Original subtitles

The gripping story of a doctor determined to shape his own future by

rewriting his past.

Tonight, Tales of Tomorrow presents Past Tense, starring Boris Karloff with

Robert Simon and Catherine Mesko.

And now to our story, Past Tense, starring Boris Karloff with Robert Simon

and Catherine Mesko.

Don't they ever wash the windows in this dismal place?

Are you kidding, Doctor?

Whoever washes windows in a place like this?

At night, that's the sunlight in... Yes, I know what you mean.

How is he?

Not too good. Not at all good.

I hope this hypo will quiet him.

It looks pretty bad to me.

It's pneumonia, isn't it?

Yes.

Complete consolidation of both lobes.

Has he reached the crisis yet?

This morning.

Temperature's been going up ever since.

I'm afraid he hasn't a chance. Well, maybe he's better off.

I wish we knew more about him.

I've never come across a patient like this one.

He's never had a visitor.

No family, no relatives, not even a friend.

Nobody seems to know where he came from.

Yet he has a knowledge of medicine that sometimes makes me feel like a young

intern. Let's see, it's six months since we sent him here, isn't it? Just about.

And still has that same obsession?

Hasn't varied a bit.

Insists he's a man from the future.

Penicillin.

Penicillin. There he goes again. Same fixation about that drug. Yeah.

Penicillin.

Hasn't stopped talking about it since you brought him here. Isn't there

anything at all we can do for him?

Nothing at all.

No, I'm afraid that December 3rd, 1910 will mark the end of Harry

Markle and of his delusions about a miraculous cure-all.

This wonder drug that he calls penicillin.

In a minute, Jane, in a minute.

In a minute, nothing.

Open this door.

Harry, Harry Markle, open this door immediately.

Do you hear me? What are you doing down there?

All right, all right, I'm coming. Take it easy.

Don't break my jaw down.

What's the matter now?

What's the matter?

A patient is waiting for you, and I've been buzzing for 15 minutes. Oh, let him

wait. I'm busy.

Now, look here, Harry Markle. Instead of fooling around down here, you should be

in your office taking care of your patients.

I've got more important things on my mind. Well, I haven't, and I'm tired of

you neglecting everything for this.

You've got bills these days, Harry, and you're driving away the few that are

left with your indifference.

Doesn't matter, Jane.

Believe me, this is more important. Is it? Well, I'm tired of making excuses

and hiding from bill collectors while you waste your time on this fantastic,

stupid comic book idea of yours.

A time machine.

Comic book idea, eh?

What would you say, Jane?

I told you that I'd finally solved the riddle of time.

That with this machine I can go back in time. Go back as far as I like.

To any point in history.

What would you say then?

I'd say you're crazy.

Well, we'll see if I'm crazy or not.

I tell you, Jane, I'm tired of being poor.

Tired of treating colds and bellyaches.

Turning out at all hours of the night whenever somebody's baby has the colic.

What about the patient upstairs?

He won't wait much longer.

Let him go. I'm busy.

Busy? What are you trying to do?

I'm going to smash that machine, Harry. It's no good.

I don't care a thing about the past.

What's bothering me is the future. And it's time you earned a living.

Stop it. Stop it, I say.

Now get out of here. Get out.

Don't you ever try to touch that machine again.

Harry Markle, I'm going to smash that machine if it's the last thing I do.

She thinks I'm losing my mind, eh?

For I'll show her more money than she's ever dreamed of.

I'll show her that the past can really be profitable.

My time machine worked.

I knew it.

I knew it.

I'm going back through the past.

Back through the years that I have lived before.

There they are.

I'm seeing again events that have become history.

Oh, I wish I could stop and relive some of those great moments.

But I can't. I must go back further.

If my plan works, I'll be rich.

If it works, if it doesn't, who knows?

I think you should listen to this man, Dr. Giles. Nonsense. I can't listen to

every crackpot who comes here with a magic potion. But this man seems to know

what he's talking about. He's not a harebrained chemist. He's a doctor. I

never heard of him.

Neither have I, but I'm convinced that he has something. All right, all right.

Bring him in. I'll let him have five minutes. Five minutes will be enough.

Dr. Markle.

Dr. Harry Markle, this is our director, Dr. Giles. How do you do? You seem to be

rather dressed in a rather unusual fashion.

Where do you come from?

Does that really matter?

Well, no, I guess not.

Well, what's this cure-all you've bewitched Dr. Lasky with? I didn't

exactly say it was a cure-all. It's by no means a cure-all.

But it will cure a great many diseases that you now think fatal.

Oh, well, where is it? Let's have a look at this miracle drug.

There it is, Doctor.

It's an odd-looking container.

What's it made of? The scale of a dragon and the tooth of a wolf?

A very literate question, doctor.

But this is no witch's brew.

If you're not interested, I'm sure some of your competitors will be. Oh, just a

moment, doctor. Just a minute.

You seem to be rather sure of yourself.

Just what do you want?

I want a quarter of a million dollars in U.S. Treasury bonds maturing in 30

years, maturing in 1953.

A quarter of a million dollars?

For what?

For untried medicine that you claim is a panacea?

Dr. Lasky here tells me that you have an arrangement with the Mercy Hospital to

test new medicines on ward patients. That's right, but only after the drugs

have passed the lab stage.

I understand your position.

I appreciate it.

Unfortunately, I haven't time for long, drawn-out, tedious lab tests.

Forgive me one of your sickest patients.

Someone who is far gone with pneumonia, meningitis, gas gangrene.

And let me show you what this drug can do. Oh, you should know better than

that, doctor.

I can't sanction using an unknown drug on patients.

What do you call this medicine?

Afraid the name won't mean very much, dear.

Its name is penicillin.

Penicillin, huh?

That's a very fancy name.

Well, the answer is no.

And I'm surprised at you, Dr. Lassie, for condoning such an unethical idea.

Now, if you gentlemen will excuse me, I have more important things to do.

He doesn't know what he's passing up.

Well, thanks, Lasky. You tried, anyhow.

Wait. I may be sticking my neck out, but I believe you.

There's a patient in the ward, a young girl, type 4 pneumonia.

She can't last more than a few hours. Come on, what are we waiting for? Wait a

minute. This could mean my finish.

There's nothing to worry about, Doctor.

I assure you there's absolutely no risk.

I hope you're right, Marco.

I hope you're right.

Has there been any change?

She's worse, doctor.

Do you want to listen to her chest?

Yes.

Give me a sterile syringe.

I'm going to give her 300,000 units.

We'll repeat the dose in an hour.

What are you giving her, Doctor?

Oh, that doesn't matter, Nurse.

This is highly irregular, Doctor.

It certainly is.

Pulse is hardly perceptible.

I'm going to give her another 300,000 units.

Marco, she's dead.

And now back to our story, Past Tense, starring Boris Karloff.

And you say Dr. Lasky permitted this stranger to inject this fluid into your

patient? Yes, sir. Over my express objections.

Thank you, nurse. That's all.

Dr. Giles. Lasky, you're through.

And I'm bringing you up on charges of unethical practice at the next meeting

of the medical board. But, sir. I hold you responsible for the death of that

girl. She was dying. Nothing would have helped her. She'd have died anyway. That

doesn't excuse you.

You deliberately disobeyed my orders in allowing this quack to use an unknown,

untried medicine on a patient.

Oh, just a minute, sir. That unfortunate girl's death proves nothing.

We were too late, that was all. She was beyond all help, even had a penicillin.

It's unfair and grossly unscientific to jump to conclusions with only one case.

What would you like to do, kill a few more patients before you're satisfied?

Oh, of course not.

But in that same ward, there's a patient with gas gangrene.

Now, let me use my drug on him, and I give you my word, in two or three days,

he'll be on the road to recovery. No, no, I can't permit it. I told you

before, I will not sanction the use of drugs unless and until we've made the

proper lab tests on them.

I understand, doctor.

But in the meantime, I've placed Dr. Lasky in rather an unfortunate position,

and I'd like to vindicate him at least.

So take this drug. Use it any way you like. Make all your lab tests.

And when it proves its values, I know it will.

Then we can talk business. Business?

I don't do business with quacks, and I have no time for your miraculous cure

-alls. Now, I'll thank you to leave the office.

Dr. Giles, you will regret this decision in the not too distant future.

Good day, Doctor.

Not thinking of smashing the machine again, are you? Harry, you startle me.

Sorry, Jane.

Jane, I'm going away again. Maybe for a week, ten days, perhaps longer.

But don't disturb anything in this room and keep the door locked.

Where are you going, Harry?

Does that make any difference?

Well, I would like to know what you're up to.

Where did you go when you disappeared last week?

I went back into the year 1923.

Oh, now, Harry, don't joke with me. I'm serious.

You haven't been the same since that day. What did you do?

I tried to sell some moldy bread, but they wouldn't buy. Oh, now, Harry. The

trouble with you, Jane, is you don't recognize the truth when you hear it.

Well, I'll tell you again.

This machine, I think you called it a comic book contraction.

Well, it works.

It took me back into the past.

You actually went back into the past. I'm going again. Come with me. We'll

revisit the scenes of your childhood.

No, Harry, no. Well, I'm going anyhow.

Perhaps I can bring you momentum.

What would you like?

Lillian Russell's fan?

An autographed picture of President Taft? Any proof at all? Just name it.

Harry, you mustn't do this. I'm afraid.

Afraid? There's nothing to be afraid of.

It's as safe as a baby can. Oh, Harry, I'm not thinking of the machine. It's

just a... Well, if what you say is true, you're tampering with something beyond

your control, and you shouldn't do it, Harry. It's wrong. Wrong?

What's wrong about it?

Some people look to the future for their success.

I get mine out of the past. Oh, Harry, you'll get into trouble, serious

trouble. And what can you possibly gain by going back into the past?

I wanted to bring them the benefits of penicillin.

Thirty years before its time.

But they wouldn't listen to me. They laughed at me and threw me out.

But this time, I'm going back even further into the past.

Back to 1910.

What's more, I'll go to the same company.

This time they'll pay.

And pay plenty.

Harry, Marco, you're not going.

Oh, I should have smashed this machine weeks ago.

Harry, I beg you, destroy it. Promise me you won't go. I have a feeling that

something terrible is going to happen.

Maybe you're right, Jane, dear.

But I must make just this one last journey, and I'll come back with more

than enough to take care of us for the rest of our lives.

Then I'll smash the machine.

I give you my word.

Now go.

Tell me some more about this wonder drug, Dr. Marko. Oh, there's no use

talking about it anymore, Dr. Giles. Let me demonstrate it for you. Oh, come now.

You don't expect me to use this stuff on human beings before it's been tested, do

you? But it's been tested over and over again.

Where? In my laboratory.

And where's that?

I resent all these questions, Dr. Giles.

If you have any doubts as to my integrity... Just a minute now. Hold on

a moment.

I don't doubt your integrity.

And I'm very much interested in you and your drug. Sit down. No, I've very

little time. Tell me some more about the drug.

Why should I tell you again?

I know I'm wasting my time here. Not at all. Not at all.

By the way, Marco, you are a physician, aren't you?

That's insulting, Dr. Giles.

What's the meaning of this? Simply this.

You're a fraud, Marco.

I'm having you arrested for posing as a physician.

But I am a physician.

Dr. Lasky, you know me. Tell him. I've searched every available record, sir.

Marco's name isn't listed in any of them. Just as I suspected. But you're

mistaken. I'm a graduate of Bellevue. What year?

1926.

Oh, what is it? I know this is hard to believe, but here.

Take this drug. Use it. I give it to you freely.

Believe me, it'll cure almost anything. I've used it in hundreds of cases.

It's a fungus made from bread mold.

Just... Ordinary bread roll. Well, I have bread rolls. Dr.

Lasky, you're my friend. You know me. You helped me. You believed in me. Take

him out.

No.

I'm not insane. Take your hands off me. I came here to try to help you. I came

out of the future from 1953.

I came as a machine.

A time machine. A time machine, eh? Go with the officer, Mark. Go? Go where? To

the hospital. You'll get well. No, no, I won't. All right. Doctor, if we give you

a lot of bread mold, you can make all the penicillin you want. No, no. Use

that drug. Use it. Use it.

It'll save countless lives.

Ah, bread mold, huh?

Yeah.

Poor fellow.

You know, it's a curious thing. I checked on that home address you gave

us. There's a Harry Markle living there, all right.

But he's only a boy.

Well, that's the end of Harry Markle.

Died December 3, 1910.

Cause of death, acute lobar pneumonia.

Well, here's his precious penicillin.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if there really were such a drug?

This is ABC.