Original subtitles

The prisoner, John Garth, will rise and face the court.

Before this court passes sentence, have you anything to say?

Yes, Your Honor. I would like to make a statement.

It is true, I am a murderer in the eyes of the law.

But in my own heart I am innocent.

I have practiced medicine for many, many years.

And I don't believe that anyone has ever questioned my sincerity

or my devotion to my oath of service.

Yet, here I stand, facing sentence for murder.

I make no plea for mercy.

But I feel it is my right and my duty for the sake of my daughter,

and those few of my own profession like Dr. Paul Ames,

who've come here to speak in my behalf,

to say again before I am sentenced

that what I did, I did because I knew no other answer

to the terrible problem my patient could not solve for himself.

He suffered unendurable and ever-increasing agony,

simply because old age had poisoned his body.

And yet, he could not die.

I told my patient

that perhaps I could cure the old age that was torturing him

and he trusted me.

He allowed me to inoculate him

with a serum I had developed after many years of research.

But I failed.

I tried again and again

and each time, I failed.

Finally, I confessed to him that it might be months, years,

before I could perfect my serum and end his suffering.

But his pain was too great.

He begged me for the simple mercy of death.

And I could do nothing else but help him leave a world

that had become a sleepless, tortured nightmare to him.

I have only one thing more to say.

I have always believed, and I will go on believing until the end

that some day, somehow, medical science

will find a way to end the needless, ghastly suffering

caused by the ravages of age.

I pray that other men will go on working towards the goal

I can no longer hope to reach.

I think that's all I have to say, Your Honor.

You are a doctor, consecrated by your oath

to a never-ending fight to save human life.

Yet you have taken to yourself

the right to end a life that God created.

It is the sentence of this court

that you, John Garth, be taken forthwith to the State prison

and that there, between dark and daylight,

within one month from this day,

you shall be hanged by the neck until dead.

And may God have mercy on your soul.

Court dismissed.

It isn't over yet, Doctor.

We won't give up. We'll keep on fighting.

I'm afraid there's nothing anyone can do.

Take care of her, Paul.

Goodbye, Martha.

- Warden speaking. - Anson is here with Dr. Garth.

Send them in.

This is Dr. Ralph Howard, our prison physician.

How do you do, Doctor?

Thank you.

I didn't think anyone in the medical profession

would ever shake hands with me again.

Sit down, Doctor.

Dr. Garth, Dr. Howard has made a rather strange request.

I think the strangest anyone has made in my 12 years as warden of this prison.

My first reaction was that what he asks was simply impossible,

but he wouldn't give up.

I think you ought to know that Dr. Howard has gone to a great deal of trouble

consulting doctors who knew you and your work,

talking with your daughter and Dr. Ames, your assistant.

And preparing a very enthusiastic report about the work you were doing.

- I'm very grateful, but my work is over. - It shouldn't be.

Dr. Garth, do you honestly believe there's a way to...

What was it you said in court? To cure old age?

I most certainly do.

How can any man control death?

It has been proved by Dr. Alexis Carrel

that the human life cell is potentially immortal.

And for years, science has been trying to get inside those cells

to find the basic elements that control us.

How we grow, how we think. In fact, everything about us.

The human life cell is born to live forever

under the right conditions.

But when they are combined in us to perform the normal functions of our bodies,

they give off poisons which pile up a burden of decay

which we call old age.

So, death becomes the price we pay for living.

For using our brains, our minds, which drive us,

wear us out and eventually kill us.

But that's inevitable. No one can escape that.

But I believe that a serum can be distilled from those cells

that will halt the death within us,

exactly as serums are used today to cure,

well, practically everything from rabies to diphtheria.

Do you mean a sort of a blood transfusion?

No, Warden. This is entirely different.

This is a serum distilled from the cells,

mixed in our own blood, which I inject directly into the heart.

Of course, it's true that I failed

with the only human being I ever inoculated, but I know that I was on the right track.

Think of all the aging great men and women in the world today

who may die too soon. Just when we need them most.

And think of the better world we could build

if men and women, if even for a little while longer,

were freed from their greatest fear, the fear of death and the grave.

Will anyone be able to carry on your work?

After I'm hanged?

I'm afraid they wouldn't understand my records, or my methods.

Could you go on with your experiments here?

Here? I don't understand.

Well, Doctor, I'm going to take a chance.

If there's anything to this theory of yours at all,

I don't think prison rules should stand in your way.

But I have only three weeks left.

Three weeks and then oblivion.

A race for life against death.

Find the secret in three weeks, or never.

I'm sorry, I have no right to talk like that.

I should be very grateful for having found two such friends.

Thank you. Thank you both.

I'll never forget what you've done for me today.

As long as I live.

Well, what do you want?

Just thought maybe... Might be some cleaning up to do.

Otto, you know you're not supposed to come in here.

- I didn't mean any harm. - All right.

Only after this, remember, this is one room you are not to enter.

Yes, Doctor.

That guy is always sneaking around somewhere.

All right, Doctor.

No.

- Doctor, we've done it! - You've done it.

It doesn't seem possible.

The only change was in the hormone count.

That was the change we needed.

But what we've made once, we can take apart, analyze and make again.

Get me a sterile test tube, quickly.

Doc, lock-up time.

So soon?

Oh, yes, Mr. Anson.

I wonder if I could have a moment or two alone with Dr. Howard?

- Okay. Only not too long. - Thank you.

The guards told me that one of the men in death row

is to be hanged tomorrow night.

Yes, a three-time killer.

- I suppose you will perform the autopsy. - Yes.

Would anyone be harmed if we used some of his blood?

We need a whole new stock of serum, we have so little time.

- Yes, I guess it would be all right. - Thank you, Doctor.

- Goodnight. - Goodnight.

- You can wait outside. - Yes, sir.

Hello, Paul.

- We did everything we could. - I'm sure you did.

The Supreme Court says there's no grounds for a new trial.

We're not through. We're going to the governor.

He's got to listen. He's got to.

Oh, Martha. Martha, my dear. Don't break your heart.

Please. Please don't try to go on fighting.

There.

Be good to her, Paul. Help her to forget.

Hello, Doctor.

Notes for Dr. Howard?

Yes, but it's so hard to make everything clear.

Doctor, I don't know if you're a religious man.

Would you like to have the Chaplain come down and talk to you?

The kind of scientist who has no room for faith in his universe

is rather old-fashioned nowadays.

I'd like to see the Chaplain later.

I believe it's customary

to grant a condemned man his last request, isn't it?

Providing he doesn't ask to go on living.

I'll do anything I can. You know that.

I've only a few hours left,

and I'd like to spend them alone in the laboratory with Dr. Howard.

I could go from there to my...

There's so much to tell him and there isn't time to write it.

It's hard to talk with a guard in the room.

I promise you I won't attempt to cheat the State.

I know you won't.

- All right, Doctor. All right. - Thank you.

We can begin now, Doctor.

- I can't do it, John. - But you must!

We know how the serum works in those tubes,

but we don't know what it'll do in a human body.

And until we do know that, our job isn't finished.

How do we know what'll happen?

We know what's going to happen in 27 minutes.

And fortunately, I'm not to be electrocuted,

and hanging doesn't affect the cells.

We'll draw off 50 cc's of my blood now,

and mix it in the new serum. Then inoculate me through the heart.

And when my body is brought back from the autopsy room,

apply the tests that I've outlined to you.

You must forget that we've worked together, that we are friends.

You must go on.

Learn what you can from the study of my heart, my brain and my blood.

Yes, but you yourself said the serum may be poison to the human system.

An inoculation might kill you.

Well...

I don't think we have to worry about that now.

The State will finish me before the serum does.

Open the radial artery,

the point of attachment and then we'll proceed.

Hurry, Doctor.

And the diagnosis now, Doctor?

Temperature 2.4 degrees above normal.

Heart action regular but accelerated.

Pulse the same.

Reflexes.

Your reflexes aren't normal. What is that serum doing to you?

We mustn't keep them waiting.

We're all ready.

Thank you, Doctor.

I'll take it.

This is Dr. Howard.

Yes. Yes, he's here.

Warden, it's for you.

Warden speaking.

Really? Fine.

Doctor, the governor has commuted your sentence to life imprisonment.

The governor has...

Life?

Suppose the serum works now?

What are you talking about?

- Something wrong! - John!

Come, help me.

I won't need you, Sam.

Go on. Go on.

- John. - Well.

Our serum wasn't poison after all, was it?

No. But at first, I was afraid.

- Why? - Well, the way you acted.

Take a look at your wrists.

After you collapsed, you were in a coma for almost 12 hours.

And then suddenly you became, well, delirious is one word for it.

It took three of us to control you.

Physical convulsions were so violent,

we had to put you in a straitjacket and tie you down.

Shock, of course. We expected that.

Anaphylaxis.

The natural systematic revulsion to any foreign matter in the bloodstream.

- I hope I didn't hurt anybody. - No, fortunately.

I've got quite a few things to show you.

You set a new record for temperature changes.

105.4 average, and the variations were amazing.

Let me get you your glasses.

I don't think I'm going to need them.

- What? - It's incredible, but it's true.

For the first time in almost 30 years, I can read without my glasses.

- Are you sure? - Yes.

Just a minute.

Take a look at yourself.

- But my hair was completely white. - That's not the only change.

I've analyzed your blood, tested basal metabolism,

blood pressure, heart action, everything.

John, you're not only alive, but by every medical test,

you're at least 20 years younger than you were when you first came here.

Have you told the warden?

No, I didn't want to tell him until I talked with you.

I think we should, don't you?

I'll call him.

The first card shows you the condition of Dr. Garth's heart

when I examined him on his first day here.

The second card shows you the condition of his heart

on the afternoon before the execution.

The heart of a weak, sick, old man.

The last card is the record I made half an hour ago.

The heart action of a strong man of 40 or even younger,

who's never been sick a day in his life.

One inoculation did this?

Will it work in other people the way it did in you?

We're not ready yet.

The technique of inoculation is still far too difficult.

I want to refine the serum and try to simplify the method of inoculation.

As a matter of fact, Warden, I want Dr. Garth to inoculate me next.

Did you ask Dr. Howard to do this?

I volunteered, just now. I think I have a right to be the next subject.

- Well, you know what you're doing. - I'm not worried.

All right, Doctor.

You're a trustee from now on. The guards won't bother you.

Go on with your work, and I'll come around whenever I can

just to see how things are going.

- And take it easy. - I will. I'm in no hurry.

I've got all the time in the world now.

All ready now.

- Anything wrong? - No. No, no.

Sit down, Doctor.

- What is it, John? - Nothing. Nothing at all.

Take it easy.

I know what's wrong with you, John. You're worn out.

No, not at all.

You've been working day and night for three solid weeks.

I'm worried about you, John.

- Why do you keep saying that? - You don't seem like yourself.

You're sure you're all right?

Of course. Of course.

The convulsions are pretty bad.

Yes, but I'm sure I can manage.

Now get me the serum containers.

All set.

I am a little tired.

Perhaps you'd better prepare the serum.

John, what is wrong with you?

There's poison in you!

That murderer's blood!

You'd better go back to your cell before it's too late!

John.

John, you're a murderer! John!

What's the matter with Dr. Howard?

What did you do to him? What did you do?

Let go of me. Let go!

Guard. Guard!

Guard!

- Doc! What happened? - Dr. Howard. Dead.

- Murdered. - Take care of him. Come on.

Doctor. Dr. Garth.

Don't try to talk too much now.

- Where am I? - The hospital.

This is Dr. Nichols. You've been pretty badly hurt.

Doctor, can't you remember?

I'm trying.

This usually happens in head injury cases.

The victim loses all memory, even of events before the injury.

Sometimes amnesia continues permanently.

Doctor, what was the last thing you remember?

I was in the laboratory.

You were with Dr. Howard?

- Where is Dr. Howard? - Dr. Howard is dead.

- Dead? - So is Otto Kron.

- Otto Kron? - Yeah. You remember?

Always sneaking around. He stole everything he could lay his hands on.

Try recalling details, something may give him a clue to help him remember.

Dr. Howard was strangled. Otto had been in a fight.

- His neck was broken. - Was I there?

- We think Dr. Howard caught Otto stealing. - Probably after alcohol.

They fought and Otto killed Dr. Howard.

We know Otto tried to kill you, too.

That's why you're here. But we need the details for the police.

Yes. Of course.

I was in the laboratory with Dr. Howard

and I can't remember.

- I can't let you question him anymore now. - All right, Dr. Nichols.

Don't worry, just rest.

I'm sending you home, Dr. Garth. A free man.

And I'm sure I speak for every citizen of this State and for all humanity

when I say, we will hope and pray that your life will be long and fruitful.

And that by triumph in the work you've begun,

you'll forever cancel all obligations you may owe the past

and can now be forgotten.

Oh, Dad.

And when the world learns of what you can do

- and what you've done for yourself... - Please.

You mustn't say anything about my serum or my work as yet.

Very well, Dr. Garth.

We'll wait until you're ready to make your own announcement.

Thank you.

Thank you all.

- Our guests will be here any minute. - I know.

- I wish they weren't coming. - Why?

- Because I'm worried about you. - Why?

You're so different than you used to be.

I don't mean about your being younger.

You don't sleep.

I listened last night. You walked back and forth here hour after hour.

You don't talk to me. You used to tell me things.

We used to work together, you and Paul and I.

Now you don't even seem to want Paul to come to the house.

You even lock me out of the laboratory.

Dad, what is it? What's happened to you?

I don't know.

Sleeping or waking,

ever since I came to myself in the prison hospital,

I've been trying to remember but...

I was going to inoculate Dr. Howard.

And then

there's a curtain, a wall that I can't get through.

They told me Otto Kron killed Dr. Howard.

Yet...

- I don't know. - What else could have happened?

I don't know.

But there's something. Something that I must remember.

You're tired. That's all it is.

Let me tell them you're not well. They're such old friends, they'll understand.

No, Martha. I must talk to them.

Come in.

The guests are in the drawing room.

We'll be down in a minute.

- Oh, Dad. - Thank you.

- Thank you. It was beautiful. - I'm very glad.

Victor, I've listened to you for 30 years,

and I swear you get better every time.

The only musician I can listen to and enjoy.

They're lying to you, Victor.

You're an old man.

Well, none of us are exactly young.

I'm not as old as I was.

- Miracles can't happen to all of us. - No?

Why do you suppose I asked you here tonight?

- Because we are your friends. - No, Victor.

I invited you here and I insisted that you play for a very definite reason.

Will you excuse us now, please, Martha?

Why, of course, Father.

I won't say goodbye now. I'll see you again before you leave.

I hope so.

Sit down, please.

I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings,

but you can't deny the truth even to yourselves.

You are old men.

Old, weary, fading, your race almost run.

You've helped the world so much with all the beauty that you've given us

and now of all times, when we need beauty to close out all the ugliness around us,

your hands are dying.

And Stephen, we need men like you to lead, to build.

And George, you yourself told me that you were going to retire from public life

simply on account of your age.

You realize, of course,

that all the world would be begging for my secret if they knew.

But I have chosen you three of all the men I know

because I feel you mustn't die as yet. You have too much to give.

I want you three to be the first to change as I have changed.

To get new hope and strength, to add years to your life

so that you can serve the world.

- Now you know just why I asked you here. - You mean...

You want to inoculate us with this serum of yours?

Yes.

I admit, there's been an amazing change in you, John. I've seen it.

But when you ask me, any of us,

to risk this thing

that you admit is dangerous.

Well, you want to go on living, don't you?

I've lived a very full life.

After all, a man's span of life

is only supposed to be threescore years and 10.

Who made that rule?

George, your old age is a disease and I can cure it.

Believe me, there's nothing new in what I'm saying.

In 50 years of desperate effort,

we've added perhaps, well, say 15 years to our life expectancy.

And the fight will go on. Year by year we'll make small gains,

but slowly, painfully.

I've found a short cut.

With one small inoculation, I can add years to your life.

Now, at once. How can you even hesitate?

I've got a lot of respect for you, John, always have had.

But you're asking too much.

I'm not asking anything. I'm trying to give you something.

John, I think we'd better go and let you rest.

Yes, perhaps you'd better go.

John, my friend...

Father, what's the matter?

- Please don't go like this. - Don't worry, my child.

- He'll be better tomorrow. - It's all right, Martha. We understand.

Let me.

You are very kind.

- What do you want? - I called Paul Ames. He's coming over.

Why did you call him? I don't want to talk to him.

There isn't anything he can do to help me.

Martha, please go.

Please go.

Why, John. Come in.

I rang the bell but no one answered.

I was practicing and did not hear you.

- I hope nothing is wrong? - No, no, Victor.

Perhaps you would like some coffee.

A liqueur?

Thank you, no.

Tonight, John, you nearly broke my heart

because it is so true what you say about my music,

about my hands.

You know, it's not so easy to say

the end is coming, the fire is burned out.

And yet you sided with them.

But this thing that you ask us to do is very frightening.

Are you afraid of me?

Why should I be afraid? Are you not an old, old friend?

If I could just restore the power of your music,

I'd feel that my continued existence was justified.

I tell you what we do, John.

I will cancel all my concerts and make certain arrangements, you understand.

Then in a day or two, I will come to your laboratory,

and we inoculate me.

And then we will see.

We don't have to wait, Victor.

It can be done here and now.

I've got everything I need here.

It's really very simple, Victor.

We simply open a small artery in your arm

and just draw off a little blood, which I use to mix the serum.

- Tonight? - Yes.

I'm afraid that if we wait,

George and Stephen will try to talk you out of it and I know that they'll succeed.

Why do you do that?

I don't know.

Arguing makes me nervous, perhaps.

Very well, then. We argue no more.

I am ready, John, I am in your hands.

Sit down, Victor.

Bare your left arm.

John! No! No!

Paul was here. He waited a long while.

- I wish he was here now. - I can call him.

- No, not tonight. - Dad.

I can't talk anymore now.

- Miss Garth? - Yes.

My name is McGraw, from the Homicide Bureau.

- Do you mind if I come in? - Well, no. No, of course not.

Is your father home?

He's busy working in the laboratory. He can't talk to anyone.

But Sondini was here last night, wasn't he?

- Along with Mr. Barclay and Mr. Wharton? - Don't ask him about that.

Why not? He and Sondini were friends, weren't they?

Good morning.

Oh, Dr. Garth?

I imagine you've seen this?

In cases like this, naturally,

I have to interview persons who knew the victim.

You knew Sondini a long time, didn't you, Dr. Garth?

For 30 years.

- Did he have any enemies? - He hadn't an enemy in the world.

Well, whoever strangled him didn't like him very much.

I'm afraid there's nothing I can tell you about the case.

Except that the man who killed Victor Sondini

must hang for it as quickly as possible.

It's my job to see that he does.

I may be back and talk to you later, Dr. Garth.

I'll be here.

See you later, Miss Garth.

Listen, Sondini had a million friends and not one single enemy.

It wasn't burglary because nothing was taken.

And the police surgeon told me that someone who knew how,

had already started drawing off the blood

from one of Sondini's arteries before he was strangled.

I can't arrest the man without any evidence.

I know you can't. But there's something wrong in that house.

His daughter is scared to death. You ought to meet that Dr. Garth.

I ought to know him pretty well. I convicted him.

Yes. But he's not the same person you had on trial.

I've met a lot of murderers in my day, but Dr. Garth, whatever he is,

is the first man I've ever met who was polite to me

and still made the chills run up and down my back.

All right. You can laugh. But that's what happened.

What do you want me to do?

I want you to give me authority to put a squad of men around that house

to find out where Dr. Garth goes, and what he does.

All right, so maybe I'm wrong. And then again, maybe I'm not.

- All right, Captain. Try it. - Now, you're talking.

John.

Come in.

Let me take your coat.

Man, you shouldn't be out on a night like this.

It doesn't bother me.

Come, let's go into the library.

Sit down, John.

George, I want you to listen to me

and try to understand.

I have a confession to make. A terrible confession.

I can't tell Martha. I couldn't bear it if she hated me.

I know the truth now.

I know what I've done and why I did it. And I know what will happen if I go on.

I killed Victor Sondini.

Don't move, George. Don't say or do anything until I've finished.

I killed Victor.

And I know now that I killed Dr. Howard and Otto Kron.

The serum that I used in prison was made from the blood of a confirmed killer.

Some awful force in the living cells I took into my body

has poisoned me with an urge to kill.

Nothing can save me but my own death.

I wanted to prolong life,

then I take it. I'm a murderer.

It's all right, George. I won't hurt you as long as I'm like this.

But I know now that I dare not inoculate anybody with my own hands.

Something horrible happens.

Something that I can't control.

I can go to the authorities and they'll hang me.

But then my discovery dies with me, in me.

Or I can wait a little while

and pass it on to safe hands if you will help me.

I want you to let Paul Ames inoculate you before I give myself up.

I don't have to be there.

You can lock me in another room so that I can't hurt anybody.

Just give me time enough to check the results

and make sure that everything is all right.

Then you won't have to go to the police with what I've just told you.

I'll go myself. I'll give myself up gladly. Gladly.

Well, you'll be safe. You'll be living...

Be the living proof that I'm not just a killer.

George, don't. Don't touch that.

I don't want to hurt you!

George, don't. Don't!

John, no! Don't!

Hello. Give me Captain McGraw in Homicide. Quick.

Operator, keep on ringing. I know there's someone there.

Hello.

Martha, are you alone?

Dad's upstairs. What is it?

George Wharton was found strangled about an hour ago. I just got the extra.

You've got to get out of that house. I'm coming over now.

Whatever you do, don't mention this to your father.

Hello. Hello, Paul. Hello.

Don't come near me.

- Martha. - Father.

Father, where are you going?

- Why don't you answer me? - Did Paul tell you about George Wharton?

He said that he'd been murdered.

Here are the notes and records for Paul.

Everything there is to know about the serum,

how to administer it, what results to look for.

I want him to go on with my work.

I can't.

I can't work anymore.

There's a poison in me, Martha.

It only strikes when...

I wanted to tell you, but I couldn't.

I hoped you'd understand.

I wanted you to know I'm not a murderer. A murderer wants to kill.

Martha!

- Okay, Olson, stay on the gate. - Yes, sir.

Check the downstairs. Reardon, come with me.

- I'm Dr. Ames. - Hi, Doctor.

Martha!

Hey, where are you going?

- Where's Miss Garth? - You tell me.

Dr. Garth!

Dr. Garth!

Martha.

Martha.

McGraw talking. I want a general pickup for Dr. John Garth.

Murder. Warn all officers he's dangerous.

Calling all cars, calling all cars.

Be on the lookout for Dr. John Garth, wanted for murder.

Be careful, this man is dangerous.

Do not hesitate to shoot if he resists arrest.

Following is a description of Dr. John Garth, wanted for murder.

- Dr. Garth! - Let me in.

- What? - Call the warden. Let me in.

- Let me in! - Why, sure. Sure.

Give me the warden. Quick.

Listen, Dr. Garth's here. Yeah. At the gate.

He wants in. Okay.

All right, Doc. Stand still.

I said, stand still.

Stand still. Keep away from me!

What happened?

He kept coming at me. I had to shoot him. I had to.

He's right, Warden.

I wanted you to hang me before I killed again.

It's better this way.

May God have mercy.

Martha.

Your father told me something once,

a long time ago, when I first started to work with him.

"In the war of science, many people must die

"before any victory can be won."

Let's remember that about him.

He always wanted you to go on with his work.

There's so much to learn, so much to do.

- Someday... - Yes, Paul. Someday.