Credits and island setting
Credits and a title card establish a rock-bound island off Cuba. All timecodes include the opening titles.
sheet_01
Direct examination of the supplied Internet Archive film. No existing plot summaries, external cast lists, or web searches. All times refer to this source copy.
Illustrated vertical plot chart · Source audio (Internet Archive) · Timestamped transcript · Subtitles
Visual inspection uses timestamped contact sheets, with denser sampling where needed. Dialogue originates from local speech recognition. Speaker names are assigned through scene context and visible characters; uncertain names and wording are marked. Dialogue timestamps are approximate machine alignments. The AI-assisted review used speech-recognition text for dialogue rather than direct listening. This is a working research transcript, not a certified verbatim transcript.
Full-film summary — spoilers A storm isolates a house party on an island off Cuba. Sally, a mystery novelist, delights in murder talk and her friends’ improvised crime club. Her wealthy fiancé Gregory resents her devotion to writing. Their quarrels mingle romantic jealousy with his wish that she would put aside her typewriter. Meanwhile, the pianist Misha is having an affair with Madeline, the wife of criminal lawyer Tom Austin. A player piano lets music continue while the lovers meet. Tom secretly observes them. Gregory and Misha stage a public quarrel and a murder, using a bolster dressed in old clothes as the corpse. Gregory claims responsibility before the terrified guests. His plan is to frighten Sally and the crime club out of their fascination with murder. Sally nevertheless offers to flee with him. When he admits the prank, she condemns its cruelty and breaks their engagement again. Tom discovers the dummy and recognizes an opportunity. He wants Sally and resents Misha’s affair with his wife. Gregory’s threats and confession have already supplied apparent evidence. Tom takes Gregory’s gun, shoots Misha during the storm, and moves the body. The film reveals Tom’s plan and the killing’s immediate aftermath to the viewer; the later mystery concerns whether Sally can expose him. When the real body is brought inside the next morning, Gregory’s explanation of the joke sounds like an attempt to retract his confession. Tom relentlessly accuses him. Sally removes a button from Misha’s clenched hand, identifies it as having been pulled from the living-room couch, and notices Tom’s revealing reference to the couch where Misha died, hastily changed to “house.” She concludes that Tom knows the murder scene because he is the killer, but realizes those clues are insufficient against Gregory’s own public admission. Sally appears to reject Gregory and encourages Tom’s advances. Upstairs she prepares a drink, talks about going away and writing a will, and lets Tom believe she intends suicide. After he drinks the whiskey, she claims it contained poison. Terrified of death, Tom confesses before the assembled guests that he killed Misha with Gregory’s gun. He gives the hiding place of the weapon and declares Gregory innocent. Sally reveals that the drink contained a sedative, not poison. Tom survives to face the consequences. Her trap pays off his own earlier theory that fear of death can make a murderer confess, reinforced by Madeline’s story of his previous frightened confession during an illness. Sally explains her clues and credits her thriller writing. Gregory gives in; the couple reconcile and kiss. Central pattern: Gregory uses a fictional crime to shame Sally out of writing; Tom turns that fiction into an actual crime; Sally uses another staged crisis, and the lessons of her writing, to expose him. Evidence limits: This account comes from sampled film frames and locally generated speech-recognition text, not existing summaries. Exact wording, minor speakers, and some names remain uncertain. The notebook separates visible actions from dialogue-based interpretation.
Annotated contact sheets (PDF) · Character reference images · Provenance and limitations
| Character | Role | Identification notes |
|---|---|---|
| Sally | Mystery novelist; Gregory’s fiancée | Draped evening gown with long necklace early in film. The visitor in coat and cloche at32:10–35:45 is also Sally; an early visual note misidentified her. |
| Gregory (Greg) | Host of the island house party; Sally’s fiancé | The armed speaker on the stairs at27:16–27:38 is Gregory, not Misha. |
| Tom Austin | Criminal lawyer; Madeline’s husband; advises Sally’s fiction | Surname spelling is from ASR; not checked against any external cast list. |
| Madeline | Tom’s wife; romantically involved with Misha | Dark short hair and black evening gown; meets Misha by the piano. |
| Misha | Pianist; Gregory’s friend; Madeline’s lover | Spelling is phonetic from ASR; sometimes rendered Mischa. The player-piano mechanism permits the sound to continue while he is away from the keyboard. |
| Paul | Older male guest, paired with the woman in the patterned dress | First name corroborated by Gregory’s direct address around54:13 and the ensuing reply. Surname not established from the reviewed dialogue. |
| Harriet? | Woman in patterned evening dress; paired with the older male guest | Provisional name from dialogue address; identity/name pairing is contextual. |
| Other blonde guest | Member of the house party | Name unresolved. Do not confuse her with Sally in the bedroom scene simply because Sally changes clothes. |
| Rogers | Older sailor/caretaker associated with the launch | Rain gear and sou’wester at first entrance. Name spelling inferred from spoken address. |
| Barker | Butler | Name supplied by Gregory’s direct address. |
Credits and a title card establish a rock-bound island off Cuba. All timecodes include the opening titles.
Shadows and a hanging human-shaped image accompany Sally’s dramatic fiction. Gregory interrupts her reading; the subsequent house-party discussion establishes that this is a fictional murder, not an actual first victim.
The party discusses Sally’s latest chapter. Gregory, her fiancé, wants their wedding fitted into her writing schedule; she places it between Death Walks in Darkness and Murder in the Morgue. Marriage-and-murder jokes establish the group’s flippant attitude.
The storm and island setting inspire murder talk. Gregory announces the Hawk Island Crime Club, with criminal lawyer Tom Austin presiding. Tom suggests confession as the solution to Sally’s story: people want to escape their guilty selves, especially when afraid of death. Sally says she will remember.
The party speculates about Madeline’s headache and Misha’s absence. Tom professes indifference to his wife’s friendships. He takes Sally’s script upstairs to check legal points. The remaining guests go to supper.
Madeline meets Misha at the piano. They kiss. Inserts show a player-piano roll and keys continuing unattended, so the music does not establish his presence at the keyboard. In their later exchange Madeline fears discovery; Misha mocks Tom as a mole and checks behind a screen. She leaves through the French doors. A man is subsequently revealed watching from a high-backed chair; Tom later identifies himself as the observer.
Rogers, the sailor, gives Gregory mail and the launch-related key, explaining that the storm makes a departure dangerous. Gregory then meets Madeline, who says she waited in the boathouse. He tells her Tom has been upstairs rather than at supper. His warning about taking chances with storms can be read as double-edged, though he does not explicitly accuse her here.
Sally seeks material for a fictional poisoning case. Gregory belittles her writing; she challenges his inherited wealth and idleness. She returns his ring and insists she will keep writing. Tom returns her script with criminal-case examples. Gregory reads a letter whose text is not legible in the reviewed images, then announces that he will confront Misha.
The guests hear a disturbance and intervene in a scuffle between Gregory and Misha. Gregory orders Misha out and threatens him; Misha protests that he has nowhere to go on the island. This public scene will later be explained as part of their prank, but at this point the other guests take it seriously.
Gregory asks Barker what he would say if a guest went missing. The butler offers discretion about what he has seen and heard. Elsewhere Madeline tells Sally that Tom confessed everything during an illness when he feared he was dying. Tom jokes that surviving such a confession would be embarrassing. This personal anecdote repeats the earlier confession theory.
After the blackout Gregory announces that he has killed Misha and directs the guests toward the beach. Tom says they saw the body washed out to sea. Gregory first invokes self-defense, then says Misha deserved death. He threatens the party with the only gun and the launch key and retreats upstairs. The staircase speaker is Gregory; an early visual identification as Misha was incorrect.
The butler is ordered to have Rogers and his helper search the beach. Madeline is distressed; Tom urges her upstairs, remarking that Misha was nothing to them. The guests discuss keeping their lights on through the night.
Tom puts a coat around Sally. She calls herself Greg’s girl, while Tom depicts Gregory as idle, weak, and a thrill-seeking murderer. Sally asks whether Tom is making love to her. His answer makes his interest explicit; she says she will remember his warning.
Misha appears by candlelight in the darkened room around31:40–31:50. The subsequent conversations confirm that he is alive and participating in the prank. This visual hint precedes Gregory’s explanation to Sally.
Sally visits Gregory in a coat and cloche, ready to flee with him. He reveals that he and Misha staged the quarrel, scream, and corpse; the body was a bolster dressed in old clothes. He wanted to frighten Sally and her crime-club friends out of their obsession. Sally condemns the cruelty, returns his ring again, and refuses to help explain the joke. The visitor is Sally, not the other blonde guest.
Gregory finds Misha downstairs and demands that they end the joke. Misha wants to haunt Tom first and reports overhearing his insults about Gregory to Sally. Gregory relents. They arrange for Misha to return at breakfast with a smile and seaweed in his hair.
Tom tells Misha he found and hid the dummy alone. He confirms that the prank remains unrevealed, then lists the apparent evidence against Gregory: quarrel, threats, and confession before witnesses. He describes killing Misha, framing Gregory, and gaining Sally. He displays Gregory’s gun and says he witnessed Misha with Madeline. Misha’s pleas fail; Tom orders him to wait for thunder. At44:14–44:18 the film cuts to lightning, returning with Misha down beside the sofa.
Tom stands beside the fallen Misha, turns out the light around44:32, and returns to the sofa. At44:50–45:07 his shadow lifts and carries the limp figure. The apparent shooting has been conveyed across the preceding cut to lightning, not shown continuously.
The guests trade anxious jokes about sleep, food, and digestion; digestive tablets are mentioned. Gregory arrives flippantly, continuing the manner of the prank. His attitude should be distinguished from the viewer’s knowledge of Tom’s later confrontation with Misha.
Barker interrupts breakfast. At 48:54–49:04 Misha’s body is carried into the room. Rogers reports finding it beneath the veranda. Gregory says he left Misha alive and suggests an accidental fall; Rogers says he was shot through the head.
Gregory explains the staged quarrel and dummy. Tom dismisses his explanation as a desperate retraction of his public confession. Sally backs Gregory’s account but did not personally see Misha alive afterward. At 51:30–51:50 Sally opens Misha’s clenched hand and removes an object, identified in the ending as a button.
Tom presses the accusation and the missing gun. Around 52:49–52:51 he says “very couch” and corrects it to “very house”; Sally later explains that this betrayed knowledge of the indoor killing. Paul supports Gregory, and Barker insists on taking orders from his employer. Sally then performs horror at Gregory and accepts Tom’s comfort. The ending reinterprets this rejection as part of her trap.
Alone upstairs, Sally opens the medicine cabinet and handles a bottle, glass, and water. The final explanation identifies the drink as containing a sedative. The images alone do not identify the substance.
Tom visits while Sally is in the adjoining room bathing her eyes. At 58:38–58:46 he handles a flexible clothing/hosiery item, not an established written note. A rectangular metal container receives an insert; its precise use is uncertain in the sampled frames. At 59:30–59:32 he visibly drinks from a glass. Later he admits drinking the whiskey.
Sally says she is going far away, asks about writing a will, and lets Tom infer suicidal intent. He declares his love and insists that she must live for him and forget Gregory. This scene is subsequently revealed as a performance to exploit Tom’s fear of death.
Sally raises the glass, then asks who drank it. Tom admits drinking the whiskey. She claims she mixed poison for herself. He collapses onto the bed, and she calls for help. The claimed poison is part of her deception; Tom does not die.
The guests rush in. Afraid of dying, Tom confesses around 64:30–65:04 that he shot Misha in the living room with Gregory’s gun, using the prank as an opportunity. He says he hid the gun in bushes beneath Gregory’s window and explicitly clears Gregory. Sally then says the drink contained a sedative, not poison, and attributes his reaction partly to imagination.
Tom realizes he was tricked; the witnesses say they heard his confession. Sally explains that the button in Misha’s hand came from the living-room couch, where she saw that it had been freshly pulled off. Tom’s “couch” slip revealed that he knew where Misha died. These clues seemed too weak against Gregory’s public confession, so she forced a matching confession from the actual murderer. She credits her thriller writing with the trick. Some intervening dialogue remains uncertain in the ASR.
Gregory acknowledges that he does not deserve Sally and tells her to detect all she wants. They embrace and kiss around 68:10–68:23. The end title appears around 68:30.
00:00–01:05: opening credits. 01:10: title card places the action on a rock-bound island off Cuba. 01:36–02:16: looming shadows and a man on the staircase introduce a deliberately theatrical atmosphere. From 02:22 the party discusses Sally’s mystery writing and her postponed wedding.
04:09–04:30: guests admire the storm and Sally imagines an ideal murder setting. 04:56: the host announces the Hawk Island Crime Club. 05:05–05:21: criminal lawyer Tom Austin proposes a confession as the solution to Sally’s story and links confession to fear of death. Sally says she will remember it. Later talk turns to Tom’s absent wife Madeline and the piano player Misha.
08:30: the lavish buffet. 09:40–10:10: Madeline approaches Misha at the piano. 10:40: the camera explicitly reveals a player-piano roll. 11:05: the pair kiss. 11:30 and 11:50: unattended keys continue moving. This distinction between the sound of playing and a person actually playing is established visually.
12:10–13:05: Misha and Madeline discuss the danger of discovery. She suspects someone is hiding; he checks around the screen and reassures her. Madeline takes her wrap and leaves through the French doors. At 13:20–13:30 Misha returns to the player piano and adjusts his appearance. The observer revealed around 13:50–14:10 is later identified by Tom’s admission that he witnessed the lovers.
16:00–16:25: Rogers explains the storm risk and gives Gregory the launch-related key. At 16:30–17:00 Gregory tells Madeline that Tom was upstairs during supper, unsettling her account of where she has been. Sally and Gregory’s argument about her writing and their wedding follows. She eventually returns his ring; Tom returns her script with criminal-case notes.
20:16–20:23: Gregory reads a letter whose contents are not legible in the reviewed images. He says he will confront Misha. At 21:55–22:45 they scuffle and the guests intervene; Gregory makes public threats. The quarrel is later revealed as staged. At 23:06–23:29 Gregory asks Barker what he would say if a guest went missing, and Barker promises discretion.
25:00: the lights fail. At about 25:39 Gregory claims he has killed Misha and tells the guests to look toward the beach. The film cuts to stormy water around 26:20. At 26:50–27:36 Gregory alternates between claiming self-defense and saying Misha deserved death; he threatens the party with the gun and launch key. The man at the stairs is Gregory. See blackout_claims for the denser review.
28:10–28:40: Madeline is distressed; Tom urges her to retire and says Misha was nothing to them. Other guests go upstairs. At 29:30–30:47 Tom puts a coat around Sally, condemns Gregory as a weakling and thrill-seeking murderer, and makes advances. Sally calls herself Greg’s girl. A man later descends with a candle through the dark hall.
32:10–35:45: Sally visits Gregory in a cloche hat and coat, ready to help him escape. CORRECTION: this is Sally, not the other blonde guest; Gregory names her in their dialogue. They kiss around 33:00–33:15. At 33:33 onward he reveals that the quarrel, scream and corpse were a prank arranged with Misha. The supposed body was a bolster dressed in old clothes. He intended to frighten Sally out of writing mysteries.
36:36–38:34: Gregory tells the living Misha they must end the prank. Misha wants to frighten Tom first and reports overhearing his insults about Gregory to Sally. Gregory agrees. They plan Misha’s public return at breakfast. At 39:07–39:37 Tom tells Misha he found and hid the dummy himself, and called off the search without telling Rogers.
40:30–41:10: Tom establishes that the prank remains unrevealed and lists the apparent evidence against Gregory: public quarrel, threats and confession. At 41:24–42:08 he describes killing Misha, framing Gregory, and leaving Sally free. At 42:22–42:48 he stops Misha, displays Gregory’s gun and says he saw Misha with his wife in the music room. The hypothetical scenario becomes an explicit threat.
44:00: Tom has threatened Misha with Gregory’s gun and tells him to wait for thunder. The film cuts to lightning at 44:14–44:18, returning to Misha fallen beside the sofa. Tom turns off the light around 44:32 and bends at 44:44–44:49. At 44:50–45:07 his shadow lifts and carries the limp figure. Daylight and breakfast follow at 45:10.
48:00–48:46: Barker interrupts breakfast. At 48:54–49:04 Misha’s body is carried INTO the room and laid down; it is not found behind the chair. Gregory examines it at about 49:10. At 51:20–51:50 SALLY stays behind, kneels and examines the palm. CORRECTION: the examining woman is Sally in her daytime dress, not the other blonde guest. She takes a BUTTON from his clenched hand; the concluding dialogue identifies the object and explains its significance. See hand_clue. Final dialogue at66:34–66:40 identifies the button as coming from the living-room couch; Sally says she saw where it had been freshly pulled off.
52:00–53:10: Tom bullies Gregory, who denies killing Misha and says his gun is missing. Tom slips by referring to the couch where Misha died, then corrects himself to the house; Sally later identifies this as a clue. Paul intervenes. At 54:50–56:00 Sally appears to reject Gregory and accepts Tom’s comfort, setting up her later performance in the bedroom.
56:20–57:14: Sally enters the bedroom, opens the medicine cabinet, and handles a small bottle and the bedside glass. Tom arrives around 57:40. DENSE REVIEW CORRECTION: the long object he handles near 58:40 appears to be hosiery, not a letter. At 59:28 he brings fingers toward his mouth, then drinks from the glass at 59:30–59:32 while Sally waits in the adjoining room. See paper_flask for the detailed visual sequence; the filename preserves an early provisional label.
60:15 onward: Sally talks as if preparing to go away forever and asks about a handwritten will. Tom declares his love and tells her she must live for him. At 62:40–62:44 she raises the glass to her mouth; she then asks who drank from it. Tom admits drinking the whiskey. She claims she had poisoned it for herself, and he collapses onto the bed. This is a claimed poisoning, later exposed as her trap.
64:10–64:20: the guests attend Tom. Fearing death, he confesses that he shot Misha with Gregory’s gun in the living room, inspired by the prank, and hid the gun beneath Gregory’s window. Around65:00–65:29 Sally reveals that the drink contained a sedative, not poison. Witnesses have heard the confession. The concluding explanation identifies the button from Misha’s hand and Tom’s couch/house slip as Sally’s clues. Final dialogue at66:34–66:40 identifies the button as coming from the living-room couch; Sally says she saw where it had been freshly pulled off.
68:00–68:23: the final exchange resolves into Sally and the young host embracing and kissing. 68:30: THE END. All timestamps include the opening logo and credits and belong to this exact Internet Archive copy. Gregory gives in to Sally’s detecting/writing in the final exchange; their kiss completes the reconciliation.
Two-second review, 26:58–27:42. Gregory continues his claims about killing Misha, displays the revolver, and goes up the staircase threatening anyone who might try to take it. CORRECTION: the staircase speaker is Gregory, not Misha. This resolves a provisional misidentification in the first visual pass.
Two-second review of Sally’s poisoning performance and its consequences. At62:40–62:44 she raises the glass to her mouth, then asks who drank the whiskey and claims it was poisoned for herself. Tom collapses; she summons the guests. Fearing death, Tom confesses the real murder before witnesses. Sally subsequently reveals that the drink contained a sedative. Read the final transcript to distinguish her false claim from his confession.
Two-second review of Sally’s poisoning performance and its consequences. At62:40–62:44 she raises the glass to her mouth, then asks who drank the whiskey and claims it was poisoned for herself. Tom collapses; she summons the guests. Fearing death, Tom confesses the real murder before witnesses. Sally subsequently reveals that the drink contained a sedative. Read the final transcript to distinguish her false claim from his confession.
Two-second review of Sally’s poisoning performance and its consequences. At62:40–62:44 she raises the glass to her mouth, then asks who drank the whiskey and claims it was poisoned for herself. Tom collapses; she summons the guests. Fearing death, Tom confesses the real murder before witnesses. Sally subsequently reveals that the drink contained a sedative. Read the final transcript to distinguish her false claim from his confession. Final dialogue at66:34–66:40 identifies the button as coming from the living-room couch; Sally says she saw where it had been freshly pulled off.
Two-second review of Sally’s poisoning performance and its consequences. At62:40–62:44 she raises the glass to her mouth, then asks who drank the whiskey and claims it was poisoned for herself. Tom collapses; she summons the guests. Fearing death, Tom confesses the real murder before witnesses. Sally subsequently reveals that the drink contained a sedative. Read the final transcript to distinguish her false claim from his confession. Final dialogue at66:34–66:40 identifies the button as coming from the living-room couch; Sally says she saw where it had been freshly pulled off.
Three-second speaker-reference review of the opening banter. The host descends from the stairs; Sally wears the draped gown and long necklace. Their discussion concerns her novels and their wedding. The thin older man and the woman in a patterned dress exchange the bathtub-murder jokes.
Three-second speaker-reference review of the opening banter. The host descends from the stairs; Sally wears the draped gown and long necklace. Their discussion concerns her novels and their wedding. The thin older man and the woman in a patterned dress exchange the bathtub-murder jokes.
Three-second speaker-reference review, 07:20–08:29. At 07:50–08:00 Tom holds Sally’s pages and leaves to check legal points. Sally and Gregory exchange remarks afterward. At 08:23 the scene moves to a buffet-table view.
Three-second review, 08:32–09:14. A sustained view of the buffet precedes the guests talking around it. The shot changes to Misha at the piano at 09:11. The older woman in the patterned dress talks to Sally at the end of the supper exchange.
Two-second review of the breakfast interruption and the body being carried into the room. Read across each row. The crucial entry occurs at 48:54–49:04; the host’s examination begins around 49:08. This sequence corrects the misleading impression left by a single still of a body behind a chair.
Two-second review of the breakfast interruption and the body being carried into the room. Read across each row. The crucial entry occurs at 48:54–49:04; the host’s examination begins around 49:08. This sequence corrects the misleading impression left by a single still of a body behind a chair.
Two-second review of the breakfast interruption and the body being carried into the room. Read across each row. The crucial entry occurs at 48:54–49:04; the host’s examination begins around 49:08. This sequence corrects the misleading impression left by a single still of a body behind a chair.
Two-second review, 51:28–51:58. Sally opens Misha’s clenched hand, removes and examines the small dark object, then considers it in her own palm. The final dialogue identifies it as a BUTTON. She reasons that it points to a murder inside the house rather than on the rocks, then combines it with Tom’s later slip about the couch. The exact verbal explanation is around66:00–67:30. Final dialogue at66:34–66:40 identifies the button as coming from the living-room couch; Sally says she saw where it had been freshly pulled off.
Five-second review, 38:40–40:35. Tom and Misha meet downstairs. Tom says he found the dummy and knows the killing was a prank. At 39:45 the camera inserts a close view of a revolver on the seat beside books. Tom asks for a drink after the cold search; Misha obliges. The prop insert was missed by the first ten-second sampling.
Five-second review, 40:40–42:35. Tom outlines how the staged evidence could convict Gregory if Misha were actually killed. Misha initially treats the idea as material for Sally’s fiction and tries to go to bed. Tom stops him. Their rise from the sofa around 42:20–42:25 accompanies this shift from banter to threat.
Five-second review, 42:40–44:20. Misha appeals to Tom and promises not to see Madeline again. Tom insists that Gregory will die for Misha’s murder. At about 44:00 he orders Misha to wait for the next clap of thunder. The film cuts away to lightning, then returns at 44:19 with Tom standing beside Misha’s fallen figure. The apparent shooting is conveyed across this cut.
One-second review, 44:10–44:24. Tom has ordered Misha to wait for thunder. The conversation cuts to lightning/clouds at 44:14–44:18. At 44:19 the film returns to Tom beside the sofa and Misha down in front of it. The implied shooting occurs across the cut; these images do not provide a continuous view of the shot itself.
Two-second review of Sally leaving the group, entering the bedroom, opening the medicine cabinet and handling a bottle and bedside glass. The camera shows actions and objects; the later dialogue supplies the explanation. Keep the bottle from the cabinet distinct from the rectangular personal container later shown on the bed.
Two-second review of Sally leaving the group, entering the bedroom, opening the medicine cabinet and handling a bottle and bedside glass. The camera shows actions and objects; the later dialogue supplies the explanation. Keep the bottle from the cabinet distinct from the rectangular personal container later shown on the bed.
Two-second review of Sally leaving the group, entering the bedroom, opening the medicine cabinet and handling a bottle and bedside glass. The camera shows actions and objects; the later dialogue supplies the explanation. Keep the bottle from the cabinet distinct from the rectangular personal container later shown on the bed.
One-second review. The light is switched off around 44:32. A man bends by the sofa around 44:44–44:49. From 44:50 his enlarged shadow appears to lift and carry a limp human-shaped figure. Daylight begins at 45:10. No killing itself is shown in this sequence.
One-second review. The light is switched off around 44:32. A man bends by the sofa around 44:44–44:49. From 44:50 his enlarged shadow appears to lift and carry a limp human-shaped figure. Daylight begins at 45:10. No killing itself is shown in this sequence.
One-second review. The light is switched off around 44:32. A man bends by the sofa around 44:44–44:49. From 44:50 his enlarged shadow appears to lift and carry a limp human-shaped figure. Daylight begins at 45:10. No killing itself is shown in this sequence.
Two-second review of the opening shadows, staircase and assembled party. The images initially resemble a macabre tableau, then reveal the social setting. Do not treat the projected hanging figure as an independently established real death.
Two-second review of the opening shadows, staircase and assembled party. The images initially resemble a macabre tableau, then reveal the social setting. Do not treat the projected hanging figure as an independently established real death.
Two-second review, 58:30–59:16. CORRECTION: at 58:38–58:46 Tom handles a long, flexible clothing item (apparently hosiery), rather than reading a letter. A rectangular personal container receives an insert at 58:58–59:00; the earlier label flask is provisional. At 59:04–59:08 he brings a handheld object near his face, then moves to the window. Its precise use is uncertain in this visual review; no written note is established by these frames.
Two-second review, 59:18–60:04. Tom looks out of the window, returns to the bedside table, brings his fingers toward his mouth at 59:28, then clearly raises and drinks from the glass at 59:30–59:32. The glass returns to the table at 59:34. Sally waits in the adjoining room. The identity of any substance must be reconciled with the dialogue. The later dialogue at about62:40–63:00 has Sally claim that Tom drank whiskey she had poisoned for herself. Keep this claim distinct from the later revelation about the sedative.
Two-second review, 60:06–60:14. Tom adjusts his clothing, and Sally returns from the adjoining room. The extended conversation follows. These frames complete the visual continuity from his waiting alone to her return.
Five-second review of Misha and Madeline. The explicit player-piano insert at 10:40 and repeated unattended-key shots establish that audible music does not prove the pianist is at the keyboard. The flirtation, kiss, move toward the doors and return to the instrument are visible in sequence.
Five-second review of Misha and Madeline. The explicit player-piano insert at 10:40 and repeated unattended-key shots establish that audible music does not prove the pianist is at the keyboard. The flirtation, kiss, move toward the doors and return to the instrument are visible in sequence.
One-second review, 20:16–20:39. Gregory reads a letter and reacts angrily, but the letter’s text is not presented in a legible insert. Tom and Sally approach him. He rummages near the sofa; Tom assists him. Do not infer the precise contents of the letter from his reaction alone.
One-second review, 20:40–20:56. Gregory tells Tom and Sally to go to supper and says he is going to have it out with Misha. The later scuffle follows this stated intention; its cause must be reconciled with subsequent dialogue.
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| Source time | Speaker | Dialogue |
|---|---|---|
| Sally (reading her novel) | Jim! Jim! I won't scream or cry! Not once! I promise! Hear me! Speak to me! Have mercy on me, but for heaven's sake, tell me what I've done! Oh, I didn't say, Johnny! | |
| Sally (reading her novel) | I didn't do it. I swear. Don't look at me that way. No, no, no, no. For Betty's sake, you're killing me. Take your hands away. I can't confess. For your own sake. For mine. Stop before you spill my blood. I have been through | |
| Sally (reading her novel) | to you. | |
| Sally (reading her novel) | My guilty soul I have. | |
| Gregory | Oh, my sandwich! Who threw the overalls in Mrs. Clancy's chowder? | |
| Guests; individual turns unresolved | [wording uncertain] Gregory, you pig, you little... Life in the pie. Really think that's funny? Clark | |
| Unidentified guest | goes to the atmosphere. | |
| Gregory | Well, well, how are all the married little murderers? Hard at it, eh? Just dripping on. | |
| Gregory | My idea of a jolly house party. | |
| Blonde guest (not Sally)? | Oh, he's just peeve because nobody will play his silly old ping pong with him. | |
| Female guest? | Sally was just reading us our last chapter. | |
| Gregory | Really? Your last chapter? Sally, darling, can I depend on that? Say it again. Slower this time. | |
| Gregory | I'm a weak woman. | |
| Gregory | What ho, call after Mary Villager. Let's be dancing in the streets. Let's revel. Because it's Sally's last chapter. | |
| Sally | No, darling. It's only my latest chapter. And I've contracted for two more books. | |
| Gregory | Honey, do you mind telling me... | |
| Gregory | where we're going to fit in our wedding day | |
| Sally | between my next two novels death walks in darkness and murder in the morgue | |
| Gregory | goodie goodie grandma and let's have corpse candles on the wedding cake speaking | |
| Thin older male guest | of weddings hilanzo smith used to drown his brides in a bathtub | |
| Thin older male guest | See, he would simply grab their feet like this. After | |
| Woman in patterned dress | this, I lock my bathroom door. | |
| Thin older male guest | Calm yourself, my own. I never slay my wives without just cause, such as not screwing the cap on the toothpaste. | |
| Woman in patterned dress | My hero. | |
| Woman in patterned dress? | More like a friend than a husband to me. | |
| Thin older male guest? | More like a dear old bear. | |
| Unidentified speaker | Oh, this isn't | |
| Blonde guest (not Sally) | that wind just... | |
| Blonde guest (not Sally) | It's too thrilling. It's just a sort of wild night when murders happen. | |
| Sally | And what a perfect place for a murder. A little rock bound island off a lonely coast. Pounding surf, a rising storm, a nature of mansion where the wind wails to the corny. | |
| Gregory? | Is that in quotes, my dear? | |
| Sally | Listen to that. That's Miss Aaron Chunk. Why, anything could happen here. | |
| Unidentified speaker | I | |
| Blonde guest (not Sally)? | just wish something would happen. Something nice and gruesome. | |
| Gregory | Gee, but you're a cheery lot. Sally, will you console me? | |
| Tom Austin | Sally, I haven't thought about the solution to that story. | |
| Gregory | Sixth nightly session of the Hawk Island Crime Club. Thomas Austin, well-known criminal lawyer in the chair. | |
| Tom Austin | How about the solution? I think your best out is to have the murderer confess. | |
| Sally | Do you think that's natural? | |
| Tom Austin | As natural as the rest of you are, my love. Well, confession is the one way we have escaping from ourselves. Two out of every three men would take that way, especially with the fear of death upon them. | |
| Sally | I'll remember that, Tom. Now, how about this legal matter we were discussing? | |
| Tom Austin | Let me see that script, and I'll tell you what the procedure is in the fitty parts. | |
| Unidentified speaker | I don't know, Miss Southerly. | |
| Gregory | I say, where's Madeline? | |
| Gregory | Tom! Tom! You haven't strangled your wife and shoved her up to the chimney, have you? | |
| Tom Austin | Madeline's out on the beach. She said she had a bit of a headache. | |
| Gregory | I wonder where's Mischa? Maybe he's got a headache too. | |
| Sally? | Headaches are simply marvelous. You can commit a headache, and nobody can prove it. | |
| Gregory | Misha's in the music. Alone with his arms. | |
| Gregory | Listen to him. | |
| Thin older male guest | That boy's sure enough a wizard. | |
| Woman in patterned dress | Oh, when I hear that man play, I could kiss him. | |
| Thin older male guest | Yes? | |
| Thin older male guest | Well, kiss me and hear a symphony. | |
| Unidentified speaker(s); wording unclear | [wording uncertain] I'm just | |
| Sally? | This is just too fast, isn't it? | |
| Tom Austin? | Oh, tell me. | |
| Sally? | Aren't you most greedy that you | |
| Sally? | Oh, | |
| Gregory / Tom Austin?; turn boundaries unclear | look out, will you? Now look what you see. Don't choke her off, Greg. This isn't the game old-nighties. | |
| Tom Austin | I don't question Madeline's friendships, if she doesn't question mine. | |
| Tom Austin? | Yes, what comes after friendships? | |
| Sally? | Love? | |
| Tom Austin? | No, alimony. | |
| Butler | Separate serve, sir. | |
| Gregory? | Oh boy, I could eat my own grandmother. | |
| Unidentified guest | Not without the digger-setter. | |
| Gregory / guest? | Oh, ain't for mine. Just stun it and drag it in. | |
| Woman in patterned dress? | I could be happy with a simple hard-boiled egg. | |
| Thin older male guest? | Hard-boiled egg, oh, you mean. | |
| Thin older male guest? | [wording uncertain] Mr. Music Master, who lies, ask guys, Macintosh, McSnelevich. | |
| Male voice; attribution unresolved | Go to the flesh, boy. Why? I feed my soul. | |
| Male voice; attribution unresolved | Swine, I like that. | |
| Male voice; attribution unresolved | Oh, hurry up. | |
| Unidentified speaker | I'm so hollow, I'm positively haunted. | |
| Unidentified speaker | Swine. | |
| Unidentified speaker | What, did you call me? | |
| Unidentified speaker | No, no, no, my love. No, no, doctor. | |
| Unidentified speaker | Yes? | |
| Tom Austin | I'll step upstairs and go over those legal points for you. Wait until after supper, Tom. | |
| Sally | Better get that while it's still fresh in my mind. I don't mind doing it | |
| Tom Austin | for you at all. | |
| Tom Austin | What a worthless ass man | |
| Gregory | is. Yeah, a fast worker. | |
| Sally | And what a bottle of I want you turned out to be. | |
| Gregory? | [wording uncertain] The ideal lover. | |
| Guest at buffet; attribution unresolved | [wording uncertain] Here, Harriet. Have a second, Julie. | |
| Woman in patterned dress | [wording uncertain] Don't bother your silly little head. | |
| Woman in patterned dress | [wording uncertain] about marriage. | |
| Guest calling from supper table? | [wording uncertain] Call Moody, Professor! Help the gas refuges! | |
| Thin older male guest? | Uncle! Uncle! You can't help it! Come on, big boy! Say it back! | |
| Guests at supper; individual turns unresolved | [wording uncertain] You have to take a look at that itch. It has a certain amount of effort. It's ten minutes. Poor Tom. He's missing everything. Don't you not get touched. It's so hard to get back. | |
| Woman in patterned dress | It makes me feel just full of soul. | |
| Misha | There is nothing to fear. | |
| Madeline | That's all you know about it. Tom, there was so much to protect us. | |
| Misha | But Tom, Tom is a mole. A pink-nosed mole. A mole that grabs in the dark while we soar to the stars. | |
| Madeline? | Tom, I love it! I love it! | |
| Misha | My little rabbit. It's nothing but the wind. | |
| Madeline | Someone was hiding there. Someone was hiding. | |
| Misha | Let's see. Nobody is hiding here. Nobody is behind this green. | |
| Misha | Oh, your little heart is beating. | |
| Madeline | Stop it now, stop it. | |
| Madeline | Off the mountain, come in for the living room. You go on the supper. | |
| Misha | Every minute until I see you again will be a thousand years. | |
| Guest at supper; attribution unresolved | Each other's swell herrings, can I, boy? | |
| Guest at supper; attribution unresolved | [wording uncertain] I get snappin' | |
| Female guest? | Oh, Missa, you look correct. Dear lady, | |
| Misha? | Doesn't that plane | |
| Female guest? | take an awful lot out of you? Dear lady, | |
| Misha? | You | |
| Female guest? | give so much. | |
| Misha | It is my pleasure to play and I give to my plane. I give till it hurts. | |
| Misha? | Greg! | |
| Misha? | My | |
| Female guest? | friend. Would you just give me another | |
| Misha | lump of sugar for us? Dearest lady. | |
| Misha | But where is our friend Tom? | |
| Guests at supper; individual turns unresolved | Not here. Tom went upstairs just to be more supper. | |
| Guests at supper; individual turns unresolved | Oh, listen to | |
| Guests discussing the storm; turns unresolved | that lovely, creepy rain. | |
| Guests discussing the storm; turns unresolved | Madeline's crazy not to come in. You know, it was on a night like this that those two women had their throats cut on the Isle of Show. You see, a sailor sneaked in on them. Sort | |
| Gregory? | of a wraith-like curse. | |
| Gregory? | Don't get excited. It's just Rogers. | |
| Rogers (sailor) | I'd like a word with you, sir. | |
| Gregory | Why would you, Roger? Next regular meeting of the United Undertakers will be held in the morgue at midnight. | |
| Gregory | Slide to it, you crepe hangers. | |
| Rogers (sailor) | There's the mail, sir, over on the table. And here's the key to the batteries in the air. | |
| Rogers (sailor) | the launch | |
| Gregory | what do I do with it where it behind my ear. | |
| Rogers (sailor) | That there Russian plan a player was saying he'd admired to put out the key to the game as a big storm breaking right now and I don't aim what with my room at this time and all the go cruising around looking for no | |
| Rogers (sailor) | drowned in Russian. You stick. | |
| Rogers (sailor) | They got their key right in your pocket. Ain't nobody gonna get off of this island unless you say so. | |
| Gregory | Well, I'll say it's about time you blew in. | |
| Madeline | I'd rather be gasly late. I've been out in the boathouse for hours waiting for the storm to blow over. | |
| Gregory | It's only just beginning. | |
| Gregory | You're going upstairs, you better tell that husband of yours to come on down to supper. | |
| Madeline | Oh. Wasn't Tom in there with you at supper? | |
| Gregory | No, he's been up in his room for the last half hour. You know, you're an awful silly kid to take such chances with storms. | |
| Madeline | Thank you, Greg. | |
| Madeline | Guess I'll go right into supper. | |
| Sally | Hello, Madeline. Where's the mail, Greg? | |
| Gregory | Weren't I mailing up? | |
| Sally | Even if that was good, I wouldn't like it. Tom wrote his secretary to send me the dope on the blagged-in case. The blagged-in case, you know, that's the poison candy affair, same as in my novel. | |
| Sally | Don't bother, Greg. | |
| Gregory? | Jamiah blags and you darfner. | |
| Sally | But I think I'll use cyanide, or maybe prusic acid. | |
| Gregory | You'll do nothing of the kind. | |
| Sally | Why, Greg. | |
| Gregory | See here, I'm fed up on this fiction murder racket. I asked you down here... | |
| Gregory | Well, what does a chap ask his fiancé to a house party for? And all you do is talk death, disease, and disaster with Tom Austin. | |
| Sally | You can always go and play with your other guests. | |
| Gregory | Like blazes I can. They're all sitting around, popeye with admiration, licking up your shop talk. The bullet in Adam's... | |
| Sally | It's all very well for someone who has inherited a couple of millions to sit around leading the mental life of an oyster and make wise cracks about people who hustle and work for a living. | |
| Sally | Why did you ask me to marry you? | |
| Gregory | Well, it wasn't because of your phony literary racket. If I wanted to fall in love with the writer, I'd have picked a real one. | |
| Sally | I didn't know you rare. | |
| Gregory | Yeah, I'd fall in love with Bernard Shaw, beard and all. | |
| Sally | And if I'd wanted to fall in love with money, I would have picked the Baron Roth trial. | |
| Gregory | Well, he's dead. | |
| Sally | So we... | |
| Sally | you only he knows it. And what did you silly old money amount to anyway unless you weren't it to sell | |
| Gregory | and what do you silly books amount to do you really think you're important to anybody writing those being being dime novels running around after a make believe situation like a kitten after a tale that isn't even there | |
| Sally | oh very well. | |
| Sally | If I'm such a silly, senseless, no-account idiot as you think, in kindness to you, we'll call our engagement off. | |
| Gregory | There you go again, mixing up fact and fiction. We can't be disengaged. We're in love with each other. | |
| Sally? | Oh, ideally, suit. | |
| Gregory | And we're going to be married. And have five children. | |
| Sally? | Ten. | |
| Gregory | Daddy. | |
| Gregory | And you're going to bust up that typewriter. | |
| Sally | I'm buying a dozen new ribbons for that typewriter, just as soon as I get off this island. And here's your ring. Our engagement's over. Feeny, Calport, all washed up. | |
| Misha | Dear Lady. | |
| Sally | Oh, mission. Now, do be nice to me. | |
| Gregory? | He's going to play our wedding march. | |
| Sally | There isn't going to be any wedding. | |
| Misha | Oh, oh, such a discord. I will go and play some music to calm your, what you call it, savage breath. Busan, chef, chef. | |
| Tom Austin | Hold on a minute, Sally. Here's your script. | |
| Sally | You're simply wonderful, Tom. | |
| Tom Austin | I've jotted down all the cases I could think of that were solved by the criminals and officials. But there's the Rygate Strangler, three-fingered jealous and that killed the baby in the hen house. | |
| Sally | I remember that. | |
| Tom Austin | Sophie Gebhardt, who strangled her liquids with piano wire. And that old man, I forget his name, who was smothered in the clothes press. | |
| Sally | You're thinking of that dotty Max? | |
| Tom Austin | No, no, that was the famous bathhouse case. I defended him in court. But I'll tell you all about it when we have supper. | |
| Gregory? | Oh, thanks, darling. | |
| Sally | Don't you speak to me. | |
| Gregory | Call the rotten nerd. Move over. | |
| Sally | What is it? Great. | |
| Gregory | Nothing, nothing. What do you take me for? | |
| Tom Austin | What's the matter, old man? I'll stay in for everything. | |
| Gregory? | Here, wait. Let me. | |
| Tom Austin | Here, hon. | |
| Gregory | Thanks, Tom. You wanted to supper. Go with him, Sally. I'm going to have it out with Misha. | |
| Sally | I hope Misha hasn't gotten to any more trouble. Greg must be sick of | |
| Tom Austin | helping him out. Misha's all right. We mustn't be too harsh on judging a genius. | |
| Madeline? | Mom, if you won't come to supper, supper comes to you. | |
| Tom Austin? | You live only to please me, don't you dear? | |
| Guests at supper; individual turns unresolved | Where is dear Misha? What made him stop playing? | |
| Guests at supper; individual turns unresolved | Doesn't that wind sound just like an organ? That | |
| Thin older male guest? | reminds me of the case of the old organist. | |
| Tom Austin? | He disappeared one winter night and months afterwards, oh many months afterwards, they found him stuffed in the pipe of the Cathedral organ. At least they found his head. | |
| Sally? | Oh Paul, stop it Paul, stop it. | |
| Woman in patterned dress? | I have the strangest premonition. | |
| Guests; individual turns unresolved | What can be happening? | |
| Guests; individual turns unresolved | What do you mean? | |
| Tom Austin? | What's it all about? | |
| Gregory | I've had all I want to stamp, Miss Roddy. Get out of my house! | |
| Misha | But there is no one on this filthy island for me to go. | |
| Gregory | Well, then keep out of my sight! | |
| Misha | I can't go! You crazy man! | |
| Gregory | That's all. Let me catch you sticking around. I warned you! | |
| Tom Austin? | You're not going after Gregory. Now put that in your pipe of smoke. | |
| Misha | I don't smoke any pipe! | |
| Tom Austin? | You better learn to smoke. | |
| Misha | [wording uncertain] No! Quiet! I'm leaving this home! I talk to my nurse! | |
| Male guest? | Let him go! The rain will cool him off. | |
| Barker (butler) | Take pardon sir. Is this as you wish it sir? | |
| Gregory | Yes quite. Look here Barker. I wonder what you'd say if some... | |
| Gregory | One of our guests were missing. | |
| Barker (butler) | I should doubtless say, very good, sir. | |
| Barker (butler) | If I may make so bold, I should never mention to anyone what I've just seen and heard, sir. | |
| Blonde guest (not Sally) | Oh, Harriet, dear, wasn't it all just too thrilling? | |
| Harriet? (woman in patterned dress) | I told you I had a picture. I didn't tell. | |
| Female guest? | Bossa, did you bring what I like? If I don't get in it with something, I should pass out. | |
| Blonde guest (not Sally)? | Oh, Tom, it's so cute the way he pulled them off each other. | |
| Tom Austin? | You know I'm positively a boy. My fortune dollar says so. | |
| Tom Austin | Say, what was all this shooting for? | |
| Gregory | Shooting. Oh, you mean the row in there. | |
| Tom Austin | Yeah. | |
| Gregory | Nothing, old man. Just drop it. I'll see it through. | |
| Gregory? | Oh, Paul, what are you going to have? | |
| Paul? (older male guest) | Oh, just a thimbleful of turpentine or a little shot of acid. | |
| Tom Austin | [wording uncertain] I don't worry about him he's all up to camp so | |
| Madeline | Tom you act as though pneumonia were a joke but when you yourself get so much as a snivel e cold you think you're dying | |
| Sally? | aren't you exaggerating | |
| Madeline | exaggerating my pink and white soul last time he had the grip Sally up until we everything | |
| Madeline | he'd ever done. But I mean everything. Getting ready to die clean and all that. I was ashamed to look him in the face for six months afterward. | |
| Madeline | Why are they so funny? | |
| Tom Austin | Not many of us would care to shuffle off with a guilty secret in his heart. | |
| Madeline | I wonder what you'd confess if you thought you were going to... | |
| Madeline | died | |
| Tom Austin | me I can't bet nothing imagine my embarrassment if I didn't die. | |
| Guests during blackout; turns unresolved | Not guilty but it's lovely atmosphere. | |
| Guests during blackout; turns unresolved | Must be the light. | |
| Guests during blackout; turns unresolved | But the powerhouse of the blink | |
| Paul? (older male guest) | reminds me of the night that the entire Boggenkomper family were butchered in their beds. | |
| Harriet? (woman in patterned dress) | Oh, Paul, I'm getting frightened. | |
| Guests; exclamations unresolved | No! No! No! Ah! | |
| Guests; exclamations unresolved | Mr. Good heavens! What's that? What can it be? | |
| Guests; exclamations unresolved | [wording uncertain] I'm going to have to do it. | |
| Gregory | I've just done for Misha. | |
| Sally? | Why are you joking? You must be joking. | |
| Gregory | Am I? Step on that veranda. Look down on the beach. | |
| Gregory | You'll see how much of a joke it is. | |
| Sally? | Oh, Greg! Please! Please! | |
| Unidentified distressed voice(s) | [wording uncertain] Help! Help! Help! | |
| Madeline | He isn't | |
| Tom Austin | dead. Yes. We | |
| Sally | saw his body washed out to sea. You didn't do it, Greg. You couldn't have | |
| Gregory | done it. Self defense. | |
| Gregory | I swear it was self-defense. No, it wasn't self-defense. I shot him because he wasn't fit to live. I shot him and threw his | |
| Alarmed guests; individual turns unresolved | rotten body over the railing. Grady! He's gone crazy! He'll kill us all! | |
| Tom Austin? | He'll kill us all! Eat still! Greg, you're scaring these girls to death. Now put that gun down. There's the chap. Stop lying. | |
| Gregory | there. So the fact you take me for. | |
| Gregory | Just one boat on this island the key to its battery is in my pocket. | |
| Gregory | Just one gun on this island that's here in my hand. | |
| Gregory | And if anyone thinks of taking it from me, let him think twice. | |
| Barker (butler)? | Yes, | |
| Tom Austin? | sir. Mr. Collin has been murdered. | |
| Barker (butler)? | Very good, sir. | |
| Tom Austin | Get Rogers in that chap that helps him. Get out of the beach and search for the body. | |
| Barker (butler)? | Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. | |
| Tom Austin? | There's a possibility they may have washed ashore. I'll be down here for the time. Oh, Tom, | |
| Sally? | I want to go with you. | |
| Harriet? and Paul?; turn boundaries unresolved | What's the become of ours? The lord in the house was a murderer. Let nature protect you. | |
| Harriet? and Paul?; turn boundaries unresolved | Paul, take care of you, won't Paul? Yeah, good old Paul. | |
| Tom Austin | Come on, Madeleine. Get along upstairs and go to bed. Don't take it so hard, Madeleine. After all, Misha was nothing to us. Come on, Madeleine, dear. We'll | |
| Female guest? | all go up together. And we'll keep the lights burning till morning. If we | |
| Paul? (older male guest) | manage to live that long. | |
| Paul? (older male guest) | Don't do that. Don't scream so loud, my darling. You might split your silly throat. | |
| Harriet? (woman in patterned dress) | Don't talk about it, floats. | |
| Guest; attribution unresolved | [wording uncertain] All together. | |
| Tom Austin | You ready to go, Sally? | |
| Sally | I'll be right with you, Tom. | |
| Tom Austin | Good. | |
| Tom Austin | They're a plucky girl, Sally. One girl and ten thousand. | |
| Sally | I'm Greg's girl. | |
| Tom Austin | He isn't worth it, honey. | |
| Sally | No? | |
| Tom Austin | No, take it from me. I know the type. I haven't been a criminal lawyer all these years. | |
| Tom Austin | for nothing. He's a nightler, soft with easy living. Every nerve in him gone sick. | |
| Sally | What a pal you are when a friend's in trouble. | |
| Tom Austin | I'm your friend Sally, and I know what you've got on your hands with this fellow. He's a murderer for the thrill of it, a weakling. Not fit so much as to touch your... | |
| Tom Austin | little thing. | |
| Sally | Are you trying to make love to me Tom. | |
| Tom Austin | You're the kind of woman a man dreams about. To find you tied up with this rotter. | |
| Sally | I'm glad you warned me. I won't forget. Let's go. | |
| Tom Austin? | Let's go. | |
| Unidentified speaker | Ha ha ha ha ha ha | |
| Gregory | Who's there? | |
| Sally | [wording uncertain] Me. Oh, open the door. | |
| Sally | The break. Get into your clothes quickly. You've got to get out of here. | |
| Gregory | On a night like this? | |
| Sally | Glad you sent me off. Tom ordered him to stay even the lunch. | |
| Sally | So you can't get off the island until police come for you. | |
| Gregory | Tom did that. | |
| Sally | Get into your warmest things and be quick about it. I'll go myself and change. | |
| Gregory | What for? | |
| Sally | You don't suppose I'd let you go alone, do you? | |
| Gregory | But tell me, darling, I'm a murderer. | |
| Sally | You're the man I love, Greg. Whatever you've done. Whatever you are. | |
| Gregory | Dearest. | |
| Gregory | Sally, darling. | |
| Gregory | Darling, I wish you could have seen your face when I came in that window tonight. Said I'd kill Misha. | |
| Sally | What are you laughing at? | |
| Gregory | Darling, don't you know that there has to be a corpse before you can prove there's been a murder? | |
| Sally | But I saw Misha's body there on the rock. | |
| Gregory | You saw Misha's bolster and... | |
| Gregory | an old suit of dress clothes. | |
| Sally | Greg! You mean you didn't kill him? | |
| Gregory | For Pete's sake, why should I drill a hole to my best friend? | |
| Sally | But you're quarrel. What about, Philoban? | |
| Gregory | Why didn't you ask me? What about? | |
| Gregory | Hang if I'd known what to tell you Oh Sweetheart you had it coming to you you and your amateur crime cronies I just had to show you how you go running in circles if you met up with the real thing | |
| Sally | Then it was all fake | |
| Gregory | This year I cooked it up | |
| Gregory | between us the quarrel and the fake corpse that scream in the dark and did you bite Oh baby | |
| Sally | and you went to all this trouble just to prove that I'm a fool | |
| Gregory | darling no just to prove that the best place for your typewriter is down the drain and the best place for you is | |
| Sally | Let me know. | |
| Gregory | Oh, look here, Sally. | |
| Sally | I came into this room, loving you so much. I would have gone away with you even though you were a murderer. I almost wish you were. | |
| Gregory | Oh, come now, Sally. | |
| Sally | And here's your ring. | |
| Sally | Forkeep this time. A fine pair of sports you and me sure were. Sightening the girls to death. Breaking Madeline's heart. Of all the cruel, cruel, stupid, idiotic, small boy monkey fakes that ever were pulled. | |
| Sally | And I never want to see your face again. | |
| Gregory | [wording uncertain] Oh! Sonic, you know I don't exist. Please don't do me a joke. | |
| Sally | A fine joke, you'll find it when you come to explain it to the others. And I won't do one bit of your explaining. Not one little word. | |
| Gregory | OK. | |
| Gregory | Now Sally please I didn't think you'd take it this way where's your sense of humor Sally Sally darling What do you know about that | |
| Unidentified speaker | [wording uncertain] Oh | |
| Gregory | Oh shut up you darn fool. | |
| Misha | Oh it's you. | |
| Gregory | Well cut out the hocus pocus. | |
| Misha | Gregory my friend. You cross me. | |
| Gregory | and I'm so flat I could walk under a snake's belly with a high hat on and an umbrella in my hand. | |
| Gregory | And you've got to come to life again. Right now, too. | |
| Misha | But if I have to come alive so quick, what for did I die? | |
| Gregory (partly quoting Sally) | What for? Because I was in it with a dumb... | |
| Gregory (partly quoting Sally) | Disney Daisy and of all the crew crew stupid beastly I Never want to see your face again | |
| Misha | my face | |
| Gregory | No, my face. | |
| Misha?; wording unresolved | Oh you would face out You have this says I'm punctured darn good almost right | |
| Misha?; wording unresolved | I'm going to | |
| Gregory | cut out you grittings, Zanny. We've got to give this gag away. | |
| Misha | But Gregory, my friend, I cannot stop being a ghost until I have met once with Tom. | |
| Gregory | It's all up, I tell you. We've got to cut it out. We've had enough of scaring women. | |
| Misha | [wording uncertain] You misunderstand. I haunt nobody but Tom. And you're a man. | |
| Misha | And you should have heard him just now, round you down to Sally. Uh, weakling, criminal, sweet names he called you. | |
| Gregory | Oh, he did, did he? Huh. Just a good pal. Go ahead and hold him. Hold him proper. Make him squeal. | |
| Gregory | I did like that, mister. | |
| Misha | My friend, I see you at breakfast. | |
| Gregory | Here, show off with a smiling face and seaweed in your hair. They'll probably have our heart's blood. | |
| Misha | I will be there with a smiling face and the seaweed in my hair. | |
| Gregory | Good night. | |
| Gregory | Good night, little ghosty. | |
| Misha | Good night, Grady, my friend. | |
| Tom Austin | I don't believe. | |
| Tom Austin | and ghost. | |
| Tom Austin | Especially when I stumble over that dummy that you boys left for it. Have a little hope that so. | |
| Misha | And you have found my poor sacrifice suit of clothes. | |
| Tom Austin | No not Rogers and me just me or rather just I if you prefer your English straight. Anyway I was. | |
| Tom Austin | I was alone when I found the dummy, so I hid it carefully and called the hunter for tonight. I wouldn't spoil your little joke prematurely. | |
| Tom Austin | I'm frozen hunting your corpse that wasn't there. Would you mind getting me a little nipper something? | |
| Misha | Certainly. It makes me so happy to do something for you. Why, | |
| Misha | I even go out and hunt myself. Gladly, if ever you because. | |
| Tom Austin | Well, I hope you'll hunt on a warmer night than this. I wonder if thunder's so. The lighting was terrific. You should've been out there. | |
| Misha | It's a great relief, my friend. You take so well our little job. | |
| Tom Austin | Oh, I can take a joke. I can pull one myself, necessarily. | |
| Misha | Here, then. | |
| Tom Austin | Thanks, Richard. Well, here's to that... | |
| Tom Austin | a corpse and you boys have the morning that is you haven't given the game away you haven't told anyone have you | |
| Misha | not yet nobody has seen me alive since my thought tragic death except Greg I make dramatic appearance at breakfast we see weed in my hair | |
| Tom Austin | congratulations perfect | |
| Tom Austin | Every little detail carefully thought out. Motive for murder, well established by that quarrel before witnesses and those threats. You're a good actor, Misha. | |
| Misha | Good? My dear chap, I'm great! | |
| Tom Austin | There's Greg's confession before witnesses. Perfect. Perfect! | |
| Tom Austin | Now you're really very clever. | |
| Misha | I will see what your Americans call hot. | |
| Tom Austin | Yeah, hot. | |
| Misha | Everybody tell me that. | |
| Tom Austin | Yeah, so hot that, uh... You know, Misha, if anything should happen to you tonight, Gregory will go to the chair for your murder. | |
| Misha | Nifty little idea. | |
| Tom Austin | Yeah, nifty. Suppose someone had a grudge against you, Misha. | |
| Misha | But is it possible? Everybody loved me. | |
| Tom Austin | At the same time... | |
| Tom Austin | and a yen for Sally. | |
| Misha | Oh, to have a yen for Sally. That's easy. | |
| Tom Austin | What a chance of that person to bump you off, let Gregory go to the chair and leave Sally free. Satisfying love and hate all in one crack, eh? | |
| Misha | You must give that to Sally for the plot of her next horror story. Well, I guess I go up to bed. | |
| Tom Austin | Wait. I said wait, mister. | |
| Misha | What have you got there? That's Greg's gun. | |
| Tom Austin | That should cinch the case against Greg. | |
| Misha | So, do you think you have a grudge against me, Tomo? | |
| Tom Austin | I was in the music room tonight when you were with my wife. | |
| Misha | So... fair enough. You love Sally, and Madeline, she loves me. | |
| Tom Austin | But my wife is my wife. And no man has the right to laugh at me. | |
| Misha | I do not laugh at you, Tom. | |
| Tom Austin | But you did. | |
| Tom Austin | Why don't you laugh now? | |
| Misha | Well, I will not seem at length again. Come now. You would not kill. | |
| Tom Austin | Me? Oh, Jesus. I wouldn't kill you. Greg killed you. | |
| Tom Austin | Greg is going to die for killing you. | |
| Misha | But you are crazy man. | |
| Tom Austin | Don't raise your voice. | |
| Misha | But you see, you shoot the whole house here. | |
| Tom Austin | I never hear anything over that thunder. And the only thing that will force... | |
| Tom Austin | Because my hand is for you to open your mouth. Now pray and wait for that next clap of thunder. | |
| Women at breakfast; individual turns unresolved | This food looks grand, but I haven't any appetite at all. I never close my eyes and live long nights. I doubt if I live for today. | |
| Women at breakfast; individual turns unresolved | Well, you know, as long as you're up, flip me a teeny weeny sausage or two, but I make it free. I've simply got to tempt my appetite. If you know how my heart is beating... It isn't your heart. It's your artery's hardening. Your | |
| Women at breakfast; individual turns unresolved | great trouble is you have only one stomach. | |
| Women at breakfast; individual turns unresolved | You've had the last of my digestive tablets. Hello, everybody. Hello, | |
| Paul? and breakfast guests; individual turns unresolved | Prada. Morning, Paolo. Where have you been? I'd like to know. Up along the beach. | |
| Paul? and breakfast guests; individual turns unresolved | Cheerful sort of morning. Cheerful sort of party. | |
| Paul? and breakfast guests; individual turns unresolved | Reminds me of the... | |
| Paul? and breakfast guests; individual turns unresolved | breakfast table when Lizzie Privaslau poisoned all her family with ant taste. | |
| Paul? and breakfast guests; individual turns unresolved | Come on, you'll break something. | |
| Guests at breakfast; individual turns unresolved | If I ever get through this day... If you can get through that breakfast, you can get through anything. | |
| Tom Austin? | Hello, everybody. Come on, dear. Unhand that tumbler. My need is greater than thine, old thing. | |
| Tom Austin / Paul?; turn boundaries unresolved | How about a little drink, my friend? Thanks, I never touch a thing. How are you, sir? How do you like to cut yourself a nice little | |
| Female guest? | slice of throat? Stop it, will you? Here we are, all sitting in the very shadow of death with that bloodthirsty maniac of... | |
| Sally? | gone far enough. I'm going to tell you all. | |
| Gregory | Well good morning that he I represent the merry mergers weekly. Oh you're not interested in my fancy needlework well perhaps you'd like to see my new line of can't eat it I put them up myself. | |
| Female guest? | No. No. | |
| Gregory | Dear me, Bill, you're not yourself this bright and beautiful morning. Who are you? Not a word, old man. | |
| Male guest? | Not a word. Of course I remember you. You're | |
| Gregory | Sherlock Holmes, demon sloot for Banker Street. How is Mrs. Holmes? I trust that little ratchet's all cleared up on her chest. | |
| Gregory | Just a popular favorite. Have some | |
| Tom Austin? | breakfast grades, thanks, old man. Don't mind if I do. | |
| Gregory | What's for breakfast? Oh, say it ain't true. Here's some little eggs. Looking up at me with their big yellow eyes, saying, daddy, eat me. Oh! Patient little eggs, patient. And all smuthered in cream. | |
| Madeline? / guests; turn boundaries unresolved | I'm going | |
| Tom Austin? | to | |
| Gregory? | sit at the same table with you. Go, go! Better take you to your own room. Well, what do all you merry little murder... | |
| Gregory? | I | |
| Breakfast exchange; attribution unresolved | know when having good old me. I'll never forget you. Well he said he dropped in on us after breakfast. | |
| Gregory? | [wording uncertain] with a glory villain I have. | |
| Rogers (sailor) | The waves washed them in, sir. Right under the veranda. | |
| Gregory | It can't be so. | |
| Gregory | He was alive. I left him alive. He must have fallen off the rocks. That's it. He must have been drowned. | |
| Rogers (sailor) | Shot clean through the head. Clean as a whistle. | |
| Gregory | What? | |
| Gregory | I didn't do it. I left him alive. Alive. There in the living room. Hours after I told you that fool story about killing him. I never killed Misha. It was all a crazy stunt we cooked up between us. A stupid hoax. | |
| Gregory | It was a gag, see? A gag. Just because you were also thrilled with murders, we wanted to trick you. It was just the gag. Misha's my friend, my very best friend. I loved him. Everybody loved him. He was my pal. | |
| Tom Austin | Trying to back out on you. | |
| Tom Austin | own confession while I'm afraid it won't wash. | |
| Gregory | Well, I tell you. | |
| Sally | It's true what he's telling you. | |
| Gregory | Oh Sally, darling, you believe me. | |
| Sally | It's a hoax. He told me so last night. | |
| Tom Austin | And did you yourself see Misha alive after he confessed killing him? | |
| Sally | No, but Greg told me. | |
| Tom Austin | Oh, and of course you believed him. Well. | |
| Gregory | It's the truth, I tell you. It's the truth. | |
| Tom Austin? | Easy, Greg. | |
| Gregory | Easy. The gun... That's it? The gun will prove it. There's only | |
| Male guest? | one shot. | |
| Male guest? | Wait. Now hold on there. | |
| Tom Austin? | Madeline, madeline, you must leave. Please come on over here. You can't look at | |
| Guests addressing Madeline; turns unresolved | me. | |
| Unidentified speaker | [wording uncertain] I'm sorry. | |
| Gregory | My gun was here I tell you here in this table I left the gun here I was talking to me and I put the gun on the table it's been taken away somebody's taken my gun and shot Misha with it | |
| Paul? (older male guest) | that's possible down don't you. | |
| Gregory | You see, it's possible. | |
| Tom Austin | It's much more possible that he hid the gun himself. | |
| Gregory | What? | |
| Tom Austin | It's a damning piece of evidence against him. Come on, Greg. Now, where'd you hide it? | |
| Gregory | I never hid it. | |
| Tom Austin | Oh, come, come now. What do you think we are? You shot Misha. You know you shot Misha. | |
| Gregory | No, no, I didn't. | |
| Tom Austin | But we heard your shot. We saw the body. | |
| Gregory | It was a dummy. I tell you, nothing but a dummy. | |
| Tom Austin | Then where's | |
| Gregory | I didn't kill him. | |
| Tom Austin | We all heard your confession. Don't try to back out on him now. You killed him. | |
| Gregory | I tell you I didn't. | |
| Tom Austin | You shot him. You looked your friend in the face and shot him down like a dog. | |
| Gregory | I didn't. I didn't. | |
| Tom Austin | Don't lie to me. We're going to get the truth out of you. You killed Misha. | |
| Gregory | I didn't, I tell you. | |
| Tom Austin | You dare tell me that. Sitting on the very couch. | |
| Tom Austin | in the very house when he died? By your treacherous lying criminal, you murderous moron. Killing for the kick of it, shooting your best friend, your best friend for the thrill of it, well, you'll get a thrill out of this. You're going to care | |
| Tom Austin | for this. All of sharks. | |
| Paul? (older male guest) | Now stop writing him, Tom. Haven't you any mercy? | |
| Tom Austin | Yes, for poor Misha. But not for the man who killed him. | |
| Gregory | I didn't, I tell you. | |
| Paul? (older male guest) | Now hold your tongue, Greg. | |
| Paul? (older male guest) | He's not the district attorney. Your stuffed shirt. Now sit tight. I'll get you a drink. | |
| Tom Austin | I'm running as a fan, Paul. You get in my hair. Keep out of here, Baca. | |
| Barker (butler) | Very good, sir. But I take my orders from Mr. Gregory's there. Coffee? | |
| Paul (older male guest)? | Say do you. | |
| Paul (older male guest)? | That's the second time within 15 minutes you | |
| Tom Austin? | do that again and I'm going to pop you right squaring your nose my need is greater than I know man we must rig up some way to get in touch with the mainland and bring in the police. The most. | |
| Gregory | I'm not efficient, Tom. Couldn't do better if I was your worst enemy. Thanks, Barker. No more coffee. | |
| Gregory | I'll title upstairs and pack my going away bag. | |
| Paul (older male guest)? | That's the procedure, I believe. Here you are, | |
| Gregory | old sock. Give it to Tom. The more of my liquor he drinks, the better he can devil me. | |
| Gregory | You believe me, Paul, don't you? Listen, Greg, | |
| Paul (older male guest) | you're my friend first, whatever else you may be. | |
| Gregory | Thanks. But you don't believe me. | |
| Gregory | Doesn't anybody believe me? Sally. | |
| Gregory | Do that. Look at me. Buck up, old dear. It is. | |
| Sally | Don't touch me. No, no, no, I tell you. No. Don't let him touch me. Don't let him come near me. | |
| Tom Austin / guests; turns unresolved | [wording uncertain] Sorry. I'll let her alone, Vic. All right, I'll put you something under the other hand. | |
| Sally | I loved him so. I let myself love him. I'm all soiled with it. I'm degraded. | |
| Sally | What's to become of me? What's to become of me? | |
| Gregory? | Sally, please. | |
| Tom Austin | There, there, there. He isn't worth it. I know, I | |
| Sally | know. I knew all along, but I didn't have steps enough to listen to | |
| Tom Austin | him. Oh, there, there, there. Sally, dear. | |
| Sally | I was too proud. I should have known all... | |
| Sally?; wording unresolved | [wording uncertain] Thank you. For all that might. For all I push aside. | |
| Gregory? | Stop | |
| Tom Austin | her. Let her go. Let her cry it out. | |
| Tom Austin | Sally. Sally, dear. | |
| Tom Austin | Sally. | |
| Tom Austin | Sally dear. | |
| Sally | It's all right, Tom. Please go away. | |
| Tom Austin | It's not me. Come on out. | |
| Sally | Oh, let me alone. | |
| Tom Austin | I'll give you two minutes and I'm coming in to fetch you. Now be a good girl, love. | |
| Sally | All right. I'd like to see you, Tom. | |
| Sally | Something to tell you. | |
| Sally | Be long now. I'm just bathing my eyes. | |
| Tom Austin? | [wording uncertain] Okay. | |
| Sally | It was awfully sweet of you to come up, Tom. I was just getting ready to go away. [wording uncertain] That's always a lonely thought of time, isn't it? | |
| Tom Austin | Where are you going? | |
| Sally | Oh, a long way. | |
| Tom Austin | Whoever... | |
| Tom Austin | I'm going with you. | |
| Sally | Oh, you don't know what you're saying. | |
| Tom Austin | Oh, Sally, Sally, do you know I'm crazy about you? | |
| Sally | Poor Tom. Dear Tom. | |
| Tom Austin | Sally, ever since I first laid eyes on you, I've been mad to hold you in my arms like this. | |
| Sally | Please, please. | |
| Tom Austin | Now kiss me, Sally. You know you love me. | |
| Sally | It's all too late. Too late. | |
| Tom Austin | Too late. No such word in my vocabulary. I'm not a weakling like Greg. | |
| Tom Austin | What I want, I go after and I pretty generally get it. | |
| Sally | You're a man, Tom. | |
| Tom Austin | I'm your man, Sally. | |
| Sally | If I'd only know... | |
| Sally | Oh, I've made such a wreck of my life. | |
| Tom Austin | Well, we'll pick up the pieces together. | |
| Sally | No, no, I'm through, I tell you. Through. | |
| Sally | How does one write a will, Tom? | |
| Tom Austin? | Hmm? | |
| Sally | It's legal if it's all in handwriting without a witness, isn't it? | |
| Tom Austin | What's all this junk about a will? You've got too much sense to. | |
| Sally | Please. It was awfully sweet of you to come up here. Seeing you has given me courage. But won't you run along downstairs now? Don't you see I want to rest? | |
| Tom Austin | There'll be no nonsense about suicide. | |
| Tom Austin | You're gonna live, you understand? You're gonna live for me. | |
| Sally | Oh, please. | |
| Tom Austin | And you're gonna forget all about Greg. I'm going to make you forget all about him. | |
| Sally | Yes, I'm going to forget him, all right. But in my own way. | |
| Tom Austin | Well, I've loved you too long, Sally. I've been through too much for you, but you're worth it to me. You'll make it up for him, and I want you to forget him. | |
| Sally | Oh, let me go. I want to forget everything. | |
| Tom Austin? | [wording uncertain] I had too much. I'm sorry. But don't talk nonsense. I was... | |
| Tom Austin? | I want you to forget everything. | |
| Sally | Here's to forgetting everything. What was, what might have been. | |
| Sally | Who drank this? | |
| Tom Austin | I did, this rotten whiskey. | |
| Sally | You drank! | |
| Tom Austin | What's the matter? What is it? | |
| Sally | I mixed it for myself. Poison. | |
| Sally | You drank poison. | |
| Tom Austin | Poison. | |
| Sally | Help! Help! Help! Tom drank poison! Help! Help! Tom drank poison! Poison! Tom's taken poison! Tom's taken poison! Come on up here quickly! Come on up here quickly! | |
| Guests / Sally; turns unresolved | What did he take? | |
| Guests / Sally; turns unresolved | [wording uncertain] I'm going to kill. | |
| Sally | I mixed it for myself. | |
| Guest; unidentified | Get an antidote quickly. | |
| Sally | There isn't any antidote. Not here. There's nothing here. What have I done? What have I done? | |
| Tom Austin / guests; turns unresolved | [wording uncertain] Let me die. Water. Water. Hurry. Water. Water. | |
| Barker (butler) | Here you are, sir. | |
| Paul? | Steady, Tom. Oh, man, steady. | |
| Tom Austin | Oh, Greg. I want Madeline. Madeline. Madeline. | |
| Guests; turns unresolved | Hurry. Madeline. | |
| Madeline? | Right here, Tom. | |
| Tom Austin / guests; turns unresolved | Oh, oh, oh. What have I done? Oh, there. | |
| Tom Austin | I'm going to die, and I want to die clean. I killed Misha. I killed him. | |
| Guests; turns unresolved | What? [wording uncertain] Well, the ordinary cuss. Get every word. | |
| Tom Austin | I killed him last night with Greg's gun. Last night in the living room. Greg's joke gave me the idea. I killed him, I can prove it. With Greg's gun, I can prove it. | |
| Sally? | Listen to this. Listen, listen. | |
| Paul? | Where's that gun? Where did you chuck it, you skunk? | |
| Tom Austin | I threw it under Greg's window in the bushes. | |
| Rogers?; wording uncertain | [wording uncertain] Oh, I didn't find it. I know them bushes. | |
| Tom Austin | Greg's innocent. Greg's innocent, now I can die. | |
| Sally | Come out of that. You're not dying. | |
| Gregory? | Why, Sally. What do you mean? | |
| Sally | There wasn't one drop of poison in that drink. | |
| Tom Austin? | What? | |
| Sally | Not one drop. | |
| Guest; unidentified | What's that? | |
| Sally | It was [somnol?]. A sedative. A good, stiff dose. Plus your imagination. Understand? Just enough to make you good and sick. | |
| Sally | You're not dying. | |
| Tom Austin | No poison? A trick? What'd I say? What'd I say? | |
| Paul? | You said a plenty. And we all heard you. And we'll swear to it. | |
| Guest; unidentified | I'll say we will. Blaming it all on Greg? | |
| Paul? | Come on. Get up here, Tom. You're well enough to go where you were aiming to send Greg. | |
| Tom Austin | No, let me go. Give me a drink, Barker. You got me licked. | |
| Guests; turns unresolved | Did you ever hear of such a thing? I always suspected Tom. | |
| Gregory? | Sally, how did you ever get wise? | |
| Sally | I opened Misha's clenched hand. I made myself do it. And inside, I found this button. | |
| Rogers? | [wording uncertain] Yes, and I saw her take it out in his hand. So did this fellow's wife. | |
| Gregory? | What about the button? Where'd it come from? | |
| Sally | Well, buttons don't grow on rocks. So I knew that Misha wasn't murdered outside the house. | |
| Sally | as Greg told us in his... | |
| Sally | [fake?] confession, but inside. This button came off the couch in the living room. I looked and saw where it had been freshly pulled off. So it was on that couch that Misha died. And the man who knew he died there must have been | |
| Sally | his murderer. Tom knew it. | |
| Gregory? | What do you mean? | |
| Sally | He told us this morning when he had you there on the couch giving you the third degree. Don't you remember? You dare to tell me that? He shouted at you, | |
| Sally | Sitting on the very couch where? | |
| Paul? | Well, I'll be. | |
| Sally | He caught himself up quick and changed to very house where. But he said couch first. Tom knew where Misha died. So I knew that Tom was Misha's murderer. | |
| Gregory | Darling, why didn't you say so before? | |
| Sally | A button, a slip of the tongue. What's that against your own confession? I had to make Tom confess to save your silly neck. | |
| Gregory? | What caused... | |
| Sally | He told us himself last night. Not many men would care to shuffle off with a guilty secret in his heart, remember? And Madeline told us that he confessed to everything the time he had the flu and thought he was going to die. So | |
| Sally | I tried putting the fear of death into him. And it worked. | |
| Gregory | Well, how did you think that fast? | |
| Sally | I learned the trick writing thrillers. Dime novels. | |
| Sally | Trash. | |
| Gregory | I give in. I don't deserve you in a thousand years. Come here. Wonderful, beautiful Sally. Detect all you want. | |
| Gregory | And I hope all our ten children are detectives. |