Original subtitles

Elwell?

- I am Rodney Elwell. Do you wish to see me? - Pickett.

- I beg your pardon? - Sarah Pickett.

Quite so. Your name. In any case, I'm late for class...

- They said for me to come right away. - Who said?

- The agency. - The agency? What...

Oh, of course. The detective agency. Sergeant Coonan.

- Yes. Come in. Come in. - If I come in, does the door get closed?

- Naturally. - Then I don't come in.

- Why not? - You know why not. You're grown up.

- My dear Mrs. Pickett... - Miss Pickett. And don't butter me up.

I have conducted my affairs behind closed doors for 20 years.

Not with me.

You overestimate both of us. Have it your way.

Ah, yes, here we are.

You are Rebecca Pickett. Is that correct?

Sarah Pickett.

Quite so. Sarah.

Rebecca Pickett is my grandma.

- Was your grandma. - She still is. She's 103.

- Interesting. - She's a liar.

- Possibly. - 108 if she's a day.

Probably.

Miss Sarah Pickett, you were engaged some 15 years ago...

- by one Noah Praetorius as his housekeeper? - That's right.

- Where? - Goose Creek, where I come from.

Goose Creek. Goose Creek is a little village way downstate, is it not?

- Way back in the hills. - And at that time...

what was the profession of this Praetorius?

- He was a doc. - A doc?

- He healed people. - How?

If I knew how, I'd be a doc myself.

I mean, what were his methods of treatment?

Well, some healers use one thing and some use another...

but Doc Praetorius used them all.

Once he'd give a powder, sometimes syrup...

sometimes pills, sometimes a jab with a needle...

and sometimes just talk...

just sit there and talk about a body's misery...

and talk a body into being well...

like workin' a miracle.

Ah, a miracle worker too, eh?

- Well, if my grandma isn't a miracle, what is? - Your grandma?

Four times she laid down to die, and four times he talked her up on her feet.

Told her she was gonna live forever. Looks like he was right.

Doc, healer, miracle worker...

possible hypnotist.

Check on narcotics administered.

Now, Miss Pickett, are you completely certain...

that this man's name was Noah Praetorius?

Would I make up a name like that?

And is this Doc Praetorius by whom you were employed...

the same man as the famous Dr. Praetorius of this university and this city?

Doc Praetorius was already as famous as you can get back in Goose Creek.

He had people coming from miles around.

But is he now the famous Dr. Praetorius?

When you say "doctor", do you mean school doctor, out of books?

- That is precisely what I mean. - Can't say.

For my part, I wouldn't get caught dead in a room with one of'em.

Miss Pickett, I am a school doctor out of books.

That's one reason why the door is open.

This man...

is he the healer, the miracle worker?

- Is this Doc Praetorius? - That's him...

only he looked younger 15 years ago.

- We all did. - Not me.

We come now, Miss Pickett, to the most important subject of all.

What can you tell me about a man named...

Shunderson?

- Who did you say? - Shunderson.

- [Rings] - Hello.

It's, uh... It's Hoskins, Professor Elwell.

Well, in case, perhaps, Professor Elwell, you'd forgotten...

the class is still waiting.

Oh. Yes, Professor. Of course.

No, no, no. Not at all. It... It's just that, well, uh...

Dr. Praetorius is also waiting to see you.

Dr. Praetorius?

To see me? Well.

Well, he'll have to wait too.

But not for long, eh, Miss Pickett?

- What's the matter with you? - What's in this for me, Professor Elwell?

I thought that Sergeant Coonan had made it quite clear.

He said you wanted some information from me...

but also that you were going to give me a job.

- That's right. - What kind of a job?

In the dissecting room as a sort of a housekeeper.

What I want to know is will the job be worth it?

Will the job be worth what, Miss Pickett?

- Shunderson. - Tell me about him.

I didn't know very much. Nobody did.

Tell me everything you knew or heard, every detail.

You're a professor, and it's hard to make you understand anything that ain't in a book.

Well, most of what goes on in the world ain't in a book.

Spare me your philosophy. What about Shunderson?

To begin with, we used to call him the Bat.

Hmm. Did it ever occur to you, Shunderson, that skeletons always laugh?

Now, why?

Why should a man die and then laugh for the rest of eternity?

- What news, Uriah? - I've just spoken with Professor Elwell, Doctor.

He regrets exceedingly that he is unavoidably detained.

A meaningless phrase which could signify...

anything from oversleeping to being arrested for malpractice.

I've never known the professor to be late before.

Hmm, he'd be the last to tolerate it in anyone else.

Ah, it saddens me, Uriah. An unmistakable symptom of human weakness.

Professor Elwell of all men.

[Chattering]

[Gasps]

Have you your notebooks ready?

I would be quite unable to give the lecture you came to hear...

and I'm not sure you should hear the lecture I'd like to give.

Well, we want to hear anything you've got to say, Dr. Praetorius.

That's very flattering. Thank you.

We thank you. The cadaver and I.

A cadaver in a classroom.

As students of medicine, it's important at the outset...

that you realize that a cadaver in a classroom is not a dead human being.

I don't understand that, Doctor.

Anatomy is more or less the study of the human body.

The human body is not necessarily the human being.

Here lies a cadaver.

The fact that she was, not long ago, a living, warm, lovely young girl...

is oflittle consequence in this classroom.

You will not be required to dissect and examine the love that was in her...

or the hate...

or the hope, despair, memories and desires...

that motivated every moment of her existence.

They ceased to exist when she ceased to exist.

Instead, for weeks and months to come...

you will dissect, examine and identify her organs...

bones, muscles, tissues and so on, one by one.

And these you will faithfully record in your notebooks.

And when the notebooks are filled...

you will know all about this cadaver...

that the medical profession requires you to know.

Oh! Oh!

[All Chattering]

Get back. Get back!

- [Man] Is she all right? - [Man #2] Don't touch her.

Quiet down. Quiet down.

A group of Cub Scouts would know better than to crowd like this. Back up.

Have you any idea why you fainted?

Have you ever fainted before?

- How do you feel? - Silly.

I think you better tell a doctor about this. There may be a reason.

Can you get up now?

Good.

Perhaps you'd better go somewhere and relax. You go with her.

And, you know, if you insist upon studying anatomy...

I suggest you do not sit on the aisle.

Have a candy.

Thank you.

- Oh, you're not leaving, Doctor? - Yes, Uriah.

And please give my thanks to Professor Elwell for the use of the hall.

- It's been fun. - I can't understand his not being here.

- It's most unusual. - It's an unusual world, Uriah.

I understand I've kept you waiting. Please forgive me.

It was most urgent business.

My business, on the other hand, was the idlest of curiosity.

- You were going to let me know about a tumor you'd found. - Ah, yes.

A malignant dysgerminoma.

Professor Elwell, you are the only man I know who can say "malignant..."

the way other people say "bingo."

A malignant dysgerminoma.

- Good day, Professor Elwell. - Good day.

- Coming back in? - Mm-mmm.

- Aren't you going back at all? - Mm-mmm.

Are you going to see a doctor?

I guess so.

- Good morning, Dr. Praetorius. - Good morning.

Run another test. How was she when you made this one? Depressed?

- Cried all through it. - When you run it again, call me. We'll have a laugh...

through the next one, see what happens with different emotional factors.

- Well, if you like. - Dr. Praetorius...

a problem's come up about Mrs. Bixby.

Mrs. Bixby? I thought she was doing well.

She's nearly ready to go home, but she wants to take her gallbladder with her.

I think that's quite touching. Let her have it.

You know we don't keep gallbladders lying about once they've been removed.

Mrs. Pegwhistle, it's highly unlikely that Mrs. Bixby would recognize her own.

So why don't you just give her any old gallbladder and make her happy.

Doctor, unless all of the patients are served breakfast at the same time...

I cannot operate the kitchen with our present personnel.

- Then hire more people. - But it is common practice in hospitals...

Miss Filmore, in my clinic no patient shall be wakened from a health-giving sleep...

and forced to eat breakfast at a time which pleases the culinary union.

But in the interest of good economy...

Bad therapy is never good economy. If you must economize...

do it in the doctors' dining room.

And I will not have the patients bathed at the stroke of a gong...

for the convenience of the nurses.

One of the reasons for my founding this clinic is a firm conviction...

- that patients are sick people, not inmates. - Of course, Dr. Praetorius.

I'll bet I know what you're thinking.

"Here comes Dr. Happiness, the good humor man.

If he tries to cheer me up, so help me, I'll hit him with an ice bag." Right?

- Wrong. - Not that I blame you.

One of the few pleasures of being sick is the right to feel good and miserable.

Don't let any doctor tell you differently.

I was thinking, it's not much fun when you get to be old.

It's less fun if you don't get to be old.

- I want to die. - You'd like that, wouldn't you?

Just lie around in a coffin all day with nothing to do.

- How was last night? - Just fine, Doctor.

Well, if we have another good night tonight...

maybe tomorrow morning we'll go back into surgery and take another look.

Doctor, does it hurt when you die?

Not a bit. Where'd you get that idea?

They tell me there's so much pain.

Oh. Did anyone who actually died ever tell you that?

[Chuckles] Of course not.

Well, there, you see?

All this silly gossip about dying.

You know, I nearly died once. When I was a kid.

The doctors gave me up for lost.

The nerve of some doctors giving people up for lost...

as though they'd found them in the first place.

Anyway, I was dying. And I was in a coma.

- You know how it felt? - No. How?

[Sighs] It was winter at the time.

And I felt as if I was flying very slowly in a sled...

high up in the sky.

And the world below was covered in snow and ice and bitter cold.

But I was warm and cozy in the back of the sled...

wrapped in an ermine blanket.

And then I came out of the coma. I came back to life.

- How'd you feel? - Awful.

I had a splitting headache, and I vomited for three days.

I've never felt as good being alive as I did when I was dying.

[Chuckles] You certainly make dying a pleasure, Dr. Praetorius.

Well, we'll keep that our little secret, shall we?

I wouldn't want that to get around.

Doctor? Are you feeling all right?

Just my usual twilight sadness.

Did it ever strike you that days die pretty much the way people do...

fighting for every last minute of light before they give up to the dark?

You think about the strangest things, Doctor.

It's my unbalanced diet.

- Who's waiting? - Just one patient left. Mrs., uh... Mrs. Higgins.

She was in earlier today. You had Dr. Beecham run a test...

- I know. - And told her to come back.

- Here's the laboratory report. - Thank you.

Well, the day will die on a happy note at any rate.

Have Mrs. Higgins come in.

Mrs. Higgins.

Pardon me for getting up. It's the only exercise I take. Sit down, won't you?

Mrs. Higgins, as a doctor it's my duty, if at all possible...

to find something for you to worry about.

However, I cannot repudiate a laboratory report such as I hold in my hand.

Mrs. Higgins, you have nothing to worry about.

- You mean everything is all right? - Perfect.

Then the fainting this morning, it didn't mean a thing, did it?

Nothing out of the ordinary. You might eat lightly, however...

on the days you dissect cadavers.

Oh, that. I've given that up.

I wasn't really a medical student anyway, just sitting in on some courses.

Well, I imagine it'll be more fun just sitting home with Mr. Higgins.

Yes. Yes, it will be. I can't say how grateful I am to you, Dr. Praetorius.

For just a routine examination? After all, I didn't exactly save your life.

- Thank you anyway. - Not at all.

Uh, Mrs. Higgins, don't forget to have Miss James...

give you another appointment in about a month.

In about a month? To see you?

Of course, if you can afford it, it might be preferable to have a regular obstetrician.

In that case, there are several I'd be pleased to recommend.

But... But didn't you say that I had nothing to worry about...

that everything was all right?

It couldn't be any better, Mrs. Higgins. You're pregnant.

Are you sure? I mean, couldn't there be some mistake?

There's always a possibility of error.

However, with a result as positive as this, that possibility is remote.

After all, it wasn't a very thorough test. I mean, it only took a couple of hours.

- I... I thought, in order to be sure, you had to wait weeks. - Not anymore.

Nowadays we find out about everything a lot more quickly than we used to.

About life and even about death.

Well, they used to use a little pink rabbit for the pregnancy test...

but now they use a frog.

Not nearly as cute, but it's a lot faster.

Only two hours and just as certain.

The name of the frog, by the way, is Rana pipiens.

It sounds like a movie star, doesn't it?

You're not married.

- What about the baby's father? - It has no father.

If that were true, it'd be the first time in the annals of biology.

- I have no husband. - But when he knows about the baby...

He'll never know. I got a telegram the other day.

The other day. It seems as if he left just the other day.

Seems as if we met just the other day. It's all such a crazy, mixed-up nightmare.

He was in the reserve... the medical corps.

That's why I took the courses. When he came back and we were married, l...

I wanted to know something about his work.

- When did he leave? - Six weeks ago. Or was it five?

How right you are, Doctor. How quick we've become with life and death.

- And had you known him long? - No. Not even that.

Not even long enough to be sure... either of us.

You're not permitted enough time these days to be sure of anything.

And then when he had to go and we had to say good-bye, I was suddenly afraid.

I wanted to prove to myself and to him that I wasn't afraid!

Hmm.

The frightening things we do sometimes when we're afraid to be afraid.

Sit down, why don't you.

- What are you afraid of now? - I'm not.

Then stop behaving as if fear were something to be ashamed of.

Stop being such a pompous know-it-all! You don't know what I'm crying about.

- Do you? - Yes!

Miss Higgins... I can't call you Miss Higgins. What's your first name?

- Deborah. - Blow your nose.

There's tissue in the top drawer.

No, no. Here.

I can't speak with as much assurance as I usually do...

because you've just called me a pompous know-it-all.

- I'm sorry. - Don't be. I do get pompous...

but I'm really not a know-it-all.

- As a matter of fact, right now I'm confused. - By what?

Well, it seems to me that if you were crying because of the father of your baby...

the time for you to cry would have been when you thought you weren't pregnant...

not now that you know you are.

Isn't that so?

So he isn't the reason.

No, he isn't.

Then were you crying because you're afraid for yourself...

- afraid of what people will say? - No.

Are you sure?

Society has a strict set of rules about that sort of thing...

the bylaws of our social corporation.

You violated section "A," article one.

That can bring heavy penalties, up to and including expulsion.

You really think I'm a coward, don't you?

- Are you? - No.

Which brings us to the party of the third part... the baby.

Were you crying because of the baby?

You can't say there won't be time enough for you to love your baby...

and, if you're a good mother, to have it love you.

It is the baby you're afraid of.

- In a way. - Don't you want it?

Of course I do, but I can't have it. I just can't have it.

Why not? Why not, Deborah?

You couldn't understand.

I could try.

Because of my father.

You can never tell about fathers.

They can be suddenly understanding at the most unexpected times.

He's the most understanding and most gentle man in the world.

- Well, then? - I'm all he's got.

If he knew about this, it would kill him.

Oh. Well, if you're all he's got...

- then the baby will give him just that much more. - He couldn't live if he knew.

Deborah, no man could be as gentle and understanding as you say...

and still so deeply prejudiced that...

It's got nothing to do with prejudice.

Then what has it to do with?

Perhaps... This is only a suggestion...

- but perhaps if I were to tell him. - No.

- It's possible I could put it to him in such a way that... - No, please.

It's very kind of you, but you mustn't even consider it.

Dr. Praetorius, believe me, if you did see my father...

you couldn't tell him about me.

Even you wouldn't know how.

And if you did, you wouldn't have the heart.

Thanks just the same.

What are you going to do?

I don't know.

You had a pretty good idea, didn't you, even before you came to see me...

- that you were having a baby? - I wasn't sure.

Tell me, of all the doctors you could have gone to, why did you pick me?

There wasn't anyone else I could...

Well, when you talked to us this morning...

- I felt suddenly that you could help me somehow. - How?

You seem to care so much more about people than just any doctor would and so...

So you came to me for help, and all I did was... talk to you some more.

There is nothing I wanted from you, Dr. Praetorius...

- that would have affected your conscience in any way. - Not even the tiniest hope...

that, uh, perhaps, for your father's peace of mind...

I wouldn't want to buy my father's peace of mind at the cost of yours.

[Door Opens, Closes]

- Did Miss Higgins make another appointment? - Miss Higgins?

Sorry. I meant Mrs. Higgins, of course.

No, Doctor. She left without saying a word.

Sometimes, Shunderson, it seems to me that half the women who come in here...

want babies they can't have and that the other half...

She's old enough to know what she's doing and to take what's coming to her.

I never want to hear you say anything as idiotic and heartless as that again.

- But, Doctor... - For one thing, you're a nurse. And for another, you're a woman.

- I'm ashamed of both of you. - [Gunshot]

Have her taken to the nearest treatment room.

You prepare her yourself.

Left side, flesh wound. Doesn't look too bad.

- Get Billings for intravenous anesthesia. - Yes, Doctor.

- [Praetorius] Thank you, Billings. - Yes, Doctor.

Shall I have her taken to the ward, Doctor?

Yes, and get some blankets, please.

- Is it bad? - It's a good thing most people...

haven't the foggiest notion where the heart is actually located.

- She didn't even come close. - Why'd she try to kill herself?

Oh, I imagine, Shunderson, that when people need help the most...

it must sometimes seem as if they're all alone in the world.

Isn't that true?

Then she'll try it again.

She's still all alone, and if there's still nobody to help her...

she'll try it again.

## [Classical: "Academic Festival Overture"]

#[Continues]

#[Continues, Faint]

And so into the mixed chorus.

- How are they coming along? - Just fine, Dr. Praetorius.

- They're ready to start with you any time now. - Good. The sooner the better.

Set the first full rehearsal for next week.

Well, tonight for the first time, your attack was not premedical.

- [Men Chuckling] - The horns did not sound as if they'd been sterilized.

- [Laughter] - The second fiddles still pull a little.

You're still inclined to regard the strings as catgut for sewing...

- rather than for playing. - [Laughter]

And as for the gentleman on the third bull fiddle...

Professor Barker, is there any reason...

why you, Professor Barker...

who live so intimately with millions of neutrons and know them all by name...

cannot maintain a simple beat on a bull fiddle?

Are you referring to me?

I do not mean to impugn your academic standing, of course.

My dear Dr. Praetorius, I would willingly entrust the life of my sister...

to your skill as a gynecologist...

but I would not let you conduct my three-year-old nephew to the bathroom.

The point is that I am the conductor and you pay no attention to me.

- I do pay attention. - Very well. We shall see.

Start at letter "B," please, Professor Barker. Just your part alone.

It's going to sound a little silly.

After all, the bass viol is not a solo instrument.

On the contrary. For one, Serge Koussevitzky has concertized...

as a virtuoso of the bass viol.

- Look who's talking about Koussevitzky. - [Laughter]

Ready?

Tell me, Professor, do the neutrons bombard the electrons...

or do the electrons do it to the neutrons?

[Laughter]

[Laughter Continues]

Same time next week. Thank you and good night, all.

You drive my car home. I'll ride with Professor Barker.

Oh, and leave the knockwurst and the rest on the kitchen table. I'll cook them.

I don't want you to wait up.

You'll make me very unhappy if you don't go straight to bed.

He gets up before I do and won't go to bed till I'm asleep.

I keep forgetting he can't stand these long hours anymore.

Noah, there's something I want to talk to you about.

Noah, there's something I want to talk to you about.

- Here and now? - While it's fresh on my mind.

Just for a minute. Sit down.

You behave as if you were about to propose.

Noah, one of the differences between matter and mankind is...

that in matter all relationships can be stated...

whereas between people they can rarely be put into words.

- Granted. - I want you to know that I am your good and devoted friend.

I've been aware of that for some time. And I am yours.

Therefore I have the right to point out to you...

that there are occasions when you behave like a cephalic idiot.

Also granted. Any particular occasion?

Out of a universe full of time and space...

only you could pick Rodney Elwell's anatomy class.

Ah, the good word gets around, doesn't it?

Don't take this lightly, Noah. There's been trouble brewing.

- Talk of rummaging about in your past. - Let them rummage.

- They're spitting into the wind. - And all this talk about charges and whatnot...

of an investigation.

Noah, as a friend, tell me, can Elwell dig up anything in your past...

that would conceivably discredit you enough to justify...

say, a hearing before a faculty committee?

How much discredit is enough?

I've known you intimately for 10 years, and I can't even guess what you were up to...

- the day before I met you. - Suppose I told you all.

- Could it affect our friendship? - Of course not.

I'm glad to hear that. It's not much to have a friend who knows all about you...

but one who's a friend even though he's not quite sure...

that's worth having.

Then will you tell me just this?

- About the Bat. - The Bat?

I thought you knew that's what they call him.

- Shunderson. - Who calls him that?

Why, the students, the faculty...

even the staff at your own clinic.

No, I didn't know. It's not a proper name for him.

- Noah, who is he? - A man named Shunderson.

Where does he come from? Why is he with you day and night, everywhere you go?

I have no right to tell even you anything about Mr. Shunderson.

Can Elwell uncover something about his past...

or yours or both that he can use to make trouble?

That depends.

Drop me by the clinic first, will you? I want to look in on a patient.

Don't turn the light on, please.

- You've been crying again. - That doesn't necessarily follow.

Well, it's a pretty good guess when a woman wants the light kept off.

Either that or her face isn't on.

I don't mind being seen without makeup.

I don't mind seeing you without makeup.

You know all about women, don't you?

- Not nearly enough. - I don't mean just as a doctor.

Not even as a doctor.

Deborah, I, uh... I've got something to tell you.

- And as a pompous know-it-all... - I didn't mean that even when I said it.

As a pompous know-it-all, it isn't going to be easy.

But do you remember the remote possibility that I thought could never occur...