Original subtitles

Edogawa Rampo's

THE WATCHER IN THE ATTIC

Produced by Takashige Ichise, Makoto Ishihara and Moto Seta

Screenplay by Akio Satsukawa

Music by Isao Matsushita

Cinematography by Masao Nakabori Editing by Osamu Inoue Art Direction by Noriyoshi Ikeya

Assistant Director: Iwao Takahashi Sound Recordist: Eiji Kimura

Starring:

Hiroshi Mikami

Masumi Miyazaki

Naomasa Musaka

Keiko Kaga

Kyusaku Shimada

Directed by Akio Jissoji

Kaoru Osanai made a talkie movie.

What's that?

It's just like it sounds, a movie where they talk.

In this kind of film Clara Bow will speak in her own voice...

...and Chaplin will speak in his.

It's always struck me... humans are such terribly boring creatures.

So then, if talkies pick up, will the other movie people all lose their jobs?

There's no way around it. That's the trend of time...

The weak are swallowed up by the strong.

What a terrible way to put it.

Sure, what you said may be right. But you know what, Endo?

Thinking that everything in the world can be explained away...

...with "the right answer" is an outrageous idea.

The spread of material civilization won't necessarily bring us all happiness.

However, I do approve of Mr. Osanai's spirit of experimentation.

Hey, the petite bourgeois princess speaks.

If I'm a petite bourgeois, then what's that make you?

At your age, still sponging off your parents.

What! Why...

How many times has the scene changed?

Wherever you go, aren't people just repeating the same old lines in the same old tones?

Goda, you haven't had a drop for a while now.

He can't hold his liquor.

A good man never refuses liquor...

Wouldn't it be better to just die than to continue on in this boring world?

I've got something good here.

Mo...Morphine?

Is it the real thing?

Where'd you get a thing like that?

Cause I'm a dentist. I use it as an analgesic.

If you drink this or inject it, you could easily die.

But unlike with Strychnine or Potassium cyanide, you don't feel a thing.

How about it, you want to try?

But, even if you're a dentist, keeping morphine in your house...

That's totally illegal!

Bringing it back here is dangerous!

You're right, it's dangerous. Really dangerous.

Then, why?

So, I could take it at anytime, this life I'd once thought about throwing away.

You were... thinking about suicide?

A lover's suicide. My lover was the young wife of a colleague.

At the time I felt so exhausted to continue living and she was going through dark times.

So when I said, "How about we just die?" she fell quiet and nodded.

So, that night we took the overnight train to Shiobara.

Then what?

Unfortunately, we were spotted by some people from a hotel...

...and we couldn't go through with the suicide.

What happened to your lover?

I have no idea!

How about it?

Want to die together?

Who'd have thought that would be his "killing phrase."

A loser who says he wants to die all the time is so chickenshit.

Yeah, right!

- Idiot! That was a true story! - Sure, sure.

But talk like this makes the sake taste bad. Hey, pour me another.

During the mid-1920s

In the Hongo District of Tokyo

Everyone left.

Oh yeah? Hmm...

It hardly matters.

Endo used to be pretty interesting.

Now he's no good. He doesn't stimulate me in any way.

He's all used up.

At a pension

- Hello? - Act III, Scene II.

Lalako's line:

"Now, armed with the power of money...

"I bid you farewell...

"...you, who ignores the dignity of women."

Excuse me, is anyone home?

Excuse me, is anyone home?

I'm sorry for disturbing you while you're resting.

I've moved into the room next to yours.

My name is Akitsuki.

Hi.

I just wanted to introduce myself.

I hope I won't be too much of a bother to you.

No, not at all.

Was the noise too loud?

Huh?

See, music is my livelihood.

Here, this is just a small token.

Please use it when you're having tea.

Thank you.

Well, it was good to meet you. Please excuse me.

"Now, armed with the power of money, I bid you farewell...

"...you, who ignores the dignity of women."

Then what does Otojiro say?

"Lalako, the last one to cry...the last one to cry is always the woman."

Hey, Nanako, come to my room?

Let's continue our discussion from the other day.

Continue what discussion?

Oh... you're Nakamoto, right?

Yeah, that's right.

The train's about to arrive.

Oh, uh...

- Hey, come on. - Hey, wait a second...

Hey!

Just, just wait a second.

You won't need that.

Wait, let me put it on!

- Come on! - What are you rushing for?

I'm not rushing at all!

Okay, okay, okay.

What? Again?!

We're not finished!

"Katyusha, parting is so sorrowful Before the snow melts..."

So this is the face of a man who would commit lover's suicide with a woman?

Such a man's sleeping face should be a little more solemn, don't you think?.

If that were morphine...

Hey! Shut that damn thing off!

Shut it off! For fuck's sake!

Good morning!

- Good morning! - Good morning!

- Are you already leaving? - Yes, off to the matinee.

Have a nice day.

That woman just now, did she just move in?

Yes, apparently she plays the violin for the Royal Orchestra.

Hmm, she's a type we haven't really had in this place.

She surely had a good upbringing.

I'm sure your upbringing was much better.

Out shopping?

Well, just a walk.

Hmm, well, let's have a smoke.

Well, what do you think? Pretty good right?

It's a British brand, called Marcovitch.

I got them from a cigarette dealer I'm friends with.

Oh yeah?

You really like cigarettes, don't you?

You were really going through them in Endo's room.

If I don't I feel like it's hard to breathe.

You've really got a lot of books here.

Do you teach at a school or something?

No, I'm not doing anything so degrading as teaching things to people.

I'm conducting research.

Research?

Yeah, psychological research.

Psychology?

Maybe it'd be more accurate to say I'm researching people.

"Ethanol"

"Alcohol"

Ingesting an excessive dose of morphine all at one time will cause acute toxicosis.

First come symptoms like headache, dizziness, and nausea, then you fall into a deep sleep.

The respiratory center is affected and breathing becomes difficult.

Then the spine is affected and loses reflex excitability.

Then you fall into a coma.

As respiration fails, life slips away...

As respiration fails, life slips away.

Drip the morphine into his mouth through the hole... and he'll die peacefully.

Then drop the morphine bottle and close up the hole.

The door to his room will be locked and the morphine bottle will be spilt next to his pillow.

Anyone who saw would think it a suicide.

Oh yeah... his mouth won't necessarily be lined up with the hole every time...

Hey...

Is that Marcovitch?

Yeah, I got it from Akechi.

From Akechi?

Akechi... You know, you remind me of him...

How so?

How you always look like you're so bored with life.

Whatever work, whatever play, you never look like you're enjoying it even one bit.

Am I wrong?

Even if I get married, I could never have a child.

Oh?

I just don't want to be held down by something so nascent and weak as a child.

Yeah?

Come on! You're supposed to be a man!

Hey, stop it, you worthless bitch, before I hit you!

Don't use such foul language with a woman!

It's just going to get crumpled up anyway.

What are you doing! On the ground? It'll leave a mark on my back!

I don't care. It's kind of fitting anyway.

My aunt once told me, the previous owners used to run a brothel here.

When it rains, doesn't this room smell like blood?

A smell of blood?

One of the courtesans committed a lover's suicide with a client.

They stabbed each other with swords.

Really?

Hey, can I?

Does this hurt?

Is your husband a terrible person?

No, he's kind.

My husband was my brother's lawyer.

Even after the trial ended, he took care of us.

He saved me.

He had a daughter about my age who had a son.

He seemed so happy.

Don't say anything more. For now, just think about me.

Ingesting an excessive dose of morphine all at one time will cause acute toxicosis.

First come symptoms like headache, dizziness and nausea, then you fall into a deep sleep.

The respiratory center is affected and breathing becomes difficult.

Then the spine is affected and loses reflex excitability.

Then you fall into a coma.

As respiration fails, life slips away...

As respiration fails, life slips away.

SHUT UP! Every morning with the ringing!

Good morning!

Good morning!

Three Days Later

Hey! What are you doing there, like a burglar?

Do you understand what I'm saying?

Huh? Yeah.

I'm the one entrusted to look after Endo's things.

You can't just come in here whenever you please.

It doesn't really matter.

What do you mean, it doesn't matter!

Coming in here while everyone's at the funeral!

What's happening?

I thought I heard something, so I came in and found this jerk.

I just wanted to look around his room.

It's just surprising that he would kill himself.

What's so surprising? He said he was going to do a lover's suicide!

You believe that?

- Hey! Screw you! - Hey, hey, hey, calm down.

I heard about you from Endo.

So it's your hobby to intrude on someone's grave?

I'll give you five minutes.

But after five minutes, you better get the hell out!

You know, Otaka's actually pretty happy that Endo is dead.

He owed him some money.

So dentists really do make a lot. He's got all these nice things.

That alarm clock rings really well. It's so noisy.

Wakes me up at 6 every morning.

It's a wake up call for the whole 2nd floor.

Oh yeah?

What are you all doing in here?

Did you hear the alarm clock the day Endo died?

Yeah.

And did you tell the police that?

- No. - Why not?

Because it rings every day.

Akechi, is there something strange about the alarm clock?

It's just weird that someone who was going to kill himself would set an alarm clock.

Maybe he wanted somebody to find him quickly?

What about the door lock?

It was locked.

"For murder, though it hath no tongue, will speak with most miraculous organ."

That's Shakespeare.

You know it well.

Macbeth, right?

Hamlet.

Hamlet's father dies in his sleep after poison is poured into his ear.

Pretty ironic.

Always with the jokes.

Tamayo. You live in the detached house, right?

Yes.

How did you hear the alarm?

I couldn't hear it on the 1st floor.

Were you in someone's room on the 2nd floor that night?

I heard it from the detached house!

You want to eat one?

Sure. What's happening with you?

- Huh? - Do you feel sick?

- Why? - You're not smoking.

- Oh, yeah. - Have you quit?

Actually, I'd just forgotten. That's so weird! I don't want one at all.

It's hard, quitting smoking just like that. I couldn't last 10 minutes.

How long's it been since you quit?

Hmm, maybe three days?

- You haven't had even one? - Nope, not even one.

I wonder what's wrong with me...

Hmm, that was exactly the day Endo died.

Pension "Toeikan"

Who is it?

What's wrong?

I'm so sorry to disturb you.

Would you be so kind as to let me sleep in this room just one night?

It feels like someone is watching me and it's making me scared.

Who? From where?

I don't know.

Hey, come on. You're so pushy!

Hey! What are you doing in here!

I'll keep this a secret, but please leave.

Get out!

What should I carry?

Just take this and this.

What are you waiting for?

Otaka, you aren't doing anything!

Goda, it's me! Don't worry if you can't see.

- Akechi? - Want to come up?

The second floor's great! You can play all day up here.

You can peep into the lower rooms whenever you want.

Of course you kept it hidden.

This is yours, right?

Yeah, it's from that shirt too. Look, it's fallen from there.

Where do you think I found it? Above Endo's room.

You poisoned him from the attic, right?

If it weren't for the alarm clock it would have been perfect. So close!

Once I came up here, I figured it out pretty quickly.

There's just one thing that kept bugging me.

Why on the day Endo died, you'd quit smoking. The relationship between those two things.

But now I've finally figured it out.

I went to the police and had a friend show me this picture of the crime scene.

It's pretty interesting. Take a look.

You saw it too.

Maybe so.

What?

I wonder how it feels to be given a death sentence.

Don't think about such dumb things.

So, are you going to...

I'm not a police officer. I just wanted to...

You just wanted to know the truth.

Yeah, you seem to get it.

There's no physical evidence in this case.

See, this button is fake.

I just saw that there was no button on your shirt, and figured...

if there wasn't some kind of evidence, you'd never admit it.

Not there, here!

Get that right there.

Hey, Kitamura...

Madam...

We will take your luggage later.

We've prepared a car. First, let's get you back to the doctor.

The doctor? You mean Mr. Jinbarito, who performed with the Berlin Philharmonic?

I've made such progress here! Here, let me show you.

What will you do now?

I guess I'll look for another pension.

Will you walk around the attic there too?

What's under these attics... it all looks the same.

You've even lost interest in these little attic walks, huh?

So this is goodbye.

I'll miss you.

Your button's fallen down there.

THE END