Thriller (1960-61) S01 E17 'THE POISONER' Murray Matheson, Sarah Marshall, Brenda Forbes | Hollywood Classics movie
Episode aired Jan 10, 1961
Stars: Murray Matheson, Sarah Marshall, Brenda Forbes | Hollywood Classics movie
London critic and wit Thomas Edward Griffith finds himself in need of funds and saddled with abrasive in-laws and a disapproving uncle. The solution to his problems lies in his collection of rare poisons.
Stars: Murray Matheson, Sarah Marshall, Brenda Forbes | Hollywood Classics movie
London critic and wit Thomas Edward Griffith finds himself in need of funds and saddled with abrasive in-laws and a disapproving uncle. The solution to his problems lies in his collection of rare poisons.
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Short filmTranscript
00:00 (ominous music)
00:02 (ominous music)
00:05 (ominous music)
00:07 (ominous music)
00:10 (ominous music)
00:13 (ominous music)
00:16 (gunshots)
00:21 (ominous music)
00:31 (ominous music)
00:36 (ominous music)
00:42 (ominous music)
00:45 - I see you've already sold some of my toys.
01:09 That was naughty of you.
01:11 I thought you were beautiful when I drew that.
01:15 The impossible Acme of perfection.
01:18 I must have been mad.
01:21 Or did madness come on me afterward?
01:25 We may never know.
01:27 We may never know.
01:29 Through too much love of living,
01:36 through hope and fear set free,
01:38 we thank with brief thanksgiving whatever gods may be.
01:43 That no life lives forever.
01:46 That dead men rise up never.
01:49 That even the weariest river winds somewhere to the sea.
01:53 My famous Bordure ring.
01:59 Containing, so you testified, some rare poison.
02:03 Nearly tasteless, impossible of detection.
02:08 (ominous music)
02:11 Well, dear wife, shall we drink together
02:23 in farewell to the past?
02:25 (ominous music)
02:27 (ominous music)
02:30 (ominous music)
02:33 (ominous music)
02:35 (ominous music)
02:38 (ominous music)
02:41 (ominous music)
02:43, (ominous music)
02:46 (ominous music)
02:49 (ominous music)
02:51 - Topper said, but Griffith,
03:13 the man who made this lovely picture
03:15 and then destroyed it, really lived.
03:18 He was a writer, painter, and a critic.
03:22 Now in each of these arts he displayed talent,
03:25 but his real genius lay elsewhere.
03:28 We have the testimony of Charles Lamb,
03:31 Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde, and other famous witnesses.
03:35 That Griffith was the master of the gentle art of murder.
03:39 A dabbler in the occult and a connoisseur of the exotic,
03:44 Griffith was far ahead of the medical men of his time
03:49 in the lethal science of toxication.
03:52 In simpler terms, Griffith was a poisoner.
03:57 That's the name of our play, The Poisoner.
04:00 And among those threatened by this sinister gentleman
04:04 played by Mr. Murray Matheson
04:07 were his wife, played by Miss Sarah Marshall,
04:11 her mother, played by Miss Brenda Forbes,
04:15 her sister, played by Miss Jennifer Ray,
04:18 and his uncle, played by Mr. Maurice Dallin.
04:22 Oh, by the way, if in the course of our story
04:31 someone brings you a cup of tea or a spot of brandy,
04:39 I suggest you let them take the first sip.
04:42 (dramatic music)
04:48 (gentle music)
05:03 (crowd murmuring)
05:06 - Ladies and gentlemen, may I present my bride,
05:16 that is, as I see her with my heart.
05:19 Thank you for disagreeing with those who say
05:21 that Thomas Edward Griffith lacks only one attribute
05:23 of genius, and that is talent.
05:26 I agree with them.
05:27 Perhaps I haven't until now.
05:29 I am a very conceited man,
05:32 or rather, I have been until today.
05:35 Now I feel forced to confess that this portrait
05:40 does not even begin to do justice to its subject,
05:44 to that matchless pearl of loveliness without flaw,
05:48 my wife.
05:49 - A toast to the perfect pair.
05:53 May their marriage be perfection.
05:56 (crowd murmuring)
05:59 - Well, dear wife, shall we drink together
06:01 to the endless future?
06:03 (glass clattering)
06:06 - I can't get this chair through the door, it's so narrow.
06:11 Well, looks as if everyone's here before us.
06:14 (crowd murmuring)
06:23 Didn't even invite us to the wedding.
06:27 - You ought to be ashamed.
06:30 - So you're the bridegroom.
06:32 - Who are these people?
06:37 - Oh, this is my mother,
06:39 and this is my sister Helen.
06:45 - Your mother and your sister.
06:50 I think we should be going.
06:54 - Thank you, Mr. Larrymore.
06:57 - Mr. Larrymore.
06:59 - I feel sick at my stomach.
07:10 I didn't expect them until tomorrow.
07:21 - I didn't expect them at all.
07:22 - I should have told you they were coming.
07:24 - Yes, you should have told me.
07:26 (coughing)
07:28 They have nowhere else to live.
07:31 Mother sold her house, that was all she had,
07:33 and that and a small income and debts.
07:36 Helen's illness has taken a terrible burden on Mother.
07:42 - You're not even rich.
07:47 - I never said I was.
07:49 - You only pretended until you caught a husband.
07:52 Get that animal out of here.
07:55 - It belongs to me.
07:56 And so do they.
08:01 - Or rather, you belong to them.
08:03 My perfect bride.
08:07 - Where are you going?
08:11 Don't, don't you dare touch Mama.
08:21 (dramatic music)
08:24 - Did you see that?
08:28 He was gonna strike me, his own mother-in-law,
08:32 on his wedding day.
08:33 What kind of a man did you marry anyhow?
08:37 - I don't know.
08:38 I don't know.
08:39 - He's a murderer.
08:41 - Helen.
08:42 - He's a murderer.
08:43 I saw it in his eyes.
08:45 Oh, I'm going to faint.
08:47 - Take your sister upstairs and put her to bed.
08:51 And make her mine too so she won't be underfoot.
08:56 I'll wait for Mr. Thomas Edward Griffith.
08:59 I am mighty Esquire.
09:01 - What if he doesn't come back?
09:04 - He'll come back.
09:06 He wouldn't walk out and leave all this.
09:08 - Neither will we.
09:10 - Neither will we.
09:12 (dramatic music)
09:15 (dramatic music)
09:18 (dramatic music)
09:21 (dramatic music)
09:24 (dramatic music)
09:26 (dramatic music)
09:29 (dramatic music)
09:32 (dramatic music)
09:35 (dramatic music)
09:39 (dramatic music)
09:59 (dramatic music)
10:02 (dramatic music)
10:05 (dramatic music)
10:08 (dramatic music)
10:10 (dramatic music)
10:13 (dramatic music)
10:16 (dramatic music)
10:41 (dramatic music)
10:43 (dramatic music)
11:04 - Who is it?
11:06 (dramatic music)
11:10 (dramatic music)
11:12 Who is it?
11:13 (dramatic music)
11:17 - I'm sorry I startled you, Mother.
11:27 - Don't call me Mother.
11:29 You and your smarmy, palmy talk.
11:33 I suppose that's how you landed Francis.
11:35 (dramatic music)
11:38 - I suppose you think you can get me drunk.
11:53 Well, you can't.
11:55 - I only want you to feel at home.
11:56 Mrs. Evercomby, I feel that I can be honest with you.
12:02 It isn't every widowed mother who can provide so well
12:04 for her orphaned daughters.
12:06 - What do you know about that?
12:07 - I understand you've sold your home.
12:10 - And I intend to keep the money.
12:13 You won't get your hands on it, not while I'm alive.
12:16 - I don't expect to.
12:18 But I think I must tell you that in spite of appearances
12:21 and from what you may have heard, I am not wealthy.
12:24 Not at all.
12:26 My only income comes from a trust fund left by my father
12:29 in charge of my uncle, Mr. George Griffith.
12:31 - So you lied to her.
12:34 - I never lie.
12:35 No lie can possibly be perfect.
12:37 And as you will learn, I idolize perfection.
12:39 - Talk, talk, talk.
12:42 Words, words, words.
12:45 - Words are my stock in trade.
12:47 Here is a book I published,
12:50 The Academy of Good Taste for Young Gentlemen,
12:52 or The Infant Connoisseur's Go-Kart.
12:55 Amusing, full of witty epigrams
12:57 which are quoted throughout London.
12:59 But it earned me nothing.
13:01 The time will come, however,
13:03 where I can begin to profit
13:04 from the reputation I am building.
13:06 You could make life happier for your daughter,
13:09 Mrs. Abercrombie, for your daughters,
13:12 by helping me to reach that goal.
13:14 - I wouldn't help you get anywhere.
13:17 - This was my house and I was master in it until I married.
13:21 - Well, I'm in it now,
13:23 and I intend to stay as long as I please
13:25 and live like I please,
13:28 or I'll tear your precious reputation down to nothing.
13:32 - Mrs. Abercrombie, I--
13:33 - Don't try any of your tricks with me.
13:36 - I'm sorry, Mrs. Abercrombie.
13:39 I had hoped against hope.
13:41 - Well, you can just quit hoping.
13:44 - I have.
13:46 Are you sure you want that?
13:51 - You just try to take it away from me.
13:54 - I won't.
13:58 (dramatic music)
14:00 - Good night, Mrs. Abercrombie.
14:05 - Good riddance to bad rubbish.
14:08 - Yes, good riddance.
14:10 (dramatic music)
14:12 (knocking)
14:38 - I should have told you about Mother and Helen.
14:41 - The moving finger writes and having writ moves on.
14:44 Not all your piety nor wit
14:45 can change or alter one half line of it.
14:47 - Does that mean it's all right?
14:51 - Everything will be all right soon.
14:55 (screaming)
14:58 (screaming)
15:00 (dramatic music)
15:16 (dramatic music)
15:18 - She's dead.
15:40 My mother is dead.
15:44 (dramatic music)
15:47 - She was perfectly well.
15:57 - We never know.
15:58 One moment health, the next oblivion.
16:01 As Leonardo said, the moment we are born, we begin to die.
16:05 - She won't say anything about this to anyone.
16:08 People would talk.
16:09 - Won't people talk anyway?
16:12 - I'm afraid so.
16:14 Then they'll forget.
16:16 - As you must forget, my dear.
16:18 Be thankful she died without suffering.
16:20 - How do you know she didn't suffer?
16:23 - He knows because he killed her.
16:25 I saw him do it.
16:27 Murderer.
16:27 - I was with you when she died.
16:32 - He murdered her.
16:33 He murdered Baba.
16:35 (screaming)
16:37 - He's a murderer.
16:38 He's a murderer.
16:40 (screaming)
16:43 (footsteps)
16:45 (footsteps)
16:47 (footsteps)
17:17 - This is my husband, Mr. Griffith.
17:19 This is Mr. Proctor.
17:20 He was my mother's attorney.
17:22 - Very kind of you to bring Mrs. Griffith home.
17:25 - I have some business to discuss with you, Mr. Griffith.
17:28 - Well, come in, come in.
17:30 (dramatic music)
17:34 (dramatic music)
17:37 (dramatic music)
18:06 - Quite a good likeness.
18:08 - A poor thing, but mine own.
18:10 You say you have some business with me, Mr. Proctor?
18:14 - As Mrs. Abercrombie's executor
18:17 and Miss Abercrombie's legal representative, yes.
18:20 - Does Miss Abercrombie need a legal representative?
18:23 - Her mother thought so.
18:24 - Tell him.
18:25 - I'm afraid this is going to be very disappointing
18:28 to you, Mr. Griffith.
18:30 - Why, Mr. Proctor?
18:31 - I know a good deal about your financial affairs.
18:35 - Do you?
18:35 - As it happens, our law firm has had business dealings
18:38 with your uncle, Mr. George Griffith.
18:40 - And my uncle talked to his black sheep nephew,
18:43 as he always does, not favorably, I'm sure.
18:45 I take it you've already quoted my uncle in extenso
18:51 to my wife and Miss Abercrombie?
18:53 - I considered that to be my duty.
18:55 - You're a very dutiful young man.
18:59 - I try to be.
19:00 The late Mrs. Abercrombie was a wise
19:02 and forethinking mother.
19:05 Demortuous nihil nisi bonum.
19:08 - What?
19:09 - Oh, I thought all good lawyers knew Latin.
19:12 Of the dead, speak nothing but the best.
19:14 - I would scarcely expect even you to speak slightingly,
19:18 especially under the circumstances.
19:19 In any case, Mrs. Abercrombie placed her estate in trust
19:25 with the proviso that it should go entire,
19:27 free of any claims by creditors
19:30 to whichever of her daughters remained unmarried
19:32 at the time of her death.
19:34 She did this in the belief that her married daughter
19:36 would be amply provided for by her husband.
19:39 - And you doubt my ability to support my wife
19:44 in the manner to which I had just begun to accustom her?
19:46 - I'm only saying, Mr. Griffith,
19:49 that I shall do everything in my power
19:51 to see that no claims by your creditors
19:54 deprive Miss Abercrombie of the estate
19:56 which now belongs solely to her.
19:59 Have I made myself clear?
20:00 - You have, indeed.
20:03 - I feel faint.
20:05 I'll take you upstairs.
20:08 I didn't know, I really didn't know.
20:20 - My perfect wife.
20:23 (dramatic music)
20:26 (door creaking)
20:29 (dramatic music)
20:32 (dramatic music)
20:35 (dramatic music)
20:56 (dramatic music)
20:59 (dramatic music)
21:28 - I've been watching for you.
21:30 - Why?
21:31 - Your uncle is here.
21:35 - Why?
21:36 - I thought perhaps if we could talk to him.
21:39 - We?
21:40 - I am your wife.
21:43 - My perfect wife.
21:45 - Mr. Stevens, the moneylender was here
21:52 about the notes you signed.
21:55 Three tradesmen came together.
21:57 They refused to deliver any more bread, coal, or meat
22:00 unless you pay something on account.
22:02 They heard about my mother's death.
22:05 They thought perhaps you were her heir.
22:08 That is, that I--
22:09 - That my wife brought me a fortune.
22:11 Of course you told them the truth.
22:13 - No, I asked them to be patient.
22:16 Then I sent your uncle a note.
22:19 - That was kind of you.
22:22 - I asked him to come here to visit us.
22:24 I had no idea he'd come immediately.
22:26 - My uncle wouldn't miss an opportunity to see me crawl--
22:28 - Crawl?
22:29 - Kneel, plead, implore him to cast me a crumb,
22:30 feed his fat conceit by begging for what belongs to me.
22:33 Where is he?
22:37 - I gave him my mother's room.
22:40 - Oh, so the stage is set.
22:43 Now you expect me to go up to him and whimper, "Please,"
22:46 so that he can rant and rave,
22:47 avenging your mother by humiliating me.
22:50 - Does my mother need avenging?
22:56 - Your charming sister thinks so.
22:58 (knocking)
23:14 - Come in.
23:15 So you finally decided to come home, eh?
23:22 - Well, Uncle George, I didn't expect to find you here,
23:24 as my guest.
23:26 - What did you expect?
23:27 Creditors on your doorstep, bailiffs in your drawing room?
23:30 - As you know, that would be nothing new.
23:33 However, the present situation
23:34 is quite different from the past.
23:36 - You mean it's worse.
23:37 Why did she marry you?
23:41 - She thought I was rich.
23:42 I thought she was rich.
23:44 We were both mistaken.
23:45 - So you added another pretty piece to your collection
23:49 that you can't afford to pay for.
23:51 - Uncle George, you hold 5,200 pounds
23:54 that actually belongs to me.
23:56 You have only to sign a piece of paper,
23:58 and there'll be no more creditors howling at my doorstep.
24:01 I shall be able to work, think, and write,
24:04 as I cannot do now.
24:05 - When you forged my signature,
24:08 that was a sample of your writing ability, I assume?
24:10 I am on to you, and I won't stand for any more of it.
24:14 How much is that thing worth?
24:20 - More than you could possibly understand.
24:23 - Then get someone to buy it.
24:25 Sell off the fancy-dancy this and that
24:27 that you've filled your house with.
24:29 There must be some fools who can afford their foolishness,
24:32 which you can't.
24:33 - Nothing in this house is for sale.
24:36 - Since when did beggars get to be choosers?
24:39 - Since when did you get to be God,
24:41 with the right to judge condemned to doom?
24:47 - This is the last time I shall ask you to help me.
24:50 - I've told you what to do.
24:52 If you don't want to do it, it's your bad luck and not mine.
24:55 - Are you sure, Uncle George?
25:00 Are you sure?
25:01 - You'd better not threaten me.
25:02 Otherwise, you'll never get a penny.
25:05 - Never is a very long time.
25:08 (dramatic music)
25:11 (coughing)
25:20 (screaming)
25:28 - They killed him!
25:33 They quarreled!
25:34 I heard them!
25:35 He killed his uncle away!
25:37 He killed my mom!
25:38 Murderer!
25:39 Murderer!
25:40 Murderer!
25:41 (dramatic music)
26:01 (bells ringing)
26:04 - He's to drink that, all of it, when he wakes.
26:19 He'll be right as rain in a day or so.
26:24 Probably outlive all of us.
26:25 Constitutionally, he's sound as English oak.
26:30 And, as I imagine you've noticed,
26:33 as hard to bend or break.
26:35 - He's going to die, isn't he?
26:42 Isn't he?
26:42 - No, dear.
26:43 There's a little trouble with his heart.
26:45 - I'm sorry to disappoint you, Helen.
26:47 - Good night, Doctor, thank you.
26:49 - Quite all right, Mrs. Griffith.
26:50 Happy to be of service.
26:51 - I'll show you out, Doctor.
26:53 - Make sure your uncle takes his medicine.
26:57 - Have you ever had a few drops of bread
26:59 to disguise the taste?
27:01 - Anything you say, Doctor.
27:02 - He's the one that's disappointed.
27:05 Did you see him?
27:06 He tried to murder his uncle, I know he did.
27:08 I don't care what that doctor said.
27:10 He tried to murder his uncle.
27:12 (dramatic music)
27:15 (dramatic music)
27:18 (cat meowing)
27:27 (paper crumpling)
27:40 (cat meowing)
27:45 (dramatic music)
27:47 (dramatic music)
27:50 (cat meowing)
28:15 (dramatic music)
28:17 (dramatic music)
28:21 (dramatic music)
28:24 (dramatic music)
28:28 (dramatic music)
28:30 (dramatic music)
28:48 (dramatic music)
28:51 - Uncle George.
29:06 Uncle George, wake up.
29:08 It's all right, Uncle George.
29:11 The doctor's been here.
29:13 He mixed this for you.
29:15 It's mostly brandy.
29:17 (dramatic music)
29:20 You ought to drink all of it.
29:26 Doctor's orders.
29:26 More, Uncle George.
29:34 (dramatic music)
29:45 (dramatic music)
29:47 (cat meowing)
30:09 (dramatic music)
30:12 (dramatic music)
30:15 - I must have dozed off.
30:30 I thought I heard a noise.
30:31 Wait!
30:34 (footsteps tapping)
30:37 - Helen should have been more careful, shouldn't she?
30:55 She called you a murderer.
30:57 - It would be very wrong of me to hold her accountable
30:59 for things said under the stress of shock and sorrow.
31:02 - The money comes to me now.
31:03 You know that, of course.
31:05 - This is hardly the time to talk about such matters
31:08 with your poor sister lying there.
31:09 I believe you heard the doctor tell me
31:26 to add brandy to his medicine to disguise its taste.
31:29 - Yes, I heard.
31:33 Uncle George must have waked just now
31:37 while I was dozing and smelled the brandy.
31:40 He loved brandy.
31:42 Strange, in the same night, in almost the same moment,
31:48 my uncle and your sister.
31:50 - But first, my mother.
31:53 - She loved brandy, too.
31:56 - You hated her.
31:59 You hated Helen.
32:01 You hated your uncle.
32:03 - Hate is a small and ugly word
32:05 for a smaller and uglier emotion.
32:06 - You even hated my cat!
32:08 (dramatic music)
32:11 A few drops of spilled brandy
32:13 lapped up from the floor wouldn't kill a cat.
32:15 Any more than brandy killed my mother.
32:19 Or him!
32:20 There was more than brandy in that glass, wasn't there?
32:24 And more than medicine, wasn't there?
32:27 Wasn't there?
32:28 Wasn't there?
32:29 Murderer.
32:34 You poisoner!
32:38 (dramatic music)
32:42 (dramatic music)
32:45 (dramatic music)
32:47 (dramatic music)
33:10 (dramatic music)
33:13 - Move along there, move along!
33:36 - Wherever he's run to, they'll find him.
33:37 - You're safe from him, I promise.
33:40 (dramatic music)
33:43 - Are you, are you Mr. Griffith?
33:57 - I am Thomas Edward Griffith.
34:00 - I am here to arrest you, Mr. Griffith,
34:02 and I must warn you, sir, that anything you may say
34:04 may be used in evidence against you.
34:07 - The charge, I presume, is murder?
34:10 - Mr. Justin, I point out to you
34:11 that he is the first to mention murder.
34:13 - Thus proving to Mr. Proctor's satisfaction
34:18 that a guilty conscience doth betray me.
34:20 Your name is Mustin?
34:24 - Justin. - Oh.
34:27 - Of the Bowbells Flying Squadron.
34:29 - Well, you hardly flew coming here.
34:31 In fact, you kept me waiting.
34:33 I sent my dear wife to fetch you hours ago.
34:37 - That's not true.
34:38 - Now, why do you suppose did I do that?
34:41 - She is no longer answerable to you.
34:44 - I believe she is still my wife,
34:47 and that under English law,
34:49 a wife cannot take the witness stand against her husband.
34:53 There is also the fact, Mr. Proctor,
34:56 that choice of an advisor and protector for my wife
34:59 rests entirely with me,
35:01 and I'm afraid you're not exactly
35:03 the Galahad sans peur et sans reproche
35:04 if I choose to guard my loving, loyal wife.
35:07 (dramatic music)
35:10 - Her neck is broken.
35:29 - Mr. Proctor was her protector.
35:31 You can see why I lack faith in you.
35:34 - Come along, sir.
35:35 (dramatic music)
35:38 - My business with Mr. Justin's employers will soon be settled
35:43 and then nothing will stand between us, my dear.
35:46 Nothing.
35:47 Carry those carefully, please.
35:53 Good day, Mr. Proctor.
35:55 Au revoir, my dear.
35:57 (dramatic music)
36:00 (indistinct chatter)
36:03 - No, Mr. Larimore, if your friend, Mr. Griffith,
36:21 needn't be locked up in the midst of all this,
36:24 if he confess and throw himself on Her Majesty's mercy,
36:28 he'll be moved to better quarters.
36:30 - And from there to execution, doc?
36:34 - And what else can a murderer expect?
36:38 He's in there.
36:39 - Well, Mr. Larimore?
36:47 - I, I came as soon as I heard.
36:50 - You needn't have hurried.
36:52 - I thought I would find you in deep distress.
36:54 - No interesting experience,
36:56 distress as an artist or a writer.
36:58 And since I am both, or neither,
37:00 depending on the point of view of my enemies or mine.
37:04 As a matter of fact, I am much respected here.
37:09 Not because I am called a poisoner,
37:11 but because the other prisoners think my crimes
37:13 earned me 10,000 pounds.
37:15 That makes me their hero,
37:16 since their own sins were so much less profitable.
37:20 - I came hoping you might let me help.
37:24 - In hanging me, or saving me?
37:26 - I don't know what can save you.
37:29 They say you've even threatened to kill your wife.
37:34 - No painting is finished, Mr. Larimore,
37:36 until the last brush stroke is applied.
37:39 - I don't understand.
37:40 - No, of course you don't.
37:44 Good night, Mr. Larimore.
37:46 Oh, Mr. Larimore, be so kind as to give my wife a message.
37:51 Say to her that I'm sure it will be only a few days
37:53 before I can come to her,
37:55 and we can resume settlement of matters
37:56 which remained unresolved when she and Mr. Proctor
37:59 brought Mr. Justin to arrest me.
38:02 I'm still laughing, Mr. Justin.
38:15 - This man is a murderer.
38:18 He doesn't even trouble to deny his own guilt.
38:21 He rests his defense on mockery,
38:23 and on a crooked game of confusion and obfuscation,
38:28 and on a claim of reasonable doubt.
38:31 What doubt can there be?
38:33 When an innocent man is accused,
38:36 he reacts with anger and indignation.
38:38 You, Mr. Griffith, manifest only contempt and cynicism.
38:43 Your attitude alone convicts you.
38:46 - I beg your pardon, Sir John.
38:49 My lord, may I speak?
38:53 - You may speak.
38:54 - The prosecutor demands your ruling
38:57 that I must stand trial for my life,
39:00 but it seems to me,
39:01 although perhaps I'm a little prejudiced,
39:03 that he destroys his own case by his summary of it.
39:07 I have been told the corpses of my departed uncle
39:10 and my wife's lamented mother have been exhumed,
39:12 examined for some trace of deadly poison,
39:14 yet the prosecutor offers no testimony
39:16 that these autopsies were rewarded.
39:19 As far as he can prove,
39:21 both my generous uncle George
39:23 and our beloved mother Abercrombie
39:25 died of natural causes.
39:28 Is that not true?
39:29 So Sir John must content himself with the claim
39:32 that I possess some deadly, unknown drug.
39:36 (laughs)
39:38 Oh, really now?
39:39 Do you believe a jury will credit me
39:42 with such satanic mastery of the fine art of murder?
39:46 I submit
39:49 the record shows me as arch defender
39:51 of the true and the beautiful.
39:53 These gentlemen describe me as arch poisoner,
39:55 but they cannot name the poison.
39:57 They pile suspicion on suspicion,
40:00 but they cannot produce plain facts.
40:02 - The Lord!
40:03 - Deny it, Sir John.
40:04 As sworn servant of Her Majesty
40:06 and upholder of the laws of England,
40:08 deny there is reasonable doubt.
40:10 - That is for the jury to decide.
40:13 - But do you dare to face a jury
40:16 with ramshackle, paste and scissors,
40:18 circumstantial evidence, that and nothing more?
40:21 - My Lord, I submit that...
40:23 (gavel bangs)
40:26 - The prisoner is remanded in custody
40:30 pending further disposition of the issue here before us.
40:34 (dramatic music)
40:37 - Come along now, Mr. Trevithan.
40:43 (dramatic music)
40:46 - Read all about it.
41:04 (indistinct)
41:06 He's got his way of freedom.
41:10 Get your English journal here.
41:13 - You think, Mr. Griffith,
41:14 that you've won a great victory over English law?
41:17 - Being free and clear by Lord Danforth's decision
41:20 is hardly a defeat.
41:21 - It isn't over, Mr. Griffith.
41:23 It can't be over.
41:24 - I beg to differ.
41:26 There's a statute concerning double jeopardy.
41:29 Having been arraigned and charged
41:30 and Her Majesty's Chief Justice having ruled,
41:33 there was not even sufficient evidence to place me on trial.
41:36 I cannot be charged again for the same alleged crimes.
41:40 - All London is up in arms against you, Mr. Griffith,
41:43 and I shan't consider my duty as done
41:45 until you are penned and punished.
41:47 - The baffled bloodhound baying at the unreachable moon.
41:52 - What's that?
41:55 - A draft on my uncle's bankers,
41:58 payable when I come into my inheritance.
42:00 I would like you to divide it among my fellow prisoners
42:04 so that they shall have pocket money
42:06 for their long voyage to the prison camp in Australia.
42:10 (door opens)
42:11 - Goodbye, Mr. Justly.
42:13 (door closes)
42:15 (dramatic music)
42:18 - Mr. Griffith!
42:30 - Well, Mr. Larrymore, I didn't expect to see you again.
42:36 - I owe you a debt and I'm trying to pay it.
42:38 - Please, Mr. Griffith, don't stand talking.
42:41 The news of your release is being shouted in the streets.
42:44 A mob is forming, armed with clubs and stones.
42:47 Here's money, all I have.
42:50 I've paid the coachman.
42:51 Hurry, Mr. Griffith.
42:52 - So a lamb becomes a lion, and for the sake of a serpent,
42:57 you've paid the coachman.
43:00 You've paid me a thousand times over
43:02 for favors that cost me no more
43:03 than a few well-chosen words.
43:07 But still, I must disappoint you, Mr. Larrymore.
43:09 I cannot run off and hide.
43:10 I have a rendezvous to keep.
43:12 - I beg you, Mr. Griffith, do not go to your wife.
43:15 - Did she send you here to plead her cause?
43:17 - I'm thinking only of you.
43:19 You were on a pedestal.
43:20 Now you've fallen, as Lucifer fell.
43:22 But still, something might be saved.
43:25 I beg you, Mr. Griffith.
43:26 The mob is coming.
43:30 There's stone here, Mr. Griffith.
43:32 They'll hang you if they can.
43:33 Go before it's too late.
43:35 (dramatic music)
43:38 (men shouting)
43:40 (dramatic music)
43:43 (gun fires)
44:04 - Too much.
44:09 - You live it.
44:11 You rejoice.
44:12 You thank the good things given.
44:17 What do the gods...
44:20 may be.
44:22 (dramatic music)
44:25 (dramatic music)
44:28 (dramatic music)
44:31 (gun fires)
44:55 (dramatic music)
44:58 - You are very rude to refuse to drink
45:06 a farewell toast with me, my dear.
45:08 They will cry, "You killed her."
45:14 I will say, "She chose a quick death by her own hand
45:19 "in preference to life with a husband she ruined
45:20 "when she called him Griffith the Poisoner."
45:25 And another case of reasonable doubt.
45:27 You have no other choice, my dear.
45:32 This or unbearable agony infinitely prolonged.
45:36 - I'm up here!
45:45 I'm here in the bedroom!
45:47 - Where's that Griffith?
45:48 - In here, please, quickly!
45:52 (footsteps)
45:54 I am here to arrest you, Mr. Griffith.
45:57 - There can be no charge against me now.
46:01 - Oh, you're quite wrong, Mr. Griffith.
46:06 In October 1828, you completed a certain
46:11 financial transaction.
46:13 Monies were held for you in trust
46:15 to the order of Mr. George Griffith.
46:17 - That's past history and buried with my uncle.
46:21 - No, Mr. Griffith.
46:22 I have here a bank draft
46:26 which bears your uncle's signature
46:28 and which you presented for payment.
46:29 Your uncle did not sign this, Mr. Griffith.
46:33 It has been compared with his true signature
46:35 and yours on the draft you gave me in Newgate.
46:37 You forged this draft, Mr. Griffith.
46:40 - I robbed no one.
46:43 The money was mine.
46:46 If that is, I anticipated time a little.
46:50 - You confess to forgery in the presence of these witnesses?
46:53 - No matter if I do, I am not under oath or on trial.
46:55 - But you will be, Mr. Griffith.
46:59 You will be.
47:00 And the penalty for uttering false paper
47:05 under the law at which Mr. Griffith
47:07 has laughed until this moment
47:08 is transportation to Australia
47:12 as a prisoner at hard labor
47:14 in the penal colonies for life
47:17 with no possibility of parole.
47:20 Of course, it's not the same thing
47:21 as hanging an execution doc for murder,
47:24 but for such a perfectionist as Mr. Griffith,
47:26 it may be worse.
47:28 It may be worse.
47:31 (dramatic music)
47:36 (dramatic music)
47:39 - That no life lives forever.
48:00 Dead men rise up never.
48:05 And even the
48:06 witness
48:10 Griffith
48:12 bites the dust.
48:15 (dramatic music)
48:20 (dramatic music)
48:23 (dramatic music)
48:26 (dramatic music)
48:28 (dramatic music)
48:53 (dramatic music)
48:56 (dramatic music)
48:59 (dramatic music)
49:21 (dramatic music)
49:24 (dramatic music)
49:45 (dramatic music)
49:47 (dramatic music)
49:50 (thunder crashing)