Original subtitles

Good evening, devotees of television.

Recognizing the popularity of medical drama on TV, we are preparing one of our

own. In this series, I play the part of a wise, fatherly head of the largest

dog and cat hospital in Los Angeles.

This lad plays the part of young Dr. O 'Hara, a very promising and dedicated

young veterinarian.

Here you see him as he will appear during the most of our first story.

In this story, he wrestles with the problem of whether he should remain with

treating the pets of motion picture stars and millionaires and the animals

themselves may be stars, or whether he should go back to a small town where he

can treat the ordinary, unpedigreed poodles.

Fortunately, I convinced him that integrity isn't everything.

Now for an episode from another series, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, after this

one -minute special.

John?

Is it right?

Hold out tonight.

It's cold in here, too.

Need some fuel in that fire.

I just dropped by on my way home to see if John had changed his mind about going

in on my party line.

Party line?

Yeah. It'd be a big savings for me, and you'd have a telephone, too.

It wouldn't cost much.

Oh.

Well, I don't see anything to laugh at.

It's not funny.

A telephone's a real good thing to have, especially when you're so far out from

town.

Why?

Well, in case you get sick or something.

Need help.

I see.

Only... Who would I call?

You've got neighbors, ain't you?

Even though they are, I might throw away you. You've got neighbors, they're

yours.

I suppose they are.

I keep forgetting.

So long since I've seen any of them.

Yeah, well, maybe I'd best come back and talk to John when he's home, huh?

Oh, he's home?

He's upstairs.

Oh, if he's sleeping.

He's not sleeping.

I can see him then?

Sure. Go on up.

Thanks.

What happened?

I don't know.

You don't know?

But he's dead.

Appears like he's been strangled.

Yes, I saw that on... I don't know what happened.

But you must know you were here.

No.

I found him like that when I came back from feeding the chickens this morning.

You've been sitting here all day while he's been lying up there?

Didn't seem like there was anything else for me to do, seeing he was dead.

I better get the sheriff.

I'll telephone him from my place.

It doesn't seem right to leave you here all alone.

Why don't you come home with me?

Sarah will be glad to see you.

Oh, that would be nice.

It's been so long since I've visited anyone.

Yeah, come on.

No, that's all right, Sheriff. I can meet you there.

Dear, Sheriff wants me to meet him over at the right place.

Do you mind if she stays here with you?

Oh, don't. Don't talk nonsense, Jim.

I've known Millie since we were children together.

Of course I don't mind. You go right ahead.

Good. I'll be right over, Sheriff.

It won't take long.

You must be half -frozen.

Trust a man to drive you all this way and never think of that?

I'll go put on some coffee.

Please don't bother.

I don't want any.

Oh, Millie, I wish I could think of something to say.

What's there to say that would make anything different?

Will they take him away tonight?

Well, I should think so.

He won't like that.

Going away from the farm.

It's the only thing he ever really cared about.

Millie, why did you marry him?

I don't know.

I guess I thought I was in love with him.

But you could have had your pick of anyone. You were such a pretty little

Oh, my.

Was I ever jealous of you in those days?

I'll bet you haven't been jealous of me since.

I tell you, she's putting on an act.

Working up to an insanity plea.

Oh, now, what would she know about pleas?

Well, she has been off that farm horn a couple of times in the past 20 years.

It's an act just the same.

Well, you always know more about these things than I do, but it doesn't seem

like it to me.

I mean, why would she do it now, after putting up with them for all these

That's what we've got to find out.

How?

You just let me worry about that, Henry.

By the time I stand before a jury, I promise you I'll have everything I need

a conviction.

Maybe, but I'd still like to know how.

There must be something out of that farmhouse. Something that'll tell us.

Mr. Henderson, I searched that farm last night and I didn't even find one little

thing out of the ordinary.

That's why we're going to search again, my friend.

Right now.

Suit yourself.

Can I go home now?

Well, I'm afraid not right this minute.

You just relax and sit here and wait for a few minutes, Mrs. Wright.

There we are.

Mary, I'd like you to come out to the right place with us and bring back

whatever Mrs. Wright needs.

You'd better ask her. All right.

Wish I didn't have to go out there after what's happened.

Mary, would you like me to go with you?

Yes, I would.

I know it's silly of me.

But I would like company.

You see how we rate, don't you, Sheriff?

My wife thinks going out there with us is the same as going alone.

It's not that. I know, I know.

Ladies like to be together.

There it is.

I'm sure.

There.

Do you think she did it?

No, I don't.

If she had, you suppose she'd be worrying about silly little things like

apron and a shawl.

Looks awful bad for her.

Mr. Henderson said all he needed was a motive.

A motive to show that she hated him.

I wonder if they're finding anything up there.

It's wrong for them to come here like this and try to get her own house to

against her.

Mary, you better loosen your things. You don't feel the good of them when you go

out.

Oh.

It was this piece in the quilt.

Yes, I was just looking at it.

This must be the piece she was working on.

Oh, Mary.

Look at that going.

All the rest is so nice and even.

This is all over the place. Why, it looks as if she didn't know what she was

doing.

Sarah, what are you doing?

Nothing.

Just pulling out a stitch or two that isn't sold very good.

You have no right to do that. No right at all.

I'll have to tell the sheriff. I'll just have to.

Nothing to tell him, Mary, about someone that isn't there.

You shouldn't have touched that.

Why not?

Doesn't mean anything.

It meant she was awful nervous when she was doing that end part.

There must have been a reason why.

All nonsense.

I sometimes sew all wrong when I'm just tired.

Hadn't you better get those things wrapped up?

Yes, I... suppose I'd better.

I need some paper and string.

I expect you'd find some in that cupboard there.

What's the matter?

Nothing.

This is a birdcage here. Did he have a bird?

Well, I don't know.

Haven't been out here for so long.

There was a man around last year selling canaries cheap. I don't know if she got

one, but maybe she did.

She used to sing real pretty herself.

Funny to think of a bird in this gloomy place.

I wonder what happened to it.

Well, then maybe it got out.

Door's broken.

So it is. It's right off his hinge.

Somebody must have been real rough with it.

I do wish they'd hurry.

Imagine what it must have been like for her out here.

All alone with a man like John Wright.

Tell you what, Sarah.

Why don't we take her quilt to her?

Might take up her mind.

Oh, now, that's a good idea. They can't object to that.

Here's a box.

Probably has got her sewing things in it.

She has something wrapped up in a piece of silk.

Oh, Mary, it... It's her canary.

Poor little neck.

Somebody wrung its neck.

Now, see.

Once she had this around his neck, all she had to do was...

Wait a minute, that's no good.

Why wouldn't he wake up when she was slipping it over his head?

Oh, it comes to that, Henderson. He slept like the dead.

I, uh, mean he slept very heavy.

Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute.

That explains it, then.

Sure, sure, sure. What?

When she was slipping it over his head, he was all... Just a little

pull and he'd lose consciousness.

And all she had to do was tighten it, huh?

Hey.

What?

You know, it's a wonder she'd have the strength, a little woman like that.

Anger can make a person a lot stronger than they really are.

Yes, but we haven't found any signs of anger around here.

But we will.

It's almost as if she was trying to give it a burial.

Must have meant so much to her she couldn't bear to part with him.

It's a real pretty pattern, don't you think so, Mary?

I wonder, was she going to quilt it or just knot it?

I wonder if she's going to quilt it or knot it.

Let's go out to the barn and see if we can find anything up there.

Sarah, I've got to tell him. Oh, no.

You know what they say, don't you?

I know.

He killed her bird.

That's what made her angry.

That's the motive they're looking for.

And you're going to give it to them?

What else can we do?

We can hide it.

I'll just put it in my bag and they need never know a thing about it. Sarah,

that's wrong.

terribly wrong.

Was it right for him to kill her bird just because it gave her a little

pleasure? We don't know. That's why you don't even know that he did it. No, I

don't. Not any more than we know that she did anything either.

So we don't need to say a thing about it.

Not for us to judge how important it is.

Are they?

It's their job. They know about these things.

I can tell you a lot of things they don't know anything about.

How it must have been for her here, all alone with a man like that.

I'm not saying it wasn't a real cruel thing to do.

But it was a bird, not a human being.

Maybe it meant more than any other human being to Millie.

That's what's so wrong. Don't kill somebody for a bird.

Oh, that wasn't why.

If she did it...

It was because of all the things he's been doing to her for the past 20 years.

You never knew her when she was a girl.

She was the sweetest, prettiest little thing.

Well, she didn't have to marry him. She was 17 years old. What did she know

about anything?

There's no excuse for... Who said anything about an excuse?

I was just telling you about the way it was.

I'm sorry, Sarah.

I can't be a part of this. I just can't.

My husband is a sheriff.

Please try to understand, Sarah.

Sure.

I understand.

But I understand that you're a woman, too.

Well, what's that got to do with... Look!

If you weren't new here, you'd understand that.

I've been living in this town long enough. How long?

Five years.

Five years.

Five years living right in the heart of town, surrounded by people, nothing to

do but keep a house neat.

What would you know about living for 20 years out on a farm like this?

Miles from anywhere.

Never seen a living soul from one month's end to the next.

Getting into town maybe four or five times a year if you're lucky.

And even then having to worry about how you get caught up with the work when you

came back.

And never really catching up.

Only thing that makes it bearable is having a decent man like my Jim who

you.

I never heard that Mr. Wright was really a bad man.

Well, depends upon what you call bad.

You never knew him, did you?

Not to say no.

I've seen him in town.

Well, he didn't drink.

Kept his word as well as most, I guess. Paid his debts.

He was a cold, harsh man.

Just... Passing the time of day with him was like a raw wind cutting clean to

the bone.

That's the only human being Millie ever saw day in, day out.

But if she lived here all of her life, she must have had friends who came to

visit. Poor friends all tried in the beginning.

Only he never made any of them feel that they were welcome.

Farm folk don't have much time for visiting.

Maybe they were glad to have some excuse not to come.

I should have come because I knew there's a crime for you.

A real crime.

Who's going to punish me?

I didn't mean to reproach you, Sarah.

You don't have to.

I do that myself.

I can't lie to Mr. Peters.

Don't have to lie.

Just have to keep quiet.

I'm sorry, Sarah.

Don't blame me too much.

I'm not blaming you.

You have to do what you have to do, I guess.

What are you looking for?

Oh, I was just hoping that all the jars hadn't burst.

No.

Here's one that didn't.

Now, don't you tell her her fruit was gone.

You tell her it was all right.

And you take this one in to prove it to her. Stop it. Stop doing this to me.

I wasn't even thinking about you.

Well, start thinking about me a little.

Well, it isn't our fault we couldn't find anything.

I know it isn't. I don't understand it.

I was so sure there'd be something.

Well, all right. We might as well get back to town.

Well, Mary, you ready?

Well... What do you mean, well?

Well, you haven't even got those things packed yet.

You women.

Chattering along about nothing is the one you ever get anything done. Now,

now, now, Sheriff. Is that any way to talk to the ladies?

After all, they've been trying to make up their minds about a real important

problem.

Well, ladies, what did you decide?

Was she going to quilt it or not?

We decided she was going to... Nothing.

The story you have just

seen was intended to be the beginning of a series about Mrs. Wright.

I'm afraid we blundered badly, however, for she was convicted along with Mrs.

Peters and Mrs.

Hale. and her adventures were rather limited after that.

As for our series about doctors, this too was abandoned.

The young man managed to hold up, but being kind and fatherly and folksy

too much of a strain for me.

Now for the last of a series of three commercials, after which I shall tell

more of our producing plans.

During the coming months, I hope you will look for our two newest projects,

series about gangsters in the clothing industry called The Unmentionables, and

another built around the adventures of an itinerant strikebreaker in the Old

West entitled Frontier Fink. Until next week, good night.