(Alfred Hitchcock theme playing)
- Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.
I hope you will pardon me if I don't get up.
It's rather a shock to awaken and find yourself
fastened to the floor like a carpet.
I told these little people that this was no way
to treat a tourist, even if it is the off season.
But they say they don't care.
They have a new and sensational tourist attraction, me.
I'm being advertised as a lilliputian Disneyland.
Of course, there is some compensation.
I think I am probably the first member of my family
ever to be declared a national monument.
Tonight's story is called "A Tangled Web,"
a title I find embarrassingly apropos.
In it, a young girl falls in love
and follows her young man with no regard
for his past or future.
As for your future, it includes a commercial,
one which I intend to watch all the way through.
I shan't move a muscle.
(mysterious music)
(objects thudding)
- Hello?
(suspenseful music)
Who's there?
(woman screaming)
(engine roaring)
- Okay, then, go.
- [Man On Radio] The robber escaped
with several thousand dollars worth of jewels.
Mrs. Spaulding was discovered by her butler
wrapped in a blanket and locked in the closet.
She is suffering from shock and is under
the care of her physician.
The entire area has been alerted.
- Were you alerted, Marie?
- I?
I am poor.
- Oh!
I am poor, je suis poor. (laughs)
Poor, poor, poor Marie.
Where's mother?
- Your mother went to the hairdresser.
- The hairdresser?
(both laughing)
- And to a bridge game.
- The bridge game.
- And then to a fashion show.
- Ah.
- David. - Hmm?
- Have you ever seen a real robber?
- Mm-hmm.
- Oh? - Mm-hmm.
- What do they look like?
- They look like me.
- [Marie] Mm.
- Like David Chesterman.
Two eyes, a nose, two ears, two arms.
(David chuckling)
Two legs, 10 fingers, and 10 toes.
- David!
- Hello, Mother.
How was the bridge party, and the hairdresser,
the fashion show?
- I had a suspicion this was going on.
You're fired, my dear.
- Mother.
- You heard me, David.
She's fired.
She does understand that word, doesn't she?
What is it in French?
(speaking foreign language)
That's final.
- I'm going with her, Mother.
We're going to be married.
- Wonderful.
- Mother!
Mother!
(vase shattering)
Listen to me.
- I heard you, David.
You're going to marry the maid.
At least, this afternoon you're going to marry the maid.
Well I wish you luck, my dear.
Maybe you can control Mr. Temper Tantrum.
Frankly, I'm bored.
My wedding present to you will be my absence.
On second thought.
Here.
(coins clattering)
Buy yourself a toaster.
- Oh, David.
- Go, go, go on, pack your bag.
Go on!
Do you like the way I proposed?
What, don't you want to marry me?
- Yes, I want to very much.
- You don't know very much about me, Marie.
- I know that when you're near me, I'm very happy.
That's a lot to know about someone you love.
Maybe too much.
They say marriage, that's what it's for,
to find out everything.
- Would you want to marry a man, no matter what...
(David laughs)
Wait a minute.
No matter what he was really like,
just because you loved him?
- (sighs) Oui.
- Would you want to marry me, if--
- Oui.
- If I was a robber? - Oui.
- Criminal? - Oui.
- Bad man? - Oui.
- Murderer? - No.
(both laughing)
You wouldn't kill anything.
Where are we going?
- We're going to visit an old friend of mine, on business.
Mm.
(Marie laughing)
Karl?
(David whistles)
- And this is Marie.
- [David] Yes.
- I'm Karl.
He's talked about you incessantly
for the last eight months, my dear.
Oh, but David, you failed miserably
in describing how lovely she really is.
Please.
(Karl sighs)
You mustn't mind my staring at you.
I don't see the likes of you every day.
She's a great beauty, David, a Renoir.
You were right to keep us apart.
I declare a love war here and now,
I'm going to steal her from you.
What do you think of that, my pretty?
- The battle is lost before it is begun.
We are on our way to be married.
- Oh, how unfair, how unjust life is.
This is a time of rejoicing.
There, you see?
I live in the back room.
Ah, happiness.
There was a time when I too believed in it.
When I too believed that love was the answer to everything.
- Karl's been married four times.
- Yes, heaven help me.
So you see, my dear, I know what I'm talking about,
and you can take it from me that love does not exist.
No matter what you believe, there is simply no such thing.
Ah.
(singing "The Wedding March")
To the bride and groom.
May you not murder each other before the year is out.
(both laughing)
- I'll drink to that.
But first.
- Ah, David wants something.
Never comes to see me unless he wants something.
- Mother gave us 60 cents for a toaster.
- Oh.
How much do you need?
- 500.
- What security?
- This.
- Oh.
- We can't get married, Karl, unless you say yes.
- I hold your destiny in my hands.
- Yes or no?
- Oh, how could I say no?
If you lose her, I lose her too.
I don't usually keep that much cash,
but I've got an extraordinary new client,
who insists on paying cash for everything.
She lives on Beacon Hill.
1743 Beacon Hill.
One, two, three, four, five.
- We have a long way to go, so let's go.
- Ah, she's perfect, David, absolutely perfect.
She didn't say a word.
How clever you've become in your old age,
to marry someone who can't talk.
- Goodbye.
- [Karl] Ah, it does speak.
Au revoir.
You come and see me again.
Let yourselves out.
(door closes)
(cheerful music)
(woman laughing)
(Marie laughing)
- David, don't.
Don't.
- Take it!
Take it.
It's only a joke, I'll pay him later.
Come on.
- Oh, you're bad.
- Are you happy with your honeymoon, Mrs. Chesterman?
- Am I?
I'm so happy, Mr. Chesterman.
- Excuse me, but your pictures are ready.
- [Both] Ah!
(Marie laughing)
- Oh!
This is our wedding picture for our grandchildren.
- No more rides.
- Let's go ride the roller coaster.
- No, (mumbling).
- Oh!
Oh, my dress!
- What's the matter, you drunk or something?
- You ruined my dress.
- Here, try to clean it up with this.
- The lady said she was sorry.
- What lady?
(woman screaming)
(shelf crashing)
(people shouting)
(glass shattering)
- David, no!
Don't!
- Watch out, that's acid!
- David!
- Grab him, grab him, police!
Police!
- You should take up darts as a serious sport, David.
I work off all my hostilities.
No, seriously though, you should do something.
You might kill someone someday.
- David only kills with kisses.
- Ah, the most painful kind of death.
- Show him the present we bought him.
The official wedding photograph.
- Oh. (chuckles)
I shall treasure it forever.
- [Marie] You see how serious David looks?
All frowning, bad, he's mean.
- The camera never lies.
I'm going to bed.
- Good night, Karl.
- Good night.
(mysterious music)
(Marie and David laughing)
(suspenseful music)
(ominous music)
- Wig making began in France in the 14th century.
The first wig was worn by Louis the 13th
to cover his baldness. (laughs)
That's very coarse hair.
Oh, yes.
There's a difference.
(horn honking)
(Marie gasps)
- Santa Claus.
Would you like a ride in my new sleigh?
No questions.
Por vous.
Here.
Now go inside, put them on, go on.
Go on, go.
Four, five.
And voila.
- And what did Teddy think they were worth?
How much did he give you?
- I'll never tell.
- You're too happy, David.
You have too much of everything, too easy.
Home again, home again, jiggity-jog.
Oh, David, I cannot face your mother.
You won't have to, unless you go to Rome.
She's flown the coop.
Oh, great!
She's not taking any chances.
She's a thorough one. She's turned off the electricity.
Gotta hand it to her. Good ain't she?
This is where you belong.
As the lady of the house.
Your eyes shine in the dark, David.
I think you're a bad kid.
Tiger.
A leopard.
Ready to pounce.
I'm going to have to get a wonderful cage.
Put you in.
Nobody is going to put me in a cage.
David, you're hurting me.
Where are you going?
I have to meet someone on business.
I'll be back. You go to bed.
I'll sleep in the master bedroom.
David.
David has gone out again tonight. I don't want to be alone.
It's so dark in here, Carl.
We are creatures of the dark, my dear.
There's nothing wrong between you and David, is there?
No.
Not really.
What does that mean?
You know, Carl, you know how he is.
Some days I'll never see him.
And then the next, there he is lying in bed all day reading the papers.
Staring at me.
I don't know.
Then he makes me to dress up and we go to parties.
Or he's happy or he's mad.
I don't know.
David is someone who swings between two extreme states of mind.
Exhilaration and apathy.
Most of us like that up to a point.
That's perfectly all right.
If you don't swing too far.
Do you wish you could change him?
Carl.
Where does David get all the money to buy me things?
You know where, Carl.
Leave him, Mary.
Leave him?
Some day he's going to get into very serious trouble.
He's going to hurt you.
And never forgive him if he hurts you.
Can't be in love without to get hurt.
That's how you know it's the real thing.
You're a little fool.
There's something I don't know about David.
Come, Mary, you must have a suspicion.
David is an accomplished professional thief.
One of the best. He's been one for years.
A thief?
Even has a record. Twelve months in prison.
That's his dream about being buried alive.
Buried alive?
Everything lights up.
Becomes clear, doesn't it?
So many puzzles so suddenly solved.
Leave him, Mary.
Take a long walk and think about it.
Carefully.
Where have you been?
I can't see, David.
I went to visit Carl.
I'm leaving you, David.
Before you do, hand me those scissors, will you?
You're bleeding.
Mm-hmm.
I can manage.
Just hand me the scissors.
The scissors!
Hold the light, hold the light.
Yes, yes, yes.
Now, why suddenly have you decided to leave me?
Carl told me.
Oh, David, you were short.
Yes, and it hurts.
What did Carl tell you?
That you're a thief, a professional thief.
Oh, good old Carl.
He didn't mention his part in the operation, of course.
He's not guilty of anything.
He can't help it if in passing
he mentions that a certain rich lady has a certain diamond and lives on Beacon Hill.
Well, he doesn't commit any robberies.
Guilty only of an occasional indiscretion.
David, why didn't you tell me?
I didn't want to lose you, Mary.
I'll pack my things.
Okay.
David.
No, don't touch me, Maury.
Get away, get away.
You're leaving? I have to learn to do things for myself.
Beginning now.
It's partly your fault, you know.
Is it about you?
Oh, just a little bit, just a little.
First, I just stole for the thrill of it.
But when you get married, you have responsibilities.
A wife to support.
I'm glad you know.
I'm glad Carl told.
Here's the goos.
It's back here.
I almost had it tonight.
Somebody in the house had a gun.
Yes, I ran.
I didn't think I was going to get out of there.
It's amazing what you can do when you're trapped.
No, shh, shh.
It's going to be all right.
You promised me to give it up.
I need you, Mary.
I've tried before to give it up.
But it's kind of a sickness with me.
But I'll try again. I really will.
If you'll stay with me.
Okay.
And, and help me.
Will you?
You're going to love me.
I love you.
Happy birthday, David.
One, two, three, four, five, six.
David, who?
I wish it were my birthday.
Oh, poor Carl.
Poor Carl will cut the cake.
Oh, no, it's David's birthday.
Oh, no, the one whose birthday it is is supposed to cut.
Oh, you spoiled it.
I'm very sorry.
Here, David, you finish cutting it.
It's a different day.
David, with a job and a little apartment and a
birthday cake with candles and a little wife who knits.
You're so respectable. It makes me sick.
Ah, and you were responsible.
Telling her the truth lifted me right out of my life of crime.
Yes, and with strength, you can't.
Oh, you should see him getting up in the morning and going to work.
And I pack him a little lunch and I send him home.
He's a good boy.
I can't even steal a look at another girl.
No, no.
Oh, Carl, we are happier now than we have ever been before.
You see, it proves you're wrong.
Love does exist.
Yes, admit it, Carl.
Come on, admit it.
Come on, give him some more champagne. He'll admit it.
Yes, admit it.
Love does exist.
Hooray!
I'll make some coffee.
How's your arm, David? It's fine.
It heals fast.
Carl, you couldn't lend me some money, could you? About $200.
I thought you were working.
I lost that job four days ago.
I got in a fight with a foreman.
Now I get up every morning and pretend that I'm going to work so she won't find out.
But I don't think I'm going to be able to pay for this room.
Coffee?
Yeah.
Coffee?
What do you say, Carl?
One of my richest customers died today.
Mrs. William Airtwell.
Leaving a stranger's request in her will that she be buried in one of my wigs
and also that she be buried in all of her jewelry.
Silly old fool. All those pearls and diamonds and emeralds
swallowed up in the earth, lost forever, buried.
She's lying in state at the Evans mortuary in East Parlour.
Cream and sugar, Carl?
No, when the last drop of champagne is gone, it's time for poor old Carl to go.
Thank you, my dear.
Cornell, Dickens and Wilshire.
What's there? That was short.
Time passes quickly when you're having a good time.
The next sounds you hear will be that of our stations breaking.
Welcome back to the Alfred Hitchcock hour.
But I wish you had brought along a pair of scissors.
The entertainment I can furnish is extremely
limited, so I shall turn you over to my sponsor.
I'm sure he will think of something to do.
The Evans Mortuary, Dickens and Wilshire,
was the scene early this morning of a brutal murder and robbery.
Herbert Stone, caretaker of the mortuary for fifteen years,
was found by the morning mortician on the floor of the
east parlor, beaten to death.
Stone was on special duty,
guarding the body of Mrs. William Attwell,
which was lying in the parlor.
A knitted scarf with the initials D.C. was found beside the body.
Mrs. Attwell had requested
that she be buried with several thousand dollars worth of her jewelry.
D.C.
Your scarf.
Go on.
Ask it! Ask it! .
Did you
.. did you do it, David?
No.
You're right.
He was there with a flashlight in him.
But I turned and ran.
He grabbed the scarf and...
All right, I stole the jewelry, but I did not beat that man to death.
I believe you, David.
I've lied to you before, Marie.
No, no. I know you didn't.
Thank you for your vote of confidence.
So what are you going to do?
Well, the first thing we are going to do is to get out of here.
Then we are going to leave you at Carl's for a couple of days.
All right, first we have to put those jewels in some safe place.
Until all this cools down. Now, Marie, I have to be alone.
I have to be able to move fast. You...
I didn't do it.
No, no, you shouldn't run, David. You shouldn't...
I turned myself in?
But you're innocent.
Yes, well, tell that to the police.
They'll be out for blood and they won't be too particular whose blood it is.
Too coy.
Too coarse.
No, no, no.
I told you before, Mr. Carl, I'm frightfully difficult to please.
But once I'm pleased, I'm terribly satisfied.
Definitely black. Black's my colour, you know.
May I touch your hair, my dear?
It isn't a wig, is it?
No.
Wouldn't be interested in selling it to me, would you?
No, she's not interested, Mrs. Fllingston.
Two hundred dollars?
David needs money. I will.
Marvelous.
Monsieur Carl, you always know exactly what I want.
One of your most splendid creations by the end of the week?
You know, the first time I met David,
he'd been in prison for a year. He'd just been released.
He was sent to prison for the brutal, but not fatal,
beating of an old woman.
Discovered him stealing her silver.
Turned on her in a fury and struck her again and again and again,
beating her into unconsciousness.
Stop it, Carl.
Oh, now be honest, Marie.
You're afraid he did it and you feel guilty for suspecting it.
No, I know David stole the jewels,
but...
he didn't kill that man.
You believe him, don't you?
Oh, of course I believe him.
You still love him very much, don't you?
Even knowing that he's a thief, a criminal, perhaps even a murderer.
Yes.
You love him even now, don't you?
Tell me what it feels like,
this feeling of
immortal, eternal love.
Oh, you know what love feels like, Carl.
No.
I know what the opposite of love feels like
and I know what it feels like to be jealous of love,
but what the real core of love is like, I don't know.
Carl.
It's nothing.
David!
What happened to you?
Oh, it'll be fine when I finish styling it.
Oh, you really cut yourself bad.
Yes, I did, didn't I?
Ta-da!
Beautiful, beautiful.
Carl?
Carl, are you finished with it?
Oh, yes, she's all yours.
And this is all yours.
You don't want me to come to Mexico too, do you?
I'm a good fast driver.
No, we need you right where you are.
If anything goes wrong, I'll send her right back. Let's go.
But what about the jewels?
I talked to Teddy a couple of hours ago.
He said he'd handle things as always and I'll get more out of him this time.
David, that's dangerous. Teddy scared us. Don't go.
Oh, who's Teddy? -Don't let him go, Marie.
Are you going to give me some money, Carl?
I'd love to, David, but shouldn't you?
We can't get far on $200. Teddy is a nice old man.
You give him this, he gives you this.
Au revoir, Carl.
Good luck.
Don't give me at the police.
Yes, sir.
Doesn't look too good, does it?
Is he good, the lawyer?
Oh, he may be good, but I don't think he believes much in me either.
There's just too many fingers pointing right at me, my record.
I can't deny I didn't steal the jewels, my scar.
But you didn't do it there.
And you keep telling them that.
Scream it in their faces, make them sick of it. I'm innocent.
I'm guilty of everything else, but I did not kill that man.
No.
Are you all right?
No.
I can't eat, I can't sleep, and I'm catching a cold.
You look cute.
I love you.
Carl, how's Carl?
Oh, he is being marvelous.
He's working so hard to pay for the lawyer.
No word from your mother.
He bought me this hat.
He's in love with you.
But don't you go falling in love with him.
I try not to, I try.
Maybe you should take another sleeping pill.
The two you gave me earlier will do the job.
But one more won't hurt.
Marie, you had to sleep.
That's a good girl.
You called the lawyer?
Yes.
He thinks it's better that you don't try to see David tomorrow.
That your being in the courtroom has only upset him, and made him nervous.
You see, he's very worried about you.
Yes, he is so pale.
It's been so hard on him.
Carl, when you testify tomorrow,
you will convince them that he's innocent.
I'll do my best.
Yes, the third pill really worked.
I'm so tired.
Have you ever seen this scarf, Mr.
Galt? Yes, it belongs to David Chesterman.
I was at his apartment when his wife gave it to him as a birthday present.
I was drunk.
I happen to mention that Mrs. Atwell, who was a customer of mine,
had requested that she be buried with all her jewelry.
His eyes brightened when I said it.
The day after the murder, they came to my shop to borrow money.
Mrs. Chesterman knew nothing about it.
He got me alone, and I'll never forget his face when he said it.
He told me he had killed the caretaker.
That's a lie, Carl!
Order! Order!
Oh, you brought flowers. David has been found innocent?
Soon all this will be over, and you'll be well,
and then we can go away together and forget it all.
Forget?
I have bad news.
David is guilty.
I tried to wake you this morning. I came to bring you back to the courthouse.
The judge is sentencing him this afternoon.
Today?
You should have seen him, my dear. Such a show of temper.
Furious with the jury that convicted him.
He waived all rights to the penalty phase
and threw himself on the mercy of the court.
But there is no mercy for a murderer.
He is not a killer.
The law has decided that he is.
There is nothing that can be done to save him now.
No, don't. Don't pull away from me. I have a present for you.
You hate David?
Yes, I hate David.
I hate your love for each other.
So ardent, so exclusive, so just for David.
You would let David die?
I planned it, my dear, for us.
David didn't murder that man.
Who did? Me?
Maybe.
Oh, my poor little angel. My poor little...
Oh, no. You mustn't. You mustn't be frightened of me.
Taxi!
Marie!
Taxi!
Ah!
Municipal courthouse. Hurry, please.
Your change.
Was this the Chesterman trial?
Too late. It's all over.
Sentenced him to death 15 minutes ago.
Where did they take him?
Chesterman?
Well, he's probably still in the building somewhere.
Aren't you Mrs.Chesterman? -David!
David!
Hey!
Come back in here.
Hey! Please, find David for me. Please. He's innocent.
Believe me.
That's Chesterman's wife.
Yeah. I'll jump.
I'll jump.
Marie?
David.
Oh, David.
Come inside, Marie.
No. Not until they listen to me.
David, you're innocent. You're innocent.
No.
Give me your hand, Marie.
No. Not until they know the truth.
Marie. Marie.
It's no use. Don't make it any harder on me.
I didn't mean to kill the caretaker.
No.
But I... I couldn't stop.
Please, Marie.
The only happiness I've ever had in my life...
has been our love.
Now, you must forgive me my lie, Marie.
Now, listen to me.
You must forgive me that.
And live for the both of us.
No.
I didn't mean to kill you.
Please forgive me.
Shh.
Yes, Mother.
Please. Please.
Yes, Mother.
We are coming to the end of the second half of the Alfred Hitchcock Hour.
In fact, we're coming to the end of Alfred Hitchcock.
Two rival groups of little people were fighting over me,
but they have now hit upon a happy compromise.
The pendulum drops a few inches each day,
so by next week, I imagine I shall be able
to host two half-hour shows simultaneously.
Until then, good night.