Time Without Pity (1957) Movie Script
Get up. Get up!
Jennie?
- Mr David Graham?
- Yes.
I'm Jeremy Clayton.
Your son's lawyer.
Would all the passengers
for the 6am plane to Stockholm
please report to the
main departure hall.
I couldn't come sooner.
- Is it tomorrow?
- Yes.
What time?
The execution is ordered for
tomorrow morning, at eight o'clock.
I have my car.
- Is that all your luggage, sir?
- Yes.
Passengers for
the 6am plane to Stockholm,
please report to the main
departure hall.
- What happened?
- Hmm?
Tell me, what happened?
I brought the transcript of
the trial for you.
I... I shan't be able
to read all that. I'll try later.
Tell me about it now.
On the night of the murder,
your son, Alec, called for Jennie Cole.
- She is, of course, the...
- The murdered girl, yes.
The two of them went to
the Stanford flat,
that had been lent to Alec
by Robert Stanford for the weekend.
- Stanford?
- The Stanford car people. The East Enders.
In the morning,
the girl was found dead.
Your son was picked up,
dazed and distracted,
hardly knowing where he was,
or what had happened.
He'd been drinking.
And he was charged with the murder.
He's innocent.
I know he's innocent.
The case against him legally
is overwhelming.
Then it's legally overwhelming
against an innocent man.
The prisoner's name is Alec Graham.
It's all been arranged.
There should be a permit
waiting for us here.
And, er... he is?
The prisoner's father.
Mr Graham?
I thought I ought to have a word
with you before you go in.
These last twenty-four hours
can be a hell,
only your son has
adjusted himself. He's...
He's built a protective shell
round himself,
and we all feel here that
it's a great blessing.
It's our job to protect
the prisoner as much as possible,
and, if we thought a visit
was disturbing to him,
we'd be forced to
cut that visit short.
If you'll follow him,
this officer will take you across.
Oh, Mr Graham, will you
leave your bag here, please?
Would you rather
I waited for you here?
I think you'll find the boy
has been well looked after, sir.
Alec?
I'm sorry I didn't come sooner.
Forgive me, I...
Well, you see, I...
I didn't know.
Can you hear me?
I was moving about.
I was travelling all the time.
This advance that
my publishers gave me...
I'd started to work on a new novel
that I'd set in Canada...
You were working on
one of your longer drunks.
You were in a sanatorium.
The prosecution brought it up.
Maybe they thought it would be
good for their case, I suppose.
Drunken father, bad blood.
I came as soon as I could, Alec.
You're drunk now.
Oh, no! No, I haven't
had a drink for a long time.
It was just that I couldn't
get here sooner.
I... I'd been very sick.
Even before this happened,
you hadn't written for months.
I know, I...
I'm sorry. Forgive me.
But it didn't matter.
Somehow, we always knew that
we were together, you and I.
You remember.
I remember every letter
you did write.
Every word.
And those frightening
boarding schools you put me in.
And the weeks, months, that
would go by without seeing you.
And then you'd show up with a silly
little gift of atonement in your pocket.
I'm here now, Alec.
That's the important thing.
Each time, you'd seem to me
so handsome, so charming,
I was glad to forgive you.
I'd forgive you anything.
But not this time, David.
You left me alone.
I couldn't help it, Alec.
Doesn't matter.
Nothing really matters.
Besides, I...
understand now
about Mother.
You just made use of me
to get her back.
Look, Alec, we haven't got time
to go into all that.
Tell me, what... what happened?
I know you didn't do this.
- No, I don't want to talk about it.
- Don't...
- But you've got to let me help you!
- No!
I'm going to die in a few hours,
and it'll be over.
It's too awful when you
think there's hope. I...
I went through it once.
I'm not going through it again.
But you're letting them.
You're not even trying to help yourself.
But why?
Why should I wait until I turn
into something like you?
- Oh, no, that's...
- Long before this happened,
I'd started to drink.
What?
You've got to let me help you.
Please!
Alec?
Alec!
Well, there must be
something I can do.
I'll study the transcript.
I'll get more time. Only...
- Only you mustn't give up!
- Why not?
What difference would it have made
if you had died when you were my age?
Alec...
Alec!
What are you trying to do?
I mustn't even smell a drink.
What are you thinking, that
one drink won't make any difference?
You're wrong, you know,
you're wrong, but...
There's something wrong here.
There's something that's been overlooked.
I've put all the skill, all the knowledge
of twenty years of the law into this,
- and I've found nothing.
- Well, you're wrong, you're wrong.
All right, then, Graham,
face the facts.
Alec was insanely in love
with this girl. He admitted it.
That night, she told him they
were finished, it was over.
They were seen quarrelling
violently in a public place.
Oh, he's innocent!
There were signs of a violent
quarrel at the flat.
Alec's face was scratched.
He admits having fought with her.
- No.
- He...
No, not Alec.
Alec's gentle, like his mother.
He lied to me.
He told me she was so drunk
he had to leave her at the flat.
The postmortem showed no trace
of alcohol in the girl's blood.
Why should he lie to you?
Clayton...
you believe he's
innocent, don't you?
- Well...
- Oh, stop acting like a lawyer, man!
Tell me what you...
what you believe as a man.
I've fought this with everything I could.
I've had two stays of
execution granted,
and there's nothing more I can do.
Well, then let me fight.
Get me an appointment
with the Home Office.
The Home Office can't
grant a third stay
unless there's some overwhelming
new evidence, or an undeniable doubt.
Somewhere,
there must be something
that everybody's overlooked.
What about the girl who was murdered?
- Didn't she have any relatives?
- One sister, Agnes Cole.
Before you stir up impossible hopes,
I think you should see her.
You'll find her here, this morning.
And now, ladies and gentlemen,
it is my pleasure to introduce
the lovely ladies of our show.
First we have lovely Yvonne.
Yvonne is what is known
as a tall, willowy blonde.
Sometimes she will away,
sometimes she won't.
And here we have Laura.
Laura, now there's the type of girl who
won't go anywhere without her mother.
But boy, can her mother go places.
And here's Deirdre, beautiful Deirdre.
She likes the little things in life.
Little Rolls, little mink coat,
little diamond ring...
I want to see Agnes Cole.
- What?
- Agnes Cole.
- I'm Agnes Cole.
- Now here come the lovely
dancing ladies of the show!
I'm David Graham,
Alec Graham's father.
Bye bye, boys,
that's all for now
Miss Cole, Miss Cole, Miss Cole,
please, could I have a word with you?
Your son killed my sister.
You keep away from me!
No, Alec could never have
done a thing like that...
How could you know?
You weren't even at the trial.
My sister, Jennie, was a sweet and
lovely person before she met Alec.
And then she got so's you
wouldn't think she was the same girl.
She'd come home,
night after night, drunk!
And then one night she came home,
Christmas Eve it was, too,
and I thought she'd had an accident.
She was all bruised,
her cheeks were all swollen,
and her eye...
Well, then it couldn't have been Alec.
It must have been someone else.
She must have been
going with someone else.
- No, only Alec.
- No, it couldn't have been Alec.
- What other man was she seeing?
- No-one.
Why should a chorus girl go out
with a penniless boy?
Especially if he were being
cruel to her? It doesn't...
Look, please, can't any of you
tell me something about Jennie Cole?
- You see, I've got to find out, because...
- What are you doing?
What are you trying to do?
Dirty the memory of my sister?
Let me tell you, Mr Graham.
Your son killed my sister.
And I'm glad he's going to die!
Can I help you, sir?
I want to see Mr Stanford.
Oh, er... come in,
I've been waiting for you.
Mr... Mr Gage.
Dad, this is Mr Gage.
You remember I told you about him?
You told me about Mr Gage?
Yes, I told you about him, he's...
he's going to coach me
for my Bar exams.
I certainly don't remember you
telling me about a tutor.
Oh, Dad, you...
you were just too busy being
enthusiastic about the new model.
Oh, that's quite possible.
When it comes to sports cars,
or any cars for that matter,
I'm not much interested
in anything else.
And Brian's no better.
Oh, Mr Gage, this is Mrs Stanford.
How do you do, Mr Gage?
How do you do?
I'm afraid petrol's in our blood.
You see, I started life as a mechanic.
I've never had the time
or the money for tutors.
Will you excuse me, Mr Gage?
I'm in rather a hurry.
Do you need Henry to drive you?
Yes, he's taking Brian and I
over to the proving grounds.
The Stanford sports prototype's
going through its ordeal by fire.
It's a very big moment for all of us.
I'm afraid you'll have to talk about
this tutor business some other time.
I'm afraid I've got
another appointment.
Dad, I think we'd better
get this over with.
We need to talk, Mr Gage and I.
Then he'd better come along.
He can talk in the car.
Well, we'll go up to the flat.
We... We need quiet.
Oh.
Well, perhaps you'd like to
come along, Honor?
I'm afraid I can't.
Is something terribly pressing?
You know how I hate being alone,
especially when the car's being tested.
I'm sorry, Robert,
but at last I've managed to get
an appointment with an MP.
How much longer is this going on?
Don't you think you've done enough?
- Well, what is it? Do you think Mr...
- Gage.
Gage, Mr Gage, is the only man
in England that doesn't know
a murder's been committed?
In our flat?
And by a friend of our son's?
And that he's going to hang tomorrow?
I'm afraid Mrs Stanford's been
driving herself unmercifully
in an effort to save the poor chap.
I think she's been overdoing it.
Well, now there are no secrets at all!
Are you coming?
No, Robert, I'm not.
Well...
Well, I don't suppose there's any
stopping the army of the righteous.
All right, you can take Henry,
I'll drive myself.
Thank you.
Brian, I... I hope you'll be able to
work something out with Mr Gage.
Don't worry about me, Honor,
I'll take care of myself.
Yes, of course.
- Goodbye, Mr Gage.
- Goodbye, Mrs Stanford.
Why did you say I was a tutor?
Oh, excuse me, Mr Stanford.
- What do you want, Graham?
- I came to help Alec.
You're a little late, aren't you?
I was in hospital. They wouldn't
let me leave till yesterday.
Did you know about Alec?
No, they wouldn't allow me
to read my mail.
- None of it?
- None at all. Why?
Why are you so interested in my mail?
How did you know who I was?
I saw your picture in Alec's room.
What, Alec kept my picture?
Yes, when he came to
stay at weekends,
he always brought your
photograph with him.
You're surprised?
Yes.
Oh, he used to talk about you
by the hour.
In some ways, it was
our favourite topic of conversation.
Neither of us had any
parents to speak of.
My real father was killed
in the Stanford works.
He was just an ordinary workman.
You didn't really think Honor
was my mother, did you?
I'm adopted.
The Stanfords adopted me
when I was eight.
What did Alec say about me?
I got the impression you were about to
write the greatest novel ever written.
Did you?
In common with quite a lot
of other writers,
I've been about to write it
for a very long time.
This is where I live. I hope
I'm not taking you out of your way.
You do want to help, don't you?
I'm sorry, Graham, I'm going in.
Alec's your best friend, isn't he?
Well, isn't he?
Yes. Yes, he was.
Well, then, you wouldn't hide
anything that might help him.
You still haven't told me
why you said I was a tutor.
Well, that was an impulse.
I wanted to help you.
How?
I don't know.
People don't always act logically.
Not everything's thought out.
Is this where it happened?
Yes. It is.
At the trial...
Alec said that he thought
he heard a door slam,
as though someone had come in
by way of the back door.
Was that someone you, Brian?
I was playing poker all night.
Oh, it's all right.
The police checked up.
Hello?
No, no.
But there is a back door?
Mr Brian, I hope you're not
expecting lunch.
Cook and the rest were told
to take the afternoon off.
Um... hold on a minute.
No, Mrs Johnson,
we're not expecting lunch,
and you can take
the afternoon off, too.
If there's anything
I can do, Mr Brian?
No, no, he's not here now.
All right, I'll tell him you rang.
No, there's nothing, thank you.
Look, you know that if you're hiding
anything, you're a murderer.
- I... I am?
- Yes.
You do know something.
Now stop wasting Alec's time!
Well...
It's...
It's about a letter.
What sort of letter?
I... I don't know.
Oh, Brian, please!
We'd been sending you
our old magazines.
Alec said you liked
the English magazines.
- He was always worrying about you...
- I know all that. Go on.
Well...
when one of the servants sent off
the last package of magazines,
she thought she saw a piece of
blue writing paper
between the pages of one of them.
No, I don't understand.
Slowly, please.
What makes you think that this piece
of blue writing paper was a letter?
- I... I don't know that it was...
- You just said it was a letter!
- Well, I think it was something personal.
- Personal?
- Family, private.
- Private? How?
What makes you think that this
letter is so important?
Well, it may not be...
Well, anyway, you should have
done something about it.
- The letter was sent to you.
- I couldn't do anything about it.
And you kept silent,
all through the trial.
And what did you do
all through the trial?
They had to put you in
one of those places for alcoholics.
Alec told me about your drinking.
Then you must have known, when
those magazines were sent off,
that I should never read that letter.
Look, Brian, I'm not a detective,
you've got to help me!
Oh!
You see, sometimes...
when it's someone one loves, you...
well, it would only hurt them.
And it wouldn't help Alec!
Operator?
Yes, I want to call...
I want to call to Canada.
Montreal.
Who is this that you're
protecting, Brian? Who is it?
What? Oh, um...
Curzon, 7712.
Hello, hello, are you there, caller?
Hello, hello, are you there, caller?
Hello, hello...?
I want the Morningsign Hospital.
Yes, I know the number.
It's Montreal 14161.
What?
I... I almost rang you myself
once or twice.
There's a delay.
Now, operator, please. This is urgent!
It's an emergency, yes.
Yes! Yes, a matter of life and death,
that's what I...
I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
That's all right.
Well, as quickly as you can, please.
There's no reason not to
tell me now, Brian.
Now, is there?
That only leads to our bedrooms.
Look, don't...
That's your room,
I don't think that interests me.
What are you doing?
Trying to find out some of the
answers that you won't tell me.
What's in here?
Oh, that's my mother's...
that's Honor's room.
Was the letter written on this paper?
- Well, it's a very ordinary kind of paper.
- Yes, but it happens to be blue.
Why does she need a gun?
Well, that's Dad's gun.
I... I don't know how it got here.
- Do you know about these things?
- Yes.
Is that loaded?
Yes, it's fully loaded.
- That's the telephone.
- No, it's the front door.
What do you want?
Is your father in?
No, he's not.
He rang me.
The message said it was urgent, so...
I thought I'd pop in myself.
Well, he's not here.
He did say it was urgent.
All right, you've convinced me.
You're a devoted Stanford employee.
How dare you speak to me
like that, Master Brian?
All complaints should be filed
through the appropriate channels.
I'll tell him you "popped in".
Please do.
Who was that?
Vickie Harker. Dad's secretary.
Or used to be.
Why does she put on that act?
Well, she goes to the pictures!
Secretaries do, you know.
What have you got against her?
Hello?
It's Montreal!
Hello? Hello?
Give me Dr Pollock, please.
Oh, quickly, it's long distance.
Hello? Hello?
Dad's just driven up!
You'll have to hurry.
Hello, Dr Pollock?
This is Graham.
David Graham.
No, I'm calling you from
London, England.
Are you there?
You have to hurry!
Look, some magazines
and newspapers were sent to me.
Well, they should have been kept
in my locker with my other mail.
Can you hear me?
Well, look, in one of
those magazines
was a note written on
a piece of blue paper.
Look, it got slipped in with one
of the magazines by mistake.
Now listen, you've got to
find me that note.
Well, ring me if you find anything.
He's just getting out of the lift.
Oh... Curzon 7712.
Yes, seven, seven, one, two.
Call me the moment you find anything!
Who'll pay for the call?
I'll pay for the call.
Tell him I'll wire him the money.
Stop him at the door.
We'll pay.
We'll wire you the money!
No, I'm quite all right, thank you.
Only, please, please call.
It's my son's life.
Curzon, that's right.
- Can I trust you, Brian?
- Yes. Yes, I promise.
Brian?
Brian?
Brian!
Your name's not Gage!
It's Graham! David Graham!
Alec's father!
My wife just telephoned me.
She's on her way back here.
She thought she recognised you!
Why have you done this?
- I was only trying to help you.
- Help me how?
What's this nonsense about helping?
Well, speak up!
I was going to tell you,
but you didn't give me the chance.
Help me, help me?
Well, protect you, then,
if you don't like the words I use.
Protect me from what?
What makes you think
I need protection?
I thought there might be some
unpleasantness at the office, and...
I thought it'd be better to talk here.
I thought it wouldn't
look good for Stanford's.
Ah.
All right, all right.
I suppose you meant well.
But next time, confide in me, Brian.
I'm your father.
Remember that, old lad!
Exactly what did you hope
to get from us, Mr Graham?
Help.
Why did you think we could help?
I just came to find out if you could.
I don't think you understand what
we've been through, Mr Graham.
I think we're entitled
to be left alone.
I'd follow up anything, Mr Stanford.
Anything that offers
the slightest hope.
Then you still think there's a hope.
Yes.
Yes, I do.
Then you know something.
No, but I hope to soon.
We befriended your son.
We treated him as if
he were one of our own.
To bring that poor girl in here...
and murder her...
I'm asking you to leave, Mr Graham!
It's important for me
to have access to this flat.
There must be something here
that will lead me to the truth.
Mr Graham?
I don't understand why you had to...
We want to do everything
we can to help you.
Honor...
- You're to do nothing more.
- We're so distressed.
I want no member of this family
to have anything even remotely
to do with this case.
I want it forgotten!
Finished!
Your son and mine
were just friends at the university.
You can't expect us to do
anything more than we've done!
Hello? Yes, Stanford speaking.
No, no tests without me,
do you understand?
Well, tell them all
to wait till I get there.
No, she's not to be touched
until I've ripped her apart myself.
All right.
Miss Vickie Harker called to see you.
It was something to do
with the office.
How dare you intrude in this way?
Mr Graham, what can I do to help you?
Why are you doing this to me?
Can't you understand
what I'm going through?
I'm sorry.
This thing has affected me
more than I thought.
Brian!
I'm going out for a walk.
Would you like to come?
I can't, Dad. I can't leave the flat.
I... I mean, I'd rather not.
What does Vickie Harker
mean to this family?
Mr Graham?
If you want to see Miss Harker,
Henry can drive you there.
- Nothing very luxurious, Mr, um...
- Gage.
Gage. Still, it's a cosy
little corner, as you might see.
Excuse my hair being so untidy,
but I never expected anybody, you see.
- Here you are.
- Oh, thank you.
Look at this.
Recently acquired because of
my daughter's latest promotion.
It was your daughter
I was wanting to see, Mrs Harker.
Oh, Vickie's never
around at this hour.
- No, I thought, well...
- Here you are, have a drink.
No, thank you.
- Come on, it'll do you good.
- No, no, no, please!
I'll... I'll have a cigarette,
if you don't mind.
Oh, come off it.
One old tippler can always
smell another a mile away.
You'll never give it up.
We never do.
Why try at your age?
Come on, have a drink.
- No, thank you.
- Come on, drink up!
Now, then, what's all this about?
You needn't be delicate with me,
Mr Gage, I'm a woman who's lived.
I saw you out there in the car,
looking very grand.
But it's mostly
Mrs Stanford's car, isn't it?
Yes, that's right.
Yeah, it would be a dark day when
I didn't know where I was going.
What'd she send you for?
Well, there are one or two
questions I'd like to ask you.
Well, you tell Mrs Stanford if she
wants any evidence for a divorce,
she doesn't have to send a detective,
she can come around and get it herself.
No, but now that I am here,
if I could just ask you whether...
Well, well.
My Vickie was right after all.
Fancy Mrs Stanford giving
up a man like Stanford, eh?
And here was I
thinking that Vickie was
throwing away
the best years of her life.
Not that Mr Stanford's mean, you know.
Oh, no.
She's just been given a job at the head
of one of his most important agencies.
Yes, I did know that.
Well, it just goes to
show you, Mr Gage,
I'm not a very good
judge of life, am I?
Do you know what I said to my Vickie
when she told me about the promotion?
I said,
"Vickie, my girl, you've had it.
"Absolutely had it."
Farewell gift, bon voyage.
Farewell, my love!
One of the little pleasures in life,
Mr Gage, I can now give myself.
Just to hear it ring,
and know that you don't
have to go anywhere.
It's wonderful.
Why don't you have another drink?
It might take the tremble
out of your hands.
Oh, I haven't much time.
Just tell your lady she's got
nothing to worry about.
I'll see my Vickie cooperates!
But she's not to start getting
any fancy ideas about alimony,
because we're not throwing
good money down the drain.
If she starts for asking for any
fancy amount, she'd better watch out.
Watch out for what?
Well, you never know, Mr Gage.
Somebody might just mention,
just supposing, possibly,
about Mrs Stanford and that boy!
What boy?
The boy that's being hung tomorrow.
Alec?
Er... Alec Graham?
My Vickie once said to me,
"I wouldn't be at all surprised if..."
Alec and Mrs Stanford?
Is that what you mean?
Why should Vickie say that?
Tell me.
Who are you?
Why aren't you drinking?
What have you come for?
I don't believe
you are a private detec...
- Tell me!
- Oh no!
I'll tell you nothing! Nothing.
No more to say!
Not another word!
I've had a hard life.
Not another word!
Alec and Mrs Stanford, what was it?
Get out!
Get out of here!
- Mrs Harker!
- Get out!
But why should Mrs Stanford
have killed this girl?
She was in love with Alec.
She was jealous of the girl.
- No, that's utterly fantastic!
- Well, something utterly fantastic happened.
So fantastic that
no-one's thought of it.
Graham, has it ever occurred to you
to wonder who was paying my fees?
It's the Stanfords.
They've been paying me.
Oh, well, what does that prove?
Stanford testified they
were together that night.
Well, Stanford could be lying, too.
They both lied, one for the other!
Do they strike you as people who have
a secret of this kind on their minds?
Everyone has a secret.
It's not always written in the face.
Mr Graham, I'm very sorry,
but your son doesn't wish to see you.
The prisoner doesn't wish
to see you, sir.
Alec?
I don't believe you.
Look, you think you're
protecting him, but...
Mr Graham, I told him that
you said it was urgent.
Then go back and tell him
that there's still a chance.
Tell him we mustn't give up fighting!
Oh, please!
He told me that he doesn't
want another chance.
- Then tell him that...
- He doesn't want to see you, Mr Graham.
Your son has given himself
over to other hands.
More compassionate, perhaps,
than those of the Earth.
You mean he's given up hope.
Well, I won't have it!
All of you trying to make it
look so humane and decent.
You can't.
I want my son to live!
I'm not going to let you kill him.
Mr Maxwell, I don't think
you got the point of my last question.
Why have you called a
press conference a few hours
before Alec Graham
is due to be hanged?
And why not?
Every time a particularly sensational
execution is about to take place,
your campaign for the abolition of
capital punishment seems to flare up.
Oh, no.
No, it's just that we get
more newspaper attention
when there's a legalised
killing about to take place.
You see, we feel that
the public should know
the full horror which happens
when the state decides to
take the life of a human being.
The cold, calculated planning.
The way the executioner,
and his assistant,
make sure of the
weight of the prisoner.
And then they check on the rope.
The rope that hangs down
from the scaffold.
They'll be doing that tonight.
That scaffold which is
so conveniently placed
in the cell next to Alec Graham.
What is it that you supporters
of the bill actually object to?
Is it what you call legalised killing?
Or is it the method of killing?
I should say it's the killing.
What about war?
Oh, war...
But don't you see that, even in war,
the prime objective is not to kill
the enemy, it's to protect yourself.
And what about the victim's relatives?
Her sister, for example,
how's she supposed to feel?
And what about Alec Graham's father?
Why should he be put
through all this torture?
Gentlemen, this is the only
punishment which is irrevocable.
Now can we be absolutely certain
that we've never made a mistake,
and that we won't
ever make a mistake?
Are you suggesting
that young Graham is not guilty?
I'm not interested in whether
young Graham is guilty or innocent.
Another double.
Don't.
- What?
- You mustn't drink now.
Alec is relying on you.
There's no-one else!
What do you want?
Somebody told me something
about you... who was it, eh?
Names... I can't do names.
They're too hard!
How long have I been here?
- Well, has it happened?
- No, no.
You've only been here a few minutes.
Hello?
Hello? Clayton here.
Hello, this is Graham.
Oh, I'm glad you called. The Home
Office will see you at 7:30 tonight.
And Alec?
He's still refusing.
He won't talk to me, either.
Well, Alec must talk to me.
Well, you've got to make him
talk to me. I...
I don't know what to suggest.
Are you there?
Yeah.
You won't forget? 7:30 tonight.
No! I won't forget. 7:30.
7:30 tonight.
Mr Graham? Alec will talk to me.
Please let me go
to the prison with you.
He will see me.
Why are you doing all this for my son?
What difference does it make why?
Hmm, quite.
Why not?
You must stay sober.
You mustn't drink any more.
Please, Mr Graham.
Mr Graham?
From the moment we set eyes on him,
- you would attempt to help him!
- That isn't true!
You did anything
you could to encourage him!
And what's more, you didn't
engage in ordinary...
- I told you...
- Please, Robert.
I told you I wanted you to have
nothing more to do with him.
Now why did you bring him here?
You know I didn't want him here!
We were on our way to the prison
when he broke down completely.
Where else could I have taken him?
Now you just listen to me.
I've had enough, see.
You're my wife and you'll do
as I tell you, do as I tell you!
Robert, you're hurting me!
No more. Stay away from him!
His son means more to you than I do,
doesn't he? Admit it!
Admit what?
Robert, have I ever shamed you?
But you've done nothing but humiliate me
since the day we were married.
Would I have gone to her if my wife
had given me the love I needed so bad?
Love? You didn't marry me
because you loved me.
You married me because I was
something different.
Something you'd never had before!
So you thought you wanted me.
What you really wanted
was the pleasure of trying to break me
and then drag me in your own dirt.
Robert Stanford.
The mighty Robert Stanford!
You're like a sick schoolboy peering
through half-open windows.
Don't you say that to me.
Honor?
Honor!
Keep away from me.
No, Honor, don't leave me alone!
Keep away!
Honor!
Do they do that often?
Never as bad as that.
- The call came.
- What call?
There was a letter.
Well, what did it say?
David...
Honor's...
Honor's been wonderful to me, she...
She's always stood up for me, and...
Well, you stood up for her,
and now you're even.
What was in the letter?
I wrote it down.
"There's no other way out.
"Try to forgive me."
How was it signed?
It wasn't signed.
How did you know that it existed?
The morning that Jennie was
found murdered, I...
I drove my father and Honor
in from the country...
They'd spent the night there?
That's what they said.
Later that morning, I was
in the living room.
The phone rang, I answered it.
It was the police.
They wanted to talk to Father.
So, I went over to his room.
I could hear Father and Honor in here.
I knocked, but they didn't hear me,
so I just came in.
Father was standing there.
Honor was facing him.
They both looked ghastly.
Honor had a gun in her hand.
It was Dad's gun, the one you saw.
When she saw me coming,
she quickly tried to hide it.
I told them that the police
wanted to talk to them.
What did they say?
Well, Dad asked me
to tell them that
he'd be at their disposal
any time they wanted.
Then I...
I went over to the phone, here.
I picked up the phone, and...
while I was on the phone, I...
I could see the two of them
in that mirror, there.
I thought I saw Honor
put a piece of paper
in amongst some old magazines
on the table, there.
Later, of course, a secretary
sent the magazines off to you.
I didn't think anything
about it at the time,
until Dad and Honor
started to ask about it.
Now, wait...
You said you saw her
trying to hide it?
I suppose so.
Then you didn't try to
find out what it was?
- I... I didn't want to know.
- Why not?
Well, you see...
You see, I...
I thought that Honor and...
and Alec...
Well, one night, I saw Honor
coming out of Alec's room.
Late.
We'd better go now,
if you feel all right.
"There's no other way out.
Try to forgive me."
On the morning after Jennie Cole
was found murdered,
you wrote this suicide note.
Why?
- I didn't write that note.
- Who did?
Who did?
That morning,
my husband tried to kill himself.
- Your husband?
- Yes.
I'd... I'd known about him
and the Harker girl for a long time.
The night of the murder,
he was not with me.
He was with her.
He was afraid it would
all come out, the scandal,
and it was too much for him.
He tried to kill himself.
I told him that I'd say that he'd
spent the night with me, and
there'd be no scandal.
That is, if Miss Harker agreed
not to say anything.
Apparently, Miss Harker agreed.
Your husband,
a man like Robert Stanford,
threatened to commit suicide
because of a breath of scandal?
I don't believe you. You're lying.
No, I'm telling you the truth.
You're lying. You lied in the
witness box, and you're lying now!
Mr Graham,
there's not much time.
We'd better go, if we're going.
I'll drive you.
It's not breaking the regulations
that I'm concerned about.
I'm thinking of the prisoner,
your son.
But do you suppose
I'm not thinking of him?
Do you think I want him
to be tortured, and...
There's a chance of saving his life.
It's a risk worth taking.
Wait here a moment.
- I've got to see him alone at first.
- No.
- I... I must speak to him privately.
- No, no.
If this is a trick, I want to know.
I want to be told before it happens.
I don't want to be dragged,
I want to know!
- Honor!
- Alec, darling.
Alec.
Alec, I wanted to tell you something.
I don't know if it'll mean
anything to you, but...
but I want you to know, anyway.
You mean so very much to me.
For a long time,
I didn't realise it myself.
You brought something to me
I'd never had.
Something I needed badly.
Gentleness.
And someone to love.
Does this mean anything to you?
This moment?
Yes, it does.
I thought about it a great deal.
I wondered, perhaps,
if I should try and see you here.
But now...
No, I'm glad you came.
Honor...
would you kiss me?
- Father!
- Alec!
I'll wait outside.
Oh, Father, I'm sorry
I was cruel to you.
- Oh, that doesn't matter now.
- Father...
I want to live. I don't want to die.
Please save me!
- Alec, listen, there is hope.
- Hope! How?
I've got an appointment, shortly,
with the Home Office.
No, I'm not drunk. I've been drinking,
but, look, I'm not drunk.
Come, sit down.
- Alec, look, you've got to trust me.
- Yes.
- I've got to ask you a few questions.
- Yes, Father.
What did Mrs Stanford mean just now?
When?
Has there ever been
anything between you?
- Between Honor and me?
- Yes.
Yes, late one night, she was seen
coming out of your room, Alec.
She...
Oh, that must have been Christmas Eve.
Well, what was she doing in your room?
Well, er...
You see...
I'd been looking forward
to Christmas for weeks.
I expected to spend
the holidays with...
with Jennie.
I could hardly study.
Everything I saw or felt or touched
was Jennie, I wanted her so much.
Yes, yes, I understand.
And then...
and then suddenly Jennie said she
was too busy even to see me.
Well, Honor knew how upset I was.
What was it you
asked me about, Father?
About Mrs Stanford in your room.
I...
I suppose she heard me crying.
She came into the room to comfort me.
Christmas Eve. What...?
Somebody said something
about Christmas Eve.
Was that the hope?
That you thought there was something
between Honor Stanford and...
Was that the hope?
Let me think...
Don't lie to me, Father!
Alec, they're going to send me away,
they won't let us stay together anymore.
But please, there is hope,
you mustn't give up!
What hope?
Why do you say there's hope?
You're lying.
Just as you did about Mother.
You, you...
you wouldn't let me see her unless
she promised to come back to you!
That's true, that's perfectly true,
but I'm not lying now, Alec.
There's nothing to be done,
they're going to kill me!
- No, Alec, no, my boy...
- Stop them! Don't let them!
- Now please, just give us one more minute!
- Father, you'll come back!
- Promise me you'll come back!
- Yes, I promise you, Alec.
No matter what?
- Take it easy, son, take it easy now.
- No! No!
Yes...
I'm in love with Alec.
I never tried to
do anything about it, and...
I knew nothing would come of it, ever.
It's there, all the same.
Christmas Eve...
Christmas Eve...
What happened? Is there any hope?
There's always hope.
Look out for Honor, Brian.
Home Office, Henry.
There's been some horrible
combination of circumstances.
The boy is innocent, he...
Every relative believes that.
It would be unnatural of you
to think otherwise.
And yet murders are done by someone.
The law must be guided
by facts, not faith,
or justice would never be meted out.
Meted out?
How will the poor broken body
of Alec Graham
increase the grandeur of the law?
I'm sorry.
I wish it were in my power...
Well, it is in your power!
Take a look there,
and write your name.
Give me a few days.
Just a few days.
Forty-eight hours.
Just two days.
I haven't had a chance yet.
I've only just arrived.
Mr Graham was
confined in a sanatorium.
Yes. Yes, I know.
But what could you hope
to do in a few hours
that all the agencies of the law have
been unable to do in all these weeks?
People will tell me things
that they don't tell everybody.
This office undertook long investigations
of its own after the trial.
I myself spoke to psychiatrists
who examined your son,
to the...
prison medical officer,
the judge who
presided at the trial,
counsel for the prosecution,
governor of the prison.
I'm deeply sorry, Mr Graham.
Please. Forgive me. May I speak?
What is to be gained
by this execution?
After all these thousands of years
of torture and hanging,
haven't we advanced at all?
Haven't we learned anything?
Please, please give him another day.
Another twenty-four hours.
Right.
Hello, Barnes. You remember me?
David Graham.
We were at Oxford together.
I remember you very well, Graham.
I was half expecting you to come.
Well, then you know that
I've come to ask for help.
What sort of help, Graham?
What do you think
I can do for you?
Help me get a delay.
Of just a few days.
Well, two days. Forty-eight hours.
"Father Begs For 48 Hours
Of Son's Life"
People would read that.
There might be public protests.
Why should I help you, Graham?
Where have you been
all these years
when there's been
a hanging every month?
Is your son
a special sort of person?
Why didn't you protest then?
Why didn't you ask me
to help one of them?
My son.
There were other fathers.
And other sons.
Tomorrow morning,
they'll read the story
the way they read any other news item,
and then turn to
the cricket score.
Just the way you did,
hundreds of times.
I remembered you
as a human being.
There's gratitude for you!
You were a good story
for us, Graham.
The drunk.
So drunk, you couldn't
come to see your son
until twenty-four hours
before he was to die.
Do you know why
that story hasn't appeared?
Because we didn't think it
relevant to print it.
What do you think should
be done with a murderer, Mr Stanford?
Pin a medal on him?
What, you again? He's always asking for
Christmas carols, this chap, he's crazy.
Oh, come on, jazz it up a bit.
Beat it out!
Silent night, holy night
All is quiet, all is bright...
Where were you on the silent night?
Christmas Eve?
I was at home.
With my family.
With my son.
And your son.
He always spent his holidays with us.
Didn't you know that?
How drunk are you?
Oh, yes, you were a father to him.
I'm very drunk.
But not enough.
Well, stop drinking.
D'you hear? Stop it!
He's waiting for you.
You promised you'd go to him.
How can you bear
to let him face it alone?
I don't know, I don't know, I...
I don't know anything.
You don't know what it's like
to be alone, do you? Do you?
How drunk are you?
It's frightful to be alone.
Ah, go to Alec, go to your son!
Stop shouting at me!
You mustn't let him face it alone.
I can't stand it.
Can't stand it...
Can't stand it!
No, you don't know.
Sometimes...
a man has to make big decisions.
Terrible decisions.
And carry them with him alone,
for the rest of his life.
Can you understand what I'm saying?
Yes.
And you won't go to him?
You won't go to Alec?
I can't.
I can't.
You see this?
Now, this blacks out everything.
Sort of golden egg.
But it can't black out
the man with the rope.
Black him out.
Black him out.
I see a hand,
and, in the hand,
is a golden locket.
It opens,
and there's Alec's face.
Someone had a locket like that.
Used to sit there,
opening it and closing it,
opening it and closing it.
Sometimes,
in the middle of the night,
that hand's there,
and the locket,
and...
Alec's face!
That's why I'm
staying with you tonight.
But we mustn't
let it get out of control!
That's the wonderful thing
about the car.
Control!
You step on the accelerator,
she roars!
You let it go, and she whines!
I'm gonna test her tonight.
Do you know what the
proving grounds are, Graham?
They're insurance against
the unforeseen.
The sudden curve in the road.
The pothole! The obstacle!
All foreseen.
All controlled.
And I'm gonna test it tonight.
Tonight...
Oh, they'll still be there.
I told them to wait until I got there.
Christmas Eve... Christmas Eve...
Christmas Eve... Christmas Eve...
Christmas Eve... Christmas Eve...
Christmas Eve... Christmas Eve...
It was her sister, Agnes.
Agnes Cole.
- What's the time?
- Eh?
What time is it?
I'm sorry, I've got no watch.
- What's the day?
- I beg pardon?
- What day of the week is it?
- It's Tuesday. Near Wednesday now.
Here, here, what's the row?
We're all locked up!
Agnes Cole.
I want to see Agnes Cole.
Huh?
Try the little caff down the alley.
The girls usually get around there.
Agnes!
Christmas Eve.
No, no.
Don't do that.
You said your sister went out
on Christmas Eve.
Don't remember what I said.
No, no, no, you said...
you said that she came home drunk?
Yes. All black and blue.
Alec wasn't with her on Christmas Eve.
No, no, I've got witnesses
who can prove it.
She refused to see him
on Christmas Eve.
She was seeing somebody else.
- She was meeting somebody else, secretly.
- Oh, no.
Yes, yes, somebody who
didn't wish to be seen with her.
But... well, I...
Jennie didn't tell me!
It was that man that murdered Jennie!
I didn't know.
Mr Graham!
Where is Vickie?
Vickie! I'll call the police!
Where is she?
Who is it?
It's Alec Graham's father.
Oh, so that's who you are.
Miss Harker, I... I...
What are you doing here?
What do you want?
Miss Harker,
shortly after the murder, you were
given a much better job, weren't you?
- Weren't you?
- He has no right to question you!
Answer me. Answer me.
Yes, my promotion was after the trial.
Vickie!
Why did Stanford want to
see you at the flat today?
I don't know why.
I couldn't reach him.
Don't lie to me.
How much did he pay you
that was worth my son's life?
- Pay me?
- Yes.
What did he pay you
that made it worthwhile
to stand by and be silent
while a young man dies?
What did Stanford pay you?
Why should Mr Stanford
have paid me?
What am I supposed to
keep silent about?
The murder.
The murder of Jennie Cole.
On the night of the murder,
where were you?
Vickie!
Vickie!
I was...
Shut up, Vickie!
Don't say anything until
you've seen Mr Stanford!
I was at Brighton.
My aunt has a caf there.
I sometimes help
with the weekend rush.
You fool. You little fool!
I thought he'd paid you
to be his alibi, but...
but he didn't have to pay you.
Mrs Stanford would never have
thought of checking on it.
She'd have taken his word!
She'd have taken Stanford's word
that he spent the night with you!
She didn't say
she went alone to Brighton.
Maybe she was accompanied
by a certain gentleman.
- Vickie!
- Shut up, Mother.
Robert Stanford was not with me
the night of the murder.
Vickie! Vickie!
Wait for me.
You saw him?
Yes. It was one of the clerks.
The Under-Secretary had gone to bed.
But you told him that Mrs Stanford
was willing to testify that she'd lied?
There was a report from the prison
of Mrs Stanford's
unfortunate visit to Alec.
They couldn't accept her testimony.
Stanford! Let them,
let them question Stanford!
You've got to try to
understand something, Graham.
It happens every time
there's to be an execution.
They get dozens of last-minute alibis,
sometimes even confessions!
The clerk told me the Home Office
had already got four
false confessions on this case.
It's as I told you this morning,
only some concrete evidence.
Something tangible.
I'll be at my flat.
I'll be at my flat!
Stanford!
Stanford!
Come out!
Come out of that car!
There's still time,
you can't run away!
I've seen Vickie Harker!
You weren't with her!
And Agnes Cole!
You murderer!
Help me!
Help me stop him!
- That's Robert Stanford in the car.
- He's a murderer!
Stanford...
She's wonderful! She's champion!
Guy must be drunk.
No, he's not drunk.
Take no notice of him.
Well, she stood up to it.
She took everything I could give her.
Stanford.
Stanford.
Well, what do you want, Graham?
Telephone the Home Office.
Tell them that you killed Jennie Cole.
You're too late.
- You know that, don't you?
- No, no, not if you telephone.
Why, you're over-excited, Graham.
You've lost control.
Look at your hands.
They're trembling!
You can hardly speak.
If Alec dies, I...
You can't get away with this, Stanford.
I... I know the truth.
What truth do you know?
I know why Alec kept insisting that
that girl was drunk.
That counted against him at the trial.
She wasn't drunk, of course,
she was...
she was just pretending to be drunk.
She wanted to get rid of Alec because
she was waiting for you!
And you arranged it that way!
Yes, it was exciting, wasn't it?
To have the girl brought to you
by a young man.
It was much safer, too, because
nobody would suspect anything.
What happened then, Stanford?
Did she want too much money?
Was that it?
Or... or was it one of your rages?
Now listen to me, Graham.
I'd like you to try and think clearly
for once in your life.
I'd like to do something for you.
I feel sorry for what's happened.
I'd like to try and make it up
in some way.
Perhaps even give you
a few shares in Stanford's.
Enough so that, for the rest of
your life, you wouldn't have to worry.
Are you trying to buy me?
Go away, Graham.
Don't bother me.
I've offered to keep you
in whisky for the rest of your life.
What they want,
and what you'll never get
is something tangible.
What do you think you're doing?
Are you trying to frighten me?
What proof have you got?
Put that thing down!
Agnes Cole?
Agnes'll be like her sister, Jennie.
Only she'll be cheaper.
Vickie?
- Is it Mr Clayton's apartment?
- Vickie Harker loves me.
When it comes to the point,
she won't do anything to hurt me.
Well, get me Mr Clayton.
Well, come on, Graham,
what proof have you got?
- Speak up, speak up!
- Wake him up, then!
They've been searching for months.
Police, detectives, lawyers...
searching, searching!
And nobody's searched harder
than I have!
There's nothing to connect me with her.
Do you understand that?
I was never seen with Jennie Cole.
Hello, Clayton, this is Graham.
Look, you asked me to find
something tangible.
You don't know what it means
to be a success.
- Do you?
- Tangible, tangible!
- Well I finally got something tangible.
- You don't know what success means.
Do you, Graham?
- Yes, I understand what it means.
- Well, you see all this?
- This is me!
- Stanford's in here, with me now.
And you see this?
That's you!
Which do you think they'll believe?
He's threatening to kill me.
To kill you? Stanford?
Are you there?
Look, if anything happens to me,
tell Alec to live a
full and wonderful life.
This is your gun, Stanford.
Now, I'm being realistic.
You won't save Alec by killing me!
I know that.
Oh!
Stay away from me, Graham.
I don't want to hurt you.
Don't make me angry, Graham!
What are you afraid of, huh?
You've already killed Jennie Cole!
And you're going to kill Alec!
Don't talk to me about Alec!
Don't tell me how much you love him!
What have you ever done for him?
What'd you ever give him? Nothing!
I've given him more than you have
in the whole of your life!
What was he to you?
Someone to weep over
when you're drunk?
What are you doing?
Graham!
You didn't think I'd let Alec die,
just like that, did you?
Graham!
Graham!
- Here.
- Not here. Garden room.
Father!
Father!
- The door's locked.
- Well, there's another door.
- It's around this way.
- Robert!
Well, let's try
the other door, quickly!
Honor.
I didn't do it!
He killed himself!
He's dead.
Yeah. Yeah.
Oh, but I didn't do it!
It was... We...
What are you doing, Brian?
Honor!
Tell him to stop it!
But I didn't do it!
I swear, I swear,
I swear I didn't do it!
Mr Clayton, this is Brian Stanford.
I think you'd better ring
the Home Office right away.
My father's just killed David Graham.
Yes.
Yes.
Now you can stop them hanging Alec.
All right. All right, Mr Clayton.
Jennie?
- Mr David Graham?
- Yes.
I'm Jeremy Clayton.
Your son's lawyer.
Would all the passengers
for the 6am plane to Stockholm
please report to the
main departure hall.
I couldn't come sooner.
- Is it tomorrow?
- Yes.
What time?
The execution is ordered for
tomorrow morning, at eight o'clock.
I have my car.
- Is that all your luggage, sir?
- Yes.
Passengers for
the 6am plane to Stockholm,
please report to the main
departure hall.
- What happened?
- Hmm?
Tell me, what happened?
I brought the transcript of
the trial for you.
I... I shan't be able
to read all that. I'll try later.
Tell me about it now.
On the night of the murder,
your son, Alec, called for Jennie Cole.
- She is, of course, the...
- The murdered girl, yes.
The two of them went to
the Stanford flat,
that had been lent to Alec
by Robert Stanford for the weekend.
- Stanford?
- The Stanford car people. The East Enders.
In the morning,
the girl was found dead.
Your son was picked up,
dazed and distracted,
hardly knowing where he was,
or what had happened.
He'd been drinking.
And he was charged with the murder.
He's innocent.
I know he's innocent.
The case against him legally
is overwhelming.
Then it's legally overwhelming
against an innocent man.
The prisoner's name is Alec Graham.
It's all been arranged.
There should be a permit
waiting for us here.
And, er... he is?
The prisoner's father.
Mr Graham?
I thought I ought to have a word
with you before you go in.
These last twenty-four hours
can be a hell,
only your son has
adjusted himself. He's...
He's built a protective shell
round himself,
and we all feel here that
it's a great blessing.
It's our job to protect
the prisoner as much as possible,
and, if we thought a visit
was disturbing to him,
we'd be forced to
cut that visit short.
If you'll follow him,
this officer will take you across.
Oh, Mr Graham, will you
leave your bag here, please?
Would you rather
I waited for you here?
I think you'll find the boy
has been well looked after, sir.
Alec?
I'm sorry I didn't come sooner.
Forgive me, I...
Well, you see, I...
I didn't know.
Can you hear me?
I was moving about.
I was travelling all the time.
This advance that
my publishers gave me...
I'd started to work on a new novel
that I'd set in Canada...
You were working on
one of your longer drunks.
You were in a sanatorium.
The prosecution brought it up.
Maybe they thought it would be
good for their case, I suppose.
Drunken father, bad blood.
I came as soon as I could, Alec.
You're drunk now.
Oh, no! No, I haven't
had a drink for a long time.
It was just that I couldn't
get here sooner.
I... I'd been very sick.
Even before this happened,
you hadn't written for months.
I know, I...
I'm sorry. Forgive me.
But it didn't matter.
Somehow, we always knew that
we were together, you and I.
You remember.
I remember every letter
you did write.
Every word.
And those frightening
boarding schools you put me in.
And the weeks, months, that
would go by without seeing you.
And then you'd show up with a silly
little gift of atonement in your pocket.
I'm here now, Alec.
That's the important thing.
Each time, you'd seem to me
so handsome, so charming,
I was glad to forgive you.
I'd forgive you anything.
But not this time, David.
You left me alone.
I couldn't help it, Alec.
Doesn't matter.
Nothing really matters.
Besides, I...
understand now
about Mother.
You just made use of me
to get her back.
Look, Alec, we haven't got time
to go into all that.
Tell me, what... what happened?
I know you didn't do this.
- No, I don't want to talk about it.
- Don't...
- But you've got to let me help you!
- No!
I'm going to die in a few hours,
and it'll be over.
It's too awful when you
think there's hope. I...
I went through it once.
I'm not going through it again.
But you're letting them.
You're not even trying to help yourself.
But why?
Why should I wait until I turn
into something like you?
- Oh, no, that's...
- Long before this happened,
I'd started to drink.
What?
You've got to let me help you.
Please!
Alec?
Alec!
Well, there must be
something I can do.
I'll study the transcript.
I'll get more time. Only...
- Only you mustn't give up!
- Why not?
What difference would it have made
if you had died when you were my age?
Alec...
Alec!
What are you trying to do?
I mustn't even smell a drink.
What are you thinking, that
one drink won't make any difference?
You're wrong, you know,
you're wrong, but...
There's something wrong here.
There's something that's been overlooked.
I've put all the skill, all the knowledge
of twenty years of the law into this,
- and I've found nothing.
- Well, you're wrong, you're wrong.
All right, then, Graham,
face the facts.
Alec was insanely in love
with this girl. He admitted it.
That night, she told him they
were finished, it was over.
They were seen quarrelling
violently in a public place.
Oh, he's innocent!
There were signs of a violent
quarrel at the flat.
Alec's face was scratched.
He admits having fought with her.
- No.
- He...
No, not Alec.
Alec's gentle, like his mother.
He lied to me.
He told me she was so drunk
he had to leave her at the flat.
The postmortem showed no trace
of alcohol in the girl's blood.
Why should he lie to you?
Clayton...
you believe he's
innocent, don't you?
- Well...
- Oh, stop acting like a lawyer, man!
Tell me what you...
what you believe as a man.
I've fought this with everything I could.
I've had two stays of
execution granted,
and there's nothing more I can do.
Well, then let me fight.
Get me an appointment
with the Home Office.
The Home Office can't
grant a third stay
unless there's some overwhelming
new evidence, or an undeniable doubt.
Somewhere,
there must be something
that everybody's overlooked.
What about the girl who was murdered?
- Didn't she have any relatives?
- One sister, Agnes Cole.
Before you stir up impossible hopes,
I think you should see her.
You'll find her here, this morning.
And now, ladies and gentlemen,
it is my pleasure to introduce
the lovely ladies of our show.
First we have lovely Yvonne.
Yvonne is what is known
as a tall, willowy blonde.
Sometimes she will away,
sometimes she won't.
And here we have Laura.
Laura, now there's the type of girl who
won't go anywhere without her mother.
But boy, can her mother go places.
And here's Deirdre, beautiful Deirdre.
She likes the little things in life.
Little Rolls, little mink coat,
little diamond ring...
I want to see Agnes Cole.
- What?
- Agnes Cole.
- I'm Agnes Cole.
- Now here come the lovely
dancing ladies of the show!
I'm David Graham,
Alec Graham's father.
Bye bye, boys,
that's all for now
Miss Cole, Miss Cole, Miss Cole,
please, could I have a word with you?
Your son killed my sister.
You keep away from me!
No, Alec could never have
done a thing like that...
How could you know?
You weren't even at the trial.
My sister, Jennie, was a sweet and
lovely person before she met Alec.
And then she got so's you
wouldn't think she was the same girl.
She'd come home,
night after night, drunk!
And then one night she came home,
Christmas Eve it was, too,
and I thought she'd had an accident.
She was all bruised,
her cheeks were all swollen,
and her eye...
Well, then it couldn't have been Alec.
It must have been someone else.
She must have been
going with someone else.
- No, only Alec.
- No, it couldn't have been Alec.
- What other man was she seeing?
- No-one.
Why should a chorus girl go out
with a penniless boy?
Especially if he were being
cruel to her? It doesn't...
Look, please, can't any of you
tell me something about Jennie Cole?
- You see, I've got to find out, because...
- What are you doing?
What are you trying to do?
Dirty the memory of my sister?
Let me tell you, Mr Graham.
Your son killed my sister.
And I'm glad he's going to die!
Can I help you, sir?
I want to see Mr Stanford.
Oh, er... come in,
I've been waiting for you.
Mr... Mr Gage.
Dad, this is Mr Gage.
You remember I told you about him?
You told me about Mr Gage?
Yes, I told you about him, he's...
he's going to coach me
for my Bar exams.
I certainly don't remember you
telling me about a tutor.
Oh, Dad, you...
you were just too busy being
enthusiastic about the new model.
Oh, that's quite possible.
When it comes to sports cars,
or any cars for that matter,
I'm not much interested
in anything else.
And Brian's no better.
Oh, Mr Gage, this is Mrs Stanford.
How do you do, Mr Gage?
How do you do?
I'm afraid petrol's in our blood.
You see, I started life as a mechanic.
I've never had the time
or the money for tutors.
Will you excuse me, Mr Gage?
I'm in rather a hurry.
Do you need Henry to drive you?
Yes, he's taking Brian and I
over to the proving grounds.
The Stanford sports prototype's
going through its ordeal by fire.
It's a very big moment for all of us.
I'm afraid you'll have to talk about
this tutor business some other time.
I'm afraid I've got
another appointment.
Dad, I think we'd better
get this over with.
We need to talk, Mr Gage and I.
Then he'd better come along.
He can talk in the car.
Well, we'll go up to the flat.
We... We need quiet.
Oh.
Well, perhaps you'd like to
come along, Honor?
I'm afraid I can't.
Is something terribly pressing?
You know how I hate being alone,
especially when the car's being tested.
I'm sorry, Robert,
but at last I've managed to get
an appointment with an MP.
How much longer is this going on?
Don't you think you've done enough?
- Well, what is it? Do you think Mr...
- Gage.
Gage, Mr Gage, is the only man
in England that doesn't know
a murder's been committed?
In our flat?
And by a friend of our son's?
And that he's going to hang tomorrow?
I'm afraid Mrs Stanford's been
driving herself unmercifully
in an effort to save the poor chap.
I think she's been overdoing it.
Well, now there are no secrets at all!
Are you coming?
No, Robert, I'm not.
Well...
Well, I don't suppose there's any
stopping the army of the righteous.
All right, you can take Henry,
I'll drive myself.
Thank you.
Brian, I... I hope you'll be able to
work something out with Mr Gage.
Don't worry about me, Honor,
I'll take care of myself.
Yes, of course.
- Goodbye, Mr Gage.
- Goodbye, Mrs Stanford.
Why did you say I was a tutor?
Oh, excuse me, Mr Stanford.
- What do you want, Graham?
- I came to help Alec.
You're a little late, aren't you?
I was in hospital. They wouldn't
let me leave till yesterday.
Did you know about Alec?
No, they wouldn't allow me
to read my mail.
- None of it?
- None at all. Why?
Why are you so interested in my mail?
How did you know who I was?
I saw your picture in Alec's room.
What, Alec kept my picture?
Yes, when he came to
stay at weekends,
he always brought your
photograph with him.
You're surprised?
Yes.
Oh, he used to talk about you
by the hour.
In some ways, it was
our favourite topic of conversation.
Neither of us had any
parents to speak of.
My real father was killed
in the Stanford works.
He was just an ordinary workman.
You didn't really think Honor
was my mother, did you?
I'm adopted.
The Stanfords adopted me
when I was eight.
What did Alec say about me?
I got the impression you were about to
write the greatest novel ever written.
Did you?
In common with quite a lot
of other writers,
I've been about to write it
for a very long time.
This is where I live. I hope
I'm not taking you out of your way.
You do want to help, don't you?
I'm sorry, Graham, I'm going in.
Alec's your best friend, isn't he?
Well, isn't he?
Yes. Yes, he was.
Well, then, you wouldn't hide
anything that might help him.
You still haven't told me
why you said I was a tutor.
Well, that was an impulse.
I wanted to help you.
How?
I don't know.
People don't always act logically.
Not everything's thought out.
Is this where it happened?
Yes. It is.
At the trial...
Alec said that he thought
he heard a door slam,
as though someone had come in
by way of the back door.
Was that someone you, Brian?
I was playing poker all night.
Oh, it's all right.
The police checked up.
Hello?
No, no.
But there is a back door?
Mr Brian, I hope you're not
expecting lunch.
Cook and the rest were told
to take the afternoon off.
Um... hold on a minute.
No, Mrs Johnson,
we're not expecting lunch,
and you can take
the afternoon off, too.
If there's anything
I can do, Mr Brian?
No, no, he's not here now.
All right, I'll tell him you rang.
No, there's nothing, thank you.
Look, you know that if you're hiding
anything, you're a murderer.
- I... I am?
- Yes.
You do know something.
Now stop wasting Alec's time!
Well...
It's...
It's about a letter.
What sort of letter?
I... I don't know.
Oh, Brian, please!
We'd been sending you
our old magazines.
Alec said you liked
the English magazines.
- He was always worrying about you...
- I know all that. Go on.
Well...
when one of the servants sent off
the last package of magazines,
she thought she saw a piece of
blue writing paper
between the pages of one of them.
No, I don't understand.
Slowly, please.
What makes you think that this piece
of blue writing paper was a letter?
- I... I don't know that it was...
- You just said it was a letter!
- Well, I think it was something personal.
- Personal?
- Family, private.
- Private? How?
What makes you think that this
letter is so important?
Well, it may not be...
Well, anyway, you should have
done something about it.
- The letter was sent to you.
- I couldn't do anything about it.
And you kept silent,
all through the trial.
And what did you do
all through the trial?
They had to put you in
one of those places for alcoholics.
Alec told me about your drinking.
Then you must have known, when
those magazines were sent off,
that I should never read that letter.
Look, Brian, I'm not a detective,
you've got to help me!
Oh!
You see, sometimes...
when it's someone one loves, you...
well, it would only hurt them.
And it wouldn't help Alec!
Operator?
Yes, I want to call...
I want to call to Canada.
Montreal.
Who is this that you're
protecting, Brian? Who is it?
What? Oh, um...
Curzon, 7712.
Hello, hello, are you there, caller?
Hello, hello, are you there, caller?
Hello, hello...?
I want the Morningsign Hospital.
Yes, I know the number.
It's Montreal 14161.
What?
I... I almost rang you myself
once or twice.
There's a delay.
Now, operator, please. This is urgent!
It's an emergency, yes.
Yes! Yes, a matter of life and death,
that's what I...
I'm sorry, I'm sorry.
That's all right.
Well, as quickly as you can, please.
There's no reason not to
tell me now, Brian.
Now, is there?
That only leads to our bedrooms.
Look, don't...
That's your room,
I don't think that interests me.
What are you doing?
Trying to find out some of the
answers that you won't tell me.
What's in here?
Oh, that's my mother's...
that's Honor's room.
Was the letter written on this paper?
- Well, it's a very ordinary kind of paper.
- Yes, but it happens to be blue.
Why does she need a gun?
Well, that's Dad's gun.
I... I don't know how it got here.
- Do you know about these things?
- Yes.
Is that loaded?
Yes, it's fully loaded.
- That's the telephone.
- No, it's the front door.
What do you want?
Is your father in?
No, he's not.
He rang me.
The message said it was urgent, so...
I thought I'd pop in myself.
Well, he's not here.
He did say it was urgent.
All right, you've convinced me.
You're a devoted Stanford employee.
How dare you speak to me
like that, Master Brian?
All complaints should be filed
through the appropriate channels.
I'll tell him you "popped in".
Please do.
Who was that?
Vickie Harker. Dad's secretary.
Or used to be.
Why does she put on that act?
Well, she goes to the pictures!
Secretaries do, you know.
What have you got against her?
Hello?
It's Montreal!
Hello? Hello?
Give me Dr Pollock, please.
Oh, quickly, it's long distance.
Hello? Hello?
Dad's just driven up!
You'll have to hurry.
Hello, Dr Pollock?
This is Graham.
David Graham.
No, I'm calling you from
London, England.
Are you there?
You have to hurry!
Look, some magazines
and newspapers were sent to me.
Well, they should have been kept
in my locker with my other mail.
Can you hear me?
Well, look, in one of
those magazines
was a note written on
a piece of blue paper.
Look, it got slipped in with one
of the magazines by mistake.
Now listen, you've got to
find me that note.
Well, ring me if you find anything.
He's just getting out of the lift.
Oh... Curzon 7712.
Yes, seven, seven, one, two.
Call me the moment you find anything!
Who'll pay for the call?
I'll pay for the call.
Tell him I'll wire him the money.
Stop him at the door.
We'll pay.
We'll wire you the money!
No, I'm quite all right, thank you.
Only, please, please call.
It's my son's life.
Curzon, that's right.
- Can I trust you, Brian?
- Yes. Yes, I promise.
Brian?
Brian?
Brian!
Your name's not Gage!
It's Graham! David Graham!
Alec's father!
My wife just telephoned me.
She's on her way back here.
She thought she recognised you!
Why have you done this?
- I was only trying to help you.
- Help me how?
What's this nonsense about helping?
Well, speak up!
I was going to tell you,
but you didn't give me the chance.
Help me, help me?
Well, protect you, then,
if you don't like the words I use.
Protect me from what?
What makes you think
I need protection?
I thought there might be some
unpleasantness at the office, and...
I thought it'd be better to talk here.
I thought it wouldn't
look good for Stanford's.
Ah.
All right, all right.
I suppose you meant well.
But next time, confide in me, Brian.
I'm your father.
Remember that, old lad!
Exactly what did you hope
to get from us, Mr Graham?
Help.
Why did you think we could help?
I just came to find out if you could.
I don't think you understand what
we've been through, Mr Graham.
I think we're entitled
to be left alone.
I'd follow up anything, Mr Stanford.
Anything that offers
the slightest hope.
Then you still think there's a hope.
Yes.
Yes, I do.
Then you know something.
No, but I hope to soon.
We befriended your son.
We treated him as if
he were one of our own.
To bring that poor girl in here...
and murder her...
I'm asking you to leave, Mr Graham!
It's important for me
to have access to this flat.
There must be something here
that will lead me to the truth.
Mr Graham?
I don't understand why you had to...
We want to do everything
we can to help you.
Honor...
- You're to do nothing more.
- We're so distressed.
I want no member of this family
to have anything even remotely
to do with this case.
I want it forgotten!
Finished!
Your son and mine
were just friends at the university.
You can't expect us to do
anything more than we've done!
Hello? Yes, Stanford speaking.
No, no tests without me,
do you understand?
Well, tell them all
to wait till I get there.
No, she's not to be touched
until I've ripped her apart myself.
All right.
Miss Vickie Harker called to see you.
It was something to do
with the office.
How dare you intrude in this way?
Mr Graham, what can I do to help you?
Why are you doing this to me?
Can't you understand
what I'm going through?
I'm sorry.
This thing has affected me
more than I thought.
Brian!
I'm going out for a walk.
Would you like to come?
I can't, Dad. I can't leave the flat.
I... I mean, I'd rather not.
What does Vickie Harker
mean to this family?
Mr Graham?
If you want to see Miss Harker,
Henry can drive you there.
- Nothing very luxurious, Mr, um...
- Gage.
Gage. Still, it's a cosy
little corner, as you might see.
Excuse my hair being so untidy,
but I never expected anybody, you see.
- Here you are.
- Oh, thank you.
Look at this.
Recently acquired because of
my daughter's latest promotion.
It was your daughter
I was wanting to see, Mrs Harker.
Oh, Vickie's never
around at this hour.
- No, I thought, well...
- Here you are, have a drink.
No, thank you.
- Come on, it'll do you good.
- No, no, no, please!
I'll... I'll have a cigarette,
if you don't mind.
Oh, come off it.
One old tippler can always
smell another a mile away.
You'll never give it up.
We never do.
Why try at your age?
Come on, have a drink.
- No, thank you.
- Come on, drink up!
Now, then, what's all this about?
You needn't be delicate with me,
Mr Gage, I'm a woman who's lived.
I saw you out there in the car,
looking very grand.
But it's mostly
Mrs Stanford's car, isn't it?
Yes, that's right.
Yeah, it would be a dark day when
I didn't know where I was going.
What'd she send you for?
Well, there are one or two
questions I'd like to ask you.
Well, you tell Mrs Stanford if she
wants any evidence for a divorce,
she doesn't have to send a detective,
she can come around and get it herself.
No, but now that I am here,
if I could just ask you whether...
Well, well.
My Vickie was right after all.
Fancy Mrs Stanford giving
up a man like Stanford, eh?
And here was I
thinking that Vickie was
throwing away
the best years of her life.
Not that Mr Stanford's mean, you know.
Oh, no.
She's just been given a job at the head
of one of his most important agencies.
Yes, I did know that.
Well, it just goes to
show you, Mr Gage,
I'm not a very good
judge of life, am I?
Do you know what I said to my Vickie
when she told me about the promotion?
I said,
"Vickie, my girl, you've had it.
"Absolutely had it."
Farewell gift, bon voyage.
Farewell, my love!
One of the little pleasures in life,
Mr Gage, I can now give myself.
Just to hear it ring,
and know that you don't
have to go anywhere.
It's wonderful.
Why don't you have another drink?
It might take the tremble
out of your hands.
Oh, I haven't much time.
Just tell your lady she's got
nothing to worry about.
I'll see my Vickie cooperates!
But she's not to start getting
any fancy ideas about alimony,
because we're not throwing
good money down the drain.
If she starts for asking for any
fancy amount, she'd better watch out.
Watch out for what?
Well, you never know, Mr Gage.
Somebody might just mention,
just supposing, possibly,
about Mrs Stanford and that boy!
What boy?
The boy that's being hung tomorrow.
Alec?
Er... Alec Graham?
My Vickie once said to me,
"I wouldn't be at all surprised if..."
Alec and Mrs Stanford?
Is that what you mean?
Why should Vickie say that?
Tell me.
Who are you?
Why aren't you drinking?
What have you come for?
I don't believe
you are a private detec...
- Tell me!
- Oh no!
I'll tell you nothing! Nothing.
No more to say!
Not another word!
I've had a hard life.
Not another word!
Alec and Mrs Stanford, what was it?
Get out!
Get out of here!
- Mrs Harker!
- Get out!
But why should Mrs Stanford
have killed this girl?
She was in love with Alec.
She was jealous of the girl.
- No, that's utterly fantastic!
- Well, something utterly fantastic happened.
So fantastic that
no-one's thought of it.
Graham, has it ever occurred to you
to wonder who was paying my fees?
It's the Stanfords.
They've been paying me.
Oh, well, what does that prove?
Stanford testified they
were together that night.
Well, Stanford could be lying, too.
They both lied, one for the other!
Do they strike you as people who have
a secret of this kind on their minds?
Everyone has a secret.
It's not always written in the face.
Mr Graham, I'm very sorry,
but your son doesn't wish to see you.
The prisoner doesn't wish
to see you, sir.
Alec?
I don't believe you.
Look, you think you're
protecting him, but...
Mr Graham, I told him that
you said it was urgent.
Then go back and tell him
that there's still a chance.
Tell him we mustn't give up fighting!
Oh, please!
He told me that he doesn't
want another chance.
- Then tell him that...
- He doesn't want to see you, Mr Graham.
Your son has given himself
over to other hands.
More compassionate, perhaps,
than those of the Earth.
You mean he's given up hope.
Well, I won't have it!
All of you trying to make it
look so humane and decent.
You can't.
I want my son to live!
I'm not going to let you kill him.
Mr Maxwell, I don't think
you got the point of my last question.
Why have you called a
press conference a few hours
before Alec Graham
is due to be hanged?
And why not?
Every time a particularly sensational
execution is about to take place,
your campaign for the abolition of
capital punishment seems to flare up.
Oh, no.
No, it's just that we get
more newspaper attention
when there's a legalised
killing about to take place.
You see, we feel that
the public should know
the full horror which happens
when the state decides to
take the life of a human being.
The cold, calculated planning.
The way the executioner,
and his assistant,
make sure of the
weight of the prisoner.
And then they check on the rope.
The rope that hangs down
from the scaffold.
They'll be doing that tonight.
That scaffold which is
so conveniently placed
in the cell next to Alec Graham.
What is it that you supporters
of the bill actually object to?
Is it what you call legalised killing?
Or is it the method of killing?
I should say it's the killing.
What about war?
Oh, war...
But don't you see that, even in war,
the prime objective is not to kill
the enemy, it's to protect yourself.
And what about the victim's relatives?
Her sister, for example,
how's she supposed to feel?
And what about Alec Graham's father?
Why should he be put
through all this torture?
Gentlemen, this is the only
punishment which is irrevocable.
Now can we be absolutely certain
that we've never made a mistake,
and that we won't
ever make a mistake?
Are you suggesting
that young Graham is not guilty?
I'm not interested in whether
young Graham is guilty or innocent.
Another double.
Don't.
- What?
- You mustn't drink now.
Alec is relying on you.
There's no-one else!
What do you want?
Somebody told me something
about you... who was it, eh?
Names... I can't do names.
They're too hard!
How long have I been here?
- Well, has it happened?
- No, no.
You've only been here a few minutes.
Hello?
Hello? Clayton here.
Hello, this is Graham.
Oh, I'm glad you called. The Home
Office will see you at 7:30 tonight.
And Alec?
He's still refusing.
He won't talk to me, either.
Well, Alec must talk to me.
Well, you've got to make him
talk to me. I...
I don't know what to suggest.
Are you there?
Yeah.
You won't forget? 7:30 tonight.
No! I won't forget. 7:30.
7:30 tonight.
Mr Graham? Alec will talk to me.
Please let me go
to the prison with you.
He will see me.
Why are you doing all this for my son?
What difference does it make why?
Hmm, quite.
Why not?
You must stay sober.
You mustn't drink any more.
Please, Mr Graham.
Mr Graham?
From the moment we set eyes on him,
- you would attempt to help him!
- That isn't true!
You did anything
you could to encourage him!
And what's more, you didn't
engage in ordinary...
- I told you...
- Please, Robert.
I told you I wanted you to have
nothing more to do with him.
Now why did you bring him here?
You know I didn't want him here!
We were on our way to the prison
when he broke down completely.
Where else could I have taken him?
Now you just listen to me.
I've had enough, see.
You're my wife and you'll do
as I tell you, do as I tell you!
Robert, you're hurting me!
No more. Stay away from him!
His son means more to you than I do,
doesn't he? Admit it!
Admit what?
Robert, have I ever shamed you?
But you've done nothing but humiliate me
since the day we were married.
Would I have gone to her if my wife
had given me the love I needed so bad?
Love? You didn't marry me
because you loved me.
You married me because I was
something different.
Something you'd never had before!
So you thought you wanted me.
What you really wanted
was the pleasure of trying to break me
and then drag me in your own dirt.
Robert Stanford.
The mighty Robert Stanford!
You're like a sick schoolboy peering
through half-open windows.
Don't you say that to me.
Honor?
Honor!
Keep away from me.
No, Honor, don't leave me alone!
Keep away!
Honor!
Do they do that often?
Never as bad as that.
- The call came.
- What call?
There was a letter.
Well, what did it say?
David...
Honor's...
Honor's been wonderful to me, she...
She's always stood up for me, and...
Well, you stood up for her,
and now you're even.
What was in the letter?
I wrote it down.
"There's no other way out.
"Try to forgive me."
How was it signed?
It wasn't signed.
How did you know that it existed?
The morning that Jennie was
found murdered, I...
I drove my father and Honor
in from the country...
They'd spent the night there?
That's what they said.
Later that morning, I was
in the living room.
The phone rang, I answered it.
It was the police.
They wanted to talk to Father.
So, I went over to his room.
I could hear Father and Honor in here.
I knocked, but they didn't hear me,
so I just came in.
Father was standing there.
Honor was facing him.
They both looked ghastly.
Honor had a gun in her hand.
It was Dad's gun, the one you saw.
When she saw me coming,
she quickly tried to hide it.
I told them that the police
wanted to talk to them.
What did they say?
Well, Dad asked me
to tell them that
he'd be at their disposal
any time they wanted.
Then I...
I went over to the phone, here.
I picked up the phone, and...
while I was on the phone, I...
I could see the two of them
in that mirror, there.
I thought I saw Honor
put a piece of paper
in amongst some old magazines
on the table, there.
Later, of course, a secretary
sent the magazines off to you.
I didn't think anything
about it at the time,
until Dad and Honor
started to ask about it.
Now, wait...
You said you saw her
trying to hide it?
I suppose so.
Then you didn't try to
find out what it was?
- I... I didn't want to know.
- Why not?
Well, you see...
You see, I...
I thought that Honor and...
and Alec...
Well, one night, I saw Honor
coming out of Alec's room.
Late.
We'd better go now,
if you feel all right.
"There's no other way out.
Try to forgive me."
On the morning after Jennie Cole
was found murdered,
you wrote this suicide note.
Why?
- I didn't write that note.
- Who did?
Who did?
That morning,
my husband tried to kill himself.
- Your husband?
- Yes.
I'd... I'd known about him
and the Harker girl for a long time.
The night of the murder,
he was not with me.
He was with her.
He was afraid it would
all come out, the scandal,
and it was too much for him.
He tried to kill himself.
I told him that I'd say that he'd
spent the night with me, and
there'd be no scandal.
That is, if Miss Harker agreed
not to say anything.
Apparently, Miss Harker agreed.
Your husband,
a man like Robert Stanford,
threatened to commit suicide
because of a breath of scandal?
I don't believe you. You're lying.
No, I'm telling you the truth.
You're lying. You lied in the
witness box, and you're lying now!
Mr Graham,
there's not much time.
We'd better go, if we're going.
I'll drive you.
It's not breaking the regulations
that I'm concerned about.
I'm thinking of the prisoner,
your son.
But do you suppose
I'm not thinking of him?
Do you think I want him
to be tortured, and...
There's a chance of saving his life.
It's a risk worth taking.
Wait here a moment.
- I've got to see him alone at first.
- No.
- I... I must speak to him privately.
- No, no.
If this is a trick, I want to know.
I want to be told before it happens.
I don't want to be dragged,
I want to know!
- Honor!
- Alec, darling.
Alec.
Alec, I wanted to tell you something.
I don't know if it'll mean
anything to you, but...
but I want you to know, anyway.
You mean so very much to me.
For a long time,
I didn't realise it myself.
You brought something to me
I'd never had.
Something I needed badly.
Gentleness.
And someone to love.
Does this mean anything to you?
This moment?
Yes, it does.
I thought about it a great deal.
I wondered, perhaps,
if I should try and see you here.
But now...
No, I'm glad you came.
Honor...
would you kiss me?
- Father!
- Alec!
I'll wait outside.
Oh, Father, I'm sorry
I was cruel to you.
- Oh, that doesn't matter now.
- Father...
I want to live. I don't want to die.
Please save me!
- Alec, listen, there is hope.
- Hope! How?
I've got an appointment, shortly,
with the Home Office.
No, I'm not drunk. I've been drinking,
but, look, I'm not drunk.
Come, sit down.
- Alec, look, you've got to trust me.
- Yes.
- I've got to ask you a few questions.
- Yes, Father.
What did Mrs Stanford mean just now?
When?
Has there ever been
anything between you?
- Between Honor and me?
- Yes.
Yes, late one night, she was seen
coming out of your room, Alec.
She...
Oh, that must have been Christmas Eve.
Well, what was she doing in your room?
Well, er...
You see...
I'd been looking forward
to Christmas for weeks.
I expected to spend
the holidays with...
with Jennie.
I could hardly study.
Everything I saw or felt or touched
was Jennie, I wanted her so much.
Yes, yes, I understand.
And then...
and then suddenly Jennie said she
was too busy even to see me.
Well, Honor knew how upset I was.
What was it you
asked me about, Father?
About Mrs Stanford in your room.
I...
I suppose she heard me crying.
She came into the room to comfort me.
Christmas Eve. What...?
Somebody said something
about Christmas Eve.
Was that the hope?
That you thought there was something
between Honor Stanford and...
Was that the hope?
Let me think...
Don't lie to me, Father!
Alec, they're going to send me away,
they won't let us stay together anymore.
But please, there is hope,
you mustn't give up!
What hope?
Why do you say there's hope?
You're lying.
Just as you did about Mother.
You, you...
you wouldn't let me see her unless
she promised to come back to you!
That's true, that's perfectly true,
but I'm not lying now, Alec.
There's nothing to be done,
they're going to kill me!
- No, Alec, no, my boy...
- Stop them! Don't let them!
- Now please, just give us one more minute!
- Father, you'll come back!
- Promise me you'll come back!
- Yes, I promise you, Alec.
No matter what?
- Take it easy, son, take it easy now.
- No! No!
Yes...
I'm in love with Alec.
I never tried to
do anything about it, and...
I knew nothing would come of it, ever.
It's there, all the same.
Christmas Eve...
Christmas Eve...
What happened? Is there any hope?
There's always hope.
Look out for Honor, Brian.
Home Office, Henry.
There's been some horrible
combination of circumstances.
The boy is innocent, he...
Every relative believes that.
It would be unnatural of you
to think otherwise.
And yet murders are done by someone.
The law must be guided
by facts, not faith,
or justice would never be meted out.
Meted out?
How will the poor broken body
of Alec Graham
increase the grandeur of the law?
I'm sorry.
I wish it were in my power...
Well, it is in your power!
Take a look there,
and write your name.
Give me a few days.
Just a few days.
Forty-eight hours.
Just two days.
I haven't had a chance yet.
I've only just arrived.
Mr Graham was
confined in a sanatorium.
Yes. Yes, I know.
But what could you hope
to do in a few hours
that all the agencies of the law have
been unable to do in all these weeks?
People will tell me things
that they don't tell everybody.
This office undertook long investigations
of its own after the trial.
I myself spoke to psychiatrists
who examined your son,
to the...
prison medical officer,
the judge who
presided at the trial,
counsel for the prosecution,
governor of the prison.
I'm deeply sorry, Mr Graham.
Please. Forgive me. May I speak?
What is to be gained
by this execution?
After all these thousands of years
of torture and hanging,
haven't we advanced at all?
Haven't we learned anything?
Please, please give him another day.
Another twenty-four hours.
Right.
Hello, Barnes. You remember me?
David Graham.
We were at Oxford together.
I remember you very well, Graham.
I was half expecting you to come.
Well, then you know that
I've come to ask for help.
What sort of help, Graham?
What do you think
I can do for you?
Help me get a delay.
Of just a few days.
Well, two days. Forty-eight hours.
"Father Begs For 48 Hours
Of Son's Life"
People would read that.
There might be public protests.
Why should I help you, Graham?
Where have you been
all these years
when there's been
a hanging every month?
Is your son
a special sort of person?
Why didn't you protest then?
Why didn't you ask me
to help one of them?
My son.
There were other fathers.
And other sons.
Tomorrow morning,
they'll read the story
the way they read any other news item,
and then turn to
the cricket score.
Just the way you did,
hundreds of times.
I remembered you
as a human being.
There's gratitude for you!
You were a good story
for us, Graham.
The drunk.
So drunk, you couldn't
come to see your son
until twenty-four hours
before he was to die.
Do you know why
that story hasn't appeared?
Because we didn't think it
relevant to print it.
What do you think should
be done with a murderer, Mr Stanford?
Pin a medal on him?
What, you again? He's always asking for
Christmas carols, this chap, he's crazy.
Oh, come on, jazz it up a bit.
Beat it out!
Silent night, holy night
All is quiet, all is bright...
Where were you on the silent night?
Christmas Eve?
I was at home.
With my family.
With my son.
And your son.
He always spent his holidays with us.
Didn't you know that?
How drunk are you?
Oh, yes, you were a father to him.
I'm very drunk.
But not enough.
Well, stop drinking.
D'you hear? Stop it!
He's waiting for you.
You promised you'd go to him.
How can you bear
to let him face it alone?
I don't know, I don't know, I...
I don't know anything.
You don't know what it's like
to be alone, do you? Do you?
How drunk are you?
It's frightful to be alone.
Ah, go to Alec, go to your son!
Stop shouting at me!
You mustn't let him face it alone.
I can't stand it.
Can't stand it...
Can't stand it!
No, you don't know.
Sometimes...
a man has to make big decisions.
Terrible decisions.
And carry them with him alone,
for the rest of his life.
Can you understand what I'm saying?
Yes.
And you won't go to him?
You won't go to Alec?
I can't.
I can't.
You see this?
Now, this blacks out everything.
Sort of golden egg.
But it can't black out
the man with the rope.
Black him out.
Black him out.
I see a hand,
and, in the hand,
is a golden locket.
It opens,
and there's Alec's face.
Someone had a locket like that.
Used to sit there,
opening it and closing it,
opening it and closing it.
Sometimes,
in the middle of the night,
that hand's there,
and the locket,
and...
Alec's face!
That's why I'm
staying with you tonight.
But we mustn't
let it get out of control!
That's the wonderful thing
about the car.
Control!
You step on the accelerator,
she roars!
You let it go, and she whines!
I'm gonna test her tonight.
Do you know what the
proving grounds are, Graham?
They're insurance against
the unforeseen.
The sudden curve in the road.
The pothole! The obstacle!
All foreseen.
All controlled.
And I'm gonna test it tonight.
Tonight...
Oh, they'll still be there.
I told them to wait until I got there.
Christmas Eve... Christmas Eve...
Christmas Eve... Christmas Eve...
Christmas Eve... Christmas Eve...
Christmas Eve... Christmas Eve...
It was her sister, Agnes.
Agnes Cole.
- What's the time?
- Eh?
What time is it?
I'm sorry, I've got no watch.
- What's the day?
- I beg pardon?
- What day of the week is it?
- It's Tuesday. Near Wednesday now.
Here, here, what's the row?
We're all locked up!
Agnes Cole.
I want to see Agnes Cole.
Huh?
Try the little caff down the alley.
The girls usually get around there.
Agnes!
Christmas Eve.
No, no.
Don't do that.
You said your sister went out
on Christmas Eve.
Don't remember what I said.
No, no, no, you said...
you said that she came home drunk?
Yes. All black and blue.
Alec wasn't with her on Christmas Eve.
No, no, I've got witnesses
who can prove it.
She refused to see him
on Christmas Eve.
She was seeing somebody else.
- She was meeting somebody else, secretly.
- Oh, no.
Yes, yes, somebody who
didn't wish to be seen with her.
But... well, I...
Jennie didn't tell me!
It was that man that murdered Jennie!
I didn't know.
Mr Graham!
Where is Vickie?
Vickie! I'll call the police!
Where is she?
Who is it?
It's Alec Graham's father.
Oh, so that's who you are.
Miss Harker, I... I...
What are you doing here?
What do you want?
Miss Harker,
shortly after the murder, you were
given a much better job, weren't you?
- Weren't you?
- He has no right to question you!
Answer me. Answer me.
Yes, my promotion was after the trial.
Vickie!
Why did Stanford want to
see you at the flat today?
I don't know why.
I couldn't reach him.
Don't lie to me.
How much did he pay you
that was worth my son's life?
- Pay me?
- Yes.
What did he pay you
that made it worthwhile
to stand by and be silent
while a young man dies?
What did Stanford pay you?
Why should Mr Stanford
have paid me?
What am I supposed to
keep silent about?
The murder.
The murder of Jennie Cole.
On the night of the murder,
where were you?
Vickie!
Vickie!
I was...
Shut up, Vickie!
Don't say anything until
you've seen Mr Stanford!
I was at Brighton.
My aunt has a caf there.
I sometimes help
with the weekend rush.
You fool. You little fool!
I thought he'd paid you
to be his alibi, but...
but he didn't have to pay you.
Mrs Stanford would never have
thought of checking on it.
She'd have taken his word!
She'd have taken Stanford's word
that he spent the night with you!
She didn't say
she went alone to Brighton.
Maybe she was accompanied
by a certain gentleman.
- Vickie!
- Shut up, Mother.
Robert Stanford was not with me
the night of the murder.
Vickie! Vickie!
Wait for me.
You saw him?
Yes. It was one of the clerks.
The Under-Secretary had gone to bed.
But you told him that Mrs Stanford
was willing to testify that she'd lied?
There was a report from the prison
of Mrs Stanford's
unfortunate visit to Alec.
They couldn't accept her testimony.
Stanford! Let them,
let them question Stanford!
You've got to try to
understand something, Graham.
It happens every time
there's to be an execution.
They get dozens of last-minute alibis,
sometimes even confessions!
The clerk told me the Home Office
had already got four
false confessions on this case.
It's as I told you this morning,
only some concrete evidence.
Something tangible.
I'll be at my flat.
I'll be at my flat!
Stanford!
Stanford!
Come out!
Come out of that car!
There's still time,
you can't run away!
I've seen Vickie Harker!
You weren't with her!
And Agnes Cole!
You murderer!
Help me!
Help me stop him!
- That's Robert Stanford in the car.
- He's a murderer!
Stanford...
She's wonderful! She's champion!
Guy must be drunk.
No, he's not drunk.
Take no notice of him.
Well, she stood up to it.
She took everything I could give her.
Stanford.
Stanford.
Well, what do you want, Graham?
Telephone the Home Office.
Tell them that you killed Jennie Cole.
You're too late.
- You know that, don't you?
- No, no, not if you telephone.
Why, you're over-excited, Graham.
You've lost control.
Look at your hands.
They're trembling!
You can hardly speak.
If Alec dies, I...
You can't get away with this, Stanford.
I... I know the truth.
What truth do you know?
I know why Alec kept insisting that
that girl was drunk.
That counted against him at the trial.
She wasn't drunk, of course,
she was...
she was just pretending to be drunk.
She wanted to get rid of Alec because
she was waiting for you!
And you arranged it that way!
Yes, it was exciting, wasn't it?
To have the girl brought to you
by a young man.
It was much safer, too, because
nobody would suspect anything.
What happened then, Stanford?
Did she want too much money?
Was that it?
Or... or was it one of your rages?
Now listen to me, Graham.
I'd like you to try and think clearly
for once in your life.
I'd like to do something for you.
I feel sorry for what's happened.
I'd like to try and make it up
in some way.
Perhaps even give you
a few shares in Stanford's.
Enough so that, for the rest of
your life, you wouldn't have to worry.
Are you trying to buy me?
Go away, Graham.
Don't bother me.
I've offered to keep you
in whisky for the rest of your life.
What they want,
and what you'll never get
is something tangible.
What do you think you're doing?
Are you trying to frighten me?
What proof have you got?
Put that thing down!
Agnes Cole?
Agnes'll be like her sister, Jennie.
Only she'll be cheaper.
Vickie?
- Is it Mr Clayton's apartment?
- Vickie Harker loves me.
When it comes to the point,
she won't do anything to hurt me.
Well, get me Mr Clayton.
Well, come on, Graham,
what proof have you got?
- Speak up, speak up!
- Wake him up, then!
They've been searching for months.
Police, detectives, lawyers...
searching, searching!
And nobody's searched harder
than I have!
There's nothing to connect me with her.
Do you understand that?
I was never seen with Jennie Cole.
Hello, Clayton, this is Graham.
Look, you asked me to find
something tangible.
You don't know what it means
to be a success.
- Do you?
- Tangible, tangible!
- Well I finally got something tangible.
- You don't know what success means.
Do you, Graham?
- Yes, I understand what it means.
- Well, you see all this?
- This is me!
- Stanford's in here, with me now.
And you see this?
That's you!
Which do you think they'll believe?
He's threatening to kill me.
To kill you? Stanford?
Are you there?
Look, if anything happens to me,
tell Alec to live a
full and wonderful life.
This is your gun, Stanford.
Now, I'm being realistic.
You won't save Alec by killing me!
I know that.
Oh!
Stay away from me, Graham.
I don't want to hurt you.
Don't make me angry, Graham!
What are you afraid of, huh?
You've already killed Jennie Cole!
And you're going to kill Alec!
Don't talk to me about Alec!
Don't tell me how much you love him!
What have you ever done for him?
What'd you ever give him? Nothing!
I've given him more than you have
in the whole of your life!
What was he to you?
Someone to weep over
when you're drunk?
What are you doing?
Graham!
You didn't think I'd let Alec die,
just like that, did you?
Graham!
Graham!
- Here.
- Not here. Garden room.
Father!
Father!
- The door's locked.
- Well, there's another door.
- It's around this way.
- Robert!
Well, let's try
the other door, quickly!
Honor.
I didn't do it!
He killed himself!
He's dead.
Yeah. Yeah.
Oh, but I didn't do it!
It was... We...
What are you doing, Brian?
Honor!
Tell him to stop it!
But I didn't do it!
I swear, I swear,
I swear I didn't do it!
Mr Clayton, this is Brian Stanford.
I think you'd better ring
the Home Office right away.
My father's just killed David Graham.
Yes.
Yes.
Now you can stop them hanging Alec.
All right. All right, Mr Clayton.