Original subtitles

SIMON: The City of London was first written about by the Romans 1900 years ago.

Nowhere else in the world can you borrow loot so easily - but don't try for just half a dollar.

Nobody's interested unless you want at least a couple of million.

The Royal Exchange.

The Bank of England.

Buildings like these were built for men like Sir John Mulliner.

Simon, nice of you to come.

My pleasure.

I must admit you twisted my arm a little.

I did? How?

By owning a shipping line and a merchant bank.

Now, why did you want to see me?

Simon, I'm worried.

Ooh! That blasted arthritis.

I got this in the post yesterday.

SIMON: What does it mean?

Sir John!

Driver, pull over.

DRIVER: But how?

He expected this. That's why he sent for you.

He said, if anybody could possibly save his life,

it'd be the famous...

Simon Templar.

Oh, Lord!

Look, what the devil are we?

Company directors or office boys?

I'm due at Lloyd's in an hour.

Carl, please. John will be here any moment.

Ah, here he is now.

Neal. Hi.

Sorry we're late. That's all right. John hasn't arrived yet.

Hasn't arrived?

What is this all about?

Has anybody the remotest idea why we're here?

Not a clue.

I have an appointment at half past three. Put it off.

I will not. I would, if I were you.

Gilbert, you're not Lord Mayor of London yet.

Don't anticipate your authority.

Gentlemen, please!

John has something important to say to us and he's...

he's bringing Simon Templar with him.

Templar?

What possible business could Combined Holdings have with a man like Simon Templar?

WOMAN: Please!

Which floor?

Penthouse.

The Kirby apartment?

Yes.

You work for Gilbert Kirby?

No. He keeps me.

KIRBY: Ah, Mr Templar.

Good of you to come. Come in.

Gentlemen, this is Simon Templar.

These are board members of Combined Holdings.

Elliott Stratton.

Mr Templar. John Ramsay.

How do you do? Carl Howard.

How do you do? Neal Lammerton.

Yeah.

Gentlemen...

I see you've met my daughter.

Your...daughter? Yes, we met in the lift.

I thought John was coming with you.

Yes, he was, but I'm afraid he... won't be coming now.

Gentlemen, I'm...sorry to have to tell you this,

but Sir John Mulliner is dead. How?

In his car, on the way here.

I can't believe it! An accident?

No. Well, what happened?

He got into the car and collapsed. It looked like a heart attack.

Oh, God!

This is terrible.

Gilbert, we must be disciplined about this.

Let's not go to pieces.

Mr Templar, with John gone,

five directors of Combined Holdings have died in as many months.

I knew John was going to call you. He told me he wanted you to investigate the situation.

What "situation"? Isn't it obvious?

They all died of perfectly natural causes. John thought otherwise.

If any investigation is necessary, which it is not, it will be done by the police.

That is the last thing we want. Why?

The publicity. Mr Templar can work unofficially and discreetly.

Since when has he been famous for keeping off the front page?

Now, Neal, be reasonable.

No investigation is necessary. I don't agree.

Very well, we'll put it to a vote.

Carl?

Do you want Templar involved in this?

No.

Ramsay?

No, I suppose not.

Elliott?

Yes, it's... "Yes" will do.

We don't want a sermon.

Three against two.

Mr Templar, your services are not required.

And now we have work to do.

Carl? Coming.

Neal, this is not coincidence.

It has to be.

John had a physical a month ago. He told me. Clean bill of health. Heart as sound as a rock.

My father was first. He collapsed at a board meeting.

Combined Holdings had just taken over Stratton Enterprises.

Collapsed? The doctor said it was a massive coronary.

Anne and I took him to the hospital.

And he was dead before we got there.

Who are you talking about?

Elliott's father. SIMON: Was there...anything suspicious?

Nothing that I know of.

Hmm...

What makes you ask?

Have you seen one of these before?

BOTH: No.

Does it mean anything to you?

Nothing.

Your father didn't get one a day or so before his death?

Well, if he did, he didn't mention it.

Five deaths in five months.

Were there autopsies?

I have the reports in the office. Anne will get them for you.

I'll be glad to.

Mr Templar...

I apologise for what happened just now.

Personally, I'd be only too glad of your help, but now the board have refused permission...

Let's get one thing straight.

John Mulliner was a friend of mine.

So I am going to investigate his death,

with...or without permission.

Mr Templar, I assure you,

you have no grounds whatsoever for supposing Sir John Mulliner was murdered.

Doctor, you did the autopsy personally? I did.

He died of a coronary thrombosis.

Nothing unusual? Nothing.

Quite the reverse.

He was 59 years old.

He drank, smoked, ate... and worked too much.

It's a depressingly familiar pattern. Forgive me,

but could you have missed anything?

Such as what? A fractured skull?

A bullet wound?

No, I mean, could he have been poisoned?

That's quite impossible.

But heart attacks can be induced by certain drugs?

They can, but if such a drug had been present, I'd have found it.

I see.

Well, thank you for your time.

I am sorry.

I can't change my medical opinion just to fit in with your wild fantasies.

I promise you, Mr Templar, the day he died started like any other day.

I took him coffee and orange juice in bed at seven.

You cooked for him, did you?

Yes. I was his cook, his butler, his chauffeur, his valet...

Go on. I took him his mail.

That postcard was amongst it.

He panicked and got on the pipeline to you.

He thought the directors were being knocked off one by one.

He thought he was the next.

I have a hunch he was right.

Did he have any idea who sent this?

If he did, he didn't say so.

Who er...benefits under his will?

His son, mostly.

I don't do too bad.

I get this flat and �20,000.

Congratulations.

You think I don't deserve it, eh? I didn't say that.

I saved his life during the war in 1944.

We served in the commandos.

After the war, I came to work for him. I've been here ever since.

And now what?

I'd like to travel.

I fancy the South Sea Islands.

Don't leave too soon.

Five men dead in five months.

All from heart attacks. It's impossible.

Thank you.

Obviously, somebody somewhere has such a hate for Combined Holdings

that he's out to kill all of the directors.

It seems incredibly far-fetched.

What has Combined Holdings done - as a company, I mean -

that could generate such a hate motive?

We've had a couple of takeovers.

They created a lot of hard feeling.

Imperial Engineering was the worst.

What happened? Yes, the business of the wall collapsing.

There was a man killed, another badly injured.

Combined Holdings was blamed?

Elliott's father knew about the wall. Should've had it demolished.

And he didn't? Not until it was too late.

So a man was killed.

Could a close relative - a son, a brother, you know what I mean...

Be mad enough to kill us all? It's worth investigating.

The other one - the man that was injured.

What's become of him? He's still with us.

Night watchman at Imperial Engineering. The plant's closed down now.

Well, if we find a motive, we'll find the killer.

So we might as well start with the first death.

Elliott Stratton's father.

Elliott's father was Sagittarius.

Blue. I relate colour to people all the time.

Anne here is green - verdant and lush.

Aren't you, dear?

Mother, excuse us. Mr Templar and I have some business to discuss.

Well, go, my dear child. Go.

Anne and I can amuse each other.

We won't be long.

Let's look at my photographs.

Have I shown you these before?

Yes, but I'd love to see them again.

Oh, you are kind!

There's William.

They gave him a wristwatch on the 20th anniversary of Stratton Enterprises.

He was like a brother to the men.

They all loved him.

It's so lonely without him.

She's been this way since my father died,

so I won't apologise for her.

I haven't finished going through his papers, but after what you said the other day,

I made a special search...

and I found this.

Mailed on 4th January.

And he died on the 6th.

Apart from John Mulliner, did any of the others get these?

I've no idea.

Mind if I keep it? Of course not.

The wall that collapsed at the Imperial Engineering plant, what do you know about it?

It was my father's fault.

He meant to have it knocked down but...

he was called to a meeting in Manchester.

When he got back, it had collapsed.

He never forgave himself.

Perhaps he's making his rounds.

You wait in the car. I'll take a look.

Here...

ANNE: Simon!

What happened? This man opened the gates.

He had a gun.

I screamed, then he ran off into the night.

Tim Reilly, it was.

The wall crushed the life right out of him.

And his wife, she emigrated to Canada.

Had a letter from her only last week.

Married a Frenchman in Montreal.

Happy as can be.

Well, that's that.

Tell me again what happened tonight.

I can't, more than I've said.

I was sitting right here.

Probably I dozed off.

Suddenly, wham!

I was coshed.

When I came to, you were bending over me.

Well, I hope it doesn't happen again tonight, Mac. Come on.

The board of directors decided, three against two, that Templar's services weren't needed.

Neal, I can hardly stop him acting as a private individual.

Your mail, Mr Lammerton. Leave it.

Gilbert, while you're being grand as Lord Mayor of London,

it's my responsibility to run Combined Holdings.

Either I do it with complete authority or I don't do it at all.

Now, you'll have to excuse me. I'm late for an appointment.

My father found it in his mail this morning.

What was Lammerton's reaction?

I don't know.

Well, didn't he see it? I don't think so.

This club - tell me about it.

It's the Dockland Charity Settlement.

Lammerton's been president of it for years.

They're opening a new clubhouse and he's giving a speech.

I hope we're not too late.

Ladies and gentlemen, will you please be seated.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen,

and welcome to the new Dockyards Settlement Clubhouse.

Today we are opening our first permanent home.

It is a proud day for all of us.

It is, indeed, a day that some of us thought would never come.

But that it has come, and come so very quickly,

is due almost entirely to the untiring work of one man.

Our distinguished president, Mr Neal Lammerton,

has for over five years given unstintingly of his time and effort in our work here.

It is now my great pleasure to ask him to declare our clubhouse...

officially open.

Mr Lammerton!

Give him air, please! Stand back.

He doesn't need air. He's dead.

Dead?

An X-ray ofLammerton's heart.

Penetration of the aortic arch.

Went right through him.

Tremendous velocity.

If you hadn't found this needle in the chair,

I'd never have looked for anything unusual and, therefore, not have found anything.

Hardly seems big enough to kill anybody.

Like puncturing a balloon.

And because it's so fine, no mark on the skin. Why no blood?

There's no bleeding much, once the heart stops.

So small, you can hardly see it.

Yet it killed Lammerton,

just as it killed five other directors of Combined Holdings.

What could fire a thing this size?

In America, they've developed a compressed-air rifle

that fires missiles the size of needles.

Templar, we've been complete fools.

Yes. Yes, we have, indeed.

In fact, we've been almost criminally irresponsible.

You warned us clearly enough.

And I'm warning you again.

Somebody is determined to kill all of you,

so for the next two weeks, there must be no public appearances,

no meetings, no conferences of any kind, for any of you.

That seems all right to me.

How about you?

Mm, agreed.

Yes? Absolutely none.

Unfortunately, I can't take Mr Templar's advice.

Tomorrow I'm to be sworn in as Lord Mayor of London.

The ceremony has certain traditions,

one of them being that the Lord Mayor is present in person.

That...does make it awkward.

Oh, more than that.

This arrived this morning.

The CID have been notified.

You'll be guarded all along the route. I sincerely hope so.

Thank you.

There's no danger as long as you're in the coach.

I'm not in the coach all the time.

It may well be a very...short term of office.

The first danger point is the grandstand at Mansion House.

# March

So far, nothing.

I'll go with him to the coach. You wait.

My Lord Mayor might at least manage a smile!

Sorry, Geoffrey.

We'll reach the law courts 20 minutes ahead of the coach.

There'll be an hour's wait while he's being sworn in.

That's the danger point.

The wait.

# March

It's so eerie.

The feeling that anybody in these thousands of people could want to kill my father.

We've got an hour's wait while he's sworn in.

# Trumpet fanfare

Come on, let's get to the garden.

Excuse me. Eh, what?

I am sorry to bother you. Do you have a match?

Oh, yes, I have.

Hey, hey, what's going on?

I'm sorry. Somebody knocked me.

Huh! It's been happening to me all day.

Here you are. Thank you.

The Lord Mayor's parade. A load of old rubbish.

I reckon politicians should be all put on a bonfire.

Yes, I'm inclined to agree with you. Thank you.

Thank you. Will you be all right?

Yeah.

False alarm.

I'm afraid so.

What's the matter? I'm sorry, sir. A loose pin.

May I?

It wasn't a false alarm.

You felt no impact?

Nothing.

So you have no idea when it happened?

None.

Thank God I took your advice.

What advice?

Mr Templar made me wear a bulletproof vest.

I thought this might happen,

so I had cameramen posted on route at the danger points.

That's it.

The telescope.

The sailor in the Combined Holdings float.

He is our killer.

Come on in.

We've got him cold. It's just a question of identification.

Look at these.

Here's the float, taken as it was approaching the stand in front of the Guildhall.

Now, here it is directly in front of your father.

Nothing suspicious about it until you notice this.

Here it is in close-up.

You see his finger on the trigger.

It's incredible.

"Horrific" would be a better word.

Tell me, Anne, who made the arrangements for the Combined Holdings float?

Sir John Mulliner.

Personally?

Mm, because it's part of the Lord Mayor's Parade.

No, wait a minute.

The actual physical arrangements - the building, I mean - he left to Jim Cowdry.

Cowdry?

The loyal, faithful servant who inherited �20,000?

It's time to go visiting.

Who are you going to see?

Cowdry, who else?

I'll be back in an hour.

Oh, I left some of the pictures here. Keep your eye on them, will you?

Hello, Jim.

Mind if I come in?

Not at all.

Going on a cruise?

There's no need to stay any longer, is there?

That could depend on all sorts of things.

So you had a hand in arranging the Combined Holdings float

for the Lord Mayor's Show?

Yes, but not very much.

Then cast a glance at these, will you?

The float was made by a building-display company

from a display dreamed up by our advertising agency.

I suppose they hired the three...

..three sailors.

There were only supposed to be two.

Are you sure? I'm dead certain.

Who handles the advertising for Combined Holdings?

Winfield Berman Ltd.

Mind if I use your phone? Help yourself.

Oh, it's Miss Kirby!

Hello. I was just passing.

I thought I'd drop in for a cup of tea.

Oh, do come in.

Won't you make yourself comfortable?

Mrs Stratton won't be long.

Thank you.

Hello, Anne.

How...nice to see you.

Hello, Elliott.

Not that I mind...

but what were you doing in my study just now?

I was looking for a cigarette.

Oh. Thank you.

What a surprise.

Mm, I was just passing and thought I'd drop in and see your mother.

How thoughtful.

Unfortunately, I've been terribly stupid.

I've lost track of time. I must run. Don't be silly.

No, Elliott, I must, really.

I've got to get to Harrods before they close.

But surely you know. What?

Harrods closes at five.

It's now ten past.

So you've absolutely no reason to rush off.

Anne, darling! Hello, Mrs Stratton.

What a lovely surprise!

I adore surprises!

Don't you, Elliott?

Provided they're not...too surprising.

There is something about these postcards that is off key.

For instance?

I don't know. I just can't put my finger on it.

Go ahead. It's your phone.

And I know what they're going to say.

Hello?

Yes, speaking.

Yes, just a minute.

Yep.

And the other one?

Are you sure about the number?

Good. Thank you.

They only hired two men for the float.

I've got their names and addresses.

It's the third man we want.

If we talk to these two, maybe they know something.

The man with the telescope maybe said something!

I doubt it.

I've got it. Huh?

It's been staring me right in the face all along.

What is?

Elliott Stratton's our boy.

We used to go abroad two or three times a year when William was alive.

But travelling alone at my age makes me feel terribly apprehensive.

Do you know what I mean?

Yes, I do.

And simply moving from Point A to Point B,

the authorities put so many obstacles in one's path.

Getting out of Greece last year was...

Well, it was like getting out of prison.

Wasn't it, Elliott?

Yes.

Well, I really must go.

I've got so many things to do. I want to talk to you.

What about?

Mother, would you answer that? Don't be silly, dear.

Nobody ever telephones me.

I won't be a moment.

Where's Anne?

She just ran out - without even so much as goodbye!

They were both here for tea.

And Anne suddenly dashed away and Elliott followed her.

Thank you, Mrs Stratton.

Surprised?

Stands to reason I'd get here first. You came by bus. I came by car.

Yes, but...

Er...how did you get in?

My dear Anne,

the lock in that lift is ridiculous for a man with my...engineering talents.

Don't...touch it.

Talents which I...gather you are now fully aware of.

Just as a matter of interest,

what gave me away?

Your wristwatch.

How? The sailor on the float.

My, my!

The little things one forgets.

Don't hurt me, Elliott.

I'll help you.

I know you will.

By keeping quiet.

Yes. Yes...permanently.

Anne, you're being silly. The door won't keep me out.

Elliott, they'll catch you.

Oh, I don't think so.

Besides, there's nothing left for me now.

Combined Holdings have seen to that.

And there's not much left for you.

Simon, it was horrible.

It's all right.

Combined Holdings did take over Stratton Enterprises

and I can see how Elliott figured we were cheating him out of his inheritance.

And were you?

Stratton was almost bankrupt.

That's what brought on his illness.

Yes, Elliott got it backwards. I think he honestly believed Combined Holdings killed his father.

Well, there you have the motive.

What I don't understand is how you got onto Elliott.

The postcards.

Elliott didn't want to be odd man out.

He wanted it to look like his father had been murdered, too,

so he...made up a postcard.

This one. ANNE: I still don't understand.

Look at the postmark.

4th January.

Now look at the stamp.

KIRBY: What about it?

SIMON: That stamp didn't exist last January.

It wasn't issued until July,

six months after the postcard was allegedly mailed.

So therefore, the postmark's a forgery...

..and Elliott Stratton had to be the killer.

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