The Sin of Nora Moran (1933) - full transcript

Anything else you wish, Mr. Grant?

No, that's all, you may go to bed.

Yes, sir.

See who that is.

Yes, sir.

Well, hello Edith.

What's the matter, is something wrong?

I found these letters in dick's safe.

Read them.

Clever woman, she doesn't sign her name.

Not on any one of them?



Not on any one of them.

But read it, it's most enlightening.

Charming, isn't it?

All the seasons of the year
poetically recorded.

"Winter, my fire, my house."

"Spring, spring comes to the love nest.”

"The tree outside the living room window

"is budding and I win the bet.

"The blossoms are yellow.”

Isn't it beautiful?

Two lovers and their sylvan retreats
staring at the trees.

And now summer.

That same summer when I was
working so hard for him.

Scheming, planning, doing everything
in my power to help him



and he was having a cheap,
backstreet affair!

Probably there's some other explanation.

And her counting the hours until
she saw him again?

Thanking him for the house he
bought her with my money?

He didn't buy the house!

Oh, so you do know about it?

I thought you would.

Edith, I'm probably asking
you the impossible,

but my advice to you is to
burn those letters.

Forget them.

Forget them?

Forget that you, my own brother,

let me go on living with a man

who was coming to me from the arms

of a common, cheap, little.

If you don't tell me who she is,

I'll find out some other way.

I'll get detectives, I'll show
them these letters.

You wouldn't do that!

Oh, wouldn't I?

I'll make her suffer!

Edith.

Come here.

Sit down.

Did you ever hear of the name Nora moran?

Nora moran?

This may refresh your memory.

What has she to do with it?

That's the girl.

This woman and dick?

I don't believe it.

It's true, nevertheless.

You said you wanted her to suffer.

Did you ever withess an execution?

Why, of course not!

Did you ever see the preparation for one?

The cold-blooded preparation?

For the disposal of a burned-out,
lifeless thing,

that a few moments before the
execution was a human being?

They begin in the afternoon.

The electrocution is at eight tonight.

Yes, we'll get it there by six.

She's five foot one.

She's five foot one.

Okay, five foot one.

I've got to shave her head.

She didn't eat a thing.

You wouldn't either.

She's only 21!

I've got a kid that age.

I wonder what she's thinking.

Her suffering had been so mute and pitiful

that they tried to relieve her.

Just lie quiet.

You'll soon be asleep.

Mrs. watts?

Are you sure they sent the
telegram to father Ryan?

Yes.

He'll be praying for you.

There might still be a chance for you,

if you'd only tell why you did it.

No!

Why won't you tell, dearie?

But you could tell me.

Not anyone.

Gradually the opiate quieted her body

but her mind was too disordered and
in her confused state,

everything became grotesque and unreal.

We've all experienced it and
in our helplessness,

we call on the one who means
protection to us.

To Nora, it was father Ryan, now as
when she was a child.

Nora's five years old,

she's been with the sisters for two years,

and she's always been a very good child.

Well,

there's only one thing
that's holding me back.

Bless you, honey.

I was only sayin', I wanted to see
how you'd fit on me lap.

Darlin', come over and try it.

We, we got a car!

All your own?

Sure!

Barring a couple of payments.

Aw, what's a couple of payments

between two good irishmen like
the child and me?

Oh, the child and you?

It's already the child and you.

Well, we'll see.

We'll see.

Happiness for eight years,

but she remembered only the
tragedy that ended it.

And the car killed them, father.

I didn't know for hours why
they didn't come home!

What do you want to do now, Nora?

Sinful even to think of it now,

but mother moran wanted me to...

What was that?

Learn to dance.

She always said that when
she could afford it,

I could go to a school.

You want to do that?

Yes.

I've paid all the debts and
there's $300 left,

would it be wrong to use
the money for that?

No, not wrong, Nora, but certainly
not the wisest thing.

Oh, but I want so much to do it.

The money would last long
enough until I studied

and, by that time, I could get
a job in a cafe

or I might even get a job in a show!

Months of practice, long hours,

and hard work until she felt prepared.

And although her money was almost gone,

she started out like thousands of others,

confident of immediate success.

There was the glamor of the theater,

the lights and the crowds.

Intoxicating to her because
she now felt herself

to be a part of it.

There were the stage doors

that promised mystery and excitement,

and the daily round of booking offices

shen she still felt that each new day

was to Mark the beginning of her success.

And then the refusals, endless days
of voices that spoke,

"nothing today,” "no experience”,
"nothing today",

"no", "no you won't do", "nothing today."

Signs that haunted her.

Chorus filled, no casting today,

chorus filled, chorus filled.

Until she knew the panic had come
with your last dollar

and the desperate necessity
for any kind of work,

the failure there until she saw the ad.

I'm afraid you're too young to
work in a circus.

Oh no, I'm not.

I'm not too young, I'm old!

Oh please, let me have it, please!

Well, all right.

Report to paulino at king brothers circus.

Oh, thank you!

Excitement, a job!

The sound of the Calliope,

tumblers, acrobats, thrills, excitement!

Rehearsing what she'd say,

afraid someone would beat her there.

And then his name.

All right!

Look out!

She's just about the same size
as your last partner.

All right.

Okay, you'll do very nicely.

Oh, Mr. paulino?

Hm?

I don't have to go in the cage, do 1?

No, no, all you'll have to do

is to wear that outfit and look pretty.

And, uh, can the mister stuff.

Nora was happy with the
excitement of circus life.

The hurry, the bustle, thrill of
moving on, a new town.

The whole thing was a glorious adventure,
until one night.

Paulino's brutality and her fear of him

were things that she could never forget.

When things happen in our lives,

we're conscious of those events.

But later, subconsciously, we see
our lives as a pattern

and it's easy to recall the events
that form that pattern.

And so it was with Nora.

She was in a cell waiting to die,

and yet she was in the circus.

She was dreaming, but yet in
her subconscious mind

she was reliving the events

that formed the pattern of her life.

Mrs. watts?

No, I'm Sadie, don't you remember me?

No, I don't.

Things seem strange.

That's because you're dreaming,

and so far you've dreamed things
just as they happened.

But I thought when you got to me

I would change the dream, if
you wanted me to.

How?

By not giving you the money.

I don't understand you.

Don't you remember?

After you've been with the
circus for nearly a year,

I found you sitting here one night.

I was drunk, but not too drunk to know

that you were just about ready
to bump yourself off.

So, I gave you 100 bucks to get away

from the circus and paulino.

Oh, yes, now I remember.

You were the only one who
was friendly to me.

Well, I'm not so sure it was a good thing.

That's what I'm talking about.

If I hadn't given you the money, you
might not be here now

in jail waiting to be electrocuted.

But I'm not in jail,

I'm here!

I guess I better get drunk,
I can't help you.

Oh, but you did help me,
you gave me money.

Where did I go?

You went to New York and got a
job in a night club.

But then what did I do?

You killed a man.

But before that I was happy.

I was happy for the first time in my life.

That's where I met him.

Give me the money again.

I don't care what happens after that.

I'll see him again and I'll be happy.

Ms. moran?

Yes?

That gentleman's here again,
he wants to see you.

What's his name?

Crawford.

Oh, yes.

Do you live in New York?

No.

I'm staying another week.

May I see you, again?

Of course.

Good night.

A week has seven days and seven nights.

You don't tell me?

Hey, simple down here has
made a discovery,

she says a week has seven days
and seven nights.

Six days and six nights.

Five!

Four!

Three!

Two. One.

The week's gone!

Hey, Porter, will you take these bags,
please?

Nora, if I sent for you,
would you come to me?

Anywhere.

Nora, what are you doing?

Crying.

Crying?

The stove works,

and the radio works, and the
fireplace works.

It's so lovely to have a house
with things that work,

I can't stand it!

Oh, you darling!

I've heard enough.

You can spare me the details
of their romance,

it's all in there, months of it!

While I, like a fool, was slaving for him.

Oh, come on now, Edith, please, please,

let's be honest with ourselves.

You weren't thinking anymore
of dick than I was.

Anything that you did, you did for
your own social ambition,

and to me he was just a figurehead

that I groomed for the governorship

to further my own political power.

When I finally got wind of
what was going on,

he'd become a damned important figurehead,

and with the election only two weeks off,

one word of scandal would've ruined us.

How did you find out about it?

Well, I became suspicious of the
trips he was taking

to the ranch every Monday and Friday.

One day, I followed him.

I found that he was keeping
her in a little house

just across the state line in wilchester,

about an hour's drive from here.

Then I traced the girl's history

and the more I found out about her,

the more I was certain she
had a definite plan.

She was just to sit tight until
he was the governor

and then collect for the rest of her life.

Well, at least, you had sense
enough to see that.

Well, you've read her letters, do
they sound like it?

Certainly!

They're just the sort of letters

she would write to lull his suspicions.

Perhaps.

Perhaps.

Before you judge that girl, picture
her lying in her cell,

trying, in her disordered mind,

to relive the months she was
in that cottage.

Do you think we could get the president

to put three mondays and four
Fridays in the week?

Why?

For those are the days I see you.

Come over here, dear, will you?

Oh, immediately!

You've been happy here, haven't you, dear?

When I was a little girl, we used to say

foolish questions deserve foolish answers.

It's so heavy, it turns on my finger.

Don't do that.

Why not?

I don't know.

I don't know!

Now you've done it!

Shh!

Is that all you take off?

Oh, I'm glad.

She has such pretty hair.

She heard their voices dimly,

seemed to know what they were doing.

She was going to die, and the thing

she was dying for was about to happen.

What is it, dear, what's the matter?

I know now.

It's the circus!

Listen.

You must leave, you must leave now!

Answer it.

No, I won't!

You must.

But don't you understand?

If we don't see him, it won't happen!

It's too late now, you must answer it.

Yes, that's right.

I must.

I beg your pardon, my name is John Grant.

I'd like to see Mr. Crawford.

Why, he's... ah, don't bother lying,

I know that he's here.

Well, funny you finding me here.

Oh, Ms. moran, do you know Mr. Grant?

How do you do?

I just dropped in to see Ms.
Moran's father,

he's an old friend of mine.

Not in at the moment, I suppose?

No. I see.

Where could we talk?

Uh, would you mind if we talk in here?

Fine.

Pardon.

Excuse me.

Go now, please, don't talk to him.

I must, dear, but you stay out here.

Ms. moran's father's been
sending her flowers.

Well?

How'd you find out about this?

There's an extra on you.

An extra?

About this?

Yes.

How could they have got onto it?

This isn't even our state!

Oh, well, there isn't
anything to it anyway.

I met her while I was in New York,

so when she moved down here she
dropped me a note.

Surely a friendly note to call.

Every Monday and Friday?

With an alibi like that, you don't
rate the front page,

you ought to be in the comic section.

Has Edith seen it?

I don't know, she can read.

Oh, god.

What have I done?

Square 'em a while and I'll watch,

I oughta get something back for my money.

Talking like that won't help, John.

We've gotta think of something.

All right, you do the thinking,
I'll do the talking.

The story hasn't broken in the papers yet.

You mean you told me that just...

I just wanted to give you a taste

of how you'd feel if it did break.

And if you're not out of here in
exactly 10 minutes,

that's what's going to happen.

I'll break it myself, I'll break
it on the front page

of every newspaper in the state
and you along with it.

You wouldn't do that!

Wouldn't 1?

Let me tell you something, you're
running for governor.

You're a married man.

The fact that you're married to my sister

doesn't mean a thing to me,
that's her business,

but I've spent a lot of time and money

building you to where you are and if
you think for a moment

I'm gonna let you toss it just
because you've fallen

for some cheap little dame,
you're mistaken!

She isn't cheap.

You bet your life, she isn't!

She's going to cost you plenty.

What do you mean?

Figure it out for yourself.

Why do you suppose a girl from a
New York nightclub

would bury herself in a place like this?

How do you know she comes
from a nightclub?

How did I know she was in a circus

before she was in a nightclub?

I've got her number, I know
her past history.

Yo u v re crazy!

Am 1?

Well, I'll tell you just how crazy I am.

Either you end this thing right
now or you're through.

You'll go back to being an office boy.

What did you mean about
knowing her history?

Get her in here and ask her yourself.

No, please! No?

All right, I'll get her in myself.

You've got to meet matters!

Come in.

You heard what was said?

Yes, I heard.

All of it?

I guess so.

It's true, isn't it?

What?

About you being with the circus,

the same one that's playing here tonight.

Yes, that's right.

What was your name then?

The same as it is now.

Shouldn't it have been something else?

Or have there been so many you
didn't bother with that?

Yes, that's right.

There have been so many, I
didn't bother with that.

Men like him, who were married.

Men...

Was better that time?

You did it all right.

It's because I've dreamed it so much.

When it really happened, all
I could think of

was that he has a wife.

That hurt so that I couldn't
think of much else.

But now, it's different.

Every time I dream it, I think
of different things

to say to him that'll hurt him
and make him leave,

but I can't do it anymore, I just can't.

You won't have to.

Why?

Don't you remember?

I don't have to go through that again,
do I?

It happened.

Oh, but that was because I
didn't leave soon enough,

don't you understand?

All 1 have to do is go now
and it won't happen!

Don't you see how easy it is?

I'll just leave, I'll go now
and it won't happen!

But it did happen, you killed him!

Yes, that's right, I killed him.

"And upon said trial, was found guilty

"of murder in the first degree
for said killing.

"And on the 14th day of may, 1933,

"was sentenced to be put to death.”

Come, look at her.

I don't want to.

Come on, look at her.

What's the matter with her?

She's dead.

I don't like the way they fixed her hair.

They shaved part of it off.

Why?

Why did they do that?

So the current would go through her head.

It doesn't go through her head?

It goes through her head, her arms,
and her legs.

That's a lie!

It goes through her head, her arms,
and her legs.

If you don't believe it, come to
the execution tonight.

They're going to kill her again.

The warden wasn't pleased with
the way she died.

I won't have it, they can't do that!

But they've done it, don't you understand?

She's dead.

I'm not dead.

I'm not dead!

I'm dreaming.

Don't let me go back to sleep again.

Please!

Help me to wake up.

I mustn't go back to sleep!

Poor lamb, you were dreaming, weren't you?

Yes.

Maybe, if I walk I can stay awake.

You can't do that.

Yes, I can, if you'll help me.

"And upon said trial, was found guilty

"of murder in the first degree
for said killing.

"And on the 14th day of may, 1933,

"was sentenced to be put to death.

Stop him, make him stop!

Why don't you be human?

Can't you see she's almost crazy?

But I'm supposed to read it!

I'm supposed to read it here in her cell.

All right, read it here.

Can't you read it to yourself?

I guess I can do that.

Maybe if I just mumbled,
it'd be all right.

Mumble and be damned.

"And upon said trial..."

What's that?

It's a clock.

Tomorrow.

At six o'clock that night,

Nora wasn't the only one
walking the floor.

I was in my office listening to
the prison whistle,

and I realized that I'd been
listening to it all day.

I didn't know what to think.

Dick was now the governor,

he promised to refuse a stay of execution.

I didn't know whether he'd
hold to his promise,

I didn't know whether she'd stick to hers.

What do you mean?

What are you trying to tell me?

When dick left that night, I
stayed to settle with her.

Would you please go now?

As soon as we understand each other.

I'll give you what you want,
within reason,

that settles the account for all time.

No future payments, no kickback,
you understand?

They'll be no kickback, as you call it,

and no payments at all.

So, you can go now.

What's your game?

I doubt if you'd understand it.

Goodbye.

Wait a minute.

Have you any money?

Enough.

Enough for what?

To take me where I'm going.

Who rented this place?

He did.

Is the rent paid?

'Til next Wednesday.

When are you leaving?

On the next train.

You might as well take this, it's his.

No.

Well, if you change your mind,

I'll be at the Carlton hotel tonight.

I sat in the hotel room

trying to figure the girl out.

I couldn't believe she turned down money.

But at the end of two hours,
when she hadn't called,

I decided she wasn't going to.

Well, so you changed your
mind about the money?

No.

Come in here.

Come in here, please.

Help me move this.

What's wrong?

Push it away from the fireplace.

What happened?

Who is it?

Paulino, he was with the circus.

He's the man I lived with.

He'd been watching the house all evening.

Came in after you left.

He'd been outside watching and listening.

Said he was gonna blackmail dick,
he knew all about us.

He wanted me to come back to him

and help him get money from dick.

Then you...

Yes, I, I hit him with that whip.

I hit him three times, three
times over the head.

What'lll do?

You'll wait here while I call the police.

No, don't do that!

Why not?

We must keep the police out of this.

Wait a minute.

I happen to be a district attorney,

it's my business to prosecute
people who commit murder.

If this had happened 40 miles
from here in my county,

it would be my duty to send you to
the electric chair.

So if it's in your mind to have me

help you get away with this,

you may as well save your breath.

I didn't know you were a
district attorney.

I thought you'd be willing to help me

to keep dick out of this.

Dick, he is out of it.

I know, but don't you see,
if they arrest me,

the whole thing will come out.

He rented this house, he's been
coming here for months!

There are a dozen different things
that'll drag him into it.

If the newspapers get hold of it,
they'll ruin him.

They won't care about me, but
he's an important man,

they'll tear him to pieces!

And his wife along with him.

Damn it, why didn't you think of this

before you committed murder?

He went to bed drunk every night.

Who?

Paulino.

Well, what about it?

We could take him in your car

to where the circus train is loading,

then when we got to the darkest
part of the street,

we could throw him out, somewhere where

the circus is bound to find him.

Then they'd find that he'd been murdered.

No, they'll just think he's drunk.

They found him like that before.

What about the wound on his head?

When we've thrown him out, I'll put
a rock under his head.

They'll think he hit it when he fell,

they'll think that's what killed him.

Nothing doing!

Oh, don't.

Wait, please!

Don't you realize what you're doing?

You're destroying everything

that has taken you years to build up,

and it isn't necessary.

All I'm trying to do is get paulino
away from this house!

Suppose I helped you and you got
caught after I left?

You mean, would I tell that
you'd helped me?

I wouldn't do a thing like that.

Turn here.

Slow up now.

Can you manage it alone?

Yes.

Let me out around the corner.

We'll never get away with this!

Yes, we will, there's no one in sight.

Go on!

You can imagine my feelings

as I drove away and left her.

All I could think of was
getting out of that town,

so I checked out of the
hotel and drove home.

I've changed my plans, kito.

Bring a hot drink to my room.

Yes, sir.

I went through hell that night.

One minute I knew that she was Sincere,

the next minute I was certain

that I'd walked in the cleverest
little trap imagined.

No matter how I figured, the
outset was the same.

If she was Sincere, the plan was a
thousand to one shot.

If she succeeded, she'd collect,

if she failed and she'd been lying,
she'd talk.

And faced with arrest, how did I know

if she'd pin the actual murder onto me?

It was my word against hers.

And the very integrity expected of
me as a public official

would've thrown the balance against me

if it were known that I was
mixed up in it.

I figured the consequences
of what I'd done

from every possible angle,

except the one that actually happened.

Mr. Grant?

I'm sorry to disturb you, sir, but
headquarters on phone.

They say it's very urgent.

All right, kito.

Hello, yes?

Good morning, Mr. Grant.

There's been a murder on the circus train

that pulled in here this morning.

Pulled in here?

Yes, we've got the girl who did it

but we can't get anything outta her

nor the circus people.

The whole thing's a mix up!

Yes, I'll come right down.

If you people are trying to
shield this girl,

you are going to regret it!

Was this man dead when you found
him in the street?

Was he?

Don't ask me!

He was drunk.

If 1 was drunk, how is it you don't know?

Well, heh, I was thinking of
something else...

It's quite apparent that you
were both drunk.

Did you put him to bed on the train?

Did you?

What do you mean, did 1?

What was you doin' all the time?

Well, I, uh...

Go on, I'm waiting!

She's the wife.

Yes, so I gathered.

Did you see your husband and his friend

bring paulino on the train?

I did not.

I've seen him drunk so many times,

I wouldn't have noticed it.

Did any of you see him?

Did they?

Don't ask me, I was thinking
of something else.

That's enough, we'll get the girl.

Have the prisoner brought in.

Now which one of you met the girl?

We both did.

You say she hasn't been with the
circus for some time?

About three years.

When you met her, was she going

toward the train or away from it?

Beer, I bet they was drinking beer!

You keep your pants on.

A lot you got to say, Warren,
drunk yourself!

She was going toward the train.

"Why, if it isn't little Nora,"
says I when I saw her.

I saw her first.

She bumped into her.

Staggered more likely.

You shut up!

Now, listen...

You people wait in the outer room.

Come in.

God bless you, darling.

Sit down, Ms. moran.

You admit killing paulino?

Yes.

How did you kill him?

I told you, I hit him over the
head with a whip.

What did you do with the whip?

I threw it away.

Where?

From the train.

Why did you kill him?

That's my business.

But it also happens to be the
state's business!

I've told you I killed him,
isn't that enough?

This thing has been going on all morning!

Suppose you let me talk with her alone?

This is the district attorney.

It's my duty to tell you that
until you get a lawyer,

you don't have to answer any questions

you don't want to answer.

He can ask me questions but
I won't tell him

anymore than I told you.

What happened?

I ran into those women.

Shh, keep your voice down.

Were you close to the body when
you ran into them?

No.

I put a rock under his head

and then I went back for my bag.

While I was around the corner,

I heard old Jake and Miller coming along.

They stumbled over him.

They were so drunk, they
didn't know he was dead.

I watched them drag him onto the train.

But why in the name of heaven

did you get on the same train?

Couldn't help it.

While I was watching them
drag paulino away,

those women bumped into me.

Scared me so when they recognized me,
I went to pieces.

I don't remember much until I came to

and the train was moving.

How did they pin it onto you?

The police did that.

The circus people tried so hard to hush up

my past with paulino, I
guess they overdid it.

They all think I killed him on the
train during the night.

Out of all the places in the world,

the train had to pull in here.

Do you realize that I've got
to prosecute you?

Well, what difference does that make?

Somebody else might trace it to the
house in wilchester.

You know how to keep dick out of it.

You mean you're going through with this?

I killed paulino.

I did it to save dick,

and you helped me to keep him out of it.

Well, why should I turn now

and undo everything we've done?

It would ruin dick, it would ruin you,

and it wouldn't help me, I'm
still guilty of murder.

All right, you're guilty of murder

and I'm the prosecuting attorney.

That's the way it stands, that's the way

we're going to go through with it.

And let me tell you something else.

If you're doing this in the hope

that dick Crawford as governor
will Grant you a pardon,

you may as well forget it,

because that man would sacrifice anything

or anyone to satisfy his ambition.

You know the rest of it.

She went through the entire trial

without a word in her own defense.

Prosecuted by a man who was as
guilty as she was,

sentenced to die by an unsympathetic jury

and still never a word.

Well, what of it?

She was guilty.

Oh, I certainly don't
condone what you did,

but it wouldn't have done her any good

to drag you into it.

Wouldn't have done her any good?

Why any lawyer who knew the whole story

could've built up such a
case for that girl,

that dick would've been run
out of the state,

I would've been sent to prison for life,
and she would've

walked out of that
courtroom as free as air!

Why, think of the case!

The girl is being kept by a man in
high public office,

she commits murder for him

and the district attorney turns around

and helps her cover up the murder
and then prosecutes her!

And furthermore, the murder was not
committed in this state.

This state had no legal right to try her,

I had no legal right to prosecute her.

What difference does it make
which state tried her?

She committed murder!

And as far as saying nothing
in the courtroom,

it's perfectly obvious she did that

expecting dick to get her off,

but the one thing in his favor

is that he didn't let it influence him

when he was faced with his duty.

He had the courage and honesty
to refuse to save her

in spite of who she was.

This state had invested him with
certain powers and duties

and I'm glad he, at least,
lived up to that trust.

Edith, are you making a campaign speech

or just being a damn fool?

Like most wives, in your
self-righteousness

you refuse to recognize any kind
of love but your own.

You never understood dick,

neither one of us ever tried
to understand him.

He was just something that we
kicked about between us

to satisfy our own purposes and ambitions.

We never considered whether he might want

what he offered him, we simply
forced him into it.

You always made him feel
that he was weaker,

you made him look up and he
dependent upon you.

Nora worshiped him, in her eyes,
he was a great man.

She never questioned him, she
never asked for anything

that he didn't offer her.

And through her love he attained, or
I think he attained,

something that you or I will
never experience.

Edith.

I want to read you a letter.

It's from dick.

Sit down.

It starts simply,

"John, I'm going away with Nora."

Away?

That's how he puts it.

"You would call me insane if you knew

"what had happened to me tonight, and
my relating it to you

"may seem an attempt to justify myself.

"I don't know.

"But I ask you to visualize the early
hours of the evening."

Read all about

the big execution occurring tonight!

Extra paper, read all about it!

Nora moran to die at eight.

Come read it!

Governor denies reprieve,
Nora moran to die!

Paper!

Extra, read about it!

Nora moran to die at eight!

Papers!

Did you switch a direct line into
the governor's office?

No, did he want me to?

You tell me what he wants today
and I'll appreciate it.

Shall I go back and do it?

No, leave it alone.

Governor denies reprieve.

Governor denounced reprieve!

Paper, read about it!

Read all about it, she dies at eight!

Nora moran to die.

"I tried to shut out the thought of Nora.

"Her faith in me, the
happiness we had known,

"her happiness in those first few months,

"but her voice, memories of her,
kept coming back."

Do you live in New York?

I'm staying another week.

May I see you again?

Of course!

If I sent for you, would you come to me?

Anywhere.

The stove works, and the radio works,
the fireplace works.

It's so lovely to have a house with
everything that works,

I can't stand it!

Oh, you darling!

Do you think we could get the president

to put three mondays and four
Fridays in the week?

Why?

For those are the days I see you.

Or have there been so many, you
didn't bother with that?

Yes, that's right.

There have been so many, I
didn't bother with that.

Men like him, who were married.

Men...

"When I left, my actions were those

"of a stupid school boy.

"Driving away, I began to realize it.

"How could I have passed judgment on Nora?

"I was a married man, offering her nothing

"but the question of a security of a house

"and part of my time.

"And I knew that no matter how
many men there had been

"in her life, there was only one now.

"1 went back.”

Nora?

Nora?

Nora!

Hi, governor.

Forget something?

I knew we were gonna meet someday,

but I didn't think it was
gonna be so soon!

Don't listen to him, don't talk to him.

Go away, please!

Hey, how much is she worth to you?

He's dead.

"Dead.

"A murderer!

"The thought of exposure terrified me.

"Li imagined things."

There's no one out there.

But I saw a face at the window.

You imagined it.

Perhaps.

I don't know.

Oh my god, Nora!

But it wasn't your fault.

You did it in self-defense, dear.

If you hadn't done it, he
would've killed you.

But I'm the only one who knows that,

and when they find out about us,

they won't believe anything I have to say.

There's no way out.

Oh, but there is a way, if you'll only go.

And leave you to face this?

I wouldn't have to face it.

I have a plan, if you'll only
leave and trust me.

Can't you understand why I'm
asking you to do this?

Don't you realize that it
isn't killing him

that will ruin you, it's me?

The months we've spent here,

they'll take those months from
us and spread them

across the front page of every newspaper.

They'll make them ugly and cheap,
instead of what they were.

I'm not asking you to be cowardly,
I'm asking you

to let me keep the only
happiness I've ever known.

You'll go, won't you?

No.

Yes.

No!

"Ll don't ask you to believe
what happened next,

"ll simply say it happened.”

Don't do that.

Nora, what are they doing to you?

Nothing, dear.

They're hurting you, you're frightened!

What is there to be frightened of?

Death.

There's nothing to fear in death.

Father Ryan is with me now,

I want you to hear what he's saying,
and remember it always.

It's the prayer for the dead.

No, I don't want to hear it!

Don't make me hear it!

But it's beautiful, listen.

The eternal rest, give to them, oh lord,

and let perpetual light shine upon them.

Eternal rest and perpetual light,
is that frightening?

No.

Then think of it that way,
think of me that way.

I can't!

All I can think of is that you're
dying for something I did!

I'm not dying for something you did,

I'm dying for all the good things
you're going to do,

and I'm dying rather than give up

something that was precious to me:

My life with you.

I could have a life with you
if I told the truth.

If I had the courage to tell the truth,
I'd be free!

They might put me in prison,
but I'd be free!

I'd be free of Grant!

What of your wife?

You can't do that to her.

She's like him, they're both alike.

Dominating, scheming, planning my life,
and they always win!

I wanted to pardon you but
he wouldn't let me!

Why do I say he wouldn't let me?

I could've done it, I can do it now!

I can phone now and stop it!

I can sigh an unconditional pardon
and you'll be free!

What's free, dear?

To go out and struggle,

and perhaps know more men like paulino?

To go on day after day, knowing that
somewhere in the world,

you're beginning to hate me?

Why should I hate you?

Because people change.

What will she be 15 years from now?

Just someone who can put you

behind the bars anytime she wants to.

Do you want to go through life
waiting for that to happen?

Let her die.

That was his voice!

I didn't think that, he said it, you
heard him, didn't you?

I wouldn't want you to think I
felt that way about you.

I know you wouldn't change!

You understand, it was his voice.

Don't let me die because you're afraid,

let me die because it's my destiny to die.

Let me feel that in dying I
make it possible

for you to go on.

Looks like there was no one there.

You looked and you said there was
no face at the window,

you said I imagined it!

You did.

Then, what's he doing here?

If he saw me, why doesn't
he say something?

Why doesn't he come out in the open?

What's he waiting for?

There's no one there.

Yes, there is!

And I know what he wants.

He's waiting, he's waiting
until I let you die,

and then I'll have to kill him to
keep him from telling.

That'll be three murders!

The first wasn't murder, you did
it in self-defense.

If I let them kill you, it'll be murder,

and then, I'll have to kill him,
that'll be three!

The first wasn't murder, and the
second one hasn't happened!

The first wasn't murder and I
can stop the second!

I'll stop it now.

I'll stop it now!

Stop it, stop the execution!

I'm the governor and I say
stop the execution!

I did it, you hear?

I killed him and you can't execute her!

I did it.

I did it, Nora!

"At first, I couldn't understand

"her going so quickly, and then I
looked at the phone.

"It was dead.

"Nora was dead.

"Did she know that I had tried?

"I think so because her voice came to me,

quiet, reassuring.”

There's nothing to fear in death.

Listen.

Eternal rest, give to them, oh lord,

and let perpetual light shine upon them.

Eternal rest and perpetual light,

is that frightening?

"I couldn't have put those
words in her mouth,

"she must've been here.

"Ll know she was here.

"So while I can still hear her say,

"'eternal rest, give to them, oh lord,

"and let perpetual light
shine upon them'."

It ends there.

Or does it begin?

I wonder.