Alias Nick Beal (1949)

Joseph Foster: Sit down, sit down, gentlemen. The furniture's reliable.

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Rev. Thomas Garfield: The island of Almas Perdidas. There's no such place listed in the atlas or on this globe.
Joseph Foster: Well, that's the way the contract reads.
Rev. Thomas Garfield: But if the island doesn't exist, I'm sure the contract is invalid.
Joseph Foster: Tom, the thing is I signed in good faith. I gave my word, in effect. The last six months, I've been acting selfishly, in bad faith. Well, I'm through doing that. I'm through going against my conscience.
Rev. Thomas Garfield: Your conscience tells you to go with Beal? Why don't you talk to Martha?
Joseph Foster: She's gone away somewhere. Besides, if this is what you're hinting at, if there's something strange about it, I don't want to involve her.
Rev. Thomas Garfield: Then you admit the possibility?
Joseph Foster: I don't know.
Rev. Thomas Garfield: Do you know Spanish?
Joseph Foster: No, I...
Rev. Thomas Garfield: I wondered if you knew what the translation of the island of Almas Perdidas was. The island of Lost Souls. Strange, isn't it?
Joseph Foster: But that can't be.
Rev. Thomas Garfield: I know. As you once said, it's the wrong century for superstition, for werewolves, vampires, and devils, for evil enchantments and black magic. But Joseph, I do know this: Spiritual problems exist today just as they did in earlier centuries. The battle between good and evil still goes on. We all fight it, every day of our lives. When you found the courage to renounce the governorship, you expiated your sins. You confessed. You washed yourself clean. That was your battle, and it was with yourself, not with Beal. He can't make you go anywhere or do anything if you're no longer willing. Don't you realize, Joseph, you've already won. Forget Beal. Go to Martha who remembers you as you were, as you still are. She still loves you. The two of you can make a fresh start together. She's at my house.
Joseph Foster: Thanks, Tom.

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Rev. Thomas Garfield: You've changed, Joseph.
Joseph Foster: How?
Rev. Thomas Garfield: Well, your clothes, for one thing.
Joseph Foster: Oh, well, what are clothes?
Rev. Thomas Garfield: And there are rumors about you and Miss Allen. I know I shouldn't mention them, or the story that you and Martha are estranged. Is it true?
Joseph Foster: Well, in a way... What's my personal trouble got to do with it?
Rev. Thomas Garfield: They're all indications of change. Then there's the influence that this Nick Beal seems to have over you.
Joseph Foster: Influence, nothing. He loaned me some money and I'll pay it back, and that's all.
Rev. Thomas Garfield: I wonder. Have you signed anything with him, any sort of contract?
Joseph Foster: Of course not. What are you driving at?
Rev. Thomas Garfield: I don't know exactly, but there's something strange about him, something eerie.
Joseph Foster: It's a pose to impress people.
Rev. Thomas Garfield: How did he get out of your house the night we were there? Why was he afraid to read the Bible?
Joseph Foster: Are you serious?
Rev. Thomas Garfield: I know I can't be, but I am. And there's another thing - somewhere I've seen a portrait of him, a medieval drawing or woodcut. I'm trying to remember where.
Joseph Foster: A drawing as what?
Rev. Thomas Garfield: Lucifer.
Joseph Foster: We're in the 20th century, Tom. Nobody's believed in such things since the Salem witch burnings. Besides, aren't there a few items missing? Where's the tail and the horns? Where's the smell of sulfur and brimstone? And where's the contract you're talking about, signed in blood and promising the delivery of one slightly used soul?
Rev. Thomas Garfield: Maybe the devil knows it's the 20th century too, Joseph.

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One of over 700 Paramount Productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by MCA ever since.
"The Screen Guild Theater" broadcast a 30 minute radio adaptation of the movie on December 8, 1949 with Ray Milland reprising his film role.
"Screen Director's Playhouse" broadcast a 60 minute radio adaptation of the movie on December 28, 1950 with Ray Milland reprising his film role.
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