The Power (1968) Movie Script
(dramatic trumpet music)
(dramatic violin, trumpet music)
(dramatic trumpet music)
(relaxed flute music)
- Close that door.
(anxious electronic music)
(heartbeat pounding)
(heavy breathing)
(screaming)
All right, cut it.
Great, don't try to move yet.
Think you can walk?
- Yes sir.
Matter of fact, I might just
walk and keep right on going.
- Don't forget to wash your
forehead on the way out.
Sorry, I didn't
mean to yell at you.
- That's all right,
I shouldn't have come
barging in like that.
I think you just
lost a customer.
- He'll be back.
- Tell me, is the pain
really that intense?
- We almost hit
the limit just now.
- You mean just from a small
spot over the forehead?
- It's not the size of the
exposure, Mr. Nordlund.
Size has nothing to do with it.
In fact, two areas of pain
are no more intense than one.
Now would you care to try it?
- No, thank you.
How do you ever
get them to do it?
- It's easy, you see,
they make more money
here in an hour then
they can serving tables
at a student commissary
for three weeks.
Have you ever served tables
at a student commissary,
Mr. Nordlund?
- I see what you mean.
- I don't know how well
you've been briefed.
- I know the function of
your committee, of course.
I know you specialize in pain.
- Well, you might call us
the sadomasochists
of the space program.
- That kind of masochism
is rather expensive.
- But worth every penny of it.
Look at him, how can
we protect him in space
if we don't know exactly
how much pain he can take,
how much torture he can endure?
No matter what the
answers, Mr. Nordlund,
they will not come cheaply.
(buzzing)
- What was that? I heard
it before coming in.
(mechanical whirring)
- Over here.
- What's the blackout point?
- For most men, five G's.
Let's take a look.
He's at three G's right now.
I can arrange it if you'd
care to have a ride.
- You seem determined to make me
one of your guinea
pigs, Professor Tanner.
- We just want the government
to know exactly
what we're doing.
Excuse me a minute.
What is it, Scott?
- You tell me, Jim.
I'd like to know
if he's flipped.
I mean if he's gone
right off the deep end,
we might as well face it now.
- Who?
- Who else? Hallson.
- I know he's been
under strain...
- Strain, look, all right,
now I'm not a psychiatrist
and I don't pretend to be but
I'll tell you one thing, this
guy's mind is right on the
ragged edge and something better
be done about it right now.
- Has he said anything about...
- Quotations out of Nietzsche.
Yeah, sure the man is Superman.
You wanna hear the topic?
Today he thinks we're
all being watched.
- By whom?
- By the unknown.
I swear to you Jim,
as a matter a fact, by
the super right now.
Who's that?
- That's our new Liaison Officer
from Washington,
Arthur Nordlund.
He's gonna attend the
committee meeting today.
- Get rid of him, he
can't go to the meeting.
- And how do you
suggest I do that?
- I'm telling you,
Hallson's gonna
blow the lid on
those questionnaires.
Now if he goes wild,
this guy's gonna
think we're all a
bunch of crackpots.
- It's too late now
to keep him out.
- Well make up something.
- I can't.
- All right, then you
better clamp the lid
on Hallson, Jimbo,
that's all I gotta say.
- Mr. Nordlund.
Professor Carl
Melnicker, physics.
- My pleasure.
- Professor Scott, biology.
- How do you do?
- Please sit down, sir.
And Professor Lansing,
genetic and cellular theory.
- How do you do?
- Professor.
- And Professor Hallson,
anthropology.
- Yes?
Oh, how do you do?
- And of course you
know the Chairman
of this Committee on Human
Endurance, Professor Tanner.
- Thank you,
Professor Van Zandt.
- For the past
year, my department
has been largely engaged
in research in outer space.
Why one man lives
and another man dies
under exactly the same
stresses, the same environments.
We've been trying to figure out
how the ones who are successful,
the ones who do survive,
how they get that way.
What factors come into play.
Well I'll now call on
the Chairman of our Human
Endurance Committee to
take over the floor, Jim?
- To get right to
the business at hand,
I'd like to call upon
Professor Melnicker
to give us his
detailed study on those
conditions in which
man will have to exist.
- No.
We'll check my
questionnaires first.
- Professor Hallson, I
have decided to postpone
your work with the
questionnaires until
the next meeting.
- You can't postpone it,
you don't have the
right to postpone it.
- Professor Hallson, please.
- [Henry] But you must
see this, all of you.
- Just what are these
questionnaires, if I may ask?
- Well it's a program
that Professor Hallson
initiated himself
to find those people
with a great capacity
for survival.
We took the test
ourselves as sort
of a dry run before they
give them to the students.
- What sort of test?
- Medical history, heredity
and a most advanced
IQ examination.
- You have the results?
- Yes.
- Well I would very much
like to hear them, if I may.
- There's only one
questionnaire that counts
and I have the results
right here in my report.
Results that show an
intelligent quotient
beyond the known limits
of measurability.
This person here on
this committee who made
these responses to
this questionnaire
has a force of
intellect far superior
to anyone else known
on this earth today.
- Well, I suppose one of us here
should feel very flattered, huh?
- I don't believe a word of it.
- May I see that report, please?
- Maybe somebody filled
it out as sort of a gag.
- Well this is
most extraordinary.
- May I ask then if anybody here
cares to admit to this
documented superiority?
Well then I suggest we
get on to something else.
- Why, are you
afraid to believe it?
- Believe what?
Just what you are you talking
about, Professor Hallson?
- I think Henry's
a little overtired.
You see Mr. Nordlund,
we've all been
working very hard on
the committee lately.
- You're all afraid, all of you.
This person, whoever
he is, he can do what
he wants with this committee,
with the whole project.
He could take control of
all the minds in this room.
- That's wild
speculation, Henry.
We've got to go by proven
and documented facts.
- Yes, that's enough Henry.
- Gentleman please, I don't want
to interfere with the
procedure here but
I do find the supposition
quite intriguing.
Tell me, Professor Hallson,
are you talking about a
power that is actually
capable of preter-normal and
transcendental phenomena?
- Yes.
- Then prove it, give us proof.
- Frankly I think we've
wasted enough time as it is.
- Now, now, surely we can
think of some simple test.
Professor, what do you suggest?
- Wait a minute.
All right.
It won't take very much
to move it, we'll begin.
- Go right ahead,
Professor Lansing.
- I'm sorry, I'm afraid all I'm
succeeding in doing
is getting a headache.
- Professor Scott.
- I'll do my best.
I'm sorry.
I tried.
- Professor Melnicker.
- It's no use.
If no one will admit
to the questionnaire,
he won't expose himself
in a test like this.
- Well then I think
we've been about
as indulgent with your theories
as anybody could expect.
- Together, we'll
do it all together.
- No.
- You've got to.
- Why not, then?
- Might as well
have an end to it.
- All right, go ahead.
- I've forgotten though, do
we put our hands on the table?
(mysterious guitar music)
(relaxed violin music)
- You left.
- I always come back.
- I never should have told you.
- What?
- What wine does to me.
- See what it does.
- Jim.
- We can always talk.
- I can't get it out of my head.
- Try.
- I've been thinking.
- You can always think.
- No, really.
- Really.
- As a geneticist,
I know that there
is no limit to the
variables of gene frequency.
- What?
- Genetically
speaking, it's entirely
possible to produce a man
of tomorrow right now.
- Right now?
- One extraordinary
combination of genes,
like four royal flushes in
a row, do you understand?
- [Jim] Yeah, we're dealing
with a four flusher.
- Oh Jim, I'm serious.
- Drink your wine.
- Oh, Jim.
- Drink.
Drink.
(relaxed violin music)
- [Margery] You know,
I've got a hunch.
- [Jim] Now darling, you're
not gonna take about genes.
No, ma'am.
(giggling)
(faint heartbeat pounding)
(mysterious guitar music)
(tense violin music)
(telephone ringing)
- Gimme that.
Who would be calling now?
You're just getting home.
Hello?
- Jim, it's Sally Hallson.
I hate to bother you but I'm
getting worried about Henry.
He's not there by
any chance, is he?
- No, not that I know of.
- He said he was going to
pick up the questionnaires
at his office and then
come straight back.
- Well he probably
stopped off for a drink
on the way home or maybe he
met somebody at the office.
I really wouldn't worry,
he'll be home there
any minute I'm sure.
Now, where were we?
- It's about Henry, isn't it?
- Yes.
- What happened to him?
- Nothing, he's late getting
home from the office.
- Well, where'd he go?
- To the office.
- Why?
- To get those damn
fool questionnaires.
- Well he wouldn't stay
there this late at night.
- I have another
bottle of champagne.
- Jim.
- Something light and bubbly.
- No more bubbly.
- What?
- Let's go to the office, huh?
- Now?
- Now.
Now.
Crazy geneticist
that got married.
A scientist, a savant.
Has Professor Hallson
been here tonight?
- [Guard] Yes, sir.
Checked in at 8:22,
hasn't left yet.
- Thanks.
- What's that?
- I don't know, just
a name, Adam Hart.
- He must be here somewhere,
the man at the gate...
- I know what he said.
- Well.
- I'm sorry.
Adam Hart?
- Never heard of him.
(rumbling)
(anxious trumpet music)
- Nothing's working, I'll
pull the emergency switch.
(intermittent
heartbeat pounding)
(anxious violin, trumpet music)
(screaming)
(sirens blaring)
(anxious somber violin music)
- It's all right
Sally, it's all right.
- My name is Mark Corlane.
I'm in charge of
this investigation.
- Sure thing.
- Go ahead Harris, take him out.
- Mrs. Hallson, there's
something I've got to ask you.
Mrs. Hallson, have you
ever heard of Adam Hart?
Adam Hart?
- Yes.
Henry did speak
of him once but...
- Yes?
- That was years ago,
they were children.
- Professor Tanner?
Doesn't the centrifuge
have a safety switch?
- Two at the controls and
one inside the cab itself.
In fact, the man inside
the cab presses it
when a run starts.
If he should release it,
the cab stops automatically.
- But it didn't.
- No, none of the
controls would work.
- Why not?
- I don't know,
I tried them all.
The control board's not working.
- Which one of these is
supposed to start it?
- The blue one starts
it, the red one stops it.
(mechanical whirring)
- Nope, no.
No thank you.
No sir, I leave my Supermen
to the comic strips.
- But you can't deny
the possibility.
- I can and I do.
- Just supposing there was a guy
who jumped a generation
or two or 10.
- Yeah, well so what?
- Don't you realize how far
advanced he'd be over us?
- Not at all, Jim.
Look, take guys like
Galileo, Pascal,
Da Vinci, those guys were
born hundreds of years ago.
- Right, now supposing
this guy jumped 100
generations or 1,000
generations, is
that so impossible?
- Yes, it would be impossible.
- You still deny it, huh?
- I still deny it.
- As a human being
or as a scientist?
- I deny it because
I choose to.
Because...
- [Jim] Go on.
- Jim look,
I mean look at me.
Do you know what I am? I am
a manufactured personality.
- [Jim] A what?
- I used to study what
people looked for,
what they liked in
other people and then
I tried to develop
those traits in myself.
- Well, we all do
that to some extent.
- Yes, but I did it
with a vengeance.
Until finally I met someone
who really was a personality.
I mean the most alive
guy I've ever met, Jim.
Now look, don't get me wrong,
I was chasing girls
when I was nine.
But I wanted to be this guy,
an extension of his personality.
Can you imagine what
this world would be like
with your Superman
running around
and everybody wanting to
be a copy of just one man?
Now I mean sometimes I don't
hold much hope for
the human race.
I think I'd be willing to
kill a man to avoid that.
Ah, my beloved colleague,
you're just in time.
We were speaking of life and
power and Supermen and here
stands a true believer, am
I right, Professor Tanner?
- [Jim] Well there's one
clear fact you can't deny.
Something killed Henry Hallson.
- That's true, something
killed him, the centrifuge.
- I am not going to make it.
Two hours sleep last night and
I kept seeing Henry's face.
Why would anyone want to kill
Henry Hallson, for what reason?
- I don't know, 100
reasons, no reason.
- You think it was somebody
on the committee, don't you?
- Yes, I do.
- [Margery] Surely not Scotty?
- [Jim] Why not?
He's an odd combination,
brains, brawn.
- And always on the make,
no, I don't believe that.
What about Professor Melnicker?
- Well he's certainly a superior
human being but whether
he could kill anybody,
that I don't know.
- Well if I had to guess,
I'd say Professor Van Zandt.
A mind like a steel trap.
- Yes, it could be Van Zandt.
Or Nordlund.
- Nordlund?
But he's not on the committee.
- But he was in that room
when we made the experiments.
- Well, so was I.
- That's right, it doesn't have
to be a man, it could be you.
- Oh, why thank you.
- It's all right, I've been
under your power for
weeks now, ma'am.
- Oh, and what about you?
- I'm sorry to interrupt.
I'd like a few minutes with
Professor Tanner alone.
Very attractive young lady,
she seems rather fond of you.
Why did you come here
with her so late at night?
- Well we were worried
about Professor Hallson.
His wife called and we
came looking for him.
- You were with miss,
Professor Lansing at the time?
- Yes.
- In your apartment, alone?
- Yes.
- Miss Lansing remembers
a Mrs. Hallson calling?
- [Jim] Of course.
- That's odd.
- What's so odd about it?
- Because Mrs. Hallson doesn't
remember calling you at all.
- What?
- How long were you
and Miss Lansing
here before you found the body?
- Just a few minutes.
- Are you sure?
- You can check with
the guard at the gate.
- I did.
He made a record at the
time in his logbook.
- Well then?
- Somehow there doesn't seem
to be any trace of
that record at all now.
- Well can't he remember it?
- I asked him, he
wasn't certain.
- Well I am.
- You got your degree
in Biochemistry
at Williamsburg, Pennsylvania?
- That's right.
- Then four more years of work
at Princeton at Virginia Tech.
- [Jim] Yes.
- What happened to the records
of your work at
those institutions?
- What do you mean?
They're on file there.
What the hell are
you talking about?
- I hope you tell me.
- Look, I have duplicates of
my records on file right here.
- Duplicates are easily forged.
- What's all this
about my records?
- Mr. Corlane was curious
about your background,
so we took the
liberty this morning
of wiring the various
parties involved
for documentation of
these records that
you submitted to us.
No documentation is
forthcoming, Mr. Tanner.
Your records are fraudulent,
no one ever heard of you.
- That's impossible.
- I must admit, I was inclined
toward astonishment myself
and I want you to
know that you are very
fortunate that the board
is not going to prosecute.
It would only make
us look foolish
for having hired you
in the first place.
Here you are, your
severance check.
I want you to leave immediately,
that's all, Mr. Tanner.
That's all, Mr. Tanner.
Scotty.
- I don't want to hear it.
- Scotty, I need your help.
- It's none of my business
what happened to Hallson.
- Scotty, please.
- I'm not interested.
- You just told me
a few minutes ago...
- Forget what I
told you, will you?
Just forget it.
- Tanner.
I hope you're not
planning to go somewhere.
- Where'd you have in mind?
- Stay in town, Tanner, I'll
be talking to you again.
(anxious guitar music)
- Ain't it cute?
Yeah.
Real cute.
(playful light trumpet tones)
(booming)
(anxious guitar music)
(cackling)
(tense ensemble music)
- How do you feel, sir?
(tense ensemble music)
(anxious guitar tones)
- Oh Jim, if you leave now,
Corlane's gonna think
you're running away.
- Let him think what he wants.
- What can you do?
- I can fight back.
- Fight whom?
You don't even know who it is.
- I don't know who
and I don't know what
but I know he's real
and I know he's here.
I know he tried to kill me
but for some reason,
he didn't succeed.
So I know there's a
limit to his power.
It's not a very consoling
limit but I've gotta find it.
- How can you fight
him by running away?
- I'm going to Joshua Flats,
Henry Hallson's hometown
where he first met Adam Hart.
There must be somebody there
who still remembers him.
If I can just get some
kind of identification.
- I'll go with you.
- No.
You stay here and go on
working with the committee.
I'll be back by the
end of the week.
- Jim.
- Yes?
- Why you?
First Henry Hallson, now you?
(planes humming)
- [John] Hey there, are you
seeing double, my friend?
- Fill her up please.
- Then just get yourself...
- Huh?
- I said fill her up.
- Sure thing mister,
fill her up, right.
- The cafe open?
- Complete line of used cars.
- Yeah, Flora, she came in
about a half an hour ago.
- [John] Make you
feel single again.
My name's John Wutherby
and you can count on it.
So hurry on down soon
today, I'll be seeing you.
- You riding through?
- Not exactly.
- Most people do.
I mean you don't get many people
stopping in this crummy
hole unless they have to.
Cold beer?
- No thanks, just some coffee.
- Hot coffee?
Well I gotta heat it up.
- Take your time.
- We got plenty of cold beer,
keep it on hand
for the fly boys.
- Who?
- Air Force.
They have a base at Flat Rock,
about 40 miles down the line.
- Well if it's all right with
you, I'd like some hot coffee.
- Sure, sure.
Biggest mistake I ever made.
- I beg your pardon?
- Oh, leaving New York.
Can you imagine leaving
New York to this?
(relaxed country violin music)
I guess you have to, huh?
- What?
- Stop here.
- Well the fact is I was a
good friend of Henry Hallson's.
I understand his
parents still live here.
- Yeah, that old
house over there.
Couldn't blast 'em out of
it, not even for the funeral.
Hey, what a way to die, huh?
In that thing, wow.
- Did you know Henry?
- Well, I sorta had to, he was
always around, like a shadow.
One step behind Adam.
- Adam Hart?
- You know him?
- Yeah, Henry spoke of him.
(shuddering)
- Goose pimples just
talking about him.
All over my arms,
all over my body.
I mean I always get
goose pimples all over.
- Did he frighten you?
- Oh, doll face, I wasn't
talking about fear.
I'm talking about...
- Yeah.
I think I understand.
- Blond hair, blue
eyes and a look
in those eyes that
made you burn inside.
- I don't suppose you've
seen him for awhile?
- Oh, when they leave
this crummy joint,
they never come back.
How long are you staying?
- I'm not sure.
- Tonight's my night off.
As a matter of fact,
I get off early.
- Swell, maybe
I'll see you, lady.
- You know, the
compressor belt's busted.
- Well fix it.
- [John] You're gonna
hunt far and wide before
you ever come across
the wonderful bargains
just waiting for you
down at Honest John's.
Now then, here's a little bitty
that's been catching
on here of late.
Good old Honest John Wutherby.
- As you can see for yourself,
Mr. Tanner, mother
can't do no traveling.
Sure, we wanted to
go to the funeral.
We wanted to see our son
buried nice and proper.
But you can't drive 200
miles in a wheelchair.
Sit down, Mr. Tanner,
sit right there.
- Thank you.
Was Henry born
here, Mr. Hallson?
- Right inside there.
Lived right here until
he went off to college.
Smart boy, good boy.
- Then you probably knew
all of his friends here.
- Sure, sure, mother did too.
- Henry used to talk a
lot about one of them.
Perhaps he might remember him,
a fella by the name of Hart.
Adam Hart.
- Mother.
(speaking foreign language)
You'd better leave, Mr. Tanner.
All this and Henry dying,
it's got us all torn apart.
- I'm sorry to upset you
but it's very important
I talk to you.
- The thing is she
always hated Adam Hart.
- Why?
- I guess because
Henry took to him so,
his being a gypsy and all.
- A gypsy?
- 10 of them in
a one room shack,
the whole family and
wouldn't you know?
That shack burned to the ground
not two days before
Adam left town.
Horrible thing, wiped them out.
Except for Adam, of course.
Him and his cold,
black, shifty eyes.
- I thought his eyes were blue.
- Black gypsy eyes,
hair to match.
- But the girl at the coffee...
- You take it from me,
mister, I'm telling you.
Smart as they come, there's
nothing he didn't know.
Nothing he couldn't do.
- I suppose you don't have
a picture of him
anywhere, do you?
- Used to have one,
taken with Henry.
I can't figure out
what happened to it.
- Well, thanks anyway for
talking to me, Mr. Hallson.
- Sure, sure, even more thanks.
I hope mother didn't upset you.
- No, not at all.
- Why didn't you tell me?
- Tell you what?
- That you wanted to
know about Adam Hart.
- Why, were you a friend of his?
- You bet I was.
Hey, would you like to
ride out to see his place?
- You mean the shack, I
was told it burned down.
- Mister, those
two nuts have been
cracked ever since Henry
left this town, hop in.
Well come on, it's not far.
- Aren't we getting
pretty far out?
Turn around.
Turn around.
(tires screeching)
(relaxed country violin music)
(anxious mysterious
ensemble music)
(anxious violin, trumpet music)
(anxious flute music)
(planes humming)
(explosions booming)
- [Pilot] Break off, break
off, man in the target area.
(low, tense violin tones)
- Adam Hart, where is he?
- I don't know.
- He told you to
kill me, where is he?
- I swear to you, I don't know.
He didn't tell me to kill you,
he told me to kill anybody.
Anybody asking
questions about him.
- Why?
- I don't know why.
- When did he tell you?
When?
- 10 years ago.
- You were right about
those goose pimples.
(doorbell buzzing)
(relaxed guitar music)
- Who are you, what do you want?
- It's Jim Tanner, Mrs. Hallson.
I'd like to talk to
you for a moment.
- Please,
come in.
Now where did I put
those cigarettes?
Would you like a cigarette?
- No thanks.
- Oh, where?
Where, where?
- There seems to be one
burning right over there.
- Of course.
Well, there must be something
I can get you, a drink?
Why don't you make
us a drink, hmm?
- No thanks, I don't
really care for one.
It seems you already
have a drink.
- That's very mean of you
to let me drink alone.
- Mrs. Hallson, I wanted to...
- I know,
I know.
You want to talk about Henry.
All right, if you
must, you must.
Well,
sit down.
That's better.
- I don't want to
upset you but...
- But you do want
to talk about Henry.
- If you remember the
night that Henry died,
I spoke to you about
a man named Adam Hart.
- I never heard of him.
I never heard of
anyone named Hart.
- You said that Henry
knew him years ago.
- How could I possibly
say a thing like that?
- [Jim] I don't know.
- I got it, let's you and I
both drink to this
mysterious Mr. Hart.
(giggling)
I can promise you one thing.
If he was a good friend
of Henry's, then he was
the world's biggest bore
that ever lived or died.
(laughing)
(relaxed guitar music)
- Who's this?
- Who's what?
- The man in the
picture with Henry?
His face seems to be blurred.
- I don't know, why don't
we call him Adam Hart?
- Do you have some
other pictures?
- Nope, threw them out,
threw everything out.
Except all that scientific jazz,
I gave that to the committee.
Why don't you
relax, have a drink?
- [Jim] I'd better be going.
- Going, going, gone.
I threw it away, Jim.
But you can ask me, ask
me anything you want.
It's just that sometimes it
slips away, know what I mean?
- Yeah, I know.
- I mean the way
I felt about Henry
and just today,
just today,
I could hardly remember
what he looked like.
I couldn't remember
what he looked like.
(anxious flute, violin music)
- [Jim] Marge?
Marge?
(faint heartbeat pounding)
(stove sizzling)
(tense violin, trumpet music)
(plates shattering)
- Ow!
Why, why don't you kill me?
Do it now, go on,
be done with it.
You think you can use me?
No, I will not be used.
I can't with the way
you killed Hallson.
- No Carl, I swear
I didn't kill him.
- And then when the paper
was spinning that day
in the committee room, it was
my mind that was spinning.
From that moment on, I knew it.
I felt that someone
would be killed.
- You sure did a
good job tying me up.
- Please forgive me.
- It's all right.
- You know Carl, I can
well understand why
you suspected me but how
did you know I'd come here?
- I've watched you,
both of you when you
were at work together.
- Are we that obvious?
- Oh my dear girl, all
the basic emotions,
fear, hate, love,
they're all obvious.
- [Jim] But you believe
us now, don't you?
- Yeah.
I will do anything
I can to help,
anything.
You see I know what
a man's power can do.
The raw power of one man,
one man alone to kill
millions of innocent people.
To destroy a whole
country, my country
and this time, who knows?
I look at the newspapers
and I say to myself
this world is going
to hell in a handcart.
But what if by chance it's not
going there on its
own power, yeah?
What if it's being pushed?
Think of it.
- I know one thing.
If we threaten his survival,
he'll try to destroy us.
- I'll take that risk.
- Then first of all, we've
got to survive ourselves.
We've got to stay
together and not here.
(classical violin music)
- Sorry, there
isn't anything left.
- Isn't there even a small room?
- No, there isn't.
- Charlie, hey Charlie
Hoving, how are ya, fella?
- There's some mistake, I think.
- Oh now wait a minute,
don't hand me that.
Where's your name card?
- [Jim] I don't have a name card
and my name's not
Charlie Hoover.
- Hoving, Hoving,
now wait a minute.
It might have been
a few years ago
but I know Charlie
Hoving when I see him.
- Well good, say hello to
him for me when you do.
(classical violin music)
It's no use.
- What do we do tonight?
- And tomorrow and tomorrow
night and the night after?
- Tomorrow morning, we'll begin.
- What?
- Going after him.
Taking each member of
the committee in turn.
- You have to stay
away from the police.
You could be
arrested at any time.
- Corlane speak to you?
- No.
At the newsstand,
it was advertised.
(anxious guitar music)
(classical violin music)
- Charlie, Charlie,
what's the matter?
You look like you just
read my mind, here.
Here, go ahead fella,
take a big belt.
- Thanks.
- Keep it.
- Look, I'm sorry about
putting you off just now.
- Oh, forget it, forget it.
- The thing is Fred, you see
I've got a girl here with me.
- Ah,
now I get you sweetie.
You're coming through
loud and clear.
So who's Charlie Hoving?
Never heard of him,
much less his wife.
- That's it, Fred.
- Say no more.
Grover understands.
- Look Grover, are there any
kind of parties going
on here tonight?
- You better believe it.
(upbeat ensemble rock music)
- Are you suggesting we
spend the night here?
- I am.
- But why?
- Because I'm certain
we're being watched.
- How do you know that?
- I just know it, that's all.
- Well why stay here?
- To keep together, keep
with a crowd, stay awake.
- Lovely crowd.
(jazzy trumpet music)
- You know something?
- Sure I do, well
then where can we go?
- As a matter of fact, it's
Carl I'm thinking about.
- Who?
- Carl, my boss, he's
sitting right over there.
Been asking about you.
- Me?
- Yeah, he's crazy about
you, he owns the company.
Owns three companies
but he's a very shy guy.
Poor, lonely, shy old guy.
- But he's half asleep.
- It wouldn't take much for you
to wake him up, not for you.
Hey Carl, Carl.
Sylvia would like
to talk to you.
- Oh, it's all right, honey.
You don't have to
be shy with me.
Listen, I had an uncle
once and this guy
was so shy with women, even
you wouldn't believe it.
Well I just told him that...
(upbeat jazzy
trumpet, guitar music)
(anxious guitar music)
- You're outta luck
fella, this is private.
- How about who's got the power?
Who's got the power, my love?
- Marge.
- Oh, I'm sorry.
- Don't go to sleep.
- I am not asleep.
Now I may be a little
drunk but I am not asleep.
You know what?
- What?
- If I saw him, you know,
him, you know what I'd say?
- What?
- I'd say all right,
I give up, you win.
I am ready to build
a little shrine
if you would just tell
me what to put in it.
That is what I would say.
(jazzy trumpet music)
- Hey come on, what is this?
What's everyone
dying or something?
Let's get a little
life going here.
- Oh brother, if she
is going to strip,
then I am going to sleep.
(clapping)
- Come on honey, let's dance.
You aren't too shy
to dance, are you?
Here you go, come on sweetie.
Dance with Sylvia.
Come on sweetie,
dance with Sylvia.
Hey,
you haven't gone to
sleep on me, have you?
(screaming)
- What's the matter,
what's going on here?
Hey Charlie, wait a
minute, your friend.
Where are you going?
- Let's call the police.
- [Jim] Hi.
- Hi.
Do I know you?
- Well you're in love with me,
you're in my car and it's
1:30 in the afternoon.
- Oh, that's nice.
Where's Carl?
Oh, dear God.
It's true, it did happen.
Do you know what he
said to me last night?
He said we're too much like dogs
plotting to trap
the dog catcher.
- We're still plotting
and we've got to.
- Where are we?
- That's where Nordlund lives.
- Nordlund, you think that he...
- I don't know but we've
got to start somewhere.
- Well what can you do?
- Question him,
threaten him, bluff
him, anything.
There's one word.
One word that will
give him away.
- Oh, he's not
gonna give you that.
(anxious guitar, violin music)
- It's still stuck.
- [Jim] I'll catch it
upstairs, stay here.
(anxious violin, trumpet music)
(buzzing)
- Would you help me, please?
There's somebody
stuck in the elevator.
(anxious ensemble music)
- Nordlund, look at
me, Nordlund, Nordlund.
My name, look at me, who am I?
Say my name.
- Tanner.
- Go on, say it again, louder.
- Tanner, Tanner.
- Here, you'd better
try some of this.
- Even now, I can still feel it.
Like a weight, like
something crushing my heart.
- I know.
Carl must have felt the
same thing last night.
Except it killed him.
- You were with him?
- Both of us, and that
leaves Scott and Van Zandt.
- So what do we do now,
wait until one of
'em tries it again?
- We can't afford to.
- I say we strike.
- What do you mean strike?
- I mean we get rid of them.
- Both of them?
- The longer we wait,
the less chance we have.
- Yes, but only one of them...
- I know, I know.
- And you don't care?
- I want to go on living,
Miss Lansing, don't you?
- No.
No, not like that.
- We can risk a few hours.
- For what?
- For the chance of getting
the right one the first time.
Are you due back at the office?
- I have a meeting at the Space
Research Commission
at two o'clock.
- Keep the meeting
in session as long
as possible and keep
everybody around you.
- Well what about me?
- You better go with
him, you'll be safer.
You'll be his guest
speaker on survival.
- Oh, I'm an authority on that.
(anxious flute music)
- [Mrs. Van Zandt]
Yes, who is it please?
- It's Jim Tanner.
Mrs. Van Zandt, I'd like
to talk to your husband.
- Just one moment, Mr. Tanner.
Please, won't you come in?
I'm sorry to disappoint you
but you see, my
husband is not home.
Is there anything I could do?
- I doubt it.
When do you expect him back?
- Not until late, very late.
- You're not at all
frightened of me, are you?
- Frightened?
- Surely you've
read the newspaper.
- I never read the
newspapers, Professor Tanner.
But why should I be
frightened of you?
- You shouldn't, yeah.
Didn't your husband
mention anything?
- I am not interested
in my husband's affairs.
Is there anything
else, Professor Tanner?
- Well no, not if you don't
expect him back 'til late.
- I told you, I do not.
- Sorry to disturb you.
- Goodnight.
- Goodnight.
(faint laughing)
(dog barking)
(muffled speaking)
- [Conspirator] How many
must there be, Doctor Zandt?
- The only solution
to our purposes,
unlike the military, we
don't need vast numbers.
No gentlemen, it won't be
the military establishment
that governs this.
Nor the political either.
Ah, my dear.
- [Conspirator] Thank you.
- Thank you, my dear.
- [Mrs. Van Zandt] Professor
Tanner was just here.
He wanted to see you.
- You sent him away?
- Of course.
- [Conspirator] When do
you expect Adam Hart?
- [Norman] Any minute now.
- [Conspirator] I must
tell you frankly, if it
were not for him, I would not
have been involved in this.
- Of course, we understand.
(car engine rumbling)
(anxious ensemble music)
(dog barking)
(heartbeat pounding)
(car horns blaring)
(tires screeching)
(tense trumpet music)
(engine roaring)
(horn blaring)
(siren blaring)
(truck horn blaring)
(splashing)
- That's his car.
- Is that him?
(distant ship horn blaring)
- Well, did you find anything?
- [Mark] Nothing.
- That's impossible,
there must be some
wreckage in the house.
Van Zandt couldn't keep the
whole thing in his head.
- The Van Zandt house was
burned to the ground last night.
We think he and his wife
were caught in the blaze.
- Look, I told you
the truth, everything.
- Then why was Van Zandt killed?
- No one's seen Nordlund
since yesterday afternoon.
He was supposed to attend
some kind of a meeting
at the Space Research
Commission, he never showed up.
- What does Babel Pit mean?
Tanner,
what does Babel Pit mean?
- It's the amphitheater where
their lectures are given.
- In the science building?
- Yeah.
- We found this note in
your apartment yesterday.
It's in Scott's handwriting.
It says "The Babel
Pit, Friday night."
I assume he wants
to meet you there.
He's going to, but not alone.
- You believe me then?
- I believe what I personally
can see and hold as evidence.
There won't be any doubts,
I can promise you, when
you're tried for murder.
- What good will it do?
Scott's not gonna talk to me
with half the police force here.
- [Mark] You're not
going in with the police.
- You mean you'll
let me go alone?
- Not quite.
- The amphitheater's
through here.
Through that doorway.
- Tanner.
Tanner!
Tanner!
Tanner!
(soft anxious trumpet music)
- Jim?
Jim, listen to me.
Please, I know you're here.
Jim listen, I'll do
anything you say.
Believe me, Jim.
Jim, believe me, I am
not like the others.
I'm willing to help you,
just tell me what to do.
Jim, don't you see,
that's why I'm here?
Jim,
there's no need to kill me, Jim.
I promise I won't
tell anyone, Jim?
Don't you see?
That's why I'm here, you think
I'd have come here alone?
I won't tell anyone,
I swear, Jim.
Jim?
(tense violin music)
I should have known.
There was something about you,
something different from us.
Listen Jim, listen please.
Jim, I'll do whatever you say.
Just tell me what
to do, I'll do it.
Only Jim please, don't kill me.
Jim, listen to me.
- [Mark] Open up, open
up, this is the police.
- You told 'em it was me.
(tense violin, trumpet music)
(anxious guitar tones)
- Scotty.
Scotty, don't shoot!
(gunshots booming)
- [Mark] Briggs.
- We can't find
him anywhere, sir.
We checked through every
room in the building.
- All right, let's
get out of here.
(soft anxious ensemble music)
- Why did you stay?
- Why not?
Would it help to go on running?
- No.
- No.
No more running.
I knew that when I looked
up at Scotty just now.
Poor Scotty, just
like all the rest.
All except you, why?
- To be certain that
he'd finally get to you.
- And then?
- And then there were none,
isn't that the way it goes?
(anxious ensemble music)
- Congratulations, Adam Hart.
- For what, for deceiving you?
A college prank.
I have something much
more interesting in mind.
(heartbeat pounding)
- Would it surprise you if I
told you I was ready for you?
- Are you, indeed?
Then you must be aware that
your heart is already
beating faster.
(tense ensemble tones)
Surely it requires
so great perception
on your part to realize that
you can't move your arms.
Why don't you try, Tanner?
No, I don't believe so.
It really is very hard
to breathe, isn't it?
Your arms, the legs, why
don't you try to move, Tanner?
You're stuck.
And yet you can still see
quite clearly, can't you?
Look here,
what do you see?
You see yourself, are
you getting colder?
Can you feel it yet, Tanner?
34 degrees, 33,
Shimmering, white
crystals on top of you
that breach through
your face, your eyes,
your throat, the heart.
(explosion booms)
(screaming)
Heat, the thermal unit,
burning, torching, boiling.
Yes, there is a limit to
the intensity of pain.
But then what,
Tanner, then what?
(tense ensemble music)
You're falling down,
you can't hold on.
You're falling, you're
falling, you're falling.
Give it up Tanner, give it
up, give it up, give it up.
(tires screeching)
(screaming)
You're falling Tanner,
you can't hold on.
Give it up, give it up.
(tense ensemble music)
(gunshot booming)
(heartbeat pounding)
(tense ensemble music)
(heartbeat pounding)
(gasping)
- I wondered why he
hadn't killed you before,
how you managed to
survive every attempt.
Tried more than once and he
came close but he always failed.
He was desperate to kill you.
Almost exposed himself
to the committee.
Willing to eliminate all
of them to get to you, Jim.
You were the only real
threat he ever had
and you never knew it,
never even dared to guess.
- Until tonight.
- Do you remember the first time
we saw him and we
saw the paper spin?
He would never have given
himself away, not Adam Hart.
It was you, Jim, and you
never even suspected.
(relaxed violin music)
- They say that power corrupts
and that absolute power,
I wonder?
(dramatic trumpet tones)
(anxious ensemble music)
(dramatic violin, trumpet music)
(dramatic trumpet music)
(relaxed flute music)
- Close that door.
(anxious electronic music)
(heartbeat pounding)
(heavy breathing)
(screaming)
All right, cut it.
Great, don't try to move yet.
Think you can walk?
- Yes sir.
Matter of fact, I might just
walk and keep right on going.
- Don't forget to wash your
forehead on the way out.
Sorry, I didn't
mean to yell at you.
- That's all right,
I shouldn't have come
barging in like that.
I think you just
lost a customer.
- He'll be back.
- Tell me, is the pain
really that intense?
- We almost hit
the limit just now.
- You mean just from a small
spot over the forehead?
- It's not the size of the
exposure, Mr. Nordlund.
Size has nothing to do with it.
In fact, two areas of pain
are no more intense than one.
Now would you care to try it?
- No, thank you.
How do you ever
get them to do it?
- It's easy, you see,
they make more money
here in an hour then
they can serving tables
at a student commissary
for three weeks.
Have you ever served tables
at a student commissary,
Mr. Nordlund?
- I see what you mean.
- I don't know how well
you've been briefed.
- I know the function of
your committee, of course.
I know you specialize in pain.
- Well, you might call us
the sadomasochists
of the space program.
- That kind of masochism
is rather expensive.
- But worth every penny of it.
Look at him, how can
we protect him in space
if we don't know exactly
how much pain he can take,
how much torture he can endure?
No matter what the
answers, Mr. Nordlund,
they will not come cheaply.
(buzzing)
- What was that? I heard
it before coming in.
(mechanical whirring)
- Over here.
- What's the blackout point?
- For most men, five G's.
Let's take a look.
He's at three G's right now.
I can arrange it if you'd
care to have a ride.
- You seem determined to make me
one of your guinea
pigs, Professor Tanner.
- We just want the government
to know exactly
what we're doing.
Excuse me a minute.
What is it, Scott?
- You tell me, Jim.
I'd like to know
if he's flipped.
I mean if he's gone
right off the deep end,
we might as well face it now.
- Who?
- Who else? Hallson.
- I know he's been
under strain...
- Strain, look, all right,
now I'm not a psychiatrist
and I don't pretend to be but
I'll tell you one thing, this
guy's mind is right on the
ragged edge and something better
be done about it right now.
- Has he said anything about...
- Quotations out of Nietzsche.
Yeah, sure the man is Superman.
You wanna hear the topic?
Today he thinks we're
all being watched.
- By whom?
- By the unknown.
I swear to you Jim,
as a matter a fact, by
the super right now.
Who's that?
- That's our new Liaison Officer
from Washington,
Arthur Nordlund.
He's gonna attend the
committee meeting today.
- Get rid of him, he
can't go to the meeting.
- And how do you
suggest I do that?
- I'm telling you,
Hallson's gonna
blow the lid on
those questionnaires.
Now if he goes wild,
this guy's gonna
think we're all a
bunch of crackpots.
- It's too late now
to keep him out.
- Well make up something.
- I can't.
- All right, then you
better clamp the lid
on Hallson, Jimbo,
that's all I gotta say.
- Mr. Nordlund.
Professor Carl
Melnicker, physics.
- My pleasure.
- Professor Scott, biology.
- How do you do?
- Please sit down, sir.
And Professor Lansing,
genetic and cellular theory.
- How do you do?
- Professor.
- And Professor Hallson,
anthropology.
- Yes?
Oh, how do you do?
- And of course you
know the Chairman
of this Committee on Human
Endurance, Professor Tanner.
- Thank you,
Professor Van Zandt.
- For the past
year, my department
has been largely engaged
in research in outer space.
Why one man lives
and another man dies
under exactly the same
stresses, the same environments.
We've been trying to figure out
how the ones who are successful,
the ones who do survive,
how they get that way.
What factors come into play.
Well I'll now call on
the Chairman of our Human
Endurance Committee to
take over the floor, Jim?
- To get right to
the business at hand,
I'd like to call upon
Professor Melnicker
to give us his
detailed study on those
conditions in which
man will have to exist.
- No.
We'll check my
questionnaires first.
- Professor Hallson, I
have decided to postpone
your work with the
questionnaires until
the next meeting.
- You can't postpone it,
you don't have the
right to postpone it.
- Professor Hallson, please.
- [Henry] But you must
see this, all of you.
- Just what are these
questionnaires, if I may ask?
- Well it's a program
that Professor Hallson
initiated himself
to find those people
with a great capacity
for survival.
We took the test
ourselves as sort
of a dry run before they
give them to the students.
- What sort of test?
- Medical history, heredity
and a most advanced
IQ examination.
- You have the results?
- Yes.
- Well I would very much
like to hear them, if I may.
- There's only one
questionnaire that counts
and I have the results
right here in my report.
Results that show an
intelligent quotient
beyond the known limits
of measurability.
This person here on
this committee who made
these responses to
this questionnaire
has a force of
intellect far superior
to anyone else known
on this earth today.
- Well, I suppose one of us here
should feel very flattered, huh?
- I don't believe a word of it.
- May I see that report, please?
- Maybe somebody filled
it out as sort of a gag.
- Well this is
most extraordinary.
- May I ask then if anybody here
cares to admit to this
documented superiority?
Well then I suggest we
get on to something else.
- Why, are you
afraid to believe it?
- Believe what?
Just what you are you talking
about, Professor Hallson?
- I think Henry's
a little overtired.
You see Mr. Nordlund,
we've all been
working very hard on
the committee lately.
- You're all afraid, all of you.
This person, whoever
he is, he can do what
he wants with this committee,
with the whole project.
He could take control of
all the minds in this room.
- That's wild
speculation, Henry.
We've got to go by proven
and documented facts.
- Yes, that's enough Henry.
- Gentleman please, I don't want
to interfere with the
procedure here but
I do find the supposition
quite intriguing.
Tell me, Professor Hallson,
are you talking about a
power that is actually
capable of preter-normal and
transcendental phenomena?
- Yes.
- Then prove it, give us proof.
- Frankly I think we've
wasted enough time as it is.
- Now, now, surely we can
think of some simple test.
Professor, what do you suggest?
- Wait a minute.
All right.
It won't take very much
to move it, we'll begin.
- Go right ahead,
Professor Lansing.
- I'm sorry, I'm afraid all I'm
succeeding in doing
is getting a headache.
- Professor Scott.
- I'll do my best.
I'm sorry.
I tried.
- Professor Melnicker.
- It's no use.
If no one will admit
to the questionnaire,
he won't expose himself
in a test like this.
- Well then I think
we've been about
as indulgent with your theories
as anybody could expect.
- Together, we'll
do it all together.
- No.
- You've got to.
- Why not, then?
- Might as well
have an end to it.
- All right, go ahead.
- I've forgotten though, do
we put our hands on the table?
(mysterious guitar music)
(relaxed violin music)
- You left.
- I always come back.
- I never should have told you.
- What?
- What wine does to me.
- See what it does.
- Jim.
- We can always talk.
- I can't get it out of my head.
- Try.
- I've been thinking.
- You can always think.
- No, really.
- Really.
- As a geneticist,
I know that there
is no limit to the
variables of gene frequency.
- What?
- Genetically
speaking, it's entirely
possible to produce a man
of tomorrow right now.
- Right now?
- One extraordinary
combination of genes,
like four royal flushes in
a row, do you understand?
- [Jim] Yeah, we're dealing
with a four flusher.
- Oh Jim, I'm serious.
- Drink your wine.
- Oh, Jim.
- Drink.
Drink.
(relaxed violin music)
- [Margery] You know,
I've got a hunch.
- [Jim] Now darling, you're
not gonna take about genes.
No, ma'am.
(giggling)
(faint heartbeat pounding)
(mysterious guitar music)
(tense violin music)
(telephone ringing)
- Gimme that.
Who would be calling now?
You're just getting home.
Hello?
- Jim, it's Sally Hallson.
I hate to bother you but I'm
getting worried about Henry.
He's not there by
any chance, is he?
- No, not that I know of.
- He said he was going to
pick up the questionnaires
at his office and then
come straight back.
- Well he probably
stopped off for a drink
on the way home or maybe he
met somebody at the office.
I really wouldn't worry,
he'll be home there
any minute I'm sure.
Now, where were we?
- It's about Henry, isn't it?
- Yes.
- What happened to him?
- Nothing, he's late getting
home from the office.
- Well, where'd he go?
- To the office.
- Why?
- To get those damn
fool questionnaires.
- Well he wouldn't stay
there this late at night.
- I have another
bottle of champagne.
- Jim.
- Something light and bubbly.
- No more bubbly.
- What?
- Let's go to the office, huh?
- Now?
- Now.
Now.
Crazy geneticist
that got married.
A scientist, a savant.
Has Professor Hallson
been here tonight?
- [Guard] Yes, sir.
Checked in at 8:22,
hasn't left yet.
- Thanks.
- What's that?
- I don't know, just
a name, Adam Hart.
- He must be here somewhere,
the man at the gate...
- I know what he said.
- Well.
- I'm sorry.
Adam Hart?
- Never heard of him.
(rumbling)
(anxious trumpet music)
- Nothing's working, I'll
pull the emergency switch.
(intermittent
heartbeat pounding)
(anxious violin, trumpet music)
(screaming)
(sirens blaring)
(anxious somber violin music)
- It's all right
Sally, it's all right.
- My name is Mark Corlane.
I'm in charge of
this investigation.
- Sure thing.
- Go ahead Harris, take him out.
- Mrs. Hallson, there's
something I've got to ask you.
Mrs. Hallson, have you
ever heard of Adam Hart?
Adam Hart?
- Yes.
Henry did speak
of him once but...
- Yes?
- That was years ago,
they were children.
- Professor Tanner?
Doesn't the centrifuge
have a safety switch?
- Two at the controls and
one inside the cab itself.
In fact, the man inside
the cab presses it
when a run starts.
If he should release it,
the cab stops automatically.
- But it didn't.
- No, none of the
controls would work.
- Why not?
- I don't know,
I tried them all.
The control board's not working.
- Which one of these is
supposed to start it?
- The blue one starts
it, the red one stops it.
(mechanical whirring)
- Nope, no.
No thank you.
No sir, I leave my Supermen
to the comic strips.
- But you can't deny
the possibility.
- I can and I do.
- Just supposing there was a guy
who jumped a generation
or two or 10.
- Yeah, well so what?
- Don't you realize how far
advanced he'd be over us?
- Not at all, Jim.
Look, take guys like
Galileo, Pascal,
Da Vinci, those guys were
born hundreds of years ago.
- Right, now supposing
this guy jumped 100
generations or 1,000
generations, is
that so impossible?
- Yes, it would be impossible.
- You still deny it, huh?
- I still deny it.
- As a human being
or as a scientist?
- I deny it because
I choose to.
Because...
- [Jim] Go on.
- Jim look,
I mean look at me.
Do you know what I am? I am
a manufactured personality.
- [Jim] A what?
- I used to study what
people looked for,
what they liked in
other people and then
I tried to develop
those traits in myself.
- Well, we all do
that to some extent.
- Yes, but I did it
with a vengeance.
Until finally I met someone
who really was a personality.
I mean the most alive
guy I've ever met, Jim.
Now look, don't get me wrong,
I was chasing girls
when I was nine.
But I wanted to be this guy,
an extension of his personality.
Can you imagine what
this world would be like
with your Superman
running around
and everybody wanting to
be a copy of just one man?
Now I mean sometimes I don't
hold much hope for
the human race.
I think I'd be willing to
kill a man to avoid that.
Ah, my beloved colleague,
you're just in time.
We were speaking of life and
power and Supermen and here
stands a true believer, am
I right, Professor Tanner?
- [Jim] Well there's one
clear fact you can't deny.
Something killed Henry Hallson.
- That's true, something
killed him, the centrifuge.
- I am not going to make it.
Two hours sleep last night and
I kept seeing Henry's face.
Why would anyone want to kill
Henry Hallson, for what reason?
- I don't know, 100
reasons, no reason.
- You think it was somebody
on the committee, don't you?
- Yes, I do.
- [Margery] Surely not Scotty?
- [Jim] Why not?
He's an odd combination,
brains, brawn.
- And always on the make,
no, I don't believe that.
What about Professor Melnicker?
- Well he's certainly a superior
human being but whether
he could kill anybody,
that I don't know.
- Well if I had to guess,
I'd say Professor Van Zandt.
A mind like a steel trap.
- Yes, it could be Van Zandt.
Or Nordlund.
- Nordlund?
But he's not on the committee.
- But he was in that room
when we made the experiments.
- Well, so was I.
- That's right, it doesn't have
to be a man, it could be you.
- Oh, why thank you.
- It's all right, I've been
under your power for
weeks now, ma'am.
- Oh, and what about you?
- I'm sorry to interrupt.
I'd like a few minutes with
Professor Tanner alone.
Very attractive young lady,
she seems rather fond of you.
Why did you come here
with her so late at night?
- Well we were worried
about Professor Hallson.
His wife called and we
came looking for him.
- You were with miss,
Professor Lansing at the time?
- Yes.
- In your apartment, alone?
- Yes.
- Miss Lansing remembers
a Mrs. Hallson calling?
- [Jim] Of course.
- That's odd.
- What's so odd about it?
- Because Mrs. Hallson doesn't
remember calling you at all.
- What?
- How long were you
and Miss Lansing
here before you found the body?
- Just a few minutes.
- Are you sure?
- You can check with
the guard at the gate.
- I did.
He made a record at the
time in his logbook.
- Well then?
- Somehow there doesn't seem
to be any trace of
that record at all now.
- Well can't he remember it?
- I asked him, he
wasn't certain.
- Well I am.
- You got your degree
in Biochemistry
at Williamsburg, Pennsylvania?
- That's right.
- Then four more years of work
at Princeton at Virginia Tech.
- [Jim] Yes.
- What happened to the records
of your work at
those institutions?
- What do you mean?
They're on file there.
What the hell are
you talking about?
- I hope you tell me.
- Look, I have duplicates of
my records on file right here.
- Duplicates are easily forged.
- What's all this
about my records?
- Mr. Corlane was curious
about your background,
so we took the
liberty this morning
of wiring the various
parties involved
for documentation of
these records that
you submitted to us.
No documentation is
forthcoming, Mr. Tanner.
Your records are fraudulent,
no one ever heard of you.
- That's impossible.
- I must admit, I was inclined
toward astonishment myself
and I want you to
know that you are very
fortunate that the board
is not going to prosecute.
It would only make
us look foolish
for having hired you
in the first place.
Here you are, your
severance check.
I want you to leave immediately,
that's all, Mr. Tanner.
That's all, Mr. Tanner.
Scotty.
- I don't want to hear it.
- Scotty, I need your help.
- It's none of my business
what happened to Hallson.
- Scotty, please.
- I'm not interested.
- You just told me
a few minutes ago...
- Forget what I
told you, will you?
Just forget it.
- Tanner.
I hope you're not
planning to go somewhere.
- Where'd you have in mind?
- Stay in town, Tanner, I'll
be talking to you again.
(anxious guitar music)
- Ain't it cute?
Yeah.
Real cute.
(playful light trumpet tones)
(booming)
(anxious guitar music)
(cackling)
(tense ensemble music)
- How do you feel, sir?
(tense ensemble music)
(anxious guitar tones)
- Oh Jim, if you leave now,
Corlane's gonna think
you're running away.
- Let him think what he wants.
- What can you do?
- I can fight back.
- Fight whom?
You don't even know who it is.
- I don't know who
and I don't know what
but I know he's real
and I know he's here.
I know he tried to kill me
but for some reason,
he didn't succeed.
So I know there's a
limit to his power.
It's not a very consoling
limit but I've gotta find it.
- How can you fight
him by running away?
- I'm going to Joshua Flats,
Henry Hallson's hometown
where he first met Adam Hart.
There must be somebody there
who still remembers him.
If I can just get some
kind of identification.
- I'll go with you.
- No.
You stay here and go on
working with the committee.
I'll be back by the
end of the week.
- Jim.
- Yes?
- Why you?
First Henry Hallson, now you?
(planes humming)
- [John] Hey there, are you
seeing double, my friend?
- Fill her up please.
- Then just get yourself...
- Huh?
- I said fill her up.
- Sure thing mister,
fill her up, right.
- The cafe open?
- Complete line of used cars.
- Yeah, Flora, she came in
about a half an hour ago.
- [John] Make you
feel single again.
My name's John Wutherby
and you can count on it.
So hurry on down soon
today, I'll be seeing you.
- You riding through?
- Not exactly.
- Most people do.
I mean you don't get many people
stopping in this crummy
hole unless they have to.
Cold beer?
- No thanks, just some coffee.
- Hot coffee?
Well I gotta heat it up.
- Take your time.
- We got plenty of cold beer,
keep it on hand
for the fly boys.
- Who?
- Air Force.
They have a base at Flat Rock,
about 40 miles down the line.
- Well if it's all right with
you, I'd like some hot coffee.
- Sure, sure.
Biggest mistake I ever made.
- I beg your pardon?
- Oh, leaving New York.
Can you imagine leaving
New York to this?
(relaxed country violin music)
I guess you have to, huh?
- What?
- Stop here.
- Well the fact is I was a
good friend of Henry Hallson's.
I understand his
parents still live here.
- Yeah, that old
house over there.
Couldn't blast 'em out of
it, not even for the funeral.
Hey, what a way to die, huh?
In that thing, wow.
- Did you know Henry?
- Well, I sorta had to, he was
always around, like a shadow.
One step behind Adam.
- Adam Hart?
- You know him?
- Yeah, Henry spoke of him.
(shuddering)
- Goose pimples just
talking about him.
All over my arms,
all over my body.
I mean I always get
goose pimples all over.
- Did he frighten you?
- Oh, doll face, I wasn't
talking about fear.
I'm talking about...
- Yeah.
I think I understand.
- Blond hair, blue
eyes and a look
in those eyes that
made you burn inside.
- I don't suppose you've
seen him for awhile?
- Oh, when they leave
this crummy joint,
they never come back.
How long are you staying?
- I'm not sure.
- Tonight's my night off.
As a matter of fact,
I get off early.
- Swell, maybe
I'll see you, lady.
- You know, the
compressor belt's busted.
- Well fix it.
- [John] You're gonna
hunt far and wide before
you ever come across
the wonderful bargains
just waiting for you
down at Honest John's.
Now then, here's a little bitty
that's been catching
on here of late.
Good old Honest John Wutherby.
- As you can see for yourself,
Mr. Tanner, mother
can't do no traveling.
Sure, we wanted to
go to the funeral.
We wanted to see our son
buried nice and proper.
But you can't drive 200
miles in a wheelchair.
Sit down, Mr. Tanner,
sit right there.
- Thank you.
Was Henry born
here, Mr. Hallson?
- Right inside there.
Lived right here until
he went off to college.
Smart boy, good boy.
- Then you probably knew
all of his friends here.
- Sure, sure, mother did too.
- Henry used to talk a
lot about one of them.
Perhaps he might remember him,
a fella by the name of Hart.
Adam Hart.
- Mother.
(speaking foreign language)
You'd better leave, Mr. Tanner.
All this and Henry dying,
it's got us all torn apart.
- I'm sorry to upset you
but it's very important
I talk to you.
- The thing is she
always hated Adam Hart.
- Why?
- I guess because
Henry took to him so,
his being a gypsy and all.
- A gypsy?
- 10 of them in
a one room shack,
the whole family and
wouldn't you know?
That shack burned to the ground
not two days before
Adam left town.
Horrible thing, wiped them out.
Except for Adam, of course.
Him and his cold,
black, shifty eyes.
- I thought his eyes were blue.
- Black gypsy eyes,
hair to match.
- But the girl at the coffee...
- You take it from me,
mister, I'm telling you.
Smart as they come, there's
nothing he didn't know.
Nothing he couldn't do.
- I suppose you don't have
a picture of him
anywhere, do you?
- Used to have one,
taken with Henry.
I can't figure out
what happened to it.
- Well, thanks anyway for
talking to me, Mr. Hallson.
- Sure, sure, even more thanks.
I hope mother didn't upset you.
- No, not at all.
- Why didn't you tell me?
- Tell you what?
- That you wanted to
know about Adam Hart.
- Why, were you a friend of his?
- You bet I was.
Hey, would you like to
ride out to see his place?
- You mean the shack, I
was told it burned down.
- Mister, those
two nuts have been
cracked ever since Henry
left this town, hop in.
Well come on, it's not far.
- Aren't we getting
pretty far out?
Turn around.
Turn around.
(tires screeching)
(relaxed country violin music)
(anxious mysterious
ensemble music)
(anxious violin, trumpet music)
(anxious flute music)
(planes humming)
(explosions booming)
- [Pilot] Break off, break
off, man in the target area.
(low, tense violin tones)
- Adam Hart, where is he?
- I don't know.
- He told you to
kill me, where is he?
- I swear to you, I don't know.
He didn't tell me to kill you,
he told me to kill anybody.
Anybody asking
questions about him.
- Why?
- I don't know why.
- When did he tell you?
When?
- 10 years ago.
- You were right about
those goose pimples.
(doorbell buzzing)
(relaxed guitar music)
- Who are you, what do you want?
- It's Jim Tanner, Mrs. Hallson.
I'd like to talk to
you for a moment.
- Please,
come in.
Now where did I put
those cigarettes?
Would you like a cigarette?
- No thanks.
- Oh, where?
Where, where?
- There seems to be one
burning right over there.
- Of course.
Well, there must be something
I can get you, a drink?
Why don't you make
us a drink, hmm?
- No thanks, I don't
really care for one.
It seems you already
have a drink.
- That's very mean of you
to let me drink alone.
- Mrs. Hallson, I wanted to...
- I know,
I know.
You want to talk about Henry.
All right, if you
must, you must.
Well,
sit down.
That's better.
- I don't want to
upset you but...
- But you do want
to talk about Henry.
- If you remember the
night that Henry died,
I spoke to you about
a man named Adam Hart.
- I never heard of him.
I never heard of
anyone named Hart.
- You said that Henry
knew him years ago.
- How could I possibly
say a thing like that?
- [Jim] I don't know.
- I got it, let's you and I
both drink to this
mysterious Mr. Hart.
(giggling)
I can promise you one thing.
If he was a good friend
of Henry's, then he was
the world's biggest bore
that ever lived or died.
(laughing)
(relaxed guitar music)
- Who's this?
- Who's what?
- The man in the
picture with Henry?
His face seems to be blurred.
- I don't know, why don't
we call him Adam Hart?
- Do you have some
other pictures?
- Nope, threw them out,
threw everything out.
Except all that scientific jazz,
I gave that to the committee.
Why don't you
relax, have a drink?
- [Jim] I'd better be going.
- Going, going, gone.
I threw it away, Jim.
But you can ask me, ask
me anything you want.
It's just that sometimes it
slips away, know what I mean?
- Yeah, I know.
- I mean the way
I felt about Henry
and just today,
just today,
I could hardly remember
what he looked like.
I couldn't remember
what he looked like.
(anxious flute, violin music)
- [Jim] Marge?
Marge?
(faint heartbeat pounding)
(stove sizzling)
(tense violin, trumpet music)
(plates shattering)
- Ow!
Why, why don't you kill me?
Do it now, go on,
be done with it.
You think you can use me?
No, I will not be used.
I can't with the way
you killed Hallson.
- No Carl, I swear
I didn't kill him.
- And then when the paper
was spinning that day
in the committee room, it was
my mind that was spinning.
From that moment on, I knew it.
I felt that someone
would be killed.
- You sure did a
good job tying me up.
- Please forgive me.
- It's all right.
- You know Carl, I can
well understand why
you suspected me but how
did you know I'd come here?
- I've watched you,
both of you when you
were at work together.
- Are we that obvious?
- Oh my dear girl, all
the basic emotions,
fear, hate, love,
they're all obvious.
- [Jim] But you believe
us now, don't you?
- Yeah.
I will do anything
I can to help,
anything.
You see I know what
a man's power can do.
The raw power of one man,
one man alone to kill
millions of innocent people.
To destroy a whole
country, my country
and this time, who knows?
I look at the newspapers
and I say to myself
this world is going
to hell in a handcart.
But what if by chance it's not
going there on its
own power, yeah?
What if it's being pushed?
Think of it.
- I know one thing.
If we threaten his survival,
he'll try to destroy us.
- I'll take that risk.
- Then first of all, we've
got to survive ourselves.
We've got to stay
together and not here.
(classical violin music)
- Sorry, there
isn't anything left.
- Isn't there even a small room?
- No, there isn't.
- Charlie, hey Charlie
Hoving, how are ya, fella?
- There's some mistake, I think.
- Oh now wait a minute,
don't hand me that.
Where's your name card?
- [Jim] I don't have a name card
and my name's not
Charlie Hoover.
- Hoving, Hoving,
now wait a minute.
It might have been
a few years ago
but I know Charlie
Hoving when I see him.
- Well good, say hello to
him for me when you do.
(classical violin music)
It's no use.
- What do we do tonight?
- And tomorrow and tomorrow
night and the night after?
- Tomorrow morning, we'll begin.
- What?
- Going after him.
Taking each member of
the committee in turn.
- You have to stay
away from the police.
You could be
arrested at any time.
- Corlane speak to you?
- No.
At the newsstand,
it was advertised.
(anxious guitar music)
(classical violin music)
- Charlie, Charlie,
what's the matter?
You look like you just
read my mind, here.
Here, go ahead fella,
take a big belt.
- Thanks.
- Keep it.
- Look, I'm sorry about
putting you off just now.
- Oh, forget it, forget it.
- The thing is Fred, you see
I've got a girl here with me.
- Ah,
now I get you sweetie.
You're coming through
loud and clear.
So who's Charlie Hoving?
Never heard of him,
much less his wife.
- That's it, Fred.
- Say no more.
Grover understands.
- Look Grover, are there any
kind of parties going
on here tonight?
- You better believe it.
(upbeat ensemble rock music)
- Are you suggesting we
spend the night here?
- I am.
- But why?
- Because I'm certain
we're being watched.
- How do you know that?
- I just know it, that's all.
- Well why stay here?
- To keep together, keep
with a crowd, stay awake.
- Lovely crowd.
(jazzy trumpet music)
- You know something?
- Sure I do, well
then where can we go?
- As a matter of fact, it's
Carl I'm thinking about.
- Who?
- Carl, my boss, he's
sitting right over there.
Been asking about you.
- Me?
- Yeah, he's crazy about
you, he owns the company.
Owns three companies
but he's a very shy guy.
Poor, lonely, shy old guy.
- But he's half asleep.
- It wouldn't take much for you
to wake him up, not for you.
Hey Carl, Carl.
Sylvia would like
to talk to you.
- Oh, it's all right, honey.
You don't have to
be shy with me.
Listen, I had an uncle
once and this guy
was so shy with women, even
you wouldn't believe it.
Well I just told him that...
(upbeat jazzy
trumpet, guitar music)
(anxious guitar music)
- You're outta luck
fella, this is private.
- How about who's got the power?
Who's got the power, my love?
- Marge.
- Oh, I'm sorry.
- Don't go to sleep.
- I am not asleep.
Now I may be a little
drunk but I am not asleep.
You know what?
- What?
- If I saw him, you know,
him, you know what I'd say?
- What?
- I'd say all right,
I give up, you win.
I am ready to build
a little shrine
if you would just tell
me what to put in it.
That is what I would say.
(jazzy trumpet music)
- Hey come on, what is this?
What's everyone
dying or something?
Let's get a little
life going here.
- Oh brother, if she
is going to strip,
then I am going to sleep.
(clapping)
- Come on honey, let's dance.
You aren't too shy
to dance, are you?
Here you go, come on sweetie.
Dance with Sylvia.
Come on sweetie,
dance with Sylvia.
Hey,
you haven't gone to
sleep on me, have you?
(screaming)
- What's the matter,
what's going on here?
Hey Charlie, wait a
minute, your friend.
Where are you going?
- Let's call the police.
- [Jim] Hi.
- Hi.
Do I know you?
- Well you're in love with me,
you're in my car and it's
1:30 in the afternoon.
- Oh, that's nice.
Where's Carl?
Oh, dear God.
It's true, it did happen.
Do you know what he
said to me last night?
He said we're too much like dogs
plotting to trap
the dog catcher.
- We're still plotting
and we've got to.
- Where are we?
- That's where Nordlund lives.
- Nordlund, you think that he...
- I don't know but we've
got to start somewhere.
- Well what can you do?
- Question him,
threaten him, bluff
him, anything.
There's one word.
One word that will
give him away.
- Oh, he's not
gonna give you that.
(anxious guitar, violin music)
- It's still stuck.
- [Jim] I'll catch it
upstairs, stay here.
(anxious violin, trumpet music)
(buzzing)
- Would you help me, please?
There's somebody
stuck in the elevator.
(anxious ensemble music)
- Nordlund, look at
me, Nordlund, Nordlund.
My name, look at me, who am I?
Say my name.
- Tanner.
- Go on, say it again, louder.
- Tanner, Tanner.
- Here, you'd better
try some of this.
- Even now, I can still feel it.
Like a weight, like
something crushing my heart.
- I know.
Carl must have felt the
same thing last night.
Except it killed him.
- You were with him?
- Both of us, and that
leaves Scott and Van Zandt.
- So what do we do now,
wait until one of
'em tries it again?
- We can't afford to.
- I say we strike.
- What do you mean strike?
- I mean we get rid of them.
- Both of them?
- The longer we wait,
the less chance we have.
- Yes, but only one of them...
- I know, I know.
- And you don't care?
- I want to go on living,
Miss Lansing, don't you?
- No.
No, not like that.
- We can risk a few hours.
- For what?
- For the chance of getting
the right one the first time.
Are you due back at the office?
- I have a meeting at the Space
Research Commission
at two o'clock.
- Keep the meeting
in session as long
as possible and keep
everybody around you.
- Well what about me?
- You better go with
him, you'll be safer.
You'll be his guest
speaker on survival.
- Oh, I'm an authority on that.
(anxious flute music)
- [Mrs. Van Zandt]
Yes, who is it please?
- It's Jim Tanner.
Mrs. Van Zandt, I'd like
to talk to your husband.
- Just one moment, Mr. Tanner.
Please, won't you come in?
I'm sorry to disappoint you
but you see, my
husband is not home.
Is there anything I could do?
- I doubt it.
When do you expect him back?
- Not until late, very late.
- You're not at all
frightened of me, are you?
- Frightened?
- Surely you've
read the newspaper.
- I never read the
newspapers, Professor Tanner.
But why should I be
frightened of you?
- You shouldn't, yeah.
Didn't your husband
mention anything?
- I am not interested
in my husband's affairs.
Is there anything
else, Professor Tanner?
- Well no, not if you don't
expect him back 'til late.
- I told you, I do not.
- Sorry to disturb you.
- Goodnight.
- Goodnight.
(faint laughing)
(dog barking)
(muffled speaking)
- [Conspirator] How many
must there be, Doctor Zandt?
- The only solution
to our purposes,
unlike the military, we
don't need vast numbers.
No gentlemen, it won't be
the military establishment
that governs this.
Nor the political either.
Ah, my dear.
- [Conspirator] Thank you.
- Thank you, my dear.
- [Mrs. Van Zandt] Professor
Tanner was just here.
He wanted to see you.
- You sent him away?
- Of course.
- [Conspirator] When do
you expect Adam Hart?
- [Norman] Any minute now.
- [Conspirator] I must
tell you frankly, if it
were not for him, I would not
have been involved in this.
- Of course, we understand.
(car engine rumbling)
(anxious ensemble music)
(dog barking)
(heartbeat pounding)
(car horns blaring)
(tires screeching)
(tense trumpet music)
(engine roaring)
(horn blaring)
(siren blaring)
(truck horn blaring)
(splashing)
- That's his car.
- Is that him?
(distant ship horn blaring)
- Well, did you find anything?
- [Mark] Nothing.
- That's impossible,
there must be some
wreckage in the house.
Van Zandt couldn't keep the
whole thing in his head.
- The Van Zandt house was
burned to the ground last night.
We think he and his wife
were caught in the blaze.
- Look, I told you
the truth, everything.
- Then why was Van Zandt killed?
- No one's seen Nordlund
since yesterday afternoon.
He was supposed to attend
some kind of a meeting
at the Space Research
Commission, he never showed up.
- What does Babel Pit mean?
Tanner,
what does Babel Pit mean?
- It's the amphitheater where
their lectures are given.
- In the science building?
- Yeah.
- We found this note in
your apartment yesterday.
It's in Scott's handwriting.
It says "The Babel
Pit, Friday night."
I assume he wants
to meet you there.
He's going to, but not alone.
- You believe me then?
- I believe what I personally
can see and hold as evidence.
There won't be any doubts,
I can promise you, when
you're tried for murder.
- What good will it do?
Scott's not gonna talk to me
with half the police force here.
- [Mark] You're not
going in with the police.
- You mean you'll
let me go alone?
- Not quite.
- The amphitheater's
through here.
Through that doorway.
- Tanner.
Tanner!
Tanner!
Tanner!
(soft anxious trumpet music)
- Jim?
Jim, listen to me.
Please, I know you're here.
Jim listen, I'll do
anything you say.
Believe me, Jim.
Jim, believe me, I am
not like the others.
I'm willing to help you,
just tell me what to do.
Jim, don't you see,
that's why I'm here?
Jim,
there's no need to kill me, Jim.
I promise I won't
tell anyone, Jim?
Don't you see?
That's why I'm here, you think
I'd have come here alone?
I won't tell anyone,
I swear, Jim.
Jim?
(tense violin music)
I should have known.
There was something about you,
something different from us.
Listen Jim, listen please.
Jim, I'll do whatever you say.
Just tell me what
to do, I'll do it.
Only Jim please, don't kill me.
Jim, listen to me.
- [Mark] Open up, open
up, this is the police.
- You told 'em it was me.
(tense violin, trumpet music)
(anxious guitar tones)
- Scotty.
Scotty, don't shoot!
(gunshots booming)
- [Mark] Briggs.
- We can't find
him anywhere, sir.
We checked through every
room in the building.
- All right, let's
get out of here.
(soft anxious ensemble music)
- Why did you stay?
- Why not?
Would it help to go on running?
- No.
- No.
No more running.
I knew that when I looked
up at Scotty just now.
Poor Scotty, just
like all the rest.
All except you, why?
- To be certain that
he'd finally get to you.
- And then?
- And then there were none,
isn't that the way it goes?
(anxious ensemble music)
- Congratulations, Adam Hart.
- For what, for deceiving you?
A college prank.
I have something much
more interesting in mind.
(heartbeat pounding)
- Would it surprise you if I
told you I was ready for you?
- Are you, indeed?
Then you must be aware that
your heart is already
beating faster.
(tense ensemble tones)
Surely it requires
so great perception
on your part to realize that
you can't move your arms.
Why don't you try, Tanner?
No, I don't believe so.
It really is very hard
to breathe, isn't it?
Your arms, the legs, why
don't you try to move, Tanner?
You're stuck.
And yet you can still see
quite clearly, can't you?
Look here,
what do you see?
You see yourself, are
you getting colder?
Can you feel it yet, Tanner?
34 degrees, 33,
Shimmering, white
crystals on top of you
that breach through
your face, your eyes,
your throat, the heart.
(explosion booms)
(screaming)
Heat, the thermal unit,
burning, torching, boiling.
Yes, there is a limit to
the intensity of pain.
But then what,
Tanner, then what?
(tense ensemble music)
You're falling down,
you can't hold on.
You're falling, you're
falling, you're falling.
Give it up Tanner, give it
up, give it up, give it up.
(tires screeching)
(screaming)
You're falling Tanner,
you can't hold on.
Give it up, give it up.
(tense ensemble music)
(gunshot booming)
(heartbeat pounding)
(tense ensemble music)
(heartbeat pounding)
(gasping)
- I wondered why he
hadn't killed you before,
how you managed to
survive every attempt.
Tried more than once and he
came close but he always failed.
He was desperate to kill you.
Almost exposed himself
to the committee.
Willing to eliminate all
of them to get to you, Jim.
You were the only real
threat he ever had
and you never knew it,
never even dared to guess.
- Until tonight.
- Do you remember the first time
we saw him and we
saw the paper spin?
He would never have given
himself away, not Adam Hart.
It was you, Jim, and you
never even suspected.
(relaxed violin music)
- They say that power corrupts
and that absolute power,
I wonder?
(dramatic trumpet tones)
(anxious ensemble music)