The Power and the Prize (1956) Movie Script

Good afternoon, sir.
Amalgamated World Metals.
Good afternoon.
Amalgamated World Metals.
Mr Barton's office.
Hello, Mrs Everett.
Can I have Mr Everett call you? He's in
there, but Mr Barton is on the phone.
You only get married once, Joanie.
Well, I hope you only get married once.
"Cliff, how far is this
hydro site from the mine?"
It's 28 miles the way
we take the power line.
You have a map there, Mr Salt. Consider
the copper reserves to the north west.
Cliff?
Yes. I'm still here.
Oh, you should see me now.
I'm really the most gorgeous armful.
Was that uncle George?
Right. That British deal. He's with Guy
Eliot watching some West Africa film.
"Hey, Cliff."
Is this an earth-filled dam or masonry?
"Earth."
Where do we get the earth?
"There must be a hill that doesn't
show right behind the camera."
"It's on the survey map. They
pointed the camera the wrong way."
Eliot, what is it about
the British at Singapore?
They pointed the guns
in the wrong direction.
Cliff, that water is muddy.
Do we have a silting problem?
Mr Salt, will you stop
lousing up my phone call.
I'm trying to negotiate a marriage.
"It's your own niece. Do you
want me to lose the deal?"
"No. The silting problem isn't too bad."
"Lester Everett has some notions.
You want to talk to him?"
Not if he's thought about it.
Get yourself married.
Your father is expecting you
to pick him up at seven.
Mr Everett's wife needs to reach him.
- I'll tell him.
Joanie, you still there?
You should see me now.
It gets better and better.
How can you wait?
What?
You can say that.
You can't truly be interested in someone
you have known since she was twelve.
There's a few things about you Joanie
you didn't have when you were twelve.
How long do you think it will take them?
Just a minute.
Maybe I'd better go and hold Chutwell's
hand before he jumps out the window.
Boy, do these English have
some special neuroses.
Your wife has been trying to reach you.
That reminds me. I want some advice.
Guy Eliot has offered us that
lodge of his up in Maine.
Cliff, you know that lodge
of his. It's like a...
Like a branch of the
Founders Trust company.
You know how it is. Guy Eliot is not
only the head of the Founders Trust.
He's the real power on
our board of directors.
It's why your uncle is clearing this
deal with him, before we get in deeper.
"Can I see you in my office, Cliff?"
Yeah. Right away. D-Day, honey.
Got to get on to the big deal.
We held up progress long enough.
I'll talk to you later, huh? Bye-bye.
Hello, Mr Barton.
How did we do?
- Great, great.
I knew everything was going to be
alright before we went in there.
Guy Eliot offers you
and Joanie his lodge.
You're going to use it, aren't you?
- Sure. Joanie is crazy about it.
Well, you'll never have
any trouble with Joanie.
There's a girl that knows what's what.
Lester.
Gentlemen, be seated.
With Charlie Frost here,
somebody needs airplane tickets.
Well somebody does.
Malaria pills?
Not yet.
It's time now we all got together
on this West African project.
Some of you are acquainted
with only certain phases of it.
Since it's largely our vice-chairman's
baby I'll let Cliff take over.
Briefly, the background is this.
You have all heard of Carew Limited.
An old British metals house.
They've had a large minerals concession
in West Africa for half a century.
Nickel and copper chiefly.
The reserves are proven but
they couldn't exploit them.
Mostly, lack of fuel.
But all that's changed.
Perhaps.
Carew's engineering division under the
direction of a man named Chutwell...
Has perfected a coal smelting process.
It is revolutionary.
It could change all
smelting processes someday.
And in Lester's opinion
and mine, it will work.
Is it the decision that we want in?
Well, if the process works as
well at the London pilot plant...
As it does on paper in
Lester's office, yes.
Cliff, how much do they want?
- Forty million, working capital.
Lester is flying to London
no later than tomorrow.
He'll inspect the pilot
plant and operation.
And if it's Lester's opinion that
the process is practical then...
Your vice chairman.
Will accompany him.
And will go into immediate
negotiations with Carew.
You were right Charlie about
the airline tickets. Get to work.
That's all, boys.
Can I see you in a few minutes?
I've got a personal problem.
You have got a personal problem?
Alright. I will see you.
In case you forgot...
A lady named Joan Salt, your niece,
expects me to marry her this Saturday.
You're coming to dinner tonight with
your father. You can straighten her out.
You've got a gift that way.
- Well, thank you.
Mr Salt, I don't care if I get married
this Saturday or 3 weeks from Saturday.
But Joanie is young.
- It will be good for her. Relax.
Cliff, you know.
You are my eternal joy.
If I had a son of my own, by now he'd
probably be an irretrievable nincompoop.
Instead, when I want to give her
a 'facts of life' speech, I have you.
You know, a woman who marries a man
like you or me has got a lot to learn.
Mrs Salt learnt a lot.
Why do you think companies make a fuss
about the women their executives marry?
Why do you think
World Motors for instance...
Employs a detective agency
for the exclusive purpose...
Of investigating the prospective wives
of even their junior executives?
You're public property
when you get up there, Cliff.
Your wife, in a way,
is public property too.
You have no private life
and no private rights.
It takes a rare kind of
woman to fill that bill.
Mrs Salt filled it.
Joanie is the right kind. She'll come
along fine. But let me say something.
You'll save yourself a lot of grief
later on if she finds out now.
Finding out what is
necessary for Amalgamated...
Is necessary for her.
Yeah?
"Mr Everett and Mr Chutwell."
- Just a minute.
But is it necessary?
I think it is.
We've got the inside track on this deal.
Do we have to move this fast?
Cliff.
You know and everyone around us
knows I'm getting along and...
You will be taking over
this chair before long.
I've absolute confidence that
you'll do the job I've done.
Maybe more.
Thank you, Mr Salt.
Or are you going to say 'but' something?
But.
This has been a one-man shop.
I built Amalgamated up from a collection
of closed mines and bankrupt mills.
So, when people think of
Amalgamated they think of me.
You have to start thinking of
you Cliff before you step up.
Or you're going to be at a disadvantage.
You see, they've
got to be afraid of you.
There's a bigger prize in this
British deal than meets the eye.
If you can pull off what I think you
can pull off they will be convinced.
The banks. Washington.
The stockholders. Everybody.
You will have what you need.
You will be ready.
There are times Mr Salt when
you scare the daylights out of me.
Well, try to imagine how scared
I'd be at my age if I didn't have you.
But I'll talk to you tonight.
And be glad that you're marrying the
right kind of woman at a time like this.
Send Sedwill in will you.
The way the English offer you cigarettes
out of silver cigarette cases.
If they knew how to package
cigarettes properly...
They wouldn't have to carry
silver cigarette cases.
Mr Barton, sir. I've just heard
the momentous decision.
A great day, sir.
A cigarette?
No thank you, He is waiting for you.
That's a great man in there, sir.
A great man.
A great country you have here too.
It leaves a chap sort-of awestruck, sir.
Ah. Mr Salt, sir.
Don't tell me what you
want to go to London for.
I know what you want
to go to London for.
You want to go to London like
fellows want to go to conventions.
What do you think I was, born yesterday?
Giving me all this
hanky-panky deals business.
Ella.
Do you think I don't know what
you fellows are looking for?
Deals? Ha-ah.
Deals, spiels.
You dimwit. The doorbell is ringing.
The doorbell is ringing.
What?
You have turned off your
hearing-aid on me?
You did it again.
Don't you dare tear your
hearing-aid off on me.
What kind of guy turns off his
hearing-aid on his own wife?
Stupid.
Mr Barton.
- Hello, Mrs Everett.
You didn't tell me he was coming.
Mr Barton, I look such a mess.
I have never seen you
more handsome or vital.
I was on my way down
to Mr Salt's for dinner...
And I just had to stop by for one
of your famous old-fashioneds.
You know, to celebrate Lester's coup.
- Lester's what?
The greatest engineering mind in
America, Mrs Everett. The greatest.
He proves it again with
this London deal.
How proud you must be of him.
- Me? Oh yes.
My, but you're looking like a
million dollars. How do you do it?
How about that old-fashioned?
Gee, Mr Barton. You always
know the right things to say to me.
That old Lester.
He knows the funniest things.
You were up at Lester's
longer than you thought.
Sorry, dad. Now we can
get on down to Salt's.
Was Mrs Everett that difficult?
- No, no.
I just don't understand a man
who can't handle his own wife.
That's because you're not married.
This is certainly your evening
for straightening out wives.
Present and future.
- Yeah, it's a nuisance.
Right when I'm on the
verge of something so big.
When you were that high
I thought I knew you.
Now you're that high
I've lost all track.
Why do you say that?
I'm not criticising. I was the
one who missed the boat.
Cliff, are you sure you
want to get married?
Well son, I only asked.
- What a question.
There's nothing wrong about Joanie.
Of course not. I adore her.
She's far too young for you.
She hasn't much to bring you, but...
A fine time to start taking attitudes.
You're quite right.
I'm the preacher who doesn't preach.
That's why I have such a large, rich,
smug, fashionable congregation.
I apologise.
You won't find a finer example
of why Joanie is right for me...
Than the woman I've just seen.
Look what she's done to Lester's career.
Alright. You don't approve of my values.
Look Dad, there's a vast gap
between us which is hard to cross.
Because you're a most ideal
human being and I'm not.
Well, there's room for all sorts.
No. I'm not going to preach.
But if there's some woman in
this world beside Joanie...
Whom you really want to marry...
Then I'm going to pray
that you never meet her.
When you get to London.
Eventually. I wonder if you'd mind
running a few errands for me?
I'd be glad to, Mrs Salt.
I have several charities I
would like you to look into.
One in particular for which
I am the American chairman.
It's an organization for refugees
coming out of central Europe.
Yeah.
I'd like you to look into
where the money goes.
Their general efficiency,
what they spend on overheads.
Any subversive infiltration.
Give me a list. I'd be delighted.
I didn't...
I didn't know you were going to London.
When?
Tomorrow.
Well, you might at least
have let Cliff tell her that.
Why?
Well.
I don't see anything so important.
Now I can go out to North
Hampton for the weekend.
I want the title to the West African
concession vested in Amalgamated.
I want a joint corporation with 52% of
of the stock in Amalgamated treasury...
And you as chairman.
I'm overwhelmed, but that's impossible.
If things are impossible
then you must move fast.
That isn't Carew's proposition.
It's their concession, their process,
our money and their show.
Our show.
They will turn to a competitor.
- I don't think so.
With these terms they
won't even negotiate.
They will if you don't
tell them the terms.
You can pull this off, Cliff.
You have the gift.
Now, go into negotiation with
them and make them like it.
Confine your discussion to costs.
Tell them forty million is outrageous.
And prove they don't need it. We'll feed
you the figures every day by cable.
This is the kind of a job
that we know how to do.
And they know we know how to do it.
When you've reached
a rock-bottom figure.
They will see costs down, profits rising
and they'll wish we were doing the job.
And then.
Then a call from New York.
We're sorry, the investment is still
too big. We'll have to run the show.
They'll come along.
Believe me, it's human nature.
We can make more money for them
than they can make for themselves.
Yeah, I can do it.
- You're blessed right you can do it.
When you get West Africa
safe in the New York bag...
There won't be a competitor, banker,
stockholder or secretary of state...
That doesn't say 'Cliff Barton' the way
they've always said 'George Salt'.
With respect and admiration.
And with fear.
Do you see what I mean by the prize?
I'm wondering what my father
would say to a deal like this.
Let me tell you about your father.
He's as fine a man as I've
ever met, god bless him.
He believes in live and let live.
And what would the world be
like without men like him.
But what would the world be
like without men like us?
Still rolling in oxcarts?
Still grappling with famine and disease.
Believe me, Cliff.
Men who, in truth, saved the world were
never stopped by the ten commandments.
I hope the day will come Mr Salt
when I can be as truthful as that.
It will, Cliff.
Mr Carew.
- Mr Barton.
You've not met my
associate, Mr Pitt-Semphill.
Hello.
How do you do.
I hope you enjoy London.
I'm bowled over. I always am.
I never understand if I
wear the right hats...
How do people know I'm an American?
Perhaps your vitamins are showing.
Let's go upstairs, shall we.
What I can't understand how you people
Mr Barton, so aware of the future...
Can come over here and
tolerate for a moment...
Our smoky monuments, our chauvinism.
Our embalmed heroes,
each with his own statue.
As a rule, in the worst possible taste.
If I were you I'd paint
moustaches on them.
In a curious way, Mr Carew,
they're our heroes too.
I handed over that list of
Mrs Salt's organisations...
To some of the people
in our office, Mr Barton.
I apologise for creating a
nuisance, Mr Pitt-Semphill...
But you know how it is. The boss's wife.
No nuisance at all.
I'm not one of those who resent
Americans every time they're generous.
What Pitt-Semphill is dying to
ask you with bated breath...
Is how did you survive our Mr Chutwell?
Yes, I know. I know.
Our Mr Chutwell I feel is
something of a thruster.
Then you see, he's also
something of a genius.
Our new process is in
a very large part, his.
The older I grow Mr Barton the more
impressed I am with what men are.
And not what they seem.
Forgive me. If I'm going to say
something to which you won't approve.
At this stage it is bad business.
I'm praying your Mr Everett
approves of our process...
And that we may enter the negotiations.
Because I like you.
That's very good of you.
You know, we're all so aware
of America these days.
We are jealous. We are suspicious.
Well, it's natural I suppose.
Our pride.
We're not accustomed to being paupers.
Well, we shall never be beggars.
Not on this island.
You know, I'd be so happy to work with
you on the West Africa plan, Mr Barton.
Well, let's face it. Pride. First pride.
Is a factor.
I know West Africa.
And in the opinion of many of us in many
parts of the world we have London.
London. London, half an empire away.
Now, our new process gives us me an
opportunity of going into West Africa.
And proving to a somewhat
sceptical world...
That if Britain has erred.
She has likewise learnt.
I apologise for my
deplorable chauvinism.
Cheers.
The thing starting to trouble
me Mr Salt is this strategy.
Now look, Cliff. Don't go soft.
These people are a nation of swindlers.
They invented swindling.
They perfected swindling.
They made swindling socially acceptable.
Mr Salt. Did I tell you
he sends his blessings?
That makes me very happy.
Now let me be clear.
We'll begin negotiations on Monday.
And I understand that Amalgamated
has no reservations...
Other than costs and the
size of the financing?
We have strong reservations
concerning your cost estimates.
Yes, of course. I understand that
and you're probably right, but...
No other reservations?
Generally, no.
But this is a tentative statement.
I don't like to enter negotiations
with my hands tied.
I hope you think again about coming
to the country for the weekend.
My wife will be disappointed.
I'm so sorry but I do have
plans for the weekend.
I must be running. Until Monday then.
Ah.
He is holding something back otherwise
he'd have accepted your invitation.
You have an obsession, Pitt.
All Americans are not unscrupulousness
like Dan Slocum.
Well.
I shall go down to the country.
With my wife. Get mildly...
Pleasantly, and entrancingly pickled.
Cliff.
Come in to Chutwell's office.
- Chutwell is your problem. Not mine.
You don't know what Chut's come up with.
You know the refugee
organisation of Mrs Salt's?
The one for refugee artists?
- What about it?
Boy, what a dilly. Come on.
Chut will tell you about it.
I see. Thank you very much indeed.
Oh, I say. Mr Barton.
This Artists Refugee Organisation,
221 Rockwell place.
Mrs Miriam Linka, executive secretary.
Yeah. What's wrong with it?
- Wrong with it? Nothing.
Emphatically so. No.
A most high-minded organisation.
It finds jobs for these
talented refugees.
Painting, singing, dancing.
Of course. Human nature.
It's difficult to control.
And some of these young
lady refugees have talents...
That go, let's say, beyond
playing the piano.
Or.
Or if the employer, to say myself, has a
broad view of the term 'entertainment'.
I'll find out about it.
I'm sure you'll do all the better.
Does Mrs Linka know what's going on?
Don't go to Mrs Linka. No.
She's a blooming commie or something.
She'll tear you to pieces.
There's some that ask questions
and some that don't. Now.
Mr Retchnikov. He is the chap.
He never asked for a moment
what kind of a piano.
Thank you.
But you won't have to lift a finger.
Don't say no. It has all been arranged.
I've spoken to Mr Retchnikov myself.
A little entertainment.
Saturday night. The three of us.
No, this is my party. I insist.
Supper and champagne.
And three gay companions.
With a touch of, shall we say,
the continental manner.
Sorry. I've other plans.
- Come on.
You can afford to waive
ranks for an evening.
It's nothing to do with waiving rank.
Well I shall take this
as a personal affront.
Take it any way you please.
I'm accustomed to snubs.
I understand perfectly.
But I must say it all seems a bit
pretentious coming from an American.
Cliff.
Are you Mrs Linka?
- Yes.
You are Mr Barton?
Yes.
You are...
You're an American millionaire?.
I suppose.
Of course.
Well.
In that case I must offer you some tea.
You may offer me an expensive
American cigarette.
I'll offer you the pack.
I'm quite ruthless about such things.
I will take them.
You may have one.
Please do.
Are you interested yourself in the
work of the organisation or...
Are you just an errand boy for Mrs Salt?
I'm interested in it myself very much.
I doubt that.
Well.
It's our purpose to find work for
talented refugees from central Europe.
We have lived most of us...
In a world of Mozart, Schumann, Chopin.
For most of us, music
was a reason for life.
You may report to Mrs Salt that the
work of the organisation goes well.
If by 'going well' one means the
placing of a concert pianist...
In a job as a dishwasher at The Ritz.
If I report to Mrs Salt how her money is
used, what do I say of certain rumors?
Certain rumors?
Please. Will you be more precise?
An interesting racket, Mrs Linka.
I've no objections at all.
If you weren't masquerading as a charity
and shaking down patrons like Mrs Salt.
I'd ask you to leave this office.
Since you represent Mrs Salt
I cannot afford to.
Berta.
Did Retchnikov call you?
Yes. He called me.
Tear his eyes out. You're not going.
[ German language ]
Yes. The rumours are true.
There are those who take
advantage of the situation.
And there are girls like
her who have no choice.
And if you would know
that much. That very much.
Dear Mr American, about despair.
Then you'd not ask such silly questions.
Or perhaps Mr Barton,
you are here yourself to...
Take advantage of the situation?
No.
No. I'd rather make a contribution to
the legitimate work of the organisation.
How much?
A thousand dollars?
How very nice it must be to...
To just suddenly give
away a thousand dollars.
No.
No. I...
I want you to deposit the cheque...
To our account at the Westminster
Bank next week perhaps.
Then you'll not be giving so
much money in embarrassment.
To make you feel better.
Because on a dismal afternoon you
found me in this wretched place...
Having my poor cup of tea and
you felt in yourself such...
Such beautiful pity.
Do you question the motives
to every contribution?
In many ways, Mr Barton.
I'm a very nasty person.
I'll be at the address I have noted
on the cheque during the daytime.
And Mrs Salt will want a written report.
Can I have it tomorrow?
It is Saturday.
We close at four.
I may have it. I may not.
There are people coming.
I have very much to do.
Thank you for the cheque.
[ German language ]
Just a minute. Just a minute.
Well?
What's that? That colonial development
report they were talking about?
Cliff.
About that Chutwell thing yesterday.
You know, he's not
really too bad a fellow.
He worked his way up from the bottom.
That doesn't happen very often here.
Not like in the U.S.
He feels insecure.
He gets nervous around people like you.
Cliff.
I don't know how to say this.
You know how things
are with me back home.
With Ella.
Would you mind too much if
I went out with him tonight?
Huh?
Oh.
No. Go ahead and enjoy yourself.
Oh.
Hiya, Mr Retchnikov.
Yes.
Good afternoon, Mrs Linka.
And what do you want?
The report isn't ready.
What is it?
Do you want your cheque back?
- No. I'm only here to make you laugh.
Jokes.
Perhaps some song and dance?
No, no. Just jokes.
You don't need to bother
undressing your coat.
I am locking up.
Well, I hope you're having
dinner with me too.
I hope you're not hoping too much.
Because I'm not.
I guess you have another engagement, or
are you having dinner with Mister Linka?
There is no Mister Linka.
There's not another engagement.
I don't see how you can't like me.
You don't even know me.
I don't like Americans.
I don't like Lords of the world.
Not of any nation.
I don't like people who do things just
like that and write cheques for $1,000.
I don't like businessmen.
I don't know you.
That's right. You don't.
You haven't given me a chance to tell
you when I left your office yesterday...
I went out and bought the lives
of Schumann and Mozart.
Oh no.
See. I told you I can make you laugh.
You only make me laugh
because you're so pathetic.
You haven't got the least
idea of what to say.
I invest five shillings in the lives of
three composers and I've a lot to say.
You didn't let me mention Chopin.
- Chopin...
If you'd let me take you to dinner.
- I'm not going to dinner with you.
If I came. Where would we go?
I thought Claridge's.
You wanted to say
'In your rooms' didn't you?
I have thought of it.
- But you didn't think it was proper.
Say it, for heaven's sake.
While I count ten, that you
didn't think it was proper.
I didn't think it was proper.
- There. You see.
What would you do if I hadn't said it?
- Kill you.
Thank goodness my father
is a Presbyterian minister.
I was raised right.
Why did you have to say that?
I hate Presbyterians.
They burned Michaels Michael Servetus.
I can't possibly come now.
You spoiled everything.
I assure you my father
had no hand in it.
Americans burn people.
They burned witches, didn't they?
That's ridiculous. We stopped
that almost 300 years ago.
You think it is very noble to
almost stop burning people.
No, that's...
You feel very noble yourself because
you've given a great deal of money...
To important organisations that have
tried to almost stop some people...
From almost burning other people.
- You put words in my mouth.
You took it off your income tax
and it hardly cost you anything.
Isn't that right?
That's right.
Well, you provoke me
but I shall keep calm.
Because the first thing I know...
You'll give another $1,000 in Michael
Servetus' name for a statue or similar.
I'm sure that's how your mind works.
Doesn't it?
No.
No.
What time shall I see you at Claridge's?
Let's say 8 o'clock.
But I am picking you up.
You're not picking me up.
I have to pick you up.
- It wouldn't be proper.
No. It's going to rain and you
won't find a taxi. Not at that hour.
Where I live is precisely what
I am not going to tell you.
What shall you wear to Claridge's?
I thought shirtsleeves.
- You're so tactful.
You say that because you
think I've nothing to wear.
Well, you'll dress to the teeth
because that's how I expect to dress.
Oh.
Anyone using the piano?
Not a soul in the shop
all day, Mrs Linka.
That will be five shillings.
Would you call me please
at a quarter to six?
Certainly.
Taxi.
Taxi!
Miriam.
Sorry I'm late. Come on.
Come on, let's go.
How did you know where I lived?
Oh. It didn't take much ingenuity.
I went to your office and
knocked down the door.
I left some money on your desk
for you to have it repaired.
There are usually address
books lying around an office.
And as luck would have it
I remembered your name.
An American method.
What bothered me was how long
it all took. And you waiting.
It was almost the end of the war.
When my husband was killed by the Nazis.
He was in the Austrian resistance.
Just two months more and...
You loved him?
- Yes I did.
Very much.
Three years separated by war.
Three years for me in the
concentration camp at Ravensbrck.
It's not easy to explain.
The being hungry. The day-to-day filth.
How do I survive until tomorrow?
In a concentration camp one is like an
animal. And like an animal one forgets.
When I heard he was dead
it was like someone else.
It was like somebody I
had met perhaps at a party.
There are so many things, Mr Barton.
One should not ask questions of another.
The war is one of those things for me.
And for so many of us.
So, let it be put away
some place and forgotten.
After the war too, for that matter.
At Vienna.
So I say enough. Too much.
Three years ago, London.
The refugee artists.
And here I am.
You have listened with
such patience, Mr Barton.
To the sad and sorrowful
story of my life.
Now it's your turn.
And you will show me please...
Like all right-thinking
American businessmen...
The picture of your wife in New York.
And of your most enchanting children.
Oh, they don't? I'm so sorry.
No. It was alright.
I was thinking about you.
Of course.
And I'm always so mean to you.
But I shall not be mean to you now.
After such a dinner.
That brutal American beefsteak.
And I have eaten it all.
And.
I must say I'm sorry for this afternoon
when you came to my office.
But you see, I had just
resigned from my position.
What happened?
Was it a Mr Chutwell who
told you certain things?
You wrote the same
address on the cheque.
Chutwell is no friend of mine.
Oh. That's a relief.
Well, this Mr Chutwell.
You see, it's not the first time
that he entertains an American.
It's not just Americans.
That is unfair.
And anyway, it's a most
unimportant crisis.
But tonight is Anna's.
She has a husband dying somewhere.
And Berta. You saw Berta.
She's so young and decent.
Perhaps I'm stupid.
I should understand when great enormous
and rotten situations create refugees...
And leave a girl with
no home, no family.
No place, no hope for dignity.
And for her, how small is this.
This final humiliation.
I'm stupid to check.
And there comes a time
when one must be stupid.
Necessarily stupid.
Or no longer does one exist.
I must say what I believe.
Do what I must do.
Kick Mr Retchnikov in the shins.
That was the pleasant part of it.
I must speak, act, shout aloud or I die.
Don't be a fool. Get up
on the table and shout.
I'll go along.
There's something in you.
I never suspected.
There is something in
me I never suspected.
You are.
Quite extraordinary.
I make the jokes please.
- I'm not joking.
I don't like Americans. I don't
like overwhelming people.
But.
I do like you.
Don't say that.
The second time in two days...
That someone I respected with
whole heart said they liked me.
Let's go dancing some place.
Let's get out of here.
It was the kind of evening one
dreams of on Sullivan Square.
Take it away. I won't need you.
- Yes, sir.
You don't come in.
No. I'm walking back to the hotel.
I need the walk.
What time shall I see you tomorrow?
- I'm not seeing you tomorrow.
I'm busy. I need a job.
You can't find a job on Sunday.
Mr Barton. It's no good.
I'm a disturbance to you and you to me.
It's so plain.
It has been a happy meeting
but let us be sensible.
Tomorrow night then at eight?
- I'm not seeing you tomorrow.
Or again.
Alright then. Monday at four.
Five?
Stop overwhelming me.
I'll not be overwhelmed.
Overwhelmed?
- Overwhelmed.
Seven-thirty?
Seven-thirty.
What has got into you?
What happened to you over there?
Nothing has happened to me.
I warned you Friday. This is Monday.
It's my growing conviction that if we
follow our strategy on West Africa...
And stick to costs and hold off
our real demand until the end...
We'll not only lose out on control.
We'll be out of the deal entirely.
Mr Salt, these people have pride.
Sure, they'd be stupid to
pass up Amalgamated but...
Sometimes one has to be stupid.
Necessarily stupid.
Stupid.
Look, I simply say that in my best
judgment I have to tell them now.
Now, I know human nature
better than you do and I...
Don't interrupt me.
Look. I think I know best.
There's a great deal at stake and
you agreed with this strategy.
Now, stick to costs.
Joanie sends her love.
You're sure of these costs?
Well, in the Labrador
operation which I describe.
Even when we had to deal with permafrost
we came out under thirty cents a yard.
You know they will make more money
for us than we can for ourselves.
It's astonishing.
Let's go.
- Yes, sir.
What have you been doing since Saturday?
She can work a slide rule.
I never knew a woman before
who can work a slide rule.
Who?
- Berta.
Berta?
The girl Chutwell introduced me to.
You won't believe this Cliff but...
I spent the whole weekend talking.
Me. Talking.
Except when she was singing.
She doesn't talk, Cliff. She sings.
Bless.
For two whole days I've
been Thomas Alverdas.
I have been Rutherford and Newton.
Marconi and Einstein
all rolled into one.
Why do things like this
have to happen to people?
Too late.
How many, sir?
Six dozen please.
You know.
I was thinking Mr Barton that I've never
been so impressed with a negotiation.
Tomorrow, would you say we should...
Wrap it up?
We should wrap it up.
Good.
Oh. Sorry. Wrong button.
I brought four policemen.
Go away.
I've no place to go.
I don't want to see you.
I'm deeply offended by the flowers.
Why? Don't you like flowers?
How can you waste such money?
I've sent them all back.
I am sorry. They were so pretty.
I'm not opening the door. Now go away.
I don't want to.
Please. What happened
to us last Saturday...
It's dangerous. It's no good.
And because it happened
it does not mean...
Please go away.
Are you still there?
- Sure.
What are you doing?
I'm fine. I am happy.
But don't you have a picture of yourself
you can slide under the door...
And I can look at while I'm waiting?
No, no. Never mind.
I see you fine now through
this crack in the door.
Fine.
I bet the florist wouldn't take those
flowers back but they do look lovely.
Barbarian.
That dress is really becoming.
How dare he mention...
You look marvelous just the way you are.
If we have dinner in Chelsea
you needn't change.
I'm not coming.
Well, it was only to say goodbye.
What do you mean?
I'm going back to New York.
Maybe Thursday.
So?
Well, dreadful as you are...
I wish you well in New York.
Fun and games.
- Thank you.
I'll wait on the stairs
while you get your coat.
I'm not getting my coat.
I thought I was telling you goodbye.
That was all changed.
I don't like that monument.
It's a pity.
The one square in London I don't
like and that it should be mine.
Are you crazy always
like this in New York?
No.
Well, it's nice to know that you
don't sit on monuments and...
Peek at your wife through doors.
I have no wife.
You're insufferable.
Do you never tell people
you have no wife until...
It makes a difference to you?
No.
No!
If you'd sit still for a minute
I'd ask you to marry me.
This is truly madness.
How can you amount to anything?
And be so crazy?
- That's my problem.
I will say I love you.
But it is wrong.
What do you know of me?
Where I came from?
What I was in the war?
And the concentration camp in Vienna.
I'm in love with a woman,
not a history book.
Oh, Cliff.
I am so wrong for you.
Don't you know it?
You must marry some girl who is...
Sweet and presentable
and will always say yes.
I'm engaged to that girl.
We were to be married by Saturday night.
The night we went to Claridge's.
I'm very fond of her.
She doesn't know that I
will never marry her.
That is, whether you marry me or not.
Oh, my darling.
Do you not understand?
That I'm so afraid of you.
Of course I do.
There is nothing so
terrible as thinking.
But for tonight I advise it.
For both of us.
- I've done my thinking.
I doubt that.
At any rate, tomorrow night
you will be in your room.
All starched and pretty.
And if it's a nice evening
I shall wear a gown.
Which will show me off to you.
And at 8 o'clock you will
have ordered champagne.
And a lovely pheasant.
And don't please be worried.
For I shall be there.
This will do.
I had certain apprehensions when
you suggested coming here alone.
But I see you and my
apprehensions disappear.
Well, that's a pity because
they're justified.
A sherry?
Please.
Do go on because you see...
My heart has stopped beating.
Since we've reached a figure
which we can mutually agree...
Represented minimum costs and minimum
financing, I have checked with New York.
It's our decision the risk does
not justify such an investment.
If we're to assume such a risk we
must have commensurate authority.
Control of the joint corporation
must go to Amalgamated...
With 52% of the stock in our
treasury and myself as chairman.
Well, my...
Heart is beating again but that
is about all I can say for it.
Thank you.
What's your opinion Mr Barton
of these demands?
When I left New York I
considered them quite in order.
You knew of these proposals
when we entered negotiations?
I did.
I'm afraid I'm taking this rather badly.
Sorry.
Do you consider the proposals at this
point in the negotiations are in order?
I'm representing Amalgamated
World Metals. Not Carew Limited.
I shall somehow resist the considerable
temptation to jump off Waterloo bridge.
We're not bent on suicide
over here, Mr Barton.
If we've learnt anything in our fairly
long experience it's that the proud...
May sometimes seem foolish.
But they die last.
I reject your proposals of course and
terminate the negotiations which I'll...
File away among my more
unsavoury recollections.
Well, if you have finished your sherry.
No.
That's naturally what I
expected Mr Carew and I'm...
Grateful to escape with my life.
I wonder if you and Mr Pitt-Semphill can
come to New York in a few days or so.
You will have to soon.
To see some competitor.
I want nothing more than to take up
right where we were a few minutes ago.
I cannot promise anything.
My relations with Mr Salt
may be compromised by...
Another factor.
But I can't believe Amalgamated
in the end will pass up such a...
Golden egg simply because it
can't have the upper hand.
Bring me another sherry.
You know. At a time like this I
wish I had a taste for bourbon.
[ Door knocks ]
Come in.
If I live to a thousand I
shall never forget you.
But I cannot marry you.
These English.
Their poets have such
a way of saying things.
What was it?
'I could not love thee dear so
much, loved I not honour more'.
There must always be
something more than love, Cliff.
Or love is bankrupt.
With me it is my identity.
Yes.
'This stupid little treasure'.
'That whatever I am,
to this I shall be true'.
That little identity.
They're protected by the
most ridiculous actions.
One tyranny after another.
This I should lose.
A splendid terrifying,
overwhelming American.
The wife of someone as
splendid and terrifying as you.
What honestly do you know about America?
I knew you'd have some
asinine objections...
So I tried to get you a seat
on my plane for tomorrow.
I'm not coming.
That's right. You've no visa.
That I arrange first thing in New York.
Cliff, stop overwhelming me.
Anybody who can
overwhelm you deserves it.
You'll come to New York in a few days...
Look around, find out what a sublime
idiot you are, and marry me.
Stop it please.
You have no money so I went to that
bank on the corner by your office...
And deposited a thousand
dollars in your name.
You'll say 'no' when I get on the plane
tomorrow. You'll say 'no' the next day.
But in the end, you will
come Miriam because...
Anything else would be too absurd.
Because you love me.
Because I love you.
Cliff, I have said what
would happen to me.
I haven't even said what
would happen to you.
Would it be too overwhelming to suggest
there's some cold pheasant waiting?
Some warm champagne?
How are you, Mr Barton?
Glad to see you back.
Thanks. Grab those bags will you.
- Right.
Have someone take these
things over to my apartment.
Telephone Mrs Everett.
Tell her Lester has been delayed.
He'll be coming on in a
few days with Mr Carew.
Make an appointment
with a good visa lawyer.
And get me a date with somebody
from Steinways about buying a piano.
Have them send a man round with paper
cut-outs so we can decide on size.
Don't tell me you're
taking piano lessons?
Send a cable to Mrs Miriam Linka,
Number 4 Sullivan Square, London.
To say: 'No nonsense, please'.
And sign it 'Cliff'.
[ Telephone ]
Yes?
Oh. Thank you.
Miss Salt is still in Northampton.
They don't know when she's coming in.
Shall I put a call through to her?
Good morning.
Come in to my office, Cliff.
What fell on you over
there I'll never know.
You look the same.
Nothing 'fell' on me.
I saw what Carew was like. That's all.
I tried to warn you what would happen.
And, as I cabled... it happened.
They're coming over shortly.
It will be good for you to meet
Carew and see for yourself.
You mean I'll have to put over
myself what you couldn't?
I'd like to show you something.
Fred Delahanty and his boys have
been working 18 hours a day.
If you saw anything
like this in London...
Tell me.
Well?
Did you see anything
like this in London?
The West African mine.
Well, I'll ask you once more.
No. I saw nothing like it in London.
It's perfect.
Except for one detail.
What happened to you, Cliff?
I've gambled everything on you.
Amalgamated represents my life.
I have nothing else.
No children.
There is Joanie of course.
But I've given her to you.
I thought that I'd...
Create another man in my own likeness
to inherit what I have and what I am.
This isn't just the matter
of a deal, won or lost.
I'll win it.
What counts Cliff is...
Well, I've no-one but you.
We've been together for so many
years and now suddenly you have...
Can't we just see this as a difference
of opinion? We've had them before.
We agreed on a certain strategy.
We came up against something
we didn't anticipate.
I changed my opinion in
view of new necessities.
What necessities?
Pride.
What is to do about pride? I have pride.
Then the necessity of leaving
room for the next man's.
What happened to you, Cliff?
Look. Let's take it up later.
I haven't been home. I need a shower.
I have a few errands.
Assuming there's no security problem...
I don't see why she shouldn't
be given a visitor's visa.
There should be no real delay.
Three months.
Three months?
But I want to marry her.
Next week, if she'll come.
You didn't say you wanted to marry her.
This brings up another problem.
If she's coming here for
the purpose of marriage...
Naturally, she'll have to wait
for an immigrant's visa.
Who do I see in Washington?
Mr Barton. I assume you know
the right people, but be careful.
These days things are touchy.
Swing too much weight and you'll...
- Thank you.
Fine. Can do. Goodbye.
Brother Howie.
- Brother Cliff.
Good old Yale.
Fifteen years. What do you want?
- It's a long story.
Make it as harrowing as possible.
- I am in love.
That is too harrowing.
Her name is Miriam Linka and you're
too dull a bureaucrat to appreciate her.
But if she'll have me I'll marry her.
I need to know what to do.
At your age, what a question.
- No. I mean there are problems.
An Austrian citizen living in
London with an IRO passport.
Can't you go to London, marry her there
and then she'd acquire non-quota status?
I can't go to London.
I will marry her next week.
And why in all that's holy can't
I marry her in my own country?
This isn't a problem.
This is an international incident.
Got any ideas?
- Certainly. Amputate both legs.
And apply for an act of grace
because you can't travel.
This isn't funny.
Brother Barton.
Boy, it certainly hits you middle-aged
Bennies like a ton of bricks.
Wait until I tell my wife.
She is romantic.
Here, take a drink of water.
Now.
Is there any possibility of communist
affiliations past or present?
That's impossible.
- What about Mister Linka?
He was killed in 1945 in
the Austrian resistance.
There, you see.
He could have been a red.
Howie, we're talking about the woman
I want to marry. You don't just ask...
I understand. The question is, when I'm
called to a congressional committee...
Will they understand?
A few more days like this
and I will turn into a red.
Please. You're in Washington, pal.
Cliff, how about this?
I can get her a visitor's visa.
She states her intention to leave
for a foreign country. Alright.
She comes to New York. You fly her down
to Mexico City, get married and 'voila'.
Howard Carruthers for president.
No, thank you. Just save me
a floor at Rockefeller Center.
There's one thing though.
I have to be covered.
I need a letter.
- Nothing easier.
A letter stating the US economy
collapses if you leave the country.
Making passing reference
to your heroic war deeds.
And ending in some hymn of
praise for the lady's qualifications.
Preferably in the manner of
a Shakespearian sonnet.
I'll write that in my sleep.
- Not you. Sorry.
It will have to come from the chairman.
That's George Salt, isn't it?
You can get it, can't you?
Of course.
Brother Howie, I'll never forget this.
My boy, it's nothing.
Your government, and
it is your government.
Takes a paternal interest in the
welfare of all large taxpayers.
I'll see you.
So, we met.
She made me furious.
I took her out to dinner.
I suppose, to see if I can make
her act like a human being.
Before I knew it, I was wondering if
I had ever acted like a human being.
She sounds wonderful.
You're killing me.
There's something about it
that turns me upside down.
It made me question everything
I'd ever done or ever will do.
Where I wind up with
your uncle, I don't know.
I hope you beat him to a pulp.
Joanie, I love her.
Sure.
I've acted like a heel most of
my life and didn't know it.
Would you believe me?
This time I know it.
You're not acting like a heel.
You're such a square.
If you think you're breaking
my heart you're crazy.
You always bored me stiff.
Don't you know it?
You never knew what to say
to me except how cute I was.
There was nothing else to say.
I didn't know what to say to you.
You didn't want to marry me.
And I didn't want to marry you.
I used to feel like somebody
engaged to the Grand Coulee Dam.
When I was little...
I always dreamed of a fellow with
curly hair who played in a band.
I don't mean I do not love you, Cliff.
Because I do in a way, but...
Oh boy, am I happy.
Funny.
You know, this is the first time
I ever really wanted you.
But... are you going to be
in a jam with uncle George.
Carew arrives tomorrow from London and
I'll handle the negotiations my own way.
I'd be grateful if you
stay out of the picture.
Go out of town, It may be a good time
for you and Joanie to get married.
You'd save face that way.
And Joanie has been very disappointed.
What's this?
A letter to a man named Carruthers
in the State Department.
I've drawn it up for our signature.
It's self-explanatory, I believe.
I think it covers everything
except that... I love her.
Well, have you seen Joanie?
Joanie asked me to tell you I've made
her the happiest girl in the world.
You are lying.
Call her.
It was a wrong idea, Joanie and I.
I don't care what Joanie thinks.
Not a bit.
All I know is that by marrying Joanie
you were doing the right thing.
And this?
I care about you.
If you care about me then...
- Is this what happened in London?
Is it?
Yes. For the most part it is.
Is this all you know
about her on this page?
What one can write
down which isn't much.
'Age. Maiden name'.
'Where she was born'.
Don't you know?
Or did you forget to write it down?
I don't know.
You don't know.
She plays the piano. At least
you know something about her.
What does your father think about this?
- I haven't told him.
I had no time to see him. I resent...
What does your man Carew think of her?
- He didn't meet her.
And why not?
Mr Salt, I was in London exactly 7 days.
- You were there long enough for this.
Or was 30 minutes long enough for this?
Don't say something we can't forget.
Can I forget that you, and all
you mean to me, want to marry...
A stateless, placeless, nameless
refugee out of central Europe?
Someone I must guarantee before your own
government will permit into the country.
That's a technicality.
It's a technicality, I suppose...
That this same woman, in the space
of a few days, infected you...
With ideas radical and foreign.
Ideas antagonistic to your
company's interests.
And let us say it, Cliff.
To the interests of your country.
I seem to be having a nightmare.
How else can you figure it?
Will Guy Eliot see it differently?
Or any director?
We used an unprincipled strategy
to back up an unjustified demand.
Because I have objected...
Are you going call it disloyalty
and tag it on to Miriam?
What was the one detail you objected to?
Cliff.
I never expected to be saying to you:
'Go easy, be careful'.
'Know what you're doing'.
This comes hard, son. But...
I'm no revolutionary character.
I don't have what it takes.
And my only excuse is
that it takes a great deal.
That doesn't mean I'm not
the first to say to the next fellow:
'Go ahead, stick your neck out'.
'Go in and get killed'.
Count on me son to deliver
a magnificent eulogy...
Over your bruised and battered body.
All I want to do is get married.
You think. Excuse me.
[ Telephone ]
Yes?
Oh yes.
That's good.
I'll tell him. Yes.
That was Salt.
He preferred not to talk to you.
He says to tell you he signed
your letter and mailed it.
And he does it under protest.
All I can say is she'd
better be good looking.
Ah, the good old USA.
Eh?
Thank you.
You understand Mr Salt, my consternation
in London when I heard of this proposal.
I must say it was only because of my
continued confidence in Mr Barton...
Let me tell you something, Mr Carew.
Cliff is the greatest we've got but
something happened to him in London.
I don't know what.
He wasn't supposed to hold back that
proposal. I've never been so distressed.
I'm distressed that he's not here.
It seems rather unfair.
It's unfair but frankly
I didn't want him here.
I wanted to make a clean start with you.
Whatever happened to him
in London I'll never know.
He seems to have had his
mind on something else.
I'm sorry.
No, no, sir.
No telling tales out of school.
But I had to laugh.
'His mind on something else'.
That's very acute of you, Mr Salt.
You know about Mrs Linka?
I'm sorry. I thought you didn't know.
Chutwell.
If this is some private
concern of Mr Barton's...
Please.
Have you met Mrs Linka?
- Oh, have I met her?
Why, any gentleman who's
lonely and unattached...
Just naturally comes to meet Mrs Linka.
- Chutwell, I forbid...
If you excuse me saying so Mr Carew,
since Mr Salt is aware of the situation.
Well, I am not so aware.
And I refuse to listen to...
Your own man is confirming what
I've been trying to find out.
I know my facts concerning
Mr Barton, sir.
But he's one thing with
you and another with me.
Who knows what he is, with a woman
who's a commie if ever I saw one.
Why you...
- No!
Mr Carew...
- I'll speak to you later.
I find this extremely unpleasant.
Mr Salt, I see no purpose in
extending our conversation.
You will excuse me.
Chutwell.
Good evening.
Please hold that call, will you.
Just a few minutes.
Thank you.
What was it that told me, Cliff?
You know I'd scarcely read
her name in your letter...
Before something told
me what can happen.
What can happen?
I sent the letter to the State
Department in good faith.
Under protest but in good faith.
You know what I'm talking about.
- I do not know.
Chutwell.
In Eliot's presence and Carew's presence
has described your Mrs Linka...
Somewhat more frankly.
You don't have to tell me what
he said. I'm quite sure I know.
How can you do this to me, Cliff?
- Chutwell lied to you.
Who in heaven would believe a man like
Chutwell? Carew knows what he's like.
Carew has cut off all conversation.
Because of you the deal is off.
I don't believe it.
- Eliot was there.
Nobody asked me.
Nobody so much as picked up a telephone
and called and asked me, is this true.
When a woman with a
history like hers is called...
Both a prostitute and a communist what
can you say? How could you disprove it?
According to our corporate
bylaws, Cliff...
The board of directors must act on
the resignation of the vice chairman.
I'm calling a meeting for Friday.
I've not resigned.
But you will.
And if you don't.
Do I have any choice but to do my
duty and ask the board of directors...
To discharge you and
give them my reasons?
Literally, destroy you.
It's beneath you to call this 'duty'.
I apologise.
'Duty' is a lie.
Even I must flatter myself sometimes.
'Duty' is a pompous illusion implying
choice when there is no choice.
I am a creature of power.
I pursue it totally and
I obey it totally.
You pursue it partially.
And so you fail, and in failing
you're a threat to me.
Now. Either resign Cliff
or I must destroy you.
I am submitting no resignation.
Any time.
Any time between now and Friday.
[ Telephone ]
Yes?
Yes. Go ahead.
Miriam.
Liebling, I'm so stupid.
There's some little delay
and I sit here trembling.
It was nothing.
It was nothing. I am fine.
I'm wonderful.
The best of all possible worlds.
Talk a very long time.
I will not talk a long time.
It's too expensive.
I only want to say this.
That you were right.
And I've told myself a
thousand times 'no'.
And now I say 'yes'.
And I have your money
and I have the visa.
And I shall see you at that
airport with the funny name.
I love you.
I only said I love you.
Then I shall see you Wednesday.
Go away, my love.
Go away. Goodnight.
If she finds out what's happening she'll
take the next plane back to London.
I feel like somebody had
his hand in my stomach.
It will be alright.
I've been handling situations
since before you were born.
I think I should tell you
in so many words...
What it means to
rediscover one's father.
Okay. Now let's see what you've got.
So you see, Presbyterian or not.
Michael Servetus or not, and I told
you my father had no hand in it.
I adore him.
He'll drop your things by the hotel.
I wanted you to see where I live and
see if it meets with your disapproval.
Miriam, you are so beautiful.
I had forgotten.
You got off the plane and I remembered
everything except how beautiful you are.
Cliff, what is it?
What's what?
When a man says twice a woman
is beautiful, he's very troubled.
Or very much bored.
- Now Miriam, that isn't fair.
Oh Cliff, this being in love.
It's like such a terrible searchlight.
One sees so much. Too much.
What is it, darling?
Whatever it is, we forget it.
This is where you live.
I expected to find it like in
Hollywood movies, a fishbowl.
I'm sorry. I was...
I'm just not used to
being in love like this.
It's a little hard on the nerves.
What is this?
A piano.
A piano?
Oh.
I love you.
There's nothing else
I'm supposed to say.
For all I want is you.
And twelve crazy American children.
And what happens to
Mrs Linka? Who cares?
I was walking past Rockefeller
Center this morning.
And I almost came up to your office.
Here?
- Uhuh.
But I didn't of course.
It wouldn't be proper.
Well, look who is here.
Miriam, it is...
It's too crowded here.
- No. It's enchanting.
It's so American.
I can see everybody's feet.
They can see mine. I love this.
Who's that man over
there staring at you?
Slocum. Dan Slocum.
You know everybody, don't you.
He looks awful. Who is he?
- He is a competitor.
Oh. That's why he makes
you look so grumpy.
Cliff, I adore America already.
Do you know the other man?
He looks so British.
I used to know him quite well.
Just what happened over at Amalgamated?
I really know nothing about it.
- Come on, you can tell me.
It was your deal he lost.
- Who?
Mr hot-shot. Cliff Barton.
My reasons for ending
negotiations with Amalgamated...
Had nothing to do with Mr Barton.
Are you kidding?
They're having a board of
directors meeting tomorrow.
I understand they're going to
give him the old heave-ho.
What?
Come on. Let's have some fun.
Darling, what is it?
- Nothing at all.
Dan.
- Hi.
Mr Slocum, Mr Carew - Mrs Linka.
Mrs Linka.
How goes it, Cliff?
- Well enough.
I hear you're having a board
of directors meeting tomorrow.
Anything special?
- Not that I know of.
That's not what I heard.
See you around, old boy.
Mrs Linka.
Cigars?
Will you call me please at Regency
House. I'm going there at once.
Mrs Linka.
How about a cigar?
It was Mr Carew you were
seeing in London wasn't it?
Or who you should have seen in London
but instead you were always seeing me.
And now it's for Mr Slocum
who is your competitor...
That Mr Carew gets all the
attention he didn't get from you.
Miriam, nothing of the sort.
- There is something, Tell me.
Darling, believe me.
Mr Chutwell's comment
was bad enough, Mr Barton.
But that Mr Salt should have interpreted
my actions as a reflection on you.
What are you going to do?
You cannot resign.
You've met Mrs Linka.
It's abominable.
You will have to believe this.
Whether I lose out at Amalgamated
no longer concerns me.
Only, I have to lose everything.
Mrs Linka doesn't know?
- Not yet.
Mr Barton.
Will you go to Mr Guy Eliot today.
Now. And tell him all
that I've told you.
Tell him also.
I have made no commitments
regarding our West African concessions.
Either to Mr Slocum or to anybody else.
Nor do I intend to.
Until I've learnt what
is going to happen to you.
Let me out here, driver.
- Yes, sir.
Sorry you had to wait so long.
- Alright, sir.
Glad you came by. I want to talk to you.
- I've been seeing Carew.
I didn't like the way George
handled things the other night.
He lied about you, I'm reasonably sure.
It wasn't your idea was it,
holding back on the control proposal?
No.
He said it was.
Well, I've nothing against lying.
I lie all the time.
But you can see that
Carew didn't believe him.
And old George was just losing ground.
There were a lot of
things I didn't like.
We should have had you there.
A bad effect on a man like Carew.
Besides, it is weak.
Very weak.
In my opinion you should have been
given a free hand with Carew.
This way we come out with nothing.
A bad financial loss.
And I've an extreme prejudice
against bad financial losses.
Carew asked me to tell you...
I'm sure you can deliver Carew tomorrow.
Now we have a couple of problems.
George is a stubborn old goat.
He is still chairman.
Today anyway.
Say that again.
Look Barton, anything
can happen tomorrow.
Anything. You understand?
I understand.
Alright.
Now the other problem.
I'm going to ask you two questions.
This woman George tells
me you want to marry.
Are you satisfied there's
nothing subversive about her?
She's never been a communist
or anything like that?
I'm so satisfied.
Have you investigated her?
I have not.
That's all.
Mrs Linka. Mrs Miriam Linka please.
- Thank you.
Mrs Salt, I am...
A devious, ruthless and
quite untrustworthy woman.
When I say on the telephone:
'Come. We shall talk about refugees'.
I'm lying in my teeth.
I did not intend we talk about refugees.
Neither did I.
What is it?
Cliff?
Mrs Salt, what is it?
You don't know?
You don't know about the
accusations brought against you?
Accusations?
Mrs Linka, I came here...
To ask that you insist he resign.
Don't you know Mr Salt
asked for his resignation?
I did not... I am...
Mrs Salt.
I don't intend to repeat
the accusations.
They are of a nature both
political and moral.
I don't consider them responsible
myself but they needn't be these days.
Mrs Salt.
Besides that, the circumstances of
your life make it quite impossible...
For you to answer the charges.
So their nature is of no importance.
I don't believe you and
I will not believe you.
I told you.
Mr Salt has requested
Cliff's resignation.
He hadn't received it at noon today.
If Mr Salt doesn't receive
his resignation tomorrow...
That will be all for Cliff.
And for you.
How I admire Cliff.
How he hasn't told you.
How much he must love you.
Take him. Make him resign.
Get him out of New York.
Out of great business.
Out of this society of power.
Take him away while you're still
beautiful and young together.
Take him to some neglected
corner of the earth where...
Private values still have some meaning.
Mrs Salt.
There's no private life. Not here.
Not for a man that matters.
No love, no inward rightness.
There's only public relations
and public necessities.
I married a man whom
I loved very deeply.
And who I believed loved me.
Now we're just two old stone lions.
Staring into eternity
on the library steps.
My god.
I have substituted charities for love.
Meetings for marriage.
I've built great organisations on the
sound foundation of utter loneliness.
Take him. Make him resign.
If you love him.
How terribly you must love him still.
I didn't...
I was speaking for your sake. That is...
Why I was so grateful when
you called this morning.
You would not speak aloud
such prideful, private things...
For the sake of some strange
Mrs Linka whom you have never met.
Or even for Cliff.
No.
You're afraid that...
Cliff will fight.
You're in fear for your husband.
Who else would you so protect?
But it is so fine of you.
Mrs Salt.
I love Cliff.
And if he can win...
How can I tell him?
- He can't win.
He's destroyed himself
already by his love for you.
He may not know it. He's young.
My husband is not.
He has to do this thing
to Cliff tomorrow.
I believe it will kill him.
You see, he loves Cliff.
He loves no-one else on earth.
I wonder. I've tried to reach Mrs Linka
on the house phone since 5 o'clock.
You haven't seen her?
- No, sir.
She was up there around 3:30
when a Mrs George Salt came.
Sorry Mr Barton but we have no
Mrs Linka on tonight's plane.
No. Nor tomorrow.
Cliff.
Why don't you go back to your
apartment and get some rest.
I don't need any rest. I will...
I'm sorry, dad. I will...
I'll make a few more calls.
I thought I was too late.
You saw Mrs Salt.
I saw Mrs Salt.
You'll be glad to know then,
I resigned this afternoon.
I am out of Amalgamated.
You won't have to worry about being
married to an American businessman.
We'll leave for London in a few days.
I'm only sorry about
the piano if you like it.
It's a little big to take along.
If anybody is going to
leave for London...
It is I... and I will go alone.
You don't seem to understand that
I'm in love with your country.
Perhaps more than any of you.
But you Mrs Salt. Didn't she tell you?
It's not easy to horrify a woman who has
seen residence in concentration camps.
I'm still in love with your country.
Well, we are leaving.
In one family, Cliff.
There's room for only one refugee.
Oh, Cliff.
I have run. I've run and run.
And but for the grace of god and
you, I would be running still.
No.
There can't be two refugees.
Not in one family.
You mustn't run.
You mustn't.
I will read his letter of
resignation and ask for a motion.
It's just possible some of those
jokers may start raising the game.
Then you make a motion of acceptance.
That will hold them.
Cliff.
Shall we go in?
Just what I was telling you, Guy.
The deceiving, the going behind my back.
You gave me that
resignation yesterday...
Even though you knew that today, five
minutes before we're to go in there...
I did not know.
My father predicted this, Mr Salt.
That I'd start out wanting
a wife of my choice.
In the end it would take a crusade.
It's a hard choice.
It's taken me this long.
You know what I'll do to
you because I have to?
Because I have to.
Mr Salt.
I don't believe you run Amalgamated
in the company's best interests.
You're losing me. You have lost Carew.
I did not lose Carew.
- George. Do you mind?
I'll demonstrate you did.
I'll demonstrate that when power
comes to exist for itself alone it...
Becomes a losing proposition.
That when you leave no room for
men, your enemies or your friends...
When you can no longer recognise
the dignity of plain human beings...
It's because you are weak
not because you're strong.
I'll attack you Mr Salt because I must.
We do what we must do
despite all consequences...
And in that you're right
and in nothing else.
It's total power, not duty,
that is the world's illusion.
Shall we go in?
Cliff.
I'm going to ask you in there
what I asked you yesterday.
That's why you resigned, isn't it?
This woman that you're going to marry.
Are you satisfied there's
nothing subversive about her?
I'm so satisfied.
Have you investigated her?
- I have not.
Well, I have.
I got this yesterday.
The army kept a file on her ever since
she left a certain concentration camp.
Read your file to somebody else.
I'm marrying a woman,
not a set of statistics.
Go and total your indecent little 2s and
2s Mr Eliot and prove whatever you like.
This is a woman I love.
And there's no arithmetic this
side of heaven I will listen to.
You will excuse me.
- You will listen.
Because I don't like what I'm
doing any more than you do.
And because I'm not trying to
prove anything about Mrs Linka.
I'm proving something about you.
I'm not going to read all this.
It's too almighty long.
When she came back to Vienna,
she didn't have a nickel.
Husband dead.
She took a job in some
nightclub playing the piano.
She was supposed to
'entertain' our officers.
She wouldn't. She quit.
The Russians heard about it.
And offered her big money to go
back and work with our fellows.
No entertaining. Just conversation.
And report back to them what she heard.
She wouldn't be bought.
She reported back to our side
and we said: fine, take the job.
We'll double the money and you
tell us what the Russians say.
She told us where we could go.
George, it isn't that you've
made a fool of yourself.
That has nothing to do with it.
It's that I asked this fellow twice.
If he'd investigated her.
And twice, knowing what it
would mean if he said no.
Twice. Just the same,
that's what he said: No.
And I used to think you'd sell
your grandmother to get ahead.
Well, I'd like it understood that...
If the board fails to act on his
resignation then it must act on mine.
That's fine, George. Because I'd
like to see him have your job.
George, I want to ask you something.
Your system.
How is it going to turn out
anything but vice presidents?
Fellows who look alike, think alike.
Afraid of their jobs. Never say no.
Where do the presidents come from?
Fellows who say what the
think and mean what they say.
Where are they coming from?
Out of a race of vice presidents?
I hate to say this to you, George.
But you've had it.
We need a chairman.
We've got one right here.
Are we going to let him get away?
Let's go in.
For reasons of health, gentlemen...
I must ask you to accept my
resignation as your chairman.
The time comes for all of us.
With your approval...
I propose.
As my successor, your Vice Chairman.
Mister Barton.
I ask for a motion.
So moved.
Seconded.
Who is in favor?
- Aye.
Opposed?
The motion is carried.
Thank you, gentlemen. That's all.
Congratulations, Cliff.
Walk out with me, Cliff.
Keep up appearances.
Congratulations, Cliff.
Cliff.
Would you like your car, Mr Salt?
[ Whistle ]
I always knew someday you'd do
something to show me who's boss.
You sure did it, didn't you.
Now you must sit up there with yourself,
taking the rap and deciding what's what.
And someday.
Someone will come along and show you
who is the boss. Then you'll be like me.
You'll be wondering what did
I do that was wrong and...
Where do I go...
From here?
Here you are, Mr Salt.
George.
Goodbye, sir.
- Goodbye and good luck.
I've chartered this plane.
We're back the first of the week.
Goodbye.
- This won't take long.
Oh, you!
By the first of the week?
By the time I'm done with
you they will be citizens.
Oh, no!
A piano.
You did it, you did it!
..f-s..