Alfred Hitchcock Presents s01e22 Episode Script

Good evening and thank you for allowing me to come into your living rooms.
I'm not easily shocked, but I did expect people to dress a bit more formally before sitting in front of their sets.
Now that two-way television is here.
Apparently, not everyone was aware of the incessant march of progress.
The next improvement should be more to your liking.
I understand that scientists will soon make it possible for any object thrown at the television screen to actually hit the performer.
All of which reminds me of a story.
She sure is a nasty night out.
Yeah.
Mighty close to being below zero and it's dropping every minute.
You won't have long to wait though.
They called a few minutes ago.
Who? Them.
Anybody who gets off here, there's only one place they're going.
Up there.
They're sending a car for you.
Only take them 20 minutes.
Hardly worth building a fire.
I'm going home and thaw out.
There won't be anything coming through till the 9:21.
The streamliner.
Never stops here.
You going up there for good? To stay, I mean.
No.
No.
I didn't think so.
You don't look like one of them.
Sure is a nasty one! Mr.
Unser? I'm from the monastery on the hill.
I'm sorry I wasn't here to meet the train.
The roads are so bad, you know.
Dear me.
The station agent should have made a fire for you.
That's all right.
I wasn't waiting long.
I'm Brother Gerard, Mr.
Unser.
I have a machine outside, such as it is.
Come along, won't you? I imagine you'd like to hear about Mr.
Rocco.
Yes.
What's he doing in a monastery? The people that found him brought him to us.
You see, there's no hospital for miles and there was nothing else they could do.
What happened to him? His machine went over a 20-foot embankment.
He's rather seriously hurt.
His back.
But Brother Charles will tell you all about that.
He's our doctor.
Yes, we almost needed a doctor ourselves there.
Come in.
Father, this is Mr.
Unser.
Thank you, Brother Gerard.
If there's anything else I can do, Father, I'd be delighted to stay.
You worry too much about me.
Mr.
Unser, your coat is wet.
Take it off.
Sit down.
You may smoke, if you wish.
Thanks.
Can I see Rocco now? It's very late.
I know, but I've come a long way.
Why did you come here, Mr.
Unser? To find Rocco.
You told me to come in the letter.
I've got it right here.
But this is only the envelope.
It's got the return address on it, Father.
That's all I brought.
I want to see Rocco, Father.
I'm sorry.
I cannot permit that.
Why not? We give sanctuary here to anyone who asks it.
Mr.
Rocco was brought to us in need of help.
I don't get it.
Why did you bring me all the way up here if you weren't gonna Iet me see Rocco? Because, my son, you are not Mr.
Unser.
What makes you think that? Mr.
Rocco gave us a complete description of his friend.
A tall man, rather slim, middle age.
That doesn't describe you, does it? Okay, I'm not Unser.
He couldn't come, and I came in his place.
What difference does it make? Perhaps a great deal if you are Ray Clements.
What'd Rocco tell you about me? Only what he wished to.
We asked him no questions, but he seemed anxious to talk.
No matter what he said, it was a lie! Look, he's a cheap crook, Father.
He swindled me out of a lot of money.
Yes, he told me that.
Did he tell you it wasn't my money to start with? Did he tell you it was money from the office where I worked? You stole the money, my son? No, I only borrowed it.
I was gonna pay it back.
But Rocco is the thief, Father, and you're trying to protect him.
Are you a fugitive, Mr.
Clements? Is that why you came here? No, I kept out of jail.
I borrowed enough money to pay it all back.
I'll be in debt for years.
I lost my job, my friends, my girl, even my father.
He turned his back on you? No.
No, he died last week.
They called it a heart attack.
It was, all right.
His heart was broken.
Dave Rocco killed him, Father, just as sure as I'm going to kill him now.
Mr.
Clements.
Does that shock you, Father? A life for a life! A week ago it would have shocked me, too.
But tonight I can say it and do it! And Mr.
Unser? Did you- No, I didn't kill him.
I knocked him out, so I could get that envelope.
See, I'd been watching him ever since Rocco disappeared.
They were partners.
I knew they'd meet up sooner or later.
Will you tell me how much money you lost? Yeah, I'll tell you.
$13,000.
Yes.
Here is your money, Mr.
Clements.
All of it.
It's quite simple.
Since Mr.
Rocco has been with us, he has had a change of heart.
I don't believe him.
Maybe you do, Father.
But I know Dave Rocco.
Mr.
Rocco asked us to return your money.
Take it, my son.
What good is it? Will it bring my father back? Sure, I'll take it.
It doesn't change anything.
I'll still get Rocco.
Have you been to church lately? No.
But you did attend once? Yes, I was an altar boy.
Then you were raised in the Faith.
And you are still quite young.
You could not have forgotten - It won't work, Father.
We'll talk about this later.
Now I must go to vespers.
Would you care to attend, Mr.
Clements? Would you? Look, Father, there's nothing more for us to talk about.
There are many things I could tell you, my son.
But nothing will change until you find forgiveness in your heart.
Unless you give up your hatred for Mr.
Rocco you will have no peace as long as you live.
As long as Rocco lives, Father.
You will find no comfort in Mr.
Rocco's death.
You may sit in the visitor's gallery, if you like.
Rocco.
Would you commit murder here? Put the gun away, Mr.
Clements.
I'm sorry.
Come, I'll show you to a cell.
When you have slept awhile- I won't stay, Father.
I can't trust myself under the same roof with Rocco.
But you can't leave on a night like this.
There's a train back to New York at 9:21.
If you wish.
Mr.
Clements, I would like to tell you something.
Before I joined this order, I was in the war.
You were too young to have taken part, weren't you? Yeah.
Then you have never seen a man die by your own hands? Not yet.
Mr.
Clements, I received a decoration for killing 11 enemy soldiers.
If there is a weight on my conscience it was not put there by my country or my Church.
Most of the things that you have lost, Mr.
Clements your job, your girl, your self-respect can be replaced or recovered.
But neither you nor I, Mr.
Clements can now or at any other time give back the breath of life.
Remember that, Mr.
Clements.
Remember it.
Because you never can forget the face of a man you've killed.
Come along, Mr.
Clements.
Come along.
If you're reaching for a gun, Clements, don't.
I'll kill you before you get it out.
Unser? Sure.
Did you think a crack over the head was gonna stop me? I didn't worry about it.
You're an amateur, Clements.
I wasn't out five minutes.
It made you miss the train.
But I caught the streamliner.
First time it's stopped here in four years.
I figured that you had too much of a head start on me so I waited for you to come back.
How did you do in the monastery? I got in.
Of course.
That envelope was just as good as a ticket.
I suppose they all took you for me? Not for long.
How's Dave? Would they let you see him? He hurt his back.
I wasn't able to see him.
Too bad.
And I won't have time to drop in.
But they gave you the money back, didn't they? Why, sure they did.
That's what the letter said.
Dave wanted to give it back.
I want it, Clements.
No.
I won't do any arguing.
Toss it over.
You never forget the face of a man you've killed.
Neither you nor I can now or at any other time give back the breath of life.
Good evening.
Who's in charge here? Father Vincente.
I wonder if we could ask him a few questions.
Yes, I'll take you to him.
Father Vincente.
Sorry to disturb you, Father.
Tell me.
What is it? What's happened? There's been a shooting down at the railroad station.
A man named Floyd Unser was killed.
Please, come in.
We're pretty sure you can help us with this, Father.
What makes you say that? According to the station agent, this man was killed by a young man who visited the monastery earlier this evening.
Now, who was this young man? He was Ray Clements.
Why did he come here? I can divulge nothing, except that his visit here had absolutely nothing to do with Mr.
Unser.
But, Father - Tell me, what happened to Clements? He got away.
But we think he stopped a bullet.
We figured this is the only place he can come to.
He isn't here.
We're gonna have to look anyway.
He might have slipped in without anybody seeing him.
You're free to search anywhere.
We will not interfere.
Thank you, Father.
Father.
Easy, Mr.
Clements, easy.
Father Vincente.
Gotta tell him So cold.
I'll take you to him, Mr.
Clements.
Father Vincente.
I gotta tell Do you think you could get to your feet? Father Vincente.
We'll be leaving now, Father.
You're satisfied that he isn't here? Only doing our job, Father.
We had to make sure.
Come, I'll show you to the door.
We checked pretty thoroughly, Father.
But there might be a hiding place we couldn't find.
So I'd like to have your word for it that that guy isn't stashed somewhere.
You are free to search anywhere.
There are no hiding places.
What's in there? Our infirmary.
Yeah, I checked it.
I just wouldn't want to think that he was being moved from room to room ahead of us.
Father! But that room was empty.
Is that Clements? I brought him in a short time ago, Father.
I'm sorry, Father, we'll have to take him in.
Call an ambulance.
You can't.
Why not? Within these walls, a man has sanctuary.
You mean, he's safe from the law as long as he stays here? When he is well enough, when we can do no more for him we will no longer protect him.
But until such time I will ask you please to leave this room so as not to disturb him.
But if you're gonna talk to him As long as you do not question him you may listen from out there.
He'll live.
What happened, Mr.
Clements? Unser followed me.
He was waiting for me at the station.
I killed him.
I killed a man.
Why? Why did you do it? He wanted my money.
But it was mine.
I didn't want to kill him.
He shot me.
He fired first? He hit me.
I had to do something.
You see, it was self-defense.
Could have been, I guess, as long as the other guy fired first.
Was Clements carrying a lot of money? $13,000.
Did it belong to him? Yes.
It was left in trust for him here.
As far as I'm concerned, Unser got what was coming to him.
That's just a personal opinion, of course.
You'll have to excuse me now.
Yes, my son? You were right, Father.
You and Brother Gerard.
I changed my mind.
I won't touch Rocco.
He should rest now, Father Vincente.
Father, do you understand? I'm all right now.
I don't hate Rocco.
Tell him that, Father.
Tell him he's got nothing to worry about now.
All his worries are in the hands of the Lord now.
The way you felt, it would have done no good to have told you before.
But Mr.
Rocco died just before you arrived.
That was a bit of a snapper, wasn't it? The murder on tonight's program was, as usual completely unrehearsed.
In fact, we hadn't planned on having a killing at all.
Our story was intended to be about a man found guilty of parking in front of a policeman.
But the actors seem to have gotten out of hand.
There they go again.
A wild, unruly lot, those actors.
I hope we have some of them left when we return with our next play, because we'd be somewhat handicapped without actors.
Until then, good night.