All language subtitles for Alfred Hitchcock s03e29 Fatal Figures

Good evening, telewatchers. I am about
to demonstrate this amazing electronic

brain. May I have the problem, please?

Figures fascinate me.

Two plus two. Now, we feed this problem
into the machine, and the answer will

appear there.

Perhaps we should have started with
something simple.

Cross, would you please?

As you can see, it's almost human.

And now for the problem. I think the
answer is coming.

If this machine persists in these do -it
-yourself suggestions,

he may find himself replaced by a human
being. Now, while I tinker with this,

suppose you watch tonight's play, Fatal
Figures.

Oh, did you get some mail today?

Just your almanac. No letters.

Were you expecting one?

No, but you never know until you look.

Who'd be writing to you?

Nobody, my dear sister. Nobody in the
whole world would be writing to me.

Well, then you should be glad there's no
mail for you.

Unexpected letters usually mean bad
news, and we have enough of that in the

newspapers. But that's always about
other people, never us.

I should hope not.

Run along, Harold. You'll miss your bus.

I haven't missed my bus in 13 years.

Five days a week for 50 weeks a year for
13 years is 3

,250 times.

Best to keep your house properly.

I doubt if a wife would have done much
better for you.

No, I suppose if I had married, I would
have gone to work at least once in a

soil shirt.

I beg your pardon.

Yeah? The shop next door, the florist,
he's moved out.

Yeah, I know. The owner's telephone
number's on the card in the window. No,

wasn't interested in that. I mean, do
you know what happened to the florist?

died.

Oh.

I didn't know that.

Must have been very sudden.

I guess. Was he a friend of yours?

Yes, a very old friend. I used to wave
to him every morning, and he always

watched for me.

I'll miss him.

I wonder if you knew where he lived.

I couldn't say, mister.

Maybe the owner has Mrs. Rubin's
address.

Mrs. Rubin?

His wife. That was his name, wasn't it?

I don't know.

I thought you said he was an old friend
of yours.

Yes, he was. For 13 years. But I never
knew his name.

In fact, I never even spoke to him.

You're not eating, Harold. Don't you
like the meat?

Yes, this is very good, but I've had
enough, Margaret.

Oh, I don't understand why you let
yourself get so disturbed over nothing.

I don't consider the death of a friend
nothing.

Now, it's ridiculous of you to keep
calling him your friend when you hardly

knew him.

I'm sorry a man died, but why should you
go into mourning for him?

Oh, I don't know.

Yes, I do know.

I'm mourning for myself.

Mr. Rubin is me, and I'm Mr. Rubin.

Or I will be in a few years.

I mean, when I die, there'll be no more
notice taken of me than there was of Mr.

Rubin. The company will run an ad,
bookkeeper wanted.

And there'll be nothing, nothing to show
that I was ever here.

It's very flattering.

After all the years I spent making a
home for you. Oh, I didn't mean to hurt

you, Margaret. I know I'm important to
you, but that's not enough. I want to be

something, to be somebody, to leave
behind me a gap that can't be filled in

overnight, to make a mark somewhere that
somebody will notice. You're just being

morbid.

Sometimes I think I should have gotten
married. At least there would have been

children to carry on.

You could have.

I certainly wouldn't have stood in your
way.

If you'd brought a wife home, I would
have gladly stepped aside.

This way, what have I contributed?

I've held the same job for 13 years.

I work in the adding machine.

I check trial balances. I post to
general ledgers. And all it adds up to

numbers, numbers.

That's all I am, Margaret, a number.

A vital statistic.

Nothing more.

There are a lot of people in this world
worse off than you are.

Mine is just a vital statistic,
Margaret. I was born.

I added one point to the general
population.

But 160 million other people can claim
the same distinction.

All right, Harold. If you want to enjoy
your own insignificance, you might just

as well do it properly.

The population of this country...

according to the almanac, happens to
be... 172

,823 ,104.

You see?

You're even less important than you
thought.

172 ,823 ,104.

Employment status of the U .S.
population, 121 ,753

,955.

One of those 60 billion is Harold George
Gomes. At least that's a little better

than being one in 172 million.

Male labor force, only 60 million.

That's a big improvement.

Except who knows Harold George Holmes is
one of them.

Mortal thefts.

226 ,530.

Thank you.

Ready for what?

Church. Oh.

Yes, I'll be right down.

Auto theft.

226 ,530.

226 ,000.

Five hundred and thirty -one.

Robberies.

Sixty -three thousand one hundred and
ninety -seven.

Why, that's to me a handful.

Harold, we are going to be late for
church.

All right, I'm coming.

Where are you going?

Upstairs. I thought I'd read a while.

What about our checker game?

I don't feel like it tonight.

You don't feel like it?

Every Sunday evening for the past 13
years, we have always played Chinese

checkers. And now, all of a sudden, you
don't feel like it.

Would it be expecting too much to ask
why?

Maybe that's why 13 years of the same
thing at the same time.

Harold, I will not have you carrying on
this way.

We have led a decent, respectable life
all these years, and I will not let you

throw it over.

Now, please sit down and play checkers.

No, Margaret, I'm going up to my room
and read.

Thank you.

53 ,198.

Harold, I want to talk to you.

Harold.

What's wrong?

Wrong? There's nothing wrong with me.
It's you.

Harold, I demand an explanation from you
right here and now.

There's nothing wrong. Everything is
fine.

Fine.

I think you're having a nervous
breakdown.

Tomorrow morning, I'll call Dr. Fortier.

Oh, him.

Harold. I tell you, I don't need any
doctors. I never felt better.

What's this?

It's perfume.

Harold, where'd this come from?

I like to think it came from Bulgaria.

They say the largest rose fields in all
the world are located in the Maritsa

Valley.

And the maidens gather the flowers early
in the morning while the dew is still

fresh upon them.

That's it.

You've been philandering.

I bought it for you.

Don't you lie to me, Harold Gould.

That's why you've been acting so
strangely.

Sneaking out of the house in the middle
of the night.

You've got another woman.

Another woman, Margaret?

I wasn't aware I had any at all.

You know perfectly well what I mean.

I have devoted half my life to your
comfort, your well -being, and this is

thanks I get?

Oh, I can see the handwriting on the
wall. You want to turn me out.

That's not true.

Next thing you know, you're going to be
bringing her right into this house.

I won't stand for it.

I know you won't. I found that out years
ago.

Oh, this talk about your being
important.

You think a cheap hussy is going to make
you feel important?

Oh, Harold, you've got a rude awakening
coming to you.

You, you're all... Almost 50 years old,
you'll never be important to anybody but

me. Yes, you saw to that, didn't you?

Whatever I did, I did for your own good.
I saved you from making a fool of

yourself. I think I'd rather have been a
fool.

Well, you're certainly behaving like one
now.

Oh, Harold, why don't you face up to the
facts?

You and I are exactly alike. We're
nobody.

And without each other, we're even less
than that.

7 ,124.

We played a game of

Chinese checkers, and then she made some
tea.

It was about 10 o 'clock, I think, when
I went up to bed.

Margaret stayed on to wash the cups.

Did she seem to be all right?

Yes, she was in very good spirits.

She'd won the game of checkers.

I tried to talk her into another game,
but she decided to quit while she was

still ahead.

Did she cry out during the night?

No.

At least I didn't hear her.

But then I'm a very sound sleeper.

She used to say you could shoot off a
cannon beside my bed, and I wouldn't

it.

No, it wasn't until I came down for
breakfast this morning that I realized

something was wrong.

You see, Sergeant, in all the 13 years
that Margaret kept house for me...

She never once failed to have breakfast
ready on time.

It's 13 years.

It's quite a record.

Yes.

A hot breakfast and a clean skirt.

3 ,250 clean shirts.

3 ,200... I think that just about covers
it, Mr.

Gomes.

I'm sorry to intrude, but we have to
check whenever the presiding physician

can't determine the cause of death.

What do you think caused it?

Food poisoning, most likely. I don't
know what else.

Dr. Fortier said her heart was in good
shape.

You don't think it could possibly have
been a murder?

I told you, Mr. Gomes, we have to check
any unexplained death.

It's routine, that's all.

How could you be sure?

We have to go on the evidence.

Your sister was a very respectable
woman. No enemies.

She had no insurance, no bank account.

There was no sign of a prowler, no
struggle.

You see, it had to be food poisoning.

Well, why didn't I get it, too? We eat
the same food.

It happens that way sometimes.

Aren't you going to have an autopsy?

Well, that'll be up to the coroner, but
I doubt it.

The evidence doesn't call for it.

Thank you for cooperating, Mr. Gomes.

Goodbye.

7 ,125 murders.

But that's wrong.

It's only murder if the police, they
told.

Change the total back again, Harold
Gomes.

It isn't going to count. You don't
belong on that list.

But I do belong on that list.

I am a murderer.

They've got to change those figures.

Okay, Mr. Gomes.

You say your sister was murdered.

Now tell me why you think so.

Because I murdered her.

Oh?

How? With rat poison.

Down in my workroom.

There's strychnine in it.

I put some in her tea.

Well, I guess there's going to have to
be an autopsy after all.

If they find strychnine, you're going to
be in trouble.

I realize that.

As a matter of fact, even if they don't
find any, you'll be in trouble.

Are you sure you know what you're doing?
I'm confessing to the murder of my

sister.

Why? Why did you do it?

You must have had a reason.

Did you hate her?

No, not really.

She always dominated me.

But I guess that was my fault more than
it was hers. I should have taken a

stand.

She thought she was doing the right
thing for me, but...

She was wrong, but I forgave her for
that.

Look, there has got to be a motive.

I guess it was mostly a matter of
statistics.

That's the only place in which I can
make a mark.

Do you know how many people there are in
this country, Sergeant?

No, not exactly. Over 172 million.

I'm one of them. So are you.

So is everybody else.

And one isn't any more important than
another.

Well, I never really looked at it like
that.

Over 172 million people.

I was completely lost in all those
people.

Ah, but murderers, that's different.

There are only 7 ,124 murderers.

Now, do you understand?

Yes. Oh, yes.

I understand.

Of course, there are 7 ,125 now.

And I'm one of them.

They're going to have to change the
whole statistics just to make room for

sort of sets me apart, doesn't it?

Yes, I guess it does.

Now, let's get back to why you killed
her.

If you killed her.

Of course I killed her, and I just
explained to you why.

You still don't see it, do you?

No, I'm afraid I don't. Look, it's very
simple.

I had to kill somebody to be eligible.

To change the figures?

Yes.

And Margaret was the only logical one.

Because she didn't care if nobody
remembered her. It wasn't important to

be important.

So it all worked out fine.

I've got seven and a half years in the
force.

I've worked on every possible kind of
case for every possible reason.

I've even arrested psychos who didn't
have a reason.

Ah, but I had a very good reason.

Would you mind coming down to
headquarters and telling us to the

I don't have any choice, do I?

Because if the police don't believe it's
murder, they won't be able to change

the figures.

And that would ruin everything.

I'll just go get my coat.

17 ,125.

Suicides.

16 ,008.

15 ,009!

I'm giving the brain one more chance.

3 ,137 multiplied by

38 ,915.

Please no help from the audience While
the brain digests the problem see if you

have an answer to the following after
which I hope you'll rejoin me

There's

nothing difficult about mathematics I
found an answer in a few seconds

I'm now trying to get a problem to fit
it.

This is all now until next week, when we
shall be back with another story.

Perhaps I should erase this so you can
see the following show.

Good night.