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00:00Kalle, Kalle, the express to Paris departs shortly, please hurry when boarding.
00:30Ah, France, Professor. La Belle France, the country of culture and joy of life. Jacques
00:47Offenbach, the cathedral of Chartres, Émile Sola, the Folies Bergère, Champagne, truffles,
00:55snails with garlic. As I have often had the opportunity to find out, my dear Hedge,
01:02you have a remarkable sense of the unimportant. So. To the express to Paris, please get in
01:09and close the doors. The train is departing. What should I have mentioned in your opinion,
01:15Professor? Above all, this, that in France at the moment an important, yes, path-pointing
01:22process is taking place. I mean, the connection of science and technology on the one hand
01:28and of creative fantasy on the other. Just think of Gilles Verne, the master of the
01:34scientific novel. Yes. Or a great pioneer of cinematography, Georges Lumier, whom we
01:39have not seen in London for a long time. Oh. Excuse me, gentlemen, that I come in here
01:46so unannounced. Madame. I hope you don't mind. Hedge. Thank you. But the ladies'
01:52section is occupied by a whole French nunnery. I thought it would be better. You allow me,
01:59don't you? But wait a minute. You still have room. You give an impression of trust.
02:04Or did I think there was no single lady here? Miss Chitaly, if I'm not mistaken.
02:11How can you say that? Professor van Dusen. A very pleasant surprise. May I introduce
02:19myself? Mr. Hutchison Hedge, my faithful companion and connoisseur. Miss Mary Chitaly.
02:26Delete your cigar, Hedge. A real Henry Clay. Two shenanigans with the royal British
02:33court supplier. Just smoked. But whatever. I ignored her and was just a little surprised
02:41about the professor. Politeness towards the ladies is otherwise not his strong side.
02:47But he quickly cleared that up. Mary Chitaly was, as he told me years ago, his favorite
02:54student. And not only because she was the first and only student at the physical institute
03:01of the university. She was highly talented and could have made it to the first professor
03:08of the USA if her parents hadn't died suddenly. A sad story. She had to leave the university
03:18and go on her own.
03:48A few years later, I had enough. I put an ad in the Times. Yesterday afternoon, a dignified
03:54elderly man from Paris appeared, who happened to be in London. And he hired me as a governess
04:00for his daughter. And now I'm here, on my way to New York. Oh, oh, a pity, my dear Miss
04:07Chitaly. What a career you would have had in the world of science. It's over, Professor.
04:13Let's talk about you. What you've done in the meantime, I know of course. I've followed
04:20the press. I know your ingenious research and inventions. But I had no idea that you
04:28were going to stay in Europe now. What's going on, Professor? A trip to school? A vacation?
04:36Or just a little fresh wind around your nose?
04:40Above all, something, my dear Miss Chitaly. My doctors were of the opinion, and I had
04:47to agree with them, that my affected health would make a longer trip impossible. Above
04:53all, I need rest, and far from the academic gear, to finally formulate my basic ideas
04:59in atomic structure theory of elements. So it comes that we, me and Mr. Hedge, now have
05:09to travel through the old world for a good three quarters of a year.
05:14In this time of rest, between May 1903 and February 1904, the Professor had, in addition
05:22to his scientific work, solved four sensational criminal cases. On the High Sea, in Scotland
05:28and finally in London. You know it, of course, Professor Dr. Dr. Dr. Augustus Van Dusen,
05:35also known as the machine of thought, is not only the most important scientist of our
05:40time, but also the greatest amateur criminologist the world has ever seen. And, as it soon
05:47turned out, the coincidental meeting with Mary Chitaly should give him the fifth major
05:53case.
06:06Is the carriage ready? Is the carriage ready? The main carriage of the express from London
06:11to Calais has arrived. All passengers from the main port of Calais are invited to the
06:17customs clearance with their luggage to be found in the customs hall of the station.
06:22As always with such occasions, only one switch was opened in the huge Calais hall, behind
06:29which a Moorish officer slowly finished the passengers as if he were paid every extra
06:34minute. The Professor and I waited patiently until the row came to us. And as we moved
06:42forward step by step with our suitcases, a slightly dirty-looking individual approached
06:48us.
06:49Pictures, Monsieur, with postcards. Highly artistic shots of female beauty with real
06:54photographs, Monsieur. True to nature to the last detail. To the very last, Monsieur.
07:00As you can see.
07:01Do you still have any postcards, Monsieur?
07:03Ah, I understand. Messieurs are connoisseurs. Messieurs are looking for the special.
07:08They are at the right address for me.
07:10How?
07:11Here in my pocket, Monsieur. Something completely new, unheard of. A cinematographer's
07:17film, Monsieur. Charming women offer themselves in a hula-hoop in constantly changing poses.
07:23Magnifique, Monsieur. Everything is alive. Everything is moving. This is unique, Monsieur.
07:29You haven't seen anything like it before.
07:31Finally take it off. It's dirty.
07:34These Frenchmen. You can see, Professor, why they abuse their beloved cinematography.
07:40As is customary with you, my dear Herr, you conclude without considering the individual
07:44case in general. The cinematography as such...
07:47Monsieur.
07:48You are busy, Professor.
07:49Ah, yes.
07:50Do you have anything to confess?
07:52No, no. I have nothing to confess.
07:54The officer was kind. He believed that we had nothing to confess and waved us through.
07:59But we stood still next to the switch and waited for Miss Chitalet.
08:04Five minutes later, she appeared with two strong servants and her large trunk,
08:09a suitcase, which she had taken out of the luggage car.
08:12Something to confess, mademoiselle? Perfume, alcohol, coffee, tea?
08:16Just a few little things. For personal use.
08:19Well, open it.
08:21What? The large suitcase?
08:23Oui, oui.
08:24But there are only clothes in it and laundry. Believe me, monsieur.
08:27The customs authorities don't believe, mademoiselle. The customs authorities don't believe. Open it, mademoiselle.
08:32I don't know what to say.
08:38It's so strange. I don't want to untie the knots.
08:42Permit me, Miss Chitalet. Can I help you?
08:45For a few seconds, Van Dusen had been watching the knot of the laces carefully,
08:52with which the suitcase was tied around the outside for additional security.
08:56Now he made a slight hand movement,
08:59took a short moment at the end of the laces,
09:01and the complicated knot was solved, as if by a miracle, into nothing.
09:06Thank you, professor.
09:07You're welcome.
09:08I don't understand. I didn't make the knot. I'm sure of it.
09:12Don't open it, mademoiselle.
09:14Laclée, give me the key, please.
09:16The key? Yes, of course.
09:22Yes, it's close.
09:29It can't be.
09:30Hello? Oui, oui. Open it.
09:33The key doesn't fit.
09:35Ah, what you don't say. Very suspicious, mademoiselle.
09:39We have to break open this suitcase.
09:41I can't explain it to you.
09:55Extremely interesting.
09:57Oh la la, what is this, mademoiselle?
10:00Clothes and laundry, eh?
10:02This is a dead man in her suitcase, mademoiselle.
10:06But this is Mr. Georges Lumier.
10:09Without a doubt.
10:11In Miss Chitaly's suitcase lay the great pioneer of cinematography,
10:16as Van Dusen had called him.
10:18Very quiet and very dead.
10:22A few days ago, we met him in London,
10:26where he and his whole team were preparing for the premiere of his latest film,
10:31The Children of Captain Grant, after Jules Verne.
10:35Professor Van Dusen, highly interested in the development of cinematography,
10:39had been talking with him and his intelligent young assistant Guy Maréchal for a long time.
10:46Both had been artists, magicians, acrobats,
10:51but had very quickly recognized the possibilities
10:53offered to them by the new technique of living images.
10:57With the combined efforts of luck and genius,
10:59Lumier managed to turn a junkyard attraction into a work of art.
11:04And a good business.
11:06And now, finis, as the French say.
11:11Under very strange circumstances.
11:14Ah, monsieur, you know this dead man?
11:17That's how it is.
11:19But that's not monsieur Lumier.
11:21You must be mistaken, professor.
11:23I'm never mistaken, Miss Chitaly.
11:25Monsieur Lumier looks very different.
11:28Much older.
11:29Be quiet, mademoiselle.
11:31You all wait here until the police arrive.
11:34The police arrived, half an hour later,
11:37with a certain inspector Poubelle, from the Sûreté.
11:42He briefly informed himself of the situation,
11:45and then proceeded to the action.
11:48Vivant, get the suitcase with the corpse into the lab.
11:51Mademoiselle, you are under arrest.
11:52What?
11:53And who are you, monsieur?
11:54My name is Van Dusen.
11:56Professor Dr. Dr. Dr. Augustus Van Dusen.
11:59Ah, what a surprise.
12:01I'm delighted, monsieur le professeur,
12:03to see the great criminologist in person.
12:06What a shame that I won't have the opportunity
12:09to study your ingenious methods in practice.
12:12But this case, monsieur le professeur, is obvious.
12:15Mademoiselle Chitaly is the perpetrator, without question.
12:18But why?
12:19I wouldn't be so sure at your place, inspector.
12:22You have doubts?
12:23Would you allow me, with my friend, Mr. Hedges...
12:26Enchanté, monsieur.
12:28...to accompany you to Sûreté?
12:30I take a certain interest in Miss Chitaly's fate.
12:33But with pleasure, professor.
12:35What do you say?
12:36Two heads think more than one, right?