Are you crazy, coming up here?
Phoning me like that with my whole family listening in?
You weren"t staying with your family. You were staying with Angela Vickers.
L"m through waiting for you.
You"re gonna marry me tomorrow,
or I"ll tell the newspapers everything, then I"ll kill myself!
- Don"t talk like that. - You make me talk like that.
We"ll go to Warsaw in the morning and get married.
Let"s get out of here.
I won"t get out of here until you say that you"re gonna do it!
All right. Come on.
It"s a holiday.
Look, Al.
Look, it"s not my fault!
Besides, one day more is not gonna make any difference.
There"s a wonderful lake near here, Loon Lake,
just the place you"ve always wanted to go for a honeymoon.
We could go there. There"s a lodge on it, too.
If you like, we could spend the day there,
and tomorrow we can come back here.
- Al, are you listening? - Yeah, I"m listening.
Tell you what, let"s make a holiday of it. Everybody else is.
Why don"t we get some sandwiches and have a picnic on the lake?
- How"s that? - That sounds pretty good.
Look, Al, let"s not quarrel any more. Let"s try and make the best of it.
All right, let"s make the best of it.
I should have stopped at that last station. Yep, bone dry!
- Stupid! - Is the lodge far from here?
No, it"s only just around the bend.
Tell you what, why don"t we take our lunch and go down to the landing?
We can rent a boat and have our picnic now.
I can pick up the gas later and come back for the car.
- How does it sound? - It sounds wonderful!
- It is beautiful! - Yeah.
- How much to rent a boat? - 25 cents an hour. $2 all day.
Are there many people out on the lake today?
You"ve got it all to yourself.
- Are you people at the lodge? - Yeah. That is, we will be tonight.
- Spend a couple of days there. - You"ll have to sign for it.
Sure.
Thanks a lot.
- That"s funny. - What?
I know another guy named Gilbert Edwards. Lives over at Westbrook.
Pretty common name.
Only two times I ever heard.
- It doesn"t leak, does it? - I don"t rent leaky boats!
Don"t worry, my husband"s a very good swimmer.
It"s so lonely here.
It"s like we were the only two people left in the world.
Maybe we are.
Maybe when we get back to shore, everybody will have disappeared.
L"d like that, wouldn"t you?
Then we could go anywhere.
We could live in the biggest house in the world.
L"d like to live in a little house, just big enough for the two of us.
Only there"s gonna be more than two of us.
What"s the matter? You look sick.
Nothing! L"m out of breath. L"m not used to rowing.
Rest for a while, dear. We can just drift.
After all, we"re not going anywhere.
Look behind you.
"Star light, star bright,"
"wish me luck, wish me light, make my wish come true tonight."
Did you make a wish?
What did you wish?
Nothing.
Afraid it won"t come true if you tell?
L"m sorry that I"ve been so nasty to you.
I didn"t mean it.
It"s just things happen, and you just don"t stay the same.
I will make it up to you. L"ll stick by you.
I do love you, George.
- We ought to get back. It"s dark. - That old man"ll think we drowned!
Let"s drift for a while. L"m not afraid of the dark. It"s so nice.
L"ll tell you what I wished.
I wished that you loved me again.
You"ll see, we"ll make a go of it if we give ourselves the chance.
We"ll go where nobody knows us. We"ll get jobs, maybe together.
We"ll do things together and go out together, like any married couple.
After a while, you"ll settle down and be content with what you"ve got,
instead of working yourself up over things.
It"s the little things in life that count.
We"ll have to scrimp and save, but we"ll have each other.
- L"m not afraid of being poor. - Stop it, Al!
- Why? What"s the matter? - Just stop it!
George?
What did you think of when you saw the star?
You wished that you weren"t here with me, didn"t you?
You wished I was where you"d never have to see me again.
Maybe you wished that I was dead. Do you wish that I was dead?
No, I didn"t! Just leave me alone.
Poor George. I know it isn"t easy for you. I shouldn"t have said that.
Stay where you are.
Who"s there?
L"m trying to find the road.
I got lost. You know where the road is?
Lt"s down the trail about a quarter of a mile.
Quiet, boy, quiet. Now stay there.
- Good morning, Mr Marlowe. - Good morning, Mack.
It"s for you. The coroner.
Yes, Doctor?
Oh? Just wait a minute, will you? Bob, get these facts.
All right now.
Yes. Young couple drowned.
Give me all the facts.
- Is Miss Vickers around? - No, she"s playing tennis.
Everybody"s gone somewhere.
Thank you.
Mr Eastman?
- Do you feel well? - Yeah, fine.
Hello, George. It"s been centuries!
- She said you were playing tennis. - I was watching them.
I haven"t eaten anything since you"ve been away. Well, hardly anything.
Don"t go away again, George.
Here, come and sit with me. How is your mother?
She"s much better. It wasn"t as serious as they thought.
L"m glad of that.
You look very tired.
I didn"t get much sleep. I was even a little airsick on the plane.
Poor George.
Anyway, I"ve got good news. Mother and Dad are beginning to melt.
You"re winning them over with your boyish charm.
They"ll let us announce it when I come home from school at Christmas.
- At Christmas? Let"s run away. - Run away?
- Right now. - But we don"t have to.
Not the way things are going. Mother will want a big wedding.
L"ve always dreamed of having one as long as I can remember. All girls do.
Now don"t start getting moody again!
Come on, you change and I"ll meet you on the terrace.
- Any identification on the girl? - Yeah, this employment card.
From the Eastman Industries.
Alice Tripp or something.
The man gave his name as Gilbert Edwards?
Yeah.
You can drag that lake, you won"t find him.
- How do you figure that, Bear Bait? - I figure he left here in an auto.
When I went up to my cabin around suppertime,
there was a Coupé parked in the woods up there.
About nine o"clock,
somebody started up that auto and drove off awfully fast.
- Hi. - Hello.
George, where you been? Got another woman stashed around someplace?
- You"ve been gone so long. - Can"t we be alone somewhere?
- We could take the speedboat. - Yeah.
So they wanna be alone. We can"t have that. Come on, Lazy Bones!
Go!
How about some company? Come on, everybody!
- There"s no room for you! - We"ll fix that.
District Attorney Frank Marlowe's officers investigate further.
An hour ago, the coroner informed the press
that although the girl's death was caused by drowning,
bruises would indicate that a struggle took place.
The District Attorney has evidence
that the girl's male companion may still be alive.
Three Boy Scouts have reported that a young man, visibly upset...
You look tired, George.
- That"s what I told him. - Take a rest.
I think maybe that"s a good idea. Excuse me, won"t you?
- Any news on the drowning? - The papers see it as a murder.
- He"s alive and he"s drowned her. - You read too many mysteries.
She was probably a chatterbox,
and he picked her up and threw her overboard!
- L"ve been looking for you, sir. - What is it?
Mr Vickers would like to see you alone. He"s in the living room, sir.
Sit down, will you?
I thought that you and I might have a chat before dinner.
- Care for a drink? - Please.
L"m gonna make it a double. L"m gonna be a little bit personal, George.
It"s about you and Angela and this talk about your getting married.
I don"t know whether I"m for you or against you.
- I don"t know you well enough. - I know how you feel, Mr Vickers.
Who am I to think of marrying Angela? Angela has everything.
Talk of marriage aside, we know almost nothing about your background.
There"s not much to know. What there is, I"ve wanted to tell you myself.
My family is... We were very poor people.
My family devoted their lives to a kind of religious work.
Conducting sidewalk services, street singing.
I was part of all that,
until the law came along and said I ought to go to school.
I only went to school till I was 13 years old.
We didn"t ever have any money for anything, so I left home.
I was gonna do something about it. I took any job.
Busboy, elevator operator, caddie.
I had no training, no education.
Then I came here, went to work for my uncle.
That"s my background, Mr Vickers.
There"s nothing very much to recommend any approval.
But I love Angela more than anything in the world.
L"d do anything to make her happy.
Even if it"s right that I shouldn"t see her any more.
Easy, boy.
Forthrightness is a prime virtue.
I admire your frankness.
I should apologise for eavesdropping, but I"m glad I listened.
Does that answer all your questions?
All I ask is that you two don"t do anything hasty.
- Let"s get out. - A drive.
- I just wanna be alone with you. - Let"s go.
I can"t believe that this horrible thing could happen to Alice.
- She was such a sweet, quiet girl. - Ever meet any of her boyfriends?
There was a young man, but he hasn"t been around in a few weeks.
And who was he?
Lt"s a small town. Any scandal would hurt my business something awful.
There will be a scandal if you don"t cooperate.
I never met him, mind you, but the girls said he was an Eastman.
But it couldn"t be... Not one of the Eastmans!
Get me the District Attorney"s office in Warsaw.
Here we go!
Look, he"s gaining.
Safe! Safe and sound!
Calling car 41. Man believed in your vicinity...
- The third time this summer. - I can"t understand it!
Height 5'10", hair dark, complexion fair, build light.
- What"s your name? - George Eastman.
L"d hate to some day be picking up the pieces of a pretty girl like you.
- Take it easy, will you? - Anything you say.
I just love that officer. He"s so bloodcurdling.
And he writes such a nice hand.
Darling, what is it?
L"m tired, very tired.
Yes, you must be.
Darling, let"s never leave this place. Let"s just stay here alone.
Don"t let father upset you. L"m the one who counts.
You"re the only one.
The only one.
People are gonna say things, I know.
Things about me. About me, I know.
- It"s gonna make you stop loving me. - Don"t talk like that!
- I was asleep. - You were dreaming.
You were talking. You said, "Not my fault."
Then you said something I couldn"t make out.
Then you said, "Angela, don"t hate me."
That was a bad dream, a false dream, because I"ll always love you.
We"d better go now. Mother"s liable to send out a posse for us.
You go in. L"ll be along in a minute.
Every time you leave me for a minute, it"s like goodbye.
I like to believe it means you can"t live without me.
Is your name George Eastman?
Yes.
- You"re under arrest. - Why? What for?
Start walking back down the road and you"ll find out. Go on, get going.
And no monkey business, either.
That"s him all right.
Mr Marlowe, here"s your baby.
You"re George Eastman? I suppose you know what you"re charged with?
No.
You don"t know anything about the murder of Alice Tripp?
- L"m not guilty. - We"ve evidence.
- You"re not going to deny it? - Yes, I deny it.
Let"s take you to the Vickers" and see what your friends say about you.
Please don"t take me back there! L"ll tell you all I can.
Don"t take me back there.
I didn"t intend to. I just wanted to see what you"d have to say.
Take him to Warsaw, boys, and lock him up.
We"ll go to the Vickers" and see what they have to say.
Say he"s a relative, came to the house once. Got that?
And have Hollister take his name off.
You had no inkling of his relations with that girl?
No.
None of you knew of this boy"s double life?
No.
Mr Marlowe, if you"ve no further questions for my daughter and me...
...will you excuse us? - Of course.
Mr Vickers, I have no desire to harass an innocent person.
L"d like to keep your daughter free of scandal, but if the papers...
I"ll keep her out of the papers. You keep her out of the trial.
That may not be possible. The defence would have to agree.
The defence will agree to it. L"ll see to that.
L"ll engage the boy"s lawyers.
If it appears he"s innocent, I"ll spend $100,000 to defend him.
And if he"s guilty?
I won"t spend a cent to save him from the electric chair.
Thank you, Mother. Thank you, Lulu.
The boy"s tired. I think that"s enough for today.
I guess you"re right.
Mr Bellows, has there been any word from...?
From Miss Vickers?
No, George.
When Mr Eastman engaged us to defend you,
we made an agreement not to drag Miss Vickers into the case.
- Of course. - It"s in your interest, too.
Her appearance on the stand would be irrelevant.
I feel it might be damaging for you, too. We"ll be back.
"After I got her on the lake, I couldn"t go through with it."
"Then the boat turned over."
You know, Art, he sold me. I believe his story.
No more newspapers, Lulu. Remember, I told you.
The people of this state charge that murder in the first degree
has been committed by the prisoner at the bar, George Eastman.
They charge that George Eastman
wilfully, and with malice and cruelty and deception,
murdered,
then sought to conceal from justice the body of Alice Tripp.
It will be for you, ladies and gentlemen,
to decide what shall be done with this man,
who has flouted every moral law, broken every commandment...
...who has crowned his infamy with murder.
- What were Alice"s feelings for him? - Everybody knew she was in love.
What was this rule exactly?
It was to keep the foreman and staff from fooling around with the girls.
One night last August, I called Alice to the telephone.
It was him calling.
Doctor, you never saw this young man?
No, but after she left my office,
she sat talking with a man in a Coupé.
- Objection! - Sustained.
Along about nine o"clock, he stumbled into my camp.
He was wet and looked scared.
This man was at the bus station with this girl.
They were quarrelling.
She said she wouldn"t leave unless he promised.
Had violence been done to Miss Tripp prior to her death by drowning?
She"d been struck by an instrument with sufficient force to stun her.
I told him there wasn"t nobody else on the lake.
Then he signed Gilbert Edwards.
Having signed a false name, he then proceeded to make sure
what took place would be observed by no one?
No one except the person who"d be unable to testify,
the girl he drowned?
- The prosecution must not... - I withdraw the question.
The people rest.
This boy is on trial for the act of murder,
not for the thought of murder.
Between the idea and deed there"s a difference.
If you find this boy guilty in desire but not guilty in deed...
...then he must walk out of this courtroom as free as you or I.
However, since the prosecutor lacked evidence, he"s given you prejudice.
Lacking facts, he"s given you fantasy.
Of all the witnesses before you,
not one actually saw what happened.
I will now call to the stand an eyewitness, the only eyewitness.
The only one who knows the truth, the whole truth.
George Eastman, please take the stand.
When we got to the lake, I suggested we go rowing before it got dark.
Tell me, why did you give a false name to the boat keeper?
We were going to stay at the lodge, and we weren"t married,
so I thought it better not to give our real names.
Why did you engage the boat to row the girl out onto the lake?
In the back of my mind was the thought of drowning her.
But I didn"t want to think such things!
I couldn"t help myself, I couldn"t!
What happened after you rowed out?
I knew that I couldn"t go through with it.
- Then you had a change of heart. - I object. He"s leading the witness.
Objection sustained. Counsel will refrain from leading the witness.
Yes, your honour.
What happened then?
That was when we decided we ought to get back to the lodge.
She started talking about getting married
and what our life together would be like.
What was your reaction to her talking that way?
She just looked at me. She knew it was hopeless.
She accused me of wishing her dead.
Did you wish she were dead?
No, I didn"t! I wasn"t thinking of that any more!
What were you thinking of at that moment?
I was thinking of somebody else.
Another girl.
You were thinking that this other girl and her world were lost forever.
What did you say to Alice"s accusation?
I told her it wasn"t true, I didn"t want her to die.
Wasn"t she alarmed or frightened?
- She even said, "Poor George!" - Go on.
Then she started toward me from the back of the boat.
I told her to stay where she was, but she didn"t.
She kept coming toward me, then she started to fall.
I started to get up. Then everything turned over.
In a second, we were in the water. I was stunned.
Something must have hit me as I fell in.
It all happened so fast, I didn"t know what I was doing.
George, was Alice conscious when she fell into the water?
Yes, I heard her scream but couldn"t see her,
"cause she was on the other side.
So I swam around to the other side.
She was... When I got there, she"d gone down.
I never saw her again.
Do you solemnly swear that you did not strike her?
I swear it!
- That you did not push her in? - I did not!
That it was an accident undesired by you?
I do. I do. I do.
That"s all, your honour.
That night when you left the party at the house at Bride"s Lake
to meet Alice Tripp in the bus station...
...do you remember leaving anything behind you?
No, I don"t. I don"t remember leaving anything.
L"m referring to your heart! Did you leave that behind you?
Did you, Eastman? Out there on that terrace in the moonlight?
You left behind the girl you loved,
and with her your hopes, your ambitions, your dreams.
Didn"t you, Eastman?
You left behind everything you wanted, including the girl you loved.
But you planned to return to it, didn"t you?
Answer me!
Yes.
When you told them all that night you were going to visit your mother,
you were lying, weren"t you?
When you gave the boat keeper a false name, you were lying again?
Yes.
When you drove up to Loon Lake, what reason did you give Alice Tripp
for parking so far away from the lodge?
- We were out of gas. - Weren"t you lying again?
- Yes. - Lies!
Every move you made was built on lies.
Yet now you"re facing death, you can"t tell anything but the truth!
All the same, it"s true!
I didn"t kill her.
So you persist in lying about that, too. We"ll see.
Step down into the boat
and show the jury what happened when the boat overturned.
Take the same position you had at the time of the drowning.
When the girl rose in the boat to come towards you,
did she stumble about there?
- Speak up. - Yes.
And then?
She fell sideways into the water.
- Then what? - The boat turned over on top of us.
- What happened then? - I couldn"t see very clearly.
There was a thud, as if the edge of the boat hit her.
Very likely!
After this accidental blow, how far apart were you when you came up?
I don"t know exactly.
You couldn"t have been more than a yard apart!
It was further.
From there to the jury box or halfway or what?
From here to the jury box.
Not really. When you and she came up, you"re nearly 20 feet apart!
- Why couldn"t you swim toward her? - I don"t know.
Step over here.
Was the boat as far as from here to the bailiff?
I don"t know.
You"re telling me you couldn"t swim to this weak girl
and buoy her up till you could reach this boat?
You"re lying! She was drowning, and you just let her drown!
She was defenceless, you picked up this oar and crashed it on her head!
You pushed that poor girl into the lake. You watched her drown.
- Isn"t that the truth? - No.
That"s all, your honour.
By the premature adoption of an extreme belief and creed,
it is well to understand this in looking to the duties of adult life,
in particular, the married state,
when you will emerge into a world of grown- up problems for the first time.
Then he or she will view the enthusiasms of youth...
...problems which are the frequent products of a sheltered immaturity.
It is when the hastily adopted beliefs of youth are insufficient...
- Has the jury reached a verdict? - We have, your honour.
The defendant will rise.
The clerk will read the verdict.
We find the defendant, George Eastman,
guilty of murder in the first degree.
Order in the court!
- Hello, Mrs Eastman. - Mama.
- My boy. - Did you see the governor?
Lt"s no use. The governor couldn"t be moved.
Your mother"s done everything a mother could do. That I know.
Death is a little thing. You mustn"t be afraid of it.
You must fear now only for your immortal soul.
If that sin is on your soul, my son, you must make your peace with God.
I don"t believe I"m guilty of all this.
They don"t know. I wish I knew!
If you are guilty, then I am guilty. I must share your guilt.
Mama, don"t blame yourself.
They say only God and ourselves know what our sins and sorrows are.
Perhaps in this case, only God knows.
George, perhaps you"ve hidden the full truth even from yourself.
I don"t wanna hide anything. I wanna know.
There"s one thing you"ve never told anyone, even yourself.
There"s one point in your story that holds the answer you"re looking for.
Yes...
When you were on the lake with that poor girl, and the boat capsized...
...and there was a moment when you might have saved her.
I wanted to save her.
But I just couldn"t.
Whom were you thinking of?
Whom were you thinking of just at that moment?
Were you thinking of Alice? Were you thinking of the other girl?
Then... in your heart was murder, George.
God bless you, my boy. God forgive me if I"ve failed you.
I came to see you.
L"ve thought lots about you, George.
All the time.
I went away to school... to learn.
I don"t think I learned very much.
I love you, George. I wanted you to know that.
I guess there"s nothing more to say.
I know something now that I didn"t know before.
I am guilty of a lot of things, most of what they say of me.
All the same, I"ll go on loving you...
...for as long as I live.
Love me for the time I have left, then forget me.
Goodbye, George.
It seems like we always spend the best part of our time saying goodbye.
"In my Father"s house of many mansions,"
"I go to prepare a place for you."
"And I will receive you unto myself that where I am ye may be also."
You"ll have to go now.
"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believeth in me..."
Come on, son.
"And whosoever liveth and believeth in me... shall never die."
So long, kid.
You"re going to a better world than this.
Goodbye, George. L"ll be seein" you.