30min | Comedy, Crime, Drama, TV Series | Episode aired 23 April 1953
A sea captain on his final voyage learns that there is a bomb on his ship, timed to go off soon after reaching port.
Director: Robert Florey
Writers: John Bagni, Gwen Bagni
Stars: Charles Boyer, William F. Leicester, Jack Lambert
A sea captain on his final voyage learns that there is a bomb on his ship, timed to go off soon after reaching port.
Director: Robert Florey
Writers: John Bagni, Gwen Bagni
Stars: Charles Boyer, William F. Leicester, Jack Lambert
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00Singer Four Star Playhouse presents Dick Powell, Charles Boyer, David Niven, Ida Lupino.
00:30Well, Captain, we've run in luck all the way, wouldn't you say so, sir?
00:54What was that, Mr. Keating?
00:55The weather.
00:56It's been an easy crossing.
00:57Oh, yes.
00:59Good evening, sir.
01:00Good evening.
01:01He shouldn't be walking around on that leg.
01:02That was a pretty nasty fall.
01:03Can you imagine him letting anyone else run his ship?
01:04Not him.
01:05Why, if he had to crawl on his stomach, he'd be up here.
01:06Well, at least in a few hours of being on Yokohama, we can relax, have a few laughs.
01:07Get all you can.
01:08The return run won't be any better.
01:09Steady as you go.
01:11Good evening, sir.
01:12Good evening.
01:13Good evening.
01:14Good evening.
01:15Good evening.
01:16Good evening.
01:17Good evening.
01:18Good evening.
01:19Good evening.
01:20Good evening.
01:21Good evening.
01:22Good evening.
01:23Good evening.
01:24Good evening.
01:25Good evening.
01:26Good evening.
01:27Good evening.
01:28Good evening.
01:29Good evening.
01:30Good evening.
01:31Good evening.
01:32Good evening.
01:33Good evening.
01:34Good evening.
01:35Good evening.
01:36Good evening.
01:37Good evening.
01:38Good evening.
01:39Good evening.
01:40Good evening.
01:41Good evening.
01:42Good evening.
01:43Good evening.
01:44Good evening.
01:45Good evening.
01:46Good evening.
01:47Good evening.
01:48Good evening.
01:49Good evening.
01:50Good evening.
01:51Good evening.
01:52Good evening.
01:53Good evening.
01:54Good evening.
01:55Good evening.
01:57Come in.
02:06What is it?
02:08I ... uh ... I have some messages, sir.
02:13I'll bring them over.
02:16Oh ... I'm sorry sir.
02:20I'm sorry, sir.
02:26When did you get this?
02:27Just a few minutes ago.
02:30Where is your copy of it?
02:32In the radio shack, sir.
02:35Destroy it immediately.
02:36Yes, sir.
02:37I want no one to know about this. No one, understand?
02:40Yes, sir.
02:42Well, what are you waiting for?
02:46This is for you, too, sir.
02:57I'm sorry, sir.
03:20I'm sorry, sir.
03:51I can't figure out what's gotten into the old man.
03:55Crawling around the ship like this.
03:58What is this? Inspection in the middle of the night?
04:01He had it his way. He'd tell you when to breathe.
04:05Well, it's about time.
04:07I'd do my best.
04:09I'd lay off that if I was you.
04:11Yeah, well, you're not me.
04:14Well, maybe he's worried about my cargo.
04:17Well, maybe he's worried about my cargo.
04:19All of a sudden, Colonel, less than four hours out of port?
04:22Carrying munitions can make a man nervous.
04:24Not the skipper.
04:25He's carried toucher cargo than yours.
04:27Through two wars.
04:29He's afraid of nothing.
04:32Enemy mines or quirks of nature.
04:36Now, it's not that that's eating him.
04:39This is his last trip.
04:41Probably kissing his ship goodbye.
04:45I think it was a woman the way he feels about this dirty old tub.
04:49I wouldn't drink any more of that if I were you.
04:51You know what the old man said.
04:53You stick to your engine room.
04:55Nobody tells me what to do when I'm off duty.
05:01I've warned you, Mr. Wallach.
05:03I've warned you repeatedly.
05:05You're through.
05:06When we dock, get off my ship and stay off.
05:09You can't dump me in a foreign port.
05:11You gotta take me back to Frisco.
05:13You'll have your passage back, but not on my ship.
05:15Mr. Keating.
05:16Yes, sir.
05:17I thought I told you to get rid of his liquor.
05:19I did, sir.
05:20Then how did he get this bottle?
05:21I don't know.
05:22Go find Mr. Wallach to quarters.
05:24Yes, sir.
05:25I don't want to see him on the bridge again.
05:27That suits me fine.
05:28Hey, Wallach, come on.
05:30Get out of here.
05:35Captain Dundas.
05:36Yes, Colonel.
05:38How about my cargo? Is anything wrong?
05:40Why? Should there be, Colonel?
05:42Well, they said you were down on the hold.
05:44So?
05:45Well, I'd just like to know...
05:47Well, your munitions are on my ship, Colonel.
05:49They are my responsibility.
05:55What are you doing? You're off course.
05:57I changed the course.
06:00Congratulations, Mr. Keating.
06:02Takes a good seaman to sense a change of course that fast.
06:05May I ask why, sir? We're just a few hours out of Yokohama.
06:08Two hours and 45 minutes, to be exact.
06:11But we're going south.
06:13That's right.
06:14Radio reports from south have been bad all day.
06:17Surely you're not afraid of a little weather.
06:19That's not the point.
06:21Then what is the point, Mr. Keating?
06:23Are you disputing my authority?
06:26No, sir. Your judgment.
06:32You're not needed on the bridge, Mr. Keating.
06:36Very well, sir.
06:38Hey!
06:43Your coffee, sir.
06:44Put it there.
06:47Put this in my room.
06:49Put it in my desk.
06:50Yes, sir.
06:54I tell you, I read it.
06:55She's dead.
06:56And that's what's eating him.
06:58His wife?
06:59Is she married?
07:01Saw a picture once when I was in his room.
07:03Sure about her being dead?
07:05Sure about her being dead.
07:06I tell you, I saw the radiogram right there on his desk, as big as life.
07:10It said his wife died this morning.
07:12Can't you see? That's why he changed the course, taking us into a storm.
07:16He's off his rocker.
07:17He's gonna take us all down with him.
07:19Oh, don't be ridiculous.
07:20Now, wait a minute.
07:21This is his last trip.
07:23Got nothing to go home to?
07:25Did the old man get a radiogram today?
07:30Why, uh...
07:32Why, uh...
07:33About his wife?
07:35Oh.
07:36Oh, that one.
07:37Is she dead?
07:39Yeah, that's what it said.
07:41The old man took it pretty hard.
07:42There, you see, what did I tell you?
07:43He's gonna kill us all.
07:47He's gonna kill us all.
07:48He's gonna kill us all.
07:49He's gonna kill us all.
07:50He's gonna kill us all.
07:51He's gonna kill us all.
07:52He's gonna kill us all.
07:54He's gonna kill us all.
08:13A lot of memories out there.
08:16Most of my life.
08:17I only got five years left myself.
08:20Didn't think a fella'd hate to leave the stink, grease and boiler room.
08:32Sorry about your wife.
08:3824 years.
08:42She was always afraid something might happen to me.
08:46Men should never make plans.
08:50The house in Carmel, almost pitiful.
08:54Big house.
08:56On three sides, you can see the ocean.
08:59Standing on the porch is like standing on quarterdeck.
09:02Of course, nothing grows.
09:04She tried.
09:06But too much wind and sand.
09:09But she didn't mind.
09:20Guess I'd feel the same way myself.
09:23If I was in your spot.
09:25Still don't believe it though.
09:29Believe what?
09:30That that's why you changed course.
09:32Why should it be?
09:34That's what the men are saying.
09:36They're saying you have nothing to go back to.
09:40That you're using a storm for your swan song.
09:44And you?
09:46Scuttle your own shit.
09:49So they're worried, huh?
09:51Good.
09:52I wanted them to sweat.
09:59You're second in command, do something.
10:01What do you want me to do?
10:02I don't know, but do something.
10:04I got a wife and kid.
10:05Shut up.
10:14Gentlemen, you have a question to change of course.
10:17You think I did it for personal reasons.
10:20Well, I did.
10:21But not in the way you mean.
10:22I'll come to the point.
10:25There is a bomb on this ship.
10:27A bomb?
10:28Yes.
10:31But it's time to go off after we docked in Japan.
10:35And destroy the whole munitions dock.
10:38But now that I've changed the course.
10:41We won't be in Japan when it goes off.
10:44We'll be somewhere at sea.
10:46And the man who planted the bomb.
10:48Won't be safely ashore as he planned.
10:52That's right, gentlemen.
10:54Someone on this ship planted the bomb.
10:56For all I know it could be any of you.
11:00It's a different complexion on the situation, doesn't it?
11:03Instead of being snug in harbor and safe.
11:06The guilty man will be blown up.
11:08To the rest of us.
11:09And as of course he comes forth.
11:11And brings the bomb to me.
11:16You have two hours.
11:18Perhaps a little more.
11:19But not much more.
11:40Well?
11:41Nothing yet, sir.
11:42We've checked the hull.
11:43Torn the fo'c'sle apart.
11:44It's like looking for a needle in a haystack.
11:46Keep at it.
11:48Are you crazy?
11:50You have a better plan?
11:51Yes, sir.
11:52Abandon ship.
11:54Is this your idea, Mr. Keating?
11:56Not only mine.
11:57The whole crew.
11:58The engine gang.
11:59Everybody aboard.
12:00No one abandons ship.
12:03Captain, what are you trying to prove?
12:05I'm not trying to prove anything.
12:06All I know is that no man wants to die.
12:09Not even the type of man who plants a bomb.
12:13Think he'll give himself up?
12:15I'm depending on it.
12:16Your theory's cockeyed.
12:17Now yours is.
12:19We abandon ship.
12:20We are working right into his hands.
12:23Or is that what you want, Mr. Keating?
12:27And what do you want, Captain?
12:29To go down with your ship gloriously?
12:31You may carry on with the search.
12:33Yes, sir.
12:35Yes, sir.
12:55Yes, Mr. Richards?
12:57The light, sir?
13:01No, thank you.
13:03No, thank you.
13:07When do you figure we'll hit the storm area?
13:10We may never hit it.
13:11If the bomb hits first.
13:14How do you feel, sir?
13:17Why?
13:19Why, your leg.
13:20You oughtn't to be on it so much.
13:24Yes.
13:26I guess you're right.
13:28Are you married, Mr. Richards?
13:30Yes, sir.
13:31Two years ago I married a Berkeley girl.
13:34Children?
13:35One.
13:36A son.
13:37He's six months old.
13:41Peek over, Mr. Richards.
13:42Yes, sir.
13:47What do you think you're doing?
13:48You can't stop me from sending a wireless.
13:50I've stopped all outgoing messages.
13:52But this is official business.
13:53Army business.
13:54Reporting my change of plans.
13:55Yes, if you want to know.
13:57The army can't save your cargo.
13:59And veering off into nowhere with a bomb aboard,
14:01is this going to save it?
14:03I think so.
14:05You know what I think, Captain?
14:06I think the men are right.
14:08I don't think there is any bomb.
14:10And I don't think you've got a radiogram.
14:17Oh.
14:19If time was so short, Captain,
14:21if the man who planned the bomb was going to crack,
14:23he would have cracked it.
14:25He's cracked by now.
14:26Why hasn't he?
14:27He will,
14:28when he realizes I'm not bluffing.
14:30You mean you know who it is?
14:34Could be anybody, Colonel.
14:36Now, wait a minute, Captain.
14:38You've seen my credentials.
14:39I'm an officer in the United States Army.
14:41I did not accuse you, Colonel.
14:43I merely said it could be anybody.
14:56What are you doing here?
14:57You were confined to quarters.
14:58But I...
14:59Give me that bottle.
15:00Please, sir, I've got to have it.
15:02So you can start all over again.
15:04No, you don't understand.
15:05You don't know what it's like.
15:07Where did you find this bottle?
15:09I had it hidden.
15:10When you threw the rest overboard,
15:11I hid this one.
15:13I didn't mean to drink it.
15:15Honestly.
15:17I knew where it was for six days
15:18and didn't go near it.
15:20You see, that's how it is.
15:22You can know where it is in that touch.
15:23I took you against my better judgment.
15:25If Mr. Keating hadn't vouched for you,
15:27I would never have considered you at all.
15:30You've got a bad record.
15:32But a man deserves another chance.
15:34Get out.
15:38Don't fend a little,
15:39or you might break.
15:41The rules.
15:42Stick to the rules.
15:43Make everybody toe the mark.
15:45I'd rather be on the beach
15:47than make the return run with you.
15:53Come on.
16:18Come in.
16:24Look for you on the bridge.
16:28Thanks to give me a bad time.
16:3130 years of going to sea,
16:33walking the decks in storms and wars,
16:36and I wait for my last trip
16:37to fall down the ladder.
16:39Well,
16:40what's in your mind of this?
16:42Trouble.
16:43It's my men.
16:44I can't hold them back much longer.
16:46They want to abandon ship.
16:48You can hardly blame them.
16:49It's a bad place to be trapped.
16:50They're low.
16:51You've got to keep them in line
16:52a little longer.
16:54I don't know how it must feel
16:55to lose a ship.
16:57Especially your last ship.
17:00Oh, you think it's what it is.
17:02You think that losing this ship
17:03is what bothers me.
17:05Isn't it?
17:06Ah, yes.
17:07Maybe it's tied in with it somewhere.
17:10But it's more than that.
17:12Don't you see?
17:13If we abandon ship,
17:15he's safe.
17:17He'll be safe.
17:18If we abandon ship,
17:19he's safe.
17:21And free to do it again
17:22to another ship,
17:23another crew.
17:25How do you explain that
17:26to men who have families
17:27waiting for them?
17:29I need your help with this.
17:33I'll try.
17:39It seems to me, though,
17:41that if he was going to crack,
17:44he'd crack by now.
17:48Why hasn't he?
18:18Ah.
18:40I thought I'd have
18:41a cup of coffee.
18:43And I thought you were
18:44a tea drinker.
18:46What do you mean?
18:48A tea drink, Wallach.
18:51Go on.
18:52I've changed my mind.
18:53I think a drink might do you good.
18:54No.
18:55I don't want it.
18:56You can sober up now,
18:57Mr. Wallach.
18:59It was a good performance.
19:00You let me fooled.
19:02But a man doesn't get drunk on tea.
19:07I don't know what you mean.
19:09I should have known.
19:11Playing the drunk.
19:13So I'd be sure to kick you off
19:14the minute we docked.
19:16Playing the fool
19:17is worth planting the bomb.
19:19Bomb?
19:20Yes.
19:21The bomb we planted on this ship.
19:24Time to go off after we docked.
19:28I don't know what you're talking about.
19:31You are a rotten sailor,
19:33Mr. Wallach.
19:35A real seaman would know it right away.
19:38He would sense it through the bulkheads.
19:40He would feel it
19:41through the decks in his feet.
19:42He wouldn't even have to look at it,
19:43Compass, but you didn't know.
19:46Didn't know what?
19:47That I've changed the course.
19:50We've been off course for two hours.
19:55I don't believe it.
19:56You don't?
19:57Look out the porthole.
19:59Come on, look out.
20:01If we were docking
20:02at Yokohama as scheduled,
20:03we would be coming
20:04through the breakwater by now.
20:06And beyond,
20:07there will be the lights
20:08from the harbor.
20:09Go on, look out.
20:12What do you see?
20:13Nothing.
20:15Nothing but water.
20:21We're not waiting any longer, sir.
20:23You don't have to.
20:25Wallach is the one.
20:26He's crazy.
20:28I tell you, I don't know
20:29anything about a bomb.
20:31But if this ship's gonna blow up,
20:32let's get off.
20:34You see, he's not drunk now.
20:36He never was drunk.
20:38See for yourself.
20:39See if you smell whiskey.
20:43And he's the only one
20:44who's got a chance, of course.
20:46That's why he didn't crack.
20:48He's crazy, I tell you.
20:51T.
20:52Don't listen to him.
20:54He wants to kill us all.
20:56Don't you see?
20:57He wants to blow us all up.
21:00You gonna let him?
21:01No, no, Mr. Wallach.
21:04You seem to be a little confused.
21:06There is no longer
21:07any need for this man to die.
21:10Don't you see, he's just stalling.
21:11He wants to blow you up
21:12along with him.
21:13Prepare to abandon ship.
21:17No, no, no.
21:19Not you, Mr. Wallach.
21:22You're going to stay here.
21:27With me.
21:31Better get started.
21:33There isn't much time.
21:34He's there, Mr. Wallach.
21:36Don't leave me here with him.
21:37He's crazy, I tell you.
21:43Let's go.
21:49That's better.
21:57Now we can wait.
22:05If there was a bomb on this ship,
22:06you wouldn't be sitting there so calm.
22:08Well,
22:10if there is no bomb,
22:11we have nothing to worry about, have we?
22:14You don't want to die
22:15any more than I do.
22:23You know what it's like
22:24to be on a ship
22:25when she blows up?
22:28When she breaks in half
22:31and the flames lash out.
22:35You're in the water
22:38and all around you
22:40there is boiling oil
22:42and the screams of the men
22:44as they die.
22:46Lay off it, will you?
22:48Oh, but of course,
22:49when it blows, we'll be alone.
22:52And
22:53with the cargo we're carrying,
22:57we'll never know what hit us.
22:59Stop it! Stop it!
23:04Well?
23:06In the shaft.
23:09In the propeller shaft.
23:13Oh, you're here.
23:15I thought I'd hang around for the fireworks.
23:17It's in the propeller shaft.
23:18Hurry.
23:19Come on.
23:31You had only 20 minutes to go
23:32when I disconnected it.
23:35Put her back on her original course.
23:37Yes, sir.
23:38You heard what he said.
23:39Put her back on course.
23:40You heard what he said.
23:41Put her back on course.
23:42Aye, aye.
23:51Well, Captain,
23:52the men wanted you to know
23:54that they're pretty ashamed
23:55of the way they acted.
23:57And we're all glad
23:58that Wallach cracked in time.
24:00Yes, I suppose it's better that way.
24:04For the ship and the cargo, anyway.
24:07I'm sorry about your wife, sir.
24:12Thank you, Mr. Keating.
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