01x02 - Don't Look Behind You

[bunniefuu]

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen,

and welcome to the Alfred Hitchcock Hour.

I trust you will excuse

my startled expression,

but this is what I just

pulled out of my hat.

It's rather a shock when one is expecting

a rabbit. However, I suppose it isn't as

traumatic as it would

be if I were expecting her

and got the rabbit. Since

my hand is not quicker

than the eye, I think

she will be quite useful

in diverting your

attention. This evening,

I shall attempt several

feats of legidimine.

One is to make an hour

disappear without you realizing it.

That will not be easy

considering this first minute.

Oh! Daphne! Did I startle you, my dear?

Yes. Where's your young man Harold? Oh,

he had a department meeting. I waited, but

then I came on. You walked from the campus

through the wood? Yes. You

must have pretty good nerves.

Dr. McFarland, I think

somebody followed me.

Are you sure?

Yes. I saw branches

and bushes moving. That must

have been the wind, my dear.

Come on in. Oh, please don't say

anything inside. My wife gets hysterical.

There's been too much

talk already. Come on.

Yes, of course. You'll

very soon learn to

take these department meetings with greater

Patience after you've married Harold and

become a faculty wife. Daphne, how nice

to see you. Oh, hello. How lovely you look.

Thank you. Hello, Wanda.

Hello. Where's Paul?

Oh, my husband deserted

me on the way over here.

He's a great bird lover. Yes, he jumped out

of the car and ran after a hermit thrush.

You mean he's in the woods chasing a bird?

Yes. Oh, that's all it was? All what was?

Nothing. Nothing at all.

Oh, Edwin! Come in, Edwin.

You know Edwin

Vogt, don't you? Yes.

We've never had anyone so brilliant in

the music department, have we, Edwin?

Oh, I wouldn't say that.

Daphne, it's so nice to see you again.

How do you do, Wanda? Oh, I do very well.

Thank you. Hello, Edwin. Have a c*ck.

Thank you. Oh, thank you.

Thank you. Cheers. Cheers.

Harold!

Good evening, Ms. McFarland, doctor.

That girl deserves a good spanking. This

is your girl. Spank her. What has she done?

She walked over here alone,

took the shortcut through the wood.

I waited half an hour for you.

I left you a note.

Yes, I know what you did, darling,

but I was still anxious about you.

Why in heaven's name did you take a

shortcut? Did you come through the wood?

Oh, wild horses couldn't get me

through there. You had me worried.

I apologize for charging in like that

with the way things are around here.

Please, please.

Don't have to talk about it.

May I?

Paul! Sorry to be late.

You're not late, Paul.

Help yourself to a drink.

Thank you.

How are you? Fine. I think

we almost met a little earlier.

This evening? When?

Weren't you chasing a bird?

Oh, a hermit thrush. People don't realize

how beautifully that bird sings, angelic.

I thought someone was

chasing me through the woods.

I took the shortcut over from the campus.

I guess it was you I heard.

My thrush was in the trees by the

cemetery, nowhere near the shortcut.

Oh. Well.

So it couldn't have been me.

No, I suppose not.

Well, probably just something

running through the undergrowth.

Probably.

I'm Dave Fulton.

I've noticed you quite often on the campus.

You're in med school, aren't you? Yes.

I asked Dr. McFarland to invite

me here when you were coming.

I was warned you're more or

less engaged to Harold, but.

you are allowed to talk

to other men, aren't you?

As a matter of fact, Harold

is cross with me now.

I walked here through the woods.

Alone? Were you being brave or something?

Well, it's such a long way the other

way around.

In any way, it wasn't really dark.

It wasn't really wise either.

May I tell you, you're much too

attractive to take such chances.

One of those girls was k*lled in that

moment, you know.

I doubt if they'll ever get him.

There's nothing to go on. There may be.

Next time. You're so sure

there's going to be a next time.

Thank you. Harold believes

that the k*ller is deranged.

A sadist. Maybe

somebody's not found yet.

Why should it be deranged?

It could have been a thief.

Perhaps a girl screamed

and he lost his head.

Edwin, thieves don't use

a knife the way he did.

If you'd only seen the body we found.

Terrence, please.

Will you not discuss the details? When my

husband and Harold get together, they're just.

.. It's all very horrible.

But that's what makes it fascinating.

I once knew an awful old man who had a

couple of books on t*rture.

Covered in human skin.

This k*ller might have cleared out.

He isn't necessarily a local man.

But I think he is, Edwin.

You may remember that Jack the Ripper

stuck to one section of London.

And the French Bluebeard, Landroux,

stayed in Paris. Fritz Harmon, who's he?

I never heard of him.

A foul creature in Hanover. He m*rder*d

more than 40 men in his butcher's shop.

Harold, you can't

make me believe that a

college town like Woodside

would even be likely

to harbor a mass m*rder*r. On the contrary.

College community is

an ideal place, for one.

I agree. Yes.

You see, there are a lot of

high-strung individuals here.

Many are frustrated. Some very curious.

Easily apt to be well up

on the literature of m*rder.

Don't you couple that with

the power of suggestion?

Well, now, you take an intelligent man who's

even slightly off balance, for example.

Say that he's dissatisfied.

He's building up grudges.

I suppose he's been reading

about these multiple K*llers.

Harmon writes in the

Beth Smith, Gilles Duret.

He was a man who was very artistic.

A scholar.

The Marquis de Sade? You're pretty

well up on m*rder yourself, aren't you?

Or he may be a specialized

kind of madman who.

is only occasionally seized

by these compulsions.

He could be someone in

the university atmosphere.

He could easily be one of us.

Oh, now really, help. Surely that

doesn't include us girls, I hope.

No, I'm inclined to think it's a man.

If you ask why he

does this, I think it's a

pathological distortion

of something normal.

Something that's already

there, waiting in all of us.

Sane, insane. It's all a matter of balance.

Haven't any of you ever felt

that when you were terribly tired or

worried sick about something,

that keeping your sanity was like.

walking a tightrope stretched

across a great chasm, and that

if the slightest thing

went wrong, it toppled off?

It never stopped falling?

Have you ever felt like that, Harold?

I think anyone who hasn't

is extremely fortunate.

You have surgery early tomorrow

morning, don't you? Oh, yes.

And he likes to take a

walk before he goes to bed.

I think it's time we all went home.

What a marvelous moon. It's lighter

than when I came through earlier.

You know, I could have

sworn something was

following me when I came

through here before dinner.

I don't know exactly how to explain it,

except that it stopped when I stopped

and went on when I went on.

When it finally made a rush towards me,

you should have seen me.

I practically ran the rest of the way.

It wasn't some mischievous

child, was it? Oh, no.

No children would be in here that

time of night. It was dark and spooky.

Well, maybe it was a dog.

Maybe. Probably was.

Oh, you are on edge, aren't you?

Why in the world didn't you tell me?

We needn't have come back this way.

No, I wanted to come through. I wanted

to come through with you and feel safe.

Do you know what I mean? I know.

Where are you?

Where are you?

He was trying for the heart.

Give me your towel, quickly.

Thank you.

All right.

She's fainted. We hadn't frightened him.

He might have k*lled her.

Maybe it was you he was after.

If she was only a

substitute, he may try again.

If the woman hadn't had any of his

attention, she'd have bled to death.

But she was doing very

well when I came along.

I'm lucky you heard her scream.

Well, I usually take a walk the last thing.

I thought the man might still be there.

What has she said about the attack?

It seems she went out to mail

a letter and he sprang on her.

She was on that back road.

No, not actually in the woods.

He seemed terribly strong, she said,

and dragged her in among the trees.

She couldn't describe him.

She doesn't remember much, really.

Oh, hello, Harold.

Did the police say anything?

Well, no, just that she may

remember more a little later.

Oh, I doubt if she will.

Looking at the hospital,

Daphne, she'd like to thank you.

Yes, of course I will.

Goodbye, doctor.

The police still think

that it isn't necessarily

the same man

after the other k*lling.

But I said that it had to be a particular

kind of man in a particular state of mind.

And that they might need the help

of a psychologist in running him down.

Anyway, I told him I'd do

anything I could to help.

Oh, don't get mixed up with this, Harold.

Darling, you know how

interested I am in these

things, these strange

twists of the mind.

That's why I went into

psychology in the first place.

It's a wonderful

opportunity for me to test out

some theories I've had

in abnormal behavior.

The only problem is

I'm going to have to work

alone because the police

don't go along with me.

I think you should stay out of it.

Daphne, you want this

man caught, don't you?

You know, I can't forget that it

might have been you he was following.

Why would he try to get me?

I don't know, but I'm going to

make sure that he never does.

Oh, hello, Dave.

Well, you're always creeping

up behind me, aren't you?

I stopped by to see how you

came through all the excitement.

Well, I have a lecture to give.

I'll call you later for dinner, darling.

That was a terrible thing last night.

If I'd walked home that

way, I might have caught him.

I thought you rode home with Paul.

No, I stayed talking with Mrs. McFarland.

Then I walked home the long way around.

Alone? At that time of night?

Now, why should he walk when he could ride?

Do you want me to tell you?

Well, remember how you felt

listening to Edwin at the piano?

That's how I felt after you'd gone.

I just wanted to walk and think about you.

You pay the most curious compliments.

First, you ask Dr. McFarland

to invite you to dinner.

Then you tell me I'm too

beautiful to be married.

And now the moonlight.

I didn't know you were out there.

Edwin, that was beautiful.

Stay there. I'll join you.

Oh, no, I can't stay.

That was the moonlight

sonata you were playing?

Yes.

I'll play you some of those

French melodies you seem to like.

If you'd care to come in for a while.

No, I'm expecting Harold to call.

They're all dance tunes, really.

Do I make them sound sad?

Yes.

There is a sort of sorrow in them.

Not in them.

It's in me.

Music always gives away one's

feelings, especially loneliness.

That's the universal human

predicament, isn't it? Loneliness.

I think in very talented people

like yourself, it helps to create.

Well, I must go. Goodbye.

Oh, am I glad you're still awake.

I thought you were going to call.

Oh, I know it, honey. I'm sorry,

but I had such a hectic day I forgot.

Have you had any dinner?

No, I didn't even have time to eat.

But you know something? Here.

I think I'm finally making some progress.

Of course, the police

think I'm just another crazy

professor, but they don't

understand what's going on.

You remember last

night I said that the k*ller

might be sitting there

at the table with us?

Well, I was right.

He was. You know how I know?

The police went out there and they searched

that whole area where they found the girl.

Nothing.

I went out on my own.

I found a c*ck napkin with

the McFarland's name on it.

Oh, well, that doesn't mean anything.

People are at the McFarland's all the time.

Somebody could have dropped

it or it could have flown there.

No, that's what the

police said, but I disagree.

They say that this as*ault

isn't like the rest of them.

Darling, we know

everybody at the McFarland's.

Whether we know them or not

hasn't got the slightest bearing on this.

Now, this k*ller gets a great

satisfaction out of terror and destruction.

And as children, we have much the

same impulses, but we grow out of them.

Now, either he hasn't or

they've reoccurred in him.

Horrible.

Yes, it is horrible.

We're moving in a region of horror.

Now, the police have got

everybody pinned down.

They're pretty good at that, you know.

Dr. McFarland was out last

night on his nightcap stroll.

Edwin walked home alone.

I know it, and so did Dave.

I had lunch with him today.

Oh, he did?

Paul, however, was not.

He jumped out of the car to look

at a screech owl or something.

I don't know what it was.

Besides, I don't think it would be

Dave because he's much too normal.

You'd rather have it anybody

than Dave, wouldn't you?

I'd sooner he never got caught

than have it be somebody we know.

But, honey, it is someone we know.

Now, you heard the way that girl screamed.

I want this fellow caught

before he makes you scream.

He isn't after me.

Daphne, I know this man's secret mind.

I've studied these people.

I know how they think.

It's frightening sometimes

how you know people.

He watches you.

To him, you're like a living Jewel.

You're your perfection.

You're irreplaceable, and to

destroy you would be a triumph.

Now, he followed you,

but he didn't get you.

The other woman was just a substitute,

but he didn't succeed with her either.

So he's going to come

back to his first choice.

We can catch him through

you and only through you.

I want you to be a decoy.

I want you to walk through

the woods again alone.

No.

I'll be there, but I'll be out of sight.

I have a g*n.

Well, how do you know you

can catch him even with a g*n?

Use a police decoy.

They have people who do that sort of thing.

But it's you he wants,

don't you understand?

It's not going to be

any more of a risk than

you're running right now

every day, every minute.

Don't walk through that woods again.

I don't know how you can

ask me to do such a thing.

Daphne, besides protecting you,

we may save the lives of others.

Now, how would you feel if

some morning you woke up and

there was another girl had been strangled

and slashed when we could have stopped it?

This has to be done at once, darling.

Well, this periodic

excitement is still with him.

We could drop into the

McFarland's tomorrow night,

and I'll let it be known that we'll be

over there, but not what we're going to do.

Nobody would ever believe

I'd go through that woods again.

Not now.

Yes, he will, because that's

what he wants to believe.

And he'll wait until you do.

He'll never stop watching you.

I know this kind of mind.

I can't, Harold.

Don't ask me again.

I can't.

All right.

All right.

Talk about it tomorrow.

I won't change my mind.

Hello, Harold.

Yes, I'm sorry to call you this time of

night, but somebody tried to break in here.

No, no, he climbed the tree.

No, I only got a glimpse of him.

Didn't look like anybody I knew.

No, no, please come over

when it's light, will you?

You can see for yourself.

Yes, and Harold, I'll go through

that woods again, whenever you say.

Yes.

I shall begin my act immediately following

the station break, so please hurry back.

I warned you not to stay so long.

You can hardly expect rabbits to simply sit

around waiting for a station break to end.

Now it is time for the

second half of our story.

Perhaps after that, there

will be time for a few tricks.

Well, it's been a lovely evening, doctor.

I'm afraid we've stayed too late.

Not at all.

Delighted to have you,

and thank you for the reports.

Can't I drive you back?

Oh, no, thank you.

We'd rather walk.

Well, there's no need to tell

you, stay clear of the wood.

Ah, the police haven't got a

thing on the k*ller yet, Paul.

But if they get on to you, a bird lover

who's seen at odd times and odd places,

you'll be a hot suspect.

Well, if I were the m*rder*r, I think I

could guarantee that I'd never be caught.

When this one's caught, you

may find that it's only the beginning.

Whatever you mean by that, good night.

Good night, Daphne and Harold.

Look after her.

Good night, my dear.

Good night.

It's always a delight to see you.

Good night, Harold.

All you have to do is keep walking

in a natural pace like you are now.

Do you mind if I hope he's not there?

Ah, but he will be.

I told you he watches you.

He knows you're out here.

He'll be waiting for you.

Maybe he'll guess it's a trap.

I know, but he won't believe that

because he wants you so much.

And then when he sees you, he won't be able

to hold back because it's a compulsion.

I'm going to slip away in a moment.

Oh, darling, I'm frightened.

Shouldn't we get the help of the police?

I tried to, but they don't

go along with my theory.

You'll keep me in

sight, won't you, darling?

You won't be able to see me,

but I'll be near you all the time.

I'm glad there's a moon.

Clouds, though.

My heart is pounding.

You'll come immediately

if I call, won't you, Harold?

Harold?

Oh.

Who is it?

Who is it?

Did I frighten you?

Yes, you did a little.

Only a little? That's good.

It seemed to me that I frightened

you quite badly the other evening.

The other evening?

On your way to dinner at the McFarland's.

You began running.

Why did you follow me then?

Oh, it's a habit of mine.

There was nothing to be afraid of.

Not then.

But I only wanted you to

know that you were not alone.

You certainly must feel

that you're not alone now.

This would be different.

I'm glad you like my music.

But that's not all there is, you know.

That's not the best-

Shut up! No, no, no, no.

No, you mustn't go now.

You mustn't go now!

No!

It worked, Taffney.

It worked.

Is he dead?

No.

No, he's not dead.

You know, Edwin reads music

like you and I might read a book.

He hears the sounds in his head.

Having his music there at the home

should be some consolation to him.

Why don't you come in, darling?

No, I don't like being here.

But I wanted you here.

I know it's a little untidy, but

the police have searched it.

Edwin's apartment is exactly the

place for something I have to tell you.

Yes, I think I know what it is.

You want to tell me that you

don't think the attacks are over

and that they may be after me.

Who told you that? Dave.

Dave is always popping up, isn't he?

On the campus, in the wood.

He said you told him the

night you caught Edwin.

I reminded them all that some crimes

come in waves as if they're contagious.

The ceremonial knife, blood sacrifices,

that appeals to some mentalities.

But this may have spread

already in the town, on the campus.

You mean you think he may

have associates or imitators?

Men with the same ideas as

Edwin, the same objectives.

Who do you think? I don't know.

I wouldn't want to point a finger at

anyone, but Daphne, look around this room.

You remember how you felt

about Edwin, his music, his charm,

and yet in his heart he hated all women.

He would have strangled you

and sliced you with that knife.

But Daphne, you mustn't trust anybody.

Dave, not anyone.

Well, I'll take the music to Edwin.

He and I were very close friends, you know.

Poor soul.

Hello, Edwin.

How are you?

I brought you most of your music.

I thought maybe you'd like

to play it when you feel better.

There's a piano in the lounge.

That time with the girl in the wood,

when Daphne and I interrupted you,

that was all for nothing, wasn't it?

We came too soon, and you began it wrong.

You tried to take

the life without the

ceremonial, so the

compulsion stayed with you.

Then you had to try again with Daphne.

Well, I must be going now, Edwin.

I'll come and see you again.

I know you will.

I'm looking forward to it.

Are you going to be

roaming around again tonight?

I have some more

clothes I want to follow up.

Harold, why don't you

leave this up to the police?

I have to continue on my own.

I've been studying Edwin's analysis.

Digging into his mind, and

here is the smell of blood still.

It's fascinating.

His ideas go far back in time.

They run deep, and he's not

so non-sane as one might think.

Will you have dinner with

me, darling? No, I can't.

I have a special class

tonight, added biochemistry.

That's the one that Dave teaches, isn't it?

The small class.

And afterwards, I suppose he'll ask

you to have dinner with him or a supper.

Now, don't go, Daphne.

Don't go.

Darling, what's gotten into you?

What's gotten into

everyone? Me, you, Dave.

What got into Edwin?

We'll never know.

Edwin, you poor dear.

You're worn out.

It's this terrible business with Edwin.

Standing guard over me,

and working half the day, and

hunting heaven knows what half the night.

What if I were to go away?

I'd be sure nobody ever found Edwin.

No, no, no, no.

Don't do that.

Don't go.

Especially don't go now.

Darling, why don't you lie down and rest?

I have some things I better do.

Harold, I'm sorry about dinner.

That's all right.

You have a good time with Dave.

Did you have dinner this

evening? No, not really.

How about coffee and

something with me? No, thank you.

I'm going straight home.

Harold waiting?

I begin to wonder whether all his talk

about you being in danger is imagination.

He was right about Edwin.

He was, wasn't he?

You know, a man like Edwin never realizes

he's committing an abominable crime.

He's merely yielding to an urge.

Such men worship dark and nameless gods.

They act out the fantasies that

obsess their unbalanced minds.

You really can't blame somebody like Edwin.

That doesn't make them any less dangerous.

That's exactly why Harold

is so absorbed in this.

Yes, deeply.

It absorbs him when he

should be absorbed in you.

Harold has been working night and day trying

to prevent anything else from happening

to me or to anyone else.

Daphne, I'm going to say this.

I think there's a lot of

pretense about you and Harold.

There always has been, hasn't there?

You're not really in love.

That's what I mean by pretense.

Harold may be in love with

you in his way, but you're not.

How dare you say such a thing to me.

You're ducking away from the truth.

I'm very fond of Harold.

I think I may owe him my life.

He certainly deserves my loyalty.

That's a poor substitute for love.

Are you jealous of Harold?

No, but he is of me.

Good night, Dave.

Oh, Daphne.

Hello, darling.

I saw your light.

Oh, you know, I never realized

how beautiful you're looking.

You look like a bride.

Oh, you must have come straight down here.

Yes, I did.

Sit down, darling, sit down.

I want to celebrate.

I made my mind up about something.

Oh, this is wine that I keep

for very special occasions.

Faculty birthdays.

It's wonderful the way

you just walked in here.

I never expected that.

Yes, I just been talking with Dave.

I'll always remember you as

you are at this moment, darling.

Smiling at me across a glass of wine.

Cheers.

Cheers.

You came from Dave to me.

I like that because I

have something to tell you.

About Dave?

No, no, I know how you feel about him.

I'm not blind, you know.

Harold, if you're jealous of Dave, I

can assure you it's quite without reason.

Without reason, you

said? Without reason.

No, that isn't what I

wanted to talk to you about.

There's something else, and

this is the perfect place to do it.

You said you'd made up

your mind about something.

Yes, my darling.

I have, and we won't be interrupted here.

Now, I don't want you to be

frightened by what I have to say.

and run away as you did with Edwin.

But he intended to.

Edwin k*lled those women

in hatred and revenge.

But I've decided tonight to make

you completely my own for love.

In the full aesthetic moment.

of final sacrifice.

Pain is only a secret name

for pleasure, my darling.

And there can be no true

sacrifice, no complete feeling of love.

Unless the victim dies.

You're mine, Daphne.

Just mine.

He really caught this contagion,

this spirit of k*lling from Edwin.

A strange and ancient

illusion that by blood sacrifice,

you can reach a more intense communion.

Jealousy unbalanced his

mind, but you're safe now.

Harold is here.

I knew he would be.

I've been looking forward to it.

Next week, we should

be back with another story.

Now, there is just time

enough for my escape act.

Good night.