Dr. Phibes Rises Again! (Dr. Phibes Rises Again)

The incredible legends of the abominable Dr Phibes

began a few short years ago. All them are, unfortunately, true.

It was here, in London's fashionable Maldine Square,

whence Phibes ventured out to work his diabolical revenge

against those responsible for the death of his beloved wife Victoria

and the destruction of his own face,

making it necessary to talk through an ingenious mechanism in his neck.

My wife existed only six minutes on the operating table.

You murdered her.

When the acid reaches him, he will have a face like mine.

The minds of Scotland Yard were baffled as the murders continued,

each more fiendish than the last.

And in his basement of his mansion,

none could hear his flamboyant songs of triumph and revenge,

played on his organ and by his ingenious clockwork musicians.

We have got to find Phibes.

Only by a stroke of amazing luck did the police seek out Maldine Square.

But the fiendish Dr Phibes was prepared for such an emergency,

and, building his face anew,

he entered the crypt, where he had enshrined his beloved wife,

incredibly maintained neither alive nor completely dead.

And there Phibes placed himself in suspended life, like her,

until it would be time for Phibes to rise again.

It's as if he disappeared off the face of the earth.

Phibes lay in darkness three years, until the moon,

coming into proper conjunction with the eternal planets,

shone upon the golden moon of the crypt, pulsing with a fantastic life of its own.

Lifeblood then flowed back into Phibes,

great wheels and motors sprung into motion,

and Dr Phibes once more walked upon the Earth.

Victoria, for three years I have rested beside you.

Tonight, the glorious moon has risen to the exact position

which last occurred 2,000 years ago,

signalling the opening of this crypt

and the beginning of our greatest adventure.

We shall embark to the land of Egypt,

where, years ago, in a mountain overlooking the Valley of the Pharaohs,

I did prepare for us a wondrous shrine

unknown by any living man.

There, my beloved, awaits the key to resurrection for you

and eternal life for both of us.

And, once again, I call on you, Vulnavia.

Come one more time, my trusted aide.

Join me and my beloved,

for we have work to do to bring her back to life.

Thank you, my dear, for answering my call.

Upstairs, in my safe, is a most precious map of papyrus,

the way to a Pharaoh's tomb,

beneath which flows each 2,000 years the River of Life.

We must make haste and find the river at its flood.

Let us go upstairs and prepare for our journey.

No! No!

While I slept in sweet oblivion,

who dared destroy my house?!

The safe.

The safe!

Could it still be here?

There!

What fiend has taken it?!

Only one who seeks eternal life as I do. Biederbeck!

The papyrus. And yet, paradoxically, worthless.

Yes, Ambrose, worthless.

For without my interpretation of the translation it has no value or significance.

Three years it took me to come upon this grand and final realisation.

It was the one... the one piece I had searched for my whole life.

May I, Biederbeck?

Ah.

So this is the papyrus that I've read so much about.

I've made no secret of it.

When they demolished a house in Maldine Square,

it came into the hands of a dealer who contacted me, knowing of my interest.

This seems to be almost a matter of life and death to you.

You're a strange man.

Acclaimed as one of the most brilliant minds in the Western hemisphere,

- yet you seem obsessed with... - Yes?

The spiritual, the mythical aspect of life.

Of course I'm obsessed with life.

And somewhere in Egypt that obsession will be answered.

This... This is all hypothesis.

Five years ago I toured the whole area.

Indeed, Ambrose.

And nothing.

I remember looking down upon the whole valley.

That, my friend, was your greatest mistake.

You looked down. Did it never occur to you to look up?

- The sky? - Exactly.

That's where the answer lies.

The stars.

The moon.

The sky is the key.

While you look down, I look up. The rings of Saturn, when were they discovered?

- Beginning of the 18th century. - Exactly.

And yet, look here.

See? Plainly marked.

And that map is 5,000 years old.

And this.

Only a fragment, but what significance!

It's a page from the log of a Phoenician ship. Notice the positioning of the stars.

A chart more sophisticated than anything we allowed for in our calculations.

And, finally, this. The Temple of Ibiscus.

- That's where we're going. - What do you hope to find?

If there's treasure, gold, it's yours. I'm seeking something more.

- What more do you want? - I like to think he wants me.

I can tell by your face, you've forgotten. We're dining with Princess Rica.

I'm sorry. I'll go up and change. Make Ambrose a drink, will you?

- When are you two going to? - Get married? You'd better ask Darius.

Perhaps after this trip.

Sometimes it's like... as if he's going to Egypt for my benefit.

Every day he grows more preoccupied with something. I wish I knew what it was.

Oh, Ambrose, I don't want to go!

- But I thought you wanted to go. - No, I wasn't talking about tonight.

Well, are we ready?

Here we go, then.

Huh! Come along, my dear.

At least the meal should be interesting.

We should get a good claret, anyhow.

Darius, we can't keep the princess waiting. Blue blood, you know.

So, once more I have been forced to kill for you, Victoria,

only that you may live again.

For here, where mystic lines converge,

we'll find the door that separates the living from the dead!

I see.

Has he any known relatives in this country, sir?

It would seem most unlikely.

May I ask how long has he been in your employment?

- That is academic. The papy... - That may be...

Don't interrupt me! It damned well is so.

The papyrus is missing, and that's all I'm concerned about. Not this postmortem.

Now let's get our priorities right. A man has been senselessly killed, murdered.

All right, so he has. But I have been senselessly robbed.

Curious as that may seem, the latter is all that I care about. Do you understand?

Find the papyrus, and that will lead you to the killer. But find the papyrus first.

You have 24 hours.

Now, this papyrus, who exactly would know that it was in your possession?

Any interested party. I made no secret of its purchase.

But it would interest only a few scholars... all, I assure you, above suspicion.

No, Trout, what you are looking for is a common thief who was surprised.

A man who pierces the skull of another man with a golden snake?

That's not a common thief, sir. With respect.

- With respect, what are you suggesting? - That it was a calculated act.

By a man who knows the true value of the papyrus?

Yes, sir.

No force in all the world can stop us now.

For in a mountain range where Pharaohs once reside,

a palace I have built beneath the stone.

And there we'll wait until the great appointed tide reveals a secret door,

through which we'll find new life.

And now, bon voyage to all of us.

With you, Victoria, safe in your sealed abode, we drive to Southampton.

Then Channel, then the open sea.

Come, Vulnavia, we sail!

Ah, sweet Victoria, what happy times of years ago I think of now.

It won't be long, my love, before we've reached our goal.

And moving, breathing, you in my arms again and I in yours.

In Egypt I shall find the key,

the key to the elixir of life.

June 1st. At sea, bound for Egypt.

I'm taking three drops of my elixir of life.

The vials are almost empty.

If I fail in Egypt, I am doomed.

"Awaken, O sick one! Thou has slept."

"They have lifted thine head toward the horizon. Appear!"

"Thou art justified against those that sought to do thee harm."

One of my favourite passages from The Book of the Dead.

All relating to the divine incarnation and the phenomenon of rebirth.

Singularly appropriate, Ambrose.

Our voyage has now begun, Vulnavia.

Though brief, the time aboard this ship will seem too long, I know,

so eager are we to arrive in Egypt

and complete the preparations I began long years ago.

Here, in the mountain marked on this papyrus,

beyond corridors which led once to a Pharaoh's hidden tomb,

awaits the key to resurrection and to life.

I shall decipher it!

Nothing, nothing will stop me now!

I must tell Victoria, hidden safe below away from curious eyes.

We have but three short weeks until that glorious day.

How would you pinpoint the most important part of the globe?

Rocks erode and fall.

Sand changes daily, hourly.

Rivers flood, twist, form new courses.

Topographically, the world is in a perpetual flux. But the sky...

The sky remains the one constant factor.

What are all these theories of yours leading up to?

They're not my theories alone.

Ancient civilisations knew about this, capitalised on it.

To what end?

The return of the life force, Ambrose.

As I say, they're not my theories. They're 3,000 years old.

Let me show you another aspect of this. Where's that model of the mountain?

- In the hold. - Then I'll tell you tomorrow.

But, Biederbeck, I won't be able to sleep. I must know, tonight.

I'll get it. Have you discussed this with anybody else?

Of course not.

And, Ambrose, I forbid you to tell anyone of this conversation.

Probably one of these. Let's see now.

No. No, that's not it.

Huh!

Not quite the kind of model I'm looking for.

It might just be stored in here, sir.