Letter of Credit story

ahp5x36 · 1960-06-19

Henry Taylor visits Kirkland Bank to question its president, William Spengler. Three years ago a bank employee, Arnold Mathias, was convicted of stealing money from the bank, and Arnold recently died in a prison escape attempt, though his cellmate made it out. Henry questions William aggressively, believing that Arnold was framed and that William stole the money. William, believing that Henry is Arnold's escaped cellmate, tries to make a deal with him, but Henry is actually the police officer who killed Arnold and is trying to make amends by arresting the true culprit. Directed by: Paul Henreid. Story by: Helen Nielsen.

13 total · 1 choice · 4 major · 8 minor

Theme	Level	Motivation
how to commit a crime and get away with it	choice	The story was about uncovering William Spengler's elaborate ruse to steal $200,000 from the bank he was president of and pin the crime on his underling.
coping with having injured someone	major	Henry's motivation in this drama was to atone for having shot an innocent man by clearing that man's name.
the desire for justice	major	Henry went out of his way to uncover William Spengler's scheme to steal $200,000 and frame Arnold.
the desire for redemption	major	Henry felt guilty about having shot dead the innocent Arnold Mathias and sought to redeem himself by clearing Arnold's name.
theft	major	The plot turned on the theft of $200,000 from a bank branch.
blackmail	minor	William mistakenly assumed that Henry was angling at blackmailing him.
coping with the death of a spouse	minor	William spoke of how his wife had passed away suddenly from a heart attack.
father-in-law and son-in-law	minor	The bank president William Spengler contended with his meddlesome father-in-law, the bank's founder Josiah Wingate.
kindness	minor	It was revealed that the former bank president Josiah Wingate had hired a juvenile delinquent out of the goodness of his own heart.
law enforcement	minor	The police officer Henry Taylor was surreptitiously investigating his theory that the bank president William Spengler had stolen the $200,000 from the bank vault and framed an employee for the crime. However, his being a law enforcement officer was only revealed at the very end.