Mission Impossible (1966) s03e25 Episode Script

The Interrogator

Good afternoon, Mr.
Phelps.
The man you're looking at is Norvan Kruger, an agent who knows the details of his country's plan for an active aggression so cataclysmic it will affect the entire world.
We know nothing about the plan except that it triggers in two days at 4:00.
Two weeks ago, Kruger was captured by a government unfriendly to us and has been under interrogation by this man, Friedrich Spindler, who has not succeeded in breaking Kruger.
Even if he does, we are certain his government will not inform us.
Your mission, Jim, should you decide to accept it, is to find out exactly what Kruger's country intends to do.
As usual, should you or any of your IM Force be caught or killed, the secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions.
This tape will self-destruct in five seconds.
Good luck, Jim.
These are photographs of the actual interior of Kruger's house in his own country.
An exact duplicate will be built in the chateau along with these other authentic locations.
Jim, how can we be sure that Kruger will be transferred to General Kutzof tomorrow? I mean, isn't it possible that Spindler could break him? No, there's no way to break Kruger as a prisoner.
He's steeled himself.
He is completely on the defensive.
Not only that, but he knows all the tricks.
He was once an interrogator himself in the last war.
The only way to break Kruger is to make him break himself.
But Spindler's interrogation will have some effect.
Oh, yes, yes.
Intensive interrogation has probably brought him close to the point of mental collapse.
He'll be disoriented.
He'll be suffering from the phenomenon of prisoner-interrogator transference.
That is, that he'll be identifying with the person in authority, the interrogator, rather than himself.
How about the composites, Barney, where are they? In the file on the desk, Jim.
Good.
Drug? This drug will give him temporary amnesia.
It may erase all or part of his memory.
It's impossible to determine how much will be affected.
What happens if we black out the information completely? The effectiveness of the drug wears off gradually.
Given time, and if he concentrates hard enough, he will remember.
Well, time is the one thing we don't have.
We have to have both the question and the answer by 3:00 tomorrow.
Using the drug is dangerous, we know that, but we don't have any choice.
Kruger's dislocation is no good without the amnesia.
If he starts to remember, Jim, is it possible he'll put his real memory together? Yes, yes.
That's why we have to guide him into remembering only the things that we want him to.
Yes? Kutzof has called again.
He's waiting for him.
Send for the car.
I still have time for one last session.
Now then, where are they located? Where? Answer me.
Think about her.
Think about your wife.
Her hair.
Face.
Think about her.
You'll never touch her again.
You will never hold her.
If you force us to use more barbaric measures, you will not return to her the same man.
The car is ready.
You already know what will happen to you at the other place, Kruger.
Now will you answer my questions? Answer my questions! Answer me! Can it be repaired? Go.
Out.
What's the trouble, sir? Our car is broken.
We have to borrow the truck.
- We're on our way to pick - I do not care.
- You will give us the truck.
- But our orders Are countermanded.
I'm Colonel Friedrich Spindler, state security interrogator.
I take responsibility for taking over your truck.
- Sir, we - If you do not comply immediately, I'll put you under arrest.
- Yes, sir.
- Get out.
I'll send a car back for you.
- Colonel.
- Yes? If I may suggest, sir, that we take you wherever you wish to go and then we can continue with the truck.
Very well.
Get Kruger.
They're on their way.
Spindler's up.
- Are you ready with the drug? - All set.
Give it to Kruger.
You.
Come here.
Are you deaf? Listen to me, I demand to see someone in charge.
I don't know what's going on here.
There's been some kind of a mistake.
Listen to me.
I said I demand to talk to someone in charge! Stand back from the door and be silent.
You must listen to me.
Doctor, you must listen to me, there's been a terrible mistake.
Yes, of course.
Why don't you sit down? Everything's fine.
And unbutton your shirt, please.
"Lobinsk Prison.
" Yes, unbutton your shirt, please.
Now listen to me, doctor.
I am not a prisoner.
I am Friedrich Spindler.
- Yes, of course.
- I am telling you the truth.
- I am not a prisoner.
- What's going on here? Major, I must talk to you.
This is the prisoner that was found near the accident this morning, major.
I am not a prisoner.
I am Colonel Friedrich Spindler, state interrogator.
I demand that you call Security Headquarters immediately.
That is an order, major.
He must have suffered a concussion in the accident, major.
Gag him.
Now, listen to me.
Red code, blue nine, 758.
That is a top security code.
Where did you get it? Never mind that now.
I want no more time wasted.
Call state security immediately.
What and make a fool of myself? Now, how do you know that code? Because I am state-security interrogator.
This morning, I was transporting a very important prisoner.
- Who? - Norvan Kruger.
- We were - I've never heard of him.
Of course not.
We have a meeting to attend, major.
Yes, we will go into this matter tomorrow.
No, it will be too late by tomorrow.
The prisoner Kruger must be found before tomorrow, or it will be too late.
What do you mean? It's a I cannot tell you, it's a top secret.
If he carries on like this, we will put him in isolation.
No, no, listen to me.
I have been telling you the truth.
Kruger is an enemy agent that had been caught.
Only he can tell us where Where his country has placed certain submarines that are going to launch nuclear missiles against the United States.
Please check, major.
I've been telling you the truth.
You must check it, major! I've been telling you the truth! He's coming around.
Good three and a half hours.
Kruger? Hello, Kruger, this is General Kutzof.
- Kruger.
- I see you are up.
Kruger? Kruger, do you hear me? - Kruger, are you there? - Yes? - This is General Kutzof.
- Yes? I've just heard about the accident.
- Accident? - Yes, the one on the road.
It's only a temporary reprieve, Kruger.
I'm on my way over right now.
You've got just three hours to break him.
If you don't, well, you already know what will happen.
Three hours, Kruger.
Use them.
That was charming and delightful, General Kutzof inquiring about your health.
How is your head? Who are you? It must be quite bad.
I didn't think you would forget me so quickly, Norvan.
I'm your wife, Anna.
You can stop what you're thinking.
I have not had any second thoughts.
I am just waiting for Dietrich.
You are not my wife.
No, I suppose not.
But then, you made that decision for us some months ago.
Now listen to me.
I do not want to listen to anything you have to say.
I don't remember.
I have no memory.
I don't know who you are.
I don't know who I am.
Doctor? Yes.
Colonel, according to the x-rays, there is no brain damage.
In that case, Dr.
Drago, how do you explain that he has amnesia? - Amnesia? - Yes.
There must be some brain damage.
Not necessarily.
It could be any number of things, psychological How long will it take to find out? It could take weeks.
We have to run tests.
Hypnosis, analysis.
But then, of course, the question is academic, isn't it? What do you mean? I have not told him.
Told me what? What is it? For the past several weeks, you have been interrogating a prisoner, Oscar Manfred, and Yes, go on.
You have been unable to break him.
The first failure in an otherwise flawless career.
Unfortunately, your superior, General Kutzof, does not tolerate failure.
You've got just three hours to break him.
If you don't, well, you already know what will happen.
Yes.
He's going to kill me.
Yes, along with your wife.
So, what is the use in trying to remember? It is a waste of time.
Doctor, you must do something.
You must help him, please.
Why, Mrs.
Kruger? In the two years I have served your husband as staff psychiatrist, he has been less than kind to me.
And of course, you know better than I what sort of man he is.
It's been the strain, the pressure, he was not always Forgive me for being blunt, Mrs.
Kruger.
In a few hours, anyone connected with your husband will be dead.
Why should I stay and get involved? After all, you are leaving him.
I don't know, doctor, if I'm going to leave him now.
It's very difficult to hate a man who can't even remember the things he has done.
You must help him, doctor, please.
Do you remember anything at all? Fragments.
You see, he's beginning to remember.
Yes, but a recovery could take months.
You have three hours.
What can possibly be done in three hours? There's one thing that will have to be done.
Manfred must be broken.
How can you break him in your condition? You don't know the man.
Sometimes, when I see things, people, objects, fragments come back.
If I saw this Manfred, if I questioned him In three hours, what could you possibly? If I questioned him, I might remember.
I want to try it.
Doctor, will you help me? Very well.
This is Manfred's file.
It should be helpful to you.
Who is this? His wife.
Where are the submarines located? What is their capability? Answer me.
Answer me! He's ready, colonel.
Now let us begin at the beginning.
What is your name? I repeat, what is your name? Manfred.
Oscar Manfred.
Good.
Where were you born? Where were you born? Where were you born? - Answer.
- Essen.
And your code name.
What is your code name? Answer.
Spindler.
Freidrich Spindler.
Kruger, answer my questions.
And the purpose of your mission? Answer.
What was the purpose of your mission? Answer.
What was the purpose of your mission? I was sent Yes? - To make contact.
- To make? - With who? - No.
With who? - With the underground.
- Why? - Revolution.
- When? When? - No.
- When? Eighteenth, 4:00.
- No, planned to - To what? No.
No.
- To what? - Coincide with - With what? - No.
- With what? - With attack.
Attack on - On what? On what? - On On the United States.
How will you attack? Submarine.
That's right, submarine.
You plan to attack by submarine.
Where are they located? Answer me.
Where are they located? Answer me.
Where are they located? Answer me.
- Answer.
- No.
- You will answer me! - No.
- You will answer me! - No! - You will answer! - No! - Answer! - No! - Answer! - No! No.
No! No! Take him back to his cell.
Well, colonel, it sounded as though not only your memory was returning, but also some of your technique.
Unfortunately, he will be unconscious for some time.
Colonel? Colonel Kruger? What is it? You have remembered something.
What happened? What happened? Nothing.
I think I will go and lie down for a while.
- Yes, I will take you to your room.
- No.
I can find my own way.
I prefer to be alone.
Kruger's moving on his own.
Couldn't stop him.
How long, Rollin? At least three minutes.
He's gotta be delayed.
Three minutes, Jim.
Delay him.
I'm sorry, Colonel Kruger, but General Kutzof has given orders that no one is allowed to leave the building until he arrives.
Colonel, Manfred will be unconscious for another 15 minutes.
- But you will have another chance.
- Good.
- Inform me the minute he wakes.
- Yes.
Colonel, I thought you might like to go over his file - Not now.
- But you might find I wish to be left alone.
Now leave me.
Yes, colonel.
What difference does his having amnesia make? I don't know.
But having to choose now, it is Don't you understand? You don't have any choice.
If you stay here, I won't be able to protect you when Kutzof arrives.
Kruger? Kruger, you will answer me now.
Answer me.
You must answer me, Kruger.
- Spindler.
- What? You're Spindler, Friedrich Spindler.
I don't have the time to humour your amnesia or your ravings or whatever's happening to you, colonel.
Are you coming? Please, Dietrich, I would like a few moments alone with Norvan.
Dietrich? Yes, I'm Major Dietrich Werner.
This is ridiculous.
Dietrich, please.
Don't pity him, Anna.
All right, I'll give you two minutes.
I'll be in the living room.
You were there.
You were there.
You were in the interrogation room.
Hardly, colonel.
That's not my domain.
You were the interrogator.
I'll be in the living room.
You're not going anywhere until we get this straightened out.
Norvan, please, let him go, I want to talk to you I want answers.
Please, Norvan.
No.
Dietrich, no.
No, please.
I'll leave that pleasure to Kutzof.
Can you see now? He is no different.
Whether he remembers or not, he's the same man.
It was an accident.
Manfred is conscious.
- What happened? - He can tell you, doctor.
I'm sure he remembers.
Mrs.
Kruger, you are leaving? Doctor, wait a minute, please.
Someone has got to tell me what's happening.
I'm afraid I haven't the time.
I must go, colonel.
Leave and I will take you down with me when Kutzof arrives.
I can do it and you have no Werner to protect you.
But if you help me, I won't say anything.
Blackmail does not usually leave one a choice.
What is it, colonel? The man my wife left with.
Werner.
I remember him.
So? But I remember him as Spindler.
I remember him as the interrogator and myself as the prisoner.
Why? I do not have enough information to give deep psychoanalysis, colonel.
Try, doctor.
Well, it is only a guess.
But you have been under a tremendous strain.
When you felt you could not hold your wife, you felt rejected, a failure.
You wanted to be punished, tortured, persecuted.
So you invented the persecutor.
Werner.
But why did I think it was Spindler? Probably following the accident, the amnesia, you allowed your conscious reality to fuse with subconscious fantasy.
They all became interchangeable.
I see.
How much time do I have left? Forty minutes.
I must go.
- And Manfred? - He's conscious.
Doctor, you will help me with the interrogation.
Colonel, you And your code name.
What is your code name? Spindler.
How will the United States be attacked? Submarine.
Missile.
Surprise attack.
Where are they located? Answer me.
Where are they located? No.
Answer me.
Where are the submarines located? No.
No.
Where are they located? Very well.
- I'll tell you.
- Good.
They are located twenty miles southwest of I can't hear you, I can't hear you.
Louder, I can't hear you.
Where are they located? Where are they located? Louder! - Louder! - Jim, do you think it's working? - Yes, but we're running out of time.
- Where are they located? Where are they located? Louder! Answer me! Louder! Where are they located? I can't hear you! Answer me! Answer me! - Answer me! - Answer me.
Answer me! - Answer me! - Answer me.
Answer me! Answer me.
Answer me.
Answer me.
You will tell me where they are located.
Where are they located? Answer me.
You will tell me the location of the submarines.
Answer me.
- Immediately.
- Guards.
You answer me.
What are you doing? What are you doing? I'm not the prisoner, I'm the interrogator.
Where are you taking me? I'm the interrogator! Answer me! You let go.
Answer me.
Answer me.
You let go.
I'm going to break him! I'll break him! Answer me! I'll break him! Please, I have to continue the interrogation.
Are you all right, colonel? Yes.
He thought he was the interrogator.
He thought he was me.
Yes, yes, under extreme pressure, the prisoner identifies with the interrogator.
Well, at any rate, congratulations.
It will certainly come as a great surprise to General Kutzof.
What? Well, you broke the prisoner.
Only one thing would have sent Manfred over the edge that way and that is if he had broken.
He did break, didn't he? Yes, yes, in a way.
How do you mean "in a way"? I couldn't hear him.
He told me, I went deaf.
I couldn't hear him.
You didn't want to hear him.
What do you mean? You wanted to fail.
You needed an excuse.
- For what? - For Kutzof to kill you.
That doesn't make any sense.
Doesn't it? When your wife told you she was leaving you, you did not want to hear that.
So you blocked that and everything else from your memory.
You wanted to die and Kutzof was certainly willing to oblige you.
And just now, when Manfred broke, you did not want to hear that and so you did not.
But it is there in your memory, colonel.
You must remember it.
You can't throw your life away like this, no.
Norvan.
Anna.
I'm sorry, Norvan, I could never leave you.
Yes.
Yes.
General Kutzof has arrived.
Colonel, there is no time.
You must remember.
You must remember.
I'm trying.
I'm trying.
Well? Did you get the answer from Manfred? Take them out and shoot them.
- Norvan? - Wait.
Very well, I will tell you.
They are located I remember.
They are located of Resnik Island.
Twenty miles southwest of Resnik Island.
General Kutzof, the submarines are loc They've got it.
Go.

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