Jack Hawkins credited as playing...
Detective Superintendent Tom Halliday
- [during the final chase, Halliday leaps onto the bonnet of the getaway car and stops it by smashing its windscreen with his truncheon; as it lurches to a halt, he falls off the bonnet onto the ground. Ward helps him up]
- Detective-Sergeant Ward: Are you all right, sir?
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: I'll live, I think.
- Detective-Sergeant Ward: Nothing broken?
- [Halliday pauses and looks mortified]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Yes - a promise I made to let *other* people take the risks!
- [at the police station, Tom Halliday can be seen speaking with a name from the BBI, this is Creasey]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: BBI?
- Creasey: Bristol and Birmingham Insurance Company.
- [at the police station, Detective-Sergeant Ward can be seen in an office. As he's looking around, the door opens and someone else enters. This is Tom Halliday]
- Detective-Sergeant Ward: [stands up] Oh, sorry sir. My name's Ward.
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: [hangs up his hat] I hope you're quite comfortable.
- [Tom Halliday can be seen sitting in his compartment on a train. As he's relaxing, the door opens and Sergeant Ward enters]
- Detective-Sergeant Ward: Sorry, sir, there are no sleepers available.
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: What? Not even one?
- Detective-Sergeant Ward: [smiles] Not even one.
- [Halliday looks surprised and somewhat dumbfounded as Ward proceeds to sit down]
- [Tom Halliday and Sergeant Ward can be seen on a train. At some point, they notice that the train has arrived at a station]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Where are we?
- Detective-Sergeant Ward: Birmingham. We stop here for ten minutes.
- [Ward proceeds to stand up as Halliday lays down on his seat]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Could you find some tea? And bring me back a cup.
- Detective-Sergeant Ward: Well, actually, I thought I'd just...
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Phone Jenny. Ah, you spoil that girl, Sergeant.
- Detective-Sergeant Ward: You haven't seen here. She's worth three shillings for three minutes.
- [Ward opens the door and begins to exit the train]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Bet you she's at the pictures with a soldier.
- [Ward laughs as he starts to leave]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Ward.
- Detective-Sergeant Ward: Sir?
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Don't miss the train.
- [Ward smiles at Halliday again before he turns and exits the train]
- [Tom Halliday can be seen speaking in a telephone booth at the train station]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: [speaking into the telephone] Look, Mary, let's tell him...
- [a whistle can be heard blowing, signaling that the train is beginning to depart. Halliday turns around as he realizes what this means. He then quickly turns back towards the telephone]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: [yelling] Mary! Good lord!
- [Halliday hangs up the telephone and quickly exits the booth. He then rushes towards the train and gets on with some help from Sergeant Ward just as it begins pulling out of the station]
- [Tom Halliday can be seen at his home. At some point, the telephone rings. Upon hearing this, he heads over to the telephone to answer it]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Hello? Oh, hello, Ward.
- [Tom listens to what Ward says on the other end of the line]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Good work. Where?
- [Tom continues listening to Ward]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Never heard of it.
- [Tom continues to listen]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Find out where it is, how we get there, what train we catch, and ring me back.
- [Tom listens to Ward yet again]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Tomorrow night? Not a hope! Uh, tell her it's all my fault.
- [Tom hangs up the telephone]
- [Having just finished speaking with Ward on the telephone, Tom Halliday can be seen preparing to leave. As he's doing this, his wife, Mary, enters the room]
- Mary Halliday: Where are you off to?
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: North Wales. Some place that Ward can't pronounce.
- Mary Halliday: [smiles] Join the police and see Britain!
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Oh, it won't be for more than a day or two.
- [Tom Halliday can be seen speaking with his wife as he prepares to head out on another investigation]
- Mary Halliday: How are you liking Sergeant Ward?
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Oh, he's alright. He's a bit impulsive, but he'll grow out of that. Spends too much time thinking about his girl.
- Mary Halliday: That's another thing he'll grow out of if he sees much of you.
- [Mary begins to head up a flight of stairs as Tom looks up at her, surprised at what she just said]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Mary, did you mean that?
- Mary Halliday: [smiles] I'll pack your bag.
- [Ward and Halliday can be seen in a compartment on a train. Ward has just returned to mention that there are no sleepers available]
- Detective-Sergeant Ward: I'll call CRO in the morning and see if they've got anything under Gilson or Brotherton.
- [Halliday picks up his coat and places on the seat next to him]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: They won't have, but do it all the same.
- [Ward and Hawkins can be seen speaking to one another as they ride in a compartment of a train]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Quite a boy, this Gilson! Year after year, he turns out keys for Blenkinsop Safes, as honest as the day he was born. Then, suddenly, he gets it. A brand new idea. And so simple. An extra key for each safe. He pops it in his pocket, takes it home, ties a label on it, saying where the safe is going. Then, one fine day, when he's made a nice big collection of keys...
- Detective-Sergeant Ward: In the company's time!
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: ... he hands in his notice, retires to Shepperton for a year, and then dies. Comes to life again in North Wales as Brotherton. Takes out his keys and starts opening up the safes.
- [Halliday appears dumbstruck]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Why didn't you and I think of it?
- [Ward smiles]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Make yourself comfortable.
- [while on a train, Halliday can be seen speaking to Ward]
- Detective-Sergeant Ward: The way he made it look as if all the jobs were done by different people. Until he came to London, he never put a foot wrong.
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Just so. Could you imagine a man like that being mug enough to kill.
- Detective-Sergeant Ward: No, I can't.
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: I think he's picked up bad company since he came south.
- [Halliday takes a puff from a cigarette]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: When we get the man who drove that car...
- [Halliday turns and looks to see that the train has arrived at a station]
- [Tom Halliday can be seen eating dinner while his wife watches. She appears slightly concerned about something]
- Mary Halliday: You'll be sorry when he grows up thinking crime is romantic.
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Well, let's worry about that one when it happens.
- Mary Halliday: Tom, don't fill his head with all these stories about crooks.
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: I don't! Oh... what, that just now? I wanted to get his mind off the air display.
- Mary Halliday: Yes, but couldn't you have told him something else?
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: [stops eating] What you're afraid of is he'll grow up thinking policemen are romantic. Isn't that it?
- Mary Halliday: [laughing] Well... yes!
- [Tom Halliday is seen eating dinner while his wife speaks with him]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: I'm sorry I'm not a stockbroker or a member of Parliament. I'm a policeman! I like being a policeman!
- Mary Halliday: I know. And I'd like one of you in a safer job. That's all.
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: A test pilot for instance? That's the other job he fancies.
- [while having dinner, Tom Halliday can be seen speaking with his wife, who is concerned for his safety]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Mary, you said you'd stop all this. Can't you? Every time I'm a half an hour late, you have me on a mortuary slab.
- Mary Halliday: For the first five years of our marriage, that's where you very nearly were. About twice a week!
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: When we married, I was a keen, young detective sergeant trying to make my way up the ladder and provide for my family.
- [Mary laughs and walks over to her husband]
- Mary Halliday: Nonsense! You just like taking chances, you know you do.
- [Halliday shakes his head and smiles]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Oh, not anymore. Time marches on. I've got a keen, young detective sergeant under me now. He's walking out with a sweet young thing, trying to get on. It's his turn to take all the chances.
- [Halliday takes a drink as Mary smiles and kisses him]
- [following a conversation on the telephone, Tom Halliday can be seen speaking with his wife, who is in the dining room]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Sorry, darling, I've got to go.
- Mary Halliday: Well, at least have your coffee...
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: No thanks. No coffee, no time. Don't wait up.
- [Halliday walks over to his wife and kisses her]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: I may be late.
- Mary Halliday: Don't worry, I won't.
- [Halliday grabs his dessert before he exits]
- [as Tom Halliday is preparing to leave, his wife and son can be seen having breakfast in the kitchen]
- Tony Halliday: Dad? You haven't forgotten about the air display tomorrow, have you? We'll get there early, won't we?
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: [smiles] We'll see the very first plane take off.
- [Halliday takes a drink before walking over to his wife and kissing her]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Bye-bye, my dear.
- Mary Halliday: Bye-bye.
- [Tom Halliday is in the kitchen of his home with his wife and son. As he's preparing for work, his family is having breakfast]
- Tony Halliday: I say, Dad... when are they gonna get the gang that stuck up that cinema?
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Give them time.
- Tony Halliday: Are you on that case?
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: No.
- Tony Halliday: [looks at his mother] He is! I bet he is! He didn't look me in the eye.
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: [looks directly at his son] I am not on that case.
- Tony Halliday: Well, it's time they put you on!
- [Halliday smiles and exits the kitchen]
- Tony Halliday: Gosh, I wish you'd been there when it happened!
- [having finished a conversation with his father. Tony Halliday can be seen having breakfast with his mother]
- Mary Halliday: Tony.
- Tony Halliday: Yes?
- Mary Halliday: The policeman who was there was killed.
- Tony Halliday: I know he was. But I bet he wouldn't have been if Dad had been there.
- [as Tony and his mother continue talking, his father can be seen entering the view]
- Mary Halliday: It's ages since you've had a really decent case. You know, like Maltese Eddy!
- Mary Halliday: [somewhat annoyed] You are a horrible child!
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: [looks at his son] Listen you! The days when your father, trembling with fear...
- [Tony laughs]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: ... mixed with the elements of the underworld are passed. I'm glad to say! Today, he directs, controls, and administers from an office chair.
- [Mary begins laughing as Halliday gently rubs his sons head as he leaves]
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Bye all.
- Tony Halliday: Goodbye.
- [at the police station, Tom Halliday can be seen speaking with a man sitting at a desk. This is Deputy Commander Harris]
- Deputy Commander: And what about the flat swindler?
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: That's almost in the bag. The report's ready for the Director of Public Prosecutions.
- Deputy Commander: Let me see it before it goes off.
- Detective-Superintendent Tom Halliday: Yes.