The Lone Wolf - S01E07: The Plantation Story
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00:00 I was on my way over to see a man I didn't know, Vance Conner.
00:06 He said he was in trouble.
00:07 Vance Conner owned a large sugar company.
00:09 He was considered a big man.
00:11 In the fog I was having trouble finding Conner's house
00:13 when I saw a man resting on a doorstep.
00:15 I figured he might be able to help.
00:18 But I was wrong.
00:20 He was dead.
00:21 The knife in his back told its own story.
00:24 Clutched in his hand was a piece of paper.
00:28 On it was printed the name and address of Vance Conner.
00:32 As I rang the bell, I wondered how Mr. Conner was going to explain murder to me.
00:39 Oh, Lanyard, come in.
00:45 Wait a minute, Conner. Take a look.
00:47 What happened?
00:54 I don't know.
00:56 I found him on your steps. He's dead.
00:58 What's your name?
01:17 You can call me Kooky.
01:20 Police, please.
01:22 There's something I think you ought to know.
01:24 This was in his hand.
01:28 Why would he come here? I never saw him alive before.
01:33 Hello, police?
01:36 This is Vance Conner, 321-4.
01:40 I'm here to see Mr. Conner.
01:42 I'm here to see Mr. Conner.
01:44 I'm here to see Mr. Conner.
01:46 This is Vance Conner, 321-Beacon.
01:50 There's a dead man on my front doorstep.
01:53 Right.
01:55 Don't you think you ought to report it as a murder?
02:01 Why, did you kill him?
02:03 No. Did you?
02:05 I don't know.
02:09 Maybe I did.
02:12 In a way.
02:15 You see, I'm on the verge of ruin.
02:17 That's why I wanted to see you tonight.
02:19 That doesn't explain much, Mr. Conner.
02:21 You know what my business is, don't you?
02:23 Huh. Sugar.
02:25 There's a company called the Southern Cross
02:27 with plantations in the Philippines.
02:29 They dump their product on the market
02:31 for less than it costs me to produce.
02:33 What the answer is, I don't know.
02:35 But I...
02:37 Well, let's say I caused a rumor to be circulated
02:39 that any Southern Cross worker who could supply the answer
02:42 would be handsomely rewarded.
02:44 Huh.
02:45 And you think out there is one who found his reward, huh?
02:48 Possibly.
02:50 [knocking]
02:52 Isn't that someone at the door?
02:55 The next day I was aboard a ship leaving for Manila.
03:12 Now, there's one thing more I want to tell you.
03:15 It's about Angela.
03:17 Angela?
03:18 Yes, my stepdaughter.
03:20 I want to tell you about her because you'll be on the ship together.
03:23 I raised Angela more like a son than a daughter.
03:26 I've given her the responsibilities of a man.
03:29 Of a partner, in fact.
03:31 She's going to Manila for the same reason you are.
03:33 Oh.
03:35 You didn't tell me that.
03:36 Come on.
03:40 Hello, Dad.
03:42 So close to sailing time, I gave up expecting you.
03:45 We were delayed.
03:46 This is my friend, Michael Lanyard.
03:48 Hi.
03:49 He's sailing with you, and I've told him to look out for you.
03:52 Mr. Lanyard, I'm going to love being looked out for.
03:56 Well, goodbye.
03:58 I'll take care of everything while you're away.
04:00 Goodbye.
04:03 [music]
04:05 Pardon me, folks.
04:11 I don't know you, and you don't know me,
04:13 but that ain't no reason we can't yell at each other over the fence, now, is it?
04:16 I'm Jim Straight.
04:18 Where I go, I buy.
04:20 Well, why don't you sit down, Mr. Straight?
04:22 Why, I'm sitting.
04:23 Thank you, ma'am.
04:24 What did you say your name was?
04:26 I didn't say.
04:27 However, it's Lanyard.
04:29 Michael Lanyard.
04:30 I've been watching you two for a couple of days.
04:32 Now I'm mighty glad to know you.
04:34 What a eunuch's line you'd have.
04:36 Well, thanks.
04:38 But this is Miss Angela Connor.
04:41 Oh, I'm sorry.
04:43 In my book, you look like a couple of newlyweds.
04:46 Huh.
04:47 Just shows how wrong a book can be.
04:50 I don't know what to say.
04:52 Forget about it, Mr. Straight.
04:54 Michael, I think we should invite Mr. Straight to be our guest, don't you?
04:59 I think you're right.
05:01 Well, this is a business trip for me.
05:03 Oh, that's nice.
05:04 I've got an investment outside of Manila that I want to check.
05:07 Oh, and I guess I used it as kind of an excuse to get away, too.
05:11 Mm-hmm.
05:12 Well, investments are always a good excuse to get away.
05:15 Stewart.
05:18 Can't get over my being so wrong.
05:20 Thought for sure you were newlyweds.
05:23 What'll you have, Mr. Straight?
05:25 I took Angela to her state room.
05:27 I didn't ask any questions.
05:29 But now I was wondering about someone new, Jim Straight.
05:32 Good night, Angela.
05:34 Sleep well, huh?
05:35 Michael, won't you come in for a moment?
05:54 Maria.
05:58 My jewel case.
05:59 You know the one.
06:00 Would you bring it?
06:01 And hang these up.
06:05 Maybe it isn't important, but I'd like you to take care of something for me while we're on the ship.
06:09 Oh.
06:11 It is jewelry.
06:12 Why don't you leave it with the purse, huh?
06:13 Well, I would, except I think it might be safer with you.
06:17 It's nothing, really.
06:19 But please, don't open it.
06:22 You don't mind?
06:24 No, I don't mind.
06:27 In a way, though, I do mind being taken for a fool.
06:30 Is that what you think I'm doing?
06:36 Frankly, Angela, I don't know what to think.
06:39 Good night.
06:49 I don't like playing games when I don't know the rules.
06:52 I had a feeling Angela wasn't on the level.
06:55 I headed for the ship's doctor.
06:57 She'd asked me not to open the case, but she hadn't asked me not to have it x-rayed.
07:01 The x-ray picture told its own story.
07:03 I decided to go back to Angela's stateroom.
07:06 I remembered her stepfather had tried to explain a murdered man to me.
07:10 Now I wanted to hear Angela's reason for playing me for a fool.
07:14 I figured, too, it was time to stop wondering and maybe start putting the pieces together.
07:32 Well, Michael, what is it?
07:34 Your, uh, jewel box.
07:40 You opened it.
07:42 No.
07:44 You couldn't open it without a saw or a chisel.
07:47 The lock's filled with solder.
07:50 Well, you found that out. Why'd you bring it back?
07:52 Because there's nothing in it.
07:54 I had it x-rayed by the ship's doctor.
07:56 I told you, I hated being taken for a fool.
07:59 Michael, let me explain.
08:01 It was, well, a sort of test my stepfather thought of.
08:08 Or was it a trap you thought of?
08:12 Well, if it was a trap, all I caught in it was a man who was smarter than I am.
08:24 Next time, don't be so obvious, huh?
08:33 Maybe Angela had told the truth.
08:35 Maybe Vance Conner had suggested the test.
08:37 But my hunch kept saying something else.
08:40 I saw Straight. I wondered what he was doing, whose team he was on.
08:45 And suddenly I didn't like him.
08:53 I was glad to be alone for a moment.
08:55 No Straight, no Angela.
08:57 I'd given Straight several opportunities to make a move, but so far nothing had happened.
09:02 I was either wrong about Straight, or he was playing it very smart.
09:08 And then I heard a muffled gunshot.
09:11 I started in the direction of the shot.
09:13 Somebody had been a target. I wondered who.
09:16 And I recognized it.
09:19 It was Angela's coat.
09:21 Now I knew who had been killed and thrown overboard.
09:25 I made myself two promises.
09:27 I'd find the person who had murdered her,
09:29 and I'd get the answer to the low-cost sugar being sold by Southern Cross.
09:33 I had a feeling that both things were tied together.
09:39 Well, hello, Michael.
09:44 For a moment I didn't believe my eyes.
09:46 Then I realized that someone had been fooled by Angela's coat.
09:50 I asked about her maid. Angela said she was out.
09:53 I told her what had happened, that her maid had been killed by mistake.
09:57 She was shocked.
09:59 I realized Angela had been honest with me from the start.
10:02 I added that until we arrived in Manila, she wasn't going to get out of my sight.
10:07 I didn't want anyone to have a second chance.
10:10 [♪♪♪]
10:13 [♪♪♪]
10:16 [♪♪♪]
10:21 [♪♪♪]
10:24 [♪♪♪]
10:27 [♪♪♪]
10:30 It was from Vance Connor.
10:32 It stated he'd made a deal with Southern Cross.
10:35 He no longer required me.
10:37 It was no use to wonder. I decided to find out.
10:40 [♪♪♪]
10:45 I sent Connor a radiogram.
10:47 I asked him to reconfirm his message to me.
10:50 I told him to do it fast.
10:52 [♪♪♪]
10:56 Wish I'd known you played this game.
10:59 Say, that's a nasty business about Miss Connor's maid.
11:03 What's her name? Maria.
11:05 I hear you've been telling around about a shot you thought you heard.
11:09 I heard a shot.
11:11 It's funny nobody else did.
11:13 But if there was a shot, it sounds sort of like murder.
11:16 -You know what I'd do? -No.
11:18 I'd look for the gun.
11:20 You'd find it at the bottom of the ocean?
11:22 Bottom of the ocean?
11:24 If you'd killed her, isn't that where it would be?
11:27 Yeah, maybe you're right.
11:29 On a boat, I guess it's easy to get rid of a gun.
11:32 Thanks.
11:35 Good news?
11:46 Straight seemed too interested in my radiogram.
11:48 Nothing important.
11:50 An old friend of mine just died and left me $9 million.
11:52 Always joking.
11:54 Say, Mike, do you know anything about sugar?
11:57 No. Why?
11:59 Well, as a stockholder in a company called Southern Cross,
12:01 I'm going out to inspect what I've got my money in.
12:04 That's why I'm making this trip.
12:06 You can see the Southern Cross plantation where tourists are never allowed.
12:09 What do you say?
12:11 What do I say about what?
12:13 Coming with me, I mean, as my guest.
12:15 You see a lot more of the islands than you ever would any other way.
12:18 How about it?
12:20 That's the best proposition I've had all day.
12:22 Good.
12:24 Two days later, we reached the Southern Cross plantation.
12:28 We made the trip in one of their boats.
12:30 Straight told me the company owned the whole island.
12:32 Cane fields, refineries, warehouses, and harbor.
12:35 Then I got my first look at Colonel Valenza's house.
12:38 Or maybe he would call it a castle.
12:40 I had the feeling I'd walked into an armed camp.
12:43 I began to wander again.
12:45 Colonel Valenza's appearance didn't surprise me.
12:50 Colonel Valenza, I'm Jim Straight.
12:52 Glad to see you, senor.
12:53 This is Michael Lanyard.
12:54 Senor Lanyard, happy to meet you.
12:55 Thank you, colonel.
12:57 I hope I haven't inconvenienced you by bringing along a friend.
13:00 Not at all, senor Straight, not at all.
13:02 You seem to have quite an operation here, colonel.
13:04 There is a lot of work before one can refine sugar, senor.
13:08 Must be.
13:10 Well, colonel, that's why I made the trip.
13:12 I'm worried about how my investment is being handled.
13:15 Tomorrow I shall show you and your guests the Southern Cross plantation.
13:19 I hope I can make your visit interesting.
13:21 Well, thanks, colonel.
13:23 Dinner will be at 7.30.
13:25 [music]
13:42 The next morning I decided to look the island over alone.
13:45 But I wasn't alone.
13:51 In a way, I was a prisoner.
13:53 As Valenza started his tour, I began to think.
13:56 Vance Connor had sent for me.
13:59 On his doorstep I'd found a dead man.
14:02 Connor said he'd be bankrupt unless he could find the answer
14:05 as to how Southern Cross sold sugar for less than his company could produce it.
14:09 I thought about Straight.
14:11 I thought about Angela's maid who'd been killed by mistake.
14:15 I thought about how worried Angela had been
14:17 when I told her I'd accepted Straight's invitation.
14:19 Then I had the feeling that Southern Cross had a plan much bigger than just low-cost sugar.
14:23 The answer was here on the plantation.
14:25 Valenza carefully avoided certain roads.
14:29 We went only where he wanted to go.
14:31 I saw cane fields, brush, and more cane fields.
14:35 And I knew what he avoided had to be important.
14:39 And maybe that was the answer.
14:41 [music]
14:49 At dawn the next day I tried again.
14:51 I was lucky.
14:53 Neither Valenza nor Straight was around.
14:55 I began to search the areas that Valenza had so carefully avoided.
14:59 [music]
15:07 About three hours later I'd seen enough to recognize the Southern Cross operation.
15:11 I'd seen men pulling wagons.
15:13 I'd seen dirt and blood.
15:15 I wanted to find where they kept these poor devils at night.
15:19 It didn't take long.
15:21 The island had many such places.
15:24 I had thought that they were warehouses, but I'd been wrong.
15:27 This plantation was a concentration camp.
15:30 And the answer to the Southern Cross low-cost sugar was one deadly thing.
15:34 Slave labor.
15:36 It was a familiar pattern, and it turned my stomach.
15:40 I had all the answers.
15:41 And if I was lucky, Vance Conner could have them too.
15:44 [music]
15:46 You were out early, senor.
15:48 Maybe you had trouble sleeping.
15:50 Something on your mind, perhaps?
15:53 I was wondering about some of the things we saw yesterday, colonel.
15:56 How many workers do you have on this island?
15:59 Seven or eight thousand.
16:00 We didn't meet a soul.
16:02 I didn't see a house, not even a shack.
16:04 We provide for them, senor.
16:06 In there?
16:07 The stockade, yes.
16:08 With an armed guard and a whipping post.
16:10 Every plantation has a little trouble now and then.
16:13 And you correct it with the Lash.
16:15 The Lash is the only law they know.
16:17 Not where I come from.
16:19 We gave up slavery a long time ago.
16:23 I'll show you back to the house.
16:25 [music]
16:29 When I got back to the house, I found that somebody had gone through my luggage and taken my gun.
16:33 Valenza and Strait had done a thorough job.
16:36 How do you escape from an island?
16:38 Alcatraz would have been easier.
16:41 I had a feeling I was sitting on my own grave.
16:43 I didn't like it.
16:45 I needed a break.
16:46 And with luck I might end the slave labor.
16:49 [music]
16:54 Hello, Michael.
16:56 [music]
16:59 Hello, Angela.
17:02 That's another thing I like about you, Michael.
17:04 You never seem surprised.
17:05 When did you arrive?
17:06 Very shortly after you.
17:08 See, I didn't want to let you out of my sight for even a second.
17:12 Valenza and Strait said you've been tremendously curious.
17:17 Are you still curious?
17:18 Yeah.
17:20 Why did you kill your maid?
17:28 You deserve an answer for that, Michael.
17:30 She became too inquisitive.
17:32 She started to guess a lot of the right answers.
17:34 She wanted money.
17:36 I don't like blackmail.
17:39 Ah, interesting.
17:42 You see how it is?
17:44 I made a mistake.
17:45 I admit it.
17:47 A mistake, Michael?
17:49 I thought you loved your stepfather.
17:51 I thought you were working for him instead of against him.
17:56 Now you think I'm some sort of a traitor.
17:59 I suppose so.
18:02 A traitor to what?
18:06 I've hated Vance Connor ever since I can remember.
18:11 He always said he'd bring me up to be a man.
18:15 Well, maybe he did.
18:17 Just man enough to ruin him.
18:21 Why do you wonder?
18:24 I don't have to tell you, Mike.
18:28 But I want to.
18:31 I want you to understand.
18:36 It's because I have a dream.
18:40 Today, a small island in the Philippines.
18:45 Tomorrow, who knows?
18:50 Who knows?
18:57 Michael, I have a rather large voice in this operation.
19:01 I have only to say the word and it will be done.
19:09 Just what is the word, Angela?
19:11 Partner.
19:13 Instead of Valencia and straight in myself.
19:16 We could be four.
19:19 Why?
19:22 Because of any man I ever met,
19:25 I could be happy with you.
19:31 You're going to think I'm a fool, Angela.
19:34 But I could never be happy with you.
19:40 Well, you are a fool.
19:50 I told you it wouldn't work.
19:52 Okay, Lanyard, we'll do it the hard way.
19:55 You're going back to the mainland.
19:56 The boat's waiting at the dock.
19:58 I'll go and pack.
20:00 I said the hard way.
20:02 After you've traveled about an hour, the boat will blow up.
20:05 An unfortunate accident.
20:07 Tragic end to your colorful career.
20:09 Except for one thing.
20:11 I don't like doing things the hard way.
20:21 It wasn't over yet.
20:23 I had to stay out of Valencia's hands long enough to reach one of the camps.
20:27 I knew if I could free a few hundred men, the Southern Cross Empire would fall.
20:31 I could still hear Angela's words.
20:34 Today a small island.
20:36 Tomorrow, who knows?
20:39 Vance Conner had raised her like a son.
20:42 He taught her to compete as a man.
20:44 He tried to change her.
20:46 The pressure became too great.
20:47 Something snapped.
20:49 Angela looked for power and kingdoms.
20:52 Conner became a symbol of hate.
20:54 Someone she wanted to destroy.
20:57 Strangely enough, I felt sorry for her.
21:00 Then I reached one of the filthy camps.
21:03 I had to move and move fast.
21:05 (gunshots)
21:33 (music)
21:42 All right, come out.
21:45 The men came out slowly.
21:47 I needed their help.
21:49 Then I heard Valenza.
21:59 This is all for you, senor.
22:06 (screaming)
22:10 When the men found they were free, they went mad.
22:13 Angela died instantly.
22:15 A bullet in her heart.
22:17 What about the others?
22:18 Strait and Valenza weren't quite so fortunate.
22:22 I don't understand.
22:25 I raised Angela.
22:27 I brought her up as if she were my own.
22:30 Treated her as if she were a full partner.
22:33 As if she were a man.
22:35 I trusted her.
22:37 Why should she turn on me?
22:41 Maybe she felt you cheated her.
22:44 Maybe she wanted to be treated as a woman.
22:51 (music)
23:20 (music)