Original subtitles

Good evening, devotees of television.

Recognizing the popularity of medical drama on TV,

we are preparing one of our own.

In this series,

I play the part of a wise, fatherly head,

of the largest dog and cat hospital in Los Angeles.

This lad plays the part of young Dr. O’Hara.

A very promising and dedicated young veterinarian.

Here you see him as he will appear during the most of our first story.

In this story, he wrestled with the problem

of whether he should remain with me treating the pets of motion picture stars and millionaires

and the animals who themselves may be stars.

Or whether he should go back to a small town,

where he can treat the ordinary, un-pedigreed poodles.

Fortunately,

I convinced him that integrity isn’t everything.

Now for an episode from another series,

Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

After this one minute special.

[man] Whoa!

John?

Mrs. Wright?

Cold out tonight.

It’s cold in here too.

You need some fuel in that fire.

I just dropped by on my way home to

see if John had changed his mind about going in on my party line.

Party line?

Yeah.

It’d be big savings for me and you’d have a telephone too.

It wouldn’t cost much.

Well, I don’t see anything to laugh at.

Not funny, a telephone’s a real good thing to have.

Especially, when you’re so far out from town.

Why?

Well, in case you get sick or something.

Need help.

I see.

Only...

who would I call?

Now, you got neighbors ain’t ya?

Even though they are a mite far away.

You’ve got neighbors, they’re yours.

I suppose they are.

Keep forgetting.

So long since I’ve seen any of them.

Yeah, well...

maybe I best come back and

talk to John when he’s home, huh.

Oh, he’s home.

He’s upstairs.

Well, what if he’s sleeping?

He’s not sleeping.

I can see him, then?

Sure.

-Go on up. -Thanks.

What happened?

I don’t know.

You don’t know?

But he’s dead.

Appears like he’s been strangled.

Yes, I saw that on...

I don’t know what happened.

But you must know, you were here.

No.

I found him like that when I came back

from feeding the chickens this morning.

You’ve been sitting here all day

while he’s been lying up there?

Didn’t seem like there was anything else for me to do seeing...

he was dead.

I better get the sheriff.

I’ll telephone him from my place.

It doesn’t seem right to leave you here all alone.

Why don’t you come home with me?

Sarah’ll be glad to see ya.

Oh, that would be nice.

It’s been so long since I’ve visited anyone.

Yeah. Come on, come on.

No, that’s all right, Sheriff, I can meet you there.

Dear,

Sheriff wants me to meet him over at the Wright place.

Now, do you mind if she stays here with you?

Oh, don’t talk nonsense, Jim.

I’ve known Milly since we were children together.

Of course I don’t mind, you go right ahead.

I’ll be right over, Sheriff.

It won’t take long.

You must be half frozen.

Trust a man to drive you all this way and never think of that.

I’ll go put on some coffee.

Please don’t bother.

I don’t want any.

Oh, Milly...

I wish I could think of something to say.

What’s there to say that would make anything different?

Will they take him away tonight?

Well, I... I should think so.

He won’t like that.

Going away from the farm.

It’s the only thing he ever really cared about.

Milly...

why did you marry him?

I don’t know.

I guess I thought I was in love with him.

But you could’ve had your pick of anyone.

You were such a pretty little thing.

Oh, my,

was I ever jealous of you in those days.

I bet you haven’t been jealous of me since.

I tell you, she’s putting on an act.

Working up to an insanity plea.

Oh, now, what would she know about pleas?

She hasn’t been off that farm

more than a couple of times in the past 20 years.

It’s an act just the same.

Well, you lawyers know more about these things than I do,

but doesn’t seem like it to me.

I mean, why would she do it now?

After putting up with him for all these years.

That’s what we gotta find out.

How?

You just let me worry about that, Henry.

By the time I stand before a jury,

I promise you I’ll have everything I need for a conviction.

Maybe. But I’d still like to know how.

There must be something out in that farmhouse.

Something that’ll tell us.

Mr. Henderson, I searched that farm last night

and I didn’t even find one little thing out of the ordinary.

That’s why we’re going to search again, my friend.

-And right now. -Suit yourself.

Can I go home now?

Well, I’m afraid not right this minute.

You just relax and sit here and uh,

wait for a few minutes, Mrs. Wright.

There you are.

Mary, I’d like you to come to the Wright place with us

and bring back whatever Mrs. Wright needs.

You’d better ask her.

All right.

I wish I didn’t have to go out there after what’s happened.

Mary, would you like me to go with you?

Yes, I would.

I know it’s silly of me, but I would like company.

You see how we rate don’t you, Sheriff?

My wife thinks going out there with us is the same as going alone.

-Oh, it’s not that. -I know, I know.

Ladies like to be together.

Yes, here it is.

A shawl.

Sarah, do you think she did it?

No, I don’t.

If she had, do you suppose she would be worrying about...

silly little things like an apron and a shawl?

Looks awful bad for her.

Mr. Henderson said all he needed was a motive.

A motive to show that she hated him.

I wonder if they’re finding anything up there.

Oh, it’s-it’s wrong for them to come here like this and...

and try to get her own house to turn against her.

Mary, you better loosen your things.

You won’t feel the good of them when you go out.

Oh.

She was piecing a quilt.

Yes, I was just looking at it.

This must be the piece she was working on.

Oh, Mary.

Look at that sewing.

All the rest is sewn nice and even.

This is all over the place.

Why, it looks like she didn’t know what she was doing!

Sa-Sarah, what are you doing?

Nothing.

I’m just pulling out a stitch or two that

isn’t sewn very good.

You have no right to do that. No right at all.

Sarah, I’ll have to tell the sheriff. I’ll just have to.

Nothing to tell him, Mary.

About sewing that isn’t there.

You shouldn’t touch that.

Why not?

Doesn’t mean anything.

Meant she was awful nervous

when she was doing that end part.

There must’ve been a reason why.

Oh, nonsense.

I sometimes sew all wrong when I’m just tired.

Hadn’t you better get those things wrapped up?

Yes, I...

suppose I’d better.

I need some paper and string.

I expect you’d find some in that cupboard there.

What’s the matter?

Nothing.

Just, there’s a bird cage here. Did she have a bird?

Why, I don’t know.

Haven’t been out here for so long.

There was a man around last year selling canaries cheap.

I don’t know if she got one, but maybe she did.

She used to sing real pretty herself.

Seems funny to think of a bird in this gloomy place.

I wonder what happened to it.

Well, maybe it got out.

Door’s broken.

So it is, it’s right off its hinge.

Somebody must’ve been real rough with it.

Oh, I do wish they’d hurry.

[inhales]

Imagine what it must’ve been like for her out here.

All alone with a man like,

like John Wright.

Tell you what, Sarah...

why don’t we take her quilt to her?

Might take up her mind.

Oh, now that’s a good idea. They can’t object to that.

Here’s a box.

Probably has her sewing things in it.

Well, she has something wrapped up in a piece of silk.

-Oh, Mary. It-- -It’s

her canary.

But look at it.

Its neck.

Look at its

poor little neck.

Somebody

wrung its neck.

[Mr. Henderson] Now see...

once she had this around his neck...

all she had to do was...

No, no, no. Wait a minute, that’s no good.

Why wouldn’t he wake up when she was slipping it over his head?

Oh, comes to that, Henderson. He slept like the dead.

I, uh, mean he slept very heavy.

Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute.

That’s explains it then.

Sure, sure, sure. When...

when she was slipping it over his head he was all...

And just a little pull and he’d lose consciousness.

And all she had to do was tighten it, huh?

-Hey! -What?

Hmm.

You’d also wonder if she’d have the strength...

a little woman like that.

Anger can make a person a lot stronger than they really are.

Yes, we haven’t found any signs of anger around here.

I know.

But we will!

It’s almost as if she was trying to give it a burial.

It must have meant so much to her, if she couldn’t bear to part with it.

It’s a real pretty pattern, don’t you think so, Mary?

I wonder if she was just going to quilt it or just knot it.

They wonder if she’s going to quilt it or knot it.

Let’s go out to the barn and see if we can find anything out there.

Sarah! I’ve got to tell him.

No!

You know what they say, don’t you?

I know...

that he killed her bird...

that’s what made her angry.

That’s the motive they’re looking for.

And you’re going to give it to them?

What else can we do?

We can hide it.

I’ll just put it in my bag and they need never know a thing about it.

Sarah, that’s wrong!

Terribly wrong!

Was it right for him to kill her bird?

Just because it gave her a little pleasure?

We don’t know that’s why, you don’t even know that he did it.

No, I don’t!

Not any more than we know that she did anything either.

So we don’t need to say a thing about it.

Well, it’s not for us to judge how important it is.

Are they?

Well, it’s their job, they know about these things.

I can tell you a lot of things they don’t know anything about.

How it must have been for her here.

All alone with a man like that.

I’m not saying it wasn’t a real cruel thing to do.

But it, it was a bird.

Not a human being.

Maybe it meant more than any other human being to Milly.

That’s what’s so wrong, you don’t...

kill somebody for a bird!

Oh, that wasn’t why!

If she did it...

it was because of all the things he’s been doing to her for the past 20 years.

You never knew her when she was a girl.

She was the sweetest, prettiest little thing.

But she didn’t have to marry him.

She was 17 years old.

What did she know about anything?

Well, that’s not excuse for--

Who said anything about an excuse?

I was just telling you about the way it was.

I’m sorry, Sarah.

But I can’t be a part of this, I just can’t.

My husband is a sheriff and I...

Please try to understand, Sarah.

Sure.

I understand.

But I understand that you’re a woman too.

-Well, what’s that got to do with it? -Lots!

If you weren’t new here, you’d understand that.

I’ve been leaving in this town long enough--

-How long? -Five years.

[laughing]

Five years.

Five years living right in the heart of town surrounded by people

with nothing to do but keep a house neat.

What would you know about living for 20 years

out in a farm like this?

Miles from anywhere.

Never seeing a living soul

from one month’s end to the next.

Getting into town maybe, oh...

four of five times a year, if you’re lucky.

And even then having to worry about how you’ll get caught up

with the work when you came back

and never really catching up.

Only thing that makes it bearable is,

is having a decent man like my Jim

who loves you.

I never heard that--

Mr. Wright was really a bad man.

Well...

depends upon what you call bad.

You never knew him, did you?

Not to say no, I’d seen him in town.

Well, he didn’t drink,

kept his word as well as most, I guess, paid his debts.

But he was a cold, harsh man.

Just passing the time of day with him was like a,

a raw wind cutting clean to the bone.

That’s the only human being Milly ever saw day in day out.

But if, if she lived here all her life

she must’ve had friends who came to visit.

Oh, her friends all tried in the beginning,

only he never made any of them feel that they were welcome.

Farm folk don’t have much time for visiting.

Maybe they were glad to have some excuse not to come.

I should’ve come.

Because I knew.

There’s a crime for you.

A real crime.

Who’s going to punish me?

I didn’t mean to reproach you, Sarah.

You don’t have to.

I do that myself.

I can’t lie to Mr. Peters.

You don’t have to lie.

Just have to keep quiet.

I’m sorry, Sarah.

Don’t blame me too much.

I’m not blaming you.

You have to do,

what you have to do, I guess.

What are you looking for?

Oh, I was just hoping that all the jars hadn’t burst.

No.

Here’s one that didn’t.

Now, don’t you tell her her fruit was gone.

You tell her it was all right.

And you take this one in to prove it to her.

Stop it! Stop doing this to me!

I wasn’t even thinking about you.

Well, start thinking about me a little.

[Sheriff] Well, it’s not our fault we didn’t find anything.

I know it isn’t. I don’t understand it.

I was so sure there’d be something.

Well, there ain’t. We might as well get back to town.

Mary, you ready?

Well...

What do you mean "well"?

Well, you haven’t even gotten those things packed yet.

[Sheriff] You women. Chattering long about nothing.

It’s a wonder you ever get anything done.

Now, now, now, Sheriff. Is that any way to talk to the ladies?

After all, they’ve been trying to make up their minds about a real important problem.

Well, ladies, what did you decide?

Was she going to quilt it or knot it?

We decided she was going to knot it.

The story you have just seen

was intended to be the beginning of a series about Mrs. Wright.

I’m afraid we blundered badly, however.

For she was convicted along with Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Hale

and her adventures were rather limited after that.

As for our series about doctors,

this too was abandoned.

The young man managed to hold up

but being kind and fatherly and folksy

proved too much of a strain for me.

Now for the last of a series of three commercials,

after which I shall tell you more of our producing plans.

During the coming months,

I hope you will look for our two newest projects.

A series about gangsters in the clothing industry called

The Unmentionables.

And another, built around the adventures

of an itinerant strikebreaker in the old west entitled

Frontier Fink.

Until next week, goodnight.