Dial M For Murder (1954) |
Plot Synopsis (continued)
The Suspicious Inspector - More Questions For Tony About Large Sums of Cash and a Latch-Key: The door buzzer sounded and the Inspector unexpectedly arrived, while Mark hid in the rear bedroom. He had come to purportedly make inquiries about a recent robbery, but presumably hadn't given up on the Wendice case. He wanted to know where Tony had obtained large sums of cash that he had on hand. He had recently paid a big bill at a garage with cash - was it somehow connected to the stolen money?:
The Inspector bent down and retrieved a latch-key that he had just found lying on the rug at his feet. He asked if it was Tony's latch-key, but Tony confirmed that he had his own latch-key in the pocket of his trench-coat ("Mine's here!"). The Inspector then tried the key on the front-door, but it didn't work. He then realized that it was his own key that had dropped out of his similar-looking trench-coat - with a hole in its pocket:
Tony's Attache Case Filled With Cash: The subject returned to the large payments of cash that Tony admitted he was carrying around - more than £100 pounds - and the numerous bills he was paying - with cash - about town. Tony guiltily explained how he had been lucky with some big wins at dog racing, but admitted it was a touchy and shameful subject that he was gambling while his wife faced a death sentence. As he was leaving, the Inspector stopped at the open door and wondered about a small dark blue attache case: "Have you a small, blue attache case?" Tony thought it was a coincidence that it was mentioned, and made up another lie: "You found it already....I was going to report it this afternoon. I think I left it in a taxi." While listening from the bedroom, Mark looked back at the bed - and realized that he had uncovered a similar-looking attache briefcase lying there. Tony described the circumstances of his lost briefcase:
The Inspector had already known of the existence of Tony's briefcase because it had been reported that he had it in his possession when he paid his garage, wine shop and tailor bills. Meanwhile, Mark had feverishly pried open the case, and discovered it had wrapped bundles of used £1 pound notes. He called out to the Inspector, hinting at his suspicions: "I think Mr. Wendice has something to tell you." Both of them were brought to the back bedroom to take a look at over £500 pounds in cash inside the case. Mark noted: "No wonder you couldn't bear to sleep in her bedroom." He theorized - not WHERE - but WHY Tony had that much cash - it was the remainder of the £900 pounds (£100 had already been paid) meant to pay-off murderer Swann, after he had paid some of his larger bills, amounting to about £300 pounds. Tony stood calmly and leaned against the doorway as Mark accused him of hiring Swann for cash to murder his wife. While awaiting his wife's execution and inheritance of her fortune, he was paying his bills with the money intended to pay off Swann:
Tony's Defense Against Multiple Accusations: To refute Mark, Tony went into a long-winded account of how Mark was suspiciously imagining that he was the guilty one, and how he had suggested fabricating different testimony to free Margot ("Before you came, Inspector, he was trying to persuade me to go to the police with the most fantastic story you ever heard"):
And then Tony let Mark fill in the blanks for anything he left out:
Remarkably, as Mark had earlier surmised, Tony had summarized the real truth of what had happened. The Inspector again interrupted with the oft-most mentioned puzzle in the whole scenario: "If Swann had used Mr. Wendice's key, it would still have been on him when he died. Besides, how did Mr. Wendice get in when he returned from the hotel?" Mark answered with two possibilities: "She could have let him in. And he could've taken his key from Swann's pocket before the police got here." The Inspector reminded Mark of court testimony during the trial: "He let himself in with his own key." Mark then thought of the most credible location for the hidden key, although his guess was slightly wrong:
The Inspector was still impatient to know where Mr. Wendice got the money. He turned and went around to the desk, opened a drawer, and pulled out Tony's bank statements ledger. Both he and Mark struggled for possession of the ledger, as Tony looked on nervously. Mark speculated that the day after the murder (committed on September 26th, not March 26th - the date "this all happened"), Tony began to live off the unused pay-off funds for Swann:
There had been a series of regular weekly withdrawals (never above £53 pounds), so it was suspected that Tony had saved the money over a long period of time. Pressed for an answer, the quick-witted Tony fabricated another on-the-fly impromptu explanation for the money in the case. His newest story was that it was Margot's pay-off funds for Swann. She had changed her mind and killed Swann in a moment of panic instead of paying him off. Knowing that the money was to be used by Margot for the pay-off, Tony concealed the money to hide her guilt - to protect her from certain conviction if the authorities found out about it during the trial:
The Inspector thought Tony's explanation was convincing and plausible, and seemed to dismiss Mark's theory. Mark was disbelieving and incensed that Tony was telling more lies that meant death for Margot. He felt that the authorities had arrested the wrong person. He threatened that Margot might change her will if she heard Tony's latest deceitful fabrication ("What'll happen when Margot hears about this?...Perhaps she'll change her will. You'll have done it all for nothing, Tony"). Before departing, the Inspector reassured Tony: "Before nearly every execution, someone comes forward like this. This must have been very distressing for you coming as it did." The Inspector suggested that Tony speak to his lawyer if he was worried about the will, and he should also safeguard the money in his attache case. As a ruse, he asked Tony to glance outside to see if Mark had actually left, and in just the few quick moments that Tony retreated to the bedroom window, he switched or swapped the locations of their two nearly-identical trench-coats.
As the Inspector left, his last words were to remind Tony to retrieve Margot's belongings at the police station - her books and handbag. Tony gulped down a stiff drink and stuffed some cash from the case into his jacket pocket before leaving with 'his' trenchcoat. The Inspector watched from the upper part of the hallway stairwell as Tony departed. Mark ducked behind a gate pillar to avoid being seen by Tony on his way out. The Final Trap to Snag Tony: Once Tony had left, the Inspector took Tony's key out of the switched trench-coat and let himself back into the apartment. With a flashlight to see, he dialed the Desk Sergeant O'Brien at the local police station and ordered: "Start the ball rolling."
Mark returned to the apartment, knocked and identified himself, and was let in and told to keep quiet ("Shut up! If you want to save Mrs. Wendice, keep quiet and let me handle this!"). A horn honked outside, and the Inspector watched from the bedroom window as Margot was driven up in a car (escorted by two plainclothes police detectives). She entered the hallway to try her key at the door from her handbag. When it didn't work, she buzzed the doorbell (the door was not answered), and then walked back to the car. She obviously did not know that a key was hidden under the stair carpet. "Amateur" sleuth Mark was confused - not realizing that the "flatfooted" Inspector was setting a very clever trap:
The Inspector opened the garden drapes and window-door and waited until Margot appeared with the police. He let her in (with Mark standing behind him) and she first asked where Tony was. The Inspector questioned her about why she didn't use her own handbag's key. Bewildered, Margot said that she had, but couldn't understand why her key didn't fit the lock ("I thought it was mine").
The Inspector also showed her Tony's attache case - she didn't recognize it ("I don't understand"). The Inspector had expected her reaction: "No, I don't believe you do." He told one of the plainclothes cops to return Margot's handbag to the police station. Before explaining his theory, the Inspector prefaced his words with a warning. His intention was to prove, with certainty, that Tony had plotted to kill Margot, and had now determined that she was entirely innocent of the crime:
She was numb and stunned by the news - "I don't seem able to feel anything" - and had never suspected Tony. The Inspector explained how he began to suspect that Tony had masterminded the murder of Margot:
At that moment, the Inspector was interrupted by a signal that Tony was returning to the apartment - he knew, of course, that Tony would not be able to get in due to the switched trenchcoats. The Inspector watched as Tony, on the front steps, realized that he was carrying the wrong overcoat. He headed to the nearby police station to get his own overcoat - and Margot's handbag. The Inspector phoned the station to make sure that Margot's handbag had been returned to the station by the time Tony would arrive. The desk Sergeant was instructed to have Tony sign for the handbag and books, and then was told: "If he wants his own key and raincoat, tell him I've gone to Glasgow." The Inspector continued his explanation of Tony's plot to kill Margot. The Inspector's trap was two fold - to prove Margot's innocence and establish Tony's guilt:
After visiting the police station (OFF-SCREEN), Tony returned to the apartment with Margot's handbag - he was planning on using Margot's key to let himself in. However, her handbag held Swann's key!
Tony entered the hallway a second time, unsuccessfully tried "Margot's key" from her handbag, and walked away. Outside the building on the stairs, he looked down at the key, while the Inspector spied on him from the bedroom window and imagined what was running through Tony's head:
Tony re-entered and walked down the hallway to his front door. He reached for the key from under the stair carpet, pondered for a second, and then opened the door. As the lights went on inside the apartment (symbolic of his revealed crime), he turned and found himself face-to-face with the Inspector, Margot and Mark waiting inside. Quickly turning, he opened the door to flee, but a detective blocked his escape into the hallway. He turned back, as a very tearful Margot averted her eyes. Tony acknowledged to Mark that his brilliant scheme had failed ("Well, as you said Mark, it might work out on paper, but....") and that he had been found out, and congratulated the Inspector for solving the case. With stiff British reserve, he calmly poured himself a large drink and casually offered to serve Margot and Mark - still the perfect host. The Inspector, remaining on duty, dialed the telephone to inform Scotland Yard, as he proudly brushed his mustache. |