Fortunes of War (1987) s01e03 Episode Script

Isn't she beautiful? Body by Fernandez.
All made of tulip wood.
Chassis alone cost two and a half thou.
Sterling, of course.
And no bullet holes.
Did they shoot at you? State secret, old man.
Could've ruined the bodywork.
Deeply grateful, old boy.
Anyone fancy a spin? What was that? The Iron Guard.
Our local fascists.
-I thought they'd been wiped out.
-They're probably running the country now.
Ugh This place use to serve the most beautiful cakes in Bucharest.
Life is hideous.
You should get Guy to take you into the mountains.
-He can't.
He's running a summer school.
-Where's he finding the students? No, don't tell me.
Mostly Jews, I expect, planning their retreat.
Yes.
-Be careful, both of you.
-Careful? If the Iron Guard is on the rampage again, there's no knowing what will happen.
They're anti-Semitic and anti-British.
Beating people up and throwing them out of windows is their idea of a pleasant afternoon's entertainment.
I'll be careful.
-Do you think they saw us? -They could hardly fail, dear boy.
How are you this morning? I'm fine, thank you.
Um, we shall have to ask you to stay up here for the moment.
We've given our servant a few days' holiday, but, um, we also have a Prince Yakimov staying with us and he really mustn't see you.
He isn't to be trusted.
Who is to be trusted? Well, I hope we are.
I'm fine.
I have a dog to keep me company.
Arka! Come! Auden, of course, reworked this theme of the liberator of his people.
And in so doing he made a very powerful comment on the way in which dictators create quite monstrous moral spoonerisms.
Uh, I don't know if any of you know his poem Epitaph on a Tyrant, but he ends with a quotation, with an altered quotation from Motley's Dutch Republic.
Now, it's a line which could very well apply to those dark forces of destiny, which are now in control of the fates of Germany and Italy.
It runs thus, ''And when he cried ''the little children died in the streets.
'' Now, let me end with a quotation from William Hazlitt, who, over 1 00 years ago, had this to say, ''The love of liberty is the love of others.
''The love of power ''is the love of ourselves.
'' Thank you.
You have a very strange way of teaching the English language.
These people know nothing about liberty.
Well, they have to understand, Sophie, language is liberty.
All they know is they need to learn English so they can run away to America.
-They're all very rude to me.
-Oh, don't be silly.
No one is nice to me.
The Romanians are rude because I'm half Jewish.
The Jews are rude because I'm half Romanian.
I'm advanced, so I prefer Englishmen.
Well, we're all citizens of the world, Sophie.
I cannot afford to be a citizen of the world.
I cannot afford to be a citizen of Bucharest.
Every quarter of my allowance goes poof! Well, we must all learn to live within our means, Sophie.
I work hard for your play.
I am the most beautiful Cressida, yes? Oh, yes, yes.
I lose a kilo from my weight.
I'm exhausted.
My doctor is most concerned.
-Would you have me die? -Uh, no, Sophie, I wouldn't have you die.
All I need is 50,000 lei, no more.
Well, the thing is Harriet organises the family finances now.
She's really much better at it than I am, so I can't really Harriet! I think I hate Harriet! Oh, there you are, dear boy! Oh, hello.
Met a friend of yours in the English Bar.
Toby Lush.
Toby Lush? -Toby Lush.
-Guy Pringle! Old friends, dear girl.
How are you keeping? On the run, the same as usual.
I was teaching up in Cluj, but the place started filling up with Germans! He wants a job.
Said I'd put in a word, dear boy.
Ah.
Um Guy do you know what Harriet reminds me of? Those lines of Tennyson.
''She walks in beauty, like the night Of cloudless climes and starry skies.
'' Byron.
Byron.
I was thinking the other day, haven't seen a banana for about a year.
And you're wonderful, too, mon prince.
I was very fond of bananas.
LUSH: I saw an occasional banana in Cluj.
Did you run away? Things are getting too hot.
The Germans have installed a Gauleiter.
Chap called Freddi Von Flugel.
Count Freddi Von Flugel? Used to be one of my best friends in the old days.
Came to all our parties in Paris.
Do you know we could all drive out to Cluj and see Freddi.
Be sure to give us blinis.
Hmm, from what Toby says, if we all go to Cluj, we shall all end up in prison.
I honestly feel more secure here in Bucharest, providing I can get some work.
If I don't work, I don't eat.
That isn't a universal rule.
Well, I'll have a chat with professor Inchcape.
We might be able to manage 20 hours a week.
I taught in Cluj.
Mod Eng Lit.
Yes, well, I think we'll probably steer you away from Byron and Tennyson.
-Are you going to clear away, darling? -No.
I need some fresh air while the men talk business.
And blinis.
-It's only me.
-Good.
Oh, don't.
May I look? If you wish.
It's very good.
I wish it were better.
When I was in Bessarabia, I saw some peasant paintings.
-They were wonderful.
-What sort of paintings? Shop signs.
In a little village with mud huts and a track between them.
It was jolly queer.
All the people living there were Jews.
It was an awful place.
But I expect they'd been driven out of everywhere else.
Did you have any friends in the army? Just one.
Marcovitch.
-Did he run away with you? -He died.
Will you tell me about it? We were ordered out of Bessarabia.
We were returning on the train, and he went down the corridor.
Didn't come back.
They'd thrown him off the train.
Who? Some of the soldiers.
Iron Guardists.
They said I should be careful or they'd throw me off, too.
Why did they do it? Because he was Jewish.
Why do they hate us so? The flags are at half-mast because Bessarabia has been given to the Russians.
Who has given Bessarabia to the Russians? King Carol and his government.
The Russians say ''please may we have Bessarabia?'' and Romania says ''help yourself''? It's a very good thing.
It'll keep out the Germans.
A good thing for Romania? -Without a doubt.
-Why are the flags at half-mast? Because the Romanians don't realise that the Russians are the best guarantee against a Hitler invasion.
Romania will continue to give bits of itself away until it disappears without trace.
What are you British doing? You fight the Germans! You should fight the Russians! Protect Romania against the Bolsheviks and the communists and the Jews! They lack any sense of their place in history.
Hmm.
My information is that the government will set up a diversion.
Start the Drucker trial.
Hmm.
Give the people somebody to hate.
Take their minds off Bessarabia.
-And what better than a Jewish banker? -Oh, that's obscene.
God help Sasha and the rest of the family.
I wish I could share Guy's faith in the Russians.
Guy has faith in everybody.
That's the problem.
He's an atheist with a religious temperament.
So he believes in Russia.
A home for little children above the bright, blue sky.
He doesn't just talk.
He does things.
He visited the political prisoners in the Vacaresti jail.
That's dangerous in a country like this.
I hope he doesn't do it now.
He doesn't tell me.
Just don't destroy his integrity.
How could I do that? He used to live out of a rucksack.
You're filling him with middle-class ideas.
You make him have a bath every day, get his hair cut.
-He has possessions.
-Not for long.
He loses most of them.
He may lose you, too.
Not to me.
I've made other arrangements.
What are those? Oh, a present from the consulate.
Um, every British subject has to fill one in.
It's the usual stuff.
Date of birth, next of kin, -who to inform in case of death.
-Just routine? Yes.
Are you frightened? What is there to be frightened of? Harbouring a deserter.
Well, we couldn't possibly send Sasha away.
I know.
We're not going to.
There.
All right.
Oh, it says religion.
I don't have any religion.
-Drinking? -Ha, ha, ha.
I should put Rationalist.
That doesn't count.
Well, my father wouldn't let me be baptised.
Put Baptist.
Baptists don't get baptised.
-I'll put Congregationalist.
-Whatever for? Well, I understand that soldiers who were Congregationalists used to avoid Church parades.
That sounds like a nice, awkward sect.
You realise when we die, we'll be in different places? We're mostly in different places now.
You'll be in limbo.
When we die, we shall both be nowhere.
And I shall regret that very much.
I baptise thee, Guy, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
Thank you very much for coming here.
I'm sorry to have kept you waiting.
I have to tell you that, um, due to the worsening political situation, it is our opinion at the Legation that the summer school should close down.
And that all of you should return to England as soon as possible.
May I interject with a spot of good news? By all means.
I've just heard the news that last night the RAF bombed Berlin.
Splendid! I quite agree.
Splendid.
But the previous night the Germans bombed London.
We're in the early stages of war.
We're in no position even to think about victory, and the harsh facts are these.
Here in Bucharest, the Iron Guard is gaining control.
There's talk that King Carol might be forced to abdicate, in which case the Iron Guard would take control and invite Hitler to join them.
LUSH: I saw the same pattern in Cluj.
May I say something? I'm of military age, so is Clarence, so are Dubedat and Lush.
Now, our contemporaries are in uniform.
I don't think we're in any more danger here than we would be in the Western desert.
And I don't think we're entitled to special privileges.
And if, as you say, the forces of darkness are closing in on us, then it is our duty to shine a little light and hope that someone might notice.
But all we can offer are pathetic gestures.
All the people in Bucharest are in much greater danger than we are.
We represent all that is left of Western culture and democratic ideals.
Now, if that's a pathetic gesture, so be it.
I'm prepared to make it.
But what are you really talking about? A handful of Jewish students.
While they remain loyal to us, we must remain loyal to them.
Besides, Professor Lord Pinkrose will be arriving any day now.
Who the hell is Professor Lord Pinkrose? He's probably the world's leading authority on Byron.
He's coming here to deliver the Cantacuzino lecture.
Oh, this is so bloody British! The Balkans are going up in flames, and some old buffer's on his way out here to teach the natives about poetry.
Bloody hell.
Nonetheless, it is so.
Yes, well, um of course, we can't tell you what to do.
We can only advise.
And I'm here to advise you that we can no longer guarantee your safety.
-How did that strike you? -Dull thud.
Oi! Give us a couple of beers.
-Those two seem to get on depressingly well.
-Birds of a dismal feather.
I think Dubedat looks like the grime left by bathwater.
And Lush looks like the bathwater.
Sophie says you're hard.
She' s right.
Sophie? I told you.
I've made other arrangements.
I give you a direct quote from Adolf Hitler.
He said, ''Don't forget, I'm Romania's father, too.
'' Now, when the bastard talks like that, I pack my bags, keep the engine running.
Yes, well, they all talk like that.
It's written on the instructions -that come with the dictator set.
-These Balkan countries are all alike.
Takes a bunch of crooks to run them.
Are those crooks I hear singing? The Iron Guard's having a reception upstairs.
They're all busy practising their German.
I think we should go.
Yes.
I'm feeling a little isolated, I must confess.
Don't know the words.
Such a demonstration of national unity and loyalty I have never before heard.
A strategic withdrawal seems to be the order of the day.
I'll stay here.
Maintain a bridgehead, give covering fire and intimidate them with my press card.
What did Horace say, Willie? Well, the gist of it is we may leave when they say so and not before.
The Iron Guard is forging an alliance with the Master Race.
How many are we? We're six, I think.
I know.
If we all put our shoulders against this chap and when I say ''shove'', we all shove.
-I know a better way.
-Harriet! Darling, do you think that's wise? Ah! Mrs Pringle, you are a credit to the empire.
Despina queued for two hours in the marketplace this morning and got some tangerines.
-Would you like one? -Thank you.
-And the newspaper.
-Tangerines first.
I'll save the newspaper.
It mentions your father's trial.
First page.
They always need an enemy.
I would like to go to the trial.
That's impossible.
The military police are looking for you.
I could stand across the road from the courthouse.
I could watch him leaving the building.
I want to look at my father.
It's too dangerous.
You could go.
Me? -You really saw him? -Yes, I really saw him.
And spoke to him? And told him I'm living here? Yes.
And? He's looking very well and he sends his love.
Hungarians march into Cluj on the 5th.
I want somebody there to see it.
A lot safer than here.
Revolution any day.
You mark my words.
Abdication of the King.
Iron Guard takeover.
Streets running with blood.
I can see it all.
Practically written the story.
Whereas Cluj, pleasant company, good food, nice people, couple of nights.
All expenses paid.
Well, I suppose I could visit Freddi.
Freddi? Count Freddi Von Flugel.
Old friend.
He's a bloody Gauleiter! Hitler's man! You can't go and see him! Ah, he keeps a good table, magnificent cellar.
All right, go and see him if you want to.
Just keep me out of it.
Give you 5,000 for expenses.
On departure.
Done? He might give me blinis.
Done.
Very probably, yes.
You're not worried? Well, I have no power to prevent it, darling.
Uh I think I'll be going away for a couple of days, dear ones.
-Going away? -Mmm.
Going to Cluj.
Maintain a watching brief.
On what? Difficult to say till one's maintained the watch, so to speak.
-Are you driving? -No.
The old girl's up for sale.
No readies to buy petrol.
No petrol to be bought.
Gave way to the inevitable.
You'll find her on the Boulevard Bratianu, if you're interested.
I'm sorry.
I know how fond of her you were.
Dear girl.
-Something rather odd happened.
-Hm? Well, according to the salesman, another car for sale.
Property of Toby Lush.
According to him, Mr Lush and Mr Dubedat have gone away, left town.
Clean pair of heels.
It's just an unconfirmed rumour.
They're always the most interesting.
Guy, is that true? Have Lush and Dubedat run away? Well, they didn't turn up for classes yesterday.
Guy! -Have they run away? -Yes, they've gone to Istanbul.
-So now you're on your own at the university? -I can manage.
Why is it always you? You're married to a courageous and dedicated man, dear girl.
-Obstinate and foolhardy.
-Also.
Damn! -Guy, I think we should leave.
-Well, darling, you know we can't.
I know we can't.
Yes.
An Englishman going to Cluj? On business? I'm a journalist.
An English journalist going to Cluj? They will shoot you.
Who will? The Romanian, the Hungarian, the German.
They shoot anybody who is not Romanian, or Hungarian, or German.
Poor man.
Freddi! Is it possible? Yaki, mein liebe.
.
So many bridges gone under the water since we last met.
I must apologise for the sandwiches, mein liebe.
, but the cook has gone home.
Oh, no matter, dear boy.
Bananas.
So how do we enjoy my modest little lounge? Lounge? You sound like an estate agent from Hounslow.
But it does make a change.
Been living a bit rough.
War, you know.
-That's why I've taken this job on.
-You? Ajob? Well, let's call it a war correspondent.
A person of consequence.
Oh, yes, dear boy, oodles of consequence.
Might I hazard a guess that you are attached to the British Legation in Bucharest? Not attached, exactly.
Dobbie Dobson's an old chum.
Do you know a Mr Leverett? Foxy Leverett.
First-class chap.
Give your people a spot of bother before this nonsense is over.
Do they really tell you everything? Just to give you an idea.
-Where did you get this? -Not at liberty to say.
You can't keep it, dear boy.
I was simply showing you, between friends.
What is this game, Yaki? Game? Do you take me for a simpleton? No.
Well, I'd say we were about level in the simpleton stakes.
You come to me, a Nazi official, and you say to me, ''I am a secret agent.
''Here are my sabotage plans.
''Please hand me over to the Gestapo.
'' Gestapo! Don't be absurd, dear boy.
You confess you are a British agent.
What else can I do but hand you over to the Gestapo? I ask you, do I look like a secret agent? If you are not a secret agent, who is? These days, practically everybody.
-Where did you get the plans? -Guy Pringle, the chap I'm I'm staying with.
Good.
Tell me about your friend, Guy Pringle.
Tell me about his friends.
And if you're a very good boy, I will permit you to leave on the morning train.
-Where do you travel? -Bucharest.
I go to Istanbul.
In Bucharest, they will shoot you.
Eh? It was pretty quiet when I left.
Smooth as a millpond.
Now the King abdicates, and there is a shooting.
Who's shooting whom? Everybody is shooting everybody.
Switch that damned light out! Pleasure, dear boy.
I say, dear girl, do do tell what's going on.
The army's been called out.
-They're expecting an attack on the palace.
-Keep your voices down, for God's sake.
Who's going to attack the palace? The Iron Guard.
Oh, the chaps who march about in that peculiar fashion? There they go.
Um Guy all right? Of course he is.
Why shouldn't he be? Natural concern for people I love.
Is this what they call revolution? -Something of the sort.
-Oh.
I'lljust go to my room.
I may be some time.
Guy, come and look.
Yes.
I see what you mean, darling.
We really must do something about getting Sasha a passport.
Do you ever listen to the German broadcasts? -Of course not.
-Nor do I.
And I don't want to worry you, -but -Bella, what is it? A friend of mine telephoned me.
Doamna Pavlovici.
She listens.
Last night, they read a list of names.
They said, ''These men will be answerable to the Gestapo.
'' Who were they? -Foxy Leverett and David Boyd.
-They have diplomatic protection.
-And Professor Inchcape and Clarence Lawson.
-And Guy? Yes.
Guy Pringle was on the list.
They called it a Death List.
-She called it a Death List.
-They do it all the time.
I've heard of names on the German Death List of chaps already dead.
Now, Harriet, I really do have rather more pressing matters on my mind at the moment.
Forgive me, Professor Inchcape, but what can be more pressing than your own impending assassination? Professor Lord Pinkrose is arriving to deliver the Cantacuzino lecture.
Look, it's all part of their propaganda method.
They don't really intend to kill me.
I mean, what possible point would there be in that? I'm of no military importance.
You're the same as Inchcape.
Stiff upper lip.
-Whistle and smile under all difficulties.
-It works.
-Professor Pinkrose! -Professor Lord Pinkrose.
Guy Pringle.
This is my wife, Harriet Pringle.
What in heaven's name is going on? I thought this was supposed to be a neutral country.
Well, they're celebrating a 1 0-year pact between Germany and Romania.
Really? What are we doing about it? Uh, well, I think we're hoping your lecture will boost morale.
Of course! -Professor Inchcape said he'd be here? -Oh, yes, yes.
-Then where is he? -Well, something must have happened.
I Guy! Guy! Heard about Foxy Leverett? The secret agent with the moustache? Found dead this morning, a hundred yards from the Legation.
Beaten up, shot, thrown from a passing car.
In that order.
Well, that's very precise.
Did you see it? That's what it'll say in my paper.
The fellow's handed in his hat, anyway.
Died a hero's death in the service of his country.
The fact that he was pissed as a newt, shouting the odds about Hitler in some bar or other is none of my business.
Editorial discretion.
Ah, Professor Lord Pinkrose! Welcome to Bucharest.
Inchcape.
How did this comedian get here? Lord Pinkrose has come to deliver the Cantacuzino lecture.
The what? It's given every other year, in English, as part of our cultural programme.
Lord Pinkrose will be lecturing on the poetry of Byron.
You couldn't raise an audience for a lecture on Byron if Lord George bloody Byron was giving it in person with complimentary sonnets! I'm in the bar.
The Balkans may seem a trifle unhinged superficially, but scratch more deeply -and you may find -A lunatic asylum? Well, my lord, all these things are relative.
Leverett was on the list.
-What list? -The same list your name was on.
We had a letter from Turkey this morning.
Yaki says he's weighed down with loneliness and kebabs.
You were looking for a photograph.
Yes.
Sasha Drucker's with you? Yes.
We need one of your Polish friends to make a forged passport.
My Polish friends are all gone.
There must be one Polish friend.
God! -Well, has anyone sent for a doctor? I don't need a doctor.
Well, I'm going to ring for a doctor.
Harriet, will you please tell your husband that I do not trust Romanians with my blood? Guy? Mr Inchcape.
-Professor Inchcape.
If an elderly professor is brutally attacked by fascist thugs, my readers want to know what sort of weapon was used, -and how many times they hit him with it! -Must you? I was struck two glancing blows with a framed photograph of our respected Prime Minister.
Repeated blows to the skull with an oak-framed portrait of Winston Churchill.
Oak? Everybody's heard of oak.
On a main street, in a neutral European capital city, and not a soul lifted a finger to help.
Because they were all piss-scared! So am I.
All Sasha ever does is play the mouth organ.
We're lucky.
When he was at home, he had a saxophone.
I think you should take him out of the country with you when you go.
He'll be safer with you.
When I go? Yes.
Don't you mean when we go? Well, I have to run the department.
Inchcape's out of commission now.
There is no department.
Everything's locked, barred and bolted.
You said so yourself.
I'm working on the assumption that everything will be back to normal for the autumn term.
I have to prepare Nothing will ever be back to normal.
Well, I have to believe in normality, darling.
If I can't believe in that, life's hardly worth living, is it? Don't I make your life worth living? Well, yes, you Well, of course, you do, but you know what I mean.
Germany seems to have captured Yaki's car.
Dobson says I should take myself off to Turkey with people from the Legation.
-Good idea.
-But we can't run away.
I'm not going to run away from a lot of hooligans with pickaxe handles.
I thought you were struck with a portrait of the Prime Minister? And you wouldn't be running away.
You'd be taking the leave that's due to you.
I'm here to represent you until you return.
Not that there's very much to represent.
A vandalised Information Bureau and a chained and padlocked English department.
And Lord Pinkrose.
Perfectly decent chap, you know, Pinkrose.
He just can't forgive the world outside of Cambridge for not being Cambridge.
Guy, I'm not really running away, am I? No.
You're not running away.
Running away? You bet.
Every stout-hearted Englishman with a grain of common sense is getting the hell out.
They're making block bookings on the Orient Express.
I've been treated outrageously! Let me show you something, Pinky.
See those chaps? PINKROSE: Without my distance spectacles, all I see is just a blur.
Well, those blurs are W/ehrmachtFeldpolizei.
This hotel is swarming with blurs just like them.
Given the chance, those blurs will deprive you of your most precious possessions, like blood and breath! Those blurs beat the living daylights out of Professor Inchcape.
Inchcape? What happened to Inchcape? You mean the bastards didn't tell you? My word, you've been treated outrageously.
-Are you running away? -LAWSON: More or less.
I'm going to Ankara.
With Sophie.
With Sophie? Well Well, this is splendid! Well, I shall drink to that.
-And you're going to marry her, of course.
-I suppose so.
-What about Brenda? -GUY: Brenda? Clarence has this fiancée in England called Brenda.
Haven't you? I'll send her a postcard, let her know what's happened.
''Wish you were here''? That's why I called.
To say goodbye and to collect the shirts.
Shirts? Why are you collecting shirts? You borrowed some clothes from the Polish relief.
Two shirts, two vests, two pairs of underpants, and a balaclava helmet.
But the Polish Relief's closed.
All the Poles have gone.
We're selling the stuff to the Romanian army.
Everything has to be accounted for.
-You really want them back? -Of course he does.
They weren't mine to give.
I lent them.
You signed for them.
Well, good luck.
That's what I say, Clarence.
And may Sophie make you a splendid wife.
Right! Two shirts.
The vest is at the laundry, the underpants disintegrated, and Guy lost the balaclava.
-Oh, sorry.
-Two shirts? Two shirts.
-I think you've been most irresponsible! -Oh, for heaven's sake! If you want them, then go down and get them! I'm shocked, Harriet.
Why should you be? You always said I was a bitch.
I thought giving back the shirts was the least you could do in return for what I brought you.
What have you brought me? A passport for your young friend Drucker.
It's Hungarian.
In the name of Gabor.
We put in visas for Turkey, Bulgaria, and Greece.
-Oh, Clarence! -You won't forget me? Of course I won't forget you.
Guy.
-Give my regards to Dobson.
-I will, sir.
Where's Harriet? Thank you.
Wrong glasses.
-What are we going to see? -What are we going to see, darling? GUY: Um, I think the posters said Rigoletto.
HARRIET: Not Rigoletto.
-Ah, not Rigoletto.
- Tannhauser.
-Ah.
-Not Rigoletto? Excuse me.
I am sorry.
This is typical of the way I've been treated.
I can assure you, Lord Pinkrose, the poster said Rigoletto.
From the moment I've arrived, I've been kept in total ignorance of what is going on! I find myself in a hostile town masquerading as a capital city, ruffians roaming the streets, the Gestapo in every nook and cranny.
I cannot accept responsibility for history! Nobody told me No, no, no, no, no! I've had to rely for my information on some rapscallion from a popular newspaper! -Galpin? -I don't know the man's name.
Questions will be asked, Pringle.
-Questions will be asked.
-Oh! Which way is my hotel? Mrs Pringle.
Sasha! Well, they'll kill him, of course.
Of course.
-You'll be careful? -Darling, when will you realise, I'm immortal! Little monkey paws.
Come on, off you go.
I'll see you in Athens.
Little monkeypaws.
Come on, offyou go.
I'llseeyou In Athens.