Original subtitles

Have you ever felt that you knew what someone was going to say

just before he said it?

Or have you ever stepped into a strange room

and had the sensation you'd been there before?

If you have, you've taken a small step beyond.

Now, watch a giant step.

It begins here,

in Wadsworth Prison, near London.

The year, 1895.

Our principal player is one John Marriott.

Today is a big day in his life.

He is to be hanged.

Come on, now, then, Johnny, lad,

no need for you to look at that, you know?

Here.

Have a smoke.

Come on, Johnny boy. Your go.

It's hot in here.

It's hot.

Well, I ain't hot.

When do they come for me?

Uh, 6:00.

What time is it now?

Oh, I don't know. 5:30...

Does it take long?

What?

Oh. Nah.

How long?

How long?!

Well, I don't know.

A couple of minutes, maybe.

Now, come on, Johnny, me boy.

There's no need for you to be afraid.

Who's afraid?!

Well, a bloke as popular with the ladies as what you was...

What do you mean, "was"?

I ain't dead yet.

I am the executioner, sir.

At your service.

This is my assistant.

It's not time yet.

You're quite correct, sir.

You have exactly... 21 minutes.

Will you please step on this scale here?

What do you need my weight for?

11 stone, sir.

11 stone.

71 inches.

71 inches.

Thank you, John Marriott.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

Breakfast is here, Johnny boy.

I don't want it.

It's your very last breakfast.

Take that slop away. I don't want it.

I can't look at it.

I don't... Are you all right, my son?

Is there anything I can do for you?

Anything you wish?

Any final confession you want to make?

She just sat there, with her head thrown back,

laughing at me like I was some kind of worm or something.

I didn't mean to kill her.

I swear I didn't.

But the way she laughed

when I caught her with that dandy, Phil Ooker...

All I could see was her throat.

I just grabbed it.

I grabbed it.

And all the time, she kept laughing.

Her mouth... Her voice...

I can hear it now, screaming.

Her hands scratching at me.

Well, maybe she wasn't laughing.

Maybe she was only screaming.

"Sure, there was Phil Ooker," she screamed,

"and there was Paddy O'Neill,

and everybody in London knows all about that."

Ooh, ooh, it...

It was like a bomb exploding in my ear.

I fair went out of me mind.

The Lord is merciful to all his poor sinners.

Oh, I know.

I know I'm a sinner.

I know.

The things I done.

Really, if I ever really started to confess...

Do you know what I done once?

I never told nobody this.

I pushed a blind beggar into the gutter

and I robbed his tin cup.

There was...

eight pennies and four shillings and half a crown.

I meant to pay him back every cent, but I never did.

I went to Epson, see,

and I laid a wager on a nag named Alma's Eyes.

Whew, that nag is still running.

There was this sweet old lady that I see

and she'd never seen a race before.

So I swapped my ticket with hers and hers was a winner.

It paid 15 to one.

That week, I crawled through every pub

from here to Whitehall.

That was the week I met Alma.

I know, I never should have touched that blind man,

and I never should have touched Alma.

The things I do because a lady has a...

pretty pair of eyes.

But I can't help myself.

Please... Please don't let them hang me.

You must be brave, my son.

Please... John Marriott, bend your knees.

Pray.

Pray.

I can't.

Try, lad.

I can't. I can't!

I can't!

"The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

I don't want to die! No!

I don't want to die! "He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.

No! He leadeth me beside the still waters."

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

"I will fear no evil.

"Thou preparest a table before me

"in the presence of mine enemies.

"Thou anointeth my head with oil.

"My cup runneth over.

"Surely goodness and mercy

shall follow me all the days of my life."

I don't know what could have happened, sir.

Really, I don't.

I've been the executioner for 19 years

and it's never happened before, sir.

We examined that rope very thoroughly, as we always do.

Well, how is he, Doctor?

Oh, he's coming around.

It was merely shock.

There's no physical damage at all.

Are you quite certain? Quite.

Then let's get on with the execution.

You're wasting your time, Guv'nor.

If you think that I'm going to die on your blasted gallows,

you've got another thing coming, 'cause I'm not.

Marriott, I'm sorry about the accident,

but the court has sentenced you to be hanged.

But that's the point, Guv'nor.

It wasn't no accident.

Let's get on with it.

Ain't nobody here can kill me.

Not if you tried for 100 years in 100 ways.

Not you.

Not you.

Not the executioner.

Not nobody.

I said, let's get on with it.

Hold on. Hold on.

I haven't had any breakfast.

Well, what you going to do?

Hang me without giving me any grub?

I thought you said you didn't want any.

Ooh, now I do.

It's unhealthy for a man to miss his breakfast.

All right, but hurry.

Oh, good.

I haven't had a meal like this since the trial.

Gee!

You blokes don't hardly give a man time

to stow his grub, do you?

Would you stand, please?

I don't mind.

Hey!

Hey, you blokes are just wasting your time!

If you want to know why, I'll tell you!

Don't you forget to have a nice lunch waiting for me.

I want some roly-poly pie...

Hey, where's me brandy?

I want me brandy!

What kind of a hanging is this?

Shall follow me all the days of my life...

Save your breath, Vicar, they're not hanging me.

You're wasting your time, mate, you really are.

Whoo-hoo!

Oh, now, there we go.

A-one, a-two, three,

four, five, six, seven, eight, nine,

ten, 11, 12, 13.

That's my lucky number!

On, no, I don't want that. You sure you don't want the hood?

Might make it easier for you.

I don't need it any easier, mate.

All right, this time just to make sure,

we'll try it once more.

Ready?

You're wasting your time, boys.

You sure you don't want the hood?

No, I don't want the hood.

Oh, a little to the left, little to the left.

I'm getting so good at this job,

I think I might become the executioner.

Ooh, that's tight.

I told you you was wasting your time, Guv'nor!

You can't hang me!

Why don't you give u...?

Enough. Take him back to his cell.

"The man who can't be hanged!"

But why?

Why do you think they're unable

to hang you, Mr. Marriott?

Ooh, maybe there's a good angel watching over me.

More than likely, it's the Devil, I'd say.

Well, I don't much mind who's watching over me,

angel or devil...

just so long as it's somebody with influence.

As a matter of fact, quite a lot of people with influence

are interested in you, Mr. Marriott.

Who?

Your case is being debated right now in the House of Commons.

Mr. Gladstone thinks that you should be set free, that you've suffered enough.

Well, now, that makes two of us.

But seriously, Mr. Marriott, don't you have some theory

as to why you couldn't be hanged?

Oh! I know why I couldn't be hanged.

And if one of your high-and-mighty papers

is willing to pay...

500 quid for the information... 500 pounds?

Huh! That's not very likely.

Then I'm not very likely to tell.

Oh...

I'll wager you hate to see me go, eh, Guv'nor?

I hate to see anyone make justice look foolish.

Oh, come, now, Guv'nor, don't take on so.

If you was to put me up on that there gallows 50 times...

you still couldn't hang me.

Now, go on home, Marriott.

You want another try at me neck, Guv'nor?

I'd be glad to oblige.

Now, get out of here.

You're smart not to take me up, Guv'nor,

because I'd win, sure as I'm standing here.

You know how I know?

Well, you listen, and I'll tell you.

Just when they was...

when they was pulling that hood over my head,

and the rope snapped...

I saw how old John Marriott was going to die...

and it wasn't on no gallows.

I said get out!

It's your jail, Guv'nor.

Now, go home, will you?

I'm going to die in a most amazing way, Guv'nor.

In a most...: remarkable way.

Another one, Georgie.

And some more for Molly here, too.

Don't let them ruby lips get dry.

You know, when they takes you to the gallows,

they offers you a glass of brandy.

Now, ain't that sweet of 'em?

Oh, I'll bet you had the whole bottle, eh, Johnny?

Almost. Whoo-hee, you should've seen their faces

when them gallows wouldn't work!

That bloomin' executioner, he kept kicking, kicking that release bolt

till I thought he'd have a stroke.

And you with that noose around your neck.

Weren't you scared?

Scared? What for?

They couldn't hang me,

not if they tried till doomsday.

Oh, come off it, Johnny.

How could you know?

Devil hisself... whispered in my ear.

Johnny!

Oh, Liz!

Johnny, Johnny... Where have you been?

♪ Oh, you're blooming like a rose... ♪ Johnny...

All flushed... You know who's coming in here?

Will Cooper!

Did you miss me while I was in the jug, Liz? Johnny, Johnny,

Will, he's coming, he's coming...

Come on, give us a kiss.

Johnny, he's got a gun!

Come on, Liz, have an ale.

Two ales, Georgie... one for Liz,

and one for Will when he gets here.

Ain't you afraid he'll kill you?

Will? No.

Will's a mouse... not a lion.

You want to know how I'm going to die?

I'll tell you.

There's only one way I can die.

One way... and no other!

Now, gather around.

Gather around, and I'll tell you about my vision.

Though the press offered me 500 quid,

I won't charge you a farthing.

Johnny, Johnny...

Old Johnny Marriott's gonna die at the foot of a lion

right here on the streets of London.

That's how it's gonna be, I know.

I was standing there on them gallows.

I was standing there with that white hood over my head,

and I heard them release the lever.

And I heard them trap doors swinging open,

and I felt myself falling, and while I was falling

the inside of that hood lit up like a million candles,

and there I was laying dead at the feet of a lion...

right here on the streets of London.

Then I knew...

I knew that's how it had to be.

That way and no other!

Turn around, John.

Another ale, Georgie.

If you think you can kill my sister and go scot-free,

you've got another thing coming!

Too much head on that ale, Georgie.

Turn around, John, or I'll shoot you right in the back!

That's better, Georgie.

Uh? Hey!

Hey, you know... you know Alma Cooper?

That girl what I strangled?

Well, I hear her brother's looking for revenge.

Now, you tell him, will you?

You tell him that if Alma were alive,

I'd kill her again right now.

'Cause she deserved everything she got.

And you deserve what you're gonna get, John Marriott!

Try it again, Will.

Hm!

You couldn't hurt me.

You couldn't hurt me with a cannonball.

Not with a whole regiment of grenadiers to back you up.

You couldn't hurt me unless you could bring

the jungles of Africa up here to London.

That's to wake you up!

Now lift up that pistol and shoot.

Come on, Lou!

Bang that piano!

Let's have some dancing.

What is it, a funeral?

Ooh!

Oh, now, what's wrong?

What's everybody looking at me like that for?

What do you think I am, some sort of spook?

Oh... put your mind at rest.

I'm flesh and blood.

Yes, and when that lion

finally catches up with me, I'll prove it.

Yes, I'll prove it!

Oh... The Devil himself.

Oh, blast the lot of you!

I hope every one of you rots!

I'm no more haunted than you are.

You're all gonna die, same as me.

Only difference is, I know how!

♪ Dee, dee, dee, dee, dee, dee, dee, dee, dee ♪

♪ Dee, dee, dee... ♪

Hmm.

Johnny Marriott, Esquire,

will face any lion, living or dead,

and s-spit in his bloomin' eye!

Hello! Hello.

Oh, there you are, you beast!

Ooh, you're big...

Big! Big, ain't you?

I suppose if you got me in your jaws,

there wouldn't be much left, now, would there?

Oh, who said I was to die at the foot of a lion, anyways?

Well... if you're gonna do me,

you do me now, you hear?

Come on, come on, take a bite!

Take a... Ooh!

Well, I'm feeling a bit thirsty, so...

Ta-ta, old cat!

What are you doing here at this hour? Ooh!

Hey! Come here, you! Come here!

Come here!

Hey, hey, come back here!

Come back here! Hey! Come back!

Blimey.

He's broke his blooming neck.

He's stone dead.

♪ ♪

You find them all over London.

The symbol of Britain, you know.

In a moment, something about next week.

Mitchell Campion looks like any normal, average American male.

But as you will see next week, he once took a long, long step

into his past and his future at one and the same moment,

a step that thrust him head-on

into one of the deepest mysteries of life.