控方证人 Witness for the Prosecution(1957)【完整台词】
控方证人 Witness for the Prosecution(1957) 全部台词 (当前第6页,一共 10 页)
As I passed the sitting room, I heard the
prisoner in there, talking to Mrs French.
- No, it wasn't me! It wasn't my voice!
- (COURT MURMURS)
Talking and laughing they were.
But it was no business of mine, so I
went upstairs to fetch my pattern.
Now, let us be very
exact as to the time.
You say that you re-entered
the house at 25 past 9?
Aye. The pattern was on a shelf in my
room next to my clock so I saw the time.
- And it was 25 past 9.
- Go on, please.
I went back to my niece. Och, she was
delighted with the pattern. Si...
Simply delighted. I stayed until 20 to 11,
then I said good night and I come home.
I went into the sitting room to see
if the mistress wanted anything
before she went to bed.
And there she was, dead. And
everything tossed hither and thither.
Did you really think that a
burglary had been committed?
My lord, I must protest!
I will not allow that question
to be answered, Mr Myers.
Miss McKenzie, were you aware that
Leonard Vole was a married man?
No, indeed. And neither
was the mistress.
- Janet!
- My lord, I must object.
What Mrs French knew or did not know is
pure conjecture on Janet McKenzie's part.
Let me put it this way.
You formed the opinion
that Mrs French thought Leonard
Vole was a single man?
- Have you any facts to support this?
- The books that she ordered.
A life of the Baroness Burdett-Coutts,
and the one about Disraeli and his wife.
Both of them about women that married
men years younger than themselves. Oh!
- I knew what she was thinking.
- I'm afraid we cannot admit that.
- Why?
- (LAUGHTER)
Members of the jury, it is possible for
a woman to read The Life of Disraeli
without contemplating marriage
with a man younger than herself.
(LAUGHTER)
Were you aware of the arrangements Mrs
French made to dispose of her money?
She had her old will revoked
and a new one drawn up.
I heard her calling Mr Stokes,
her solicitor.
He was there at the time.
The prisoner, I mean.
You heard Mrs French and the
prisoner discussing her new will?
Yes. He was to have all
her money, she told him,
as she had no near relations nor
anybody that meant to her what he did.
- When did this take place?
- On October 8.
One week to the day
before she was murdered.
Thank you. That concludes
my examination.
Not just yet, Miss McKenzie.
Would you...? Thank you.
Miss McKenzie, you have given
evidence about two wills.
In the old will, that
which was revoked,
were you not to receive the
bulk of Mrs French's estate?
That's so.
Whereas in the new will, except for a
bequest to you of a small annuity,
the principal beneficiary is
the prisoner, Leonard Vole.
It'll be a wicked injustice if he
ever touches a penny of that money.
It is entirely understandable that you
are antagonistic to the prisoner.
I'm not antagonistic to him.
He's a shiftless, scheming rascal.
But I'm not antagonistic to him.
(LAUGHTER)
I suggest you formed this opinion
because his friendship with Mrs French
cost you the bulk of her estate.
- I've never liked him.
- Your candour is refreshing.
Now. On the night of October 14
you say you heard the prisoner
and Mrs French talking together.
- What did you hear them say?
- I didn't hear what they actually said.
You mean you only heard the voices?
- The murmur of voices?
- They were laughing.
What makes you say the man's
voice was Leonard Vole's?
- I know his voice well enough.
- The door was closed, was it not?
- Aye, that's so.
- You were in a hurry to get the pattern
so you probably walked quickly
past the closed door,
yet you are sure you heard
Leonard Vole's voice?
I was there long enough
to hear what I heard.
Come, I'm sure you don't wish to suggest
to the jury that you were eavesdropping.
It was him in there.
Who else could it have been?
What you mean is that you wanted it to
be him. That's the way your mind worked.
Now, tell me, did Mrs French sometimes
watch television in the evening?
Yes. She was fond of a
talk or a good play.
Wasn't it possible when you
returned home and passed the door,
what you really heard
was the television
and a man and woman's
voices and laughter?
There was a play called Lover's
Leap on the television that night.
- It was not the television.
- Oh, why not?
Because the television was away being
repaired that week, that's why.
(LAUGHTER)
(GAVEL)
Silence! Silence!
Odd. It's not time yet.
If my learned friend has no
further questions, I'd like...
I have not quite finished.
You are registered, are you not, under
the National Health Insurance Act?
Aye, that's so. Four and
sixpence I pay out every week.
That's a terrible lot of money
for a working woman to pay.
I am sure that many agree with you.
Miss McKenzie, did you recently apply
to the National Health Insurance for...
- (QUIETLY) ...a hearing aid?
- For... for what?
I protest against the way in
which this question was put!
I will repeat the
question, my lord.
I asked you in a normal tone of voice,
audible to everyone in open court,
did you apply to the National
Health Insurance for a hearing aid?
Yes, I did.
- Did you get it?
- Not yet.
However, you state that you walked past
a door, which is four inches of solid oak,
you heard voices,
and you are willing to swear
that you could distinguish
the voice of...
(QUIETLY)
...the prisoner, Leonard Vole.
Who? Who?
(MURMURING)
No further questions.
Och, maybe you could
help me, Your Lordship.
Six months ago I applied for my hearing
aid, and I'm still waiting for it.
My dear Miss McKenzie, considering the
rubbish that is being talked nowadays,
you are missing very little.
You may stand down now.
(LAUGHTER)
MYERS:
Call Police Constable Jeffries.
- Police Constable Jeffries.
- Police Constable Jeffries.
I swear by Almighty God that
the evidence I shall give
shall be the truth, the whole
truth and nothing but the truth.
Mr Myers, does that
conclude your case?
No, my lord. I now call the final witness
for the prosecution, Christine Helm.
- Christine Helm!
- Christine Helm.
Christine.
I swear by Almighty God that
the evidence I shall give
shall be the truth, the whole
truth and nothing but the truth.
My lord, I have the
most serious objection
to this witness being summoned,
as she is the wife of the prisoner.
I call my learned
friend's attention
to the fact that I summoned
not Mrs Vole, but Mrs Helm.
- Your name, in fact, is Christine Helm?
- Yes. Christine Helm.
And you have been living as the
wife of the prisoner, Leonard Vole?
- Yes.
- Are you actually his wife?
No.
I went through a marriage ceremony
with him, but I already had a husband.
- He's still alive.
- Christine, that's not true!
There is proof of a marriage between
the witness and the prisoner,
but is there any proof of a
so-called previous marriage?
My lord, the so-called previous
marriage is, in fact, well-documented.
Mrs Helm, is this a certificate of marriage
between yourself and Otto Ludwig Helm,
the ceremony having taken place
in Breslau on 18 April 1942?
Yes, that is the paper
of my marriage.
I don't see any reason why this witness
should not be qualified to give evidence.
You're willing to give evidence against
the man you've been calling your husband?
Yes.
You stated to the police that on the
night that Mrs French was murdered,
Leonard Vole left the house at 7:30
and returned at 25 minutes past 9.
Did he, in fact,
return at 25 past 9?
No. He returned at ten
minutes past ten.
Christine, what are you saying?
It's not true. You know it's not true!
(MURMURING)
Silence!
I must have silence.
As your counsel will tell you,
Vole, you will very shortly
have an opportunity of
speaking in your own defence.
Leonard Vole returned, you say,
at ten minutes past ten.
- And what happened next?
- He was breathing hard, very excited.
He threw off his coat and
examined the sleeves.
Then he told me to wash the cuffs.
- They had blood on them.
- Go on.
- I said "What have you done?"
- What did the prisoner say?
He said "I've killed her."
Christine! Why are you lying?
Why are you saying these things?
- What an awful woman.
- She's evil. I've known it all along.
If the defence so desires,
I will adjourn for a short time
so that the prisoner may
gain control of himself.
My lord is most gracious, but
pray let the witness continue.
We are all of us caught up in the
suspense of this horror fiction.
To have to hear it in instalments
might prove unendurable.
- Proceed, Mr Myers.
- Mrs Helm,
when the prisoner said "I have killed her",
did you know to whom he referred?
It was that woman he had
been seeing so often.
When questioned by the police, you told
them that the prisoner returned at 9.25.
Yes. Because Leonard
asked me to say that.
But you've changed
your story now. Why?
I cannot go on lying to save him.
I said to the police what he wanted
because I'm grateful to him.
He married me and brought
me to this country.
What he has asked me to do I
have because I was grateful.
It was not because he was your
husband and you loved him?
I never loved him.
It was gratitude, then, that
prompted you to give him an alibi
- in your statement to the police?
- That is it. Exactly.
- But now you think it was wrong to do so.
- Because it is murder.
That woman, she was a
harmless old fool,
and he makes of me an
accomplice to the murder.
I cannot come into court and swear that
he was with me at the time it was done.
I cannot do it! I cannot do it!
prisoner in there, talking to Mrs French.
- No, it wasn't me! It wasn't my voice!
- (COURT MURMURS)
Talking and laughing they were.
But it was no business of mine, so I
went upstairs to fetch my pattern.
Now, let us be very
exact as to the time.
You say that you re-entered
the house at 25 past 9?
Aye. The pattern was on a shelf in my
room next to my clock so I saw the time.
- And it was 25 past 9.
- Go on, please.
I went back to my niece. Och, she was
delighted with the pattern. Si...
Simply delighted. I stayed until 20 to 11,
then I said good night and I come home.
I went into the sitting room to see
if the mistress wanted anything
before she went to bed.
And there she was, dead. And
everything tossed hither and thither.
Did you really think that a
burglary had been committed?
My lord, I must protest!
I will not allow that question
to be answered, Mr Myers.
Miss McKenzie, were you aware that
Leonard Vole was a married man?
No, indeed. And neither
was the mistress.
- Janet!
- My lord, I must object.
What Mrs French knew or did not know is
pure conjecture on Janet McKenzie's part.
Let me put it this way.
You formed the opinion
that Mrs French thought Leonard
Vole was a single man?
- Have you any facts to support this?
- The books that she ordered.
A life of the Baroness Burdett-Coutts,
and the one about Disraeli and his wife.
Both of them about women that married
men years younger than themselves. Oh!
- I knew what she was thinking.
- I'm afraid we cannot admit that.
- Why?
- (LAUGHTER)
Members of the jury, it is possible for
a woman to read The Life of Disraeli
without contemplating marriage
with a man younger than herself.
(LAUGHTER)
Were you aware of the arrangements Mrs
French made to dispose of her money?
She had her old will revoked
and a new one drawn up.
I heard her calling Mr Stokes,
her solicitor.
He was there at the time.
The prisoner, I mean.
You heard Mrs French and the
prisoner discussing her new will?
Yes. He was to have all
her money, she told him,
as she had no near relations nor
anybody that meant to her what he did.
- When did this take place?
- On October 8.
One week to the day
before she was murdered.
Thank you. That concludes
my examination.
Not just yet, Miss McKenzie.
Would you...? Thank you.
Miss McKenzie, you have given
evidence about two wills.
In the old will, that
which was revoked,
were you not to receive the
bulk of Mrs French's estate?
That's so.
Whereas in the new will, except for a
bequest to you of a small annuity,
the principal beneficiary is
the prisoner, Leonard Vole.
It'll be a wicked injustice if he
ever touches a penny of that money.
It is entirely understandable that you
are antagonistic to the prisoner.
I'm not antagonistic to him.
He's a shiftless, scheming rascal.
But I'm not antagonistic to him.
(LAUGHTER)
I suggest you formed this opinion
because his friendship with Mrs French
cost you the bulk of her estate.
- I've never liked him.
- Your candour is refreshing.
Now. On the night of October 14
you say you heard the prisoner
and Mrs French talking together.
- What did you hear them say?
- I didn't hear what they actually said.
You mean you only heard the voices?
- The murmur of voices?
- They were laughing.
What makes you say the man's
voice was Leonard Vole's?
- I know his voice well enough.
- The door was closed, was it not?
- Aye, that's so.
- You were in a hurry to get the pattern
so you probably walked quickly
past the closed door,
yet you are sure you heard
Leonard Vole's voice?
I was there long enough
to hear what I heard.
Come, I'm sure you don't wish to suggest
to the jury that you were eavesdropping.
It was him in there.
Who else could it have been?
What you mean is that you wanted it to
be him. That's the way your mind worked.
Now, tell me, did Mrs French sometimes
watch television in the evening?
Yes. She was fond of a
talk or a good play.
Wasn't it possible when you
returned home and passed the door,
what you really heard
was the television
and a man and woman's
voices and laughter?
There was a play called Lover's
Leap on the television that night.
- It was not the television.
- Oh, why not?
Because the television was away being
repaired that week, that's why.
(LAUGHTER)
(GAVEL)
Silence! Silence!
Odd. It's not time yet.
If my learned friend has no
further questions, I'd like...
I have not quite finished.
You are registered, are you not, under
the National Health Insurance Act?
Aye, that's so. Four and
sixpence I pay out every week.
That's a terrible lot of money
for a working woman to pay.
I am sure that many agree with you.
Miss McKenzie, did you recently apply
to the National Health Insurance for...
- (QUIETLY) ...a hearing aid?
- For... for what?
I protest against the way in
which this question was put!
I will repeat the
question, my lord.
I asked you in a normal tone of voice,
audible to everyone in open court,
did you apply to the National
Health Insurance for a hearing aid?
Yes, I did.
- Did you get it?
- Not yet.
However, you state that you walked past
a door, which is four inches of solid oak,
you heard voices,
and you are willing to swear
that you could distinguish
the voice of...
(QUIETLY)
...the prisoner, Leonard Vole.
Who? Who?
(MURMURING)
No further questions.
Och, maybe you could
help me, Your Lordship.
Six months ago I applied for my hearing
aid, and I'm still waiting for it.
My dear Miss McKenzie, considering the
rubbish that is being talked nowadays,
you are missing very little.
You may stand down now.
(LAUGHTER)
MYERS:
Call Police Constable Jeffries.
- Police Constable Jeffries.
- Police Constable Jeffries.
I swear by Almighty God that
the evidence I shall give
shall be the truth, the whole
truth and nothing but the truth.
Mr Myers, does that
conclude your case?
No, my lord. I now call the final witness
for the prosecution, Christine Helm.
- Christine Helm!
- Christine Helm.
Christine.
I swear by Almighty God that
the evidence I shall give
shall be the truth, the whole
truth and nothing but the truth.
My lord, I have the
most serious objection
to this witness being summoned,
as she is the wife of the prisoner.
I call my learned
friend's attention
to the fact that I summoned
not Mrs Vole, but Mrs Helm.
- Your name, in fact, is Christine Helm?
- Yes. Christine Helm.
And you have been living as the
wife of the prisoner, Leonard Vole?
- Yes.
- Are you actually his wife?
No.
I went through a marriage ceremony
with him, but I already had a husband.
- He's still alive.
- Christine, that's not true!
There is proof of a marriage between
the witness and the prisoner,
but is there any proof of a
so-called previous marriage?
My lord, the so-called previous
marriage is, in fact, well-documented.
Mrs Helm, is this a certificate of marriage
between yourself and Otto Ludwig Helm,
the ceremony having taken place
in Breslau on 18 April 1942?
Yes, that is the paper
of my marriage.
I don't see any reason why this witness
should not be qualified to give evidence.
You're willing to give evidence against
the man you've been calling your husband?
Yes.
You stated to the police that on the
night that Mrs French was murdered,
Leonard Vole left the house at 7:30
and returned at 25 minutes past 9.
Did he, in fact,
return at 25 past 9?
No. He returned at ten
minutes past ten.
Christine, what are you saying?
It's not true. You know it's not true!
(MURMURING)
Silence!
I must have silence.
As your counsel will tell you,
Vole, you will very shortly
have an opportunity of
speaking in your own defence.
Leonard Vole returned, you say,
at ten minutes past ten.
- And what happened next?
- He was breathing hard, very excited.
He threw off his coat and
examined the sleeves.
Then he told me to wash the cuffs.
- They had blood on them.
- Go on.
- I said "What have you done?"
- What did the prisoner say?
He said "I've killed her."
Christine! Why are you lying?
Why are you saying these things?
- What an awful woman.
- She's evil. I've known it all along.
If the defence so desires,
I will adjourn for a short time
so that the prisoner may
gain control of himself.
My lord is most gracious, but
pray let the witness continue.
We are all of us caught up in the
suspense of this horror fiction.
To have to hear it in instalments
might prove unendurable.
- Proceed, Mr Myers.
- Mrs Helm,
when the prisoner said "I have killed her",
did you know to whom he referred?
It was that woman he had
been seeing so often.
When questioned by the police, you told
them that the prisoner returned at 9.25.
Yes. Because Leonard
asked me to say that.
But you've changed
your story now. Why?
I cannot go on lying to save him.
I said to the police what he wanted
because I'm grateful to him.
He married me and brought
me to this country.
What he has asked me to do I
have because I was grateful.
It was not because he was your
husband and you loved him?
I never loved him.
It was gratitude, then, that
prompted you to give him an alibi
- in your statement to the police?
- That is it. Exactly.
- But now you think it was wrong to do so.
- Because it is murder.
That woman, she was a
harmless old fool,
and he makes of me an
accomplice to the murder.
I cannot come into court and swear that
he was with me at the time it was done.
I cannot do it! I cannot do it!
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