Original subtitles

("Alfred Hitchcock" theme music)

- Good evening.

Has anyone seen a steeple run by here?

Horseback riding is an exhausting sport.

Actually, the riding isn't tiring, it's getting up here.

The ladder broke twice.

As for getting down, everyone assures me

that will be no problem.

This horse has thrown its last five riders.

While I continue with the steeple chase,

you shall witness a story about a very strange

type of resort hotel.

It offers a unique service to a very select clientele.

But first we have another one-minute egg,

laid by the golden goose of television.

(siren wailing)

(horn honking)

(people chattering)

(siren wailing)

(dramatic music) (people screaming)

(people chattering)

- Good afternoon, Mr. Manners.

My card, sir.

I am Mr. J. Smith, of the Thanatos Palace Hotel.

- How'd you get in?

- The door was unlocked.

I just walked in.

You'll be interested in what I have to tell you.

- I'm interested in nothing, go away.

- How's your leg?

- Why do you ask?

- I was afraid you might have broken it in your fall.

- How dare you.

Leave my house.

- Your house?

- Of course it's mine.

- Isn't the bank foreclosing?

- No.

No, no.

- Isn't the only reason they haven't foreclosed

to give you a chance to recover

from your ill-fated suicide attempt?

- Are you from the bank?

- As I told you.

My name is J. Smith, of the Thanatos Palace Hotel.

I've come to sell you a great service.

- I'm not interested in vacations.

- Oh, we wouldn't offer anything so stupid as a vacation

to a man who's just tried to kill himself.

- Please go away, I haven't the energy or the will

to force you to leave, but in decency--

- In decency I've come to you.

With decency I offer you dignity and self-respect.

The return of your right to hold your head high.

To walk strong.

- You're a salesman, nothing but a salesman.

- You still want to die?

- I will not discuss it.

- But not on a lonely, windswept ledge, like a freak,

with all the world to gape at you.

- I never saw them.

- [Smith] With the painful agony of miscalculation.

- [Robert] Please, stop.

- But to die in repose.

To die in comfort and luxury.

To die with a soul at ease, unafraid,

with no chance of error.

- You're from a cemetery, commercial cemetery,

you're selling crypts and tombs.

- I sell you an easy death.

- There's no easy suicide.

- You have only to lie in the sun and play golf.

We will handle all the details of your death.

- Kill me?

- Peacefully, painlessly.

- Murder?

- Suicide is murder.

- But it's my life.

- [Smith] It's still your life.

- You can't turn a nightmare into a dream.

- On cool evenings after warm days,

in gardens, in croquet courts.

After horseback riding, swimming.

After you've relaxed, and don't fear it.

- Fear it?

You think I was afraid?

I was on that ledge, I was ready to destroy myself.

- But you hesitated.

You waited.

Unsure, uncertain.

In doubt, alone, dying alone.

- But why?

Why would that place--

- The Thanatos Palace Hotel.

- [Robert] Why would you do that for me?

- We're a public service.

- There must be more.

- Oh, for money, of course.

We have a fixed fee.

No extras, all facilities come under one flat rate.

Sports, tennis court, pool, steam baths,

and of course, your death, for a flat $1000.

- My suicide note.

I had it pinned to my body.

I had it there to tell the world why I wanted to die.

- [Smith] Our contract is required.

- No one read it.

They didn't care what I wanted.

- And you also sign a note absolving the hotel

of the consequences of any unfortunate accidents.

- Did they?

- I will leave this brochure for your inspections.

(Robert sighs)

- When I wanted to live, no one cared if I died.

But when I wanted to die, everyone wanted me to live.

Why?

- Oh, I'm sorry, sir, that's a controversial

philosophical or theological matter.

We don't take sides in controversial subjects.

We're a hotel.

Now, if you wish our service, please have

a check ready for me tomorrow.

(somber music)

- Is it everything you say?

- It's even more than the brochure claims.

We're modest.

(door closes)

(suspenseful music)

- [Driver] There it is.

Thanatos.

- Very good, Mrs. Shaw.

Very good.

Welcome to Thanatos.

My name's Borchter.

General manager, maitre d'hotel, maitre d'cuisine.

Delighted to see you.

I hope you'll like your room.

Since you didn't state a preference, we put...

- Is she here for the same reason I am?

- Certainly.

Since you didn't state a preference,

we put you on the side facing the golf course.

It's quite private.

- So young, so much to look forward to.

- Peaceful death is the most beautiful gift of life.

- And that woman.

- Mrs. Shaw.

- What about her?

- We never discuss one guest's personal life with another.

- When will it be done?

- In your sleep.

- I want it done, but I'm afraid I might never sleep.

- Well when you're relaxed, at ease,

when you've lost your dread, you'll sleep.

When you trust us.

You'll sleep when you realize we wish you only the best.

You will sleep.

- She's beautiful.

Tell me something about her.

(gentle music)

And all I thought of on the ledge

was that I wouldn't have to face another day.

But everything was wrong.

- Why?

- Because I meant it to be a solitary act,

and yet I picked a public place.

(soft piano music)

Whose chair am I taking at your table?

- A man.

- Do you think of him?

- No.

- Does anyone here miss anyone else when they leave?

- I don't know.

- It's a perfect world of detachment.

No obligations.

I suppose just making the decision to die is the difference.

- You've made yours?

- [Robert] Why yes, haven't you?

- I've been here six months.

- Six months?

That's impossible.

Borchter said that...

Why, he hasn't set a time for me.

- He never sets a time until he feels

a guest's truly at peace.

Until he welcomes death.

- And you've waited six months.

- Well, the wine steward is a guest,

he's been here three months.

- [Robert] He works here?

- [Ariane] In exchange for his room and board.

- He changed his mind after he arrived.

- For Borchter, one cannot just want death.

It must be a kind of love, a passion.

- You love life more than death.

- No.

No, why do you say that?

- Six months and you can't make up your mind.

You yourself say that one should have a passion for death.

- (sighs) Yes.

- Anything less means that you should return to life.

- No one is allowed to leave here.

- [Robert] Do you want your freedom from Thanatos?

- All I want is to be unafraid of death.

- Well, why are with afraid?

What is it?

We've come here to die.

- It isn't the dying we fear.

It's the exact moment of death that terrifies us.

- Yes, that's it, that exact...

When is that moment?

- [Ariane] I don't know.

- Where?

- They don't tell you.

- [Robert] How?

- Please.

- We must find it, we must.

- They don't tell you.

Though in time, you'll lose your fear.

For some, like me, it takes months.

For others, only days.

Let me help you.

(gentle music)

Let's help each other.

- I don't want dinner.

I've gotta get out of this room

- Wait for me outside.

I'll tell the maitre d' to cancel our dinner.

(mysterious music)

He'd like to cancel dinner.

- A problem?

- No no.

I'm sure he'll be ready in three days at the most.

- Are you certain?

- Have I ever failed you before?

(mysterious music)

(somber music)

- We'll have to talk in a private place.

- There's no one here.

- Away from the hotel, out there.

(suspenseful music)

- [Man] Do you have a pass?

- For what?

- To walk in the hills.

- [Robert] Why?

- A safety rule of Thanatos, sir.

- I've walked in hills before.

- [Man] For the protection of our guests.

- I'm the judge of what protection I need.

- These hills are particularly dangerous.

- You're not going to stop me from--

- Please.

Please?

(somber music)

- We're prisoners.

- We are.

- We have to do something.

- Don't struggle, don't fight them.

- I came here of my own free will.

Borchter can keep the money, I have a right

to leave of my own free will.

- Do you really want to leave?

- No one has the power of life or death

over me unless I want it, no one.

- But if you make too much trouble,

if they see you too agitated, they have methods

to calm you down.

- I thought they only killed a guest

when he was content to die.

- Yes, but sometimes, they use drugs and sedatives,

for the person's own good.

Borchter knows what's best.

- I want to save your life.

- Why?

- Weren't you trying to save mine?

- Only because I knew what it would mean

if you argued with the riders.

- You drew me away, weren't you trying to protect me?

- You could've made it difficult for me.

- All right, then we won't see each other anymore.

- No!

- Such a quick and positive reaction.

- Just, no.

- You care.

- Only in a way.

- But you do.

- They'll wonder why we've stayed out so long.

- You seem so eager to please them.

- Only to avoid trouble.

- To prove something.

- [Ariane] Nothing.

Nothing at all.

- Are you the one?

- The one?

What do you mean?

- You're the one they've sent to kill me.

- No.

No!

- [Robert] When I'm not on guard, without warning.

- Oh, please stop.

- [Robert] A knife.

- Not any way.

- With poison at a quiet meal, talking of love

and tenderness. - Listen, hear me.

- And then my death.

- I'm the same as you, I'm a prisoner.

- [Robert] Just tell me what you want, tell me.

- I want you to stop caring for me.

- Well, what difference could that make?

- Because.

Because.

Because it makes me care.

- [Robert] And then?

- Love can't stop our deaths.

Love can't save our lives.

- But the promise of it makes us want

to fight for our lives.

- Other men only wanted me to love them

until I made their death easier.

To ease their own pain.

I was a thing, not a person.

But you could be my will to live.

- Mrs. Shaw.

Mr. Borchter asked me to look for you and Mr. Manners,

and say that if you wish to dance this evening,

the orchestra will be leaving in an hour.

- Thank Mr. Borchter, and tell him--

- Tell him that we appreciate his concern.

Can we get away from here?

- Let's dance a little first.

- I can't. - Please.

- Ariane, I've got to tell ya.

- Wait.

- I've got to tell ya that you could be my will to live.

- Don't say that.

Don't say that now.

We're being watched.

You don't know.

- Didn't you hear what I said?

- Yes, I heard you.

I heard you.

Oh, there's so much more.

There's so much you don't know.

- Only know what I see now.

Only know what I feel now.

We've got to escape.

- Oh, we can't risk it.

What time we have, we must take here.

- I wanna stay with you in a place that's alive.

I want to live with you, to be alive.

- The riders are in the hills day and night.

- Don't you want to find a way?

Don't you want your life?

- Yes.

Yes I do.

Yes.

- You're spending more time with this one

than you did with the others.

- It's necessary.

- I can't wait too long.

- Well maybe he has more money to buy his time.

- No.

No, he had to borrow the fee.

He squandered a fortune, desperately trying

to destroy himself long before he arrived here.

- I need one or two more days.

- Are you becoming personally attached to him?

- Of course not.

- You'd be of no use to me if you were.

- I said I wasn't.

- You make them care too much, then they cause trouble.

If you let them cause trouble,

they'll be of no value to Thanatos.

- Give me one more day.

- All right.

Otherwise, I'll have to turn it over to someone else,

and you'll lose that amount of credit

toward your board and room.

- Are you threatening me?

- Hmm.

I've never forced anyone to do anything, you know that.

I'm proud that even in what I offer people,

they welcome the final act.

- He used to ride horses a great deal.

- I don't understand.

- I mean, he saw the stable and asked

if we could go horseback riding.

That was something he loved to do,

something he dearly loved.

Made him feel free and happy.

- If it speeds up the process.

I'll write you a pass.

(gentle music)

- Thank you, it'll help.

All of us.

- Ariane.

His room is reserved for another guest

who arrives the day after tomorrow.

- We have come to the halfway point,

and now we must turn around and go back.

We shall proceed with the second half of our journey

after this word from our stations, local and otherwise.

- Here's our pass.

- They just left.

You better go.

You have your instructions.

- You don't want them to see us following them, do you?

- Of course not.

- It'll take them a lot longer to get

where they're going than it'll take us.

- He's an odd man, this one.

- I guess.

- He'll be trouble.

- Not for me or my riders.

- You enjoy your work, don't you?

- The money's good.

- And easy?

- For both of us, Mr. Borchter.

(dramatic music)

- What is it?

Ariane?

- Forgive me.

- Why did you stop?

- [Ariane] Because.

- Yes?

- Don't look at me, I can only tell you

if you don't look at me.

A man like you, not all men, but a man like yourself

makes sharp and vivid decisions.

Right or wrong, good or bad, love or hate,

nothing between life or death.

But some of us wait for other things,

other people to make our decision for us.

And I thought when I came here to this place,

that all my decisions would be made for me,

there'd be no alternatives, no choice to make,

and then I found out, if you were in doubt,

Borchter would let you buy more time with money,

or services, if you didn't have the money.

I bought my life by being a companion

to many men who were guests.

Borchter would have me bring them happiness.

But you are the first man who brought happiness to me.

(somber music)

- What do you expect now?

- Whatever you want.

- Kill you?

To love you.

(gentle music)

(suspenseful music)

- The guards are all around us.

- So far, they only know we're riding for pleasure.

(suspenseful music)

It's no use, we need more of a plan.

- They'll report us to Borchter.

- And?

- He might try to do away with you for this.

- Why?

- Well, people who want to come to Thanatos

never mention the place to anyone,

but people running away from it would report everything.

- Think he might try to get rid of me tonight?

- He might, he could.

- You too?

- I don't think so.

- How is it done?

- A sedative is given to the person at night, a strong one,

and then in his sleep, a lethal gas comes in

through the small vents along the baseboard.

- The method never changes?

- No, never.

(tense music)

- But precisely where does your chest hurt?

- There.

I was injured there once playing polo.

- It could also be referred pain from the back,

a dislocated vertebrae.

- When I wheeled the horse, I felt a sharp pull,

like a tendon.

That's it.

- And there?

- Could it be a fractured rib?

- I doubt it.

Tape, please.

You should keep this on for a few days.

- If it's necessary.

- Of course.

It hurts when you move?

- Very much.

- I can give you some pills to relieve the pain

so that it won't interfere with your daily activities.

- No, the tape is enough.

- But sleep will be difficult.

- Yes, muscular pain does increase at night, doesn't it?

- Why suffer discomfort when it's unnecessary?

I would like Mr. Manners to have a sedative tonight.

(ominous music)

(footsteps approaching)

(knocking on door)

- One moment.

(knocking on door)

- Your sedative the doctor ordered, sir?

- Yes.

(suspenseful music)

(tape ripping)

Good morning, Mr. Borchter.

- You needn't have taped up these vents

if you weren't ready.

- I didn't realize it until the sleeping pill

was given to me.

- And you awakened after you took it?

- Shall I return the pill to the infirmary?

- That won't be necessary.

If we'd known, or if you'd let me know

you were so unresolved, I would

never have given the instructions.

Have a pleasant day.

(somber music)

- He knows.

- He found the tape?

- Yes.

- Then he'll try to kill me tonight.

- We've got to get out.

- We tried.

We tried.

- There must be others who feel the way we do.

- Well, I don't know.

- What other guests are there who've been here

longer than the usual time?

- Well, there's Devereau, the wine steward.

- [Robert] Yes, who else?

- What do you want them for?

- To overpower the riders, one at a time.

We'll just be a little party, going for

a barbecue in the hills.

- Borchter would never let you go.

- No, he's caught by his own devices.

He wants even me to receive his happiness

and kindness until the end.

He's sure of his system.

- He has never failed.

- Very interesting colors.

Once in the hills, when we are innocently cooking dinner

over an open fire, a Thanatos rider will approach.

He'll be killed.

And then we'll put out our fire and move to another place,

closer to the rim.

Each new fire will bring a rider.

The death of each Thanatos rider

will bring us closer to life.

- One is watching us.

What if it fails?

- Just get me the right people.

Love me, trust me, cannot fail.

- But if it fails.

- It'll be better than this pathetic

whimper of life you live here.

This pathetic death I've picked for myself.

If it fails, the decision will be made for us in the hills.

A violent one, but with dignity.

Quickly, but at least with a last sweet taste

of fighting for life.

- There's Devereau.

- We'll need him and five or six others.

- When?

- Towards sunset.

The darkness will help us.

(somber music)

- Barbecue in the mountains is a wonderful idea.

I should've thought of it.

- It's only good if everyone enjoys it.

- I'm sure they will.

- I've never been to the mountains at sunset.

I hear it's beautiful.

- A lovely idea, Mr. Borchter.

- Thank you.

(horse snorting)

- A lovely spot.

- Haven't been in the woods since I was a kid.

- First man I ever knew, the only man I ever loved,

we met in some woods like this.

- Why do they go on with these things?

Why don't they just do it and get it over with?

- You don't have to pretend anymore, no one can hear us.

- Hear us?

- Yes, the Thanatos riders.

You don't have to make it seem like nothing has changed.

- Seem?

- What do you mean?

- Set up the fire.

You didn't tell them the real reason they're here?

- I just couldn't.

- Why not?

- I thought it would be better to get them here

and then you could tell them.

I'm sorry.

I'm not very strong, I told you that, you know that.

I helped in the way I could.

- Listen, come closer.

There isn't much time.

You were picked for this trip because all of you

have one strong belief, that you made a terrible mistake

coming to the Thanatos Palace Hotel.

- Mistake?

- That you're all unhappy with your decision.

That you wanna live, to be alive.

- Silence.

- [Man] Shut up!

- Coming to Thanatosis the most wonderful thing

that's ever happened to me.

Greater than the love I lost.

- What's that?

- How dare you outrage our decency.

How dare you defile what is pure.

- They're hopeless.

Come quickly.

Let's go.

Let's go, Ariane.

(suspenseful music)

(somber music)

- Death makes even an ugly soul beautiful.

- You mustn't feel bad, Mrs. Shaw.

This is what he really wanted.

I promised him he'd die only when he was

no longer afraid of death.

As long as I let him fight for life, he wasn't afraid.

Oh, I'd rather have done it my way.

Well.

Some people are like that.

Come.

It's time to go.

- The operators of the Palace Hotel

and failure to pay their gas bill.

They all received substantial sentences.

There was an unhappy climax to my riding experience.

My horse had an accident.

He fell, on me.

Broke my leg.

There was a doctor present, but unfortunately,

he was the horse's, not mine, and his only recommendation

was that they shoot me.

Now, for those of you who are too busy

to spend an hour watching our next show,

we shall give you a capsule version.

It follows this uncut commercial.