Poirot S04E01 - The ABC Murders [FULL EPISODE] Agatha Christie's Poirot

[Music] hey [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] all right [Music] [Music] handbags out of this i'll take care of that thank you who is your friend hasty oh this is cedric he's a caiman i shot him on the orinoco a few miles upstream from la urban we've been imported drown white water all day and i was pretty exhausted i can tell you in sunday what's up you must tell me the story in full detail later i think these gentlemen wish to get home to bed oh right so have you been these last six months busy no the little crystals i fear they grow the rust when the date approached for your return i said to myself now something will arise we will hunt again together we too sorry but it must be no common affair hastings it must be something rasha delicate fine anyone would think you were ordering dinner at the reds sorry where are we going i thought we were going to my hotel first there is no hotel hastings until you can reclaim your apartment you stay with people [Music] this superfine crime of yours hasn't turned up yet i suppose bazong at least i am not sure this is awfully decent of you porra well i have not a torn one on me i need you where i can keep an eye on you to protect you from the beauty is with the open hair what did you mean just now when you said you weren't sure about the superfine crime hastings uh hastings you've forgotten your crocodile i would rather its curious smell was confined to your bedroom oh well it was a present for you actually poirot for me hastings oh that is beautiful i mean if you don't like it noise things it it adds a certain genocide what do you not think well i thought so uh the chap who stuffed it for me said the smell would go away after about a month or so wow i like the smell hastings one feels braced it brings to london the jungle good for one awful moment i thought you might not like old cedric no he's a caiman i shot him when we were still up in venezuela we need things it is a week since i received this letter what do you make of it hercule puerto you fancy yourself don't you at solving mysteries that are too difficult for our poor thick-headed british police let us see mr clever poirot just how clever you can be perhaps you'll find this not too hard to crack look out for andover on the 21st of the month you're sincerely abc abc tight thick paper postmark london wc1 what is your opinion hastings some madman i suppose a madman is a very dangerous thing my friend wait a minute today's the 21st what have you done about it did you go to andover hastings as always the man of action huh what is that to do there are no fingerprints no clues to the possible writer well don't blame me if there's a story in the papers tomorrow about a whacking great robbery near andover what a comfort that would be a comfort it would dispossess my mind of the fear of something else of what of murder my friend cream crackers yes edward's desiccated soup yes sausages i can't go carrying sausages around all afternoon no my desk isn't a blooming ladder emily supposing someone i'll do that sir chief inspector ah morning fuero well well well if it isn't captain hastings back from his holidays in the wilds of what you recall it sit down sit down looking well too it's getting a bit thin on top though eh ah don't know he'll be rivalling with your poirot soon she respect though do you know that captain hastings has brought me back as a present a crocodile a caiman actually i bagged him while we were still up in venezuela we've been imported around white water and do i have the pleasure of this visit but today is the 22nd chief inspector yeah you record the anonymous letter oh yes beware the 21st andover wasn't it you mentioned wait just to keep you happy get me inspected glenna handover will you we get these anonymous letters every day of the week people with nothing better they're doing a bit weak in the top story right i mean hello dennis jeff how are you now listen you remember that anonymous letter i told you about yeah oh really right yes i better rydo well well i don't suppose it means anything but an old woman who kept a tobacco and newspaper shop in andover was battered to death last night glenn says they think they can lay their hands on the man who did it though all the same i'll pop down there and have a deco what was the name of the woman chief inspector asher mrs alice [Music] you know i mean the thing is there was no money taken out of the two so i mean one would expect that they would have been after that chief inspector this is inspector glenn he's in charge of the case how'd you do looks pretty straightforward the victim's alice asher 60 years old struck down behind a counter by heavy blow to the head and you suspect a husband we do we haven't been able to find anyone yet who saw asher in the neighborhood but of course it's early days did mr heisha live with his wife inspector no they separated some years ago ashes a german used to be a waiter but he took to drink perhaps you should look at this famous anonymous letter right [Music] the body was found in this corner yes yeah lying sort of huddled this doesn't really like asher i doubt if he's got the wits for it it's odd that the letter should mention the 21st of the month though of course might be a coincidence i do not like that kind of coincidence inspector nothing was missing from the shop no money in the till seems undisturbed no signs of robbery but something has been added perhaps added maybe c row railway guide [Music] she must have been looking up trains from andover overall customer fingerprints only mrs ashes as far as we can tell so far [Music] regardless wedding picture a beautiful woman yes look at this room all that's left of a life a couple of broken china ornaments photograph new pair of stockings tastings it does not become sentimental there is nothing more for us here [Music] dear out there something is a mischief inspector i've been trying to get a list of people who were seen coming in here and no one's seen anybody oh they've seen people all right three tall men with furtive walks four short men with black mustaches two men with beards three fat men one man with a peculiar hat and if i'm to believe what they say every one of them had a sinister expression does anyone claim to have seen this man usher oh no nothing helpful like that [Music] she never knew what hit her struck in the back of the head you can't believe it's the same woman as in the photograph can you well yes sistines you can see the line of the jaw the bones the structure of the head did she have any children no but there's a niece the name of mary drawer she's in service out there overton steady young woman though sir the weapon hasn't been found of course a weighted stick a club something like that would there be needed much force to strike such a blow meaning i suppose when a shakyal man of 70 like i should do it perfectly possible give a sufficient weight in the head of the weapon i haven't done nothing there's a shame in the scandals i haven't done nothing i'm not charging you with anything yet asha and you're not obliged to say anything i did not kill her it is all lies you threatened too often enough i know that was a joke take him away depending on suspicion i never didn't go yes i haven't done anything let me go you perceive his things there is already one further point in the favor of the innocence of mr russia really oh yes if he had been abusing and threatening his wife she would have been facing him over the counter but instead she had her back to her assailant obviously she is reaching for some tobacco cigarettes for a customer ah i think it is you our mum was held mary drow will you not sit down with them no thank you sir i dare say the mistress wouldn't mind but i'd rather not while she's out you were fond of your aunt oh it's terrible poor auntie such a hard life she'd had too she was always so good to me auntie was and all the trouble she had with that german devil it was awful the things he used to say that he'd cut her throat and such like swearing and cursing too it's dreadful to think so what people come to my museum if you should need me at any time you will be sure to contact me yes is there something queer going on sir yes my child something queer is going on but later you may be able to help me perhaps i'll do anything sir it wasn't right auntie being killed well i think that bashar asha is a suspect most unlikely what about the girl though it is always possible of course but with what nothing see what you mean give any left sound clue ah the clue it is always the clue that attracts you yes assistant alas at our mother he did not smoke a cigarette exotic leave the asher on the floor and then step on the ash with shoes and have nails of a pattern most curious he's most out of blinding our murderer but at least you have the railway guy the abc now there is a clue for you you mean you don't think he left it there by mistake no he left it on purpose the fingerprints tell us that but poirot there weren't any fingerprints on it exactly my hastings our murderer he is in the dark and seeks to remain in the dark but in the very nature of things he cannot help to throw the light upon himself [Music] what do you think hastings most artistic well done you don't think it's a bit overpowering we can find somewhere else for the fruit bowl what we could do there is another letter he stings sorry another letter from abc dear mr parrot well the andover business went with a swing didn't it first game to me i think but the fun's only just beginning let me draw your attention to bex hill on c date the 25th inst what a merry time we are having your sincerely abc good god i feel that the death of madam ashrae is only the beginning instincts there's no doubt that the two letters were typed on the same machine i suppose no and we can fairly assume that the writer was responsible for your murder in andover now we have definite warning of a second crime scheduled to take place in superintendent carter's county on the 25th the day after tomorrow at bex hill what steps do you think the sussex police can take superintendent cotter well it's difficult it's not the least clue the victim may be it is possible that the surname of the intended victim will begin with the letter b that would be something i suggest it is a possibility no more it came to my mind when i read the signature abc on the first letter and again when i heard the name of the unfortunate woman in andover you mean first to mrs asher in andover then someone beginning with b in bex hill man well it's possible i suppose i mean we aren't dealing with a madman but so far he hasn't given us any clue as to his motive does a madman have any motive perhaps he's going to murder someone in every town in the alphabet all the way from andover to uh zeno i've thought a lot about it you see well at least we can take some precautions superintendent carter perhaps it will be possible for your men to make a special note of all the bees in your area especially small shopkeepers and naturally keep tabs on all strangers as far as possible pixel's a seaside result man it's the middle of the holiday season people are flooding in [Music] so tomorrow is the big day is it old women in tobacconis chops do you think he does not seem likely his things shop so perhaps which of us at some time or another has not felt aggrieved by a shopkeeper good lord yes or at least we know it can't be asha now i mean he's still in custody but what about the girl hastings mary what's it made yeah [Music] i wouldn't give much for a murderer's chances with all these men of yours around you he's as good as nabbed the sanity of a town full of men against the insanity of one man remember the long continued successes of jack the ripper we don't need another one of those thank you very much i am afraid my friends i'm very much afraid [Music] [Music] come on [Music] oh [Music] [Music] hastings it has happened but today's the 25th the murder took place last night between 12 and 1. our homicidal joke as a man of his word if he says the 25th and the 25th it is even if it's only by a few minutes but we're quite sure this is the crime an abc open at the trains to bexhill was found actually under the body do we know who is the dead girl chief inspector she's been identified as a miss elizabeth barnard 23 years of age worked as a waitress at the de la war pavilion was she pretty there he goes again that does not seem to you to be important huh maybe on farm it is of the first importance it often decides her destiny with what was the girl's strangle chief inspector her own belt at last we have a piece of evidence that he's very definite and he tells one something does it not i don't see what i've broken the news to her parents but i thought they let them recover a bit for questioning them right there are other members of the family yes there's a sister a therapist in london that she's been communicated with and there's a young man girl was supposed to be out with him last night i gather any luck from the abc guy no no fingerprints open up the page of bex hill yes that's our man all right it must mean something something to do with the trains from andover and bex hill perhaps yes that is a point this is most distressing chief inspector most distressing how it will affect our business i shudder to think you'll have a boom madam you won't be able to dish out the dainty t's quick enough really oh how awful people are so awful remember marion how long had mamos albana been working here this was the second summer she was pretty yes she was a nice clean looking girl what time did she go off duty last night eight o'clock we close at eight did she say what she was going to do after work we were hardly on those sort of terms nobody came and called for her nothing like that oh no she had a young man i believe donald fraser weren't you allowed when your daughter didn't come home last night we didn't know she had mrs barnard and i go to bed early we never knew that he hadn't come home till the police officer came this morning was you in the habit of coming home late you know what goes on howard i suspected well with so many she was usually 10 by 11. and she had this steady young fellow she was sort of engaged to a donald fraser his name is it doesn't make any bloody sense no it doesn't excuse me did betty ever mention any connection with andover did she have their perhaps any friends andover no i'd like to look over miss barnard's room if i may there might be something sir letters diary all right it's in here who are you you're miss barnard yes i'm megan barnard i suppose you belong to the police well not exactly oh what are you well who's mum and dad uh your father's in there showing the police your sister's bedroom when your mother's in there i wonder if are you following me what do you want this is messiah hercule i don't see what mr hercule poirot is doing in our humble little crime what you do not see my muslim what i do not see it would fill up volume but what is important is something that will not be easy to find that the truth i don't know about the truth i only know what i feel but that is the most important thing we have mama's in the hunt for the murderer of your sister all right it wasn't in betty's nature to be fond of one person and not be interested in anyone else and working in the de la war pavilion she was always running up against nice looking men i understand mamasan do you her boyfriend didn't she was really keen on him he couldn't see why she wanted to go out with other people once or twice they had flaming big rows about it don was so violent that he was frightened when was this last time was about a month ago they had an awful scene tom was all white and shaking oh there he is quick mama run and intercept him i wish to speak with him before the estimable chief inspector john did man was albania tell you where she was going last night she told me she was going to send leonard's with a girlfriend and did you believe her who are you anyway you don't belong to the police no monsieur i am better than the police tell him i believed her when she said it but afterwards what did you do i don't know i lost my head i was convinced she was with some man i thought he might have taken her to eastbourne in a car i went on there looked into hotels and restaurants i must have thought i was mad i hung around cinemas went on the pier in the end i gave up and came back not much of an alibi is it no my friend not much well donald fraser certainly seemed to have a perfectly good motive for the murder and opportunity for killing mumus alberti bernard yes but what was the multi for killing mother mushroom well that will have to find out they're both women of course and what was the motive for writing those letters to me there's something about those letters something that bothers me [Music] you've been very clever but you've made one mistake it'll be the first time that anyone has suggested you as a merger you'll be watched you'll be christian you'll be followed you'll give yourself away i killed her did i choosing me i don't you run away mary look you can but you don't move mary why because you know i'm not the killer yeah that's for you're wrong i am the dorset murderer i killed the legions [Music] we've kept the general public in the dark so far about the abc link between these murders if we continue to keep them in the dark then we don't get any cooperation but if you make it public chief inspector you're playing the game of the murderer which is perhaps why he writes those letters for notoriety publicity well i think we should chance it splash it about in the headlines i did not say this before hastings because never perhaps it would have been mistaken for self-importance a characteristic that i dislike more than any other oh right delicious soup this but it is possible that our murderer is committing his crimes because of a direct personal hatred against me because he writes a letter to you you mean exactly on his things or perhaps the animosity of our murderer it is impersonal and merely because i'm a foreigner yes well there are people like that it is only the late post tastings yes i know i was expecting lily white's catalogue i've been thinking of buying some new golf clubs i've still only got those old ones that belong to my father lord what is it hastings it's another one another abc letter postmark london wc1 again that's significant you know i'm sure it is you oblivious dear mr poirot not so good at these little criminal matters as you thought yourself are you rather past your prime perhaps let us see if you can do better this time this time it's an easy one churston on the 29th do try and do something about it it's a bit dull having it all my own way you know good hunting yours ever abc i want to wear chest and ears hastings you do not realize today is the 29th what when was that letter written 26th bond you look hastings you did not notice the wrong address this yoherkiel puerto whitehorse mansions not known at whitehorse mansions not known at whitehorse court try whitehaven mansions does even chance aid this madman you can't be sure of that he's 20 past 10 hastings churston devon gets in at 7 15 leaves paddington at midnight [Music] any word from chester yet not yet we've got men moving in from all over the area it's only a village have you got a letter we didn't i guess white horse mansions and all that blessed luck with two letters he gets the address right why now does he get it wrong perhaps he did it on purpose now this fella's got these barmy rules and i think he sticks to him i know he drinks white horse whiskey he types the address and the bottle it is in front of him we voted psychology it's got the job too you know [Music] carmichael always takes his afternoon walk along the cliff top when he gets to the headland he turns right and comes up past the farm but he's always back by 10 o'clock always it's after midnight now suppose he's had an accident or something i'm going down to the cliff i'll go the other side of the field perhaps it started back this grave over here [Music] [Music] they've taken the body up to the house blow to the back of the head apparently blunt instrument this should make people sit up now the newspapers are in the know three murders within 10 days the whole country will be looking for abc now but what will they be looking for well a map and what does a madman look like well mother masher had no connection with bex hill on sea a man was alberti barnard had no link with andover that we can discover and we will find that neither apparently had anything to do with churston and sir carmichael clark all that i would place a wager hundreds of milers and everything about their lives seems to separate them what is it that binds them together but why and what earthly benefit can accrue from such a crime even in the most diseased imagination you go straight to the points miss you ah parra this is mr franklin clark's carmichael's brother you have my condolences miss shukla mr saporo captain hastings how do you do now let me have a few facts would you miss clock certainly your brother i take it was in his usual health and spirit yesterday oh yes i should say he was quite his usual self not upset or worried at all excuse me chief inspector i didn't say that to be upset and worried it was my poor brother's normal condition oh well i was shocked to the change in him when i returned from the east recently his wife's illness preyed on his mind terribly illness my sister-in-law lady clark is in very bad health between ourselves she's suffering from an incurable cancer so you can't live much longer so carmichael hadn't received any unexpected or unpleasant letters not that i was aware of he wasn't sure of a bob or two was he my brother was a very wealthy man and in possession of a collection that is extremely beautiful yes it's what he lived for really have any strangers come to the house asking for sir carmichael recently the doctor says he's finished sir oh thank you devil uh devil have any stranger has been inquiring force a carmichael recently no sir ah doctor anything to tell us well nothing we didn't know already death instantaneous we've put him in the billiard room i'll just go and have a word with lady clark ah this is miss for a grey gentleman my brother's secretary how do you do i'll talk to you later miss grave am i yes [Music] hastings it just doesn't stand to reason there must be a connection between these victims we just haven't found it yet no we hit our heads against the stone brick there is no connection there must be i say no hastings there is no connection whatever between these people except that their names begin with certain letters of the alphabet we have searched the background of the victims and of the suspects for any other connection hastings can find nothing scotland yard can find nothing even i can find nothing now we are wasting our time because there is nothing to find you mean those people were complete strangers to the murderer processor hastings chosen only because of his mania for the alphabet you finish with them [Music] nasty business eh yes very you never know when lunatics do you they don't always look balmy sometimes they can look just like you and me yes i suppose they can now sometimes it's the walrus on engine but they've never been right since i don't hold with walls i don't hold with plague and sleeping sickness and feminine cancer but they happen all the same but war's preventable [Laughter] oh i'm sorry sir i expect you was in the war yes it was and it did unsettle me [Music] hmm [Music] they're all here ah what did you get biscuits and so we are all assembled man let us begin with you mamos aldra when were you last in contact with your aunt i hadn't seen auntie for a fortnight sir i'd had a letter from her though two days previous ah now these are just a sort of facts which could provide a clue that is vital now i believe that you all may have some information that you are not aware that you have did you keep that letter no sir but i remember what it said she said the old devil had been round and she'd sent him off with a flea in his ear and she said she expected me over on the wednesday that's my day out sir and said we'd go to the pictures it was going to be my birthday sir i'm sorry sir i don't mean to be silly it's just the thought of her looking forward to our treat it's always the little things that get one especially anything like a treat or a present same thing happened when betty died mum had brought us some stockings as a present that very morning in fact poor mum found her crying over them she kept saying i bought them for betty and she never even saw them look all of us here have an interest in bringing the murderer at a book suppose we joined forces to try and track the fellow down i'm sure mr poro and the police are quite capable well speaking for myself i am never too proud to accept a little help mumsel gray when you return to devon and you think back to the day that sir carmichael clark he was killed you may perhaps remember seeing around the village a stranger no i know i didn't anyway i've left chest and for good and miss gray kindly stayed on to help me clear things up but uh well naturally she prefers a post in london i see how is lady clark oh pretty bad by the way mr para i wonder if you could see your way to running down and paying her a visit before i left she expressed a desire to seal me do you think their cooperation will lead to anything it is possible you know hastings i cannot read my mind of the impression that something was said this afternoon that was significant now these aren't i cannot pin it down exactly but something passed through my mind that reminded me of that which i had already seen or heard or noted people come to me something is the matter hastings what no no no no no i'm just thinking about dee as a matter of fact for the next mother yes i mean is he out there somewhere planning it gives you the shivers just to think about it [Music] abc mothers captain hastings speaks after third murder the brutal slaying of millionaire sir carmichael clark monsieur pueblo takes grave view of situation says captain hastings well andover bexhill justin where will abc strike next monsieur puerto on eve of success says captain hastings okay i didn't say all those things i know hastings often between the spoken word and the written there is an astonishing gulf nespa i wouldn't like you to think that i do not worry yourself in fact these imbecilities they might even help how because if our murderer reads what i am supposed to have said in the daily blog today he will lose all respect for me as an opponent but after another crime we will know infinitely more crime is revealing [Music] just a minute [Music] ladybug mercier paro is here oh yes monsieur lady club may i introduce my friend and associate captain hastings how do you do how'd you do so good of you both to come mercy it was about car wasn't it about cars death you haven't caught him yet not yet he must have been loitering round here that day but no stranger came to the house that day who says so well the servants say so miss gray says sir that girl is a liar of course carl thought the world of her he couldn't see it was only his money she was interested in once i was out of the way liddy clark why do you say that mum's a grey's a liar because she is she told you no strangers came to the house didn't she yes very well then i saw her with my own eyes talking to a perfectly strange man out of this window may i please mercy at the garden gate when was this lady clark in the morning of the day car died at about 11 00 o'clock what was he like this man an ordinary sort of man no no a gentleman a tradesman perhaps a shabby sort of person i [Music] i can't remember that was an extraordinary story about miss gray and the strange man it is as i tell you hastings always there is something to be discovered but why did she lie and say she'd see no one it's monstrous to suppose that a girl like that should be in league with a man which is why i do not suppose it a good-looking girl has a hard time with it ah hastings always you are full of the charitable feelings to the young ladies who are beautiful as for me i am already full of the charitable feelings to the old ladies that have the melodies [Music] miss mr parrow this your frieza i'm sorry i've got to talk to you well come up to the apartment mr fraser [Music] mr poirot do you know anything about dreams i do you have been dreaming i keep dreaming the same dream i'm on the beach looking for betty she's lost and i've got to find her you see i'm carrying her belt in my hand and then yes she's there sitting on the sand i come up behind her i slip the belt round her neck and i pull go on she's dead i've strangled and then and then her head falls back and i see her face and it's megan it's not betty have your drink i mean i could have had a blackout it's calm the fourth letter read it quickly mr hakkiel still no success five five what are you in the police doing isn't this fun and where shall we go next for honey poor mr puerto i'm quite sorry for you we have a long way to go still the next little incident will take place at doncaster on the 9th of september so long abc [Music] perhaps a little band of helpers will have something to do after all [Music] where does mr poirot keep his cups uh top cupboard over there sources uh bottom covered over there everything's arranged in order of height bye george pyro there's a bit of a stumor doncaster on the line what are you doing here ah what is this a convention good day chief inspector maybe we formed an association of our own to deal with this a legion of interested parties oh yes but i rather fancy old abc has done for you again well as a matter of fact mr clark i must beg to differ i mean correct me if i'm wrong but the ninth isn't until wednesday of next week is it and that seems to give us plenty of time to mount a publicity campaign in the press and plenty of time to warn the inhabitants of doncaster particularly those whose names begin with the letter d oh it's easy to see you are not a sporting man chief inspector if however you what do you mean next wednesday is the day the scent ledger is being run at doncaster oh yes i was wondering about that to your chief inspector mercy i mean the whole of doncaster is like a fairground situation he has planned this most cleverly it's my belief the murder will take place at the racecourse perhaps actually while the ledger is being run thank you yes well of course decent ledger is a complication however well i better get back to the yard thank you very much [Music] everything's under control we don't know anything about the murderer and that's the problem and we've gone over everything we do know again and again we've talked not everything was you for instance mama's el gray here has told us that she did not see or speak to any stranger on the day that sarcoma clark was killed that's right i didn't but lady clark tells us mom was there that on that day from her window she saw you standing at the garden gate speaking to a strange man lady clark made a mistake i never spoke oh oh i remember now how stupid oh but it wasn't important just one of those men who come around selling stockings you know ex-army people they're very persistent but he's quite a harmless sort of person i suppose that's why i forgot about him stockings stocking savior stockings stocking do you not remember hastings andover the room behind the little shop over the back of the chair a pair of new silk stockings yes but now i remember what it was that aroused my attention two days ago it was you mama moiselle you spoke of your mother who wept because on the very day of the murder she had just bought for your sister a pair of new silk stockings yes yes she did she said something about feeling sorry for those wretched men who go around selling doors at all describe this man i can't i i don't he had glasses i think and a shabby overcoat he's stooped i don't know i hardly looked at him he wasn't the sort of man you'd notice in those few words mama's realized the whole secret of these murders he wasn't the sort of man you'd notice oh yes there is no doubt about it you have just described the murderer [Music] i was wondering mr cast if you'd finished your you're right mr cast i just feel a bit out of sorts i'm sorry you won't be going away today then oh yes i have to go i'm going to cheltenham oh that's nice cheltenham's nice got some nice shops terrible the news nowadays isn't it nothing but this murder business gives me the creeps i don't read it no doncaster he says his next murder is going to be if you please and tomorrow if i lived in doncaster and my name began with a d i'd take the first train out i would for all the hundreds of police they say they're drafting in mr cast you two look bad really now you order to go traveling today it is necessary mrs marbury when i undertake to do a thing and follow it through oh well if you say so mr cust [Music] [Music] what a fool i was i've let you all down i never really looked at him even if i saw him again i probably wouldn't recognize him now now petty do not upset yourself so far the locket has been on the side of the murderer yes but sooner or later i believe it must turn and be on our side in fact i believe that it has turned the clue of the stockings is the [Music] beginning [Music] [Music] [Music] oh brought your private army along i say corner keeping tecla's job my dear friend we did not know that you were on this train well you tossed down that as much what's going on down among the workers i suppose [Music] meanwhile mamusel bernard will be patrolling the area around the grandstand and mr fraser will be by the parade ring it seems to me highly problematical that we can do anything of practical value don't be defeated our weapon is our knowledge mr fraser but remember it may be a knowledge we do not know that we possess libya that is all we can do for this evening i bid you all good night look here mr pyro when you went down to chester last week did my sister-in-law sort of well i mean did she hint at all come on did lady clark hinted what well you see thora miss gray is uh rather good-looking girl perhaps yes please sit yourself yes my brother always said she was the best secretary he ever had but it was all perfectly straight and about bored but of course but my sister-in-law got it into my head to be all um jealous i suppose anyway after carr's death when there was a question of his grace staying on charlotte cut up rough cut that rough uh women really aren't devils mr partner please mr clark remember that lady clark is ill and in great pain oh i know i don't know i keep telling myself that still i didn't want you to get a false impression of thora from anything my sister-in-law may have said i can assure you mr clark that parkour never permits himself to get false impressions from anything anyone says good man good man good night mr sport good night msu [Music] i cannot impress upon you enough to let your instincts rule if you should see anyone who faced a description of the stalking salesman you must report to the police but immediately even if you see someone who looks familiar but you cannot quite place even that is of significance you'll never attempt it now with the race cause full of police the man would have to be mad unfortunately he is mad in my opinion the obsession of the mother is so strong that he must attempt to carry out what he promises failure to do so would be to admit defeat and that his insane egoism would never permit ah man was el gray i'm sorry no matter you're only four and one half minutes late it's time for you to take your places i wish you good luck what about you para nice things my force it is in my brains not in my feet we will meet at three o'clock at the ranch very well [Music] it's not [Music] [Music] oh [Music] um [Music] [Applause] [Music] charlie [Music] is [Music] is is [Music] [Applause] it's all right everyone's in position no no hastings you do not understand look at the crowds well yes i know it's damn difficult i'm looking for a needle in a haystack yes hastings yes where is the best place for a man to hide himself in a crowd of other men yes hastings and where's the best place to conceal a murder a murderer i don't know among a lot of other matters i suppose i see someone speaks at justin i said that the victims were chosen in a manner that was haphazard selected only because of their initials yes i was wrong hastings all of the victims are hazard yes except for one this monster is committing a series of murders in order to draw away our attention from one murder in particular [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] excuse me excuse me [Music] now answer show's over i think he's ill hey we better buy egg that looks like blood look what's under his seat it's an abc [Music] oh [Applause] oh [Music] uh [Music] ah [Music] [Music] ah i washed already cold i cut my hand you were right sir [Music] hmm just tell us what happened please mr doubts [Music] there's a woman to see you sir says it's urgent when was this well that's three hours ago well i didn't think of it at the time not until i heard there'd been another murder but he said he'd cut his hand if you please madam can you describe this man oh he's tall and he stoops and and he wears glasses and his clothes um a dark suit and overcoat and a nombergat a bit shabby-looking [Music] looks like blood sir get it analyzed we found it we found the name of the register what is it look a b case or is it cash [Music] well it's abc anyway case cast and a london address 17 market street southwark there's a suitcase under the bed sir get out and let's have a look stockings silk stockings you were right poirot something else here sir right at the back it's a knife don't touch it get the bed out [Music] it was funny though the way he said goodbye as if he'd never see us again he told me he was going to choke them poor mr cust i can't believe it [Music] [Music] [Music] to be followed you've [Music] nasty business [Music] in england [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] so that's that committed for trial chief inspector what is your opinion on this he's playing a very crafty game he's an epileptic the doctors tell me but is it possible for a man to commit a crime without being aware of it well he might try that line of defense if it wasn't for the letters they show pre-meditation and of those letters we still have no explanation whatsoever until i have a reason for those letters being written to me i will not feel that this case is solved there's a mr strange waiting in your office sir he says it's urgent [Music] chief inspector jack that's me it's about that bex hill murder [Music] he swears by all that's blue that he met cust in the royal george hotel in eastbourne on the evening of august the 24th that they had dinner together and then played dominoes until well after midnight and if he is telling the truth mr cass could not have been on the beach at bex hill between twelve o'clock and one o'clock strangling man was alberti bernard listen he did the andover murder he did the church and murder he did the doncaster murder he must have done the vexille murder why why i don't know why because he's barmy that's why [Music] excuse me oh yes i am the man to whom you wrote those letters i never wrote to you i told them over and over again if you did not write those letters with your cast who did i don't know they're all against me they always have been even when you were a child but my mother was ambitious she gave me these ridiculous names alexander bonaparte she had some absurd notion that i would cut a figure in the world and what do i end up as a door-to-door stocking cells you are aware but i'm not that the firm who you say employed you deny the fact yes but i've got their letters to me giving me instructions as to what places to go and a list of people upon whom to call but all of the letters they were typed on the machine found in your room the typewriter was sent to me by the firm at the beginning of my job but the letters were sent after you received the machine so it looks does it not as though you typed them and then posted them to yourself yes but i couldn't have done the second murder though could i the bexhill one i was playing dominoes in a spawn wasn't i it is a game that is very absorbing is it not measured oh there's a lot of play in it a lot of play when i was a clerk in the city we used to play every lunch hour you'd be surprised the way total strangers can come together over a game of dominoes yes i remember one person in particular we just got talking over a cup of coffee and started domino's i've not been able to forget something they told me what did they say talking about your fate being written in your hand told me some amazing things said i was going to be the most celebrated man in england before i died but yes it almost looks as though you're going to die on the gallows i said laughed afterwards said it was only a joke but i suffer quite badly from my head you know i mean there are times when i do i don't seem to remember what i've done but you do know that you committed the mothers yes yes i do know that and i am right am i not that you do not know why you committed them no i don't i'm not having that dream anymore no all that will disappear with time i don't want to forget betty though no we won't forget her here he is about ready time too i don't know what this is an aide of twyro the case is over done with finished that is true chief inspector the man cast he is in prison there will be no more killings finish but you see i know nothing and there is also one small fact that he is vexing most your cast has an alibi for the night of the crime that he is alleged to have committed on this speech from the beginning i had felt that there was something wrong with those letters that i received and their works i had assumed that they were written by a man they were written by a sane man pretending to be man when do you notice least a bit shhh don't clutter when it is in a pin cushion when do you notice least an individual murder when it is one of a series of related murders hold on a minute hold on cuss did the murders he was caught red-handed more or less blood on his coat knife under his bed he even admits to the murders what more do you want when i first saw miss your cast chief inspector i knew he was not guilty for such a plan was your cast had neither the cunning the daring nor may i had the brains the murderer must have flirted with mamus albetti bernard somehow he got her to remove her belt with which she was strangled you have seen with your cast can you imagine mr cast as you english say getting off with a pretty young girl miss your cast making the click mr para please all along i was aware of a dual personality of the murderer now i see wherein it consisted two people were involved the real murderer cunning resourceful and daring and the pseudo-murderer stupid vacillating and above all suggestible the murderer had been considering already several schemes when a chance meeting with monsieur cast produced an idea his epileptic seizures his headaches indeed the whole shrinking personality of monsieur cast made him for the murderer an ideal tool perhaps his very name of alexander bonaparte cast gave to the murderer the idea of the murders alphabetical the arrangements were excellent some letters were sent to mr cast as if from a well-known wholesaler offering him employment on salary and commission in fact the plans were so well laid down beforehand by the murderer that the letters that were subsequently sent to me had already been typed and afterwards the typewriter that was used for the purpose was sent to mr cust allegedly to useful business the preliminary plans completed the murderer then set to work a list of potential clients in andover is sent to mr gust and he is instructed to go there on august the 21st was your cast does as he is directed and later that day mother masha she is murdered most brutally a few days later he is instructed to go to bexhill on sea and on that particular list of clients is madame banner on the beach [Music] at churston lady clark observes mama's el gray talking with monsieur cast and sir carmichael clark he also dies [Music] he's at the scene of each one of them so i was then forced back to the simple question cui bono who stood again anything from even one of the murders mother masha had no money so therefore you mam zelda had nothing to gain from the death of your heart ibm she was not rich and lived on the no doubt niggerly salary paid to her by the delaware pavilion so calm michael clark now well as the newspapers endlessly informed us sir carmichael clark was a millionaire many times over what are you suggesting persons suffering from epilepsy mammoesel grey often have blanks when they cannot remember what they have just done was your cast suffered from these he was also nervous highly neurotic and extremely suggestible the end of a crime meant to him at first nothing the bex healed crime well he was there at about the same time and then came charleston so when he receives instructions to go to doncaster knowing as he does that the next abc murder will take place in that city he loses his nerve he begins to imagine that his landlady is looking at him in a manner of suspicious and he tells her that he is going to cheltenham and this is where the understanding of the personality of mr cast by the murderer pays dividends in spite of every inner voice telling ms your cast not to go to doncaster nevertheless he goes why does he go because it is his duty was goes to a cinema [Music] and when the film comes to an end he starts to leave but while he's back is third there occurs the stabbing of the fourth victim [Music] excuse me by killing four people our murderer hope to disguise the one murder with the real motive that of your brother sir carmichael clark but who is this murderer you keep talking about you're not implying it's me i couldn't have killed that fellow in the cinema i was at the race course with the rest of you indeed you were miss your clock and the murderers stayed in place at the racehorse until the crowds began to gather soon it would be impossible to check on the movements of anyone and our murderer he quietly slips away in the letter of mr castro see from his swat diesel employer he is instructed at which hotel to stay so there is no difficulty in picking him up our murderer follows mr cast to the cinema and in the darkness he cold-bloodedly takes his [Music] opportunity and when the program comes to an end a monsieur cast is leaving he does not realize that the person he passes in the aisle also slips into his pocket a knife oh this is rot whenever you were safe enough and almost certain to inherit the wealth of your brother as long as no one suspected you but as soon as you were suspected the proofs they were easy to find bruce they haven't got any proofs what proofs your fingerprints mr clark they were discovered on the typewriter that was sent to me cast a typewriter which if you are innocent you could never have handled you little jacobs [Music] [Music] um [Music] so [Music] get it [Music] well that's that i suppose i can't believe it i just can't believe it he was afraid mr grey he was afraid that were the cancer to kill lady clark his brother sir carmichael might have turned his attentions towards you might even perhaps have married you then his hopes of inheritance it would be lost forever by killing his brother mr franklin clark ensures that when the cancer finally overcomes lady clark the family fought unit will be his uh mr poro i understand why he wrote all those letters because without them the murders wouldn't have seemed connected what i don't understand is why he wrote them to you why not to scotland yard because one of me you could not even arrange for a letter addressed to scotland yard to go astray even the least well-oriented postman would know where to deliver it it was the very essence of the plan of mr clark that the third letter it should go astray the police were not to be told about the one mother with a real motive until it was safely over alas it had nothing to do with my undoubted fame no merely he needed the private address it was the fingerprint on the typewriter that really glitched things of course ah the fingerprints yes they are useful i put that in to please you hastings even it wasn't true not in the least many good lord well if you don't want it on the sideboard where do you want it it's the smell these things it does not seem to fade oh it's early days yet poirot i gave him a bit of a spray with some cologne yesterday whose cologne is things well it was um [Music] i'll just hello cheers nice things morning pyro i brought someone to see you miss your cass i just had to come and say thank you mr parra you are a very great man oh he knows that thank you very much mr kirsten oh mercy if it hadn't mean for you thank you do you know a newspaper has offered me a hundred pound a hundred pound for a brief account of my life and experiences do not accept mr cast you must stand firm you must say to them that your price it is now 500 pounds do you think so mesut them do you not realize mr cast that today you are the most famous man in england oh right you're absolutely right famous well i must say the money will be most agreeable i shall take a short holiday and i say what a creature do you like it it's magnificent i shot it as a matter of fact you shot it yes when i was in south america oh i should like to hear that story oh all right well sit down mr cast it was when i was up in venezuela we were a few miles upstream of la urbana which is actually one of the hottest places in the world the humidity was absolutely unbearable we'd been imported around white water all day i was pretty exhausted and suddenly we rounded a bed in the river and came upon the most extraordinary site just down below the rapids was a native canoe obviously in some kind of trouble and i suddenly realized that they were being pursued by something rather horry daddy [Music] you

Channel: BritTV

Views: 289,334

Rating: 4.8533468 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: QyuQxjnlzS4

Length: 105min 49sec (6349 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 04 2020