["Alfred Hitchcock" theme music]
- Good evening.
A palmist recommended that
I open a butcher shop.
Actually, she
didn't read my palm.
She got no further
than my thumb.
She felt I was well
endowed for the position.
I have a chopping block
and a cold room.
Are you decent?
I want to be sure that
all the meat is dressed.
This evening's play takes
place in the Far East.
However, it is the Occidentals
who prove inscrutable.
The story also shatters
another cliche,
when it demonstrates
that a rectangle
can be just as
dramatic as a triangle.
But first, a word
from a gentleman
who is always welcome
to enjoy the hospitality
of my air-conditioned
guest room.
Our sponsor.
[birds chirping]
- [Mary] Do not be too
effusive until you know
why the Society sent him.
- [Thomas] You told me before.
- [Mary] Warned you.
- [Thomas] Warned me
a dozen times before.
- [Mary] Would you rather I not
participate in
your career at all?
- Of course not.
I don't know what
I'd do without you.
Do I?
- [Mary] You are the best
judge of that, my dear.
Hello, there!
- At last I meet the
Brother Fitzgibbons.
- I am delighted
to have you visit
our medical missionary,
Brother Sprague.
- My wife Lucy.
- How do you do?
And my wife Mary.
- [Mary] I hope the river
trip wasn't too uncomfortable.
We could have sent the jeep,
but Jarwahl was repairing it.
Ramna, see that the baggage
is placed in the house.
[speaking foreign language]
Let's get out of
this infested area.
The river shore is
the worst, you know.
- [Lucy] Worst?
- [Mary] For insects.
Not only the creeping
and crawling ones,
but the flying ones as well.
And this one, this Ramna--
- Yes, Madam Fitzgibbons?
- [Mary] I was not speaking
to you, I was speaking of you.
You know he's not
cleaning the path for me.
It's his belief not
to k*ll anything.
I tried to explain, or
my husband does, that is,
medically speaking, that
insects are terrible.
But they think
it's heaven's will.
- It's not really
that dangerous, is it?
- Hurry in, quickly.
You think this region
would be so infected
with horrible diseases
if it weren't true?
Or that our medical clinic
wouldn't be necessary?
Set out the luncheon
in one half-hour.
Show Brother Sprague about.
- Well, Brother Fitzgibbons.
At last we meet.
I can't tell you how I've
admired you all these years.
- Unwarranted.
- Anyone who locks
himself into this place
and tries to lead these people
toward God in practical ways,
ways you can feel and touch.
- [Thomas] Giving
people sulfur or quinine
isn't a divine function.
- But someone must
do it, and you--
- And my wife.
- Yes, of course.
You've both sacrificed
so much to stay here,
build this wonderful
medical missionary.
And to think you've accomplished
so much with so little.
- [Thomas] So little
for so long a time.
- I'm at your service,
Brother Fitzgibbons.
I'm here to help you
in any way I can.
- [Mary] Would you
like to go to your room
and freshen up, my dear?
A bath?
You're rather pretty.
- I've had a very easy life.
- [Mary] Your husband
has been a missionary.
That is never easy.
- [Lucy] He's a kind man.
He does everything
for me, everything.
I have very little
to do for myself.
- [Mary] He must be a good man.
A very good human being.
- Perhaps too good.
[moderate music]
- You are a vain man.
- [Thomas] A minor vice.
- There is no such
thing as a minor vice.
- [Thomas] Trimming a
mustache harms no one.
- It's so difficult
for you to be
the kind of missionary
you should be.
- I have a good reputation.
- [Mary] Because I
have made sure of it.
- Yes, you have.
- You begrudge me
that recognition.
- I'm the first to admit it.
- I have loved you.
I don't know if I still do.
I've had to forget my
needs and devote myself
to your works so
people on the outside
would view you as a
great medical missionary.
I will not have that destroyed.
- No one's trying to.
- Then why are they here?
- We've always needed help.
- We didn't ask for help.
- He's a good, kind person.
- The Missionary Society is
not above testing you this way.
They have a reputation
to protect too.
- His wife doesn't
like this place.
- How do you know?
- She told me.
- When?
Tell me when.
I was with you most of the day.
When did you have
time to talk with her?
Tell me, when did you have
time to talk with her alone?
- I don't know.
Sometime during the course
of the day or the evening.
- Then you must have
talked of other things.
What about?
Tell me!
You foolish man.
You think a pretty
young thing like that
is worth secrets from me?
I know your vanities,
I've seen them.
- I swear, on the Book
I would swear, please.
- I'm sorry.
I want to protect
you from others,
from what they would
do to your reputation.
What is it you want more than
anything else in the world?
Your fame in the
Missionary Society
as a great medical missionary.
Do you think young
people like that
would come down
here just to help?
They'll move around,
they'll ask questions,
they'll seek out information.
They'll inquire about how
many lives you've saved,
how many illnesses you've cured.
How will you show them that?
Tell me!
Will you be such a hero then?
Will you be the great leader
sacrificing in the
name of the Lord?
Will you?
You know what they'll
find out, don't you?
And then you,
you'll be recalled.
You'll be made a
fool of in the eyes
of all the truly capable,
dedicated people who
have looked up to you.
- You're right.
All I have is a reputation.
That's all I have.
- Talk with them.
Feed them.
Smile at them.
But do not trust them.
[water splashing]
[light music]
- Get out of the water!
Get out, it's dangerous!
- You'd better do
as he says, Lucy.
And when Ramna didn't
say it was dangerous--
- Oh, natives do not
think most of the things
that cause sickness
are dangerous.
- But I've never
worried about it.
- My wife never
worries about anything.
She's an inveterate optimist.
- Living in a place
like this for a while
will soon rob you of that.
- [Thomas] It
isn't all that bad.
- Well, it's not my imagination
that people have been k*lled
by river reptiles or
poisoned on the land here
by stepping off into the brush.
And it isn't my imagination
that disease is rampant, is it?
- Of course not.
We have epidemics here too.
The yaws, cholera.
It happens regularly.
One up in the
plateau country now.
We'll be taking up supplies.
- The natives must
be very appreciative.
- Why?
- For helping them.
- You know your
Occidental theology,
but you apparently
haven't studied
the tribal systems
in this region.
- I know about the village
system of controls.
I've done a great deal
of studying about it.
- I speak of their views
that most of the world
outside their
individual villages
is composed of hostile
and vengeful forces.
- I find it very
hard to believe.
- Because the idea of
having either victory
or vengeance is alien to you?
- Because vengeance is alien.
People are the same
everywhere, basically the same.
- And don't people
in London or New York
or Buenos Aires all form
their own little circles?
And don't they find all
the other little circles
and consider them the enemy?
And don't families become
villages unto themselves?
- And where there
are no children?
- I don't know what you mean.
- I think she means
with that reasoning,
husbands and wives become like
separate villages themselves.
Each against the other.
- I'm afraid I must deny it all.
People are the same.
Sure, they are
afraid, of course.
But more people die
from natural causes
than they do from
m*rder or suicide,
even if you include w*r.
More people are
helping each other.
There's an overwhelming,
abiding goodness
that denies vengeance
or anything like it.
- My husband and I have
never had an argument.
- Neither have we.
The day is getting on.
I'm going marketing.
- [John] You mind if I join you?
- To go marketing?
- I'd like to see as much
of the surrounding country
of the interior as I can.
- [Mary] Oh, of course.
- I'll stay here.
- It's rather dull.
- The clinic is dull?
- We don't, my husband
doesn't allow visitors.
- I can help.
- My dear, I have been
around it for years,
and I still find it quite
disgusting at times.
- Are you a nurse?
- I have had training.
- So have I.
- I can always use
some extra help.
- Come along, Brother Sprague.
I like to be there
and back before dark.
- Thank you for letting Lucy
help, Brother Fitzgibbons.
- If nothing more is wished,
I shall drive Madam Fitzgibbons.
- Shall we begin?
How long has it been since
you've done any of this work?
- [Lucy] Two years.
- They come in with
infected bites,
ulcerations ignored too long.
Sometimes there's nothing
left to do but amputate.
It gets to the bone.
- [Lucy] Just tell me
what you want me to do.
- Good morning, come in.
Do as I ask, do not assume.
This is not an infection.
It is a kind of tinea.
We use ammoniated mercury.
[car engine starting]
- [Ramna] You're not
going, Madam Fitzgibbons?
- I would like to speak
with you for a moment.
[door closing]
I won't stand for it.
- She's only helping me.
- What if you get
a difficult case?
What if she finds out that you
cannot handle them yourself?
What happens then?
- I can handle it.
- Without me?
- I don't know.
- Why didn't you refuse
to let her help you?
- Why didn't you
send Ramna to market?
Why didn't you stay?
- To help you, so
they wouldn't know.
- The plan, everything,
everything has to be your plan.
- Would you rather
have that woman
work with you in the
clinic instead of me?
- What's wrong with it?
- They'll destroy our work.
I won't let people like
that ruin what we've built.
I won't let that
common little woman--
- But you speak
of them as devils.
They're missionaries.
- Didn't they lie to us?
Did they tell us that she was
a nurse before they came here?
Did anyone?
They lied to us.
[suspenseful music]
[chickens clucking]
A runner from the north came in.
He says the cholera has
spread to his villages.
- [Thomas] That's terrible.
- I'll have the supplies loaded.
You can take them.
I'll stay here in the
village, in the clinic.
- You've been working
very hard the past week.
- So have you.
- Because I find it exciting.
- Helping other
people always is.
- Going from village to
village will take a long time.
- The trip only
takes a day or so.
- You're too tired to go.
- I'm the only one who can.
I am tired.
Do you think it'll
be an imposition
if I asked your husband to go?
Cholera is highly contagious.
- I know what
precautions to take.
- [Lucy] What if I
wanted you to stay?
- Well, you'd know the answer.
- I ask you not to carry the
medicine, to stay with me.
- If that's what you want.
- And the natives who
need the supplies?
- Why do you test me this way?
You know I love you.
- Do you think I say these
things to test your love?
- [John] What other reason?
- None.
- If you really
want me to stay--
- I want you to do
whatever you want to do.
[car engine starting]
- [Mary] It's good
you and your husband
are so skilled, medically.
- You don't like me, do you?
- [Mary] Why didn't you
go with your husband?
I would have gone with mine.
- In this place, to argue
like ordinary people,
like women who had no concern
for anything but
their own welfare.
Neither of you are like that.
Shall we go in?
Dinner will be soon.
[moderate music]
- [Man] Help!
[speaking foreign language]
Help!
[speaking foreign language]
Come quickly!
Hurry, master, hurry!
[speaking foreign language]
- Bring him in here.
Right there.
You won't be needed here.
- But I can help.
- A jungle cat has
mangled his knee and calf.
- I'll have to
rejoin the tendons.
- You?
You can't begin to...
Get the natives outside.
Lock that door.
Prepare the instruments.
[door closing]
[water running]
Wash the man's wound.
How would it be if
they knew about this?
How would it be then?
[Mary sighs]
I'm so tired.
- We should let the
Missionary Society
send someone to take over.
- They have.
- If you hate it so much,
why defend it?
- Because it's
our only creation.
It's the only thing I
have created as your wife.
It's the only thing
you have created
as my husband.
- You go on to bed.
I'll finish up in here.
[door creaking]
- Did you save the man?
Did you?
- [Thomas] Yes, I saved him.
- It's beautiful here tonight.
- [Thomas] The river always is.
- Not to your wife.
- It has its dangers too.
- Are you defending her?
- Of course not.
- Why does she frighten herself
with all the horrors of living?
- Aren't there
horrors in living?
- I'm sure there are, but
I haven't seen very many.
- Your husband
sees them for you.
- My husband sees only
the good in humankind.
Only the good.
Is a rowboat ride on
the river dangerous?
- I find it difficult to believe
that anyone like
him could come here
for anything but the
most altruistic reasons,
the kindest of motives.
- Is it a safe ride now?
- If one knows the hidden
tree stumps and rocks.
[water splashing]
Were your parents missionaries?
- No.
- Most women can't
stand this life
unless they've
experienced it before.
- Then maybe I
find it difficult.
- You expect to remain?
- My husband is a
very dedicated man.
- So am I.
- But you allow
for more than love.
- In what way?
- Vengeance.
You said so.
- Who do you want to defeat?
- No one.
- Then why does
it appeal to you?
- I'm married to
a wonderful man.
I like him, I respect
him, I even honor him.
He does so much for everyone.
He is here to help you, really,
to help others, to even help me.
- [Thomas] How?
- By loving me.
No woman ever had such devotion,
had so much done for her.
He would give me luxuries
and go without necessities.
He would ignore his own health
but always protect mine.
He never showed hurt
or anger or selfishness
but was always aware of
my needs, my feelings.
Was I too hot, was I too cold,
was I lacking for entertainment,
was I sad, was I content?
Me.
Always me.
I can never be equal
to such a love.
It is too great a burden.
- In the ancient roots
of the Japanese culture,
one was born with an
indebtedness to the emperor.
It could never be repaid, but
one must struggle to repay it
by a lifetime of
service and devotion.
It was ko'on and go'on.
We have it in our
world, don't we?
We westernized humanists.
We enslave each other with
our dispassionate loves
more than our passionate ones.
- You're a very unusual
man for a missionary.
With his goodness he
shall enslave you.
With his kindness he
shall take over your work.
With his self-sacrifice
he shall order your life.
And was no one safe from
this ko'on or go'on?
Could no one save anyone else?
- Beautiful women are
their own salvation.
- Am I?
- You know you are.
- Only if someone tells me.
- If I were your husband,
I wouldn't praise your
sweetness or your kindness.
I wouldn't praise your
gentleness or nobility.
I would praise your
beauty, would praise it,
sing it, and treat
you as a woman.
[dramatic music]
- I was watching when
you came back with her.
- [Thomas] Why?
- I fell asleep,
and then I wakened.
Something told me,
something, I don't know what.
And then I waited.
- You wanted to find
out if Brother--
- She is a vile being.
- In a way, you were
right about him.
- About both of them.
- But only in a way.
- She's his ally.
- He wouldn't do it
out of selfishness.
- Out of kindness.
- Out of a desire
to give of himself.
He's a zealot.
Not to dominate, but to serve.
- They want this place.
That's all that is important.
- Not the way you think.
He would try to help everyone.
To give too much of himself.
- Where did you go with her?
You think she's different.
The Book is full
of women like her
who use themselves to
gain their own advantage,
who let men use them
to get their advantage.
- That's not true.
- He may be a weak man,
but she is a vision
from the devil.
She is wilful and demonic.
I won't allow her to live here.
- You hate her
because she is young.
[dramatic music]
[woman screaming]
[dramatic music]
- Our local stations
have become restive.
I believe they have
something to confide in you.
Following which we shall have
the second half of our story.
[moderate music]
[car engine running]
- The messenger didn't get
to me till this morning.
How is my wife?
- Yesterday, perhaps at this
same hour, she died of cholera.
Cholera is a quick
and terrible thing.
But it was God's way.
- No!
[door opening]
[Asian music]
Fitzgibbons!
Fitzgibbons!
Fitzgibbons?
Fitzgibbons!
Fitzgibbons!
Where's Brother Fitzgibbons?
- They are gone, sir.
- Gone?
- He said his wife was broken
by the loss of your wife.
He said that years of working
and this terrible thing.
He said she must leave
the jungle for a while.
- Where's my wife buried?
- In the jungle.
- Show me her grave.
- I cannot.
It was cholera.
Even--
- Even what?
Tell me!
- Even a body dead from
cholera is contagious.
- I must find it now.
- He alone buried it, sir.
He will be back, sir.
He took the boat down the
river to the small airfield.
And when he returns, it
takes a long trip by boat.
- She didn't want to
come to this place.
- You must not
blame yourself, sir.
Each person blames themselves
as if the will of God
were in their hands.
- I should have listened.
She said,
"Whatever you want to do."
She said,
"This time you must
say what you want."
I did.
It was the work I wanted.
I didn't really hear her.
- You must have rest, sir.
- Tell me again what happened.
- It was a pleasant
dinner that evening.
Your wife and Madam
Fitzgibbons talked kindly.
She talked much with
our teacher about work
and people here and things.
And then she seemed quiet
and went to bed.
- Couldn't they see she was ill?
Couldn't they tell?
They've had experience.
- Your wife, she
did not complain.
She said only that she
was tired, I think.
Then in the middle of the night,
there were noises of
running about, of voices.
And in the morning I was
setting the table for breakfast.
Our teacher came
down and told me
the terrible news
of her illness.
I sent a runner to get you.
- You were exposed to it too?
- Our teacher protected
me by making sure
I had no further contact.
They were most considerate, sir.
Most considerate.
- How long does the
river trip take?
- There in two
days, back in three.
- What's that?
- The bedding your wife used.
They said it was with germs.
- Yes, of course, they had to.
Thank you.
[door closing]
- The cholera k*lled
her very quickly.
- I suppose it did.
- You say it so strange.
- I know.
- Something happened?
- Something very bad.
- She did not die of cholera.
- The grave is sealed.
Our lives are not involved.
That is something for
the police to find out.
[wistful music]
[dramatic music]
- You can't tell me
where the grave is.
- No, sir.
- And you can't find it.
- Only our teacher can.
- Tell me again what happened.
- You are so changed.
- Tell me what happened!
- They talked, they ate dinner.
Your wife became ill.
- And 24 hours
later she was dead.
- Yes.
- 24 hours for cholera?
- It has happened.
- When?
- I have heard it has happened.
- Where?
- Inland from here.
- A man, a woman?
- A woman.
- How old?
- I'm not sure.
- When?
- One year.
No, two years, I--
- Stop it!
Tell him!
- Tell him what?
- Something bad happened.
- No!
- That is a matter
for the police.
- The police?
- I know nothing.
I saw nothing.
But I saw nothing--
- Tell me what happened!
- I have told you.
I am telling you.
I keep telling you.
- Not everything.
Just something.
- I never lie.
- You said you heard a scream.
- Show me the grave.
- But I told you,
it's impossible.
- Jarwahl, you read the jungle.
- You want to find the grave,
put a marking on it, a stone?
- And to convince myself
my wife died of cholera
within 24 hours
after getting it.
- To convince
yourself by prayer?
- By digging up a body.
[dramatic music]
[suspenseful music]
- [Jarwahl] How
long has our teacher
been gone from your sight?
- Maybe 10, 15 minutes.
- [Jarwahl] Was it
- 10.
- And you heard no sound
of his walking around here,
of branches breaking?
- For a few minutes.
The burden of the
coffin was heavy.
- Let's get on.
- [Jarwahl] The time
was spent in walking.
The grave must have been
made beforehand, sir.
[suspenseful music]
- You'll both go back to
the house and wait now.
Now!
[cries]
[dramatic music]
[cries]
- I was not partner to it!
- Tell me what you heard.
- Madam Fitzgibbons
threatened your wife.
Why would she k*ll her?
- Could they have arrived
at the airport by this time?
- I do not think so.
- Show me the way.
- Jarwahl knows it better.
- You're my witness.
- I heard only screams!
I did not see if he
or his wife did it!
[car doors closing]
[car engine starting]
[suspenseful music]
- Which way?
- I'm not sure.
- It won't go easy if you lie.
- What do you mean?
- The grave is open.
Someone who was there
will be held responsible
for her death by the police.
- Will your Almighty
forgive you?
- Does yours punish the innocent
and let the guilty go free?
- The path to the left.
[engine running]
[horn honking]
- [John] When did a plane last
take passengers from here?
- [Man] Four days ago.
- [John] None since then?
- It lands only when there
are passengers or packages.
We have a radio.
- [John] What if
they come by river?
Where would they stop?
- One kilometer down that road.
Why do you ask, sir?
[engine running]
[dramatic music]
[suspenseful music]
[car door closing]
- [Ramna] You make
me a m*rder*r too.
- It isn't m*rder.
It's vengeance.
Vengeance is a kind of justice.
- Do not k*ll the woman.
- The biblical law.
- [Ramna] I beg of you!
- [John] Triumph
of good over evil.
- No!
- If one of your people's
sacred animals was k*lled,
would the k*ller go free?
- God would punish him.
- I've seen mobs tear a
man to pieces for doing it.
- God would punish them!
- And we are the
will of God's law.
No matter what we do.
[dramatic music]
Fitzgibbons!
- Sprague!
No!
[g*n firing]
[screams]
Don't! Let me tell you--
[g*n firing]
[water splashing]
[g*n firing]
[g*n firing]
[water splashing]
- [John] Lucy.
[dramatic music]
Mr. Sprague was
apprehended and punished,
which seems to be precisely
what is happening to me,
although I don't understand why.
I do know one thing.
I shall never again make
sausages out of python meat.
This would appear to be the
end of my part of the program.
["Funeral March
of a Marionette"]
[regal fanfare]
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