The Benson Murder Case (1930) Movie Script
(suspenseful music)
(cheerful music)
(ticker tape machines clicking)
(indistinct stockbroker chatter)
(ticker tape machines clicking rapidly)
(indistinct stockbroker chatter)
- Come on, come on.
Get a move on.
- [Secretary] Mr. Benson!
- Yes?
- Mrs. Boyd-White!
- Well, well?
- She said she can't cover for him.
- Then, tell Joey to sell him out.
- Yes sir.
Benson Company? Yes, I will!
(indistinct chatter)
- Oh, I'm so sorry Captain.
What is the matter?
- Oh, shut up!
- Hello, Mohler!
- I must see you!
- All right, all right.
Come on into the office.
- Oh, Mr. Benson!
- Yes?
- We're all cleaned up now,
except for that one big account.
- Oh, you mean Gray's!
- Yes, sir!
- What is the status now?
- 380,000.
- You tried to notify him?
- All day yesterday and today.
- Well try, oh, nevermind.
Sell him out. Sell him out.
Well? You heard me.
Close him out!
- Yes, sir!
- Oh, Miss Leslie,
get those bottle packages
out of the stairs
and bring them to my office.
- Yes, sir.
- I tell you, it is most necessary,
I get this (indistinct)
- All right, all right,
in a minute.
Ms. Leslie?
- [Ms. Leslie] I'm coming sir!
- Oh, thank you.
Well, here they are,
and you owe me the note to me, too!
Pay the note and you get back as well,
the note's due tomorrow.
- Well, I cannot pay.
- Oh, then you don't get this or this,
since you can't pay the note.
- Oh, Tony, are you not my friend?
- Sure!
If I weren't, you wouldn't forge my name
to this check, would you?
- Oh!
(phone buzzing)
Yes? All right, tell her
I'll see her in a minute.
- But I must have the cheque!
- Try and get it!
- But if you don't give it to me,
- Now listen, you won't do anything.
Who do you think I am,
one of your faded widows?
And I'm not very afraid of male lapdogs!
- Well, well, interesting
hearing men fight
over something besides me for a change!
- Ms. Del Roy, Mr. Mohler.
- Hello, Dolphy!
- Hello Fanny.
- He knows you too?
What are you all a twitter about, anyway?
You borrowed these from your
meal ticket, didn't you?
And she's in Paris, isn't she?
Well, you better pay me somehow
and return it before she
gets back, haven't you?
(phone buzzing)
Yes?
- What did he mean, your
meal ticket is in Paris?
- Where did you think I
picked what I gave you?
From the trees?
- Mrs. Banning's here?
- Who?
- Tell her I'll see here in a minute.
Well old boy, your meal ticket's back.
Perhaps she brought you
a Parisian dog biscuit!
- Oh!
(Benson laughing)
- What is it?
What's that dowagers
delight got, that I haven't?
- When you are a big boy,
maybe I'll tell you.
- Yes?
Well, let me tell you something, darling.
We sold you out of the
market this morning.
You haven't got a dime.
- You! You didn't!
- Yes, but my dear, my own,
why didn't you cable me you were coming?
- My dear darling, I did cable.
You just must have been out.
- Oh, I was hunting in the mountain,
and I was dying for
you to come back to me.
What did you come here for, Paula?
Do not tell me you were
locked in the market.
- My dear boy, I don't know.
I only heard of the crash
when I arrived this morning.
I've been nearly frantic,
but of course, Tony Benson would carry me!
- Oh yeah, yeah.
- Where is Tony?
- Oh, wait, wait.
- Tony Benson, you're a
cold scoundrel aren't you?
No wonder I can't go for you,
you could have given me
another day to cover.
- You didn't answer one
of our margin calls.
- Oh, I was going to bring you my pearls,
but say, what's in that box?
- Now, now, now, now.
- Oh, Tony my darling,
I simply must know what's
happened to my account.
You carried me, of course!
- No, you were a little overweight.
- Tony!
- [Assistant] Oh, Mr. Gray!
Excuse me, we tried to
get in touch with you.
- I've been out of town.
- [Assistant] I was
gonna mail these to you.
You see, you were the last account we had
that wasn't covered, so,
- I understand.
Mr. Gray, would you mind
waiting in the waiting room?
There's someone in Mr. Benson's office.
- Alright.
- Yes, I sold you out.
All of you, All except Adolph,
who wasn't even in.
No, it's something else your
dear Adolph owes me for!
Not the market!
- Benson, I'm going to,
- Never mind.
- Oh, you're busy, Tony.
- No, come in Harry.
- A storm seems to be arriving.
- It looks as if one has already arrived.
I'll come back when you're alone.
- Alright, Harry.
- I have nothing more to say.
You are not a gentleman, Mr. Benson.
You are a,
- I know, I'm a Smith.
Well, is it my fault
that you are on the high
seas when the market breaks?
- I have a good mind to,
- You won't do anything.
Mohler said he would, but he won't.
None of you will.
Oh, I suppose if you could,
I'd be a corpse by now.
Well, you were called on
for margin, weren't you?
You wanted to have your
cake and eat it too.
Easy money, quick profit.
Well, you've gambled and you lost.
Yes, you lost!
- Mr. Benson,
- You lost, I tell you!
- Dolphy, dear, don't you have
anything to say to this person?
The way he's talking to me,
- With what I got on him,
oh, go on, get out of here.
All of you, go on.
Go on, get out. Leave me alone.
I'm no longer in.
Hello, reception?
Get my chauffeur at the garage.
Tell him to meet me at the
club at six o'clock, yes.
I'm going to spend the night
at my place up the river,
and I don't want to be disturbed.
All right.
Yes, come in Harry.
Even the heavens seem to be crashing.
Say, Harry, why don't you
spend the night with me
at my place up the river?
- It's not a bad idea.
- We can meet at the club at six o'clock
and have a steam and a
rubdown before we go.
I'm nervous.
- I don't blame you,
after that gang that was just in here.
They don't like you, do they?
- Well, maybe not.
You know, Harry, I'm sorry
I had to sell you out;
but then you big shots are
used to taking it on the chin.
- Not twice in succession.
- Twice?
- Big Drake walked off with
180 grand of mine last week.
- He did?
- Yeah, he high carded me.
- Oh.
Harry, why don't you quit that racket?
- I like it.
- Harry, you're not sore at me, are you?
- I haven't made up my mind, yet.
(storm winds blowing)
(dice game rattling)
- That's 3000 you owe me.
- [Mr. Gray] Yeah, three grand.
- I've got the jumps!
- No wonder, after what
you did to me today.
- Oh, well those cry babies at
the office got on my nerves.
Well, I put a couple of
twos and twos together,
watching Del Roy and Mohler.
Oh, let's go to bed, eh?
- Oh, I left my bag at your club.
- I'll phone for it.
You'll have to rough it, though.
I let the servants go for the winter.
(loud banging)
(winds blowing)
(storm winds blowing)
- What was that?
- Backfire, I guess.
- Oh, Markham's car, maybe.
- Whose?
- Markham, the district attorney.
You know him, don't you?
- We've had a couple of talks.
What's he doing here?
- He's got a place next to mine.
He's up here resting for the campaign.
(winds blowing)
(hinge creaking)
(glass smashing)
(rapid footsteps)
(winds blowing)
(thunder rolling)
Hello, Fanny!
Adding a little burglary
to your other accomplishments, eh?
(Benson chuckling)
- [Fanny] I want that
jewel case Mohler gave you.
- Oh-ho! So he borrowed them from you
and not Paula Banning, eh?
Well, what do you think of that fella?
(Benson laughing)
- Hurry Benson, I was going to give
those pearls to you to cover my account,
till I couldn't find them.
- Hurry what? That jewel
case is in my office safe,
where it'll stay.
- Oh, no it isn't.
I thought in the pocket
your coat as you left today.
- That's right, I forgot.
I was upset.
They're in my coat pocket downstairs.
Oh, I'm sorry. Excuse me, please.
(car engine fading)
(thunder rumbling)
- [Mr. Gray] Don't move!
(Paula screaming)
- What do you mean
frightening me like that?
- Would you have a drink?
- What?
- Suit yourself.
Oh, Tony?
- Who's that?
- It's Gray, I'll get rid of him, though.
- Friend of yours!
- [Mr. Benson] Huh?
- Tony, I want you,
- Excuse me, please. My coat.
- You were leaving, perhaps?
- What? Oh, not at all.
What was the noise out back?
- Window blew shut.
Must have been open.
- Tony, I must plead for my poor darling.
He had no idea he was doing anything wrong
when he signed that check.
You were such friends!
I shouldn't have left him.
- Then you'd better pay his note to me.
- My dear Tony, I haven't the 10,000.
I tell you, I've lost everything.
And the banks won't
advance me another cent.
What are you doing here?
Not, my dear Anthony, that
it's difficult to guess.
- Ah! Mrs. Pot.
- Pot?
- Yes.
Calling the kettle black.
You girls ought to get together on Mohler.
Paula, who do you suppose
he was running around with
while you are in,
- Paula, I think you'd better go upstairs.
(indistinct)
(Benson hushing)
- You for me!
- What's your name?
- Harry, to you.
What's yours?
- Fanny, to you.
- Tony?
Let's have a party, huh?
(Tony chuckling)
- Are you going to give me that case?
- No.
- I would.
- Now, look here.
(glass crashing)
Say, what is this?
What's going on here, anyway?
- [Mr. Gray] Have you got a flashlight?
- Yes, There's one over here. Come on.
(thunder rolling)
Here it is.
- [Mr. Gray] Here, I'll go.
- I want that jewel case Mohler gave you,
and I'll get it.
- For what?
- Nothing.
- Oh, well, we'll see about that.
If you think you can hang on to Mohler,
with Paula Banning back?
And if she finds out
he's been running around with you,
where will you be?
She'll stop his allowance.
You know, he hasn't told
her about your pearls.
- I'll take care of that.
- Yeah?
Well, you'll take care
of his notes somehow,
if you want this.
Say, why all this frenzy
about a few pearls?
There are plenty more where
these came from, aren't there?
What about this, anyway?
- I have to sell 'em.
You sold me out, didn't you?
- Oh, well, let's have a look.
(thunder rolling)
Listen, now wait a minute.
(thunder rolling)
- Oh!
(nervous chuckling)
I fell in.
I'm glad you are here.
Tony might have misconstrued
my arriving this way,
had he been alone.
- [Mr. Gray] Well, he's certainly
got plenty of company now.
What are you people trying to
do anyway, remove this guy?
- Oh, no, no.
- [Mr. Gray] Well, let's go upstairs.
- Yes.
(nervous chuckling)
- I'll tell you why I
won't, in four words:
I don't like you.
- As if you've liked all your playmates.
- I've had to put up with
a lot of you big businessmen
to get somewhere,
but now I'm there.
I'm putting up with the one's I picked.
And I told you a year
ago, I wasn't picking you.
Your eyes are too close together, get it?
And let this sink under
that toupee of yours:
I am going to get that jewel case of mine.
- Oh, I beg your pardon.
Tony, this was the big noise.
- Oh, hello Tony.
- Hello, Adolph.
- Oh, Fanny!
- Dolphy!
Is that my boy?
- Paula, what are you doing here?
- Oh!
Carrying on without me, eh?
- No, but that might be a good idea.
- When you told me he
would put you in jail,
I simply had to come here and
throw myself on his mercy.
Tony, he's my heart.
- Oh, please be quiet. Please.
- You know, while you've been away,
he's been playing the about a bit.
- Darling, it's not true.
- No,
don't change the subject.
Give him that money.
Do you want him to put me in the jail?
- I'll fix him, kill him first.
- If you don't mind,
I have first call on him for that.
- Well, that makes it unanimous.
Farewell, Caesar.
Or, shall we say it with flowers?
(doorbell ringing)
- Say, what is this?
Must be my birthday.
Oh, Markham!
- Hello.
- Come in.
- I just dropped by,
oh, I beg your pardon.
- That's quite all right, come in.
(thunder rumbling, lightning striking)
- Ah, thunder and lightning!
Enter the villain.
How are you, Mr. District Attorney?
- Hello Gray.
- [Mr. Benson] Ms. Del Roy, Mr. Markham.
And, Mr. Mohler.
- Excuse me.
- You'll have to put me up for the night.
I puncture a tire.
- Plenty of room.
- Thanks.
- Gray, you must be behaving yourself.
The newspapers haven't accused
you of anything for months.
- I can't imagine what
you're talking about.
- No?
(Benson laughing)
Oh, Benson, I want to talk to
you about the market upset.
I suppose there'll be some trouble,
I think you can give me the advice I need.
- Let me take your coat, won't you?
- No, thank you. I have
a friend waiting up.
Oh, by the way, Gray,
he'd like to meet you.
You mind if I bring him in?
- Not at all.
- Thanks.
- You know, Markham seems to
be quite interested in you.
- Well, if he is, it
won't do him any good.
- Paula is so upset.
You don't mind if she
lies down for a moment?
I shall prepare her something.
- Sure, we've all been too excited anyway.
- Here you are, Gray.
Philo Vance, Mr. Benson.
- Mr. Benson.
- How do you do, Mr. Vance!
- Harry Gray.
- Mr. Gray.
- Not the detective?
- It is.
- Only as an amateur, remember.
Our friend, Sergeant
Heath, insists on that.
- Vance told me that he's getting rusty.
Nothing to sharpen his psychology
on since the Green murder.
- Yes, I felt rather hurt
that you didn't call me
in on that Green business.
- Take off your coats
gentleman, won't you?
I'll get some ice.
- Thank you.
- You see, Mr. Vance,
down at headquarters they've got an idea
that I know all about these crimes.
- Oh, really?
- That's right.
You and ah, no offense,
well, those killers of his,
at least the ones I've read about.
It seems to me they're all amateurs too.
- Yes, so they were.
That's why Markham thought
it might be amusing,
without disturbing my status
as an amateur in the matter,
for me to meet an authority
on the profession.
- Harry, get some cups!
We'll have coffee.
- [Mr. Gray] Right.
- Won't you sit down, Mr. Vance?
- Thank you.
- Benson, did the market hit you?
- Well, you never heard of
a bootlegger drinking
his own stuff, did you?
Strange you two should
drop in here this evening,
on top of everybody wanting
to murder everybody else;
in the market of course!
- Oh, we need another bottle.
- Well, I'll get it.
- Oh, here's the keys.
And by the way,
be careful of that burglar
alarm in the cellar.
I think that burglar alarm
would interest you, Mr. Vance.
- Oh?
- It's a rather tricky arrangement.
Later on, I'd like to show it to you.
- It's not in his room.
Must be still in his pocket.
- I will get it.
I'll make him give to me.
- Quiet, be quiet.
Coffee will be ready soon.
Darling, why can't you get money?
Does my affection for you mean so little?
- Oh, these?
Well, to tell you the truth darling,
all the glitters is not gold.
Oh, my boy. Oh, my boy!
- But he'll put me in the jail!
- Never!
- I tell you, yes!
He hates me because of the Del Roy woman.
Well, all I did was look at her.
Can I help if she loves me?
But I'm true only to you, my darling.
Only to you.
But this Benson, who called
him himself our friend,
he's jealous of me!
So, you will lose me for the jail!
- I'll hate him.
We'll both hate him!
Oh, my boy. Oh my boy!
- The most important thing
is now to get that envelope,
the cheque, the note.
- [Paula] Yes, yes, yes!
(sobbing)
- Oh, you're jelly!
- That's how they kill
in books, Mr. Vance.
But how it's really
done is quite different.
- I see!
Then your thought is,
that if matched wits with a professional,
I might not have been
so lucky, is that it?
- That's it.
- No thanks.
- Oh, I'll get you some coffee
in a minute, Mr. Markham.
- Well, I've had this bottle
in my cellar for years, Markham!
Before prohibition!
- Naturally!
- So if you'll excuse me,
I'll see what the ladies are doing.
- It's very interesting
to get your point of view, Mr. Vance.
Just how would you stack your cards
against a professional?
- Well, it's my theory, Mr. Gray,
that the only infallible method
of determining human guilt,
is by analyzing the psychological
factors of the crime
and then applying them to the individual.
- The point is in these cases
of yours Vance, the gun,
"the gun," that's newspaper
slang for killer, Markham.
- Right.
- What I mean to say is,
these killers you've met
always used a lot of trick stuff.
A lot of props.
The professionals don't, from what I hear.
They bang 'em neat
and leave 'em where they lay.
- Exactly!
That's one of the reasons
they're so seldom caught,
in other jurisdictions I mean.
- You mean to tell me that you'd ignore
all tangible evidence in the crime?
- Not ignore it, no!
But neither would I accept it for gospel
on its face value.
- Yes, well, I'll make that coffee.
(thunder rolling)
- Oh! Excuse me!
Why don't you go into my
room to dry your things?
There's a fire there.
- Thanks.
I want that jewel case.
I'll get it, you know!
- All right, later on when
they'll be downstairs.
We'll talk it over, eh?
- Will we?
- I'll be back.
- Listen, I'm going to
get that jewel case.
- Oh, all right.
I'll be back.
(thunder rolling ominously)
- The jury has to depend on
circumstantial evidence, Markham!
They can't understand any other kind.
(storm raging, wind howling)
(indistinct)
(loud knocking at door)
- [Markham] Well?
- Is Mr. Gray here?
- He's in the kitchen.
- Oh.
This is his bag.
Will you see that he gets it, please?
- Certainly.
(door creaking closed)
What do you suppose he,
oh, this came for you!
- My bag, thanks.
- What's in it, Gray? Pineapples?
You know that's newspaper
slang for bombs, Mr. Gray.
- Slang.
- Back to our conversation, Vance.
How do you think you'd come out
with one of these bang them
and leave them laid killings
that we were talking about?
- By a professional, you mean?
- Exactly.
- Well, it might be rather interesting.
Have you anything in that line, Markham?
- Talk to Gray.
- I seem to have quite a
reputation in this town,
for the killing!
(clock chiming)
Well, perhaps something could be arranged.
- Splendid!
(gunshot)
(body clattering)
(clock chiming)
- Benson.
(clock chiming)
(wind blowing)
- Nothing here.
- He's dead.
(Paula gasping)
- Gimme the medical
examiner's office, please!
- Somebody must have overhead
that conversation of ours.
- Yes, it's exactly what
was occurring to me.
- [Markham] I want to speak
to Dr. Doremus, personally!
- Well, there you are, Mr. Vance.
Do your stuff.
- Well, that's that.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
The (indistinct) up like thunder
across the Hudson outside the lodge.
(indistinct)
- Hurry up on that
phone and gimme a match.
- The first to arrive on the scene
was the brains of the homicide squad,
Sergeant E for Edward,
- Ernest.
- Sergeant Edward Heath,
or as I nicknamed him
in one of my more brilliant
moments, Edward Sleuth,
so everybody would know
he was a detective.
- Aw, can that stuff.
Now listen, whenever I've got
anything to give you scribes,
I'll tell you.
- Yeah?
Who's going to tell you?
- Anybody could have got up
and down those back stairs
without being seen.
- Where's Welch?
- Up going over the bedroom.
- I can do that.
You get outside and
look around the grounds.
- Alright.
- Say, what's ailing you?
- I got sold out from the stock market!
- No.
- Yeah, I lost 90 bucks!
(Heath tsking)
- Wiped out.
- [Burke] By the way, Mr. Markham phoned.
Mr. Vance will be here right away.
- Oh yeah?
Well, I'll try and arrange it
so that I'll be just gone when,
time he gets here.
Hello, Welch.
- How do you spell clue?
- What difference it make?
There ain't any.
- [Vance] Oh, I wouldn't
say that, Sergeant.
- [Heath] Oh!
- Good morning, Sergeant!
- [Heath] Why, hello Mr. Vance.
- No go, Sam.
I'm afraid the blue in
that is going to clash.
(phone ringing)
- Take that phone in the hall, Welch.
- Blue, Sergeant, is a very tricky color.
You know, in spite of its commonness,
it's quite difficult.
But that's anomalous, of course.
- Well so it is, so it is.
Mr. Vance, you know,
pardon my obscurity,
but sometimes I don't quite follow you.
- Really, Sergeant?
- No, now a while ago there
I said there wasn't any clues
and you said that you wouldn't say that.
- Well, I wouldn't, really.
- That was The Times calling.
They want to know if you,
- You tell The Times
that when they get my name right,
they might get a story.
You see, Sergeant,
I decided to spend the
night here in meditation.
So I phoned Sam to bring out my things
and I meditated.
- Any luck?
- I've been studying that little Derringer
that was found at the top of the stairs
there last night.
It's rather unique.
- [Heath] Yes, ain't it?
- And of course the lady's handbag,
which you know doubt found
in Benson's room there.
- Yes, I got that right here.
- Cherchez la femme, eh Sergeant?
- Oui!
- But I was told to come by telephone!
I was to ask for Mr. Vance.
- Say, did you get that?
- Well, you go inside.
- Say, is Philo Vance in on this one?
- I don't know, is he inside?
- I wish I knew.
(indistinct)
- Well I've been here since 6:00 AM.
If Vance is here, he is Santa Claus.
He must have come down at chimney!
- Come on boys.
- Well, one of those two
dames owned this bag.
Well?
- Mr. Vance?
- Oh yes, come in.
You know Sergeant, when Albert
here popped in last night,
Markham thought that he was Gray's man.
- Gray, is it?
- Oh no sir.
I explained to Mr. Vance
when he called me up this morning,
Mr. Benson was my employer.
He telephoned me last night
to bring Mr. Gray's bag from the club.
- What's your name?
- Albert, Brecker.
- The medical examiner is here.
- Show him up.
And you stick around.
- Thank you, sir.
- Well, another dizzy dame
to do some jury vamping, I suppose.
- I rather doubt, Sergeant,
whether any woman was
in this room with Benson
immediately prior to the murder.
That's what I wanted
Albert for, to verify.
- Good morning, Sergeant!
- Hiya, Doc.
- Bless my soul, Mr. Vance.
Why, I haven't seen you
since we laid the Green family to rest.
- Quite right!
- There was a lovely murder
case for you, Sergeant.
Blessed my soul, yes.
- I was there.
Well, hop at the body, Doc.
- Certainly, certainly.
Have one of your men
give me a hand, please.
- Surely.
- Oh, I'm sorry I wasn't here last night.
Wedding anniversary.
My wife and I always celebrate.
Went to a hockey match!
How's the election coming?
- Fair.
- Good!
- Mr. Benson kept his toupees
beautifully, didn't he?
- He was a bit touchy
about himself, if I do say.
- Vain, you mean?
- Yes sir.
- Well, what guy with a list
of phone numbers he had,
wouldn't be?
Elementary, my dear Albert; elementary.
- Sergeant, you've been
reading "Sherlock Holmes?"
- Quite right, my dear Watson.
Quite right.
- Oh, Welch, take care of these, will you?
- This was Mr. Benson's
favorite toupee, sir.
- Fancy.
- Oh, no sir.
I once worked for a
gentleman that had seven,
one for every day in the week
to correspond to the
natural growth of his hair.
- Albert, do you think that Mr. Benson
would've appeared before a
lady in whom he was interested
without his toupee?
- Oh, no sir!
He would rather have died.
- Well, he got his wish.
- Doc said he was shot at about six feet
and no powder marks.
- Well, suicide's out,
unless Benson was an acrobat.
- If you don't mind sir,
- I'll call.
Thank you, Albert.
- I'll see you later.
- Thank you, sir.
- You know Mr. Vance,
this is a kind of a murder
that the public likes.
Have you any suggestions?
You know, you might have.
You were here when it happened.
- Well, Sergeant, after
a night of meditating
on what happened before the murder,
I have suggestions no end.
- [Welch] Oh, Burke's got
something out front, Sergeant.
- Be right down.
Oh, Mr. Markham told me
about the stuff Harry
Gray was saying to you.
Like, he was leading up to the shooting
to kind of try you out.
The nerve of that gorilla.
- What's Gray's history?
- Well, he suspected of a lot of things.
- Ever been convicted?
- Too smart.
- Just what is his racket?
- Well, rumor has it
that he is a big shot
in a bootlegging ring.
You know, I still don't like
the way he talked to you.
(doctor chuckling)
- Had to use the kitchen table.
Killed about midnight.
Direct fire, into the heart.
A single shot
and never knew what hit him.
Bless my soul, no.
- Well, he must have seen the guy.
- Come and have a look at the bullet.
Most interesting.
- I'll be right with you.
- Come on, let me,
- Nevermind. Nevermind.
- Sergeant.
- Yes?
- One of the boys found
this in the bushes.
- I had it in my hand.
- In your hat.
- In here, Jim.
- Yeah.
- Alright.
- Come on, give us a break.
Let's see it.
- Aw, quiet down will you?
- What was it?
(indistinct)
- [Burke] Handbag?
- [Officer] Right here.
- [Burke] Gun?
- [Officer] Got that too.
Gimme that piece of paper
I found in the wood box.
(phone ringing)
Get that phone.
Look at this, Mr. Vance.
- Yeah, I'll tell him.
- There's an empty jewel case
that we found in a bush outside.
Been thrown out the
window, last night maybe.
And here's the paper it was wrapped in
that I found in the wood box right there.
It's marked Mohler.
- He may prove of interest to us later.
- Yeah, I'll tell him.
- But Mr. Vance,
with election coming up Tuesday
and the papers riding us the way they are,
I've gotta have something now!
- Well, what about that
small puddle of blood
on the second step from the top there?
Hasn't that any particular
significance to you?
- Oh, Sergeant.
They picked up Del Roy
down at the Grand Central,
trying to beat it out of town.
- Del Roy!
Yes? Yes?
I'll be right down.
- [Speaker] Mr. Vance, your car is here.
- Thank you.
- Keep it together, Welch.
(indistinct)
- Say, Mr. Vance, who did this?
- The four Marx Brothers.
(indistinct group chatter)
- Oh, hello Vance.
Good to see you!
- Hello Mr. Gray!
- Anything new?
- Well, you called my hand last night.
- Still stuck.
I'm afraid I took up
that challenge of yours
to solve a murder by a
professional, too soon.
- This was no professional job.
- Oh, Albert the door.
- Thank you.
- Everybody there, including me,
threatened to kill Benson.
They were all sore at
that financial genius.
What's the matter?
Albert, get that door!
- You know, somehow I had the impression
that Albert was Mr. Benson's man.
So he was, I just took him on today.
- Oh.
- You see,
Benson's dress ties
were always tied smart.
And Albert, there, was
the boy who tied them.
That's it.
- I see.
- Oh, come in Frank.
- Good morning.
- Good morning.
And those two women that
were there last night, Vance?
Never get mixed up with
women, they're dynamite.
No brains.
- Hmm.
- A shave, sir?
- Yes.
You see, I don't let just anybody
put a razor on me.
- Neither did Napoleon.
- Yes, I read about that!
That's where I got the idea!
- Mr. Gray, I wondered if I
could get you to help me out.
- Sure, I'd better,
or they'll be indicting me again.
If everything those birds
tried to pin on me stuck,
I'd have worn out a carload
of electric chairs by now.
You see, my business makes me acquainted
with a lot of tough mugs.
And Markham and that detective, Heath,
call me in every time
an automobile backfired.
But I don't mind,
that's their job.
- Yes, so it is.
Well Mr. Gray,
something the police
overlooked at the Benson lodge
seems to point to one of
the guests there last night.
And I thought perhaps
you might know someone
who would look into his room,
his hotel room for me, professionally.
(doorbell ringing)
- You're on to Mohler, eh?
Well, I know a stool pigeon
that you might use as a bellhop.
Of course, he'd have to have
a package of something
that he was delivering
in case someone walked in on him.
(indistinct)
- Wasn't looking for me, were, ya Albert?
Come on in here.
See here, Gray.
Oh, you're here!
- Oh yes, Sergeant, I'm here.
- Well, I wasn't about a
minute behind you on this one.
I'm taking you downtown.
Get in there and get ready.
- But sir, please!
- Get your hat.
- What's the idea?
- You too, Gray.
Mister Markham's got some questions
he wants to ask both you boys.
All right, just as soon
as I'm through here.
Didn't I tell you they'd
try to pin this on me?
- Oh, you never killed Benson.
Not personally, you didn't.
But when I learned that Albert here
was working for Benson yesterday
and for Gray today!
Well, I don't have to explain
that to you, Mr. Vance.
Hurry up, Albert.
- So, Albert the murderer
and Gray's the accessory, huh?
Certainly the rest of our little group
won't object to that, will they Mr. Gray?
- Hardly.
- I'm on my way to Knopf, Sergeant.
Exhibition of Japanese prints.
I will see you later, no doubt.
If you'll excuse me.
- So long.
Hurry up and get him washed up.
- Alright, the bag's mine.
I was in his room then.
- [Markham] After climbing
in the back window, why?
- How did you find out?
- Well, Harry Gray was present, you know.
But Gray's out of it.
He was in the kitchen making coffee.
- I see.
- Harry Gray can't tangle me in this.
- Why did you try to leave town?
- Find out if you can.
- Don't be so picturesque,
I'm not a jury.
- Oh, you are a fool if
you think I
- Why did you
go to that house?
- To talk to Benson about my account.
He sold me out.
We quarreled.
- And you needed money?
- No.
- Did you ever see that before?
- No.
- Benson was interested in you,
suppose we say that he attacked you.
- Well?
- If you'll excuse me, your
reputation is well known.
The Forsyth suicide two years ago.
The case of,
- Nevermind that.
I've liked men in my
time, they've liked me.
What of it?
I didn't like Tony Benson,
but I didn't kill him.
If my thoughts could
have killed the swine,
he'd have been dead long ago.
- The rest of 'em are in
the reception room there.
- Wait, please.
Sergeant?
- Yes, Chief?
- Get Mohler
and Mrs. Banning in.
- Yes, and you'll want
that valet of Gray's too,
when I'm true with him.
You know, Chief, there's
something funny about,
- Never mind that
now, Sergeant.
Del Roy seems upset.
- I don't wonder, you barked at her.
You shouldn't bark at the ladies, old man.
- Oh, I'm busy.
This is not the only case in New York
and you're not helping me any.
You are more flippant than usual today.
Well, this was a particularly
flippant murder, Markham.
And if you go on trusting
clues like those,
you'll be busier still.
- Have you a clue?
- [Paula] I have instructed my lawyer.
- Sit down.
- Why, I can't conceive who would want
good old Tony out of the way.
Why, we were just planning
our fall hunting trip
for this month.
- Oh, you hunt, Mr. Mohler?
- Because darling,
- You keep out of it.
You will have,
- What's that?
- Oh, I love to hunt.
I love to hunt.
Ever since
- Never mind all that.
This envelope with your name on it
was found in Benson's desk.
It contains three very
interesting documents.
- Then it was useless.
He didn't have it with him!
- What was useless?
(indistinct)
- Please, Paula!
The first is a canceled cheque of Benson's
made out to Adolph Mohler for $10,000.
- Oh.
- The second,
is a confession signed by you,
admitting this check to be a forgery.
And the third is a note for $10,000
made out to Anthony Benson
signed by Adolph Mohler.
- Yes, yes, that.
I should have mentioned
those things before.
You know, my financial
arrangement were not
all what one could desire.
- I shouldn't have left you.
- Unfortunately, to
protect Madame's stock,
Mr. Benson required $10,000.
- Okay, and you so you forged his name.
- Oh, you mean it would
have been a forgery,
if he had made a complaint.
- Well, it's a cinch
he can't make one now.
- Its a forgery just the same, Sergeant,
but I'll take that up later.
- He forges Benson's name,
pays him back with his own money.
Marvelous.
- I explained it to dear
old Tony at once, of course,
and offered him this note.
- Which falls as due today.
- Yes, and,
- You mean to tell me
that Benson accepted your
note without security?
- Oh, well naturally.
- Yeah, well,
what was wrapped in this piece of paper,
which was found in the wood
box with your name on it?
- Tony gave me a party for my birthday
and presented me with a gold pencil.
I have it here,
- You didn't tell me
it was your birthday.
- Please, Paula, be quiet.
You will get me the electric chair.
- But darling,
- You will come with me.
- This is the security
that you gave Benson for that note.
- Oh, so Miss Del Roy told you.
- Who?
- Those pearls are Miss Del Roy's
and she threatened to kill
Benson herself.
- Del Roy?
- Yes! She's a snake, that woman.
I'm through, I'm finished with her.
Now you are the word to me again, darling.
- You think I would accompany you
through your sordid affair?
- Oh, please.
Miss Del Roy loaned me her pearls,
and I,
- What a lovely liar.
He bought them for me one day
and stole them the next.
- So Adolph, that's
what became of the money
I sent you to cover my margins.
Now wonder you forged that check.
Why you, you!
- What were you doing,
sneaking into Benson's house last night?
Both of you?
Why did you quarrel with him?
- I wanted to get back
that confession of forgery.
He threatened to put Adolph in jail.
Mr. Markham, Adolph's all I have now!
Except the money that makes him love me.
- You threatened to kill
Benson yourself, didn't you?
- Yes.
- Well, who didn't?
- Mr. Markham, may I have that jewel case?
- Mr. Gray is here, sir.
- Oh, send him in.
Miss Del Roy, in the other room.
Sergeant!
- In here, please.
- You through with my valet yet?
- We are not.
- In a minute, Gray.
- Well, Mr. Detective,
the newspaper boys are certainly
having a lot of fun with you,
being on the scene of
the crime last night.
- They don't seem to take
your presence at the scene of the matter
quite so humorously.
- No one ever laughs at me.
They used to when I was a kid,
but I taught them not to.
But you, Philo Vance, the
famous amateur detective
to be in on the draw and then raised out,
how do you stand it?
- Perhaps I haven't completed my draw.
- I'll see you later, Gray.
- Why not?
I'm used to that, Markham.
- Vance, Del Roy is bluffing.
Did you notice that she didn't even ask
if her pearls were still there?
No, because she knew they weren't,
because she got them.
- Oh?
- She tried to leave town,
didn't she?
- Where was she going, you know?
- Yes, Boston.
Oh, Vance, I'm tired.
I'm tired of all the
human passions and lies,
And you don't suppose
they'll beat me in the
election Tuesday, do you?
- Solving this case
won't lose you any votes.
- Well, I have solved it.
Sergeant!
These complications, Mohler
and Mrs. Banning and the rest,
simply obscure the direct
evidence against Del Roy.
- Yes, Chief?
- Sergeant.
Exhibit A, B, and C versus Fanny Del Roy.
Label them for the grand jury.
I am going to ask for her
indictment this afternoon.
- On that evidence?
- Vance, I may not know Japanese art,
but I am still District
Attorney of New York.
- Defense counsel in the McGuire case.
- You'll have to wait.
- Are we to be detained here?
- Sergeant!
- Yes sir!
- Hand over Ms. Del Roy over
to the custody of a Matron.
- [Heath] Yes, sir.
Have Ms. O'Brien over
to the chief's office.
Right away, yeah.
- [Vance] Don't make a mistake, old man.
You can't afford to.
- [Markham] if you'll show me where, I,
- What I'd like to show you,
are some bits of stringy fuzz
across the front of Benson's waistcoat.
You have that waist coat, of course?
- [Markham] Yes, it's in the
medical examiner's office.
What's that got to do with it?
- Have I ever let you down?
- Well, no.
- I suppose we take a look
at that waistcoat, then.
- [Markham] Alright.
(indistinct road traffic)
- County courthouse.
- Yes, sir.
(indistinct road traffic)
- Vance, this looks like
a wild goose chase to me.
- Pardon me, Markham.
Suppose you turn east at the next corner.
(glass shattering)
(Markham grunting)
- I'm shot, Vance.
Stop the car!
- No, no. My apartment, quick!
That shot was meant for me, Markham.
Had a silencer on that gun.
- What makes you think the
bullet was meant for you?
- Something I said in your office.
It must have been overheard.
- By whom?
- All the possibilities
were there, weren't they?
- Well, I still think it's Del Roy.
- But Markham, do women kill
merely to recover a string of pearls?
- Well, suppose Benson had
forced his attention on her?
Supposing that he attempted to,
- Can you imagine Benson, with his vanity,
attempting anything without his toupee?
- I've got it.
- What do you mean?
- Albert.
The minute you told me
that Albert brought that
handbag out to Gray that night,
- Gray simply went out there
to spend the night with
Benson, who was nervous.
- Well, he picked a swell chaperone.
- Yeah, Gray forgot and left his bag
in Benson's room at the club.
Benson phoned and Albert
brought it out, that's all.
- And where did Albert go after that?
He claimed that he took
the train back to town.
That's no alibi.
Why, he only started working
for Benson six weeks ago.
And when I photographed him,
he nearly threw a fit.
- You know Markham, because Albert refuses
to tell the police the
history of his life,
Sergeant insists that
he's a gunman in disguise.
- Well, he's a foreigner.
- Well, my case against Delroy!
So Sergeant, you tell Smithers
to prepare the indictment.
- Yes sir.
- Now, just a moment.
I'm not going to let you
make fools of yourself.
Markham, until tomorrow night,
let me handle this in my own way.
Now if you don't, on
the day after tomorrow,
the morning papers will
say that I, not you,
will have solved the
murder of Anthony Benson.
And that's election day.
- You stopped me last night
from proceeding as I saw fit,
and I got a bullet in my arm.
Del Roy has the real motive.
- Oh, motive.
Drop a nickel in a slot and get a motive.
Everybody has some motive
for murdering somebody.
- Yeah, be careful somebody
doesn't murder you.
- No, nobody's gonna get him, Chief.
I'll watch over you Mr. Vance.
- Thank you Sergeant.
Oh, tell me, did that
firearms expert of yours
say when he would
know about those bullets?
- Sometime today.
- I'll see him.
And if you don't mind, Markham,
I'd like to have Ms. Del Roy's jewel case
brought to me here this afternoon.
- Right.
- Then I want a police woman.
- A police woman?
- Yes.
- Well, say!
I can handle anything in this case.
- Well very good, Sergeant.
This is a little job of
chambermaiding in a hotel.
- Oh.
(Heath grunting)
- Now this is the bullet
that killed Benson.
The rifling marks on it
correspond exactly with the rifling
on the inside of the barrel
of that gun you picked
up after the murder.
This one is the one that hit Mr. Markham.
The same kind of a bullet
fired from the same kind of a gun.
But the trouble is,
that this is such a special make
that I don't understand
how it could be two of them
exactly alike around here.
- Excuse me, Mr. Vance.
- Oh, yes Welch.
- Here have the picture of
those fingerprints you wanted.
- Oh, good.
And that coffee can,
you left it there all right?
- Yes, I stuck it back
on the kitchen shelf.
- Thank you.
- What gets me is,
Sergeant Heath said there was no explosion
when Markham was shot.
Now, this type of gun was designed
in Russia during the revolution
for the protection of the
women of the aristocracy.
A few drifted to Paris
and were copied to the underworld.
But there was never a silencer
manufactured for that gun.
- Ah, but there was, Captain!
In this article by the late
Bale of the Paris Police,
both the gun and its tiny
silencer are described.
You might keep that copy for your file.
- Thank you.
- Thank you!
And Captain, if there
should be a call for me,
I'll be at the reference
room at "The Times."
- I'll let you know.
- Goodbye.
- Goodbye.
- But for strength of
composition, Mr. Vance,
and for unusual delicacy of lines,
I would continue.
- Oh, Sam?
Pardon me.
- Yes?
- Is Mr. Markham all right?
- Well, no sir. Sergeant
Heath is with him.
- As I was saying Mr. Vance,
I could do no better
than to recommend to you
these three very choice examples
of the Ukiyo-e school.
Now these, Mr. Vance,
are a rare opportunity.
If you don't take advantage of it, sir,
I assure you you'll regret it to your,
- Hey, hey.
Who are you?
- Who am I? Who are you?
- Oh, pardon me, Sergeant.
This is my print dealer.
He's not dangerous.
- Oh.
- If you would step aside, please.
Mr. Vance,
(doorbell ringing)
These three,
- I better
take that door, Mr. Vance.
You know we can't be too careful today.
- Alright, Sergeant.
Oh by the way, you haven't forgotten
that jewel case have you?
- Right here.
- Thank you.
- Of course Mr. Vance,
I don't want to force these upon you.
I have, in the portfolio,
something that might
interest you still more.
If I can only find it here,
it's something I was particularly anxious
to bring to your attention.
Ah yes, here we have it.
These three from the Wright collection:
Hokusai, Narunobi and Hiroshige,
commonly referred to, you know,
as the three Hiroshige,
- Burke.
- Oh, Burke, did you get it?
- Yes sir.
All the sacks were tied up with
chord like that, except one.
- And that one?
- Well, somebody must have
cut it off, like you said.
- Say, what have you been up to?
- All right, Sergeant, I'll explain later.
Oh, Burke, will you stand by
Mr. Markham's office please?
- Yes sir.
- Sergeant, we're getting warm.
- What do you mean, we're
getting warm? From that?
- Mr. Vance, may I not call your attention
to these very,
- Oh,
I'll take the Hiroshige.
3000, you said, huh?
- Right, thank you.
Correct.
Pardon me.
- 3000 bucks for those chromos?
What's the psychology in that, Mr. Vance?
- Sergeant, we're hot.
- Say, will you please let me in
on this string bonfire business?
- You'll observe, Sergeant,
that this twine burns slowly but surely.
(phone ringing)
Oh, will you take that please?
- Yeah? No, Heath.
Oh, she has?
Good!
- Yes, Sergeant?
- Mrs. Banning's confessed.
- Slowly but surely.
- It was to protect Adolph.
I went to Benton's room,
I pleaded with him.
He had the jewel case,
so I thought he must have
Adolph's confession of forgery
and his note, too.
Benson laughed at me.
There was a gun on the
table, so I shot him.
He went to the door to
call and then he fell.
- And where was Mr. Mohler?
- In one of the guest rooms.
Oh, I swear to you Mr. Mohler is innocent!
- Now, Mrs. Banning,
- Yes?
- Have you a hair pin?
- What?
- A hair pin.
- Why, yes.
- May I have it?
Thank you.
- Sergeant Heath's on the wire, Mr. Vance.
- Is there anyone in the reception room?
- No sir.
- I'll take it there.
Hello?
Yes.
Oh, just a minute.
And what are you doing up?
- You think I can lay
around your apartment
with the newspapers hounding
me about this Benson crime?
Where is Sergeant Heath?
I can't find him anywhere.
- I had him on the wire.
He is doing something for me.
- Oh.
- Also for you.
- Oh.
- Yes, Sergeant? Yes.
All right, arrange it for six sharp.
And you'd better set that clock out there
and your watch with mine.
I make it just 4:33. Right.
- Mr. Vance, if you're through with me,
well, I haven't had any lunch yet and,
- Oh, I'm terribly sorry Burke.
Suppose you eat first
and then pick up that police woman
who's chambermaiding for
us at that hotel, will you?
- All right.
- Good.
- What do you think of her confession?
- Well, more a confession out of love
than a confession of guilt,
don't you think?
- You mean that she's
trying to protect Mohler?
- What else?
- Mr. Gray is here, sir.
- Send him in.
- [Vance] How do you do?
- Oh, hello.
- [Vance] How are you Gray?
- Say, when you gonna play that hand
you've been bragging about?
- Tonight.
Would you like to sit in on the game?
- Table stakes?
- Anything you say.
- No, you say.
This will be your party.
- I don't think so.
Markham, I'd like to
have all our little group
at Benson's lodge in one hour.
And suppose we take along
a photograph of Adolph
Mohler's fingerprint.
- I understand, Vance.
I know what you mean, yes.
Mohler, you mean to tell me
that you were just sitting up there alone,
when the gun went off?
- How do you know it was a gun?
- [Mr. Gray] Oh, this is going
to be an interesting hand!
- Well?
- What I said was that I
was not with Mrs. Banning.
- I don't wanna know where you were not,
I wanna know where you were.
- I am a gentleman.
- Oh, Miss Del Roy?
- Yes.
He was with me.
- Remarkable fellow, Mohler.
- Oh, come on, we're not
getting any place at all, Vance.
- You'll have your murderer,
Markham, by six o'clock.
- I can't stand much more of this!
If you've got anything on me, say it!
- This is a rather unusual jewel
case of yours, Ms. Del Roy.
- Oh, but you.
- You know, Markham,
Ms. Del Roy has a better motive
for keeping Anthony
Benson permanently quiet
than any of them.
- Please, I would like to go.
- [Markham] You'll keep quiet.
- [Vance] And you, Albert,
hiding your past from the police.
- I was afraid.
- I don't blame you.
Albert's wife is looking for him.
He left high in Chicago recently,
without giving notice, you might say.
- How much longer is this
comedy going to last, Vance?
- In 10 minutes, Markham,
it won't be comedy.
For one of you, it isn't now, is it?
- But why give me a
ringside seat to the seance?
If any of you comics have got an idea
that I had anybody bump Benson off,
- You certainly had
motive enough, didn't you?
- [Mr. Gray] What motive?
- Simply matter of fact, revenge,
for having sold you out on the market.
You, the illustrious
Harry Gray; the big shot.
Vanity and arrogance, Markham,
usually motivates the behavior
of the intelligent gunman.
- [Fanny] Gunman?
- Look here!
- But you were with us, here,
when the shot was fired and the body fell.
And just before that?
- I was in the kitchen making coffee.
- That's right, I remember.
- I remember that it was
very over-boiled coffee.
Must have been on the fire
a long time, wasn't it?
- Gray?
Gray couldn't have made
the coffee that night,
I made it for Paula.
I wouldn't call me a liar if I were you.
- I, Adolph Mohler, made the coffee.
- And if Mohler did make it, Markham,
Mr. Gray was out of this
room some five minutes.
And doing what?
- You're dealing, don't ask me.
- I'm not, I'm telling you.
Mr. Gray didn't make the
coffee that night, you know.
- [Mr. Gray] Who says I didn't?
- This photograph,
of the only fingerprints
on that freshly unwrapped can of coffee.
And this one, of your prints Mohler,
prove even to a jury, Markham,
that only he touched that coffee can.
- Oh, spare me!
When they took the print of
my fingers this afternoon,
I knew you had suspected me.
If you're going to accuse me, do it.
- Oh, this is getting tricky.
- Oh, two-handed poker
isn't so very tricky,
do you think?
Mr. Gray, just what were you doing
while Markham and I sat here that night,
and Albert came in and so
mysteriously with your handbag?
- You tell me.
- Sure!
You crept up those back stairs,
tapped on Benson's door,
he was changing his collar.
You remember, Markham,
how it bothered him?
Walked in and shot him dead,
with one of those imported derringers
and silencers of yours.
- Silencers? Ha!
That's a hot one.
You heard the shot,
while I stood here with you.
- The shot that killed Benson was silent.
No one heard it.
Just as no one heard the shot
which you fired at me, Gray,
and which wounded Mr. Markham.
Here at the lodge, however,
you arranged for a second shot to explode
as Benson's body came
tumbling down those stairs.
- Oh, I suppose the body waited up there
for the second shot?
- Exactly.
You arranged that, too.
(clock chiming)
Just as I have.
(gunshot)
(body crashing, clattering)
It's a dummy!
Oh, Burke?
- Yes sir.
- Supported at the head of the stairs
by a piece of twine,
at the same kind that Mr. Gray cut
from a pack of liquor in
the basement that night.
The twine was crossed around Benson's body
and looped around a newel post
at the head of the stairs.
I knew that the body
must have been there for several minutes.
- [Markham] How did you know?
- Because if Benson had been shot
immediately prior to his
tumbling down the stairs,
there couldn't possibly have been
that puddle of blood on the
second step from the top,
could there?
- Very interesting.
But where were all these people
while I was doing this Houdini stuff?
Do you think I'd take a chance
at being walked in on like that?
- But what chance were you taking
after you saw that Mrs. Banning
was resting on the bed in her room?
- How did you know that?
- Your hairpin, Mrs. Banning. Thank you.
It exactly matches this one,
which I found on your
pillow up there that night.
From the impression of
your figure on the bed,
you must have been resting there
for some time, weren't you?
- Yes, I was lying there
when the shot was fired.
- Ah.
- All right,
but what about Del Roy and Mohler?
- Ms. Del Roy has already told us
that Mr. Mohler was with her,
discussing her pearls, I should think.
Mr. Mohler had considerable
explaining to do,
if you remember.
You listened outside their door
and what you heard convinced you
that they would remain there
for several minutes at least.
- [Markham] But how could
he have timed the shot?
- As I just did with the dummy.
With another of Benson's
cartridge burglar alarms,
like this one.
You used the one
Benson had stuck in the
door of his storeroom.
You got it when you went down
to the cellar that night.
After you had made sure
that you would not be interrupted
by Mrs. Banning and the others,
you hung the body and the
alarm on that twine up there.
Then you set fire to a
loose end of the twine,
so that when the flame reached the knot,
the twine broke, the body fell,
and the alarm dropped to the floor
where it exploded like this.
(loud bang)
You were first upstairs,
after the body fell.
You quickly dropped the Derringer
behind the newel post,
picked up the alarm and the string,
put them in your pocket
and told me to do my stuff, wasn't it?
- Well,
- He meant to kill Benson, you see,
but surrounding it with the props he did
was simply camouflage, I suppose,
to befuddle the amateur?
- You're going to have the
time of your sweet life
trying to hang this on me.
The police woman I used as
a chambermaid in your hotel
has already hung it on you.
She found Ms. Del Roy's pearls,
which you stole that
night after the shooting,
to divert suspicion.
- Anything else?
- Oh yes.
The coat you wore, Mr. Gray.
It seems that bits of fuzz
from the twine you used
were on Benson's waistcoat,
also on the inside of this pocket.
The same pocket from which
I saw you withdrawing your hand
as I followed you up the stairs.
- You know that isn't enough.
Do you think any jury would go for that?
- Well if not, I know they'll go for this:
The clever little silencer
that fits your clever little gun.
Another trophy from your room, Mr. Gray.
Also contributed by our police woman.
Is that enough?
- All right, you outsmarted me, Vance.
I'm game.
- Hey!
(thudding)
- Look out, he's got a gun!
(shouting)
- [Heath] Drop it, Gray!
(gunshots)
(body crashing)
Well Mr. Vance, I told
you I'd watch over you.
- [Vance] Thank you, Sergeant.
- That baby put three
slugs mighty close to me!
I better call the doc.
- Well, I'll wait outside.
I haven't been feeling my best.
- All right.
- I'll take care of you,
Dolphy dear.
- Burke, get that coat and cover him.
- Yes, sir.
- That you, Doc?
This is Sergeant Heath, I'm
out at the Benson Lodge.
There's been another murder.
I mean, shooting. I did it.
Okay,
- Mr. Vance, may I have
the jewel case now?
- Oh, of course.
And don't worry,
no one else knows about your daughter.
- Thank you. I was going to her,
when they caught me leaving town.
If Benson had found this,
he would've held it over me.
Threatened to tell my
little girl, what I am.
Thank you, Mr. Vance, for
not telling them about her.
- So, it was Harry Gray, Mr. Vance.
Well, it didn't
surprise me any.
- Surprise me any.
(men chuckling)
(cheerful orchestral music)
(cheerful music)
(ticker tape machines clicking)
(indistinct stockbroker chatter)
(ticker tape machines clicking rapidly)
(indistinct stockbroker chatter)
- Come on, come on.
Get a move on.
- [Secretary] Mr. Benson!
- Yes?
- Mrs. Boyd-White!
- Well, well?
- She said she can't cover for him.
- Then, tell Joey to sell him out.
- Yes sir.
Benson Company? Yes, I will!
(indistinct chatter)
- Oh, I'm so sorry Captain.
What is the matter?
- Oh, shut up!
- Hello, Mohler!
- I must see you!
- All right, all right.
Come on into the office.
- Oh, Mr. Benson!
- Yes?
- We're all cleaned up now,
except for that one big account.
- Oh, you mean Gray's!
- Yes, sir!
- What is the status now?
- 380,000.
- You tried to notify him?
- All day yesterday and today.
- Well try, oh, nevermind.
Sell him out. Sell him out.
Well? You heard me.
Close him out!
- Yes, sir!
- Oh, Miss Leslie,
get those bottle packages
out of the stairs
and bring them to my office.
- Yes, sir.
- I tell you, it is most necessary,
I get this (indistinct)
- All right, all right,
in a minute.
Ms. Leslie?
- [Ms. Leslie] I'm coming sir!
- Oh, thank you.
Well, here they are,
and you owe me the note to me, too!
Pay the note and you get back as well,
the note's due tomorrow.
- Well, I cannot pay.
- Oh, then you don't get this or this,
since you can't pay the note.
- Oh, Tony, are you not my friend?
- Sure!
If I weren't, you wouldn't forge my name
to this check, would you?
- Oh!
(phone buzzing)
Yes? All right, tell her
I'll see her in a minute.
- But I must have the cheque!
- Try and get it!
- But if you don't give it to me,
- Now listen, you won't do anything.
Who do you think I am,
one of your faded widows?
And I'm not very afraid of male lapdogs!
- Well, well, interesting
hearing men fight
over something besides me for a change!
- Ms. Del Roy, Mr. Mohler.
- Hello, Dolphy!
- Hello Fanny.
- He knows you too?
What are you all a twitter about, anyway?
You borrowed these from your
meal ticket, didn't you?
And she's in Paris, isn't she?
Well, you better pay me somehow
and return it before she
gets back, haven't you?
(phone buzzing)
Yes?
- What did he mean, your
meal ticket is in Paris?
- Where did you think I
picked what I gave you?
From the trees?
- Mrs. Banning's here?
- Who?
- Tell her I'll see here in a minute.
Well old boy, your meal ticket's back.
Perhaps she brought you
a Parisian dog biscuit!
- Oh!
(Benson laughing)
- What is it?
What's that dowagers
delight got, that I haven't?
- When you are a big boy,
maybe I'll tell you.
- Yes?
Well, let me tell you something, darling.
We sold you out of the
market this morning.
You haven't got a dime.
- You! You didn't!
- Yes, but my dear, my own,
why didn't you cable me you were coming?
- My dear darling, I did cable.
You just must have been out.
- Oh, I was hunting in the mountain,
and I was dying for
you to come back to me.
What did you come here for, Paula?
Do not tell me you were
locked in the market.
- My dear boy, I don't know.
I only heard of the crash
when I arrived this morning.
I've been nearly frantic,
but of course, Tony Benson would carry me!
- Oh yeah, yeah.
- Where is Tony?
- Oh, wait, wait.
- Tony Benson, you're a
cold scoundrel aren't you?
No wonder I can't go for you,
you could have given me
another day to cover.
- You didn't answer one
of our margin calls.
- Oh, I was going to bring you my pearls,
but say, what's in that box?
- Now, now, now, now.
- Oh, Tony my darling,
I simply must know what's
happened to my account.
You carried me, of course!
- No, you were a little overweight.
- Tony!
- [Assistant] Oh, Mr. Gray!
Excuse me, we tried to
get in touch with you.
- I've been out of town.
- [Assistant] I was
gonna mail these to you.
You see, you were the last account we had
that wasn't covered, so,
- I understand.
Mr. Gray, would you mind
waiting in the waiting room?
There's someone in Mr. Benson's office.
- Alright.
- Yes, I sold you out.
All of you, All except Adolph,
who wasn't even in.
No, it's something else your
dear Adolph owes me for!
Not the market!
- Benson, I'm going to,
- Never mind.
- Oh, you're busy, Tony.
- No, come in Harry.
- A storm seems to be arriving.
- It looks as if one has already arrived.
I'll come back when you're alone.
- Alright, Harry.
- I have nothing more to say.
You are not a gentleman, Mr. Benson.
You are a,
- I know, I'm a Smith.
Well, is it my fault
that you are on the high
seas when the market breaks?
- I have a good mind to,
- You won't do anything.
Mohler said he would, but he won't.
None of you will.
Oh, I suppose if you could,
I'd be a corpse by now.
Well, you were called on
for margin, weren't you?
You wanted to have your
cake and eat it too.
Easy money, quick profit.
Well, you've gambled and you lost.
Yes, you lost!
- Mr. Benson,
- You lost, I tell you!
- Dolphy, dear, don't you have
anything to say to this person?
The way he's talking to me,
- With what I got on him,
oh, go on, get out of here.
All of you, go on.
Go on, get out. Leave me alone.
I'm no longer in.
Hello, reception?
Get my chauffeur at the garage.
Tell him to meet me at the
club at six o'clock, yes.
I'm going to spend the night
at my place up the river,
and I don't want to be disturbed.
All right.
Yes, come in Harry.
Even the heavens seem to be crashing.
Say, Harry, why don't you
spend the night with me
at my place up the river?
- It's not a bad idea.
- We can meet at the club at six o'clock
and have a steam and a
rubdown before we go.
I'm nervous.
- I don't blame you,
after that gang that was just in here.
They don't like you, do they?
- Well, maybe not.
You know, Harry, I'm sorry
I had to sell you out;
but then you big shots are
used to taking it on the chin.
- Not twice in succession.
- Twice?
- Big Drake walked off with
180 grand of mine last week.
- He did?
- Yeah, he high carded me.
- Oh.
Harry, why don't you quit that racket?
- I like it.
- Harry, you're not sore at me, are you?
- I haven't made up my mind, yet.
(storm winds blowing)
(dice game rattling)
- That's 3000 you owe me.
- [Mr. Gray] Yeah, three grand.
- I've got the jumps!
- No wonder, after what
you did to me today.
- Oh, well those cry babies at
the office got on my nerves.
Well, I put a couple of
twos and twos together,
watching Del Roy and Mohler.
Oh, let's go to bed, eh?
- Oh, I left my bag at your club.
- I'll phone for it.
You'll have to rough it, though.
I let the servants go for the winter.
(loud banging)
(winds blowing)
(storm winds blowing)
- What was that?
- Backfire, I guess.
- Oh, Markham's car, maybe.
- Whose?
- Markham, the district attorney.
You know him, don't you?
- We've had a couple of talks.
What's he doing here?
- He's got a place next to mine.
He's up here resting for the campaign.
(winds blowing)
(hinge creaking)
(glass smashing)
(rapid footsteps)
(winds blowing)
(thunder rolling)
Hello, Fanny!
Adding a little burglary
to your other accomplishments, eh?
(Benson chuckling)
- [Fanny] I want that
jewel case Mohler gave you.
- Oh-ho! So he borrowed them from you
and not Paula Banning, eh?
Well, what do you think of that fella?
(Benson laughing)
- Hurry Benson, I was going to give
those pearls to you to cover my account,
till I couldn't find them.
- Hurry what? That jewel
case is in my office safe,
where it'll stay.
- Oh, no it isn't.
I thought in the pocket
your coat as you left today.
- That's right, I forgot.
I was upset.
They're in my coat pocket downstairs.
Oh, I'm sorry. Excuse me, please.
(car engine fading)
(thunder rumbling)
- [Mr. Gray] Don't move!
(Paula screaming)
- What do you mean
frightening me like that?
- Would you have a drink?
- What?
- Suit yourself.
Oh, Tony?
- Who's that?
- It's Gray, I'll get rid of him, though.
- Friend of yours!
- [Mr. Benson] Huh?
- Tony, I want you,
- Excuse me, please. My coat.
- You were leaving, perhaps?
- What? Oh, not at all.
What was the noise out back?
- Window blew shut.
Must have been open.
- Tony, I must plead for my poor darling.
He had no idea he was doing anything wrong
when he signed that check.
You were such friends!
I shouldn't have left him.
- Then you'd better pay his note to me.
- My dear Tony, I haven't the 10,000.
I tell you, I've lost everything.
And the banks won't
advance me another cent.
What are you doing here?
Not, my dear Anthony, that
it's difficult to guess.
- Ah! Mrs. Pot.
- Pot?
- Yes.
Calling the kettle black.
You girls ought to get together on Mohler.
Paula, who do you suppose
he was running around with
while you are in,
- Paula, I think you'd better go upstairs.
(indistinct)
(Benson hushing)
- You for me!
- What's your name?
- Harry, to you.
What's yours?
- Fanny, to you.
- Tony?
Let's have a party, huh?
(Tony chuckling)
- Are you going to give me that case?
- No.
- I would.
- Now, look here.
(glass crashing)
Say, what is this?
What's going on here, anyway?
- [Mr. Gray] Have you got a flashlight?
- Yes, There's one over here. Come on.
(thunder rolling)
Here it is.
- [Mr. Gray] Here, I'll go.
- I want that jewel case Mohler gave you,
and I'll get it.
- For what?
- Nothing.
- Oh, well, we'll see about that.
If you think you can hang on to Mohler,
with Paula Banning back?
And if she finds out
he's been running around with you,
where will you be?
She'll stop his allowance.
You know, he hasn't told
her about your pearls.
- I'll take care of that.
- Yeah?
Well, you'll take care
of his notes somehow,
if you want this.
Say, why all this frenzy
about a few pearls?
There are plenty more where
these came from, aren't there?
What about this, anyway?
- I have to sell 'em.
You sold me out, didn't you?
- Oh, well, let's have a look.
(thunder rolling)
Listen, now wait a minute.
(thunder rolling)
- Oh!
(nervous chuckling)
I fell in.
I'm glad you are here.
Tony might have misconstrued
my arriving this way,
had he been alone.
- [Mr. Gray] Well, he's certainly
got plenty of company now.
What are you people trying to
do anyway, remove this guy?
- Oh, no, no.
- [Mr. Gray] Well, let's go upstairs.
- Yes.
(nervous chuckling)
- I'll tell you why I
won't, in four words:
I don't like you.
- As if you've liked all your playmates.
- I've had to put up with
a lot of you big businessmen
to get somewhere,
but now I'm there.
I'm putting up with the one's I picked.
And I told you a year
ago, I wasn't picking you.
Your eyes are too close together, get it?
And let this sink under
that toupee of yours:
I am going to get that jewel case of mine.
- Oh, I beg your pardon.
Tony, this was the big noise.
- Oh, hello Tony.
- Hello, Adolph.
- Oh, Fanny!
- Dolphy!
Is that my boy?
- Paula, what are you doing here?
- Oh!
Carrying on without me, eh?
- No, but that might be a good idea.
- When you told me he
would put you in jail,
I simply had to come here and
throw myself on his mercy.
Tony, he's my heart.
- Oh, please be quiet. Please.
- You know, while you've been away,
he's been playing the about a bit.
- Darling, it's not true.
- No,
don't change the subject.
Give him that money.
Do you want him to put me in the jail?
- I'll fix him, kill him first.
- If you don't mind,
I have first call on him for that.
- Well, that makes it unanimous.
Farewell, Caesar.
Or, shall we say it with flowers?
(doorbell ringing)
- Say, what is this?
Must be my birthday.
Oh, Markham!
- Hello.
- Come in.
- I just dropped by,
oh, I beg your pardon.
- That's quite all right, come in.
(thunder rumbling, lightning striking)
- Ah, thunder and lightning!
Enter the villain.
How are you, Mr. District Attorney?
- Hello Gray.
- [Mr. Benson] Ms. Del Roy, Mr. Markham.
And, Mr. Mohler.
- Excuse me.
- You'll have to put me up for the night.
I puncture a tire.
- Plenty of room.
- Thanks.
- Gray, you must be behaving yourself.
The newspapers haven't accused
you of anything for months.
- I can't imagine what
you're talking about.
- No?
(Benson laughing)
Oh, Benson, I want to talk to
you about the market upset.
I suppose there'll be some trouble,
I think you can give me the advice I need.
- Let me take your coat, won't you?
- No, thank you. I have
a friend waiting up.
Oh, by the way, Gray,
he'd like to meet you.
You mind if I bring him in?
- Not at all.
- Thanks.
- You know, Markham seems to
be quite interested in you.
- Well, if he is, it
won't do him any good.
- Paula is so upset.
You don't mind if she
lies down for a moment?
I shall prepare her something.
- Sure, we've all been too excited anyway.
- Here you are, Gray.
Philo Vance, Mr. Benson.
- Mr. Benson.
- How do you do, Mr. Vance!
- Harry Gray.
- Mr. Gray.
- Not the detective?
- It is.
- Only as an amateur, remember.
Our friend, Sergeant
Heath, insists on that.
- Vance told me that he's getting rusty.
Nothing to sharpen his psychology
on since the Green murder.
- Yes, I felt rather hurt
that you didn't call me
in on that Green business.
- Take off your coats
gentleman, won't you?
I'll get some ice.
- Thank you.
- You see, Mr. Vance,
down at headquarters they've got an idea
that I know all about these crimes.
- Oh, really?
- That's right.
You and ah, no offense,
well, those killers of his,
at least the ones I've read about.
It seems to me they're all amateurs too.
- Yes, so they were.
That's why Markham thought
it might be amusing,
without disturbing my status
as an amateur in the matter,
for me to meet an authority
on the profession.
- Harry, get some cups!
We'll have coffee.
- [Mr. Gray] Right.
- Won't you sit down, Mr. Vance?
- Thank you.
- Benson, did the market hit you?
- Well, you never heard of
a bootlegger drinking
his own stuff, did you?
Strange you two should
drop in here this evening,
on top of everybody wanting
to murder everybody else;
in the market of course!
- Oh, we need another bottle.
- Well, I'll get it.
- Oh, here's the keys.
And by the way,
be careful of that burglar
alarm in the cellar.
I think that burglar alarm
would interest you, Mr. Vance.
- Oh?
- It's a rather tricky arrangement.
Later on, I'd like to show it to you.
- It's not in his room.
Must be still in his pocket.
- I will get it.
I'll make him give to me.
- Quiet, be quiet.
Coffee will be ready soon.
Darling, why can't you get money?
Does my affection for you mean so little?
- Oh, these?
Well, to tell you the truth darling,
all the glitters is not gold.
Oh, my boy. Oh, my boy!
- But he'll put me in the jail!
- Never!
- I tell you, yes!
He hates me because of the Del Roy woman.
Well, all I did was look at her.
Can I help if she loves me?
But I'm true only to you, my darling.
Only to you.
But this Benson, who called
him himself our friend,
he's jealous of me!
So, you will lose me for the jail!
- I'll hate him.
We'll both hate him!
Oh, my boy. Oh my boy!
- The most important thing
is now to get that envelope,
the cheque, the note.
- [Paula] Yes, yes, yes!
(sobbing)
- Oh, you're jelly!
- That's how they kill
in books, Mr. Vance.
But how it's really
done is quite different.
- I see!
Then your thought is,
that if matched wits with a professional,
I might not have been
so lucky, is that it?
- That's it.
- No thanks.
- Oh, I'll get you some coffee
in a minute, Mr. Markham.
- Well, I've had this bottle
in my cellar for years, Markham!
Before prohibition!
- Naturally!
- So if you'll excuse me,
I'll see what the ladies are doing.
- It's very interesting
to get your point of view, Mr. Vance.
Just how would you stack your cards
against a professional?
- Well, it's my theory, Mr. Gray,
that the only infallible method
of determining human guilt,
is by analyzing the psychological
factors of the crime
and then applying them to the individual.
- The point is in these cases
of yours Vance, the gun,
"the gun," that's newspaper
slang for killer, Markham.
- Right.
- What I mean to say is,
these killers you've met
always used a lot of trick stuff.
A lot of props.
The professionals don't, from what I hear.
They bang 'em neat
and leave 'em where they lay.
- Exactly!
That's one of the reasons
they're so seldom caught,
in other jurisdictions I mean.
- You mean to tell me that you'd ignore
all tangible evidence in the crime?
- Not ignore it, no!
But neither would I accept it for gospel
on its face value.
- Yes, well, I'll make that coffee.
(thunder rolling)
- Oh! Excuse me!
Why don't you go into my
room to dry your things?
There's a fire there.
- Thanks.
I want that jewel case.
I'll get it, you know!
- All right, later on when
they'll be downstairs.
We'll talk it over, eh?
- Will we?
- I'll be back.
- Listen, I'm going to
get that jewel case.
- Oh, all right.
I'll be back.
(thunder rolling ominously)
- The jury has to depend on
circumstantial evidence, Markham!
They can't understand any other kind.
(storm raging, wind howling)
(indistinct)
(loud knocking at door)
- [Markham] Well?
- Is Mr. Gray here?
- He's in the kitchen.
- Oh.
This is his bag.
Will you see that he gets it, please?
- Certainly.
(door creaking closed)
What do you suppose he,
oh, this came for you!
- My bag, thanks.
- What's in it, Gray? Pineapples?
You know that's newspaper
slang for bombs, Mr. Gray.
- Slang.
- Back to our conversation, Vance.
How do you think you'd come out
with one of these bang them
and leave them laid killings
that we were talking about?
- By a professional, you mean?
- Exactly.
- Well, it might be rather interesting.
Have you anything in that line, Markham?
- Talk to Gray.
- I seem to have quite a
reputation in this town,
for the killing!
(clock chiming)
Well, perhaps something could be arranged.
- Splendid!
(gunshot)
(body clattering)
(clock chiming)
- Benson.
(clock chiming)
(wind blowing)
- Nothing here.
- He's dead.
(Paula gasping)
- Gimme the medical
examiner's office, please!
- Somebody must have overhead
that conversation of ours.
- Yes, it's exactly what
was occurring to me.
- [Markham] I want to speak
to Dr. Doremus, personally!
- Well, there you are, Mr. Vance.
Do your stuff.
- Well, that's that.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
The (indistinct) up like thunder
across the Hudson outside the lodge.
(indistinct)
- Hurry up on that
phone and gimme a match.
- The first to arrive on the scene
was the brains of the homicide squad,
Sergeant E for Edward,
- Ernest.
- Sergeant Edward Heath,
or as I nicknamed him
in one of my more brilliant
moments, Edward Sleuth,
so everybody would know
he was a detective.
- Aw, can that stuff.
Now listen, whenever I've got
anything to give you scribes,
I'll tell you.
- Yeah?
Who's going to tell you?
- Anybody could have got up
and down those back stairs
without being seen.
- Where's Welch?
- Up going over the bedroom.
- I can do that.
You get outside and
look around the grounds.
- Alright.
- Say, what's ailing you?
- I got sold out from the stock market!
- No.
- Yeah, I lost 90 bucks!
(Heath tsking)
- Wiped out.
- [Burke] By the way, Mr. Markham phoned.
Mr. Vance will be here right away.
- Oh yeah?
Well, I'll try and arrange it
so that I'll be just gone when,
time he gets here.
Hello, Welch.
- How do you spell clue?
- What difference it make?
There ain't any.
- [Vance] Oh, I wouldn't
say that, Sergeant.
- [Heath] Oh!
- Good morning, Sergeant!
- [Heath] Why, hello Mr. Vance.
- No go, Sam.
I'm afraid the blue in
that is going to clash.
(phone ringing)
- Take that phone in the hall, Welch.
- Blue, Sergeant, is a very tricky color.
You know, in spite of its commonness,
it's quite difficult.
But that's anomalous, of course.
- Well so it is, so it is.
Mr. Vance, you know,
pardon my obscurity,
but sometimes I don't quite follow you.
- Really, Sergeant?
- No, now a while ago there
I said there wasn't any clues
and you said that you wouldn't say that.
- Well, I wouldn't, really.
- That was The Times calling.
They want to know if you,
- You tell The Times
that when they get my name right,
they might get a story.
You see, Sergeant,
I decided to spend the
night here in meditation.
So I phoned Sam to bring out my things
and I meditated.
- Any luck?
- I've been studying that little Derringer
that was found at the top of the stairs
there last night.
It's rather unique.
- [Heath] Yes, ain't it?
- And of course the lady's handbag,
which you know doubt found
in Benson's room there.
- Yes, I got that right here.
- Cherchez la femme, eh Sergeant?
- Oui!
- But I was told to come by telephone!
I was to ask for Mr. Vance.
- Say, did you get that?
- Well, you go inside.
- Say, is Philo Vance in on this one?
- I don't know, is he inside?
- I wish I knew.
(indistinct)
- Well I've been here since 6:00 AM.
If Vance is here, he is Santa Claus.
He must have come down at chimney!
- Come on boys.
- Well, one of those two
dames owned this bag.
Well?
- Mr. Vance?
- Oh yes, come in.
You know Sergeant, when Albert
here popped in last night,
Markham thought that he was Gray's man.
- Gray, is it?
- Oh no sir.
I explained to Mr. Vance
when he called me up this morning,
Mr. Benson was my employer.
He telephoned me last night
to bring Mr. Gray's bag from the club.
- What's your name?
- Albert, Brecker.
- The medical examiner is here.
- Show him up.
And you stick around.
- Thank you, sir.
- Well, another dizzy dame
to do some jury vamping, I suppose.
- I rather doubt, Sergeant,
whether any woman was
in this room with Benson
immediately prior to the murder.
That's what I wanted
Albert for, to verify.
- Good morning, Sergeant!
- Hiya, Doc.
- Bless my soul, Mr. Vance.
Why, I haven't seen you
since we laid the Green family to rest.
- Quite right!
- There was a lovely murder
case for you, Sergeant.
Blessed my soul, yes.
- I was there.
Well, hop at the body, Doc.
- Certainly, certainly.
Have one of your men
give me a hand, please.
- Surely.
- Oh, I'm sorry I wasn't here last night.
Wedding anniversary.
My wife and I always celebrate.
Went to a hockey match!
How's the election coming?
- Fair.
- Good!
- Mr. Benson kept his toupees
beautifully, didn't he?
- He was a bit touchy
about himself, if I do say.
- Vain, you mean?
- Yes sir.
- Well, what guy with a list
of phone numbers he had,
wouldn't be?
Elementary, my dear Albert; elementary.
- Sergeant, you've been
reading "Sherlock Holmes?"
- Quite right, my dear Watson.
Quite right.
- Oh, Welch, take care of these, will you?
- This was Mr. Benson's
favorite toupee, sir.
- Fancy.
- Oh, no sir.
I once worked for a
gentleman that had seven,
one for every day in the week
to correspond to the
natural growth of his hair.
- Albert, do you think that Mr. Benson
would've appeared before a
lady in whom he was interested
without his toupee?
- Oh, no sir!
He would rather have died.
- Well, he got his wish.
- Doc said he was shot at about six feet
and no powder marks.
- Well, suicide's out,
unless Benson was an acrobat.
- If you don't mind sir,
- I'll call.
Thank you, Albert.
- I'll see you later.
- Thank you, sir.
- You know Mr. Vance,
this is a kind of a murder
that the public likes.
Have you any suggestions?
You know, you might have.
You were here when it happened.
- Well, Sergeant, after
a night of meditating
on what happened before the murder,
I have suggestions no end.
- [Welch] Oh, Burke's got
something out front, Sergeant.
- Be right down.
Oh, Mr. Markham told me
about the stuff Harry
Gray was saying to you.
Like, he was leading up to the shooting
to kind of try you out.
The nerve of that gorilla.
- What's Gray's history?
- Well, he suspected of a lot of things.
- Ever been convicted?
- Too smart.
- Just what is his racket?
- Well, rumor has it
that he is a big shot
in a bootlegging ring.
You know, I still don't like
the way he talked to you.
(doctor chuckling)
- Had to use the kitchen table.
Killed about midnight.
Direct fire, into the heart.
A single shot
and never knew what hit him.
Bless my soul, no.
- Well, he must have seen the guy.
- Come and have a look at the bullet.
Most interesting.
- I'll be right with you.
- Come on, let me,
- Nevermind. Nevermind.
- Sergeant.
- Yes?
- One of the boys found
this in the bushes.
- I had it in my hand.
- In your hat.
- In here, Jim.
- Yeah.
- Alright.
- Come on, give us a break.
Let's see it.
- Aw, quiet down will you?
- What was it?
(indistinct)
- [Burke] Handbag?
- [Officer] Right here.
- [Burke] Gun?
- [Officer] Got that too.
Gimme that piece of paper
I found in the wood box.
(phone ringing)
Get that phone.
Look at this, Mr. Vance.
- Yeah, I'll tell him.
- There's an empty jewel case
that we found in a bush outside.
Been thrown out the
window, last night maybe.
And here's the paper it was wrapped in
that I found in the wood box right there.
It's marked Mohler.
- He may prove of interest to us later.
- Yeah, I'll tell him.
- But Mr. Vance,
with election coming up Tuesday
and the papers riding us the way they are,
I've gotta have something now!
- Well, what about that
small puddle of blood
on the second step from the top there?
Hasn't that any particular
significance to you?
- Oh, Sergeant.
They picked up Del Roy
down at the Grand Central,
trying to beat it out of town.
- Del Roy!
Yes? Yes?
I'll be right down.
- [Speaker] Mr. Vance, your car is here.
- Thank you.
- Keep it together, Welch.
(indistinct)
- Say, Mr. Vance, who did this?
- The four Marx Brothers.
(indistinct group chatter)
- Oh, hello Vance.
Good to see you!
- Hello Mr. Gray!
- Anything new?
- Well, you called my hand last night.
- Still stuck.
I'm afraid I took up
that challenge of yours
to solve a murder by a
professional, too soon.
- This was no professional job.
- Oh, Albert the door.
- Thank you.
- Everybody there, including me,
threatened to kill Benson.
They were all sore at
that financial genius.
What's the matter?
Albert, get that door!
- You know, somehow I had the impression
that Albert was Mr. Benson's man.
So he was, I just took him on today.
- Oh.
- You see,
Benson's dress ties
were always tied smart.
And Albert, there, was
the boy who tied them.
That's it.
- I see.
- Oh, come in Frank.
- Good morning.
- Good morning.
And those two women that
were there last night, Vance?
Never get mixed up with
women, they're dynamite.
No brains.
- Hmm.
- A shave, sir?
- Yes.
You see, I don't let just anybody
put a razor on me.
- Neither did Napoleon.
- Yes, I read about that!
That's where I got the idea!
- Mr. Gray, I wondered if I
could get you to help me out.
- Sure, I'd better,
or they'll be indicting me again.
If everything those birds
tried to pin on me stuck,
I'd have worn out a carload
of electric chairs by now.
You see, my business makes me acquainted
with a lot of tough mugs.
And Markham and that detective, Heath,
call me in every time
an automobile backfired.
But I don't mind,
that's their job.
- Yes, so it is.
Well Mr. Gray,
something the police
overlooked at the Benson lodge
seems to point to one of
the guests there last night.
And I thought perhaps
you might know someone
who would look into his room,
his hotel room for me, professionally.
(doorbell ringing)
- You're on to Mohler, eh?
Well, I know a stool pigeon
that you might use as a bellhop.
Of course, he'd have to have
a package of something
that he was delivering
in case someone walked in on him.
(indistinct)
- Wasn't looking for me, were, ya Albert?
Come on in here.
See here, Gray.
Oh, you're here!
- Oh yes, Sergeant, I'm here.
- Well, I wasn't about a
minute behind you on this one.
I'm taking you downtown.
Get in there and get ready.
- But sir, please!
- Get your hat.
- What's the idea?
- You too, Gray.
Mister Markham's got some questions
he wants to ask both you boys.
All right, just as soon
as I'm through here.
Didn't I tell you they'd
try to pin this on me?
- Oh, you never killed Benson.
Not personally, you didn't.
But when I learned that Albert here
was working for Benson yesterday
and for Gray today!
Well, I don't have to explain
that to you, Mr. Vance.
Hurry up, Albert.
- So, Albert the murderer
and Gray's the accessory, huh?
Certainly the rest of our little group
won't object to that, will they Mr. Gray?
- Hardly.
- I'm on my way to Knopf, Sergeant.
Exhibition of Japanese prints.
I will see you later, no doubt.
If you'll excuse me.
- So long.
Hurry up and get him washed up.
- Alright, the bag's mine.
I was in his room then.
- [Markham] After climbing
in the back window, why?
- How did you find out?
- Well, Harry Gray was present, you know.
But Gray's out of it.
He was in the kitchen making coffee.
- I see.
- Harry Gray can't tangle me in this.
- Why did you try to leave town?
- Find out if you can.
- Don't be so picturesque,
I'm not a jury.
- Oh, you are a fool if
you think I
- Why did you
go to that house?
- To talk to Benson about my account.
He sold me out.
We quarreled.
- And you needed money?
- No.
- Did you ever see that before?
- No.
- Benson was interested in you,
suppose we say that he attacked you.
- Well?
- If you'll excuse me, your
reputation is well known.
The Forsyth suicide two years ago.
The case of,
- Nevermind that.
I've liked men in my
time, they've liked me.
What of it?
I didn't like Tony Benson,
but I didn't kill him.
If my thoughts could
have killed the swine,
he'd have been dead long ago.
- The rest of 'em are in
the reception room there.
- Wait, please.
Sergeant?
- Yes, Chief?
- Get Mohler
and Mrs. Banning in.
- Yes, and you'll want
that valet of Gray's too,
when I'm true with him.
You know, Chief, there's
something funny about,
- Never mind that
now, Sergeant.
Del Roy seems upset.
- I don't wonder, you barked at her.
You shouldn't bark at the ladies, old man.
- Oh, I'm busy.
This is not the only case in New York
and you're not helping me any.
You are more flippant than usual today.
Well, this was a particularly
flippant murder, Markham.
And if you go on trusting
clues like those,
you'll be busier still.
- Have you a clue?
- [Paula] I have instructed my lawyer.
- Sit down.
- Why, I can't conceive who would want
good old Tony out of the way.
Why, we were just planning
our fall hunting trip
for this month.
- Oh, you hunt, Mr. Mohler?
- Because darling,
- You keep out of it.
You will have,
- What's that?
- Oh, I love to hunt.
I love to hunt.
Ever since
- Never mind all that.
This envelope with your name on it
was found in Benson's desk.
It contains three very
interesting documents.
- Then it was useless.
He didn't have it with him!
- What was useless?
(indistinct)
- Please, Paula!
The first is a canceled cheque of Benson's
made out to Adolph Mohler for $10,000.
- Oh.
- The second,
is a confession signed by you,
admitting this check to be a forgery.
And the third is a note for $10,000
made out to Anthony Benson
signed by Adolph Mohler.
- Yes, yes, that.
I should have mentioned
those things before.
You know, my financial
arrangement were not
all what one could desire.
- I shouldn't have left you.
- Unfortunately, to
protect Madame's stock,
Mr. Benson required $10,000.
- Okay, and you so you forged his name.
- Oh, you mean it would
have been a forgery,
if he had made a complaint.
- Well, it's a cinch
he can't make one now.
- Its a forgery just the same, Sergeant,
but I'll take that up later.
- He forges Benson's name,
pays him back with his own money.
Marvelous.
- I explained it to dear
old Tony at once, of course,
and offered him this note.
- Which falls as due today.
- Yes, and,
- You mean to tell me
that Benson accepted your
note without security?
- Oh, well naturally.
- Yeah, well,
what was wrapped in this piece of paper,
which was found in the wood
box with your name on it?
- Tony gave me a party for my birthday
and presented me with a gold pencil.
I have it here,
- You didn't tell me
it was your birthday.
- Please, Paula, be quiet.
You will get me the electric chair.
- But darling,
- You will come with me.
- This is the security
that you gave Benson for that note.
- Oh, so Miss Del Roy told you.
- Who?
- Those pearls are Miss Del Roy's
and she threatened to kill
Benson herself.
- Del Roy?
- Yes! She's a snake, that woman.
I'm through, I'm finished with her.
Now you are the word to me again, darling.
- You think I would accompany you
through your sordid affair?
- Oh, please.
Miss Del Roy loaned me her pearls,
and I,
- What a lovely liar.
He bought them for me one day
and stole them the next.
- So Adolph, that's
what became of the money
I sent you to cover my margins.
Now wonder you forged that check.
Why you, you!
- What were you doing,
sneaking into Benson's house last night?
Both of you?
Why did you quarrel with him?
- I wanted to get back
that confession of forgery.
He threatened to put Adolph in jail.
Mr. Markham, Adolph's all I have now!
Except the money that makes him love me.
- You threatened to kill
Benson yourself, didn't you?
- Yes.
- Well, who didn't?
- Mr. Markham, may I have that jewel case?
- Mr. Gray is here, sir.
- Oh, send him in.
Miss Del Roy, in the other room.
Sergeant!
- In here, please.
- You through with my valet yet?
- We are not.
- In a minute, Gray.
- Well, Mr. Detective,
the newspaper boys are certainly
having a lot of fun with you,
being on the scene of
the crime last night.
- They don't seem to take
your presence at the scene of the matter
quite so humorously.
- No one ever laughs at me.
They used to when I was a kid,
but I taught them not to.
But you, Philo Vance, the
famous amateur detective
to be in on the draw and then raised out,
how do you stand it?
- Perhaps I haven't completed my draw.
- I'll see you later, Gray.
- Why not?
I'm used to that, Markham.
- Vance, Del Roy is bluffing.
Did you notice that she didn't even ask
if her pearls were still there?
No, because she knew they weren't,
because she got them.
- Oh?
- She tried to leave town,
didn't she?
- Where was she going, you know?
- Yes, Boston.
Oh, Vance, I'm tired.
I'm tired of all the
human passions and lies,
And you don't suppose
they'll beat me in the
election Tuesday, do you?
- Solving this case
won't lose you any votes.
- Well, I have solved it.
Sergeant!
These complications, Mohler
and Mrs. Banning and the rest,
simply obscure the direct
evidence against Del Roy.
- Yes, Chief?
- Sergeant.
Exhibit A, B, and C versus Fanny Del Roy.
Label them for the grand jury.
I am going to ask for her
indictment this afternoon.
- On that evidence?
- Vance, I may not know Japanese art,
but I am still District
Attorney of New York.
- Defense counsel in the McGuire case.
- You'll have to wait.
- Are we to be detained here?
- Sergeant!
- Yes sir!
- Hand over Ms. Del Roy over
to the custody of a Matron.
- [Heath] Yes, sir.
Have Ms. O'Brien over
to the chief's office.
Right away, yeah.
- [Vance] Don't make a mistake, old man.
You can't afford to.
- [Markham] if you'll show me where, I,
- What I'd like to show you,
are some bits of stringy fuzz
across the front of Benson's waistcoat.
You have that waist coat, of course?
- [Markham] Yes, it's in the
medical examiner's office.
What's that got to do with it?
- Have I ever let you down?
- Well, no.
- I suppose we take a look
at that waistcoat, then.
- [Markham] Alright.
(indistinct road traffic)
- County courthouse.
- Yes, sir.
(indistinct road traffic)
- Vance, this looks like
a wild goose chase to me.
- Pardon me, Markham.
Suppose you turn east at the next corner.
(glass shattering)
(Markham grunting)
- I'm shot, Vance.
Stop the car!
- No, no. My apartment, quick!
That shot was meant for me, Markham.
Had a silencer on that gun.
- What makes you think the
bullet was meant for you?
- Something I said in your office.
It must have been overheard.
- By whom?
- All the possibilities
were there, weren't they?
- Well, I still think it's Del Roy.
- But Markham, do women kill
merely to recover a string of pearls?
- Well, suppose Benson had
forced his attention on her?
Supposing that he attempted to,
- Can you imagine Benson, with his vanity,
attempting anything without his toupee?
- I've got it.
- What do you mean?
- Albert.
The minute you told me
that Albert brought that
handbag out to Gray that night,
- Gray simply went out there
to spend the night with
Benson, who was nervous.
- Well, he picked a swell chaperone.
- Yeah, Gray forgot and left his bag
in Benson's room at the club.
Benson phoned and Albert
brought it out, that's all.
- And where did Albert go after that?
He claimed that he took
the train back to town.
That's no alibi.
Why, he only started working
for Benson six weeks ago.
And when I photographed him,
he nearly threw a fit.
- You know Markham, because Albert refuses
to tell the police the
history of his life,
Sergeant insists that
he's a gunman in disguise.
- Well, he's a foreigner.
- Well, my case against Delroy!
So Sergeant, you tell Smithers
to prepare the indictment.
- Yes sir.
- Now, just a moment.
I'm not going to let you
make fools of yourself.
Markham, until tomorrow night,
let me handle this in my own way.
Now if you don't, on
the day after tomorrow,
the morning papers will
say that I, not you,
will have solved the
murder of Anthony Benson.
And that's election day.
- You stopped me last night
from proceeding as I saw fit,
and I got a bullet in my arm.
Del Roy has the real motive.
- Oh, motive.
Drop a nickel in a slot and get a motive.
Everybody has some motive
for murdering somebody.
- Yeah, be careful somebody
doesn't murder you.
- No, nobody's gonna get him, Chief.
I'll watch over you Mr. Vance.
- Thank you Sergeant.
Oh, tell me, did that
firearms expert of yours
say when he would
know about those bullets?
- Sometime today.
- I'll see him.
And if you don't mind, Markham,
I'd like to have Ms. Del Roy's jewel case
brought to me here this afternoon.
- Right.
- Then I want a police woman.
- A police woman?
- Yes.
- Well, say!
I can handle anything in this case.
- Well very good, Sergeant.
This is a little job of
chambermaiding in a hotel.
- Oh.
(Heath grunting)
- Now this is the bullet
that killed Benson.
The rifling marks on it
correspond exactly with the rifling
on the inside of the barrel
of that gun you picked
up after the murder.
This one is the one that hit Mr. Markham.
The same kind of a bullet
fired from the same kind of a gun.
But the trouble is,
that this is such a special make
that I don't understand
how it could be two of them
exactly alike around here.
- Excuse me, Mr. Vance.
- Oh, yes Welch.
- Here have the picture of
those fingerprints you wanted.
- Oh, good.
And that coffee can,
you left it there all right?
- Yes, I stuck it back
on the kitchen shelf.
- Thank you.
- What gets me is,
Sergeant Heath said there was no explosion
when Markham was shot.
Now, this type of gun was designed
in Russia during the revolution
for the protection of the
women of the aristocracy.
A few drifted to Paris
and were copied to the underworld.
But there was never a silencer
manufactured for that gun.
- Ah, but there was, Captain!
In this article by the late
Bale of the Paris Police,
both the gun and its tiny
silencer are described.
You might keep that copy for your file.
- Thank you.
- Thank you!
And Captain, if there
should be a call for me,
I'll be at the reference
room at "The Times."
- I'll let you know.
- Goodbye.
- Goodbye.
- But for strength of
composition, Mr. Vance,
and for unusual delicacy of lines,
I would continue.
- Oh, Sam?
Pardon me.
- Yes?
- Is Mr. Markham all right?
- Well, no sir. Sergeant
Heath is with him.
- As I was saying Mr. Vance,
I could do no better
than to recommend to you
these three very choice examples
of the Ukiyo-e school.
Now these, Mr. Vance,
are a rare opportunity.
If you don't take advantage of it, sir,
I assure you you'll regret it to your,
- Hey, hey.
Who are you?
- Who am I? Who are you?
- Oh, pardon me, Sergeant.
This is my print dealer.
He's not dangerous.
- Oh.
- If you would step aside, please.
Mr. Vance,
(doorbell ringing)
These three,
- I better
take that door, Mr. Vance.
You know we can't be too careful today.
- Alright, Sergeant.
Oh by the way, you haven't forgotten
that jewel case have you?
- Right here.
- Thank you.
- Of course Mr. Vance,
I don't want to force these upon you.
I have, in the portfolio,
something that might
interest you still more.
If I can only find it here,
it's something I was particularly anxious
to bring to your attention.
Ah yes, here we have it.
These three from the Wright collection:
Hokusai, Narunobi and Hiroshige,
commonly referred to, you know,
as the three Hiroshige,
- Burke.
- Oh, Burke, did you get it?
- Yes sir.
All the sacks were tied up with
chord like that, except one.
- And that one?
- Well, somebody must have
cut it off, like you said.
- Say, what have you been up to?
- All right, Sergeant, I'll explain later.
Oh, Burke, will you stand by
Mr. Markham's office please?
- Yes sir.
- Sergeant, we're getting warm.
- What do you mean, we're
getting warm? From that?
- Mr. Vance, may I not call your attention
to these very,
- Oh,
I'll take the Hiroshige.
3000, you said, huh?
- Right, thank you.
Correct.
Pardon me.
- 3000 bucks for those chromos?
What's the psychology in that, Mr. Vance?
- Sergeant, we're hot.
- Say, will you please let me in
on this string bonfire business?
- You'll observe, Sergeant,
that this twine burns slowly but surely.
(phone ringing)
Oh, will you take that please?
- Yeah? No, Heath.
Oh, she has?
Good!
- Yes, Sergeant?
- Mrs. Banning's confessed.
- Slowly but surely.
- It was to protect Adolph.
I went to Benton's room,
I pleaded with him.
He had the jewel case,
so I thought he must have
Adolph's confession of forgery
and his note, too.
Benson laughed at me.
There was a gun on the
table, so I shot him.
He went to the door to
call and then he fell.
- And where was Mr. Mohler?
- In one of the guest rooms.
Oh, I swear to you Mr. Mohler is innocent!
- Now, Mrs. Banning,
- Yes?
- Have you a hair pin?
- What?
- A hair pin.
- Why, yes.
- May I have it?
Thank you.
- Sergeant Heath's on the wire, Mr. Vance.
- Is there anyone in the reception room?
- No sir.
- I'll take it there.
Hello?
Yes.
Oh, just a minute.
And what are you doing up?
- You think I can lay
around your apartment
with the newspapers hounding
me about this Benson crime?
Where is Sergeant Heath?
I can't find him anywhere.
- I had him on the wire.
He is doing something for me.
- Oh.
- Also for you.
- Oh.
- Yes, Sergeant? Yes.
All right, arrange it for six sharp.
And you'd better set that clock out there
and your watch with mine.
I make it just 4:33. Right.
- Mr. Vance, if you're through with me,
well, I haven't had any lunch yet and,
- Oh, I'm terribly sorry Burke.
Suppose you eat first
and then pick up that police woman
who's chambermaiding for
us at that hotel, will you?
- All right.
- Good.
- What do you think of her confession?
- Well, more a confession out of love
than a confession of guilt,
don't you think?
- You mean that she's
trying to protect Mohler?
- What else?
- Mr. Gray is here, sir.
- Send him in.
- [Vance] How do you do?
- Oh, hello.
- [Vance] How are you Gray?
- Say, when you gonna play that hand
you've been bragging about?
- Tonight.
Would you like to sit in on the game?
- Table stakes?
- Anything you say.
- No, you say.
This will be your party.
- I don't think so.
Markham, I'd like to
have all our little group
at Benson's lodge in one hour.
And suppose we take along
a photograph of Adolph
Mohler's fingerprint.
- I understand, Vance.
I know what you mean, yes.
Mohler, you mean to tell me
that you were just sitting up there alone,
when the gun went off?
- How do you know it was a gun?
- [Mr. Gray] Oh, this is going
to be an interesting hand!
- Well?
- What I said was that I
was not with Mrs. Banning.
- I don't wanna know where you were not,
I wanna know where you were.
- I am a gentleman.
- Oh, Miss Del Roy?
- Yes.
He was with me.
- Remarkable fellow, Mohler.
- Oh, come on, we're not
getting any place at all, Vance.
- You'll have your murderer,
Markham, by six o'clock.
- I can't stand much more of this!
If you've got anything on me, say it!
- This is a rather unusual jewel
case of yours, Ms. Del Roy.
- Oh, but you.
- You know, Markham,
Ms. Del Roy has a better motive
for keeping Anthony
Benson permanently quiet
than any of them.
- Please, I would like to go.
- [Markham] You'll keep quiet.
- [Vance] And you, Albert,
hiding your past from the police.
- I was afraid.
- I don't blame you.
Albert's wife is looking for him.
He left high in Chicago recently,
without giving notice, you might say.
- How much longer is this
comedy going to last, Vance?
- In 10 minutes, Markham,
it won't be comedy.
For one of you, it isn't now, is it?
- But why give me a
ringside seat to the seance?
If any of you comics have got an idea
that I had anybody bump Benson off,
- You certainly had
motive enough, didn't you?
- [Mr. Gray] What motive?
- Simply matter of fact, revenge,
for having sold you out on the market.
You, the illustrious
Harry Gray; the big shot.
Vanity and arrogance, Markham,
usually motivates the behavior
of the intelligent gunman.
- [Fanny] Gunman?
- Look here!
- But you were with us, here,
when the shot was fired and the body fell.
And just before that?
- I was in the kitchen making coffee.
- That's right, I remember.
- I remember that it was
very over-boiled coffee.
Must have been on the fire
a long time, wasn't it?
- Gray?
Gray couldn't have made
the coffee that night,
I made it for Paula.
I wouldn't call me a liar if I were you.
- I, Adolph Mohler, made the coffee.
- And if Mohler did make it, Markham,
Mr. Gray was out of this
room some five minutes.
And doing what?
- You're dealing, don't ask me.
- I'm not, I'm telling you.
Mr. Gray didn't make the
coffee that night, you know.
- [Mr. Gray] Who says I didn't?
- This photograph,
of the only fingerprints
on that freshly unwrapped can of coffee.
And this one, of your prints Mohler,
prove even to a jury, Markham,
that only he touched that coffee can.
- Oh, spare me!
When they took the print of
my fingers this afternoon,
I knew you had suspected me.
If you're going to accuse me, do it.
- Oh, this is getting tricky.
- Oh, two-handed poker
isn't so very tricky,
do you think?
Mr. Gray, just what were you doing
while Markham and I sat here that night,
and Albert came in and so
mysteriously with your handbag?
- You tell me.
- Sure!
You crept up those back stairs,
tapped on Benson's door,
he was changing his collar.
You remember, Markham,
how it bothered him?
Walked in and shot him dead,
with one of those imported derringers
and silencers of yours.
- Silencers? Ha!
That's a hot one.
You heard the shot,
while I stood here with you.
- The shot that killed Benson was silent.
No one heard it.
Just as no one heard the shot
which you fired at me, Gray,
and which wounded Mr. Markham.
Here at the lodge, however,
you arranged for a second shot to explode
as Benson's body came
tumbling down those stairs.
- Oh, I suppose the body waited up there
for the second shot?
- Exactly.
You arranged that, too.
(clock chiming)
Just as I have.
(gunshot)
(body crashing, clattering)
It's a dummy!
Oh, Burke?
- Yes sir.
- Supported at the head of the stairs
by a piece of twine,
at the same kind that Mr. Gray cut
from a pack of liquor in
the basement that night.
The twine was crossed around Benson's body
and looped around a newel post
at the head of the stairs.
I knew that the body
must have been there for several minutes.
- [Markham] How did you know?
- Because if Benson had been shot
immediately prior to his
tumbling down the stairs,
there couldn't possibly have been
that puddle of blood on the
second step from the top,
could there?
- Very interesting.
But where were all these people
while I was doing this Houdini stuff?
Do you think I'd take a chance
at being walked in on like that?
- But what chance were you taking
after you saw that Mrs. Banning
was resting on the bed in her room?
- How did you know that?
- Your hairpin, Mrs. Banning. Thank you.
It exactly matches this one,
which I found on your
pillow up there that night.
From the impression of
your figure on the bed,
you must have been resting there
for some time, weren't you?
- Yes, I was lying there
when the shot was fired.
- Ah.
- All right,
but what about Del Roy and Mohler?
- Ms. Del Roy has already told us
that Mr. Mohler was with her,
discussing her pearls, I should think.
Mr. Mohler had considerable
explaining to do,
if you remember.
You listened outside their door
and what you heard convinced you
that they would remain there
for several minutes at least.
- [Markham] But how could
he have timed the shot?
- As I just did with the dummy.
With another of Benson's
cartridge burglar alarms,
like this one.
You used the one
Benson had stuck in the
door of his storeroom.
You got it when you went down
to the cellar that night.
After you had made sure
that you would not be interrupted
by Mrs. Banning and the others,
you hung the body and the
alarm on that twine up there.
Then you set fire to a
loose end of the twine,
so that when the flame reached the knot,
the twine broke, the body fell,
and the alarm dropped to the floor
where it exploded like this.
(loud bang)
You were first upstairs,
after the body fell.
You quickly dropped the Derringer
behind the newel post,
picked up the alarm and the string,
put them in your pocket
and told me to do my stuff, wasn't it?
- Well,
- He meant to kill Benson, you see,
but surrounding it with the props he did
was simply camouflage, I suppose,
to befuddle the amateur?
- You're going to have the
time of your sweet life
trying to hang this on me.
The police woman I used as
a chambermaid in your hotel
has already hung it on you.
She found Ms. Del Roy's pearls,
which you stole that
night after the shooting,
to divert suspicion.
- Anything else?
- Oh yes.
The coat you wore, Mr. Gray.
It seems that bits of fuzz
from the twine you used
were on Benson's waistcoat,
also on the inside of this pocket.
The same pocket from which
I saw you withdrawing your hand
as I followed you up the stairs.
- You know that isn't enough.
Do you think any jury would go for that?
- Well if not, I know they'll go for this:
The clever little silencer
that fits your clever little gun.
Another trophy from your room, Mr. Gray.
Also contributed by our police woman.
Is that enough?
- All right, you outsmarted me, Vance.
I'm game.
- Hey!
(thudding)
- Look out, he's got a gun!
(shouting)
- [Heath] Drop it, Gray!
(gunshots)
(body crashing)
Well Mr. Vance, I told
you I'd watch over you.
- [Vance] Thank you, Sergeant.
- That baby put three
slugs mighty close to me!
I better call the doc.
- Well, I'll wait outside.
I haven't been feeling my best.
- All right.
- I'll take care of you,
Dolphy dear.
- Burke, get that coat and cover him.
- Yes, sir.
- That you, Doc?
This is Sergeant Heath, I'm
out at the Benson Lodge.
There's been another murder.
I mean, shooting. I did it.
Okay,
- Mr. Vance, may I have
the jewel case now?
- Oh, of course.
And don't worry,
no one else knows about your daughter.
- Thank you. I was going to her,
when they caught me leaving town.
If Benson had found this,
he would've held it over me.
Threatened to tell my
little girl, what I am.
Thank you, Mr. Vance, for
not telling them about her.
- So, it was Harry Gray, Mr. Vance.
Well, it didn't
surprise me any.
- Surprise me any.
(men chuckling)
(cheerful orchestral music)