[...]
This was the scene of the crime. In our book, it's murder.
Same old story to begin with.
Victim young, good looking, wanted to get on television. Had everything it takes
for a great career. Someplace along the line got mixed up with the wrong guy. You
know, wound up dead.
We don't know who did it or how. That's what we're trying to find out. About
the body, not pretty.
Beat up, mutilated, pretty bad. Hard to believe anybody would do a thing like
that. But if you've got a strong stomach, take a look. Alive and healthy a month
ago. Now, she's dead. Couldn't have been [...] Yes? Speaking.
Tomorrow. But you told me next
week. But you got it.
Oh, Mr.
[...] Well, please. Let me alone.
We don't know. All we got are suspects. There's a guy named of Jones, lab man. He
makes prints of films. He handled this print. That print was perfect when she
left me. I had nothing to do with killing her. And there's Smith. He's a film
distributor. He sent the print to the station.
Why would I do anything to hurt her? I loved her. And
Brown. He's film director at the station.
I know you're trying to make me the fall guy. It won't work. She was with me a
lot. Sure. But I was taking care of her. And Harris, projectionist at the
station. I only had that print long enough to thread her up. I couldn't have done
her any harm. Somebody did. Somebody murdered her. My job.
Find out who. We questioned the suspects. Got their stories. First, this man
Jones from the film laboratory. What do you pick on me for? I never heard that
print. How do you figure that? I know the kind of treatment film gets here.
That's my business. Protecting film. Turning out perfect prints. Why ask me all
these questions? Just routine. Well, I got nothing to hide. I'll tell you how it
was. That print. Here's where she came from. First, I saw her. She was coming off
this processing machine. Brand new and perfect. And we kept her that way too.
How? Well, figure it out.
What's the biggest danger to film? Dirt. All right. Look around. No dirt in here.
Even the air is filtered. Not a chance for any dust or dirt or stuff to get to
her. Go on. Another thing. Before she ever left the machine. Before I ever
touched her. She was lubricated. You oiled her? No, no.
Wax solution. Here, film goes over this glass cylinder that rotates and puts the
lubricant on the emulsion side. Lubricant? Yeah. We make it up ourselves. About a
tenth of a gram of Hercules B16 synthetic wax to a hundred grams of solvent.
Applied here. Drives almost instantly. What's the idea? Protection against
scratches, abrasion. Keeps the film from sticking in a projector gate.
For instance, you ever hear of people having trouble with green
prints? Green prints? Yeah.
That's a print that hasn't been lubricated. That fresh emulsion gelatin is always
soft. A little tacky. Sticky. Unless you lubricate that surface, the first few
times you try to project it, you can have trouble. You get sticking. Little tiny
particles of that soft emulsion come off.
And pile up in the gate. Result is jittery picture, not steady.
Not only that, if it sticks bad, the cloth puts too
much tension on the perforations.
May even tear them. Or you can lose a loop, break the film. Or the film runs off
and the sprockets punch new holes. A green print will do that. Right. Another
thing. Where that soft emulsion piles up, dirt gets in. It drags against the film
and you get abrasion. Sounds like what happened to this print. Nope. Couldn't
have. Because like I said, she was lubricated like all our prints.
That wax coating prevents print sticking. So don't blame
me for what happened to that print.
Guy you're looking for must be. Never mind anybody
else. What else did you do with her?
What else? Well, took the reel off the machine, made a regular visual inspection.
We'd have caught any defects if there had been any. And we're still working in
clean filtered air remember.
Put her on a core, labeled her, packaged her up and shipped her off. That's all?
Yeah. So if I did all that, took all that care, how could I have hurt her? I
wonder. Huh? If you did all that.
Next guy we talked to was Smith. Works for this film distribution outfit. His
story was. Sure, I remember. She came to us from the lab on a core. We inspected
her while rewinding her onto a reel.
Careful, were you? Sure. Brand new reel, like always. Side straight, no burrs.
Was she in good shape then? Perfect. And then? Well, she went out to two or three
stations. I could tell you which ones. No names. Okay. Anyway, the next I saw
of her, she was still in A1 condition.
That was one morning when I got her out of the rack for timing and
inspection. Hold it.
This sign. This film of fire hazard? What's that? Oh no, it's all safety film.
The point of no smoking is it helps keep the place clean. That's the first rule
in handling film. Don't let dirt and stuff get to it. So they tell me. You can
see for yourself how clean we keep it around here.
There's no windows to let dirt and grime in from the outside. Tables? Nothing on
them except what we need to work with. No chance for dirt or abrasive material to
get to our film. This is the way it always is? Sure. Films are business. You know
how much it costs us when a print gets scratched up and has to be junked? Plenty.
Plenty is right. That's why I keep my place looking like this. You never catch me
doing like some people, letting my table turn into a junk pile. That's murder on
film. I got more sense than that. I'll tell you something about
film. What's that?
Whenever film's being handled, moved, other words wound and rewound, it
builds up static electricity.
It gets just like a magnet. It attracts particles of dirt. Stuff from the air,
cigarette ashes, dirt on the table. That stuff gets ground into the film and
you've got scratches. But about this murder, you took this print to your table?
Yeah, for timing and inspection. Meaning what? Well, to measure the footage first
using this counter. But that can't hurt film, providing you don't pull it through
too fast. Did you? No. Took it slow. Thing is, while I was timing her, I was
checking for any damage. Any abrasions or scratches. How? How'd I check? Held her
so the light reflects off the film.
Any scratches, I'd see them. Did you see any? No. What else you checked
for? Any splices in the print.
If there had been any bad ones, I'd have repaired them. But there weren't.
Look for any damage to the perforations. Any torn ones. They were all okay.
Anything else? Yeah, I made sure that the last station hadn't left any
commercials in the film and I checked for improper cue marks. What marks? Cue
marks. You know, the little marks we put at certain points in the film to signal
a director or projectionist when to switch over or when the film's about over or
when to bring in a commercial. You know. I get you. The reason I checked that,
well, you should see some of the films we get back. Brother, the cue marks. These
jokers all think they've got to have their own special cue marks at their own
special places and make them good and big so they can't miss them. Looks awful.
Ruins a print. I can understand why they
don't hurt.
Only the right ones. That's all. Any other injuries? No. Like I say, she was in
beautiful shape. Sure of that? Sure. Anything wrong had reported it, but there
wasn't. Condition A1. No scratches, no perforation damage. Everything okay. You
wear gloves. Always. Don't catch me getting fingerprints on any of them. Clean
gloves? Yeah, clean gloves. Change them every day. Maybe often look. I know what
you're getting at. Gloves pick up dirt particles while you work. Run film over
the cloth and it acts just like sandpaper. Only thing is I didn't do that. My
gloves were clean and I didn't drag the film over the dry cloth. I held it by the
edges like always. So then what?
Well, after inspection, we rewound her and cleaned her at the same time. Cleaned
her how? With wax and solvent. The same thing they use in the labs. Lubricant, is
it? Yeah. Anytime you clean film, you ought to use a lubricant to do it. Just
makes sense to give it that protection. This machine, it's safe. Sure. Film runs
through these strips of rayon plush. Solution drips onto the material, keeps it
moist. The plush is chained so no dirt gets a chance to
pile up and scratch the film.
Takes up on a reel and that's it. No, you still say? That I couldn't have hurt
that print. She went right into the can and the shipping case and left here. Like
I say, condition A1. I swear it.
Anything that happened to her later, I had nothing to do with it. I pass.
Yeah, I see you. What?
Passin'. The buck, that is. We followed the thing a little farther. Talk to this
man, Brown, film director at the TV station. He
admitted he'd had a lot to do with the victim.
Naturally I did. I'm responsible for all the film here at the station. Our own
prints and the ones we lease are rent. I make up the programs, see that the
film's timed and cleaned, put in commercials, make repairs, all that. But I
didn't hurt that film. What did you do to her? Well, the day
she smoked. No smoking. I
didn't smoke. We don't allow smoking where
film's being handled because... I know.
Then what? Took her in, put her on the table and started timing. Table pretty
clean? Yeah, clean, sure. Look at it anytime. I know what dirt does to film.
We're careful. Any place where handling film, it's clean, air conditioned. And
that's all we do there. Just handle film. Don't get touchy.
You project this print? No. Why not? Why, I haven't got time to
project all the film we get in here.
Hundreds of feet a day. Some stuff I project. Sure, if there's a question about
it. But not this one.
I don't think. You're not sure? No, but if I had, that wouldn't have hurt her.
You can see our preview projectors in real good shape. Why, we
clean the gate every other day.
I know what a dirty projector can do to film.
And I know what happens if you don't thread a projector right. So?
So, I'm careful about threading every time. But like I say, this print, I didn't
project. All I did was timer and spectra and put in the commercials. Take it a
step at a time. Well, what I did was run her through the footage counter at a
good safe speed too. Some guys pull them through so fast they scream.
Not me. I've seen what that can do to film. So, if you. So, I went slow.
Meantime, I checked for scratches and damaged preparations. The usual things. And
then? Find any damage? No, it didn't.
Anyhow, I figured a distributor had made a real thorough check and cleaned it.
So, there was no reason to think anything was wrong. He
claims there was nothing wrong with it.
Okay, well, I couldn't have heard it either. Then what'd you
do? Spliced in the commercials.
How? Like I always do. Listen, I know how to make a splice, mister. You can watch
me anytime, right by the book. Put the film in carefully.
Don't jam it on the pins.
Never use scotch tape or masking tape to back up a splice. I know that. Stuff
gets caught in the projector gate. Oh. Then I scrape the emulsion and I use a
scraper that's made for scraping.
Wet the emulsion to soften it. Take it all off without
cutting down into the base.
Then the cement. Put it on. Close her up. Give it 10 or 15 seconds to dry well.
And I've got a perfect splice. But that's how I always do it. And I keep my
splicer adjusted, too. So there's no chance of the splices being crooked. Okay.
After inspection, what? You clean it? No, it didn't need it. The distributor
always... Ever clean film here? Sure. Sure. Our own library prints or any prints
that need it. Use a machine? No, no. We clean it by hand. We run it through
soft cotton pads moistened with cleaning fluid. I say clean. We keep changing the
cloth so dirt can't pile up and scratch the film. Cleaning fluid? Yeah. Solve
them with a little synthetic wax in it to lubricate the film. Makes it move
through the projector nice and smooth. Right. Now about this print.
After inspection, you rewound it. Yeah. And I was careful there, too. First
place, my rewinds are lined up perfectly. No way film can drag against the sides.
Then I kept the constant tension on the film. I'm not one of these wise guys when
it comes to rewind and film. Wise guys? Yeah. You've seen them showing off,
building up speed, then coasting, letting the film drag over the table so it gets
scratched, or cranking it through with a jerky motion so you
won't get a good snug roll.
And none of that stuff for me, uh-huh. Steady speed. Constant tension when I
rewind. Yeah.
Something else. I've seen guys do a sloppy job so the film's loose on the reel.
Then they'll yank on the end of the film till it's tight. Worst thing you can do.
Any dirt particles on the film just get grounded along against the emulsion and
dig grooves. Cinch marks. You've seen them look like this.
Yeah, I've seen them. That's why I didn't sense the film. Never do. Rewind are
good and snug on a good reel. No bent sides. No burrs. Put her in with
the next day's programs. That's all I did. I didn't hurt that print and you can't
prove I did. I'm innocent, so help me.
Funny thing. Huh? If you're innocent, why would you want help?
That left us with one more suspect. Harris, projectionist at the TV station, had
an answer to everything. Oh, I grant you a film can get ruined in projection. It
happens. But not if the film is in good shape and the projector is working right.
Now that's my job. No bent reels and I never spin the take-up reel after I'm
threaded up. And I'll tell you now, my projector never harmed that print. Sure of
that. Figure it out. I'm supposed to get a good picture on the screen. Only way I
can do that is to keep that projector clean. If I, the gate gets dirty and the
picture starts jumping around like this.
Or the sound scanning system gets dirty and the sound goes
haywire. Like this.
Noisy, you see? Yes, friends. Feed your pooch. Doggy drops. You'll
go for that yummy flavor.
And remember, doggy drops are double enriched. Now twice as effective. Get the
handy 50 pound economy size at your neighborhood camel. So I don't let those
things happen. I work on that projector. Work on it? How? Well, take the gate.
Every chance I get I pull it out and clean it.
Especially along these rails. Let emulsion or dirt pile up here
and it's liable to scratch the film.
Particularly on the soundtrack area. Then you've got a noisy track. Go on.
Another thing. If the gate's dirty, the film can't move through freely. Tends to
stick when the intermittent pulls down on the perforation. Now that extra strain
can scar those perforations. May even tear em. Then you lose your loop, get run
off, really chew up the film. That's what happened here to the victim?
Nope, that's what didn't happen. Because I cleaned that gate. Got the dust out of
it. And that isn't all. I checked every film contact point. Made sure the rollers
were all really rolling. Not stuck, so the film was dragging over them. Now that
could happen. Did it? No, I told you I checked it.
Part of my normal maintenance. Like checking the sound system all the time.
Cleaning all the film contact points to make sure we get the best sound quality.
And also make sure the film doesn't get scratched when it goes over the drum.
Main thing with a projector is to keep it clean and lubricated right. Then it'll
never damage film. Not if the film's okay to begin with. How about threading?
Well, what about it? Listen, I know my job. I thread that projector 50
times a day and I do it right.
Ask anybody. They'll tell you. Or you can watch me yourself.
Anything goes wrong during projection.
It's because there are bad splices in the print or torn perforations or dirt on
the film. I take care of this projector and I thread it up the right way. Now
that's all I can do. I projected that print and I put her in the rack. That's the
last I saw of her. Not quite. What do you mean? You see her now.
So there it's a murder that everybody says couldn't have happened.
We don't know who did it. All we know is this. If all the suspects have treated
the victim like they say they did, she'd be alive today. Only she's not.
Somebody's guilty. Maybe all of them together.
What if they stick to their stories? We're stuck with a perfect crime. It happens
more than you think.
As for you, we figure you're innocent. This case,
you can go. Just one thing. You want to stay in the clear and get this straight.
Every time you handle film, better figure it's a matter of life or death because
it is. Get a little careless and we may be after you for murder on the screen.