1h 15min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir | 27 May 1949 (USA)
A Treasury Department agent is murdered. His best friend, a fellow agent, investigates and stumbles into a scheme involving smuggling and murder.
Director: Joseph Lerner
Writer: Berne Giler
Stars: Dean Jagger, John Carradine, Harry Landers
A Treasury Department agent is murdered. His best friend, a fellow agent, investigates and stumbles into a scheme involving smuggling and murder.
Director: Joseph Lerner
Writer: Berne Giler
Stars: Dean Jagger, John Carradine, Harry Landers
Category
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Short filmTranscript
00:01:00The day started off just like any other day. A donut and coffee for breakfast and now a
00:01:15short stroll to my next assignment. New York can be a beautiful place on a winter morning
00:01:20and after three weeks of hunting in Canada's northwest, it looks particularly good. All
00:01:27the familiar sights. I had no idea I missed them so much. I hope he makes it. Here's the
00:01:38happy breed of Staten Islanders taking their usual ocean voyage to a time clock. And the
00:01:43Bronxites, tired before the day starts. Even the pigeons are clock punchers. Everybody
00:01:52but me. Cause Uncle Sam is my boss and 24 hours a day is my schedule. Official description,
00:02:00Customs Investigator Cliff Holden, age 35, graduate University of Wisconsin. At the moment,
00:02:06sporting a new hat makes me look like a banker. Well, here we go. Now's the time. My vacation
00:02:18is officially over. It's good to get back. Yes, today. Oh, hello Cliff. I'll call you
00:02:28back. Come on in. Hi Chief. You know, I was going to bring you back the biggest moose
00:02:33head in all of Canada, but... Yes, I know, but you never got one. Got one, didn't even
00:02:37see one. Hi Goldie, good to see you. Cliff, I've got a job for you. Oh, this is Martin
00:02:44on the Apex Insurance. Pardon? Cliff, I've got a job that I wouldn't think of handing
00:02:50to anyone but you. When did this happen? Three weeks ago. How come I wasn't told? We tried
00:03:00Cliff. We tried to get you everywhere. Who was a criminal of some sort, you'd have no
00:03:04trouble locating him. Boy, you can easily enough find a criminal. I don't know what
00:03:08the hell are you going to ask? All right. I knew you'd want to handle the case. I find
00:03:15the complete facts leading up to Steve's murder in that file. Martin here is covering for
00:03:20the insurance company and I might add, at the moment, he knows more about the case than
00:03:23we do. Well now, on September 5th, our Paris office issued a policy insuring a necklace
00:03:33bought by Mrs. Lydia Brundage. Here's Mrs. Brundage wearing the necklace. Now, about
00:03:43two months later, November 12th to be exact, Mrs. Brundage reported the theft of this necklace
00:03:49in Cairns, France. What's that got to do with Steve? What's it got to do with him? The French
00:03:55authorities weren't able to get a smell of the crooks, so unless we come up with that
00:03:58necklace within the next couple of weeks, they have to plunk out 325,000 bucks to a
00:04:04Mrs. Lydia Brundage. Where does Steve fit in? This is how it measures. Somewhere along
00:04:09the line, your friend Steve picked up the trail of the necklace. It led him to a broken
00:04:12down hotel in Marseilles. It was here that he set up an observation post in a room right
00:04:17next door to the crooks. Who was Steve after, Chief? We know that Steve Regan was after
00:04:22something and had found someone, but we had no report for him or whatever he knew who
00:04:26died with him. At least we thought it did until a couple of days ago. A very bright
00:04:32boy in our Paris headquarters by the name of McQueen has been going over every foot
00:04:36of ground that Steve Regan covered, and he's found one thing, one name, on hotel registers
00:04:43and passenger lists. Wherever that name went, Steve Regan was sure to go. What name does
00:04:50the name go by? Matthew Royal. Ever hear of him? Royal? Doesn't register. It will. Got
00:05:01a line on him? Nothing that would stand up in court for more than ten minutes. You think
00:05:07Royal's the guy that killed Steve, huh? We don't know that, Cliff, but he's the only
00:05:11decent lead we have to go by. But don't forget, your job is to stop that necklace from coming
00:05:18loose. What about the killer? I don't think we'd mind if you worked on that, too, but
00:05:23don't forget, your job is the necklace. When do I start? Where do I start from? This came
00:05:29over the teletype a couple of hours ago. Royal Book Passage, United States, by KLM, Royal
00:05:35Dutch Airlines, the 29th. Signed McQueen. 29th? Right. Let's stay after tomorrow. Right,
00:05:44and I want you on that plane, Cliff. If you get out by tonight, you'll have just about
00:05:47enough time to make it. Now here's your passport and your identification. As you see, you're
00:05:53William Herrera, private investigator. You've got an office, a telephone, and a private
00:05:58secretary named Helen. It's all there for you. Check it all around. It's your home and
00:06:03anyone else you're liable to run into. I know what Steve meant to you, Cliff. I know you
00:06:11were kids together and you went through a war together. Yeah. Thanks, Chief. I'll get
00:06:21him, one way or the other. Come on in, Minnie. I have a homemade pot roast sandwich for you,
00:06:29Cliff. In Europe, you won't find Minnie Hoffman's cooking. Thank you, Minnie. Say, what is this,
00:06:41a new style? I don't know. You like it? Oh, yeah, nice. No sales resistance. Well, I'm
00:06:48very glad, Cliff. I've been waiting for a chance to get rid of this old hat. No, no,
00:06:53Minnie. That is my working hat. Well, let me tell you something, Cliff. It's about time
00:06:58I got retired. Minnie, you know, I think if I was just about ten years younger... I know.
00:07:03You'd marry me. For ten years now, you've been telling me that. But do you ever do it?
00:07:08Never. Look at this messy packing. Well, I've just... I need to belong to Stevie. Good luck
00:07:16Charlie, you used to call him. Yeah. He sure held on to him. He needed him more than I did.
00:07:26Oh, yes, yes, Minnie. Hide that picture somewhere. Cliff, why don't you take a later airplane?
00:07:31I made such a wonderful supper for you tonight. Just put it on a slow fire, Minnie. I'll be
00:07:35back in three days. Three days? And you're taking all these clothes? Part of the act,
00:07:40you know. Oh, oh, Minnie, if anybody should ask any questions, I'm William Harrah. Got
00:07:47an office and secretary. Well, it's all down on this card, you know, just like we've done
00:07:51before. And now, Minnie, scram. I want to get dressed. Okay, Cliff. I mean, William.
00:08:03William Harrah, 249 Nassau Street, New York City. Okay, get aboard.
00:08:10Monsieur William Harrah, de New York. Merci, monsieur. Vos papiers sont tout en ordre.
00:08:16A change for a Frank McQueen? I think so, Mr. Harrell. Thanks. Don't mention it.
00:08:46Well, what's the deal? Checked and rechecked all the passengers scheduled on this flight.
00:08:51They all seem okay. If Royal's got any friends on this plane, he's done a good job. He hasn't
00:09:01been out of our sight for three weeks. Anything else? Got the seat right next time on the
00:09:08plane. Is that the baby that's going to take us? Right. Flying Dutchman. Having the seat
00:09:18next to him ought to give me a chance to get nice and chummy with him. Yeah, practically
00:09:23buddies. I'd like nothing better. Well, that's it. Flying Dutchman leaves in an hour. All
00:09:35I can say is be careful and don't underestimate him. Royal's a bad cookie. Thanks. Well, good
00:09:46to see you. Excuse me. The binoculars. I would like to look through. Oh, I'm sorry. I'll
00:10:06get it. Let's go up here. Here. We'll fix you up. Money in here. There you are, on the
00:10:16house. What is that on the house? For free. Oh, thank you. You speak English pretty well.
00:10:23Where'd you pick it up? The Americans were good teachers during the war. Since you come
00:10:28here, everybody speaks as good as, as well as I do. The Fliegende Hollander. That's my
00:10:34plane. The Predator Hollander. We call it the Flying Dutchman. I know. You're leaving
00:10:43France, huh? Uh-huh. On tonight's flight? Mm-hmm. It's my first trip to America. I'm
00:10:50going to be married. Joe's his name. Congratulations. You will like my Joe. He's very funny and
00:10:59very, very handsome, too. Okay, let's, uh, let's see his picture. Yeah. How did you
00:11:06know I have Joe's picture? Military secret. You're a big tease, mister. Mister? Hera.
00:11:13Bill Hera. How do you do? I'm Kathy Van Born. Kathy Van Born? How do you do? Very well,
00:11:19thank you. It will be wonderful to be an American. Nice, yes? He arrives every week. Three years
00:11:30now. Three years? It's not his fault. You have such strict quarters. I'm lucky to go
00:11:36now. Some of my friends in Holland still wait. Oh, you're Dutch. I'm a Hollander. I beg
00:11:44your pardon? Do you live in New York? We haven't even established that I'm an American. You're
00:11:54not an American. Now you're teasing me again. Joe lives in New York. He says it's not a
00:12:02beautiful apartment, but to be beautiful, I know I'll be beautiful. He described the
00:12:08house, the street. I can close my eyes and see it now.
00:12:14Hiya, Joe. How do you like my handiwork? Well, without even seeing it, I like it. What is
00:12:34it? Say, the big one. Yeah, you didn't know I was an artist, did you, Joe? No, I didn't.
00:12:41Say, thanks a lot. Thanks. I'll see you. Hey, I learned art in a camouflage battalion
00:12:46during the war. Oh? Yeah. I ain't worked since. Not much use for camouflage in civilian life.
00:12:51Oh, you're telling me. You know, I only did it because I like to draw. Well, thanks a
00:12:56lot. Thanks a lot. I'll be seeing you. Hey, what are you doing here? Hiya, bridegroom.
00:13:19We're your guests. Guests? Yeah, your guests. Who are you? Who, me? What are you doing with
00:13:28those immigration papers? Hey, bridegroom, take it easy. Come here. Look, we're just
00:13:32gonna borrow them for a few days, that's all. Relax. Are you crazy? Give me that. Hey, take
00:13:39it easy, bridegroom. You're likely to get hurt and that wouldn't be nice. Hey, bridegroom.
00:14:09All right, all right, the kid's out. Leave him alone. Stop it. Stop it.
00:14:39Come on. Come on. Come on.
00:15:08Get your coat and let's get out of here. Come on, let's go.
00:15:28The bridegroom. Come on. Well, good luck to both of you. Thank you. I think I'm very
00:15:48lucky to get a fellow like Joe. Looks to me like Joe's a pretty lucky guy himself. I think
00:15:54he's a lucky stiff. Stiff? Skippered. Skippered? Let's get aboard, shall we?
00:16:24Oh, hello. Mr. Von Degen? Mr. Von Degen? Mr. Royal? Isn't it nice? You're sitting here
00:16:49too, so we can talk all the way over to America. Fine. Friend of yours? Oh, I met him last week
00:16:58at the American express office when I bought my ticket. He's an American too. We had a
00:17:04long talk while we were waiting. I can imagine who did the talking. You probably chewed his
00:17:10ear off. Chewed his ear off? What is this? Sorry to bother you. That's quite all right.
00:17:26The way they shoot these things across the sky these days hardly gives you a chance to
00:17:30get a seaport. What is it? I do not understand this. Chewed his ear off. I never heard this
00:17:48before. It's just an expression. Oh, yeah. If you two are together, we could have a chase.
00:17:56Oh, thank you. That would be very nice. Yes. Thank you very much.
00:18:26Well, the trip's almost over. The nearest I've gotten to Royal was that little howdy-do
00:18:49before the plane started. Guess his mother told him not to talk to strangers. My little
00:18:54girlfriend hasn't helped any. We'll be at the New York International Airport in two
00:18:59hours. Thank you. You awake? Yeah. Had a nice sleep? I'm going to be in New York in two
00:19:12hours. Two hours? Excuse me.
00:19:42I'm going to be in New York in two hours.
00:20:12I'm going to be in New York in two hours.
00:20:42I'm going to be in New York in two hours.
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01:12:48I'd like a room.
01:12:58I'd like a room.
01:13:08I'd like a room.
01:13:18I'd like a room.
01:13:28I'd like a room.
01:13:38I'd like a room.
01:13:48I'd like a room.
01:13:58I'd like a room.
01:14:08I'd like a room.
01:14:18I'd like a room.
01:14:28I'd like a room.
01:14:38I'd like a room.
01:14:48I'd like a room.
01:14:58I'd like a room.
01:15:08I'd like a room.
01:15:18I'd like a room.
01:15:28I'd like a room.
01:15:38I'd like a room.
01:15:48I'd like a room.
01:15:58I'd like a room.
01:16:08I'd like a room.
01:16:18I'd like a room.