- 2 days ago
the character of John Drake (Patrick McGoohan) investigates a murder in Hong Kong and discovers that a radio program is being used to transmit secret military information to China through coded messages in a radio show. To stop the operation, Drake poses as an actor at the radio station.
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TVTranscript
00:00Tomorrow will be Saturday, Father.
00:13I am going to spend the day on the beach.
00:16Will you come with me, or will you stay at home?
00:20No, I shall be going to the office.
00:23I wish I could take the day off, but with me business comes first.
00:27Will you come with me, Mother?
00:30No. I have many things to do.
00:34The house must be cleaned from top to bottom.
00:37In the next part of our English conversation lesson,
00:40our friends Mr. and Mrs. Smith and the daughter Miss Smith
00:43will be spending a day at the seaside
00:45until 10 o'clock tomorrow morning then.
00:52Tomorrow's script, Mr. Toye.
00:56Tomorrow will be soon enough.
00:58How about cutting out, baby? I'll buy you a drink.
01:01Sorry, I've got some translation to do.
01:03Do not work too hard, Miss Ken, or you will strain your mind.
01:09Colonel Graves, please.
01:10Colonel Graves, Chen Tong here.
01:17I must talk to you right away.
01:20No, no, no, no, no, not at your office.
01:22I've got my family in hand car to think of.
01:27Very well.
01:28At the surgery, the other doctor.
01:31In 10 minutes.
01:32I'll be back after rehearsal.
01:37I'll be back after rehearsal.
01:37Every government has its Secret Service branch.
02:05America at CIA, France, Desi M Bureau, England, MI5.
02:10A messy job?
02:12Well, that's when they usually call on me or someone like me.
02:15Oh, yes. My name is Drake.
02:18John Drake.
02:35Good morning. I have an appointment.
02:38Yes, sir. With Dr. Jones or Dr. Singh?
02:40The other doctor.
02:41With the other doctor?
02:42Yes.
02:43Your name, sir?
02:44Drake.
02:45Please, come this way.
02:49Tom in.
02:50Mr. Drake to see you, sir.
02:53Ah, Colonel.
02:54Hello, Drake.
02:55Bob?
02:56How are you?
02:57Glad to see you, John Boy.
02:59Hey, it doesn't be thinking about, does it?
03:01Oh, it does, you know.
03:02Why the cloak and dagger stop?
03:04Meeting you here?
03:05Yeah.
03:06Well, we've been especially cautious just now.
03:08We suspect that we've enemies in the camp.
03:10Really?
03:11If they find out that you're working for us, you won't get very far.
03:14Except, perhaps, for the bottom of the harbour.
03:16We just wrote cut.
03:18Um, what's it all about?
03:20Well, for some time now, the Chinese on the mainland have been receiving up-to-the-minute information from Hong Kong.
03:26Latest details of our fleet movements and other useful tidbits.
03:29I see.
03:30And you think that they have a new shortwave transmitting station?
03:33No, it can't be.
03:34Why not?
03:35Well, we'd know.
03:36We have a 24-hour monitoring service.
03:38No, this time they've thought of something rather better.
03:40For instance?
03:41Well, possibly a way of using our own daily broadcasts.
03:44I see.
03:45And what led you to this monumental conclusion, Bob?
03:48Well, a couple of weeks back, I was approached by a Chinese sound technician.
03:52Uh, he suspected there was some funny business going on in one of our programmes.
03:56The English conversation lesson.
03:58Well, I arranged to meet him.
04:00Didn't expect much to come of it.
04:01And then, he was shot.
04:04So I began to take an interest.
04:06Who shot it?
04:07We don't know.
04:08Happened in the studio.
04:09There was a lot of panic and confusion.
04:11The killer got away.
04:12What else?
04:13Well, now, our agents on the mainland have come up with one rather curious fact.
04:17There's one programme from here that the Chinese over there have never jammed.
04:22The, uh, the English conversation lesson?
04:24Of course, we could cancel the programme, but they'd soon find some other channel.
04:28And what we've got to do is to find out how they're working it and root out the whole organisation.
04:33And that's my little sure.
04:35I hope so.
04:36I think so.
04:37Hmm.
04:38All right.
04:39Well, for a start, I might get a job in the radio station.
04:41Good idea.
04:42I'll put a word in for you with the director.
04:44Oh, second thought's better if I have a less formal introduction.
04:47Tell me, can you find me a man on your staff who could put up a really good fight if necessary?
04:53Yeah, Sergeant Carib.
04:54Oh, my God!
04:55Oh, my God!
04:56Oh, my God!
04:57Oh, my God!
04:58Oh, my God!
05:00Oh, my God!
05:01Yeah, I hope so.
05:02Oh.
05:03Oh, you don't!
05:33Here you are.
05:53Thanks, man.
05:56Worth a drink?
05:57You haven't been here long, have you?
05:58No, long enough to work up a thirst.
06:03Then there's something you ought to know.
06:05Hong Kong's strictly number one pill.
06:07Never help anyone but yourself in this town.
06:12Whiskey.
06:13Make it two.
06:15You busted? Flat.
06:17Off the ship?
06:18Yes, came out here with a movie company, doubling for the star.
06:22When shooting finished, I went on a bat, woke up the next morning.
06:24No movie company. Here I am.
06:26You're an actor.
06:28Yeah, well, equity swears I am, because I'm not so sure.
06:31What's your story?
06:32I work at the radio station here.
06:34Oh, really?
06:35Did they ever use any actors?
06:37I told you, man, this is number one pill.
06:41Okay.
06:44Thanks for the drink.
06:44Oh, and if you get robbed on the way home, you know who did it.
06:48Wait a minute.
06:49Hey!
06:50You did me a favor.
06:51This is just to make us quits.
06:54There's a show I work on.
06:55I haven't got much drag, but I'll ask if they can use you.
06:58Oh, that's great.
07:00Mr. Brown told me he sells tables and chairs and beds and carpets, everything for the house.
07:10Does the company pay you a commission on the furniture you sell, or do you work on a salary, Mr. Brown?
07:17I am paid a salary by the week, and also a percentage, as in most capitalist countries, where the individual worker is encouraged to show initiative.
07:27In the next part of our English conversation lesson, Mr. Brown will make a proposal of marriage to Miss Smith until 10 o'clock tomorrow morning, Ben.
07:36Well, I can't wait until tomorrow morning, Miss Kent.
07:41You did very well, Mr. Drake.
07:43I'm not a bit nervous, was he?
07:45Well, there's nothing to be nervous about, is there?
07:46They can't see you on radio.
07:50Tomorrow's script, Mr. Drake.
07:51Oh, thank you very much.
07:52Do they always give you the script today, Ernie?
07:55You're supposed to study it, man.
07:56Method.
07:57Get the hidden meaning.
07:58When the guy says, have another cup of tea, what's his real motivation?
08:05Dig?
08:05Don't take any notice.
08:06Americans are always flippant.
08:08Much too flippant.
08:10Only about important things.
08:12I know.
08:13My father was American.
08:15What'd your father do to you anyway, baby?
08:17It's what he didn't do.
08:19See you tomorrow, Mr. Drake.
08:21Of course, goodbye.
08:23That cornball chick, that's all she knows.
08:25Her father was an American.
08:26Big deal.
08:27Come on, man, let's go.
08:28Al, Mr. Drake, just a moment.
08:30I wanted to ask you, I'm having a few friends in this evening.
08:33Would you care to come around for a drink?
08:35Oh, very nice of you, Mr. Toys.
08:58Carol, why are you following me?
09:02Why do you think?
09:03You tell me.
09:04The work you're doing is very dangerous, I'm.
09:06You may need me.
09:07Yes, but if I may have been protected by a bodyguard, they'll become suspicious, won't they?
09:11A nice thought, Carol, but...
09:13No, thanks.
09:14Well, we can eliminate the scriptwriter for a start because the scripts are prepared two or three days in advance,
09:22whereas the news that gets through to the mainland is right up to the minute.
09:25Do any of the actors make last-minute changes in their lines?
09:28No, no, no, they read them from the scripts just as they are.
09:30Unless, of course, it's the way they read them.
09:33You mean stressed words, that sort of thing?
09:35Yeah.
09:36That narrows the fields down to the three actors on the show.
09:38And the producer, Mr. Toy, he makes the announcements.
09:41I wonder, could you get me a character background on each one of them by this evening?
09:44Sure, but why by this evening?
09:46Well, Mr. Toy is throwing a party.
09:47They're all going to be there.
09:48Al Jason, Mrs. Harkness, Susan Kent, all of them.
09:50What are you cooking up?
09:51Well, it seems to me that we can't really know anything about the code until we discover who's sending it out, can we?
09:56I can't bring them all in.
09:57Good question.
09:58Chin Tung's murder is enough reason.
10:00No, no, if you don't mind, Bob, leave it to me.
10:01Let me set the trap.
10:03Come into my parlor, said the fly to the spider.
10:06What kind of a trap?
10:08Well, I go to the party.
10:10I talk a lot.
10:11I concentrate on each one of them at a time.
10:13I say the sort of things that should scare the guilty party,
10:16and then I wait for one of them to make a counter move.
10:18Could be dangerous.
10:19Well, not necessarily.
10:20I'm expecting trouble.
10:21I'm ready for it.
10:21This isn't Washington.
10:23I'd hate you to get yourself murdered.
10:25Oh, thanks.
10:26I appreciate that.
10:27We've known each other a long time, Drake.
10:29You mean that you're not just speaking to me as a policeman?
10:33Well, I hope I'm speaking as an old friend.
10:35You'd be happier if I had a bodyguard?
10:36Much happier.
10:37Will he let me?
10:39Let you?
10:40Who are you kidding?
10:42I'm not kidding.
10:44All right, I'll take your word for it.
10:46I'll have some news for you after the party, I hope.
10:48About midnight.
10:49I'll wait for your call.
10:50All right.
10:54So, you think I don't take my work seriously, Mrs. Harkness?
10:58Mr. Drake, I never said anything.
10:59Shall I tell you why I don't take my work seriously?
11:01Because there's something funny about that program of ours.
11:05Tom, tea, tom, tea, tom, tea, diddle-dee, tom, diddle-dee, tom, tea, tom, tom.
11:10See what I mean?
11:11I haven't the faintest idea.
11:13Oh, yes, I think you have, Mrs. Harkness, because you see, I don't sell furniture at all.
11:17I am an actor with a very good ear.
11:20Mr. Jason, I don't think Mr. Drake feels quite him.
11:25All right, thank you, Mrs. Harkness.
11:27Lay off the juice, man.
11:28You want to get stranded again?
11:29Oh, I think you're right, Jason.
11:31From now on, I'll be like you and mind my own business.
11:33Oh, well, Miss Kent, having a nice serious time.
11:40Oh, I'm not always serious, Mr. Drake.
11:42Such a pretty girl, they said, but always so serious.
11:45Who said?
11:46Oh, not me, they, because I know why you're serious.
11:49You do?
11:50Oh, yes, you're not happy with the job you're doing.
11:52Oh, I like my job well enough, Mr. Drake.
11:54It's easy to make fun of it.
11:55We can't all play Shakespeare.
11:57That's true, but what about your other job?
11:59You mean my translation?
12:00No, I don't mean your translation.
12:01Then I don't know what you're talking about.
12:04Oh, yes, you do.
12:05Let's leave that for the moment.
12:06You always lived in Hong Kong.
12:08Yes, I was born and brought up here.
12:10I live with my uncle now.
12:11Oh, yes, I remember.
12:13The girl who will never be able to forgive her father.
12:16I loved my father, Mr. Drake,
12:19but he couldn't forgive me for being half Chinese.
12:22Yet my mother could forgive him for being American.
12:27Forgive me for being a little love.
12:31Well, this is a great party you're giving here, Mr. Toye, old boy.
12:36Thank you, Mr. Drake.
12:37I'm glad you could come.
12:38Oh, so am I, because as a matter of fact,
12:40I wanted the opportunity to have a little chat with you.
12:43I'm by way of being a friend of a friend of yours.
12:48Did you know that?
12:49I hope I have many European friends.
12:50Oh, no, he wasn't a European.
12:52Who do you mean?
12:53Well, he knew you.
12:55He was interested in you, passionately interested in you,
12:57but he had an accident.
12:59He got himself shot in the studio.
13:02Oh, he changed to him.
13:03Yeah, that's right.
13:05But there's no need to worry.
13:07You see, I'm the only person in the world
13:10who knows why he was so interested in you.
13:13Only person in the world.
13:15Excuse me.
13:16Go.
13:17Come on, man, let's cut out.
13:26What's the matter?
13:27What's the matter?
13:27Am I popular, is that?
13:29Like a typhoid bug.
13:31Man, that's all I needed was to get mixed up with a...
13:34Now, come on, where do you live?
13:35Me, anywhere, everywhere.
13:38Well, you can sleep it off on my couch.
13:40All right.
13:42Let's go and have a couple of drinks someplace first, shall we?
13:45All right.
13:47Help yourself.
13:59Help yourself.
14:17Help yourself.
14:29Help yourself.
14:30Help yourself.
14:30Help yourself.
14:31Help yourself.
14:31Help yourself.
14:32Help yourself.
14:33Help yourself.
14:34Help yourself.
14:34Help yourself.
14:35Help yourself.
14:35Help yourself.
14:36Help yourself.
14:36Help yourself.
14:37Help yourself.
14:37Help yourself.
14:38Help yourself.
14:38Help yourself.
14:39Help yourself.
14:39Help yourself.
14:40Help yourself.
14:40Help yourself.
14:41Help yourself.
14:42Help yourself.
14:42Help yourself.
14:43Help yourself.
14:43Help yourself.
14:44Help yourself.
14:44Help yourself.
14:45Get up.
15:08I knew you were going to be trouble.
15:11It's the last time in my life I ever help anyone.
15:13Right now, you better start thinking about helping yourself.
15:16I'm going to. I'm not saying a word.
15:18Every morning, they sent you the message to be transmitted.
15:21You coded it.
15:22And then you went through the lines in your script and picked out the words.
15:25I never even took the script home with me at night.
15:27No, that's right. You left it in the studio, didn't you?
15:30But when you picked it up in the morning, it was marked.
15:32The words to be emphasized for that day.
15:36Keep guessing.
15:39What did you do with the old scripts?
15:40I gave them to the Salvation Army.
15:43I got rid of them fast. Do you think I'm stupid?
15:45Yes, frankly, I do.
15:47If you'd have been smart...
15:51Oh, yes, would you get me four, five, seven, and two-one.
15:56If you'd have been smart, you'd have left when that unfortunate sound engineer, Chen Tung, discovered what you were doing.
16:02Man, I'm still alive, ain't I?
16:04Oh, yes, but you're going to be away for a long time.
16:08Hello?
16:10Colonel Graves. Yes, hello.
16:12We're in Hotel La Paz, room 28.
16:16Yeah, thank you.
16:18Look, man, why are you trying to bug me?
16:20I haven't got anything to give you.
16:22You mean you don't know who any of them are? You have no contacts?
16:25About three months ago, I got a ring in the middle of the night.
16:30Do I want to earn some bread? Sure I do.
16:33So the next day, I leave the script at the studio.
16:36I'm in business.
16:38How did they pay you?
16:39Well, I get a letter from the post office every Friday.
16:42General delivery.
16:44Why do I want to ask any questions? It was like getting money from home.
16:48Then one night, they called me after Chen Tung got rubbed out.
16:51They didn't want me to get any sudden ideas.
16:55You mean they told you that they didn't want you to, uh, to quit?
16:59Yeah.
17:00Why'd you try and kill me tonight?
17:02The way you were sounding off of that party, I had to do something to shut you up.
17:06I was the one that brought you in on this program.
17:08Someone might have thought that I'd leaked it all.
17:11Well, you know what this town's like. You can't tell a cowboy from an Indian.
17:16They thought I'd crossed them. I couldn't walk down the street in broad daylight.
17:18You're quite a character, aren't you, Mr. Jason? What do they pay you? A hundred a week?
17:22A hundred and fifty. American dollars.
17:25Man, I was starving to death on that cheesy program.
17:29Well, you won't have to worry about it anymore, because by the time that you get out, you'll be eligible for the old people's pension.
17:35Yeah?
17:37I'll be out in about two years.
17:39Home and dry.
17:41In good old New York.
17:43You want a bet?
17:45Yeah.
17:48Ah, Colonel.
17:49Here he is.
17:51Al Jason.
17:53Attempted homicide.
17:54Conspiracy.
17:55Assault with a deadly weapon.
17:57Conspiracy to commit treason.
17:59And, oh, I forgot. He murdered Chen Tong.
18:01Man, you know I didn't.
18:03Well, somebody did and you're all that we've got.
18:05All right. Come on, Buster.
18:07Look, man, I'm telling the truth. I got nothing to give you.
18:09What do you want from me?
18:10Deal the cards. I'll play.
18:11All right. You stay here tonight. Colonel, can you put a guard on him to make sure he doesn't make any phone calls?
18:17And tomorrow morning, you go along to the radio station. You pick up your script and read it in the studio exactly as you've always been doing. All right?
18:29I was gambling. Gambling I could break their code before the broadcast in the morning.
18:33I had Jason's script, the one they'd already marked for the next day. And I had the tapes of a dozen earlier broadcasts.
18:40I knew which voice to listen to now.
18:43I am glad we decided to go for a drive this afternoon.
18:48And by watching the volume indicator when Jason was speaking, I could pick out the chosen words.
18:55Look at the daffodils and the daisies.
18:59It was so subtly done that the ordinary ear might never have noticed it, but the machine did.
19:04Tomorrow will decide...
19:05The first part of the job was to go through the tapes and list the words that he emphasized.
19:09But that was only the beginning. I still had to make sense of them.
19:14Find some relationship between them.
19:18But the words themselves meant nothing.
19:21They were ciphers and a code. Probably some quite simple code.
19:24Because the words available to them in any given day's script were limited by the lines Jason had to speak.
19:30Nothing seemed to work.
19:31I tried reversing the order of the words.
19:38The shot won't make straight deer.
19:42I tried writing them in a column, one under the other.
19:54And then suddenly a name jumped out of the page at me.
19:57A name formed by the third letter of each word.
20:10Nautilus.
20:13I tried it with one of the other groups.
20:16K-O-R-E-A-N.
20:20Korean.
20:22It was beginning to make sense.
20:23But now that I knew the code, I could make Jason send them any message I wanted.
20:29I could tell them it was getting too hot for him.
20:31He wanted to quit.
20:33He wanted them to get him safely out of Hong Kong.
20:35Or a letter that he'd written would be turned over to the police.
20:41I hope you're feeling better this morning, Mr. Drake.
20:43Well, just terrible, thank you, Mrs. Harkness.
20:45Poor Mr. Drake.
20:46I'm afraid I owe you an apology.
20:47What for?
20:48Of some of the things that I said last night.
20:49Again.
20:56Silence, please.
20:59And now for the English conversation lesson.
21:02Mr. and Mrs. Smith are on the beach.
21:08The sea is very calm today.
21:10And the sun is shining so brightly.
21:13Where's our daughter, dear?
21:14It is a pity she did not come to the beach with us.
21:18Instead of shutting herself up indoors.
21:23Drake, I wish you wouldn't insist on doing it this way.
21:27Can you think of any other way?
21:32Yeah.
21:34Yeah, that's right, man.
21:36Yeah, I sent you a message, man.
21:38Yeah, I want out.
21:40Any place you say, man.
21:42Yeah, yeah, I know it.
21:45Oh, listen, I wasn't kidding about that letter, you know.
21:48Okay, man.
21:51Do you know it?
21:53Yeah, I know where it is, but for heaven's sake,
21:55why didn't you let me take a dozen men and surround the place?
21:57It wouldn't do any good to know you were coming.
21:59You'd close your net and you'd find nothing there but the night air.
22:02Well, let me just take a couple of them here.
22:04No, no, better not.
22:05I'll tell you what, though.
22:06You can send one man, if you like.
22:08Good. Anyone special?
22:09How about the Indian?
22:10Sergeant Carab.
22:11That's right.
22:12Well, he put up a good fight when I caught him picking Jason's pocket, didn't he?
22:14All right.
22:15I'll have him follow you.
22:17And if I don't hear from you, within one hour I'm coming in.
22:20All right.
22:21With an armored car, if necessary.
22:24Hello.
22:2523487.
22:39Come in, Mr. Jason.
22:40So, you want to quit?
22:53That's right.
22:54Haven't we paid you enough money?
22:55Oh, yes.
22:56You pay enough.
22:57The things are getting too hot for me.
22:58You will quit when we want you to.
22:59And I hope for your sake they'll never come to that.
23:00And now I should like to know, how did you manage to break our code?
23:05Oh, nothing to it.
23:06Just a couple of hours juggling with the scripts.
23:07I see.
23:08Why did you do that?
23:09Natural curiosity.
23:10We'll have to teach you to restrain your curiosity.
23:12Oh, no.
23:13No.
23:14No.
23:15No.
23:16No.
23:17No.
23:18No.
23:19No.
23:20No.
23:21No.
23:22No.
23:23No.
23:24No.
23:25No.
23:26No.
23:27No.
23:28No.
23:29No.
23:30No.
23:31No.
23:32No.
23:33No.
23:35Yeah.
23:36Yes.
23:37Um.
23:38Oh, isn't that surprising?
23:39No.
23:40No.
23:41No, you see that.
23:42Yeah.
23:43It's watching you.
23:44No, echo.
23:45Hello, Miss Kent.
23:46Just isn't Jason, it's Drake.
23:47He's working for Colonel Greaves.
23:48Yes, I'm sorry.
23:50Jason was busy.
23:51I came instead.
23:52I hope you don't mind.
23:53Of course, there had to be somebody else's at the radio station
23:54to get the scripts and mark them every night.
23:55I should've realised how much you hated Americans.
23:58It was very reckless of you to come here alone.
23:59Well, I didn't come alone.
24:00I brought one of my men with me.
24:01Sergeant Currie, he's not one of your men.
24:02Let's do this to a fellow artist, Ms. Kent.
24:29Come in.
24:32Why did they let me out of the coop, man? Where are we going?
24:35You kept your part of the bargain. Now we're keeping ours, Jason.
24:37We're taking you back to the States. Home and ride. Stand trial.
24:40Thanks, man.
24:42Well, I'll be glad to get out of this lousy town anyhow.
24:45Say, why don't we stop off at the post office on the way back?
24:48I never picked up my money last Friday. I have $150 coming, you know.
24:52Well, that's all right. I picked it up for you.
24:54What'd you do with it?
24:55I gave it to the Actress Benevolent Fund.
24:57Okay, man.
24:58Come on.
25:00Bye-bye.
25:01All right.
25:02I'll be right back.
25:04Come on.
25:05The End
25:35The End
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