Original subtitles

Check and mate in five moves.

Five moves?

Five moves.

Bob, you are totally without scruples.

No room for scruples on a chessboard. But you beguiled me into falling for one

of the most obvious ploys in the game. I find obvious ploys are the best.

Especially with you, Carl.

Like most psychologists, you tend to ignore the obvious and dig for hidden

complexities. While you're digging, I win.

Another game?

No, Mark will be picking me up soon.

Besides, I might win, eh?

Exactly.

I will rest in my laurels.

Well, while you're still flushed with victory, maybe I can challenge you to a

slightly different sort of game.

Now,

I've collected the works of five San Francisco artists.

Now, I'm studying them.

By interviewing each artist in depth, I'm developing a theory as to what

influences each one's choice of material.

Technique, style.

Obviously, this one owns a junkyard.

No, but his father did.

What's your challenge?

Now, Bob, you said that while I'm pursuing non -existent complexities, you

always recognize the obvious.

All right, then.

The obvious here is that one of these artists is in an extremely dangerous

of mind.

Destructive. Homicidal.

Homicidal? The least shift in his or her precarious psychological balance.

The very possibility to murder.

After the first, it could be a second.

Third.

You sure you're not seeing complexities that aren't there?

Quite sure.

Which one?

That's my question, Bob. Carl, chess is a game. Homicide isn't.

If you're certain one of these people is potentially a killer... You can't

arrest someone for what you think they may do. Who said anything about arrest?

Now, look, this is your field of competence. You have information that I

have, without guessing.

You'll have to, Bob.

At least for the time being.

Probably Mark.

Some game.

We'll continue next time, if you care to. I prefer chess.

You prefer winning.

Carl said it should be obvious.

Not to me.

Not to me.

48 hours ago, I let Carl Anderson con me out of naming his killer.

Now I've got to see something I couldn't see the other night.

Let's face it, Chief. You don't know these artists.

Professor Anderson did.

We are going to.

Ed, if Carl was right, this is only the beginning.

I'll speed up the medical boys trying to get a fix on what happened.

Eve, call Dr. Bregan.

Tell him I want him here as soon as possible.

Maybe another psychologist will see what I don't.

Why did I wait?

Why didn't I get the name?

What a wild guess. I'd say somebody searched this room.

What do you think they were looking for? Wild guess?

Carl's research notes.

They could be incriminating.

Smashed during the search? Or during a struggle.

Before Carl was stabbed.

Or neither.

Something about all this bugs me. I mean, a man can search a place without

messing it up like this.

That's true.

This looks like he wrecked things just to be wrecking.

But I guess that figures if someone really went off the deep end.

Oh, Ms. Meacham.

Please come in.

Yeah, won't you?

Well, this is difficult for you, but it has to be done.

When he didn't come in for breakfast, I thought he might be ill, so I went to

his bedroom.

The bed hadn't been slept in, so I came in here.

That door was open.

I looked in.

Did the professor have dinner here last night?

He hardly touched his meal.

I never saw him so depressed, so quiet.

Was it something in connection with his work?

I wouldn't know.

We never spoke of his work.

When did you leave the house last night?

It was a little after eight.

He was working there at his desk.

We said our goodnights, and as I turned to go, he asked me to leave

the light burning in the entry.

Who was he expecting?

I wouldn't know.

I didn't ask.

You've worked for Carl for a long time.

Yes.

Ever since his wife died.

You were happy here, of course.

Yes.

I guess I should tell you that I'd given him my notice just last week.

Why? Why?

I found a more suitable position. Carl must have been surprised.

Psychologist.

They're not always so smart, are they?

He thought it was a question of money.

Is there anything else?

Not now, thank you.

Eight to nine -thirty. Nothing on his appointment calendar.

Looks like they were playing chess.

One of the pieces is missing.

A red bishop.

I've got some preliminary dope on those five artists, Chief. All right, Eve.

Start checking out the professor's correspondence.

Research notes and everything.

Good thing you liked Jigsaw, Professor.

Two of the five are out of town.

Atkins is in Paris on a fellowship. He did the plaster things.

Tiles, the op painter, flew to New York last week for an exhibit of his work.

He's not due back for a couple of weeks.

The leaves are Salino, Kingsley, and Prentiss.

I want to see the three of them here as soon as possible. Right.

Mark.

Other things by Atkins and Charles were moved so we can concentrate on what's

relevant. Relevant?

When I get close to this one, it's all I can do to keep from kicking the tires.

Brian, come in.

Chief.

We tried to reach you at your apartment.

I was on campus.

Mark Sanger, Brian Turner.

Hi. Hi.

Brian's been the professor's assistant for a good many years.

All right, Mark.

I can't believe this has happened.

When did you last see him?

Yesterday morning.

We went over an article he'd written for one of the journals.

At the lunch, I had to fly down to Los Angeles.

A family matter.

Tried to talk Carl into going with me.

Just to get him out of that study for a while.

He said he couldn't take the time.

You came back this morning?

No, last night. Nine o 'clock flight.

I called Carl when I got home, but there wasn't any answer.

I guess he was... Do you know what time?

There's some evidence it was about 9 .30.

You were working with him on this project, of course.

No, as a matter of fact, I had very little to do with it.

Just a few peripheral discussions.

Any special reason?

That's Carl's generosity.

He knew I needed the time to work on my Ph .D. thesis.

Yes, he told me.

Something on the compulsive gambler.

During any of your peripheral discussions about these artists, did

suggest to you that one of them could be a potential killer?

No. Well, he told me that on Tuesday night.

But he didn't tell me which one.

Now, you're a psychologist.

Do you see an indication of homicidal tendencies in any of these works?

That's a very big question, Chief.

I don't have Carl's background in art or his knowledge of these people. You

wouldn't care to hazard a guess.

Under the conditions now.

Well, maybe you can help us in here.

Eve Whitfield, Brian Turner.

Brian probably knows these files better than anyone.

He'll help you straighten them out.

I'll appreciate any help I can get.

Now, look, that's my stuff.

Look, kid, don't get tough. Just get out of the way. What? Get out of the way!

This gentleman wants to take one of the pieces of relevant evidence, Chief.

How'd he get past the officer at the front door?

Or are we selling public tours of the murder scene? Look, that's my sculpture.

Then you must be Mike Salino.

Who are you? Forget it.

He's helping me.

Who are you, pussycat? My name's Ironside. We're investigating a

didn't you know?

Yeah, I know, and I'm sorry, because the professor was the right guy. But look,

I got a red -hot prospect for this hunk of junk, and the dame wants a few

changes and won't come up with a check until she gets him. Now, I want it, and

I'm gonna take it. At the moment.

All these works are possible evidence.

I can't release them. Oh, come on. Don't give me that, Jez. It's my stuff and I

want it. Now, you hold it.

You play chess, Mr. Salino? Yeah, I play chess. Look, all of this is costing me

a sale. You ever play with Professor Anderson?

Yeah, a real pigeon. Why? Who won last night? Who said we played last night?

Didn't you?

I haven't seen the professor in three days.

What did you do last night?

I was working in my studio.

By yourself?

Now, look, you want to make something of it?

And you should get a new razor.

Okay, when the dame comes up with the check, I'll get a new razor. Look, I

want to cost you a sale, Mr. Salino.

I'll release these sculptures as soon as I can.

As soon as you can, huh?

All right, you want to be chicken about this, huh? I'll get a court order and

I'll be back.

Come on.

Mike Salino. No wonder they couldn't find him.

Here's a report from the medical examiner.

Professor Anderson was stabbed twice from behind by a right -handed person,

probably someone between 5 '4 and 5 '10.

Also, report from lab on latent prints.

No fingerprints on murder weapon.

How are we doing with Mrs. Kingsley and Reapprentice? Mrs. Kingsley is on her

way here.

Reapprentice's phone is out of order. I wonder how police officers managed

before there were telephones.

Yes, sir.

There was no complaint. What I wanted to see... You don't look like a sergeant.

Well, how should a sergeant look?

When I hear the word sergeant, I get a hostile feeling, or at best, neutral.

You don't give me hostile or neutral feelings.

What's your first name?

Ed. Miss Prentiss, I believe you... Ed.

That gives me a very warm, positive kind of feeling.

You know a Professor Carl Anderson?

Very well.

He's trying to find out what makes me tink.

The professor was murdered last night.

That doesn't surprise you?

Life's full of surprises.

Do you think I killed the professor, Ed? Well, we have to check out all his

friends and associates, Miss Prentiss. Could you tell me where you were last

evening? Here, painting.

By yourself?

Unfortunately, because I like company.

In fact, I do some of my most memorable work in social situations.

You like my work, Ed?

Very, uh, uninhibited.

The professor was always looking for a pattern.

Waste of time.

The only thing they have in common is they have nothing in common.

No message, no meaning.

They just are.

What is it?

Whatever you want it to be, baby.

Just like life.

I find your work very appealing, Mrs. Kingsley.

Thank you.

You have a very handsome model.

My son.

I suppose it seems that I'm preoccupied with my son.

That's what the professor thought.

Why shouldn't a mother be preoccupied with her child?

After all, isn't a child a mother's first responsibility?

That's what the professor didn't understand.

Just...

Professor Anderson disagree about many things.

Mrs. Kingsley?

Oh, I'm sorry.

I woke up this morning with a terrible headache and another shock.

I was very fond of the professor.

When did you last see him?

Oh, I believe it was on Monday.

You hadn't spoken to him since?

No.

Did you play chess with him when you saw him on Monday?

I don't play chess.

Then I guess you wouldn't know about the Red Bishop.

It's a chess piece.

It's missing from his set.

Thank you, Mrs. Kingsley.

Actually, something we can't find.

Eight canceled checks are missing from the professor's last two bank

Can't you tell what they were from the stub?

All the missing checks were made out to cash.

They were made out in the last six weeks for small amounts.

But there's a shortage of $3 ,282.

What's your thought on that, Brian?

I don't know.

Blackmail?

Maybe it was something the professor couldn't tell Brian about or explain.

Maybe. All right. Keep looking for those checks. The endorsements could be

interesting.

Eve, call Tony Lake over at the clearinghouse.

Tell him we have a problem with some canceled checks.

See if he can give us some help.

And use the outside phone.

You had a call from police records.

Mike Salino was arrested in 1956 for knifing a man in a bar fight.

Depressing subject matter.

Yeah, instant identification. Anybody that's ever had a flat gets the message.

They do good work in vocational rehabilitation at San Quentin.

That is where you were trained as a welder, isn't it?

Did I send for you?

Then get off my back. I paid my dues for that mistake.

Sure you only made one?

Look, I was a kid of 20 with too much booze in me.

And this big mouth kept putting me down like you're doing.

So you put a knife in it. So I put a knife in him. He asked for it. And like

said, I paid for that privilege. Did Professor Anderson ask for it?

I didn't have any trouble with the professor.

Wasn't he putting you down, finding out too much about you? No! Didn't he warn

you that he'd seen something in your work, that you were a threat to

to your friends?

Didn't he tell you that you had to admit it, that you needed help? And instead,

didn't you grab that letter opener and when he turned it back...

You know, it's likely the professor put up a struggle.

It's not likely his killer came out unscratched.

Okay, so I lied.

I was in a fight the night before last, the Wallaby Bar down on Market Street.

This guy kept bugging me, and I blew my stack, and he came at me with a broken

bottle and nicked me just before I creamed him. Where was your knife?

Are you a cop?

No.

You want to live a little dangerously?

Anytime.

You through with me?

Almost.

Did the professor know about this latest brawl?

Look, why are you trying to make me your patsy, huh?

Anybody could have done it, right?

And if you want to pick on one of the artists around the professor, why don't

you pick up on that weirdo, that reapprentice, or that Kingsley dame

painting after painting after painting of her poor dead kid.

Now, there's a real nut for you.

Mrs. Kingsley's son is dead?

Yeah, sure. Didn't she tell you?

Happened about a year and a half ago. She's painting down at the beach, and a

poor kid wandered off and got drowned.

Yeah?

Yeah, yeah, Salino here.

Hey, hiya, sweetheart.

You kidding?

Thanks, baby. You made my day.

I got news for you.

That was my lawyer on the phone.

A judge just signed a paper saying you can't hold on to my junk anymore.

Good.

Frankly, it's begun to lose its fascination.

You're asking for the impossible, Bob. I'm a psychologist.

My clairvoyant.

Carl Anderson was a psychologist. He saw it.

Carl lived with these things.

He knew the people. Oh, let's not forget, Carl was killed.

Maybe if I had six months, I might come up with a candidate, too.

But there's no absolute guarantee that it would be the same as Carl's.

Put any three psychologists onto the job, they might come up with three

different names.

Perfectly good reasoning for a... For each case.

Well, you wasted no time.

I got a living to make, something you don't have to worry about.

Don't tell the police commission.

We'll keep it our little secret.

Is that all right with you, Chief?

Has to be.

The judge has put his name on a document that says so.

your expression, I gather the answer to my question is still the same. There is

no answer.

Sorry that I can't do you any good, Bob.

Thanks for the try, Paul.

Oh, a word of advice.

Forget the art.

That, uh, as they say, is, uh, it was Carl Anderson's bag.

Good as people.

Always has been.

Maybe I can put them together.

Nice meeting you, doctor.

I still think it's all here, Brian.

Salino trying to hold things together for some kind of pattern onto a lot of

worthless junk.

Is Kingsley denying the truth, clinging to her dead child, re -apprenticed,

disorganized, unpredictable, explosive?

What am I missing?

Nothing.

Nothing at all.

And I doubt if anyone, including Professor Anderson, could extract more

emotional insight from those words.

Thank you.

Chief, we checked the outgoing calls from this number last night after 8.

There were two.

One was placed to reapprentice at 8 .27.

Then at 10 .50, there was a call to a cab company and a taxi was dispatched to

this address. We've got the driver's name.

10 .50.

The last call was made an hour and 20 minutes after we presumed that the

professor was dead.

All right, one of you follow up on the taxi driver, the other check out

Reapprentice.

Eve, taxi drivers have always been your specialty.

And Reapprentice is becoming yours.

something else.

I've got a great rocket blast off, or how about a nice earthquake?

Professor Anderson called you last night. He was so inconsiderate.

Calling me any time he thought of some fool question.

He got me out of the shower last night.

What did he want? I mean, I think a person's entitled to a little privacy.

What did he want?

Oh, I don't know.

I was so provoked. I told him I'd call him this morning, and then I left the

receiver off.

If you felt that way, why did you agree to participate in the study?

For fun.

What else is there?

I never took it very seriously.

The professor was so busy exploring our subconscious with gun and camera, he

didn't even see what was going on in his own household.

Such as?

That poor, frustrated housekeeper.

So madly in love with him, and he... treated her like a slightly inferior

Me? I don't want my subconscious mapped and photographed.

I don't need him or anyone else telling me why I paint.

I'm getting back at Aunt Jennifer.

Aunt Jennifer?

My old maid aunt.

She raised me.

She always dressed me in white.

wanted to hear.

And never the same thing twice.

I don't believe in people trying to pigeonhole other people.

So stop it, Sergeant Brown.

Hello, Mike.

How's it going?

What do you want?

I come as a patron of the arts.

And, uh... As a friend. A patron of the arts and a friend.

Man, this gag's got to be a real mind -snapper. What? What do you want?

All right, Mike, have it your way.

Frankly, I think your work is a big put -on.

And personally, you're a pig.

I love you too, baby.

Actually, I came by to do you a favor. I can't imagine why.

Yeah, sure.

A favor.

I thought you ought to know that Ironside's on the track of a missing

Taken from Anderson's set.

A red bishop.

Oh, a red bishop. So what's that got to do with me?

Oh, come off of it, Mike.

I know how many times you take a chess piece home after a game with a

It's a psychologically interesting habit pattern.

The professor thought so, too. I don't care what he thought. Listen, he wasn't

as bright as you think, you know. A potential killer, he called me. Do you

that? I guessed it. You guessed it. Well, he guessed it, too, and he guessed

wrong because I'm not.

Well, what would the police think if they knew?

And if they found out you had the missing red bishop? That's the way I

what? I capture a piece, I put it in my pocket, I forget about it. Big deal. So

what? That's right, Mike. That's what you do.

Only this time you couldn't bring the red bishop back the next morning because

that would put you at Anderson's house the night he was killed.

Why don't you let me have it? I can see that it turns up around the house.

What's in it for you?

Look, if I have to say a reason for my altruism, let's just forget the whole

thing. Hey, hey, hey.

Take it easy.

I'll play.

glove compartment, Chief. He'll check it out, but it looks like the kind of

paper bank checks are generally printed on.

Anderson's checks?

The color matches.

Let me know as soon as you can.

Need a hiding place for those missing checks.

Did Salino know they were there? That's why he wanted to get that back?

Oh, I don't think so.

The story about a possible sale check, Sal, I spoke with a would -be buyer. Now

that he's dead, she'll probably want the piece more than ever.

He must have found them when he brought the piece here.

Why should those council checks be so important to anybody?

Ed, how are you doing with the clearinghouse?

They're working on it.

Something else is still missing.

The red bishop from the professor's chess set.

That's right.

It wasn't on the body. Or in Salino's living quarters. How about that clock?

It was stopped at 9 .30.

That smash clock still bothers me. It's too convenient.

An alibi. For whom?

Mrs. Kingsley, Ria, and Mike had no alibi for 9 .30 or 11. But if he was

after 11, why bother to smash the clock and set it back to 9 .30? Helena was

killed sometime around 7 o 'clock tonight.

The question is, where was the unpredictable Miss Prentiss?

Or Mrs. Kingsley.

I, uh... I was at the beach.

I was looking for something.

Someone.

You spent the entire afternoon at the beach?

Yes.

Did you see anyone?

Talk to anyone?

No, it was cold and windy.

I heard crying, but it was only the gulls.

I was alone.

All alone.

And then the fog came in. It was...

Very thick and very peaceful.

When you left the beach, where did you go?

Why, I, um... I, um... I must have come here.

Can't you remember?

Of course, of course I remember. I left the beach and I came here.

Mrs. Kingsley.

Mike Salino was killed early this evening.

Mike Salino?

Early this evening?

That's why you wanted to know where I'd been.

You think I killed him.

And Professor Anderson. But why? Now, why would I want to kill them? I don't

know.

But of course...

You do kill people sometimes.

Even when we don't want to.

May I go, please?

Yes. Thank you.

Miss Prentice, Chief.

Lozzie, you work a 24 -hour day.

Morning, noon, and night with no time off for recreation.

That's like not living.

Who's this?

It's my lawyer.

You're not under arrest?

Well, he's just standing by in case I need something legal, like a habeas or a

corpus. He's very good.

Show him how good you are, Al.

What is all this?

It's a hobby.

Out. No, just one more, Chief. Maybe with you. Out, out, out. And get that

What's the harm in a picture or two of me and my paintings in the murder room?

I'll be able to double my price.

Great artist, I poor. That's the rule.

Fine. As long as I'm the exception. Where were you this evening between 5

and 7?

Out. Out where?

Everywhere. Maybe you dropped by to see Mike Salino.

to see the Oakland junk man.

Because he had something you wanted?

Not a chance.

Now, the sergeant here... Where were you?

I don't remember.

If you want to keep track of me and what I do, you'll have to assign somebody to

stay by my side 24 hours a day.

I'll keep that in mind.

All right.

You can go.

Now, sergeant, about these pictures, can you just take a couple of them out

here?

before there's someone else. Help me.

What do you mean before it happens again?

Before I kill someone else.

Are you telling me that you killed Professor Anderson and Mike Salino?

I must have.

You don't remember?

I can't remember so many things.

Where I was last night.

What I did after I left the beach this afternoon.

But there can't be any question about this.

It happened again.

I even dreamed about these things last night.

Salino was driving this one, trying to run over me. Did he succeed?

I woke up.

Chief.

Reporters are getting impatient.

An occupational disease. They found out that you have Mrs. Kingsley in

protective custody.

Are you going to press charges?

No. Well, how can you avoid it? She did confess.

But she didn't kill the professor or Mike Salino any more than she killed her

son.

Now look at her painting.

Go on, look at them.

There's no violence there that I can see.

All right, what's your reaction to those?

You don't have to say a word.

Maybe it isn't art.

I see a carefree, uninhibited child turned loose with a new box of paints.

No tension, no conflict.

Anything goes.

And those make me feel uncomfortable.

That's the way Mike saw the world.

Twisted, distorted.

Not a joint.

Are you saying that Mike was the one Professor Anderson meant?

In my mind, there's no doubt of it.

From the beginning, I've made the mistake of assuming that the person Carl

of had to be the one that killed him.

The missing checks.

All accounted for.

Went by the clearinghouse. They'd run off these copies from film in their

-file.

I'll get them over to documents, see how they look to the forgery detail

experts.

Good idea.

But I can tell you what the answer will be.

Or do I hear any of you high rollers wanting to make a small wager?

The professor didn't sign them, that's why they were stolen.

Eve, put in calls to Pete Sims in Tahoe, George Bright in Reno, Norm King

in Las Vegas.

Well? You've ruled out the artists, and now it's a crime to cover up a forgery.

So it has to be.

Brian Turner.

Case of a highly intelligent man outsmarting himself.

The exaggerated ransacking of the professor's study to make it seem it had

done by someone who didn't know the house.

Smashing the clock and setting it back to 9 .30 so his 9 o 'clock flight from

Los Angeles would give him an alibi.

Can we make it stick?

We can if you start making those calls I ask you to make.

And if we don't get fouled up by a kook. A kook.

At the moment, I only know one.

Reapprentice. Hello?

Hi, this is the Reapprentice. I hope I catch you there.

This is terrible of a poor Ann Kingsley.

They're going to charge her.

But then, maybe you don't think it's so terrible.

Maybe you're even a little relieved.

Breathing easier now that the case is closed?

Look, Ray, it's late and... Of course, it wouldn't have to stay closed.

I could get it reopened. That.

Well, that's very interesting.

How would you manage that?

Simple.

I'd just tell Ironside what the dear professor told me the night he was

You were here?

I told him, why are you telling me?

Sounds like this is between you and Brian Turner and the police.

I guess you took that research that you were doing on the compulsive gambler a

little too personally.

Well, now you can do another paper on the compulsive forger.

Or even the compulsive killer.

Look, Ria, I don't know what you're after. And I'd much rather talk to you

to Ironside.

We have nothing to discuss.

Sure we do, lovey.

Things about how much you're going to pay me and how often.

pretty convincing on the phone, wasn't I?

I may give up painting and try acting.

Art's loss will be the theater's gain.

Suicide note and confession.

Was he going to kill himself?

No. No, he's forged your name to it. Can't let a poor sick woman take the

for what I've done.

And so on. You heard the expression, give a man enough rope?

Very tricky.

And typical.

You don't believe in doing anything simply, do you?

Book him.

Well, thank you for your cooperation, Miss Prentiss.

Oh, it was a pleasure, Chief.

What do you think of my painting, Mark?

You really want me to say?

Well, I think you have a true feeling for it.

How about you, Chief? Would you like to try it?

I'll take you up on that sometime.

Anytime. And, uh...

Bring a friend.

I'm sorry, Jim.

I didn't have to say it with such a loud voice. I did not raise my voice. Then

why was everyone going, shh? And why did people keep moving away from it? They

were not going, shh, and they were not moving away, except perhaps to leave the

theater exactly as we're doing.

We were asked to leave, Chief, remember?

No, we were not asked to leave. The manager and I had a polite discussion

the movie. He admitted to us that the gardener was indeed the killer, as I

you in the first three and a half minutes.

Since we knew the ending of this suspense movie...