Original subtitles

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Alfred Hitchcock Hour.

I trust you will excuse my startled expression, but this is what I just

out of my hat.

It's rather a shock when one is expecting a rabbit.

However, I suppose it isn't as traumatic as it would be if I were expecting her

and got the rabbit.

Since my hand is not quicker than the eye, I think she will be quite useful in

diverting your attention.

This evening, I shall attempt several feats of legitimine. One is to make an

hour disappear without you realizing it.

That will not be easy, considering this first minute.

oh oh

Daphne.

Did I startle you, my dear?

Yes.

Where's your young man, Harold? Oh, he had a department meeting. I waited, but

then I came on.

You walked from the campus through the wood? Yes.

You must have pretty good nerves.

Dr. McFarland, I think somebody followed me.

Are you sure? Yes. I saw branches and bushes moving.

That must have been the wind, my dear.

Come on in.

Oh, please don't say anything inside.

My wife gets hysterical. There's been too much talk already.

Come on. Yes, of course.

You'll very soon learn to take these department meetings with greater

after you've married Harold and become a faculty wife.

Daphne, how nice to see you. Oh, hello.

How lovely you look. Thank you. Hello, Wanda. Hello. Where's Paul? Oh, my

husband deserted me on the way over here. He's a great bird lover. Yes, he

jumped out of the car and ran after a hermit's thrush.

You mean he's in the woods? He's chasing a bird. Yes. Oh, that's all it was?

All was. What was?

Oh, nothing. Nothing at all.

Oh, Edwin.

Come in, Edwin. You know Edwin, don't you?

We've never had anyone so brilliant in the music department, have we, Edwin?

Oh, I wouldn't say that.

Daphne, it's so nice to see you again.

How do you do, Wanda? Oh, I do very well, thank you. Hello, Edwin. Have a

cocktail. Thank you.

Oh, thank you. Thank you.

Mr. Carlin, doctor.

That girl deserves a good spanking.

This is your girl? Thank you.

What have you done?

Walked over here alone, took the shortcut through the wood. I waited half

hour for you.

I left your note. Yes, I know you did, darling, but I was still anxious about

you. Why in heaven's name did you take a shortcut?

Did you come through the wood? Oh, a wild horse that couldn't get me through

there. You had me worried.

I apologize for charging in like that with the way things are around here.

Please. Don't let's talk about it.

May I?

Paul. Sorry to be late. You're not late, Paul.

Help yourself to a drink.

How are you?

Fine.

I think we almost met a little earlier.

This evening? When?

Weren't you chasing a bird?

Oh, a hermit thrush.

People don't realize how beautifully that bird sings, Angelic. I thought

was chasing me through the woods. I took the shortcut over from the campus.

I guess it was you I heard.

That thrush was in the trees by the cemetery.

Nowhere near the shortcut.

Oh.

Well. So it couldn't have been me.

No, I suppose not.

Well, probably just something running through the undergrowth

I'm Dave Fulton.

I've noticed you quite often on the campus.

You're in med school, aren't you?

Yes.

I asked Dr. McFarland to invite me here when you were coming.

I was warned you were more or less engaged to Harold, but you are allowed

talk to other men, aren't you?

As a matter of fact, Harold is cross with me now. I walked here through the

woods.

Alone? Were you being brave or something?

Well, it's such a long way the other way around. And anyway, it wasn't really

dark. It wasn't really wise either.

May I tell you, you're much too attractive to take such chances.

One of those girls was killed in that wood, you know.

I doubt if they'll ever get him. There's nothing to go on. There may be.

Next time.

You're so sure there's going to be a next time.

Harold believes that the killer is deranged. A sadist. Maybe somebody's not

found yet.

Why should it be deranged?

It could have been a thief.

Perhaps the girl screamed and he lost his head.

Edwin, thieves don't use a knife the way he did. If you'd only seen the body we

found. Terrence, please.

Will you not discuss the details?

When my husband and Harold get together, it's all very horrible.

But that's what makes it fascinating.

I once knew an awful old man who had a couple of books on torture.

Covered in human skin.

This killer might have cleared out.

He isn't necessarily a local man.

Oh, but I think he is, Edwin.

You may remember the Jack the Ripper stuck to one section of London.

And the French bluebeard, Landreau, stayed in Paris.

Fritz Harmon?

Who's he?

I never heard of him.

A foul creature in Hanover.

He murdered more than 40 men in his butcher's shop.

Harold, you can't make me believe that a college town like Woodside would even

be likely to harbor a mass murderer. No, on the contrary.

College community is an ideal place for one.

I agree.

Yes. You see, there are a lot of high -strung individuals here.

Many are frustrated.

Some very curious.

Easily apt to be well up on the literature of murder.

So you couple that with the power of suggestion and... Well, now, you take an

intelligent man who's even slightly off balance, for example.

Say that he's dissatisfied. He's building up grudges.

Now, suppose he's been reading about these multiple killers.

Harmon or Brightson and Beth Smith.

Gilles Duret.

It was a man who was very artistic.

A scholar.

The Marquis de Sade?

You're pretty well up on murder yourself, aren't you?

Or he may be a specialized kind of madman who is only occasionally seized

these compulsions.

He could be someone in the university atmosphere.

He could easily be one of us.

Oh, no, really, Harold.

Surely that doesn't include us girls, I hope.

No, I'm inclined to think it's a man.

If you ask why he does this, I think it's a pathological distortion of

normal.

Something that's already there, waiting in all of us.

Sane, insane, it's all a matter of balance.

Haven't any of you ever felt that...

When you were terribly tired or worried sick about something, that keeping your

sanity was like walking a tightrope stretched across a great chasm, and that

the slightest thing went wrong, it'd topple off and never stop falling.

Have you ever felt like that, Harold?

I think anyone who hasn't is extremely fortunate.

You have surgery early tomorrow morning, don't you? Oh, yes.

And he likes to take a walk before he goes to bed.

I think it's time we all went home.

Mmm, what a marvelous moon.

It's lighter than when I came through earlier.

You know, I could have sworn something was following me when I came through

before dinner.

I don't know exactly how to explain it, except that it stopped when I stopped

and went on when I went on.

When it finally made a rush towards me, you should have seen me. I practically

ran the rest of the way.

It wasn't some mischievous child, was it? Oh, no. No children would be in here

that time of night. It was dark and spooky.

Well, maybe it was a dog. Maybe. Probably was.

Why in the world didn't you tell me? We needn't have come back this way.

No, I wanted to come through. I wanted to come through with you and feel safe.

Do you know what I mean?

I know.

If we hadn't frightened him, he might have killed her.

Maybe it was you he was after.

If she was only a substitute, he... He may try again.

hadn't had immediate attention, she'd have bled to death.

But you were doing very well when I came along.

How lucky you heard her scream.

Well, I usually take a walk at the last thing. I thought the man might still be

there. What did she say about the attack?

Oh, it seems she went out to mail a letter and he sprang on her.

She was on that back road. No, not actually in the woods.

He seemed terribly strong, she said, and dragged her in among the trees.

She couldn't describe him.

She doesn't remember much, really.

Oh, hello, Harold.

Police say anything?

Well, no, just that she may remember more a little later.

Oh, I doubt if she will.

Look in at the hospital, Daphne. She'd like to thank you. Yes, of course I

Bye. Goodbye, Doctor.

The police still think that it isn't necessarily the same man who did the

killing. But I said that it had to be a particular kind of man in a particular

state of mind.

And that they might need the help of a psychologist in running him down.

Anyway, I told him I'd do anything I could to help.

Oh, don't get mixed up with this, Harold.

Darling, you know how interested I am in these things, these strange twists of

the mind.

That's why I went into psychology in the first place.

It's a wonderful opportunity for me to test out some theories I've had in

abnormal behavior.

The only problem is I'm going to have to work alone because the police don't go

along with me.

I think you should stay out of it.

Daphne, you want this man caught, don't you?

You know, I can't forget that it might have been you he was following.

Why would he try to get me?

I don't know.

But I'm going to make sure that he never does.

Oh, hello, Dave.

Well, you're always creeping up behind me, aren't you?

I stopped by to see how you came through all the excitement.

Well, I have a lecture to give. I'll call you later for dinner, darling.

That was a terrible thing last night.

If I'd walked home that way, I might have caught him.

I thought you rode home with Paul.

No.

I stayed talking with Mrs. McFarland.

Then I walked home the long way around.

Alone? At that time of night?

Now, why should he walk when he could ride?

Do you want me to tell you?

Well, remember how you felt listening to Edwin at the piano?

That's how I felt after you'd gone.

I just... wanted to walk and think about you.

You pay the most curious compliments.

First you ask Dr.

McFarlane to invite you to dinner, and then you tell me I'm too beautiful to be

married.

And now the moonlight.

Daphne. I didn't know you were out there.

Edwin, that was beautiful.

Stay there.

I'll join you.

Oh, no, I can't stay.

That was the Moonlight Sonata you were playing.

Yes.

I'll play you some of those French melodies you seem to like.

If you'd care to come in for a while.

No, I'm expecting Harold to call.

They're all dance tunes, really.

Do I make them sound sad?

Yes.

There is a sort of sorrow in them.

Not in them.

It's in me.

Music always gives away one's feelings.

Especially loneliness.

That's the universal human predicament, isn't it?

I think in very talented people like yourself, it helps to create.

Well, I must go. Goodbye.

Hi, it's me.

Oh, am I glad you're still awake.

I thought you were going to call.

Oh, I know it, honey. I'm sorry, but it's such a hectic day, I forgot.

Have you had any dinner? No, I didn't even have time to eat.

But you know something?

Here. I think I'm finally making some progress.

Of course, the police think I'm just another crazy professor, but they don't

understand what's going on.

You remember last night I said that the killer might be sitting there at the

table with us?

Well, I was right.

He was.

You know how I know?

The police went out there and they searched that whole area where they

girl. Nothing.

I went out on my own.

I found a cocktail napkin with the McFarlane's name on it. Oh, well, that

doesn't mean anything.

People are at the McFarlane's all the time.

Somebody could have dropped it or it could have blown there. That's what the

police said, but I disagree.

They say that this assault isn't like the rest of them. Darling, we know

everybody at the McFarland.

But whether we know them or not hasn't got the slightest bearing on this.

Now, this killer gets a great satisfaction out of terror and

And as children, we have much the same impulses, but we grow out of them.

Now, either he hasn't or they've reoccurred in him.

How horrible. Yes, it is horrible. We're moving in a region of horror.

Now, the police have got everybody pinned down. They're pretty good at

know. Dr. McFarland was...

Out last night on his nightcap stroll.

Edwin walked home alone. I know it, and so did Dave. I had lunch with him today.

Oh, you did? Mm -hmm.

Paul, however, was not.

He jumped out of the car to look at a screech owl or something. I don't know

what it was.

Besides, I don't think it would be Dave because he's much too normal.

You'd rather have it anybody than Dave, wouldn't you?

I'd sooner he never got caught than to have it be somebody we know. But, honey,

it is someone we know. Now, you heard the way that girl screamed.

I want this fellow caught before he makes you scream like... He isn't after

Daphne.

I know this man's secret mind.

I've studied these people. I know how they think.

It's frightening sometimes how you know people.

He watches you.

To him, you're like a living jewel. You're your perfection.

You're irreplaceable.

And to destroy you would be a triumph.

Now, he followed you, but he didn't get you. The other woman was just a

substitute, but he didn't succeed with her either, so he's going to come back

his first choice.

We can catch him through you and only through you.

I want you to be a decoy.

I want you to walk through the woods again alone.

No. I'll be there, but I'll be out of sight. I have a gun.

Well, how do you know you can catch him even with a gun?

Use a police decoy. They have people who do that sort of thing. But it's you he

wants, don't you understand? It's not going to be any more of a risk than

running right now every day, every minute.

To walk through that woods again?

I don't know how you can ask me to do such a thing.

Daphne, besides protecting you, we may save the lives of others.

Now, how would you feel if some morning you woke up and there was another girl

had been strangled and flashed when we could have stopped it?

It has to be done at once, darling, while the periodic excitement is still

him.

We could drop into the McFarlanes tomorrow night, and I'll let it be known

we'll be over there, but not what we're going to do.

Nobody would ever believe I'd go through that woods again, not now.

Yes, he will, because that's what he wants to believe.

And he'll wait until you do.

He'll never stop watching you. I know this kind of mind. I can't, Harold.

ask me again. I can't.

All right.

We'll talk about it tomorrow.

I won't change my mind.

Hello, Harold.

Yes, I'm sorry to call you this time of night, but somebody tried to break in

here.

No, no, he climbed the tree.

No, I only got a glimpse of him.

Didn't look like anybody I knew.

No, no, please come over when it's light, will you? You can see for

Yes, and Harold, I'll go through that woods again.

Whenever you say.

I shall begin my act immediately following the station break, so please

back.

I warned you not to stay so long. You can hardly expect rabbits to simply sit

around waiting for a station break to end.

Now it is time for the second half of our story.

Perhaps after that, there will be time for a few tricks.

Well, it's been a lovely evening, Doctor.

I'm afraid we've stayed too late. Not at all. Delighted to have you, and thank

you for the reports.

Can't I drive you back?

Oh, no, thank you.

We'd rather walk.

Well, there's no need to tell you. Stay clear of the woods. Ah, the police

haven't got a thing on the killer yet, Paul.

But if they get on to you, a third lover who's seen at odd times and odd places,

you'll be a hot suspect.

If I were the murderer, I think I could guarantee that I'd never be caught.

When this one's caught, you may find that it's only the beginning.

Whatever you mean by that, good night.

Good night, Daphne.

Harold, look after her.

Good night, my dear.

Good night.

It's always a delight to see you.

Good night, Harold.

All you have to do is keep walking at a natural pace like you are now.

Do you mind if I hope he's not there?

But he will be. I told you he wants you.

He knows you're out here. He'll be waiting.

Maybe he'll guess at the track. I know, but he won't believe that because he

wants you so much.

And then when he sees you, he won't be able to hold back because it's a

compulsion.

I'm going to look away in a moment.

Oh, darling, I'm frightened.

Shouldn't we get the help of the police?

I tried to, but they don't go along with my theory.

You'll keep me in sight, won't you, darling? You won't be able to see me,

I'll be near you always.

And there's a moon.

Clouds out.

My heart is pounding.

You'll come immediately if I call, won't you, Harold?

Harold?

Ho, ho, ho!

Who is it?

Who is it?

Did I frighten you?

Yes, you did a little.

Only a little?

That's good.

It seemed to me that I frightened you quite badly the other evening.

The other evening?

On your way to dinner at the McFarlane's.

You began running.

Why did you follow me then?

It's a habit of mine.

There was nothing to be afraid of.

Not then.

But I only wanted you to know that you were not alone.

You certainly must feel that you're not alone now.

This will be different.

I'm glad you like my music.

It's not all there is, you know.

It's not the best... No!

No! No!

No! Mustn't go now!

Is he dead?

No.

No, he's not dead.

You know, Edwin reads music like you and I might read a book.

He hears the sounds in his head.

Having his music there at the home should be some consolation to him.

Why don't you come in, darling?

No, I don't like being here.

But I wanted you here. I know it's a little untidy, but the police have

it.

Edwin's apartment is exactly the place for something, I have to tell you.

Yes, I think I know what it is.

You want to tell me that you don't think the attacks are over and that they may

be after me.

Who told you that?

Dave.

Dave is always popping up, isn't he?

On the campus, in the wood.

He said you told him the night you caught Edwin.

I reminded them all that some crimes come in waves, as if they're contagious.

Harmonial knife?

Blood sacrifices? That appeals to some mentality.

This may have spread already.

In the town.

On the campus.

You mean... You think he may have associates or imitators? Men with the

ideas as Edwin. The same objectives.

Who? Who do you think?

I don't know.

I... I wouldn't want to point a finger at anyone, but... Daphne, look around

this room.

You remember how you felt about Edwin?

His music, his charm.

And yet, in his heart, he hated all women.

He would have strangled you.

And sliced you with that knife.

Now, Daphne, you mustn't trust anybody. Dave, not anyone.

Well, I'll take the music to Edwin.

He and I were very close friends, you know.

Poor soul.

I brought you most of your music. I thought maybe you'd like to play it when

feel better.

There's a piano in the lounge.

Tell me, that time with the girl in the wood, when Daphne and I interrupted you,

that was all for nothing, wasn't it?

We came too soon.

And you began it wrong.

You tried to take the life without the ceremonial.

So the compulsion stayed with you.

Then you had to try again with Daphne.

Well, I must be going now, Edward.

I know you will.

I'm looking forward to it.

Are you going to be roaming around again tonight?

Mm -hmm.

I have some more clues I want to follow up.

Harold, why don't you leave this up to the pilot?

I have to continue on my own.

I've been studying Edwin's analysis, digging into his mind.

And here is the smell of blood still. It's fascinating.

His ideas go far back into time. They run deep.

And he's not so non -sane as one might think.

Will you have dinner with me, darling?

No, I can't. I have a special class tonight.

Added biochemistry.

Oh, yes.

That's the one that Dave teaches, isn't it? The small class.

And afterwards, I suppose he'll ask you to have dinner with him or supper.

Now, don't go, Daphne.

Don't go.

Darling, what's gotten into you?

What's gotten into everyone?

Me, you, Dave.

Poor dear.

You're worn out.

It's this terrible business with Edwin.

Standing guard over me and working half the day and hunting heaven knows what

half the night.

What if I were to go away?

I'd be sure nobody ever found out. No, no, no, don't do that.

No, don't go.

Especially don't go now.

Darling, why don't you lie down and rest? I have some things I better do.

Harold.

I'm sorry about dinner.

That's all right.

You have a good time with Dave.

Did you have dinner this evening?

No, not really.

How about coffee and something with me?

No, thank you. I'm going straight home.

Harold waiting?

I begin to wonder whether all his talk about you being in danger is

He was right about Edwin.

He was, wasn't he?

You know...

A man like Edwin never realizes he's committing an abominable crime.

He's merely yielding to an urge.

Such men worship dark and nameless gods.

They act out the fantasies that upset their unbalanced minds.

You really can't blame somebody like Edwin.

That doesn't make them any less dangerous.

That's exactly why Harold is so absorbed in this.

Yes.

Deeply. It absorbs him when he should be absorbed in you.

Harold has been working night and day trying to prevent anything else from

happening to me or to anyone else.

Daphne, I'm going to say this.

I think there's a lot of pretense about you and Harold.

There always has been, hasn't there?

You're not really in love.

That's what I mean by pretense.

Harold may be in love with you in his way, but... You're not.

How dare you say such a thing to me?

You're ducking away from the truth.

I'm very fond of Harold.

I think I may owe him my life.

He certainly deserves my loyalty.

That's a poor substitute for love.

Are you jealous of Harold?

No.

But he is of me.

Good night, Dave.

Hello, darling. I saw your light.

Well, you know, I... I never realized how beautiful you look in white.

You look like a bride.

You must have come straight down here.

Yes, I did.

Sit down, darling. Sit down.

I want to celebrate.

I, uh...

I've made my mind up about something.

Oh, this is wine that I keep for very special occasions.

Faculty birthdays.

And moments like now.

It's wonderful the way you just walked in here. I never expected that.

Yes, I've just been talking with Dave.

I'll always remember you as you are at this moment, darling.

Smiling at me across a glass of wine.

Cheers. Cheers.

You came from Dave to me.

I like that.

Because I have something to tell you.

About Dave?

No.

Now, I know how you feel about him. I'm not blind, you know.

Oh, Harold.

If you're jealous of Dave, I can assure you it's quite without reason.

Without reason, you say?

Without reason.

No, that isn't what I wanted to talk to you about.

There's something else.

And this is the perfect place to do it.

You said you'd made up your mind about something.

Yes, my darling.

I have.

And we won't be interrupted here.

Now, I don't want you to be frightened by what I have to say.

And run away as you did with Edwin.

But he intended to.

Edwin killed those women in hatred and revenge.

But I've decided tonight to make you completely my own for love.

In the full pathetic moment.

There can be no true sacrifice.

No complete peeling of love.

Do you mind having me?

No one else.

He really caught this contagion, this spirit of killing for Midwin.

A strange and ancient illusion that by blood sacrifice you can reach a more

intense communion.

Jealousy unbalanced his mind.

But you're safe now.

Harold is here.

I knew he would be.

I've been looking forward to it.

Next week, we shall be back with another story.

Now, there is just time enough for my escape act.

Good night.