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The strange, almost unbelievable story
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of Robert Scott Carey
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began on a very ordinary summer day.
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I know this story better than anyone,
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because I am Robert Scott Carey.
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This is the way to spend a vacation.
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Mm-hmm.
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I'm thirsty.
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Mmm, that sun feels good.
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I'm thirsty.
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Interesting.
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A cold bottle of beer would taste fine.
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Why don't you get it?
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- Me?
- Mm-hmm.
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I'm on vacation. All week.
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Well, so am I, my friend.
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Mmm.
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- Louise?
- Hmm?
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I think we should get married.
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We've been married for six years.
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- Really?
- Mm-hmm.
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Seems like six minutes.
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I am not gonna get you that beer.
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Now, I provide the boat,
you provide the beer.
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Oh, your brother provided the boat.
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- Okay, I'll make a deal with you.
- What?
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You get the beer, I'll get the dinner.
How's that?
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Okay, you got yourself a deal.
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To the galley, wench.
Fetch me a flagon of beer.
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I'm sorry, Captain,
but we're all out of flagons this trip.
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It'll have to be a can of beer.
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- Out of flagons?
- Mm-hmm.
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In the name of heavens, woman,
how are we to make the Philippines?
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We're not going to the Philippines, sir.
We're going home at the end of the week.
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Mutiny.
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Make 'em cold.
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Like ice.
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Scott, what was that?
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I don't know. Some kind of mist.
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Look at your chest.
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But then, on an equally ordinary day,
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six months later...
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- Good morning, Joe.
- Good morning, Mrs. Carey.
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- Looks like a nice day, huh?
- See you tomorrow.
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Uh-huh.
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Here, kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty.
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Here, kitty, kitty, kitty, kitty.
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Come on, Butch.
That's a boy. There you go.
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Scott! Scott, are you dressed yet?
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- I'll be right there.
- All right.
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- Lou!
- Yes, dear?
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Honey, are you sure you got
the right pants back from the cleaners?
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Just a second.
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You asked the same question
yesterday morning.
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- Well, they still don't fit right.
- They still too loose?
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Sure. Even the cuffs are dragging.
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- Gee, they do look kind of big.
- You better talk to that cleaners.
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I don't know what he's doing,
but tell him to cut it out.
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You're probably just losing weight.
And it's very becoming, so don't complain.
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- You want one or two eggs?
- One.
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One? Now, that's why your pants don't fit.
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- Lou!
- Yeah?
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Hey, for the love of Pete,
the shirt doesn't fit either.
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Well, it's your shirt, honey.
It's got your monogram on it.
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- What's that supposed —
- Now, come on and sit down
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and eat your breakfast,
and forget about it.
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Gee, I know a lot of people
who'd like to lose a little weight.
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What's your secret?
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Maybe it's the cooking around here.
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Well, thanks a lot.
Drink your orange juice.
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- Lou, do me a favor.
- What, honey?
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Pick up a bathroom scale today.
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All right.
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Still get 5'11", Mr. Carey.
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"I've been 6'1" since I was 17.
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- Mm-hmm.
- What's the weight?
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Still 174 and a quarter pounds.
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I don't understand it.
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That's a loss of almost ten pounds.
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Well, I told you, Mr. Carey,
you're probably overworking yourself.
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You told me that when you overwork,
you get nervous and tend to lose weight.
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Yes, but I've never lost that much weight.
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Besides, I haven't been
particularly nervous lately.
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Anyway, not eating
wouldn't make me lose height, would it?
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Oh, I very much doubt
if you've been losing height, Mr. Carey.
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Why don't you put your things on.
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You told me that you've been 6'1"
since you were 17 years old.
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That's right.
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How many physical examinations
have you had since then?
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Oh, with the draft board,
and the navy, a life insurance physical.
91
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That's not too many, is it?
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And it's quite possible
there might have been errors
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made on all of them
as regards your height.
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That very often happens.
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There are a number of things
that could cause such errors.
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For example, if you stood erect,
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you'd measure out as taller
than you actually are.
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Or if your height was taken
in the morning,
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you'd measure out as taller.
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Why is that?
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Because people actually decrease
in height during the day.
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You see, the body weight
compresses the spinal discs,
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the bone joints, and so on.
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I see.
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Two inches, Doctor?
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Well, I wouldn't worry about it,
Mr. Carey.
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As far as I can see,
you're in perfect health.
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Likely lost a little weight
due to an insufficient diet, but...
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people don't get shorter, Mr. Carey.
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They just don't get shorter.
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What did Charlie think about your idea
for the newspaper ad?
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Huh? Oh. He thinks it has possibilities.
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Well?
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- Four pounds.
- Up or down?
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Down.
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Oh, well, that does it, my boy.
You're going to start taking vitamins.
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I'm gonna get you so fat
on ice cream and cake,
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you'll think you're living
in a child's paradise.
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I don't think that's gonna fix it, Lou.
120
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Well, then, we'll go and see
a doctor, honey.
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You're due for a checkup, anyway.
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I've already seen a doctor.
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- When?
- A week ago.
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Well, honey, why didn't you say
something about it?
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Come here, Louise.
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Kiss me.
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You think that's gonna fix it, huh?
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You didn't have to stretch.
129
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You used to stand on your toes
when you did that.
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In your stocking feet?
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I'm getting smaller, Lou, every day.
132
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Well, th-that's silly, honey.
People just don't get smaller.
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Yeah. Yeah, you're right.
134
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We'll go back to the doctor tomorrow.
I'm sure he's got a pill for it.
135
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Don't worry, Butch.
Everything's gonna be all right.
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Go to bed.
137
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Well, that's the last of them, Mr. Carey.
138
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This has been a long week, Dr. Bramson.
139
00:11:21,474 --> 00:11:24,143
I must have worn out your machine.
140
00:11:24,226 --> 00:11:27,730
I needed two full sets of pictures
spaced several days apart.
141
00:11:27,813 --> 00:11:30,024
I had to compare them before I...
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before I could be sure.
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00:11:32,526 --> 00:11:34,737
Sure of what, Doctor? What is it?
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00:11:34,820 --> 00:11:37,782
Relax, Doctor. You can't tell me anything
I haven't imagined.
145
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You are getting smaller.
146
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I... I don't profess
to understand it, Mr. Carey.
147
00:11:49,919 --> 00:11:53,464
There's no medical precedent
for what's happening to you.
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00:11:53,547 --> 00:11:56,217
I-I simply know
that you're getting smaller.
149
00:11:56,967 --> 00:11:59,595
The X-rays prove it beyond any doubt.
150
00:12:00,429 --> 00:12:02,640
But that's impossible.
151
00:12:03,557 --> 00:12:06,185
That's what we've
always believed, Mrs. Carey.
152
00:12:09,397 --> 00:12:13,109
I'm going to send you to
the California Medical Research Institute.
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If there is an explanation
for your phenomenon,
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why... they'll find it.
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Then began a series of intensive tests.
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I drank a barium solution
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and stood behind a fluoroscope screen.
158
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They gave me radioactive iodine...
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00:12:47,643 --> 00:12:49,895
and an examination with a Geiger counter.
160
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I had electrodes fastened to my head.
161
00:12:55,109 --> 00:12:57,736
Water restriction tests.
Protein bond tests.
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Eye tests. Blood cultures.
X-rays and more X-rays.
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00:13:01,323 --> 00:13:03,826
Tests. Endless tests.
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00:13:03,909 --> 00:13:06,495
And then one day in the third week,
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00:13:06,579 --> 00:13:08,789
the final examination.
166
00:13:08,873 --> 00:13:11,083
A paper chromatography test.
167
00:13:13,252 --> 00:13:15,546
Now, don't be despondent, Mr. Carey.
168
00:13:15,629 --> 00:13:18,507
At least we've found out
what is happening to you...
169
00:13:18,591 --> 00:13:22,094
Gradual loss of nitrogen,
calcium, phosphorus.
170
00:13:22,178 --> 00:13:25,055
- This test may tell us why.
- I hope so.
171
00:13:25,723 --> 00:13:28,267
I think the strip should be dry by now.
172
00:13:28,350 --> 00:13:31,937
We should find phospholipid, amino acids,
173
00:13:32,021 --> 00:13:36,066
cholesterol, creatinine and protein.
174
00:13:36,150 --> 00:13:39,361
These are the elements
most commonly found on the strip.
175
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Mm-hmm.
176
00:13:43,699 --> 00:13:44,825
Wait a minute.
177
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This one doesn't belong.
178
00:13:55,836 --> 00:13:58,964
It certainly doesn't belong.
Here, take a look.
179
00:14:02,343 --> 00:14:04,678
Our analysis shows
that it's a rearrangement
180
00:14:04,762 --> 00:14:08,015
of the molecular structure
of the cells in your body.
181
00:14:08,098 --> 00:14:10,392
You mean like a — a cancer?
182
00:14:10,476 --> 00:14:11,477
No.
183
00:14:12,144 --> 00:14:13,687
No, more like an anti-cancer,
184
00:14:13,771 --> 00:14:16,524
causing a diminution
of all the organs proportionately.
185
00:14:16,607 --> 00:14:19,276
Then you know
what's causing me to get smaller.
186
00:14:19,360 --> 00:14:22,571
We think we do, Mr. Carey.
That's why I asked you here.
187
00:14:22,655 --> 00:14:24,406
Now, I want you to tell me something.
188
00:14:26,075 --> 00:14:29,995
Have you ever been accidentally exposed
to any kind of germ spray?
189
00:14:30,079 --> 00:14:31,830
In particular, an insecticide...
190
00:14:31,914 --> 00:14:33,666
A great deal of insecticide.
191
00:14:33,749 --> 00:14:36,877
- Insecticide?
- Exactly.
192
00:14:36,961 --> 00:14:39,547
Has there ever been a time
when you were so exposed?
193
00:14:40,422 --> 00:14:43,384
Do you remember that day I came home
and told you about the truck?
194
00:14:43,467 --> 00:14:45,928
Yes, about two months ago.
195
00:14:46,011 --> 00:14:48,430
I was on my way to the store
through a back alley.
196
00:14:48,514 --> 00:14:52,142
As I was walking, a truck turned in.
It was spraying trees.
197
00:14:52,726 --> 00:14:54,371
Do you think that's what's causing me to...
198
00:14:54,395 --> 00:14:56,939
No, that was only the beginning.
199
00:14:57,022 --> 00:14:59,191
You see, something happened
to that insecticide
200
00:14:59,275 --> 00:15:01,402
after it was in your system.
201
00:15:01,485 --> 00:15:04,280
Something fantastic and unprecedented.
202
00:15:04,363 --> 00:15:07,116
Something which, in layman's terms,
so affected the insecticide
203
00:15:07,199 --> 00:15:09,910
that from a mildly virulent germ spray,
204
00:15:09,994 --> 00:15:13,372
it created deadly chemical reversal
of the growth process.
205
00:15:14,415 --> 00:15:17,918
Have you been exposed to any type
of radioactivity in the past six months?
206
00:15:18,002 --> 00:15:21,547
Oh, no. Of course not. I don't come
in contact with anything like that.
207
00:15:21,630 --> 00:15:24,216
- I work in an advertising —
- Scott, wait a minute.
208
00:15:24,300 --> 00:15:26,802
- That day we were on the boat.
- The boat?
209
00:15:26,885 --> 00:15:29,305
Charlie's boat. Remember?
210
00:15:29,388 --> 00:15:31,098
Well, yes, I remember, but...
211
00:15:32,725 --> 00:15:33,851
The mist.
212
00:15:35,853 --> 00:15:37,104
That mist.
213
00:15:48,282 --> 00:15:50,242
Do you want me to drive, honey?
214
00:15:51,827 --> 00:15:53,120
No, I'm all right.
215
00:15:54,496 --> 00:15:55,706
Louise...
216
00:15:57,666 --> 00:16:01,086
I want you to start thinking about us,
217
00:16:01,170 --> 00:16:02,630
our marriage.
218
00:16:02,713 --> 00:16:05,841
Some awful things might happen.
There's a limit to your obligation.
219
00:16:06,717 --> 00:16:08,761
Oh, now, wait a minute.
220
00:16:09,595 --> 00:16:13,349
Look, I love you. Don't you know that?
221
00:16:13,432 --> 00:16:15,267
You love Scott Carey.
222
00:16:15,351 --> 00:16:17,603
He has a size and a shape
and a way of thinking.
223
00:16:17,686 --> 00:16:18,854
All that's changing now.
224
00:16:18,937 --> 00:16:21,106
Not a darned thing's changed.
I know I haven't.
225
00:16:22,358 --> 00:16:25,402
When I married you, I meant what I said.
226
00:16:25,486 --> 00:16:28,197
And as long as you've got
this wedding ring on,
227
00:16:28,280 --> 00:16:29,782
you've got me.
228
00:16:30,532 --> 00:16:32,493
Come on now. Let's go home, huh?
229
00:16:50,719 --> 00:16:53,347
The truth is, I just lost
the Banister account.
230
00:16:54,139 --> 00:16:57,893
You know how big that account was.
Probably 40% of my income.
231
00:16:57,976 --> 00:16:59,645
Well, it's gone now,
232
00:16:59,728 --> 00:17:02,690
and I just can't afford to send you
your paychecks anymore.
233
00:17:02,773 --> 00:17:05,234
You've done everything that a brother
possibly could do.
234
00:17:05,317 --> 00:17:07,444
Look, I don't like to say this,
235
00:17:07,528 --> 00:17:10,864
but, well, there have been
some reporters over at the plant.
236
00:17:10,948 --> 00:17:13,492
Looks like somebody
at the medical center talked about you.
237
00:17:13,575 --> 00:17:17,705
I told them there was nothing in it,
but one of the reporters stayed behind.
238
00:17:17,788 --> 00:17:19,790
He was from the American Press Syndicate.
239
00:17:19,873 --> 00:17:23,210
He said they might pay
for the story if it's true.
240
00:17:24,044 --> 00:17:26,922
Scott, the story's going
to break anyway eventually.
241
00:17:27,005 --> 00:17:29,967
So, whether you make them pay or not,
they're going to make the most of it.
242
00:17:30,050 --> 00:17:32,469
So make them pay.
243
00:17:32,553 --> 00:17:33,929
No, Charlie.
244
00:17:35,556 --> 00:17:37,933
Well, think about it.
245
00:17:40,978 --> 00:17:44,606
All right. I'll think about it.
246
00:17:48,777 --> 00:17:51,947
But really, was there any choice?
247
00:17:52,030 --> 00:17:55,159
We owed a great deal of money,
and I had no job.
248
00:17:55,993 --> 00:17:58,620
There was no choice. None at all.
249
00:17:59,371 --> 00:18:02,541
And so I became famous.
250
00:18:02,624 --> 00:18:04,960
And still Robert Scott Carey,
251
00:18:05,043 --> 00:18:08,380
known to a nation
as the Incredible Shrinking Man,
252
00:18:08,464 --> 00:18:09,923
keeps getting smaller.
253
00:18:10,007 --> 00:18:12,718
How long will this phenomenon continue?
254
00:18:12,801 --> 00:18:14,636
I want to apply
for an unlisted line, please.
255
00:18:14,720 --> 00:18:17,240
Top research men at the California
Medical Research Institute...
256
00:18:17,264 --> 00:18:19,944
- This is a special case.
- Are still searching for an antitoxin.
257
00:18:19,975 --> 00:18:22,895
My name is Louise Carey. My husband...
258
00:18:22,978 --> 00:18:25,481
- Carey. C-A-R-E-Y.
- Will they cure him in time?
259
00:18:25,564 --> 00:18:26,690
No one knows...
260
00:18:26,774 --> 00:18:29,234
Now, look, we've got to have
an unlisted line.
261
00:18:29,318 --> 00:18:32,946
That's all there is to it.
262
00:18:33,030 --> 00:18:34,782
I talked to you yesterday.
263
00:18:34,865 --> 00:18:36,950
Has he come out yet?
264
00:18:37,034 --> 00:18:38,410
How big is he now?
265
00:18:38,494 --> 00:18:41,455
- Have you seen him?
- He's gotta come out some time.
266
00:18:41,538 --> 00:18:43,624
- Let's wait.
- Have you taken a movie of him?
267
00:18:43,707 --> 00:18:46,001
What's the television truck doing here?
268
00:18:46,877 --> 00:18:49,254
We return you now to Magic Melodies.
269
00:18:59,264 --> 00:19:01,850
Yes, thank you very much.
270
00:19:10,567 --> 00:19:11,610
Scott?
271
00:19:13,654 --> 00:19:15,155
Scott, I've...
272
00:19:16,198 --> 00:19:18,408
I've canceled our phone.
273
00:19:18,492 --> 00:19:19,618
What?
274
00:19:20,369 --> 00:19:22,412
I said, I've canceled our phone.
275
00:19:22,496 --> 00:19:25,999
They're gonna try to get us
an unlisted line sometime next week.
276
00:19:26,083 --> 00:19:27,793
What do you mean "they're gonna try"?
277
00:19:27,876 --> 00:19:29,336
They're just gonna try, honey.
278
00:19:29,419 --> 00:19:32,047
There are a lot of people
waiting for unlisted lines.
279
00:19:32,130 --> 00:19:34,007
Didn't you tell them
who you're married to?
280
00:19:34,091 --> 00:19:36,468
The incredible Scott Carey,
the shrinking freak?
281
00:19:36,552 --> 00:19:38,637
- Scott, don't.
- Use your influence, Louise.
282
00:19:38,720 --> 00:19:40,597
I'm a big man. I'm famous.
283
00:19:40,681 --> 00:19:42,015
Please don't.
284
00:19:42,099 --> 00:19:45,561
Those reporters out there.
Why don't you tell them about it?
285
00:19:45,644 --> 00:19:49,022
Give them a new angle
for their — for their papers.
286
00:19:49,106 --> 00:19:50,941
Or will I save it for my book?
287
00:19:51,775 --> 00:19:53,235
Yeah, that's what I'll do.
288
00:19:53,318 --> 00:19:54,903
A whole chapter devoted to telephones,
289
00:19:54,987 --> 00:19:56,707
and one more joke
for the world to laugh at!
290
00:19:59,700 --> 00:20:03,245
Scott, people know. They realize.
They're not laughing at you.
291
00:20:03,328 --> 00:20:04,788
- They're not?
- No.
292
00:20:04,872 --> 00:20:07,040
Why not? It's funny, isn't it?
293
00:20:07,124 --> 00:20:08,625
But it is.
294
00:20:08,709 --> 00:20:12,004
See how funny I am?
The child that looks like a man.
295
00:20:12,713 --> 00:20:15,591
Go on, laugh, Louise.
Be like everyone else. It's all right.
296
00:20:16,550 --> 00:20:18,802
Well, why can't you look at me?
297
00:20:19,511 --> 00:20:20,846
Look at me!
298
00:20:21,597 --> 00:20:23,223
Don't, Scott.
299
00:20:36,278 --> 00:20:38,614
If they'd just let us alone.
300
00:20:39,823 --> 00:20:42,451
If they'd just let us alone!
301
00:20:42,534 --> 00:20:44,077
Lou, honey. I'm sorry.
302
00:20:45,203 --> 00:20:48,290
I must be losing my mind,
talking to you like this.
303
00:20:48,373 --> 00:20:51,209
No, honey, I — I'm all right.
304
00:20:52,461 --> 00:20:55,172
I know what you must be suffering.
305
00:20:55,255 --> 00:20:56,381
Do you?
306
00:20:58,216 --> 00:21:01,094
Yes, I guess it's been
a nightmare for you, too.
307
00:21:02,304 --> 00:21:03,764
Maybe we've forgotten how to hope.
308
00:21:05,098 --> 00:21:07,976
But, Scott, there's so much to hope for.
309
00:21:08,060 --> 00:21:11,730
Any day now the doctors say
they may find the antitoxin.
310
00:21:11,813 --> 00:21:12,940
Sure.
311
00:21:14,149 --> 00:21:17,069
Lou, let's get out of this place
before we both go crazy.
312
00:21:17,778 --> 00:21:20,113
Somewhere where nobody can find us.
313
00:21:20,197 --> 00:21:23,617
All right, Scott.
I'll — I'll look for something.
314
00:21:24,952 --> 00:21:26,161
And try...
315
00:21:27,162 --> 00:21:28,747
try not to worry.
316
00:21:29,414 --> 00:21:31,166
No, I'll let the doctors worry.
317
00:21:31,917 --> 00:21:33,669
I'm two days behind on my book.
318
00:21:41,343 --> 00:21:42,803
October 17th.
319
00:21:42,886 --> 00:21:45,597
Height: 36 and a half inches.
320
00:21:45,681 --> 00:21:47,891
Weight: 52 pounds.
321
00:21:47,975 --> 00:21:50,268
We haven't been able to find a new house,
322
00:21:50,352 --> 00:21:53,063
and there still is no privacy, no relief,
323
00:21:53,146 --> 00:21:55,065
and no word from the medical center.
324
00:21:55,148 --> 00:21:58,151
I fear that what life remains to me —
325
00:22:05,492 --> 00:22:08,453
Hello. Yes, this is Carey.
326
00:22:13,625 --> 00:22:15,085
Louise!
327
00:22:15,168 --> 00:22:16,545
Yes, Scott?
328
00:22:16,628 --> 00:22:19,006
The antitoxin! They've found it.
329
00:22:20,215 --> 00:22:21,758
Oh, Scott.
330
00:22:21,842 --> 00:22:23,593
Are you sure?
331
00:22:23,677 --> 00:22:26,471
Dr. Silver wants us down there.
Right away.
332
00:22:33,353 --> 00:22:36,023
There's something
you both must understand.
333
00:22:36,106 --> 00:22:38,066
We're working with unknown factors.
334
00:22:38,150 --> 00:22:39,943
Nothing is guaranteed.
335
00:22:41,319 --> 00:22:43,822
We're 50% sure this will be effective.
336
00:22:43,905 --> 00:22:47,075
For the other 50%,
we'll just have to pray.
337
00:22:47,159 --> 00:22:49,077
How long before we'll know?
338
00:22:49,161 --> 00:22:52,080
Mr. Carey will remain here
under observation for a week.
339
00:22:52,164 --> 00:22:53,999
We should have the answer by then.
340
00:22:54,833 --> 00:22:57,335
- Are you ready?
- Ready.
341
00:23:06,887 --> 00:23:08,889
Weight: 52 pounds.
342
00:23:09,973 --> 00:23:13,185
Height: 36 and a half inches.
343
00:23:13,268 --> 00:23:15,937
What was last week's reading?
344
00:23:16,021 --> 00:23:19,357
Weight: 52 pounds.
Height: 36 and a half inches.
345
00:23:19,441 --> 00:23:21,026
No change, Doctor.
346
00:23:21,943 --> 00:23:23,945
It's all over, Scott.
You're gonna be all right.
347
00:23:24,863 --> 00:23:27,032
How long will it take, Dr. Silver,
348
00:23:27,115 --> 00:23:28,825
to be normal again?
349
00:23:29,493 --> 00:23:31,203
You can put on your robe now.
350
00:23:31,286 --> 00:23:33,163
That will be all, Miss Maltby.
351
00:23:34,164 --> 00:23:38,376
Mr. Carey, we seem to have checked
the degenerative process of your disease.
352
00:23:38,460 --> 00:23:39,961
We've won that much.
353
00:23:40,837 --> 00:23:43,173
At this moment,
the growth capacity of your body
354
00:23:43,256 --> 00:23:44,633
is as limited as any adult's.
355
00:23:45,425 --> 00:23:48,386
Whether or not you'll grow again
is another question.
356
00:23:48,470 --> 00:23:51,640
To help you, we face
a whole new set of problems.
357
00:23:51,723 --> 00:23:54,976
Then I'll spend the rest of my life...
like this?
358
00:23:55,852 --> 00:23:58,230
Mr. Carey, I assure you,
we'll go on working.
359
00:23:58,313 --> 00:23:59,993
Every day we'll push
our knowledge further,
360
00:24:00,065 --> 00:24:02,776
until one day
we might have the whole answer.
361
00:24:03,527 --> 00:24:04,945
Thank you, Doctor.
362
00:24:15,413 --> 00:24:18,917
My relationships
with the world had ceased with everyone,
363
00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:21,044
except my wife.
364
00:24:21,128 --> 00:24:23,964
And I knew I was driving Lou from me.
365
00:24:24,047 --> 00:24:25,674
But burning inside,
366
00:24:25,757 --> 00:24:29,094
adding its own hideous pressure
to everything else,
367
00:24:29,177 --> 00:24:31,388
was my desperate need for her.
368
00:24:34,432 --> 00:24:35,684
You want the paper, Scott?
369
00:24:35,767 --> 00:24:37,978
No. No, thank you.
370
00:24:40,188 --> 00:24:42,482
Well, I — I think I'll turn in.
371
00:24:43,483 --> 00:24:45,610
Come on.
372
00:24:46,653 --> 00:24:48,572
Coming to bed?
373
00:24:48,655 --> 00:24:49,948
Yeah, soon.
374
00:24:50,031 --> 00:24:51,658
Well, good night, then.
375
00:24:52,409 --> 00:24:53,952
Good night, Louise.
376
00:24:58,707 --> 00:25:00,667
I felt puny and absurd —
377
00:25:01,418 --> 00:25:03,503
A ludicrous midget.
378
00:25:03,587 --> 00:25:07,382
Easy enough to talk of soul and spirit
and essential worth,
379
00:25:07,465 --> 00:25:09,593
but not when you're three feet tall.
380
00:25:10,343 --> 00:25:13,346
I loathed myself, our home,
381
00:25:13,430 --> 00:25:15,974
the caricature my life with Lou
had become.
382
00:25:16,933 --> 00:25:18,393
I had to get out.
383
00:25:19,603 --> 00:25:21,104
I had to get away.
384
00:25:24,858 --> 00:25:28,778
For the first time since it happened,
I ran into the night, alone.
385
00:25:38,038 --> 00:25:40,248
Hurry, hurry, hurry!
386
00:25:40,332 --> 00:25:43,501
Here it is, folks.
The greatest show on the midway.
387
00:25:43,585 --> 00:25:47,505
Come on in and see
all the freaks and curiosities.
388
00:25:47,589 --> 00:25:50,133
See Dolly Dumpling, the Fat Lady.
389
00:25:50,217 --> 00:25:52,886
She weighs 840 pounds.
390
00:25:52,969 --> 00:25:55,472
When she sits down, she shakes and quivers
391
00:25:55,555 --> 00:25:59,309
like a bowl of jelly
on a cold and frosty morning.
392
00:25:59,392 --> 00:26:02,979
See Flamo! Flamo, the Fire Eater!
393
00:26:03,063 --> 00:26:08,318
Here is one of the greatest attractions
you will ever see in your born days!
394
00:26:08,401 --> 00:26:12,572
You will remember these sights
for the rest of your natural life!
395
00:26:12,656 --> 00:26:14,324
Time for the big show!
396
00:26:14,407 --> 00:26:18,036
I would like you to meet a few
of the exhibits here on the platform.
397
00:26:18,119 --> 00:26:21,539
First we have Tiny Tina.
398
00:26:21,623 --> 00:26:23,166
Here she is...
399
00:26:23,250 --> 00:26:27,087
36 and a half inches
of feminine pulchritude!
400
00:26:27,170 --> 00:26:32,175
You'll see freaks and curiosities
assembled from every part of the globe.
401
00:26:32,259 --> 00:26:36,638
The most unusual apparitions
assembled under this tent,
402
00:26:36,721 --> 00:26:39,766
contrived by a tricky Mother Nature.
403
00:26:39,849 --> 00:26:42,352
Here they are in all their glory!
404
00:26:42,435 --> 00:26:45,981
This exhibit is not only entertaining...
405
00:26:49,234 --> 00:26:52,570
Hurry, hurry, hurry! Here it is, folks.
406
00:26:52,654 --> 00:26:54,656
The greatest show on the midway.
407
00:26:54,739 --> 00:26:58,827
Come on in and see
all the freaks and curiosities.
408
00:26:58,910 --> 00:27:01,371
See Dolly Dumpling, the Fat Lady.
409
00:27:01,454 --> 00:27:04,207
She weighs 840 pounds.
410
00:27:04,291 --> 00:27:06,710
When she sits down, she shakes and quivers
411
00:27:06,793 --> 00:27:10,588
like a bowl of jelly
on a cold and frosty morning.
412
00:27:10,672 --> 00:27:13,383
See Flamo! Flamo...
413
00:27:20,265 --> 00:27:21,349
Hello.
414
00:27:23,435 --> 00:27:25,103
Mind if I sit down?
415
00:27:26,521 --> 00:27:28,106
No, please do.
416
00:27:34,070 --> 00:27:36,197
- Don't be late, Clarice.
- I won't.
417
00:27:36,281 --> 00:27:38,158
- Hi.
- Hi.
418
00:27:38,825 --> 00:27:39,826
Pass me the sugar, huh?
419
00:27:41,161 --> 00:27:42,245
Oh, sure.
420
00:27:44,622 --> 00:27:47,375
I haven't seen you here before.
You come in with the carnival?
421
00:27:48,043 --> 00:27:50,128
Oh, no, I — No.
422
00:27:50,879 --> 00:27:53,006
- Just visiting then, huh?
- Yeah.
423
00:27:56,760 --> 00:27:58,011
I'm Clarice Bruce.
424
00:27:59,012 --> 00:28:01,014
My name's Scott Carey.
425
00:28:01,097 --> 00:28:02,599
Hi, Scott.
426
00:28:06,561 --> 00:28:08,188
Scott Carey?
427
00:28:09,439 --> 00:28:12,108
Look, look, I-I'm sorry.
Maybe you don't want any company.
428
00:28:12,192 --> 00:28:14,944
No, don't go. I want you to stay.
429
00:28:15,904 --> 00:28:17,238
Talk to me.
430
00:28:19,491 --> 00:28:20,492
All right.
431
00:28:21,534 --> 00:28:24,371
How do you live with it, Miss Bruce?
What do you do?
432
00:28:24,954 --> 00:28:28,249
I was born a midget.
It's the way I grew up.
433
00:28:28,333 --> 00:28:31,127
I know what's happened to you
and, well, that's different.
434
00:28:31,211 --> 00:28:34,506
"Different." That's another way
of saying "alone," isn't it?
435
00:28:34,589 --> 00:28:36,174
But you're not alone now.
436
00:28:37,008 --> 00:28:39,761
Still, it must be hard
to forget the way things were.
437
00:28:40,470 --> 00:28:42,680
Yeah. I'd like to burn it out of my mind.
438
00:28:43,515 --> 00:28:46,226
Maybe the best way to begin
is to start thinking about the future.
439
00:28:46,309 --> 00:28:49,062
A future? In a world of giants?
440
00:28:49,729 --> 00:28:51,940
I've lived with them all my life.
441
00:28:52,023 --> 00:28:56,194
Oh, Scott, for people like you and me,
the world can be a wonderful place.
442
00:28:56,277 --> 00:28:59,489
The sky is as blue
as it is for the giants.
443
00:28:59,572 --> 00:29:01,658
The friends are as warm.
444
00:29:02,826 --> 00:29:04,160
I wish I could believe that.
445
00:29:04,244 --> 00:29:07,372
You've got to believe that, don't you?
446
00:29:08,164 --> 00:29:09,207
Yeah.
447
00:29:09,958 --> 00:29:12,794
Give me time, Clarice. I'll learn.
448
00:29:15,088 --> 00:29:16,840
Oh! I'll be late for my show.
449
00:29:16,923 --> 00:29:20,802
Look. C-Can I see you again?
450
00:29:20,885 --> 00:29:22,804
- If you like.
- I would.
451
00:29:23,930 --> 00:29:26,808
You know, Scott, you're taller than I am.
452
00:29:27,809 --> 00:29:28,977
May I?
453
00:29:32,355 --> 00:29:33,440
Thank you.
454
00:29:35,942 --> 00:29:38,403
That night I got a grip on life again.
455
00:29:38,486 --> 00:29:40,655
I went back to work on my book.
456
00:29:40,738 --> 00:29:42,615
It absorbed me completely.
457
00:29:43,741 --> 00:29:46,536
I was telling the world of my experience.
458
00:29:46,619 --> 00:29:48,288
And with the telling,
459
00:29:48,997 --> 00:29:50,498
it became easier.
460
00:29:58,715 --> 00:30:01,801
- I think it's just fine, Scott.
- Do you really think so?
461
00:30:01,885 --> 00:30:04,971
I'm not much of a writer.
Just trying to tell what it's like.
462
00:30:05,054 --> 00:30:06,824
Clarice, you don't know
what it's meant to me,
463
00:30:06,848 --> 00:30:09,267
meeting someone like you,
someone who understands.
464
00:30:09,350 --> 00:30:12,228
- But you're so much better now, Scott.
- Thanks to you.
465
00:30:12,312 --> 00:30:15,899
Aw, not to me. Yourself.
You just stopped running, that's all.
466
00:30:15,982 --> 00:30:19,444
All I know is, I can wake up
in the morning and want to live again.
467
00:30:19,527 --> 00:30:21,279
Actually want to live.
468
00:30:21,362 --> 00:30:22,780
It's a funny thing.
469
00:30:22,864 --> 00:30:25,867
Sometimes when I'm working, I begin
to think it's the world that's changed,
470
00:30:25,950 --> 00:30:27,202
that I'm the normal one.
471
00:30:27,285 --> 00:30:31,247
Well, that sounds like a good thing.
Everybody out of step but you and me.
472
00:30:32,624 --> 00:30:34,083
Come on, I'll buy you a drink.
473
00:30:34,167 --> 00:30:36,085
We can talk about another chapter...
474
00:30:37,587 --> 00:30:39,088
What is it, Scott?
475
00:30:40,548 --> 00:30:43,218
Two weeks ago I was taller than you.
476
00:30:43,301 --> 00:30:44,594
You said so yourself.
477
00:30:44,677 --> 00:30:47,222
- Yes, I remember, but —
- Well, can't you see?
478
00:30:47,305 --> 00:30:48,932
I'm shorter now.
479
00:30:49,015 --> 00:30:50,517
Oh, Scott.
480
00:30:50,600 --> 00:30:54,270
It's starting again. It's starting.
481
00:30:55,021 --> 00:30:56,606
It's starting again!
482
00:31:17,001 --> 00:31:18,169
Scott?
483
00:31:19,879 --> 00:31:21,005
Scott?
484
00:31:24,801 --> 00:31:26,219
Scott, are you in there?
485
00:31:27,220 --> 00:31:30,515
Do you have to make such a racket?
I told you what happens in there.
486
00:31:30,598 --> 00:31:33,935
I'm sorry, Scott. I — I try to be careful.
487
00:31:34,018 --> 00:31:36,396
Are you going out?
488
00:31:36,479 --> 00:31:38,565
Well, yes, for a little while.
489
00:31:38,648 --> 00:31:39,732
Where?
490
00:31:39,816 --> 00:31:42,944
- Just to the corner. To the store.
- You'll come right back?
491
00:31:43,027 --> 00:31:45,738
Well, of course I will.
492
00:31:45,822 --> 00:31:47,782
Now look, why don't you try
to get some rest.
493
00:31:47,865 --> 00:31:50,159
You know Dr. Silver wants
to see you again tomorrow.
494
00:31:50,243 --> 00:31:53,413
All right. Go ahead.
Be sure the doors are locked.
495
00:32:28,489 --> 00:32:30,116
Every day it was worse.
496
00:32:31,159 --> 00:32:32,994
Every day a little smaller.
497
00:32:34,037 --> 00:32:36,456
And every day I became more tyrannical,
498
00:32:36,539 --> 00:32:39,334
more monstrous in my domination of Louise.
499
00:32:40,043 --> 00:32:42,712
Heaven knows how she lived
through those weeks.
500
00:32:44,130 --> 00:32:46,382
Only I had the power to release her,
501
00:32:47,425 --> 00:32:51,137
if I could find the courage
to end my wretched existence.
502
00:32:53,222 --> 00:32:56,809
"But each day I thought,
" Perhaps tomorrow.
503
00:32:57,852 --> 00:32:59,646
Tomorrow the doctors will save me."
504
00:36:35,111 --> 00:36:36,195
Scott!
505
00:36:56,841 --> 00:36:59,093
No. No.
506
00:36:59,886 --> 00:37:01,012
No.
507
00:37:03,139 --> 00:37:04,682
Oh, Scott.
508
00:37:05,892 --> 00:37:07,184
Scott.
509
00:37:12,064 --> 00:37:14,567
Drew deafening applause
when he announced that,
510
00:37:14,650 --> 00:37:17,236
if elected,
he will do everything in his power
511
00:37:17,320 --> 00:37:18,988
to reduce taxes.
512
00:37:19,822 --> 00:37:22,867
From Los Angeles today, a tragic story...
513
00:37:22,950 --> 00:37:25,661
The passing of Robert Scott Carey.
514
00:37:25,745 --> 00:37:28,331
The report of the death
of the so-called Shrinking Man
515
00:37:28,414 --> 00:37:30,041
comes from his brother.
516
00:37:30,124 --> 00:37:34,128
Carey's death was the result of an attack
by a common house cat,
517
00:37:34,211 --> 00:37:36,130
a former pet in the Carey home.
518
00:37:37,048 --> 00:37:39,884
Carey was the victim
of the most fantastic ailment
519
00:37:39,967 --> 00:37:41,677
in the annals of medicine.
520
00:37:42,386 --> 00:37:46,223
Thus ends the life of a man
whose courage and will to survive
521
00:37:46,307 --> 00:37:48,726
lasted until the very end,
522
00:37:48,809 --> 00:37:51,145
a man whose fantastic story
523
00:37:51,228 --> 00:37:55,274
was known to virtually every man,
woman and child in the civilized world.
524
00:37:55,358 --> 00:37:56,567
- Mr. Carey.
- Yes?
525
00:37:56,651 --> 00:37:58,152
Now for the sports —
526
00:37:58,819 --> 00:38:00,863
You may go up now. She wants to see you.
527
00:38:00,947 --> 00:38:02,698
- Is she all right?
- Barely resting.
528
00:38:02,782 --> 00:38:05,534
The doctor gave her a heavy sedative,
but it's hardly working at all.
529
00:38:05,618 --> 00:38:06,702
I see.
530
00:38:06,786 --> 00:38:09,246
I'll get that prescription filled.
I'll be back in a minute.
531
00:38:09,330 --> 00:38:10,331
Fine.
532
00:38:30,893 --> 00:38:32,812
My return to consciousness
533
00:38:32,895 --> 00:38:35,356
was a plunge into a new level of pain.
534
00:38:36,107 --> 00:38:38,776
I realized I had fallen into a box.
535
00:38:39,902 --> 00:38:43,072
Its walls enclosed me
like some gigantic pit.
536
00:38:51,956 --> 00:38:54,458
I had to escape out of the box.
537
00:38:54,542 --> 00:38:57,420
Somehow I had to reach Louise to survive.
538
00:40:06,363 --> 00:40:10,117
The stairs stretched above me
as far as I could see,
539
00:40:10,201 --> 00:40:13,204
cliff rising upon cliff.
540
00:40:13,287 --> 00:40:15,623
I knew I could never scale them.
541
00:40:16,457 --> 00:40:19,251
Louise!
542
00:40:19,335 --> 00:40:20,419
Louise!
543
00:40:21,420 --> 00:40:23,589
The cellar! Look in the cellar!
544
00:40:24,882 --> 00:40:28,010
Louise, please look for me! Louise!
545
00:40:31,138 --> 00:40:34,350
Eventually, Louise would
come to the cellar.
546
00:40:34,433 --> 00:40:36,519
Until then, I had to keep myself alive
547
00:40:36,602 --> 00:40:40,648
with whatever resources
I could discover in my basement universe
548
00:40:40,731 --> 00:40:41,982
and in myself.
549
00:41:30,489 --> 00:41:34,326
The cellar floor stretched before me
like some vast, primeval plain —
550
00:41:34,410 --> 00:41:35,786
Empty of life,
551
00:41:35,870 --> 00:41:38,372
littered with the relics
of a vanished race.
552
00:41:38,455 --> 00:41:41,750
No desert island castaway
ever faced so bleak a prospect.
553
00:42:12,364 --> 00:42:14,992
I had discovered a water supply
554
00:42:15,075 --> 00:42:16,911
and even a dwelling place.
555
00:42:19,079 --> 00:42:21,665
Now the search for food.
556
00:42:24,460 --> 00:42:26,003
I knew my ill-fitting clothes
557
00:42:26,086 --> 00:42:29,006
were unsuited to the exertions
that lay before me.
558
00:42:54,907 --> 00:42:57,868
You can't stay here, Louise. Not now.
559
00:42:57,952 --> 00:43:00,579
I-I don't know, Charlie.
I don't know what I want to do.
560
00:43:00,663 --> 00:43:02,414
Lou, let me help you.
561
00:43:02,498 --> 00:43:04,500
You can stay with us,
but just get out of here.
562
00:43:04,583 --> 00:43:06,627
If I could just be sure.
563
00:43:07,461 --> 00:43:10,297
Charlie, maybe he's hurt some place.
Maybe he's lost.
564
00:43:10,381 --> 00:43:12,216
We've looked everywhere. He's dead.
565
00:43:13,133 --> 00:43:16,303
I'm his own brother. I wouldn't say
a thing like that if I wasn't sure.
566
00:43:16,387 --> 00:43:18,389
- You saw the cat.
- All right. All right.
567
00:43:19,932 --> 00:43:24,103
Charlie, have you thought
how horrible it must have been?
568
00:43:25,980 --> 00:43:29,400
I just keep thinking that he needed me
and I wasn't there.
569
00:43:30,609 --> 00:43:32,486
- I wasn't there.
- Louise.
570
00:43:32,569 --> 00:43:34,863
You've got to get it out of your mind.
571
00:43:36,115 --> 00:43:38,158
I'll never get it out of my mind.
572
00:43:39,410 --> 00:43:41,495
I'll talk to the real estate people.
573
00:43:47,334 --> 00:43:50,754
I never doubted
that sometime Louise would come.
574
00:43:50,838 --> 00:43:53,090
I couldn't allow myself to doubt.
575
00:43:53,841 --> 00:43:55,551
I had only to exist,
576
00:43:56,385 --> 00:43:58,637
to search out enough food to sustain me.
577
00:43:59,513 --> 00:44:01,682
I was driven by hunger,
578
00:44:01,765 --> 00:44:04,560
and also by the horrible thought
that without nourishment
579
00:44:04,643 --> 00:44:06,770
the shrinking process was quickening.
580
00:53:29,499 --> 00:53:31,751
I was weak and faint.
581
00:53:32,752 --> 00:53:35,881
Yet I knew in order to exist, I must eat.
582
00:53:37,215 --> 00:53:39,926
The food was still
a long climb ahead of me.
583
00:53:52,689 --> 00:53:55,984
But now, stretching endlessly before me,
584
00:53:56,067 --> 00:53:57,903
I found a deep abyss.
585
00:53:59,112 --> 00:54:02,198
It was only a box and the space between,
586
00:54:02,282 --> 00:54:07,037
yet to me it was the Grand Canyon
and the Mammoth Caves combined —
587
00:54:07,120 --> 00:54:09,372
Deep, dark,
588
00:54:09,456 --> 00:54:11,499
mysterious and dangerous.
589
00:54:13,418 --> 00:54:15,712
There was no possible way to cross.
590
00:54:16,713 --> 00:54:18,798
No matter how inventive,
591
00:54:18,882 --> 00:54:21,009
how resourceful I thought myself,
592
00:54:22,052 --> 00:54:24,679
this time, in sight of my goal,
593
00:54:24,763 --> 00:54:27,182
it seemed as if I must meet defeat.
594
00:54:34,272 --> 00:54:36,441
Suddenly, I saw an opportunity,
595
00:54:37,400 --> 00:54:40,487
if I could move the stick
to the other side.
596
00:54:41,863 --> 00:54:43,323
I cursed myself.
597
00:54:44,074 --> 00:54:47,077
If only I were a little bigger,
a little stronger.
598
00:54:53,792 --> 00:54:57,003
I realized there was just this one chance,
599
00:54:57,087 --> 00:54:58,755
and I had no choice.
600
00:54:58,838 --> 00:55:00,507
I had to take it.
601
00:55:01,675 --> 00:55:03,843
If I could leap from the paint stick
602
00:55:03,927 --> 00:55:05,512
and reach the other side —
603
00:55:06,554 --> 00:55:08,598
But there was no time to think,
604
00:55:08,682 --> 00:55:09,933
only to act.
605
00:59:25,897 --> 00:59:27,232
My prison.
606
00:59:28,191 --> 00:59:30,235
Almost as far as I could see,
607
00:59:30,318 --> 00:59:32,820
a gray, friendless area
608
00:59:32,904 --> 00:59:34,822
of space and time.
609
00:59:37,325 --> 00:59:38,993
And I resolved
610
00:59:39,077 --> 00:59:42,330
that as man had dominated
the world of the sun,
611
00:59:42,413 --> 00:59:44,874
so I would dominate my world.
612
01:02:34,335 --> 01:02:36,379
In my hunt for food,
613
01:02:36,462 --> 01:02:38,256
I had become the hunted.
614
01:02:39,757 --> 01:02:41,592
This time I survived.
615
01:02:42,677 --> 01:02:45,304
But I was no longer alone in my universe.
616
01:02:46,264 --> 01:02:47,682
I had an enemy —
617
01:02:48,641 --> 01:02:51,936
The most terrifying
ever beheld by human eyes.
618
01:02:57,984 --> 01:03:02,155
Charlie, there's a small trunk that I'd
like to take with me, if you don't mind.
619
01:03:02,238 --> 01:03:03,948
It's in the basement. I'll show you where.
620
01:03:04,031 --> 01:03:05,951
All right.
I'd better put these in the car first.
621
01:03:06,033 --> 01:03:07,285
Oh, all right.
622
01:04:40,795 --> 01:04:42,296
Oh, no. It's flooded.
623
01:04:43,130 --> 01:04:45,883
It's the water heater.
I'd better have a look.
624
01:04:47,885 --> 01:04:49,470
Oh, this is terrible.
625
01:04:50,429 --> 01:04:51,847
I'll turn the water off.
626
01:04:51,931 --> 01:04:54,809
Louise, listen to me! Please!
627
01:04:54,892 --> 01:04:58,312
Charlie! Charlie, I'm here!
628
01:04:59,313 --> 01:05:00,815
Charlie! Louise!
629
01:05:02,692 --> 01:05:05,695
The water! Here in the water!
630
01:05:05,778 --> 01:05:06,779
Charlie!
631
01:05:11,867 --> 01:05:13,911
I smell gas. Is that pilot off?
632
01:05:13,995 --> 01:05:15,580
I'll turn it off.
633
01:05:15,663 --> 01:05:17,582
Louise! Listen to me! Please!
634
01:05:19,667 --> 01:05:23,588
Louise! Hear me, please! Please!
635
01:05:25,172 --> 01:05:26,173
Can you fix it?
636
01:05:26,841 --> 01:05:29,510
There. I'll get a plumber
down here tomorrow.
637
01:05:33,306 --> 01:05:34,515
Charlie!
638
01:05:39,020 --> 01:05:41,480
- Where's your drain?
- Well, it's right about there.
639
01:05:41,564 --> 01:05:42,565
It must be clogged.
640
01:05:42,648 --> 01:05:44,066
Charlie, look for me!
641
01:06:15,765 --> 01:06:18,017
- Is that the trunk, Louise?
- Oh, yes, Charlie.
642
01:06:18,100 --> 01:06:20,936
But don't bother about it.
It's so wet. I'll pick it up later.
643
01:06:21,020 --> 01:06:22,396
Oh, it's okay.
644
01:06:22,480 --> 01:06:24,815
I want you packed
and out of this house tonight.
645
01:07:01,477 --> 01:07:03,270
Is that everything, Louise?
646
01:07:03,354 --> 01:07:05,815
Yes, that's everything.
647
01:09:09,480 --> 01:09:11,023
I still had my weapons.
648
01:09:11,899 --> 01:09:14,819
With these bits of metal,
I was a man again.
649
01:09:14,902 --> 01:09:17,446
If I was to die,
it would not be as a helpless insect
650
01:09:17,530 --> 01:09:19,782
in the jaws of the spider monster.
651
01:09:21,742 --> 01:09:23,911
A strange calm possessed me.
652
01:09:25,246 --> 01:09:28,791
I thought more clearly
than I had ever thought before,
653
01:09:29,875 --> 01:09:32,753
as if my mind were bathed
in a brilliant light.
654
01:09:34,380 --> 01:09:37,633
I recognized that part of my illness
was rooted in hunger,
655
01:09:38,759 --> 01:09:41,637
and I remembered the food on the shelf—
656
01:09:41,720 --> 01:09:44,181
The cake threaded with the spider web.
657
01:09:45,266 --> 01:09:47,810
I no longer felt hatred for the spider.
658
01:09:48,561 --> 01:09:51,730
Like myself, it struggled blindly
for the means to live.
659
01:09:53,357 --> 01:09:56,527
If I was to fight it,
if I was to win the food,
660
01:09:56,610 --> 01:09:59,488
then it must be now,
while strength remained,
661
01:09:59,572 --> 01:10:02,616
while I was still of sufficient size
to scale the wall.
662
01:10:04,034 --> 01:10:06,579
It was not decision
that drove me to the crate,
663
01:10:06,662 --> 01:10:09,874
but reflex,
as instinctive as the spider's.
664
01:10:13,043 --> 01:10:16,380
My legs trembled, not with fear,
665
01:10:16,463 --> 01:10:17,715
but weakness.
666
01:10:19,133 --> 01:10:22,553
Yet somehow I felt within myself
a new source of power,
667
01:10:23,470 --> 01:10:27,141
a giant strength
urging me to the death struggle.
668
01:11:19,318 --> 01:11:20,736
My enemy seemed immortal.
669
01:11:21,403 --> 01:11:23,280
More than a spider,
670
01:11:23,364 --> 01:11:26,116
it was every unknown terror in the world,
671
01:11:26,200 --> 01:11:30,037
every fear fused
into one hideous, night-black horror.
672
01:11:32,915 --> 01:11:35,084
Still, whatever else had happened,
673
01:11:35,167 --> 01:11:37,711
my brain was a man's brain,
674
01:11:37,795 --> 01:11:40,673
my intelligence
still a man's intelligence.
675
01:11:41,966 --> 01:11:43,509
An idea came to me.
676
01:11:44,510 --> 01:11:45,803
The scissors.
677
01:11:46,595 --> 01:11:50,683
Too heavy for me to employ as a weapon,
they might have another use.
678
01:11:51,475 --> 01:11:54,019
If I could impale the monster
with my hook,
679
01:11:54,103 --> 01:11:56,063
fastened by a line to the scissors,
680
01:11:56,146 --> 01:11:59,191
then push the scissors off the ledge...
681
01:12:03,570 --> 01:12:07,199
Whatever the risk, it was worth a try.
682
01:12:31,306 --> 01:12:34,893
I knew sooner or later
it would come charging down that web,
683
01:12:34,977 --> 01:12:37,187
skimming out blackly toward me.
684
01:12:38,105 --> 01:12:39,732
One of us had to die.
685
01:13:19,688 --> 01:13:20,939
Come on down!
686
01:13:23,317 --> 01:13:26,153
Come on, you devil!
I'm waiting for you! Come on!
687
01:16:28,043 --> 01:16:30,128
This was the prize I had won.
688
01:16:31,922 --> 01:16:34,925
I approached it in an ecstasy of elation.
689
01:16:36,260 --> 01:16:37,636
I had conquered.
690
01:16:39,179 --> 01:16:40,514
I lived.
691
01:17:15,007 --> 01:17:18,635
But even as I touched the dry,
flaking crumbs of nourishment,
692
01:17:19,678 --> 01:17:22,472
it was as if my body had ceased to exist.
693
01:17:23,640 --> 01:17:25,392
There was no hunger.
694
01:17:26,143 --> 01:17:28,770
No longer the terrible fear of shrinking.
695
01:17:40,198 --> 01:17:42,743
Again I had the sensation of instinct,
696
01:17:43,618 --> 01:17:45,579
of each movement, each thought
697
01:17:45,662 --> 01:17:48,665
tuned to some great directing force.
698
01:18:12,773 --> 01:18:14,733
I was continuing to shrink.
699
01:18:15,776 --> 01:18:17,819
To become... what?
700
01:18:18,779 --> 01:18:20,364
The infinitesimal?
701
01:18:22,032 --> 01:18:23,283
What was I?
702
01:18:24,701 --> 01:18:26,203
Still a human being?
703
01:18:27,496 --> 01:18:30,499
Or was I the man of the future?
704
01:18:42,427 --> 01:18:45,639
If there were other bursts of radiation,
705
01:18:45,722 --> 01:18:49,101
other clouds drifting
across seas and continents,
706
01:18:50,268 --> 01:18:53,605
would other beings follow me
into this vast new world?
707
01:18:55,273 --> 01:18:59,694
So close,
the infinitesimal and the infinite.
708
01:19:01,613 --> 01:19:04,658
But suddenly I knew
they were really the two ends
709
01:19:04,741 --> 01:19:06,493
of the same concept.
710
01:19:07,744 --> 01:19:10,956
The unbelievably small
and the unbelievably vast
711
01:19:11,039 --> 01:19:12,541
eventually meet,
712
01:19:13,333 --> 01:19:16,002
like the closing of a gigantic circle.
713
01:19:18,588 --> 01:19:19,923
I looked up,
714
01:19:21,299 --> 01:19:23,427
as if somehow I would grasp the heavens.
715
01:19:25,178 --> 01:19:28,432
The universe — worlds beyond number.
716
01:19:28,515 --> 01:19:31,643
God's silver tapestry
spread across the night.
717
01:19:33,979 --> 01:19:37,649
And in that moment, I knew the answer
to the riddle of the infinite.
718
01:19:39,109 --> 01:19:42,737
I had thought in terms
of man's own limited dimension.
719
01:19:43,947 --> 01:19:46,074
I had presumed upon nature.
720
01:19:46,992 --> 01:19:49,244
That existence begins and ends
721
01:19:50,078 --> 01:19:53,248
is man's conception, not nature's.
722
01:19:54,291 --> 01:19:56,543
And I felt my body dwindling...
723
01:19:57,669 --> 01:19:58,795
melting...
724
01:19:59,796 --> 01:20:01,506
becoming nothing.
725
01:20:02,382 --> 01:20:04,468
My fears melted away,
726
01:20:04,551 --> 01:20:07,804
and in their place came acceptance.
727
01:20:08,930 --> 01:20:13,643
All this vast majesty of creation,
it had to mean something.
728
01:20:14,686 --> 01:20:16,730
And then I meant something too.
729
01:20:17,898 --> 01:20:20,609
Yes, smaller than the smallest,
730
01:20:20,692 --> 01:20:22,611
I meant something too.
731
01:20:24,070 --> 01:20:26,656
To God, there is no zero.
732
01:20:27,949 --> 01:20:29,743
I still exist.