 Family Theatre presents Gene Lockhart and Cameron Mitchell from Hollywood the mutual network in cooperation with Family Theatre presents The Door starring Cameron Mitchell and now here is your host Gene Lockhart. Thank You Tony Lafranco. Family Theatre's only purpose is to bring to everyone's attention a practice that must become an important part of our lives if we are to win peace for ourselves, peace for our families, and peace for the world. Family Theatre urges you to pray, to pray together as a family. And now to our transcribed drama The Door starring Cameron Mitchell as Dennis. At one time or another we've all had the feeling generally upon entering a strange room for the first time that this has happened to us before and that in some fleeting mysterious way the past is recapturing itself. That being the case who is to say that an incident which allegedly occurred in Europe over 500 years ago could not take place there again as recently as 1944. Keep close to the building. Yeah. See anything yet? No I can't see my hand in front of my face. This night reconnaissance stuff is a joke. I'll punch your card for you Lieutenant. Thanks. See you know maybe they've cleared out again. No we'd have heard him. You can't pull a whole column of tanks out of town on a rope. Could be the cross got nervous waiting for reinforcements and just walked out. Now did you see him come boiling across the river this morning? No. I got news for you. They aren't nervous. Tiger tanks? Yeah almost it doesn't. That's why I can't think of any place they'd fit but down in the square. How's about I call battery and give them a fix. If they bracket that square they might strike oil. Unless the crouts are someplace else. In which case here come and don't cut sluice as tigers down that main road and you got no battery. How about the son of the big stuff over. I use that. No Colonel said not to count on it. They're concentrating on the bridges. If we could just get a clear look at that square without showing ourselves. I got an idea. Yeah? Yeah. Come on. What's the deal Lieutenant? You ever been up by that old deserted chateau near the Muse bridge? No. Well it overlooks the whole square from the west. I was up there taking pictures last week. It's kind of a long pull. That's why they're over the other side of town. Yeah but we can still make contact from there in the walkie-talkie can't we? Yeah but it'll put the crowds between us and the battery. Now if they start falling back we'll have them right in our laps. Okay. So from then on we'll play it the way it bounces. You're the Lieutenant. Thanks for reminding me. Come on. Hey I don't get it. What? That crowd sentry we saw up there on the bridge and he's not there now. Yeah I know. Maybe he heard us going over the wall went around to get some help. Yeah we better keep moving. I thought you said that chateau was deserted. I could be wrong. Why? Looks like a light in that window on the top floor. Yeah well they'll never spot us down here. Yeah Keep a little to the right. There's a break in the wall somewhere along here. Okay here we are. Look down the bluff. Hey you're right. You can see the whole square from up here. And look it along the wall of the railroad station. The tiger's all right. Yeah all in a row one two yeah yeah. What are they all there? Everyone get a hold of the battery. You bet. Spider calling row and oak. Spider calling row and oak. Go ahead spider. We got him spotted. They're in the square. Range estimate. What do you think Lieutenant? Oh four to five hundred yards. Four to five hundred yards. They're at the south end back of the railway station. Four to five check. Anything else? No good work. Now get out of there. I'll say Lieutenant. Yeah well we might as well get out of here. Oh smoke. Get down get down start trawling through that break in the wall. That suck out century must have spotted us. Yeah and there's more than one. It doesn't sound like they know what they're shooting at. Now listen we better split up that way they can't shoot both of us. Start down the bluff behind you when you get to the river head north. How are you gonna get out of here? Over the back wall. Get going. Okay good luck Lieutenant. Come over here. What's the news? Come over here when I hear you say that. Yeah yeah. What's wrong with the British house? I wonder if there's any way I can get into this Chateau till those two crowds pull out. No wind is low enough on this side. Later on it looks like a flight of steps pouring down under the house. Well any port dead end. You'd think there'd be some kind of a door down here. It's so plain dark. Yeah there's a handle. Now what kind of a... You all done? That's just a log in the mouth and down by the aca. Ah, schon gut schon gut. Wir werden uns das zusammen an sehen. Du bist doch solch ein Heldanz. Und du benimmst dich gegen alle Regeln. Da gibts doch gar nichts hier. Ich sage dir, dass ich da was gesehen habe. Ach du bist ja verrückt lass uns gehen. Der Kapitän wird uns ouffallen für die ganze Schießerei. Let's see what kind of a wine seller I got myself locked into here. It's like walking around in a well. If I feels like a flight of stairs. Yeah it's probably locked if looks like some kind of a study. Whoever lives here must certainly be loaded. It's funny there's nobody. Please come in. What? Do not be alarmed I have been expecting you. Oh I get it. You you play ball with both sides. If you are referring to the German soldiers outside no. I have no allegiance to them. You are safe enough in that respect. You mean you let me hide here for a while. A while. Oh yes quite a while lieutenant. Well you see I wouldn't have broken into your cellar but those two crowds came into the yard and the door was unlocked. Yes the door unlocked as you expected it to be a lieutenant. Expected. I believe that is the correct word. Mr. This has been a rough night for me so far. I've crawled over a mile on my hands and knees been shot at twice and now I'm behind enemy lines in a strange house but I don't change. Oh come on. I've never been here before in my life. You will permit me to have my own ideas on that subject. Well you have a Mr. But if you were expecting somebody I'm not the man. You are an American officer. You were billeted in the city before the Germans retook it this morning. Were you not. Yes but I thought so. I advise you to sit down and collect your wits. Mr. Look what's this all about. Who are you. I am the Viscount de Gish. My ancestors ruled this province. All right so you're in the head to them. I am a poor shadow. But I mean to honorably resolve this matter once and for all resolve what matter. On. On. Would you be kind enough to raise your hand if you would like to relieve you of your sidearm? Would you be kind enough to raise your hand if you would like to relieve you of your sidearm? Would you be kind enough to raise your hand if you would like to relieve you of your sidearm? It must be a matter for you to decide. Look, who do you think I am? Just tell me that. You said you were expecting someone. Maybe if we start there. Come in. Come in. Oh, Blanche. Come in. I have a friend here who wants to see you. Oh, who's this? Very amusing, Lieutenant. Well, my girl. But my uncle, isn't he a man? I doubt it. But isn't he a man? Sir, tell my uncle, have you ever seen me before? Have we ever met? No, I'm sorry to say we haven't. I'm very sorry. Will you please tell me what this is all about? This is impossible. I have never met this man. I swear. Then it's another matter. Young man, apparently I have made a mistake. I could have told you that. But I have no intention of compounding it into a calamity. You are not the right bird, but you are in hand. I am quite serious. Maybe, as you say, it's the first time you've seen Lieutenant. But I didn't know your aunt before our marriage. I will never do it. Look, look, you're losing me again. I will leave to my niece the pleasure of giving you the details, monsieur. Your decision is simple. You will get married tomorrow morning, or you will suffer the consequences. You have two hours, monsieur. I advise you to weigh your decision carefully. Two hours. To the minutes. What's he talking about? Two hours. He has told you nothing? Nothing. I think he's crazy. No. Unfortunately, he's quite sane. My uncle is cruel. He has no heart, but his mind is sound. Well, what was that talk about? Two hours. Two hours to decide what? To decide whether or not you will marry me. Marry? You? I will tell you how it happened. It was nothing but an innocent flirtation. My uncle, living with his dreams and fantasies. Oh, I'm so ashamed of what he's doing. Take it easy. Take it easy. What happened? Nothing. Nothing of the slightest consequence. Two months ago, after your troops had driven the Germans out of the city, a young American officer began to come here near the Chateau on Sundays with a camera. He would stand on the bluff and take pictures of the countryside. Well, I've been up here doing that myself a couple of times. Oh, yes. Many of your soldiers have. Well, you are an American. You all like to laugh and yell at the girls. It is just so much teasing. I guess you think we could use some manners. Oh, no. I enjoyed it. There's been little to smile over these last years. And when this young American soldier, joking, would call out to me in very bad French, I would watch the troops from my window on the third floor, and I would call back, and that is how he became acquainted. And then? Nothing. We never met. I do not even know his name. And all this would have been forgotten if it were not for the letter. Letter? What letter? A note the young officer wrote me. A silly foolish note asking me to meet him some evening here in the court of the chateau. And your uncle got hold of it? Yes. He's a suspicious man to begin with. Forever thinking that people are trying to rob or dishonor him. And this note was all he needed, huh? I've tried to tell him reason with him, beg him. He will not be swayed. Why don't you get out? Move to another town. He's my legal guardian. Besides, these last five years under the Nazis, it's been impossible to go anywhere without an official permit. Well, if I were you, I'd pack a bag and take off as soon as those crowds get pushed back across the river. But you don't seem to understand. We are prisoners here, both of us. Oh, come now. Your uncle can't be serious about this marriage thing. I promise you, he's deadly serious. Well, it's crazy. We don't even know each other. And besides, it's... Come on. I'll set your uncle straight on this. I'm sorry, but M. Le Visconde left instructions... Where is he? I want to talk to him. You have reached your decision, Lieutenant. I have. Well, that is good to hear. We want to talk to you. Of course. Where's the other portion? Where, M. Le Visconde? Well, my young friend... First of all, I'm not the person you expected here tonight. I'm willing to believe that. Second, even if I were, I wouldn't let you do a thing like this to Blanche. Are you finished? No, I'll tell you something else. I don't like people who try to push other people around. I don't care whether they're Germans or Frenchmen or Americans or Eskimos. I don't like them one bit. Indeed. Indeed. And you strike me as one of these people. You come from a long line of order givers, don't you? Well, you ought to wake up. What do you think guys like me came over here to do? Knock down a big dictator so we could set up a lot of little ones? Am I to understand that you are refusing my niece's hand? No, she hasn't offered me her hand for a perfectly good reason. She doesn't know me. She's never met me before. Do you find her appearance displeasing? Oh, mon nougles assi, please! No, no, no. Let me handle this, honey. That's a bright question. Well... Of course I don't. She's... she's beautiful. And her disposition? Is it not amiable? Of course it's amiable. That's not the point. Or... or... Well, yes, maybe it's just the point. She's sweet, pretty, intelligent. And she's got a mind of her own and rights of her own. And you ought to be ashamed of yourself trying to fob her off on a total stranger. You're not going to do it. No. No, so you just tell that bearded torpedo of yours to bring the lieutenant's gun in here because the lieutenant is leaving. I hate to disappoint you, young man. But you are not going anywhere. Now you listen to me. I have listened long enough to realize that you do not understand the choice I have offered you. The ground upon which this chateau stands has been the site of bloody warfare for generations. At this moment, soldiers are fighting and dying all around it. And I promise you, lieutenant, if you find your disinclination to marry my niece insurmountable, your dead body will be numbered among those on the hillside before sunrise. Man, you must be crazy. I shall only proceed to such an extremity with the greatest regret, for it is not at all your death that I desire, but my niece's establishment in life. A fine way to establish it. I assure you that neither my niece nor you, nor my own private feelings, move me at all in this matter. I believe the honor of my house has been compromised. C'est pas vrai, c'est pas vrai. Je le croise et la vérité. And whether you, my friend, are the cause or not, you are now in the secret. So if I cannot cure the dishonor, I shall at least stop the scandal. There isn't any scandal. Can't you get that through your head? Not by your standards, perhaps. You swaggering luts are all the same. You have come to liberate us, and you think that gives you license to insult our women and trample our traditions. No, nobody thinks anything of the kind. We're perhaps the cattle down in the city have resigned themselves to that kind of treatment from you, but not I. Les Américains ont été très correctes. Les Américains ont été dégoûtants. You have been offered the hand of a déguiche, my friend. You shall not refuse it with impunity. Oh, I only wish you were a little younger. As do I, monsieur. It would give me the greatest pleasure to oblige you, but that is impossible. Faithful retainers like Jean are the seniors of old age, and I must employ the strength I am. Oh, mon oncle, c'est fou. Silence. The rest is tranquille. You have until sunrise, monsieur, somewhat less than two hours. At that time, the priest will arrive. No priest would have any part of a marriage like this. He will not be informed that it is a marriage like this. Do I make myself clear? Your padre's wasting his time. Tell him to stay home. I shall do no such thing. For if his duties when he arrives do not include officiating at your marriage, they will most certainly be needed for the administration of your last rites. What time is it now? Almost 5.30, Dennis. He's bluffing. You know, I still think he's bluffing. Don't you? I wish I did. Go on. Tell me some more about your family, your younger brother, Édouard. Oh, Edward. Édouard. Wouldn't he love that? Is he like you? No. No, he's... Well, he's the family brain. He wants to be a chemist. Is he in the army, too, somewhere? No. No, he's only 16. He tried to join the Marines last year. He came into the recruiting office in Cleveland with a big bass voice. I want to get in this fight, he said. Where do I sign up? What did they tell him? They told him to go home and wash his ears. You must have a wonderful family, Dennis. Don't, now, Blanche, come on, come on. My uncle, he will kill you. He's so stupid and pointless. No, no, Blanche, no. Well, maybe it isn't so stupid and so pointless after all. What do you mean? I've been thinking about it. You see, I enlisted in this fight. I should go and get my card punched. Your card? Yeah, that's kind of an army joke. It means you got a raw deal and something, so to prove it, you get your card punched. It's just a joke. But you see, I enlisted to help stop people from getting pushed around. And, well, that means anybody who's being pushed around over here, I guess, and I think you qualify. But it won't help me, Dennis, if you die? Yes. Yes, it will if you work it right. You go and tell the police how it happened, and that'll put your uncle out of circulation for good. It will, they'll hang him up by his thumbs. Who would believe me? All right, I'll tell you one man who'll believe you. The man who was with me tonight, Corporal Guthrie, Charles Guthrie. He's in my outfit. You look him up. Dennis, you need not die if you marry me. Are you kidding? Why not? It is for my own sake. I can see you are not a coward. I cannot let you be killed over a scruple. Thanks for the grand gesture. Gesture? Yeah, big, noble. But you're missing the whole point, Blanche. It's sour. It's wrong. You're letting yourself be pushed around. But it need not be a real marriage. After the ceremony, you would be free to go. It could be an old. Look, I know you're trying to help me, and thanks, but it won't do. How can you say that? Because it isn't the way to do things. Maybe your uncle's right. Maybe we Americans are what he called us, swaggering louts. But you see, we understand a promise is a pretty serious thing, and a man shouldn't be forced to make one unless he means it. Even if pretending to make that promise would save his life? I don't think so. I see. Oh, I don't think you do, Blanche. Look, if I stood up in front of that part of yours, and if I said, I take this woman to be my lawful wedded wife, well, that's what I'd mean. It wouldn't make any sense any other way. Denise, look. It's getting gray in the east. Remember those German tanks I told you about down in the square? They're gone? All gone. Yeah, in a couple of hours, the MPs will come into town again and put up the off-limit signs. The war is almost over, isn't it, Denise? I think so. A few more months, maybe. What would you have done after the war? Well, go back to Cleveland, take up where I left off. Do you have a girl in Cleveland? No. No, not a steady girl. Denise? You told my uncle you thought I was not unattractive. Oh, sure I did. You? Well, you're fine. You'll do fine. And you admitted I had a pleasant disposition. Well, he didn't need me to tell him that. Then, would I not make a good wife? Oh, sure. A great wife. All you need is a chance to get out and meet a few people. The way this crazy uncle of yours has you cooped up in here. I'm not surprised you were waving out the wind at every doe face it came up the hill. I was not waving out every one. Some shade tail you never even knew. No wonder he was writing notes to you. It was not notes, it was one note. And it meant nothing, nothing. Maybe not to you, maybe not to you, but what about him? He's probably Gaga over here. Oh, well, that child is human too. George, childish, you watch. You'll be climbing up that hill again next week with a whole new approach and you'll give him a high sign. Oh, thank you. Just as long as he's got a uniform. You jealous? You jealous? I don't even know the guy. I want you to be, I want you to care who looks at me, who talks to me. I don't care. You do. You have told me your whole life and you have offered to sacrifice that life for me, for me. I told you why I was doing that. I don't believe it. I don't believe your pretty speeches about honor and pledges and promise. Believe what you want. I believe that you have fallen in love with me and that you are afraid to say so. Boys, who falls in love in two hours? You have... What of it? I have two. Oh, no. I don't believe you. You're just trying to help me out of a jam. Of course. When you love someone, you do anything to help them. You will? Yes. That's why you tried to help me. Come in. Good morning, Lieutenant. Blanche. Good morning. Well? Well, what? The priest has arrived. What is your decision? Uh, my decision? Come, come, what is it to be? Well, first of all, it is to be a church wedding in town. Dennis! Not something pulled off in this penitentiary of yours. As you wish. And secondly, you are not invited. I'm afraid. You just think you're afraid. You show up in that church this morning and I'll really give you something to share for a bottle. Oh, Dennis! But my good man... Uncle, I am neither good nor yours. Let me tell you something else very important. If you ever understand me, ever turn up in Cleveland and that's Cleveland, Ohio, and I find out about it, I can't answer for what will happen to you! This is Gene Lockhart again. I suppose almost everybody believes in God. You might wonder if some people just acknowledge the fact of God, like we acknowledge the law of gravity and having acknowledged it, take no further interest. Well, it depends on what kind of a God we believe in. Nobody can pray to an abstraction. On the other hand, why should some mere life force, even though labelled God, take the slightest interest in the individual or the individual family? But if we realize that our relationship to God, in addition to being a public duty, is also a personal and an intensely intimate matter, and if we understand that He is our loving, heavenly Father, by then we begin to have confidence in His help and to form the custom and tradition of daily family prayer. And once we establish that custom, our family, whoever we are, becomes very sacred. And our home, whatever it is, a sacred place. Family theater urges us to do just that, each of us, for our families, so that we may say we're the millions who are doing the same. The family that prays together stays together. More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. From Hollywood, family theater has brought you transcribed The Door, starring Cameron Mitchell. Gene Lockhart was your host. Others in our cast were Gladys Holland, Edgar Berrier, Ben Wright, Fritz Feld, and Paul Savage. The script was based on Robert Louis Stevenson's immortal classic, The Seer de Malatois Door, and was written and directed for Family Theater by John T. Kelly, with music composed and conducted by Harry Zimmerman. This series of Family Theater broadcasts is made possible by the thousands of you who feel the need for this type of program, by the Mutual Network, and by the hundreds of stars of stage, screen, and radio who give so unselfishly of their time and talent to appear on our Family Theater stage. To them and to you, our humble thanks. This is Tony LaFranco expressing the wish of Family Theater that the blessing of God may be upon you and your home, and inviting you to be with us next week when Family Theater will present It's a gift, starring Jim Bacchus. Danny Thomas will be your host. Join us, won't you? Family Theater is broadcast throughout the world and originates in the Hollywood studios of the world's largest network. This is the Mutual Broadcasting System.