800 - July 17, 1969

[bunniefuu]

[ creepy music ]

NARRATOR:Collinwood at the turn of the century

is a place where people are driven to desperate deeds.

Desperation and sorrow

have driven Magda to destroy the hand

she stole from her own people.

But to her horror, she as well as others,

will learn that it is not the hand that is destroyed,

it is the people it touches.

[ suspenseful music ]

[ clock gonging ]

No,

no, no!

[ dramatic music ]

[ crying ]

[ dramatic music ]

MAGDA:That hand is so powerful, it is in books,

it is the most magic hand the world has ever known.

[ suspenseful music ]

And, you're what I need.

You're exactly what I need.

[ creepy music ]

[ knocking on door ]

Oh, Quentin.

- I was just coming to see you. - No, no, you can't go there.

Why not?

Quentin, Quentin, could I have, could I have s-some whiskey?

A glass, please.

[ suspenseful music ]

Here.

Now tell me Magda,

why shouldn't I go to the old house?

- The hand. - What about it?

- Oh. - QUENTIN: Well?

It, it crawled out of the fireplace,

came towards me, I ran.

Magda, are you sure you haven't had a few glasses of whiskey

before this one?

No Quentin. Quentin, I am sober, I swear,

I am scared. Scared, yes, but I am sober.

I knew that hand was evil, but I did not know how evil.

Oh, if I only knew what it would do for me,

what it would take from me--

Magda!

We have all lost a lot.

Oh, thank you Quentin, you're a very understanding man.

The child who died was my son, Magda, remember that?

My son, who I never got to see.

Yes, he was a very pretty baby.

Good baby, the little girl too.

Every day I wake up

and wonder if she's still alive.

My head aches from thinking what I could do to help her.

And if you could help her

so that she could grow up to be a beautiful young girl,

what happens then?

What happens when she marries?

What happens to her children?

I cure her.

Her sons will... will dread the full moon.

And, uh... uh, supposing I told you

I could do something about that.

Would you say, "Do it?"

Oh, the question, of course.

Suppose I told you

I needed the hand to accomplish it?

Quentin, Quentin, you know what the hand did?

Because we didn't know how to use it.

But there is someone who knows how to use it correctly.

Now, if I give him that hand,

in exchange for that, he'll end the curse.

- How do you know that he can? - I don't know,

but I'm going to take the chance.

Now we're going to the old house and get that hand,

and I'm going to give it to him.

[ stammering ] Tell me, tell me the name of this man

who claims he can cure you.

Oh, what's the matter?

Well, maybe you wouldn't understand, Magda.

Um, maybe I would understand, what is it.

All right, very well, it's Aristede.

Aristede, he is going to help you?

QUENTIN: Yes.

Ah, I've heard everything, that man tried to k*ll you.

Magda, be quiet,

and listen to me.

All right, Quentin, I'm listening.

What Aristede did wasn't done to me personally.

He had to do it because he needed the hand very badly.

Now there's nothing wrong with that.

Oh, yes, there is.

That hand belongs to the gypsies.

It was in their possession for over years.

Then your people are going to have to do without it,

because I'm going to give it to Aristede,

and he's going to cure me.

You're a fool to believe in him.

I'll take the chance of being a fool if it will cure me.

And it will keep my little girl

from carrying it to her sons.

Will you take that chance, Magda?

For Jenny's child?

Magda, if we give him the hand and let it cure me,

for then who knows, maybe he won't get to keep it.

Maybe he will be able to give it back to your people.

Come on, already,

you're thinking of betraying him.

I'm thinking of nothing but being cured.

Now, we are going to the old house,

and to that hand.

You-- You go without me.

Magda, surely you aren't frightened of it.

Oh, oh, Quentin, you would have been frightened too,

if you had seen it coming out of the fireplace.

Magda, people are frightened

when they have something to lose.

Now we are in that strange, satisfying state

of having nothing further to lose.

Now what reason is there for us to be frightened anymore?

[ perplexing music ]

[ clock bell ringing ]

[ knocking on door ]

[ knocking on door ]

[ gasping ]

No, Mr. Hanley, don't close that door.

No, no, no.

You and I have some very important business to discuss

this evening.

[ diabolical music ]

Quentin, Quentin, it ain't here.

Well, where can it be? Did anyone else see it?

Are you sure?

I'm sure, nobody even knows about it but us and--

and Evan Hanly.

QUENTIN: No, we wouldn't take it, I'm sure of it.

Oh, and Aristede,

how sure are you of your good friend, Aristede?

Oh, and what about his friend,

that grand man you met with him, eh?

Victor?

He claims they don't know each other.

Oh, maybe it's true and maybe it's not,

I don't know, but maybe--

maybe nobody took it.

It's got a will of its own, a desire of its own.

Maybe whatever it is, it wants to be there.

[ chuckling ]

I've been very curious about my new possession.

- What about it? - What about it?

That's what I want to know from you.

My field of study is the law, not gypsy artifacts.

How do you know it has anything to do with gypsies?

Well, I've, uh, I've seen boxes with carvings like that before.

But not with similar content,

you must admit, this hand is unique, isn't it?

- Mr. HANLEY: I don't know. - You don't know.

You do know, [ laughs ]

and I know you know.

I heard Magda talking.

Is that why you came here?

One of the reasons, it will do for a...

for a start.

If you don't know how to use it, that hand can be very dangerous.

Oh, I know enough about how to use it.

And before you and I are finished speaking tonight,

I shall know a great deal more,

won't I?

I tell you, it can be dangerous.

Dangerous for you, my friend, but not for me.

I intend to let this hand work its will on you.

Oh, that frightens you,

doesn't it, Mr. Hanley?

[ suspenseful music ]

[ intriguing music ]

And so the gypsies finally agreed to remove

the curse of the werewolf from Count Petofi.

But their price for doing so was the hand.

They took it from him and with it, most of his powers.

Those powers belong, then, to

whomever has control of the hand.

No one knows for sure.

The only certainty is that the hand, like its former o-owner,

brings only evil.

Ah ha.

Well, well, well, you answered that question

very nicely, indeed.

Now ,let me try something

a little more recent.

I told you I had more than one reason for coming here tonight,

and I have.

I have this, I've been puzzling over what it must mean.

I don't think I shall have to puzzle about that much longer.

[ suspenseful music ]

It's a curious note.

Oh, it says, it's a curious note,

the Queen of Spades is the one, now.

What can that mean?

You're going to tell me.

Evan, aren't you?

I, uh...

I don't know what it means.

You do know, you know very well what it means

because you wrote it.

You wrote it, Evan, now why did you write it, why?

Evan!

No.

Make it stop, make-- make it go away.

TIM: There is no place for you to run,

now answer my question, Evan, why did you write that note?

- He made me write it. - TIM: Who?

- Trask! - Trask, ah ha, I knew it,

I knew he was behind all this, why?

Tell me, why did you-- why did he he make you do it?

It was a plot that he and I worked out together, he--

He wanted to have his wife k*lled.

To k*ll his wife, and you simply had me do it, didn't you?

- Yes. - All right, Evan, how?

Begin at the beginning, I want you to tell me exactly

what you did and exactly what happened.

Everything.

[ curious music ]

[ suspenseful music ]

Why are you late, Aristede?

You know that waiting always makes me fretful.

I-I couldn't help it, Victor.

- in exchange for the hand.

[ stammering ] I, uh, I don't have it.

Don't have it?

You are stupid and incompetent and clumsy.

Victor please, it's not my fault!

- Whose fault is it, this time? - It's Quentin Collins.

What do you mean?

Well, we were supposed to meet at the Blue Whale.

VICTOR: And he didn't come.

He came, all right, but he didn't bring the hand with him.

- Why not? - Well, h-he claims he lost it.

And you believed him?

Yes, well there's no reason for him not to give me the hand.

Yes there is. He has a brain in his head,

something which you,

have nothing behind that lovely face of yours,

cannot possibly understand.

I know all long that he was lying to you.

Well, why'd you make me go meet him at the Blue Whale?

Because I was desperate.

Desperate enough to do anything.

Even to do the job myself.

You can't do that.

I've relied on you for too long, Aristede.

Circumstances have forced me to be patient for too long,

but I can no longer afford patience,

you know that.

I know you can't come out into the open,

it's too dangerous.

What about the danger if I do not get the hand?

I tell you I must have that hand.

[ diabolical music ]

[ frenzied music ]

What's going on here?

I think you know that, Mr. Collins.

I regret that I've been less than completely honest

with you in the past, but

sometimes from the purest motives,

one is forced to follow the most devious routes.

I should like to know

just what those motives are, Mr. Fenn-Gibbons,

and they had better be pure

or you're not going to get out of here alive.

Please, threats make me extremely uncomfortable.

I'm sure we can find some way to conduct our business

in a more pleasant manner.

Our business?

Yes, despite the irregularities of our methods,

I am here on a matter of business.

You have something...

I wanted.

- You want the hand? - Very much so, Mr. Collins.

I have wanted it for a long time.

- Mr. COLLINS: Why? - Why?

Because it is unique in the entire world.

Because I am a collector of the unique.

Because I pursue anything

that meets the standards I've set myself.

That is why I am the one person in the world who should have it.

May I be completely frank with you, Mr. Collins?

Once, I had the hand.

I asked no more of it than was my due to ask.

- Why don't you have it now? - A good question.

The truth is, I owned the hand at one time,

but if you do now know it,

let me tell you that there are men who are unscrupulous.

Men who smile, and smile and steal,

as easily as they smile.

I, who know so much about some things,

am a mere babe-in-arms about all this,

but I do not regret it.

I must maintain a certain innocence in order to be worthy

of the beauty I constantly seek.

- We ain't got what you want. - I think you have.

Mr. COLLINS: She doesn't have it.

She told you she doesn't have it.

She told you it disappeared

before her startled gypsy eyes.

One thing I've learned during my career as a collector is

that every gypsy had a price.

Whatever that price may be, I will pay it.

I'm tellin' you the truth, we ain't got it.

During my career, I've learned another thing--

I don't always trust the word of gypsy.

I never trust it, now stop your lying and tell the truth!

- [ smacking ] - I will--

You'll do nothing except what I say.

No, Aristede!

You'll do nothing except what I say.

Sometimes stupid, sometimes cruel,

but generally a nice boy.

Now get out my dear Aristede, I'll handle this myself.

- No! - Yes!

Now you see, you've upset the lady,

and we were trying to woo her.

Now get out.

Pray, accept my apologies, madam.

[ sighing ] I don't want your apologies.

I don't want nothing else to do with you.

He only did it, I assure you,

because he knew how anxious I was to get the hand.

He knew what a passion it has become with me.

Come madam...

Smile.

Gypsy women are very beautiful.

I ain't got nothing to smile at.

Well, there is always something to smile at.

The expectation of a new possession,

the river of light that runs through a glass of wine.

Come madam, drink this.

When you do, you'll feel better.

Then, we can get down to talking business.

[ gasping ]

Mr. COLLINS: What's the matter?

[ stammering ] The--the cuff button, Quentin,

the cuff button.

QUENTIN: What about it?

Mark, the mark...

It was the same mark

that was on Julia's forehead.

VICTOR: Ah!

[ grunting ]

You--you are...

Count Petofi.

[ diabolical music ]

[ creepy music ]