were going to happen.
601 00:33:02 I suppose you realize, Mr. Dietrichson...
602 00:33:03 that, not being an employee...
603 00:33:05 you are not covered by the State Compensation Insurance Act.
604 00:33:07 The only way you can protect yourself is
605 00:33:09 by having a personal policy of your own.
606 00:33:11 Yeah, I know all about that.
607 00:33:12 The next thing you'll tell me I need...
608 00:33:13 earthquake insurance and lightning insurance and hail insurance.
609 00:33:17 If we bought all the insurance they can think up...
610 00:33:19 we'd stay broke paying for it, wouldn't we, honey?
611 00:33:21 What keeps us broke is you going out
612 00:33:23 and buying five hats at a crack.
613 00:33:24 Who needs a hat in California?
614 00:33:26 Dollar for dollar, Mr. Dietrichson...
615 00:33:28 accident insurance is the cheapest coverage you can buy.
616 00:33:31 Well, maybe some other time, Mr. Neff. I had a tough day.
617 00:33:33 Just as you say.
618 00:33:35 Suppose we just settle that automobile insurance tonight.
619 00:33:38 Sure.
620 00:33:39 All we'll need on that is for you to sign
621 00:33:41 the application for renewal.
622 00:33:43 Phyllis, do you mind if we don't finish this game?
623 00:33:44 It bores me stiff. Got something better to do?
624 00:33:47 Yes, I have.
625 00:33:49 Father, is it all right if I run along now?
626 00:33:51 Run along where? Who with? Just Anne. We're going roller-skating.
627 00:33:54 Anne who? Anne Matthews.
628 00:33:56 It's not that Nino Zachetti again, is it?
629 00:33:58 It better not be that Zachetti guy.
630 00:34:00 If I ever catch you with that...
631 00:34:01 It's Anne Matthews, I told you.
632 00:34:03 And I also told you we're going roller-skating.
633 00:34:05 I'm meeting her
634 00:34:06 at the corner of Vermont and Franklin, the northwest corner...
635 00:34:08 in case you're interested, and I'm late already.
636 00:34:10 I hope that's all quite clear. Good night, Father.
637 00:34:13 Good night, Phyllis. Good night, Miss Dietrichson.
638 00:34:16 I'm sorry. Good night, Mr... Neff.
639 00:34:18 Good night, Mr. Neff.
640 00:34:22 A great little fighter for her weight.
641 00:34:26 Now, if you'll just sign these, Mr. Dietrichson.
642 00:34:28 Sign what? The applications for the auto renewals.
643 00:34:30 So you'll be covered until the new policies are issued.
644 00:34:32 When will that be? About a week.
645 00:34:34 Just so I'm covered when I drive up north.
646 00:34:36 San Francisco? Palo Alto.
647 00:34:38 He was a Stanford man, Mr. Neff.
648 00:34:40 And he still goes to his class reunion every year.
649 00:34:42 What's wrong with that?
650 00:34:44 Can't I have a little fun, even once a year?
651 00:34:46 Great football school, Stanford.
652 00:34:48 Did you play football, Mr. Dietrichson? Left guard.
653 00:34:50 Almost made the varsity, too. Where do I sign?
654 00:34:51 The bottom line.
655 00:34:57 Both copies, please. Sign twice, huh?
656 00:35:00 Yes. One is the agent's copy.
657 00:35:01 I need it for my files. Files. Duplicates. Triplicates.
658 00:35:11 Thank you, Mr. Dietrichson.
659 00:35:12 Don't worry about the check,
660 00:35:13 I can pick it up at your office some morning.
661 00:35:15 How much you taking me for? $147.50.
662 00:35:17 I think that's enough insurance for one evening, Mr. Neff.
663 00:35:20 Plenty.
664 00:35:25 Bring me some soda when you come up,
665 00:35:26 Phyllis. Good night, Mr. Neff.
666 00:35:28 Good night, Mr. Dietrichson.
667 00:35:29 I think you left your hat in the hall, Mr. Neff.
668 00:35:47 Good night, Mr. Neff.
669 00:35:52 All right, Walter? Fine.
670 00:35:53 He signed it, didn't he? Sure he signed it. You saw him.
671 00:35:55 Now, listen. That trip to Palo Alto. When does he leave?
672 00:35:57 End of the month.
673 00:35:58 He drives, huh? He always drives.
674 00:35:59 Not this time. You're gonna make him take the train.
675 00:36:01 Why? Because it's all worked out for a train.
676 00:36:02 Listen, baby. There's a clause in every accident policy...
677 00:36:05 a little thing called double indemnity.
678 00:36:07 The insurance companies put it in
679 00:36:08 as a sort of come-on for the customers.
680 00:36:10 That means they pay double on certain accidents.
681 00:36:12 The kind that almost never happen.
682 00:36:14 Like for instance, if a guy is killed on the train...
683 00:36:16 they pay $100,000 instead of $50,000.
684 00:36:19 I see. We're hitting it for the limit, baby.
685 00:36:21 That's why it's got to be the train.
686 00:36:25 It'll be the train, Walter. Just the way you want it.
687 00:36:28 Straight down the line.
688 00:36:49 Hello, Mr. Neff.
689 00:36:52 It's me.
690 00:36:54 Is anything wrong? I've been waiting for you.
691 00:36:57 For me? Why?
692 00:36:58 I thought you could let me ride with you, if you're going my way.
693 00:37:06 Which way would that be? Down the hill. Down Vermont.
694 00:37:10 Sure. Vermont and Franklin. Northwest corner, wasn't it?
695 00:37:13 Be glad to, Miss Dietrichson.
696 00:37:19 Going roller-skating, huh?
697 00:37:21 You like roller-skating? I can take it or leave it.
698 00:37:25 Only tonight you're leaving it? Yes, I am.
699 00:37:30 I'm having a very tough time at home.
700 00:37:32 My father doesn't understand me and Phyllis hates me.
701 00:37:36 Sounds tough, all right. That's why I have to lie sometimes.
702 00:37:40 You mean it's not Vermont and Franklin?
703 00:37:41 It's Vermont and Franklin all right.
704 00:37:43 Only it's not Anne Matthews. It's Nino Zachetti.
705 00:37:47 You won't tell on me, will you?
706 00:37:49 I'd have to think it over. Nino's not what my father says at all.
707 00:37:52 He's just had bad luck. He was doing premed at USC...
708 00:37:55 and working nights as an usher in a theater downtown.
709 00:37:58 Got behind in his credits, flunked out.
710 00:38:01 Then he lost his job for talking back. He's so hot-headed.
711 00:38:06 Becomes expensive, doesn't it?
712 00:38:08 Guess my father thinks nobody's good enough for his daughter...
713 00:38:10 except maybe the guy that owns Standard Oil.
714 00:38:13 I wish he'd see it my way. I can't give Nino up.
715 00:38:18 It'll all straighten out, Miss Dietrichson.
716 00:38:20 I suppose it will sometime.
717 00:38:22 This is the corner right here, Mr. Neff.
718 00:38:27 Nino? Over here, Nino.
719 00:38:38 This is Mr. Neff, Nino. Hello, Nino.
720 00:38:41 The name is Zachetti.
721 00:38:43 Nino, please. Mr. Neff gave me a ride from the house.
722 00:38:45 I told him all about us.
723 00:38:46 Why does he have to get told about us?
724 00:38:48 We don't have to worry about Mr. Neff, Nino.
725 00:38:50 I'm not doing any worrying.
726 00:38:52 Just don't you broadcast so much.
727 00:38:53 Well, what's the matter with you, Nino?
728 00:38:55 Why, he's a friend. I don't have any friends.
729 00:38:57 If I did, I like to pick them myself. Come on.
730 00:39:00 Look, sonny, she needed a ride, so I brought her along.
731 00:39:02 Is that anything to get tough about?
732 00:39:04 All right, Lola, make up your mind. Are you coming or aren't you?
733 00:39:07 Of course I'm coming.
734 00:39:11 Don't mind him, Mr. Neff. And thanks a lot for the ride.
735 00:39:15 You're awfully sweet. Nino?
736 00:39:22 She was a nice kid.
737 00:39:24 Maybe he was a little better than he sounded.
738 00:39:27 But right then
739 00:39:30 it gave me a nasty feeling to be thinking about them at all...
740 00:39:31 with that briefcase right behind my head
741 00:39:33 that had her father's signature in it...
742 00:39:35 and what that signature meant.
743 00:39:37 It meant he was a dead pigeon.
744 00:39:39 It was only a question of time, and not very much time at that.
745 00:39:43 You know that big market up on Los Feliz, Keyes?
746 00:39:47 That's the place Phyllis and I had picked for a meeting place.
747 00:39:50 I already had most of the plan in my head...
748 00:39:52 but a lot of details had to be worked out.
749 00:39:55 And she had to know them all by heart when the time came.
750 00:39:59 We had to be very careful from now on.
751 00:40:02 We couldn't let anybody see us together.
752 00:40:04 We couldn't even talk to each other on the telephone.
753 00:40:07 Not from her house or at my office, anyway.
754 00:40:11 So she was to be in the market every morning about 11:00,
755 00:40:13 buying stuff.
756 00:40:15 And I could sort of run into her there any day I wanted to.
757 00:40:19 Sort of accidentally on purpose.
758 00:40:22 Walter, I wanted to... Not so loud.
759 00:40:26 I wanted to talk to you, ever since yesterday.
760 00:40:28 Let me talk first. It's all set.
761 00:40:30 The accident policy came through. I've got it in my pocket.
762 00:40:33 I got his check, too. I saw him down in the oil fields.
763 00:40:36 He thought he was paying for the auto insurance.
764 00:40:38 The check's just made out to the company,
765 00:40:39 so it could be for anything.
766 00:40:41 But you have to send a check for the auto insurance, see?
767 00:40:44 It'll be all right that way,
768 00:40:45 because one of the cars is in your name.
769 00:40:47 Open your bag. Quick.
770 00:40:54 Can you get in the safe-deposit box?
771 00:40:55 Yes. We both have keys. Fine.
772 00:40:57 But don't put the policy in there yet. I'll tell you when.
773 00:41:00 Remember, you never saw it, you never even touched it,
774 00:41:02 you understand?
775 00:41:02 I'm not a fool. Okay. When is he leaving on the train?
776 00:41:05 That's just it. He isn't going. What?
777 00:41:07 That's what I've been trying to tell you. The trip is off.
778 00:41:09 What happened?
779 00:41:12 Mister, could you reach me that package of baby food?
780 00:41:15 That one up there?
781 00:41:18 I don't know why they always put what I want on the top shelf.
782 00:41:24 Go ahead. I'm listening.
783 00:41:25 He had a fall-down at the well. Broke his leg. It's in a cast.
784 00:41:28 Broke his leg? What do we do now, Walter?
785 00:41:31 Nothing. We just wait. Wait for what?
786 00:41:33 Until he can take the train.
787 00:41:35 I told you it's got to be the train.
788 00:41:36 But we can't wait. I can't go on like this.
789 00:41:37 Look, we're not gonna grab a hammer
790 00:41:39 and do it quick, just to get it over with.
791 00:41:40 There are other ways. We're not gonna do it other ways.
792 00:41:43 But we can't leave it like this.
793 00:41:44 What do you suppose would happen
794 00:41:46 if he found out about the accident policy?
795 00:41:47 Plenty. But not as bad as sitting in that death house.
796 00:41:50 Don't ever talk like that.
797 00:41:51 Don't let's start losing our heads, that's all.
798 00:41:52 It's not our heads. It's our nerve we're losing.
799 00:41:59 Excuse me.
800 00:42:03 We're gonna do it right. That's all I said.
801 00:42:05 It's the waiting that's getting me.
802 00:42:06 It's getting me just as bad, baby.
803 00:42:08 But we've got to wait. Maybe we have, Walter, only...
804 00:42:11 it's so tough without you. It's like a wall between us.
805 00:42:16 I better go, baby. I'm thinking of you every minute.
806 00:42:26 After that, a full week went by and I didn't see her once.
807 00:42:29 I tried to keep my mind off her and off the whole idea.
808 00:42:33 I kept telling myself
809 00:42:34 that maybe those Fates they say watch over you...
810 00:42:36 had gotten together and broken his leg to give me a way out.
811 00:42:40 Then it was the 15th of June. You may remember that date, Keyes.
812 00:42:45 You came into my office around 3:00 in the afternoon.
813 00:42:49 Hello, Keyes.
814 00:42:50 I just came from Norton's office.
815 00:42:52 The semiannual sales records are out.
816 00:42:53 You're high man, Walter.
817 00:42:55 That's twice in a row. Congratulations.
818 00:42:56 Thanks. How would you like a cheap drink?
819 00:42:59 How would you like a $50 cut in salary?
820 00:43:01 Do I laugh now or wait till it gets funny? No, I'm serious.
821 00:43:04 I've just been talking to Norton.
822 00:43:06 Too much stuff piling up on my desk.
823 00:43:07 Too much pressure on my nerves.
824 00:43:09 I spend half the night walking up and down in my bed.
825 00:43:11 I've got to have an assistant and I thought of you.
826 00:43:13 Me? Why pick on me?
827 00:43:14 Well, because I've got a crazy idea you might be good at the job.
828 00:43:17 That's crazy, all right. I'm a salesman.
829 00:43:18 Yeah. A peddler, a gladhander, a backslapper.
830 00:43:22 You're too good to be a salesman.
831 00:43:23 Nobody's too good to be a salesman. Phooey!
832 00:43:25 All you guys do is just ring doorbells
833 00:43:28 and dish out a smooth line of monkey talk.
834 00:43:29 What's troubling you is that $50 cut, isn't it?
835 00:43:31 Well, that'd trouble anybody. Now look, Walter.
836 00:43:33 The job I'm talking about takes brains and integrity.
837 00:43:36 It takes more guts than there is in 50 salesmen.
838 00:43:38 It's the hottest job in the business.
839 00:43:39 Yeah, but it's still a desk job.
840 00:43:40 I don't want to be nailed to a desk. Desk job?
841 00:43:43 Is that all you can see in it?
842 00:43:44 Just a hard chair to park your pants on from 9:00 to 5:00, huh?
843 00:43:47 Just a pile of papers to shuffle around,
844 00:43:49 and five sharp pencils...
845 00:43:50 and a scratch pad to make figures on,
846 00:43:53 maybe a little doodling on the side.
847 00:43:55 Well, that's not the way I look at it, Walter.
848 00:43:57 To me, a claims man is a surgeon,
849 00:44:00 that desk is an operating table...
850 00:44:01 and those pencils are scalpels and bone chisels.
851 00:44:04 And those papers are not just
852 00:44:05 forms and statistics and claims for compensation.
853 00:44:08 They're alive. They're packed with drama...
854 00:44:11 with twisted hopes and crooked dreams.
855 00:44:13 A claims man, Walter, is a doctor and a bloodhound and a...
856 00:44:19 Who? Okay, hold on a minute.
857 00:44:21 A claims man is a doctor
858 00:44:23 and a bloodhound and a cop and a judge and a jury...
859 00:44:25 and a father confessor, all in one.
860 00:44:26 And you want to tell me you're not interested?
861 00:44:28 You don't want to work with your brains?
862 00:44:29 All you want to work is with your finger on the doorbell...
863 00:44:31 for a few bucks more a week. There's a dame on your phone.
864 00:44:35 Walter Neff speaking. I had to call you, Walter.
865 00:44:37 It's very urgent. Are you with somebody?
866 00:44:40 Yes, I am. Can't I call you back, Margie?
867 00:44:44 No, you can't. I've only got a minute. It can't wait.
868 00:44:47 Listen. He's going tonight. On the train. Are you listening?
869 00:44:51 Walter? Yeah. I'm listening, Margie.
870 00:44:54 Only, make it snappy, will you? He's on crutches.
871 00:44:57 The doctor says
872 00:44:58 he can go if he's careful. The change will do him good.
873 00:45:00 It's wonderful, Walter. Just the way you wanted it, on a train.
874 00:45:03 Only with the crutches it makes it much better, doesn't it?
875 00:45:06 Yeah. Yeah, that's 100% better.
876 00:45:10 Hold the line a minute, will you?
877 00:45:11 Keyes, suppose I join you in your office?
878 00:45:13 That's all right. I'll wait.
879 00:45:14 Only tell her not to take all day.
880 00:45:18 Go ahead.
881 00:45:20 It's the 10:15 from Glendale. I'm driving him.
882 00:45:23 It's still the same dark street, isn't it?
883 00:45:25 And the signal is three honks on the horn. Okay. Anything else?
884 00:45:29 No.
885 00:45:30 Oh, uh...
886 00:45:31 what color did you pick?
887 00:45:33 Blue. Navy blue. And the cast is on his left leg.
888 00:45:37 Mmm-hmm.
889 00:45:38 Yeah, that suits me fine.
890 00:45:40 This is it, Walter. I'm shaking like a leaf.
891 00:45:42 But it's straight down the line for both of us.
892 00:45:46 I love you, Walter. Goodbye.
893 00:45:50 Sorry, Keyes. What's the matter?
894 00:45:52 Dames chasing you again? Or still? Or is it none of my business?
895 00:45:55 If I told you it was a customer...
896 00:45:57 Margie. I bet she drinks from the bottle.
897 00:45:59 Why don't you settle down and get married, Walter?
898 00:46:01 Why don't you, for instance? I almost did, once. Long time ago.
899 00:46:05 Now look, Keyes, I've got to call on a prospect.
900 00:46:07 Even had the church picked out, the dame and I.
901 00:46:09 She had a white satin dress with flounces on it.
902 00:46:11 I was on my way to the jewelry store to buy the ring.
903 00:46:14 And then suddenly that little man in here started working on me.
904 00:46:17 So you went back and had her investigated?
905 00:46:19 Yeah. And the stuff that came out...
906 00:46:22 She'd been dyeing her hair ever since she was 16.
907 00:46:24 There was a manic depressive in her family, on her mother's side.
908 00:46:27 She already had one husband.
909 00:46:29 He was a professional pool player in Baltimore.
910 00:46:31 And as for her brother... I get the general idea.
911 00:46:33 She was a tramp from a long line of tramps.
912 00:46:35 Yeah. All right, all right.
913 00:46:37 Now what do I say to Norton? What about this job I want you for?
914 00:46:40 I don't think I want it, Keyes.
915 00:46:41 Thanks just the same. Fair enough.
916 00:46:45 Only get this, I picked you for the job...
917 00:46:47 not because I think you're so darn smart...
918 00:46:49 but because I thought you were a shade less dumb
919 00:46:51 than the rest of the outfit.
920 00:47:00 Guess I was wrong. You're not smarter, Walter.
921 00:47:03 You're just a little taller.
922 00:47:16 Yes, Keyes.
923 00:47:17 Those Fates I was talking about had only been stalling me off.
924 00:47:21 Now they had thrown the switch. The gears had meshed.
925 00:47:25 The time for thinking had all run out.
926 00:47:28 I wanted my movements accounted
927 00:47:29 for up to the last possible moment.
928 00:47:32 So when I left the office
929 00:47:34 I put my rate book on the desk as if I had forgotten it.
930 00:47:36 That was part of my alibi.
931 00:47:39 From here on, it was a question of following the timetable...
932 00:47:42 move by move.
933 00:47:45 I got home about 7:00 and drove right into the garage.
934 00:47:48 This was another item to establish my alibi.
935 00:47:53 Hi, Mr. Neff. Hello, Charlie.
936 00:47:55 How about giving the heap a wash job?
937 00:47:57 How soon you gonna want it?
938 00:47:58 I got a couple cars ahead of you.
939 00:48:00 Any time you get to it, Charlie.
940 00:48:01 I'm staying in tonight. Okay.
941 00:48:03 Up in my apartment I called Lou Schwartz...
942 00:48:06 one of the salesmen that shared my office.
943 00:48:08 He lived in Westwood,
944 00:48:09 so it was a toll call and there'd be a record of it.
945 00:48:11 I told him I'd forgotten my rate book and needed some dope...
946 00:48:14 on the public liability bond I was figuring.
947 00:48:17 I changed into
948 00:48:18 a navy blue suit like Dietrichson was going to wear.
949 00:48:21 Lou Schwartz called me back and gave me a lot of figures.
950 00:48:24 I stuffed a hand towel and a roll of adhesive into my pockets...
951 00:48:26 so I could fake something
952 00:48:28 that looked like a cast on a broken leg.
953 00:48:30 Next, I stuck a card inside the telephone box...
954 00:48:32 so that it would fall down if the bell rang.
955 00:48:35 That way I'd know if anybody had called me while I was away.
956 00:48:39 Then I did the same thing to the doorbell
957 00:48:41 in case anybody came to see me.
958 00:48:44 I left the apartment by the service stairs. Nobody saw me.
959 00:48:48 I walked all the way from my apartment to the Dietrichson house.
960 00:48:52 I didn't want to take the bus...
961 00:48:53 because there was always the chance
962 00:48:55 that someone might remember seeing me on it.
963 00:48:57 I was being that careful.
964 00:48:59 I could smell that honeysuckle again.
965 00:49:02 Only it was even stronger, now that it was night.
966 00:49:09 I slid the garage door open as quietly as I could.
967 00:49:13 She'd backed the sedan in, just the way I told her to.
968 00:49:16 I'd figured it was safer that way...
969 00:49:18 in case he got into the car before she drove it out.
970 00:49:21 I got into the back of the car.
971 00:49:23 I lay there on the floor and waited.
972 00:49:26 All the time I was thinking about
973 00:49:27 that dark street on the way to the station...
974 00:49:29 where I was to do it...
975 00:49:31 and the three honks on the horn that were to be the signal.
976 00:49:34 About 10 minutes later they came down.
977 00:49:36 All right, honey? Yeah, I'm all right.
978 00:49:38 I'll have the car out in a second.
979 00:50:17 Take it easy, honey. We've got lots of time. Yeah.
980 00:50:40 Remember what the doctor said. If you get careless...
981 00:50:42 you might end up with a shorter leg.
982 00:50:44 So what? I could break the other one and match them up again.
983 00:50:48 It makes you feel pretty good to get away from me, doesn't it?
984 00:50:51 It's only for four days. I'll be back Monday at the latest.
985 00:51:10 This is not the right street. Why did you turn here?
986 00:51:18 What are you doing that for?
987 00:51:21 What are you honking the horn for?
988 00:52:23 You take care of the redcap and the conductor.
989 00:52:25 Don't worry. Keep away from me as much as you can.
990 00:52:28 Tell them I don't want to be helped.
991 00:52:29 I said, don't worry, Walter.
992 00:52:30 You start as soon as the train leaves.
993 00:52:33 When you get to the refinery,
994 00:52:34 turn off the highway onto the dirt road.
995 00:52:35 From there it's exactly eight-tenths of a mile...
996 00:52:37 to the dump beside the tracks. Remember.
997 00:52:39 I remember everything. No speeding.
998 00:52:42 You don't want any cops stopping you with him in the back.
999 00:52:45 Walter, we've been through all that so many times.
1000 00:52:48 When you leave the highway, turn off all your lights.
1001 00:52:50 I'll be back on the observation platform.
1002 00:52:52 I'll drop off as close to the spot as I can.
1003 00:52:55 Let the train pass, then dim your lights twice.
1004 00:53:00 San Francisco train, lady? Car 9, section 11.
1005 00:53:03 Just my husband.
1006 00:53:03 Car 9, section 11? This way please.
1007 00:53:14 Thank you. My husband doesn't like to be helped.
1008 00:53:16 Car number 8. Up there.
1009 00:53:23 Car 9, section 11. Thank you.
1010 00:53:29 Here're the tickets. Take good care of yourself with that leg.
1011 00:53:32 Yeah. You take it easy driving home.
1012 00:53:33 I'll miss you, honey. Section 11, sir.
1013 00:53:39 All aboard! Thank you.
1014 00:53:41 Goodbye, honey. All aboard!
1015 00:53:49 Good luck, honey.
1016 00:53:59 Porter, will you make up my berth right away?
1017 00:54:00 Yes, sir.
1018 00:54:02 I'm going back to the observation car for a smoke.
1019 00:54:03 Right this way, sir.
1020 00:54:37 Like a chair?
1021 00:54:41 No, thanks. I'd rather stand.
1022 00:54:45 You going far? Palo Alto.
1023 00:54:49 My name's Jackson.
1024 00:54:50 I'm going all the way to Medford. Medford, Oregon.
1025 00:54:54 I had a broken arm once.
1026 00:54:56 That darn cast itches something fierce, doesn't it?
1027 00:55:00 I thought I'd go crazy with mine.
1028 00:55:02 Palo Alto's a nice little town. You a Stanford man?
1029 00:55:07 I used to be. I'll bet you left something behind.
1030 00:55:12 I always do.
1031 00:55:14 My cigar case.
1032 00:55:15 I guess I left it in my overcoat back in the section.
1033 00:55:17 Would you care to roll yourself a cigarette, Mister...
1034 00:55:20 Dietrichson.
1035 00:55:22 No thanks, I really prefer a cigar.
1036 00:55:25 Maybe the porter could... Well, I could get your cigars for you.
1037 00:55:28 Be glad to, Mr. Dietrichson. If it's not too much trouble.
1038 00:55:32 Car 9, section 11. Car 9, section 11.
1039 00:55:35 With pleasure.
1040 00:56:20 Okay. This has gotta be fast.
1041 00:56:22 Here, take his hat. Pick up the crutches back on the tracks.
1042 00:56:54 Okay, baby. That's it.
1043 00:57:55 All right. Let's go.
1044 00:58:06 On the way back, we went over once more...
1045 00:58:08 what she was to do at the inquest...
1046 00:58:10 if they had one, and about the insurance, when that came up.
1047 00:58:13 I was afraid she might go to pieces a little,
1048 00:58:15 now that we had done it.
1049 00:58:17 But she was perfect. No nerves.
1050 00:58:19 Not a tear, not even a blink of the eyes.
1051 00:58:22 She dropped me a block from my apartment house.
1052 00:58:26 Walter, what's the matter? Aren't you going to kiss me?
1053 00:58:34 It's straight down the line, isn't it?
1054 00:58:42 I love you, Walter. I love you, baby.
1055 00:58:58 It was two minutes past 11:00,
1056 00:59:00 as I went up the service stairs again.
1057 00:59:02 Nobody saw me this time either.
1058 00:59:05 In the apartment I checked the bells.
1059 00:59:06 The cards hadn't moved. No calls. No visitors.
1060 00:59:11 Then I changed my clothes again.
1061 00:59:13 That left one last thing to do.
1062 00:59:16 I had to go down to the garage. I wanted Charlie to see me again.
1063 00:59:26 You gonna use your car, after all? I'm not quite through.
1064 00:59:29 Well, that's all right, Charlie.
1065 00:59:31 Just going up to the drugstore to get something to eat.
1066 00:59:34 Been working upstairs all night.
1067 00:59:36 My stomach's getting a little sore at me.
1068 00:59:37 Yes, sir, Mr. Neff.
1069 00:59:40 That was all there was to it.
1070 00:59:42 Nothing had slipped, nothing had been overlooked.
1071 00:59:45 There was nothing to give us away.
1072 00:59:47 And yet, Keyes,
1073 00:59:49 as I was walking down the street to the drugstore...
1074 00:59:51 suddenly it came over me that everything would go wrong.
1075 00:59:55 It sounds crazy, Keyes, but it's true, so help me.
1076 00:59:58 I couldn't hear my own footsteps.
1077 01:00:04 It was the walk of a dead man.
1078 01:00:14 That was the longest night I ever lived through, Keyes...
1079 01:00:16 and the next day was worse,
1080 01:00:18 when the story had broke in the papers...
1081 01:00:20 and they started talking about it at the office...
1082 01:00:22 and the day after that, when you started digging into it.
1083 01:00:26 I kept my hands in my pockets
1084 01:00:28 because I thought they were shaking.
1085 01:00:30 I put on dark glasses so people couldn't see my eyes.
1086 01:00:32 And then I took them off again
1087 01:00:34 so they wouldn't get to wondering why I wore them.
1088 01:00:36 I tried to hold myself together, but...
1089 01:00:39 I could feel my nerves pulling me to pieces.
1090 01:00:45 Oh, Walter? Hello, Keyes.
1091 01:00:48 Come along. The big boss wants to see us.
1092 01:00:50 The Dietrichson case? Must be.
1093 01:00:52 Anything wrong? Well, the guy is dead.
1094 01:00:55 We had him insured and it's gonna cost us dough.
1095 01:00:58 That's always wrong.
1096 01:00:58 What have they got so far? Autopsy report.
1097 01:01:01 No heart failure, no apoplexy,
1098 01:01:03 no predisposing medical cause of any kind.
1099 01:01:05 Died of a broken neck.
1100 01:01:07 When's the inquest? Had it this morning.
1101 01:01:09 His wife and daughter made the identification.
1102 01:01:11 The train people
1103 01:01:12 and some of the passengers told how he went through...
1104 01:01:14 to the observation car.
1105 01:01:15 It was all over in 45 minutes. Verdict? Accidental death.
1106 01:01:20 What do the police figure?
1107 01:01:22 That he got tangled up in his crutches and fell off the train.
1108 01:01:24 They're satisfied.
1109 01:01:26 It's not their dough. Come on, Walter.
1110 01:01:30 All right. Thank you very much, gentlemen.
1111 01:01:32 I believe the legal position is now clear.
1112 01:01:34 Please stand by. I may need you later.
1113 01:01:37 Come in, Mr. Keyes. You, too, Mr. Neff.
1114 01:01:44 You find this an uncomfortably warm day, Mr. Keyes?
1115 01:01:46 I'm sorry, Mr. Norton, but I didn't know this was formal.
1116 01:01:49 Sit down, gentlemen. Thank you.
1117 01:01:51 Any new developments?
1118 01:01:52 I just talked to this Jackson long distance,
1119 01:01:54 up in Medford, Oregon.
1120 01:01:55 Who's Jackson?
1121 01:01:56 He's the last man who saw Dietrichson alive.
1122 01:01:57 They were out on the observation platform together, talking.
1123 01:02:00 Dietrichson wanted a cigar and so Jackson went back...
1124 01:02:02 to get Dietrichson's cigar case for him.
1125 01:02:04 When he returned to the observation platform, no Dietrichson.
1126 01:02:06 Well, Jackson didn't think anything was wrong until...
1127 01:02:08 a wire caught up with the train at Santa Barbara.
1128 01:02:10 They found Dietrichson's body on the tracks near Burbank.
1129 01:02:13 Very interesting about the cigar case.
1130 01:02:16 Anything else? No, not much.
1131 01:02:18 Dietrichson's secretary says
1132 01:02:19 she didn't know anything about the policy.
1133 01:02:21 There's a daughter,
1134 01:02:23 but all she remembers is Neff talking to her father...
1135 01:02:24 about accident insurance at their house one night.
1136 01:02:27 I couldn't sell him at first.
1137 01:02:28 Mr. Dietrichson opposed it. He said he'd think it over.
1138 01:02:31 Later I saw him in the oil fields and closed him.
1139 01:02:34 He signed the application and gave me his check.
1140 01:02:36 A fine piece of salesmanship that was, Mr. Neff.
1141 01:02:39 Well, there's no sense in pushing Neff around.
1142 01:02:41 He's got the best sales record in the office.
1143 01:02:43 Are your salesmen supposed to know a customer
1144 01:02:44 is going to fall off the train?
1145 01:02:46 Fall off a train? Are we sure Dietrichson fell off the train?
1146 01:02:50 I don't get it. You don't, Mr. Keyes?
1147 01:02:52 Then what do you think of this case?
1148 01:02:54 This policy might cost us a great deal of money.
1149 01:02:56 As you know, it contains a double indemnity clause.
1150 01:02:58 Just what is your opinion?
1151 01:03:00 No opinion at all. Not even a hunch?
1152 01:03:02 One of those interesting little hunches of yours?
1153 01:03:04 Nope. Not even a hunch.
1154 01:03:06 I'm surprised, Mr. Keyes. I've formed a very definite opinion.
1155 01:03:09 I think I know. In fact,
1156 01:03:12 I know I know what happened to Dietrichson.
1157 01:03:13 You know you know what? I know it was not an accident.
1158 01:03:20 What do you say to that? Me?
1159 01:03:24 Well, you've got the ball. Let's see you run with it.
1160 01:03:26 There's a widespread feeling
1161 01:03:29 that just because a man has a large office...
1162 01:03:33 Yes? Have her come in, please.
1163 01:03:36 There's a widespread feeling that...
1164 01:03:38 just because a man has a large office, he must be an idiot.
1165 01:03:41 I'm having a visitor, if you don't mind.
1166 01:03:43 No, no. I want you to stay and watch me handle this.
1167 01:03:46 Mrs. Dietrichson.
1168 01:03:52 Thank you very much for coming, Mrs. Dietrichson.
1169 01:03:54 I assure you I appreciate it. This is Mr. Keyes.
1170 01:03:57 How do you do? How do you do?
1171 01:03:59 And Mr. Neff. I've met Mr. Neff. How do you do?
1172 01:04:01 Mrs. Dietrichson. Won't you sit down?
1173 01:04:06 May I extend our sympathy in your bereavement?
1174 01:04:08 I hesitated before
1175 01:04:09 asking you to come here so soon after your loss.
1176 01:04:11 But now that you're here
1177 01:04:13 I hope you won't mind if I plunge straight into business?
1178 01:04:14 You know why we asked you to come, don't you?
1179 01:04:16 No. All I know is that your secretary made it sound very urgent.
1180 01:04:19 Your husband had an accident policy with this company.
1181 01:04:21 Evidently you don't know that, Mrs. Dietrichson.
1182 01:04:23 No. I remember some talk at the house,
1183 01:04:24 but he didn't seem to want it.
1184 01:04:25 Your husband took the policy out a few days later,
1185 01:04:28 Mrs. Dietrichson.
1186 01:04:29 You'll probably find the policy among his personal effects.
1187 01:04:31 His safe-deposit box hasn't been opened yet.
1188 01:04:33 It seems a tax examiner has to be present.
1189 01:04:35 Please, Mrs. Dietrichson, I don't want you to think...
1190 01:04:37 you're being subjected to any questioning...
1191 01:04:39 but there are a few things we should like to know.
1192 01:04:40 What sort of things?
1193 01:04:42 We have the report of the coroner's inquest.
1194 01:04:44 Accidental death. We are not entirely satisfied.
1195 01:04:47 In fact, we are not satisfied at all.
1196 01:04:52 Frankly, Mrs. Dietrichson, we suspect...
1197 01:04:55 a suicide.
1198 01:05:00 I'm sorry. Would you like a glass of water? Please.
1199 01:05:08 Thank you.
1200 01:05:16 Had your husband been depressed or moody lately,
1201 01:05:17 Mrs. Dietrichson?
1202 01:05:19 Did he have financial worries, for instance?
1203 01:05:22 He was perfectly all right
1204 01:05:24 and I don't know of any financial worries.
1205 01:05:26 Let us examine this so-called accident.
1206 01:05:28 First, your husband takes out
1207 01:05:31 this policy in absolute secrecy. Why?
1208 01:05:32 Because he doesn't want his family
1209 01:05:33 to suspect what he intends to do.
1210 01:05:35 Do what? Next, he goes on this trip entirely alone.
1211 01:05:38 He has to be alone.
1212 01:05:39 He hobbles all the way out to the observation platform.
1213 01:05:41 Very unlikely with his leg in a cast,
1214 01:05:43 unless he has a very strong reason.
1215 01:05:45 Once there, he finds he is not alone. There is a man there.
1216 01:05:48 What was his name, Keyes?
1217 01:05:50 His name was Jackson. Probably still is.
1218 01:05:53 So he gets rid of this Jackson
1219 01:05:55 with some flimsy excuse about cigars.
1220 01:05:56 And then he is alone. And then he does it. Does what?
1221 01:06:00 He jumps. Suicide. In which case, the company is not liable.
1222 01:06:04 You know that, of course. Now, we could go to court...
1223 01:06:07 I don't know anything. In fact, I don't know why I came here.
1224 01:06:11 Just a moment, please.
1225 01:06:12 I said we could go to court. I didn't say we want to.
1226 01:06:14 What I want to suggest is a compromise on both sides.
1227 01:06:17 A settlement for a certain sum, a part of the policy value.
1228 01:06:20 Don't bother, Mr. Norton.
1229 01:06:21 When I came in here, I had no idea you owed me any money.
1230 01:06:23 You told me you did. Then you told me you didn't.
1231 01:06:26 Now you tell me you want to pay me a part of it, whatever it is.
1232 01:06:28 You want to bargain with me, at a time like this.
1233 01:06:31 I don't like your insinuations about my husband,
1234 01:06:33 and I don't like your methods.
1235 01:06:34 In fact, I don't like you, Mr. Norton. Goodbye, gentlemen.
1236 01:06:42 Nice going, Mr. Norton. You sure carried that ball.
1237 01:06:46 Only you fumbled on the goal line.
1238 01:06:47 Then you heaved an illegal forward pass
1239 01:06:48 and got thrown for a 40-yard loss.
1240 01:06:51 Now you can't pick yourself up
1241 01:06:52 because you haven't got a leg to stand on.
1242 01:06:54 I haven't, eh? She can go to court
1243 01:06:55 and we can prove it was suicide.
1244 01:06:57 Oh, can we?
1245 01:06:58 Mr. Norton,
1246 01:07:00 the first thing that struck me was that suicide angle.
1247 01:07:02 Only I dumped it into the wastepaper basket
1248 01:07:05 just three seconds later.
1249 01:07:06 You know, you ought to take a look
1250 01:07:08 at the statistics on suicide sometime.
1251 01:07:10 You might learn a little something about the insurance business.
1252 01:07:12 Mr. Keyes, I was raised in the insurance business.
1253 01:07:14 Yeah, in the front office.
1254 01:07:16 Come now, you've never read an actuarial table
1255 01:07:18 in your life, have you?
1256 01:07:19 Why, they've got 10 volumes on suicide alone.
1257 01:07:22 Suicide by race, by color, by occupation...
1258 01:07:24 by sex, by seasons of the year, by time of day.
1259 01:07:26 Suicide, how committed?
1260 01:07:27 By poisons, by firearms, by drowning, by leaps.
1261 01:07:29 Suicide by poison, subdivided by types of poison...
1262 01:07:32 such as corrosive, irritant, systemic, gaseous, narcotic...
1263 01:07:35 alkaloid, protein, and so forth.
1264 01:07:36 Suicide by leaps, subdivided by leaps from high places...
1265 01:07:39 under the wheels of trains, under the wheels of trucks...
1266 01:07:41 under the feet of horses, from steamboats. But, Mr. Norton...
1267 01:07:45 of all the cases on record
1268 01:07:46 there's not one single case of suicide by leap...
1269 01:07:48 from the rear end of a moving train.
1270 01:07:50 And do you know how fast that train was going...
1271 01:07:51 at the point where the body was found? 15 miles an hour.
1272 01:07:54 Now how can anybody jump off a slow moving train like that...
1273 01:07:57 with any kind of expectation that he would kill himself?
1274 01:08:00 No. No soap, Mr. Norton.
1275 01:08:01 We're sunk, and we'll have to pay through the nose,
1276 01:08:03 and you know it.
1277 01:08:05 May I have this?
1278 01:08:09 Come on, Walter.
1279 01:08:14 Next time I'll rent a tuxedo.
1280 01:08:33 I could have hugged you right then and there, Keyes...
1281 01:08:35 you and your statistics.
1282 01:08:37 You were the only one we were really scared of...
1283 01:08:40 and instead you were almost playing on our team.
1284 01:08:43 That evening when I got home, my nerves had eased off.
1285 01:08:46 I could feel the ground under my feet again.
1286 01:08:48 And it looked like easy going from there on in.
1287 01:08:51 That $100,000 looked as safe for Phyllis and me...
1288 01:08:53 as if we had the check already deposited in the bank.
1289 01:09:02 Hello? Oh, hello, baby. Sure, everything is fine.
1290 01:09:07 You were wonderful in Norton's office.
1291 01:09:09 I felt so funny, I wanted to look at you all the time.
1292 01:09:12 How do you think I felt, baby? Where are you?
1293 01:09:15 At the drugstore. Just a block away.
1294 01:09:18 Can I come up? Okay. But be careful.
1295 01:09:20 Don't let anybody see you.
1296 01:09:48 Hello, Keyes.
1297 01:09:55 What's on your mind? That broken leg.
1298 01:09:58 The guy had a broken leg. What are you talking about?
1299 01:10:02 Talking about Dietrichson. He had accident insurance, didn't he?
1300 01:10:05 Yeah. Then he broke his leg, didn't he?
1301 01:10:07 So what? And he didn't put in a claim.
1302 01:10:09 Why didn't he put in a claim? Why? What are you driving at?
1303 01:10:13 Walter, I had dinner two hours ago and it stuck half way.
1304 01:10:18 That little man of yours is acting up again, huh?
1305 01:10:20 There's something wrong with the Dietrichson case.
1306 01:10:22 Why? Because he didn't file a claim?
1307 01:10:25 Maybe he just didn't have time.
1308 01:10:26 Maybe he just didn't know that he was insured.
1309 01:10:32 No. No, that couldn't be it.
1310 01:10:33 You delivered the policy to him personally, didn't you?
1311 01:10:35 Yeah. You got his check?
1312 01:10:36 Sure I did.
1313 01:10:38 Got any bicarbonate of soda? No, I haven't.
1314 01:10:42 Walter, I've been living with this little man for 26 years.
1315 01:10:46 And he's never failed me yet. There's got to be something wrong.
1316 01:10:49 Well, maybe Norton was right. Maybe it was suicide.
1317 01:10:52 No. Not suicide.
1318 01:10:54 But not an accident, either. What else?
1319 01:10:57 Now look, Walter.
1320 01:10:59 A guy takes out an accident policy that's worth $100,000...
1321 01:11:02 if he's killed on a train.
1322 01:11:03 Then two weeks later, he is killed on a train.
1323 01:11:05 And not in a train accident, mind you,
1324 01:11:07 but falling off some silly observation car.
1325 01:11:09 Do you know what the mathematical probability of that is?
1326 01:11:12 One out of I don't know how many billions.
1327 01:11:15 And add to that the broken leg.
1328 01:11:18 No, it just can't be the way it looks.
1329 01:11:20 Something has been worked on us. Such as what?
1330 01:11:33 Murder?
1331 01:11:34 Don't you have any peppermint or something?
1332 01:11:36 Sorry. Want a little soda water? No, no, no.
1333 01:11:40 Who do you suspect?
1334 01:11:41 Maybe I like to make things easy for myself.
1335 01:11:43 But I always tend to suspect the beneficiary.
1336 01:11:45 You mean the wife? Yeah.
1337 01:11:47 That wide-eyed dame
1338 01:11:47 that just didn't know anything about anything.
1339 01:11:49 You're crazy, Keyes. She wasn't even on the train.
1340 01:11:51 I know she wasn't, Walter.
1341 01:11:53 I don't claim to know how it was worked, or who worked it...
1342 01:11:55 but all I know is that it was worked.
1343 01:11:58 I've got to get to a drugstore.
1344 01:11:59 This thing feels like a hunk of concrete inside me.
1345 01:12:02 Good night, Walter. Good night, Keyes.
1346 01:12:05 See you at the office in the morning. Yeah.
1347 01:12:09 I'd like to move in on her right now, tonight.
1348 01:12:12 If it wasn't for Norton and his striped-pants ideas
1349 01:12:15 about company policy...
1350 01:12:16 I'd have the police after her so fast it'd make her head spin.
1351 01:12:19 They'd put her through the wringer...
1352 01:12:21 and, brother, the things they would squeeze out.
1353 01:12:24 Only you haven't got a single thing to go on, Keyes.
1354 01:12:26 Not too much. Just 26 years experience...
1355 01:12:28 all the percentage there is,
1356 01:12:30 and this hunk of concrete in my stomach.
1357 01:12:34 Can I have one of those things?
1358 01:12:48 Good night, Keyes. So long, Walter.
1359 01:13:03 How much does he know? He doesn't know anything.
1360 01:13:07 It's those stinking hunches of his.
1361 01:13:10 And he can't prove anything, can he?
1362 01:13:11 Not if we're careful. Not if we don't see each other for a while.
1363 01:13:17 How long a while? Until this dies down.
1364 01:13:20 You don't know Keyes.
1365 01:13:21 Once he gets his teeth into something, he never lets go.
1366 01:13:23 He'll investigate you, have you shadowed.
1367 01:13:25 He'll watch you every minute from now on.
1368 01:13:27 You afraid, baby? Yes, I'm afraid.
1369 01:13:31 But not of Keyes. I'm afraid of us.
1370 01:13:34 We're not the same anymore.
1371 01:13:35 We did it so we could be together,
1372 01:13:37 but instead of that it's pulling us apart.
1373 01:13:38 Isn't it, Walter? What are you talking about?
1374 01:13:40 And you don't really care whether we see each other or not.
1375 01:13:45 Shut up, baby.
1376 01:13:51 Pacific All Risk. Good afternoon.
1377 01:13:56 Hello, Mr. Neff.
1378 01:13:58 Hello. Lola Dietrichson.
1379 01:14:01 Don't you remember me? Yes. Yes, of course.
1380 01:14:04 Could I talk with you just a few minutes?
1381 01:14:06 Somewhere where we could be alone?
1382 01:14:09 Oh, yes. Come into my office.
1383 01:14:17 Is it something about what happened?
1384 01:14:20 Yes, Mr. Neff. It's about my father's death.
1385 01:14:24 I'm terribly sorry, Miss Dietrichson.
1386 01:14:30 Lou, do you mind if I use the office alone for a few minutes?
1387 01:14:32 No. It's all yours, Walter.
1388 01:14:41 Look at me, Mr. Neff.
1389 01:14:43 I'm not crazy. I'm not hysterical. I'm not even crying.
1390 01:14:47 But I have the awful feeling that something is wrong...
1391 01:14:51 and I had that same feeling once before, when my mother died.
1392 01:14:55 When your mother died?
1393 01:14:56 We were at Lake Arrowhead. That was six years ago.
1394 01:14:58 We had a cabin there.
1395 01:15:00 It was winter and very cold.
1396 01:15:03 My mother was very sick with pneumonia.
1397 01:15:04 She had a nurse with her.
1398 01:15:06 There were just the three of us in the cabin.
1399 01:15:09 One night I got up and went into my mother's room.
1400 01:15:12 She was delirious with fever.
1401 01:15:14 All the bed covers were on the floor
1402 01:15:16 and the windows were wide open.
1403 01:15:18 The nurse wasn't in the room.
1404 01:15:19 I ran and covered my mother up as quickly as I could.
1405 01:15:21 Just then I heard a door open behind me.
1406 01:15:25 The nurse stood there.
1407 01:15:27 She didn't say a word, but there was a look in her eyes...
1408 01:15:31 I'll never forget.
1409 01:15:34 Two days later, my mother was dead.
1410 01:15:41 Do you know who that nurse was?
1411 01:15:43 No. Who? Phyllis.
1412 01:15:46 I tried to tell my father, but I was just a kid then.
1413 01:15:48 He wouldn't listen to me. Six months later she married him...
1414 01:15:51 and I kind of talked myself out of the idea
1415 01:15:54 she could have done anything like that.
1416 01:15:56 But now it's all back again,
1417 01:15:58 now that something's happened to my father, too.
1418 01:16:00 You're not making sense, Miss Dietrichson.
1419 01:16:02 Your father fell off a train.
1420 01:16:04 Yes, and two days before he fell off that train,
1421 01:16:06 what was Phyllis doing?
1422 01:16:07 She was in her room in front of a mirror, with a black hat on...
1423 01:16:10 pinning a black veil to it.
1424 01:16:11 As if she couldn't wait to see how she would look in mourning.
1425 01:16:15 You've had a pretty bad shock, Miss Dietrichson.
1426 01:16:17 Aren't you just imagining these things?
1427 01:16:19 I caught her eyes in the mirror.
1428 01:16:20 They had that look in them they had before my mother died.
1429 01:16:23 That same look.
1430 01:16:25 You don't like your stepmother, do you?
1431 01:16:27 Isn't it just because she is your stepmother?
1432 01:16:29 I loathe her because she did it. She did it for the money.
1433 01:16:32 Only you're not going to pay her, are you, Mr. Neff?
1434 01:16:34 She's not going to get away with it this time,
1435 01:16:36 because I'm going to speak up.
1436 01:16:37 I'm going to tell everything I know.
1437 01:16:39 You'd better be careful, saying things like...
1438 01:16:41 I'm not afraid. You'll see.
1439 01:16:51 I'm sorry.
1440 01:16:56 I didn't mean to act like this.
1441 01:17:00 All this that you've been telling me, who else have you told?
1442 01:17:03 No one.
1443 01:17:04 How about your stepmother? Of course not.
1444 01:17:08 I've moved out.
1445 01:17:10 I'm not living at home anymore.
1446 01:17:12 And you haven't told that boyfriend of yours? Zachetti?
1447 01:17:15 I'm not seeing him anymore. We had a fight.
1448 01:17:20 Where are you living now?
1449 01:17:21 I got myself a little apartment in Hollywood.
1450 01:17:25 Four walls, and you just sit and look at them?
1451 01:17:29 Yes, Mr. Neff.
1452 01:17:33 So that evening I took her to dinner...
1453 01:17:35 at a Mexican restaurant down on
1454 01:17:36 Olvera Street where nobody would see us.
1455 01:17:38 I wanted to cheer her up.
1456 01:17:41 The next day was Sunday and we went for a ride down to the beach.
1457 01:17:44 She had loosened up a bit, she was even laughing.
1458 01:17:47 I had to make sure that
1459 01:17:48 she wouldn't tell that stuff about Phyllis to anybody else.
1460 01:17:51 It was dynamite, whether it was true or not.
1461 01:17:54 And I had no chance to talk to Phyllis.
1462 01:17:56 You were watching her like a hawk, Keyes.
1463 01:17:58 I couldn't even phone her
1464 01:18:00 because I was afraid you had the wires tapped.
1465 01:18:02 Monday morning there was a note on my desk
1466 01:18:05 that you wanted to see me, Keyes.
1467 01:18:07 For a minute I wondered if it could be about Lola.
1468 01:18:10 It was worse.
1469 01:18:12 Outside your door was the last guy in the world I wanted to see.
1470 01:18:25 Come in. Come in, Walter.
1471 01:18:28 Hello, Keyes. I want to ask you something.
1472 01:18:32 After all the years we've known each other...
1473 01:18:33 do you mind if I make a rather blunt statement?
1474 01:18:35 About what? About me.
1475 01:18:38 Walter, I'm a very great man. Yeah?
1476 01:18:40 This Dietrichson business, it's murder...
1477 01:18:43 and murders don't come any neater.
1478 01:18:45 As fancy a piece of homicide as anybody ever ran into...
1479 01:18:48 smart, tricky, almost perfect, but...
1480 01:18:51 I think Papa has it all figured out.
1481 01:18:54 Figured out and wrapped up in tissue paper
1482 01:18:56 with pink ribbons on it.
1483 01:18:58 Go ahead. I'm listening. You know what?
1484 01:19:01 That guy Dietrichson was never on the train.
1485 01:19:05 He wasn't? No, he wasn't.
1486 01:19:09 Now look, Walter. You can't be sure of killing a man...
1487 01:19:11 by throwing him off a train that's going 15 miles an hour.
1488 01:19:14 The only way you can be sure is to kill him first...
1489 01:19:17 and then throw his body on the tracks.
1490 01:19:19 Now that would mean either killing him on the train...
1491 01:19:21 or, and this is where it really gets fancy,
1492 01:19:22 you kill him somewhere else...
1493 01:19:25 and put him on the tracks.
1494 01:19:26 Two possibilities, and I personally buy the second.
1495 01:19:31 You're way ahead of me, Keyes.
1496 01:19:32 Well, look, Walter, it was like this.
1497 01:19:34 They killed the guy, the wife and a somebody else...
1498 01:19:38 and the somebody else took the crutches
1499 01:19:40 and went on the train as Dietrichson...
1500 01:19:42 then the somebody else jumped off...
1501 01:19:44 then they put the body on the tracks where the train had passed.
1502 01:19:46 An impersonation, see? A cinch to work.
1503 01:19:50 Because it was night, very few people were about...
1504 01:19:52 they have the crutches to stare at...
1505 01:19:53 they never really looked at the man at all.
1506 01:19:56 Fancy all right, Keyes, but maybe it's a little too fancy.
1507 01:19:58 Is it? I tell you, it all fits together like a watch.
1508 01:20:02 Now let's see what we have in the way of proof.
1509 01:20:04 The only guy who really got a good look
1510 01:20:06 at this supposed Dietrichson...
1511 01:20:07 is sitting right outside my office.
1512 01:20:09 I took the trouble to bring him down here from Oregon.
1513 01:20:15 Come here, Mr. Jackson. Yes, sir, Mr. Keyes.
1514 01:20:18 These are fine cigars you smoke.
1515 01:20:19 Two for a quarter. That's what I said.
1516 01:20:21 Well, did you study those photographs?
1517 01:20:23 Yes, indeed. I studied them thoroughly.
1518 01:20:25 Very thoroughly. Have you made up your mind?
1519 01:20:27 Mister Keyes, I'm a Medford man. Medford, Oregon.
1520 01:20:29 Up in Medford we take our time making up our mind.
1521 01:20:31 Well, we're not in Medford now. We're in a hurry. Let's have it.
1522 01:20:34 Are these photographs of the late Mr. Dietrichson?
1523 01:20:36 Yes.
1524 01:20:38 Then my answer is no. What do you mean, no?
1525 01:20:40 I mean, this is not the man that was on the train.
1526 01:20:42 Will you swear to that?
1527 01:20:44 Mr. Keyes, I'm a Medford man. Medford, Oregon.
1528 01:20:46 If I say it, I mean it. If I mean it, of course I'll swear it.
1529 01:20:48 There you are, Walter. There's your proof.
1530 01:20:50 This is Mr. Neff, one of our salesmen.
1531 01:20:52 Pleased to meet you, Mr. Neff. Pleased, indeed.
1532 01:20:54 How are you? Very fine, thank you.
1533 01:20:55 Never was better. Sit down, Mr. Jackson.
1534 01:20:58 Just how would you describe
1535 01:20:59 the man you saw on the observation platform?
1536 01:21:01 Well, I'm pretty sure he was a younger man...
1537 01:21:04 about 10 or 15 years younger than the man in these photographs.
1538 01:21:07 Dietrichson was about 50, wasn't he, Walter?
1539 01:21:09 Fifty-one, according to the policy.
1540 01:21:12 The man I saw was nothing like 51 years old.
1541 01:21:15 Of course, it was pretty dark out on that platform.
1542 01:21:17 Come to think of it, he tried to keep his back towards me.
1543 01:21:20 But I'm positive just the same. Thank you, Jackson.
1544 01:21:22 Of course, you understand this matter is strictly confidential?
1545 01:21:25 We may need you again down here in Los Angeles,
1546 01:21:26 if the case comes to court.
1547 01:21:28 Any time you need me, I'm entirely at your disposal, gentlemen.
1548 01:21:31 Expenses paid, of course. Oh, yes. Yes. Of course.
1549 01:21:36 Get me Lubin, in the cashier's office.
1550 01:21:39 Hello, Lubin. This is Keyes.
1551 01:21:41 Listen. I'm sending a man named Jackson down to you
1552 01:21:44 with an expense account.
1553 01:21:45 Well, we brought him down here from Medford,
1554 01:21:46 Oregon in connection with...
1555 01:21:48 the Dietrichson claim.
1556 01:21:51 Well, take care of his hotel bill, will you?
1557 01:21:53 Ever been in Oregon, Mr. Neff?
1558 01:21:54 Yeah. He'll be right down.
1559 01:21:55 No. Never been up there.
1560 01:21:57 Wait a minute. You go trout fishing?
1561 01:22:00 Maybe I saw you up Klamath Falls way. Nope. I don't fish.
1562 01:22:04 You don't go fishing, Mr. Neff. Neff. It's the name.
1563 01:22:08 There's a family of Neffs in Corvallis. No relation.
1564 01:22:10 Let me see. This man's an automobile dealer in Corvallis.
1565 01:22:13 A very reputable man, too, I'm told. All right, Mr. Jackson.
1566 01:22:15 Suppose you go down to the cashier's office.
1567 01:22:17 Room 27 on the 11th floor.
1568 01:22:18 He'll take care of your expense account
1569 01:22:20 and your ticket for the train tonight.
1570 01:22:22 Tonight?
1571 01:22:23 Tomorrow morning would suit me better.
1572 01:22:24 There's a very good osteopath in town...
1573 01:22:26 I'd like to see before I leave. Osteopath?
1574 01:22:29 Well, just don't put her on the expense account.
1575 01:22:33 Well, goodbye, gentlemen.
1576 01:22:35 It's been a pleasure. Goodbye.
1577 01:22:40 There it is, Walter.
1578 01:22:42 It's beginning to come apart at the seams already.
1579 01:22:44 Murder's never perfect. Always comes apart sooner or later.
1580 01:22:46 And when two people are involved, it's usually sooner.
1581 01:22:49 Now, we know the Dietrichson dame is in it, and a somebody else.
1582 01:22:52 Pretty soon we'll know who that somebody else is.
1583 01:22:54 He'll show. He's got to show.
1584 01:22:55 Sometime, somewhere, they've got to meet.
1585 01:22:57 Their emotions are all kicked up.
1586 01:22:58 Whether it's love or hate doesn't matter.
1587 01:23:00 They can't keep away from each other.
1588 01:23:02 They may think it's twice as safe because there are two of them.
1589 01:23:04 But it isn't twice as safe.
1590 01:23:06 It's 10 times twice as dangerous. They've committed a murder...
1591 01:23:09 and it's not like taking a trolley ride together...
1592 01:23:11 where they can get off at different stops.
1593 01:23:13 They're stuck with each other and they've got to ride...
1594 01:23:15 all the way to the end of the line.
1595 01:23:17 And it's a one-way trip, and the last stop is the cemetery.
1596 01:23:19 She put in her claim.
1597 01:23:22 I'm gonna throw it right back at her.
1598 01:23:30 Let her sue us if she dares.
1599 01:23:32 I'll be ready for her and that somebody else.
1600 01:23:35 They'll be digging their own graves.
1601 01:23:46 Mrs. Dietrichson? This is Jerry's Market.
1602 01:23:48 We just got in a shipment of that English soap
1603 01:23:50 you were asking about.
1604 01:23:51 Will you be coming by today? Thank you, Mrs. Dietrichson.
1605 01:24:22 Hello, Walter. Come over here.
1606 01:24:28 What's the matter? Everything's the matter.
1607 01:24:33 Keyes is rejecting your claim.
1608 01:24:35 He's sitting back with his mouth watering,
1609 01:24:36 waiting for you to sue.
1610 01:24:37 He wants you to sue, but you're not going to.
1611 01:24:39 What's he got to stop me? He's got plenty.
1612 01:24:45 He's figured out how it was worked.
1613 01:24:47 He knows it was somebody else on the train...
1614 01:24:48 and he's dug up a witness he thinks can prove it.
1615 01:24:50 Prove it how? If he rejects that claim, I have to sue.
1616 01:24:53 Yeah? And then you're in court
1617 01:24:55 and a lot of other things are going to come up.
1618 01:24:56 Like, for instance, about you and the first Mrs. Dietrichson.
1619 01:25:00 What about me and the first Mrs. Dietrichson?
1620 01:25:02 The way she died.
1621 01:25:03 And about that black hat you were trying on
1622 01:25:05 before you needed a black hat.
1623 01:25:06 Lola's been telling you some of her cockeyed stories.
1624 01:25:08 She's been seeing you. I've been seeing her, if you want to know.
1625 01:25:11 So she won't yell her head off about what she knows.
1626 01:25:12 She's putting on an act for you,
1627 01:25:14 crying all over your shoulder, the lying...
1628 01:25:15 Keep her out of this.
1629 01:25:17 All I'm telling you is we're not going to sue.
1630 01:25:18 Because you don't want the money anymore...
1631 01:25:19 even if you could have it, because she's...
1632 01:25:20 made you feel like a heel all of a sudden?
1633 01:25:21 It isn't the money anymore.
1634 01:25:24 It's our necks. We're pulling out, do you understand?
1635 01:25:25 Because of what Keyes can do? You're not fooling me, Walter.
1636 01:25:28 It's because of Lola, what you did to her father.
1637 01:25:30 You're afraid she
1638 01:25:31 might find out someday and you can't take it, can you?
1639 01:25:33 I said, leave her out of this.
1640 01:25:40 It's me I'm talking about.
1641 01:25:41 I don't want to be left out of it. Stop saying that.
1642 01:25:44 It's just that it hasn't worked as we wanted.
1643 01:25:45 We can't go through with it, that's all.
1644 01:25:46 We have gone through with it.
1645 01:25:48 The tough part is all behind us.
1646 01:25:49 We just have to hold on now and not go soft inside...
1647 01:25:52 stick close together the way we started out.
1648 01:25:54 Watch it.
1649 01:26:13 I loved you, Walter, and I hated him.
1650 01:26:16 But I wasn't going to do anything about it, not until I met you.
1651 01:26:20 You planned the whole thing. I only wanted him dead.
1652 01:26:24 And I'm the one that fixed it so he was dead.
1653 01:26:26 Is that what you're telling me? And nobody's pulling out.
1654 01:26:30 We went into this together, we're coming out at the end together.
1655 01:26:33 It's straight down the line for both of us, remember?
1656 01:26:43 Yes, I remembered.
1657 01:26:46 Just like I remembered what you had told me, Keyes...
1658 01:26:50 about that trolley car ride...
1659 01:26:52 and how there was no getting off till the end of the line...
1660 01:26:56 where the cemetery was.
1661 01:27:00 And then I got to thinking what cemeteries are for.
1662 01:27:04 They're to put dead people in.
1663 01:27:08 I guess that was the first time
1664 01:27:09 I ever thought about Phyllis that way.
1665 01:27:11 Dead, I mean.
1666 01:27:14 And how it would be if she were dead.
1667 01:27:18 I saw Lola three or four times that week.
1668 01:27:21 One night we went up into the hills behind the Hollywood Bowl.
1669 01:27:25 I guess it sounds crazy, Keyes, but it was only with her that...
1670 01:27:28 I could relax and let go a little.
1671 01:28:01 Why are you crying?
1672 01:28:05 Not gonna tell me, huh?
1673 01:28:07 Of course I will, Walter. I wouldn't tell anybody else but you.
1674 01:28:12 It's about Nino. Zachetti? What about him?
1675 01:28:15 They killed my father together. He and Phyllis.
1676 01:28:18 He helped her do it. I know he did.
1677 01:28:21 What makes you say that?
1678 01:28:24 I've been following him.
1679 01:28:25 He's been to her house, night after night.
1680 01:28:27 It was Phyllis and him all along.
1681 01:28:30 Maybe he was just going with me as a blind.
1682 01:28:33 And the night of the murder...
1683 01:28:34 You promised me you weren't gonna talk like this anymore.
1684 01:28:36 He was supposed to pick me up after a lecture at UCLA.
1685 01:28:40 But he never showed up. He said he was sick.
1686 01:28:43 Sick!
1687 01:28:47 He couldn't show up,
1688 01:28:48 because the train was leaving with my father on it.
1689 01:28:57 Maybe I'm just crazy. Maybe it's all in my mind.
1690 01:29:01 Sure, it's all in your mind.
1691 01:29:03 I only wish it were, Walter, 'cause I still love him.
1692 01:29:14 Zachetti. Phyllis and Zachetti.
1693 01:29:19 What was he doing up at her house?
1694 01:29:22 I couldn't figure that one out.
1695 01:29:24 I tried to make sense out of it and got nowhere.
1696 01:29:28 But the real braintwister came the next day.
1697 01:29:31 You sprang it on me, Keyes,
1698 01:29:33 after office hours, when you caught me...
1699 01:29:36 down in the lobby of the building.
1700 01:29:38 Walter. Walter, just a minute.
1701 01:29:44 Hello, Keyes. Just hang on to your hat, Walter.
1702 01:29:48 What for? Oh, nothing much.
1703 01:29:50 That Dietrichson case just busted wide open.
1704 01:29:53 How do you mean? The guy showed. That's how.
1705 01:29:57 What guy? The guy who helped her do it.
1706 01:29:59 The somebody else?
1707 01:30:02 No kidding? Yeah. She just filed suit against us.
1708 01:30:05 It's okay by me.
1709 01:30:06 When we get them in that courtroom,
1710 01:30:08 I'll tear them to pieces, both of them.
1711 01:30:09 Come on. I'll buy you a martini, Walter. No thanks, Keyes.
1712 01:30:12 With two olives.
1713 01:30:13 No, I've got to get a shave and a shoeshine. I've got a date.
1714 01:30:15 Margie. I still bet she drinks from the bottle.
1715 01:30:19 They give you matches when you buy cigars, you know.
1716 01:30:21 All you have to do is ask for them.
1717 01:30:22 Don't like them,
1718 01:30:23 they always explode in my pocket. So long, Walter.
1719 01:30:30 I was scared stiff, Keyes.
1720 01:30:33 Maybe you were playing cat-and-mouse with me.
1721 01:30:36 Maybe you knew all along I was the somebody else.
1722 01:30:39 I had to find out, and I knew where to look. In your office.
1723 01:31:16 Memo to Mr. Norton.
1724 01:31:18 Confidential. Dietrichson file.
1725 01:31:20 With regard to your proposal to
1726 01:31:21 put Walter Neff under surveillance...
1727 01:31:23 I disagree absolutely.
1728 01:31:25 I have investigated his movements on the night of the crime...
1729 01:31:27 and he's definitely placed in his apartment from 7:15 p.m. On.
1730 01:31:32 In addition to this, I have known Neff intimately for 11 years...
1731 01:31:35 and I personally vouch for him without reservation.
1732 01:31:44 Furthermore, no connection whatsoever has been established...
1733 01:31:47 between Walter Neff and Mrs. Phyllis Dietrichson...
1734 01:31:49 whereas I am now able to report
1735 01:31:51 that such a connection has been established...
1736 01:31:53 between her and another man.
1737 01:31:56 This man has been observed to visit Mrs. Dietrichson...
1738 01:31:59 on the nights of July 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th.
1739 01:32:03 We have succeeded in identifying him as one Nino Zachetti...
1740 01:32:07 former medical student, age of 28...
1741 01:32:09 residing at Lilac Court Apartments...
1742 01:32:11 12281/2 North La Brea Avenue.
1743 01:32:15 We have checked Zachetti's movements on the night of the crime...
1744 01:32:18 and have found that they cannot be accounted for.
1745 01:32:22 I am preparing a more detailed report for your consideration.
1746 01:32:25 It is my belief that
1747 01:32:27 we already have sufficient evidence against Zachetti...
1748 01:32:29 and Mrs. Dietrichson to justify police action.
1749 01:32:32 I strongly urge
1750 01:32:34 that this whole matter be turned over to the office...
1751 01:32:35 of the district attorney.
1752 01:32:37 Respectfully, Barton Keyes.
1753 01:33:15 Phyllis? It's Walter. I've got to see you. Tonight.
1754 01:33:21 Yes, it has to be tonight.
1755 01:33:23 How's 11:00?
1756 01:33:26 Don't worry about Keyes.
1757 01:33:28 Just leave the front door unlocked and put the lights out.
1758 01:33:31 No, nobody's watching the house. Not anymore.
1759 01:33:34 It's just for the neighbors. I told you not to worry about Keyes.
1760 01:33:39 I'll see you at 11:00. Yeah.
1761 01:33:44 Goodbye, baby.
1762 01:33:49 I guess I don't have to tell you...
1763 01:33:51 what I intended to do at 11:00, Keyes.
1764 01:33:54 For the first time,
1765 01:33:55 I saw a way to get clear of the whole mess I was in...
1766 01:33:58 and of Phyllis, too, all at the same time.
1767 01:34:01 Yeah, that's what I thought.
1768 01:34:04 What I didn't know was that she had plans of her own.
1769 01:35:06 In here, Walter.
1770 01:35:23 Hello, baby.
1771 01:35:26 Anybody else in the house? Nobody. Why?
1772 01:35:31 What's that music? A radio up the street.
1773 01:35:42 Just like the first time I came here, isn't it?
1774 01:35:45 We were talking about automobile insurance.
1775 01:35:48 Only you were thinking about murder.
1776 01:35:52 I was thinking about that anklet.
1777 01:35:54 And what are you thinking about now?
1778 01:35:56 I'm all through thinking, baby.
1779 01:35:58 I just came to say goodbye. Goodbye?
1780 01:36:01 Where are you going? You're the one that's going, baby. Not me.
1781 01:36:05 I'm getting off the trolley car right at this corner.
1782 01:36:08 Suppose you stop being fancy. Let's have it, whatever it is.
1783 01:36:10 All right, I'll tell you. A friend of mine's got a funny theory.
1784 01:36:14 He says when two people commit a murder,
1785 01:36:16 it's sort of like they're riding...
1786 01:36:17 on a trolley car together. One can't get off without the other.
1787 01:36:20 They're stuck with each other and they have to go on...
1788 01:36:22 riding together clear to the end of the line.
1789 01:36:25 And the last stop is the cemetery.
1790 01:36:27 Maybe he's got something there. You bet he has.
1791 01:36:30 Two people are gonna ride to the end of the line, all right.
1792 01:36:33 Only I'm not gonna be one of them.
1793 01:36:35 I've got another guy to finish my ride for me.
1794 01:36:38 Just who are you talking about? An acquaintance of yours.
1795 01:36:41 A Mr. Zachetti.
1796 01:36:43 Come on, baby, I just got into this thing...
1797 01:36:44 because I happen to know
1798 01:36:45 a little something about insurance, didn't I?
1799 01:36:47 I was a sucker.
1800 01:36:48 I'd have been brushed off
1801 01:36:50 just as soon as you got your hands on the money.
1802 01:36:51 Nobody wanted to brush you off. Save it. I'm telling this.
1803 01:36:54 It's been you and that Zachetti guy all along, hasn't it?
1804 01:36:56 That's not true.
1805 01:36:58 Doesn't make any difference if it's true or not.
1806 01:37:02 The point is, Keyes believes Zachetti is
1807 01:37:05 the one he's been looking for.
1808 01:37:06 He'll have him in that gas chamber
1809 01:37:08 before he knows what's happened to him.
1810 01:37:09 What's happening to me all this time? Don't be silly, baby.
1811 01:37:18 What do you think is gonna happen to you?
1812 01:37:19 You helped him do the murder, didn't you?
1813 01:37:22 That's what Keyes thinks.
1814 01:37:23 And what's good enough for Keyes is good enough for me.
1815 01:37:26 Maybe it's not good enough for me, Walter.
1816 01:37:28 Maybe I don't go for the idea.
1817 01:37:30 Maybe I'd rather talk.
1818 01:37:32 Sometimes people are where they can't talk.
1819 01:37:35 Under six feet of dirt, maybe.
1820 01:37:37 And if it was you,
1821 01:37:39 they'd charge that up to Zachetti, too, wouldn't they?
1822 01:37:41 Sure they would, and that's just what's gonna happen, baby.
1823 01:37:45 'Cause he's coming here tonight, in about 15 minutes.
1824 01:37:48 With the cops right behind him. It's all taken care of.
1825 01:37:52 That would make everything lovely for you, wouldn't it?
1826 01:37:55 Right. And it's got to be done
1827 01:37:56 before that suit of yours comes to trial...
1828 01:37:59 and Lola gets a chance to sound off...
1829 01:38:00 before they trip you up on the stand,
1830 01:38:02 and you start to go in drag me down with you.
1831 01:38:03 Maybe I had Zachetti here
1832 01:38:05 so they won't get a chance to trip me up...
1833 01:38:06 so we can get the money and be together.
1834 01:38:08 That's cute. Say it again.
1835 01:38:09 He came here first to ask where Lola was.
1836 01:38:11 I made him come back. I was working on him.
1837 01:38:13 He's a crazy sort of guy, quick-tempered.
1838 01:38:15 I kept hammering into him that she was with another man...
1839 01:38:17 so he'd go into one of his jealous rages,
1840 01:38:20 and then I'd tell him where she was.
1841 01:38:22 And you know what he would've done to her, don't you, Walter?
1842 01:38:25 Yeah, and for once I believe you,
1843 01:38:27 because it's just rotten enough.
1844 01:38:30 We're both rotten.
1845 01:38:31 Only you're a little more rotten.
1846 01:38:33 You got me to take care of your husband for you...
1847 01:38:35 and then you got Zachetti to take care of Lola,
1848 01:38:38 maybe take care of me, too.
1849 01:38:39 Then somebody else would have come along
1850 01:38:40 to take care of Zachetti for you.
1851 01:38:42 That's the way you operate, isn't it, baby? Suppose it is.
1852 01:38:45 Is what you've got cooked up for tonight any better?
1853 01:38:49 I don't like that music anymore. Mind if I close the window?
1854 01:39:13 You can do better than that, can't you, baby?
1855 01:39:16 Better try it again.
1856 01:39:21 Maybe if I came a little closer?
1857 01:39:33 How's this? Think you can do it now?
1858 01:39:45 Why didn't you shoot again, baby?
1859 01:39:53 Don't tell me
1860 01:39:55 it's because you've been in love with me all this time.
1861 01:39:57 No, I never loved you, Walter, not you or anybody else.
1862 01:40:01 I'm rotten to the heart. I used you, just as you said.
1863 01:40:04 That's all you ever meant to me...
1864 01:40:08 until a minute ago...
1865 01:40:11 when I couldn't fire that second shot.
1866 01:40:15 I never thought that could happen to me.
1867 01:40:18 Sorry, baby. I'm not buying. I'm not asking you to buy.
1868 01:40:21 Just hold me close.
1869 01:40:29 Goodbye, baby.
1870 01:41:25 Zachetti.
1871 01:41:29 Come here.
1872 01:41:36 I said, come here.
1873 01:41:40 My name is Neff. Yeah, and I still don't like it.
1874 01:41:44 What do you want?
1875 01:41:45 Look, kid.
1876 01:41:48 I want to give you a present. This nice new nickel.
1877 01:41:51 What's the gag? Suppose you go on back down the hill...
1878 01:41:53 to the drugstore and make a phone call.
1879 01:41:55 Keep your nickel and buy yourself an ice-cream cone.
1880 01:41:57 The number is Granite-0-3-8-6.
1881 01:41:59 Ask for Miss Dietrichson. First name is Lola.
1882 01:42:02 She isn't worth a nickel.
1883 01:42:03 If I ever talk to her, it's not going to be over any telephone.
1884 01:42:05 Tough, aren't you?
1885 01:42:06 Here, take the nickel and call her. She wants you to.
1886 01:42:09 She doesn't want any part of me.
1887 01:42:11 I know who told you that. It's not true.
1888 01:42:13 Lola's in love with you. She always has been.
1889 01:42:16 Don't ask me why. I couldn't even guess.
1890 01:42:18 Here. Granite-0-3-8-6. Now go on and call her.
1891 01:42:22 Go on. That way.
1892 01:42:34 It's almost 4:30 now, Keyes.
1893 01:42:37 It's cold.
1894 01:42:41 I wonder if she's still lying alone up there in that house...
1895 01:42:44 or if they've found her by now.
1896 01:42:48 I wonder a lot of things. They don't matter anymore.
1897 01:42:56 Except I want you to do a favor for me, Keyes.
1898 01:43:00 I want you to be the one to tell Lola,
1899 01:43:03 kind of gently, before it breaks wide open.
1900 01:43:06 And I want you to take care of her and that guy Zachetti...
1901 01:43:14 so he doesn't get pushed around too much.
1902 01:43:19 Hello, Keyes.
1903 01:43:31 Up pretty early, aren't you?
1904 01:43:34 I always wondered what time you got down to the office.
1905 01:43:38 Or did that little man of yours pull you out of bed?
1906 01:43:41 The janitor did.
1907 01:43:44 Seems you leaked a little blood on the way in here.
1908 01:43:47 Yeah.
1909 01:43:48 Wouldn't be surprised.
1910 01:43:52 I wanted to straighten you out on that Dietrichson case.
1911 01:43:55 So I gather.
1912 01:43:59 How long have you been standing there? Long enough.
1913 01:44:02 Kind of a crazy story with a crazy twist to it.
1914 01:44:06 One you didn't quite figure out.
1915 01:44:08 You can't figure them all, Walter.
1916 01:44:11 That's right. I guess you can't at that.
1917 01:44:15 Now I suppose I get the big speech...
1918 01:44:19 the one with all the two-dollar words in it.
1919 01:44:23 Let's have it, Keyes.
1920 01:44:26 Walter, you're all washed up.
1921 01:44:32 Thanks, Keyes. That was short anyway.
1922 01:44:36 I'm gonna call for a doctor.
1923 01:44:40 What for? So they can patch me up?
1924 01:44:44 So they can nurse me along till I get back on my feet?
1925 01:44:46 So I can walk into that gas chamber up
1926 01:44:48 at San Quentin on my own power?
1927 01:44:50 Is that it, Keyes?
1928 01:44:52 Something like that.
1929 01:44:54 I've got a different idea. Yeah?
1930 01:44:57 Look, Keyes.
1931 01:44:58 Suppose you went back to bed and didn't find these cylinders...
1932 01:45:01 till tomorrow morning, when the office opens...
1933 01:45:03 After that you can play it any way you like.
1934 01:45:06 Would you do that much for me, Keyes?
1935 01:45:09 Give me one good reason.
1936 01:45:10 I need four hours to get where I'm going.
1937 01:45:13 You're not going anywhere, Walter. You bet I am.
1938 01:45:17 I'm going across the border. You haven't got a chance, Walter.
1939 01:45:20 Good enough to try for.
1940 01:45:21 You'll never make the border. That's what you think.
1941 01:45:26 Just watch me.
1942 01:45:28 You'll never even make the elevator.
1943 01:45:30 So long, Keyes.
1944 01:46:01 Hello...
1945 01:46:02 send an ambulance to the Pacific Building on Olive Street.
1946 01:46:07 Yeah. It's a police job.
1947 01:46:29 How you doing, Walter? Fine.
1948 01:46:33 Only somebody moved the elevator a couple of miles away.
1949 01:46:37 They're on the way.
1950 01:46:44 You know why you couldn't figure this one, Keyes?
1951 01:46:46 I'll tell you.
1952 01:46:48 Because the guy you were looking for was too close.
1953 01:46:52 He was right across the desk from you.
1954 01:46:54 Closer than that, Walter.
1955 01:47:01 I love you, too.