Murder! Page #4

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in a sense that she has.

A star in a murder--

Bennett, please.

Look here.

Get hold of my understudy.

Tell him he has

to go on again tonight.

Pray god that I give him

a better role.

Get on the telephone

straight away

to my lawyer,

mr. Vice senior.

Oh, I can give it to you.

Temple bar.

5-9-9-3.

Yes.

I want you, as well,

to get hold of

as many as you can

of the members

of that company.

You know,

the touring company

at the time

of the murder.

In particular,

the, um...

funny little man,

the stage manager.

I forget his name.

I'll see him at the

office in the morning.

Temple bar,

5, double 9, 3.

But I thought

the trial

was over, sir John.

No, my dear, Bennett,

the trial is not over,

by a hell of a long way.

Well...Is it conscience,

sir John?

Conscience.

A lying man's conscience.

Oh, they're--

they're engaged, sir.

Ok. I'll try later.

Don't wait.

I am.

No, don't wait. Go.

Diana Baring...

Why did I send her away?

Told her it'd

be good for her

to gain experience

...

Good for her.

And now she's come back.

Uh...

I think, uh...

Boiling it

all down, dear,

I think perhaps

we better, uh...

Accept sir John's

offer after all,

don't you?

Oh, yes.

Either that one

or one of the other 2.

It's all the same to me.

That would be

sir John himself.

I don't think.

Seems she won't let us

stay on here any longer.

That means Lucy

will have to go back

to her aunt's--

oh, I mean, uh--

Sophie will have to go

back to her aunt Lucy.

I don't want to go

back to aunt Lucy.

I want to go on tour

with you.

I can't let you go

back to sir John's.

I really thought you were

kidding me, I really did.

What is this?

Ooh. It's from

sir John himself.

If we could be in

his office at 12:00.

Do you think

we could get there

in time today?

If we try.

I'll turn

the kettle off.

This just needs

a little benzine.

Dear, I don't think...

Petrol will get

the shine out of this suit.

I'll say! There's

a job for you!

Look sharper.

I think it must be

an ankie.

Yeah. I think so somewhere.

ted?

Yes, dear?

What have you done

with me nail polish?

I haven't seen it.

Here.

Hope this...Hope this smell

of petrol goes off.

Oh, well, you can blame

it onto the car.

I think we shall

just about do it.

Actually, my dear,

it won't be.

Oh, that's

all right, missus.

I promise

you your bill

shall be paid

the first.

I'm not referring

to bills.

It's Druce I'm after.

Two seats...

All right. We'll see.

How do you do,

mr. Markham?

Nice.

Thanks, sir John.

Ohh. How do you do,

sir John?

Won't you sit down?

Thank you.

You know, it seems

to me, mr. Markham,

that we as artists

have a double function.

We use life

to create art

and we use art to,

how shall I put it...

to criticize life.

Oh, certain,

mr. John.

Uhh!

Yes. I knew you would.

Now, mr. Markham,

between artists...

Do we always fulfill

our double function?

Are we not

so much occupied

in using life

to create art

that we forget

our other function?

I foresee

your objection.

You're going to say,

what opportunities does

the round

of daily life offer?

I wonder if...

If you ever saw

a problem play

I once did.

Pistols for two.

Oh, yes.

What the critics describe

as a high-brow shocker.

When a high-brow shocker

occurs in real life,

does the public

call in the actor?

No.

Uh...

mr. Markham,

I read your thoughts.

You know, you're

saying to yourself,

this man is, um,

talking to his hat.

Oh, no.

Oh, of course you are.

Otherwise, you wouldn't

be the practical man

I take you for.

You're also wondering

to yourself,

why on earth

I've brought you here.

Well...

That brings me at last...

To my object.

Now...

Yesterday and

the day before,

I was on the jury

at the Baring trial.

You impressed me both as

an artist and as a man.

By the way you gave

your evidence.

Now, I want from you,

if I'm not being

too indiscrete--

the inner history

of that case.

Oh, what is

it that, uh...

See, now, of course, um...

Bennett talked over with you

the question

of that engagement?

You see, we'd rather, uh...

Rather hoped that you'd

be free to take on

the stage management

when I send off

this tour at christmas

of The Green Eye.

I also thought of working out some

arrangement on a yearly bases

but we could easily

talk that over later

Oh. Thank you very

much indeed, sir John.

I, uh...

Well, I am free

at the moment.

And I've had

a lot of experience

that I'm sure

will come in very handy.

Then that's

settled, huh?

Uh, yes.

What? What is it,

mr. Markham?

Well, it's my wife,

sir John.

You see, we've always

been joint,

as you may say and, uh...

Well, would it be

asking too much, sir John,

if a part, I mean,

any part that you--

ohh. I see.

mrs. Markham acts.

Acts, sir John?

Heh. Well, uh...

Perhaps it's not for me

to say, but...

Well, you may say I'm

prejudiced, sir John,

but I've been stage manager

now for 10 years,

and it is a fact that

a wife, even a good one,

is not always the right thing

to have in a company,

if you understand

what I'm getting at,

My Doucie, my wife--well, professionally,

she's been my right hand.

And there's no one she can't

play 24 hours' notice.

From a Gladys Cooper

to a Molly Lloyd part.

Has she ever--

she has her--

I was going to say she has

her off days, of course.

Well, who hasn't?

Yes. I mean,

only last summer

I had to speak to her

seriously about it.

She had a quick

change-over from a barmaid

to a Salvation Army lass.

And it told on her,

there's no doubt about it,

after about a week,

I said to her straight out:

"Now look here, my dear,

this can't go on

if you can't

pull yourself together,

we shall have

to go into Shakespeare."

Well, she didn't say much.

Not one that was reasonable.

But she thought it over.

And for the rest

of that tour

I'll give you

my word, sir John,

she was tallulah.

Pure tallulah.

Where is mrs. Markham now?

She's downstairs

waiting in the--

Oh. One minute then.

Let's send

for her to come up.

What, is that you, Bennett?

Oh, no, no. I'm sorry. No.

Wait.

Hello, Bennett, mrs. Markham

is somewhere downstairs.

Would you have her

sent up, please?

Yes. Yes, of course.

Up to my room.

Now, mr. Markham...

About this trial...

I confess to feeling

very uneasy about it.

You see, I played

a part in the thing,

the part of a juryman.

And it was not until

the curtain was rung down

on the death sentence,

that I said to myself...

This is not a play,

this is life.

Life can be less kind

than your dramatists,

mr. Markham.

Life permits a beautiful

and unfortunate girl

to go to the gallows.

Unless--

art for once can bring

its technique to bear.

Good lord, do you

mean to say she is

innocent,

my dear Markham, yes.

It was assumed

she was guilty

because she couldn't

deny it.

Yes, but I saw the--

Diana Baring sitting

beside the dead body.

She was dazed you say.

What was

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