The Winds of War (1983) s01e03 Episode Script
Cataclysm
Mussolini speaks very little English.
How's your ltalian? Fair.
Normally l'd be accompanied by our ambassador, but this whole errand is unusual.
The president feels that a negative reply to a San Francisco banker would not affect formal relations between our two countries.
The president highly values your discretion and feels it might be wise to have you along at my interviews.
Another pair of eyes and ears.
l'm not sure that ll Duce will like it.
Suppose l just come along as though it were the natural thing, unless, of course, they stop me.
Duce.
The Fuehrer will know long before you get the chance to tell him.
OK.
Commander Henry to see Captain Kirkwood.
Commander Henry, sir.
Captain Kirkwood won't be in until this evening.
You're welcome to use his office if you like.
Very well.
Oh, sir, the captain left an envelope.
lt's on the desk.
''Captain Roger Kirkwood presents his compliments to Captain Victor Henry, ''and trusts he is free to dine at 9 at the Osteria dell'Orso.
''P.
S.
You're out of uniform, Pug.
''Four stripes, please.
'' - Congratulations, captain.
- Thank you.
l'm catching the morning train to Berlin.
Would you convey my regrets to Captain Kirkwood regarding dinner? - Aye, aye, sir.
- And l'm expecting my son.
- Will you show him right in, please? - Yes, sir.
Hey, Dad, four stripes, and on the first ALNAV too.
- Congratulations.
- Thanks.
Glad l came to Rome now, just for this.
Surprised me, after all my shore duty.
One's not supposed to mention this kind of thing, but doesn't this put you way at the front of your class? You're never in front until you retire.
All it takes now is one false move.
Some helmsman doping off on midwatch.
l've got to go to the hotel and change clothes.
l gotta catch a train.
Sorry about breakfast, Briny.
lncidentally, that submarine school starts classes in June, right after Warren's wedding, so if you apply now June's a long way off.
How about if l ride to the station with you? Hey, Dad, you know, l'm really proud you made captain.
About sub school Look, if Natalie stays in the States, well, who knows? - What do you mean, l'm not going? - Your name is not on the invitation.
But that's just their form.
Wives always go.
l'm just going there for security reasons.
Take my word for it.
Security reasons! That old chestnut.
When you want things your way, it's always security reasons.
l'd rather take you along.
You know that.
Then prove it.
Call the protocol officer at the air ministry.
Or if you're too bashful, l will.
Are you well? l'm bored! This Berlin weather stinks.
Everything stinks.
l have horrible headaches.
You're never here.
- l'm going out of my mind.
- You will not call the air ministry.
- Hitler will be at Karinhall.
- l know.
All Berlin's talking about this party at the Goerings.
Oh, here's a letter from that Kirby fellow.
- l wonder what he's got to say.
- Read it.
Dull as he is.
All about how glad he is to be home and how good the skiing is in Denver.
Three pages of nothing.
- Well, you look wonderful.
- l do not.
That darned hairdresser baked my hair to shredded wheat again.
l'm tired.
l'll open a couple of bottles of champagne and we'll celebrate my promotion.
Celebrate it with the Goerings.
Oh, if only he could marry, eh, Luigi? He loves children.
Stoller! Reich Marshal Goering told me you'd be here.
Captain Henry.
Wolf Stoller, one of the great German bankers.
General Armin von Roon is my good friend.
He's a tough tennis player.
He speaks highly of your tennis and of you.
l'll tell you what, they promised - Oh, yes.
- lt's a fairyland.
Oh, we are quite mad about San Francisco.
Mostly because of Luigi's hospitality.
Always a pleasure.
At last we can reciprocate.
You must come to Abendruh.
- Our little country place.
- This weekend.
- We're giving a small party.
- Yes.
- You too, captain, of course.
- General von Roon will be there.
Unfortunately, l fly to Lisbon first thing in the morning.
But you don't fly to Lisbon.
l'm sure Mrs.
Henry will enjoy the outing.
Said and done.
Good.
Brigitte will excuse us.
l think Alas, no time to show you the wonders of Karinhall.
The Reich marshal and the foreign minister are waiting.
- These are indeed wonders.
- Just odds and ends.
Gifts from governments, from cities, from monarchs.
He is a brilliant collector.
- A man of great wealth.
- Oh, wealth You will have exactly seven minutes of the Fuehrer's time to state your business.
Your Excellency, l am here in a private capacity, and l regard that amount of time as an extraordinary courtesy.
This peculiar visitation is another studied insult by your president to the Fuehrer.
Between civilized countries, the diplomatic structure is used.
Germany did not withdraw its ambassador in Washington by choice! The United States first made the hostile gesture.
Your president's change of the so-called Neutrality Act that he pushed through Congress is a blatant act of aggression against Germany.
And your maladroit mission is a show of contempt for a powerful nation of 80 million people.
May l respectfully The willingness of the Fuehrer to give a hearing in these circumstances is a testimony to his desire for peace that history will record some day.
And that, l'm afraid, is the sole value this peculiar interview possesses.
Captain Henry, l beg you to confirm my instructions to the great field marshal.
We already know all that, andwe also know the question.
Your president feels that from time to time he must give me those stern, fatherly admonitions, but, of course, l am giving up my life for the renaissance of my people.
And l cannot help seeing things from that limited point of view.
Germany's political aims are simple, open, moderate and unchanging.
Five centuries before Columbus discovered America, there was a German empire at the heart of Europe.
War has come over and over to this heartland through the attempts of many powers to fragment the vigorous German people.
And often their attempts have had temporary success.
But the German nation, with its strong instinct for survival has time and time rallied and thrown off the foreign partitioners.
And so l restored the Rhineland, l brought back Austria into the Reich, l normalized the Bohemian plateau, and the manufactured monstrosity of Czechoslovakia has once again become the traditional protectorate of the Reich.
Now this restoration of normal Germany is complete, and it has been done almost without bloodshed.
Only Britain's foolish guarantee to Poland forced on me the brief police action to solve the Polish question.
l share the president's desire for peace.
l hunger and yearn for it.
l was born to create! Not to destroy.
l am an artist, a builder.
But the British and French leaders called for the destruction of Hitlerism.
l have made Germany strong again, and that does not suit them.
But this, their hate, if persisted in, will doom Europe, because l and the German people cannot be separated.
We are one.
This is a simple truth, though l fear it will need a test of fire to prove it.
How can they be so blind? l achieved air parity in 1937.
Since then l have not stopped building planes, planes, planes! U-boats, U-boats, U-boats! l have piled bombs, bombs, bombs, tanks, tanks, tanks to the sky! What a wasteful, staggering burden on my people, but our enemies understand no other language.
Out of strength, l have offered the outstretched hand of peace.
l was rejected, scorned! At the price of peace, our foes demand my head.
My people only laugh at such pathetic nonsense.
l have done my utmost, and my conscience is clear before the bar of history.
So let the test of fire come.
Germany will emerge victorious.
lf not, we will all go down together, and Europe as we know it will cease to exist! Now this visit of Sumner Welles, l have no wish to return discourtesy for discourtesy.
l would do anything for peace.
But until the British will to destroy me itself is destroyed, the only road to peace is through German victory.
Anything else is irrelevant.
l will continue to hope with all my heart for a last-minute signal of sanity from the other side, before the great cataclysm bursts on the world.
My observation, Mr.
President, is that aII three men acted as though the offensive in the West is ready to roII.
I don't think they give a damn whether WeIIes comes or not.
If the British are reaIIy as set on their terms as HitIer is on his, you'II have an aII-out war in the spring.
The gIimpse of cross-purposes at the top may show a weakness of the Nazi structure, but it has nothing to do with HitIer's hoId on the Germans.
That incIudes Goering and Ribbentrop.
When he entered the room, they cringed.
If HitIer were the haIf-crazy, haIf-comicaI gangster we've been reading about, this war wouId be a pushover.
UnfortunateIy for the AIIies, he is a very abIe man.
Now, this is everything on StoIIer.
His bank is the conduit by which Goering has become so rich.
- Mainly by extortion from Jews.
- l didn't know that, sir.
Oh, it's all very legal, German style.
The new laws put stiff restrictions on Jewish firms.
They can't get export licenses, can't use the railroad, shipping and so on.
Heavy taxes.
Naturally, after a while, they go under.
Now, Stoller's bank has access to the Gestapo.
He is the first person who knows when a big Jewish firm is sinking to its knees.
So he steps in with a very low takeover bid.
Other bankers won't bid against a Goering front, so the Jewish owners sell for a song, Goering acquires another major company, and Stoller is in there for a big share.
l'll just decline the invitation.
Your business is gathering intelligence.
Just know what you're getting into.
Life with you is full of marvelous surprises.
Please come with me.
Well, l must say, this is very peculiar.
Well, this is more like it.
Oh, what a magnificent suite! Yeah, Wolf Stoller hasn't done too bad for himself.
l would say.
Come in.
Sir, madam, dinner will be at 7.
We are here to assist you with dressing.
What's all that? Well, Rhoda, now you know why they brought us up the back way.
Oh, dear heaven, Pug, l'll die! l can't possibly.
l've practically nothing on underneath.
Why can't they warn a girl?! When in Rome - General.
- Oh, Henry.
Quite an icebreaker.
Stoller, l must say, has quite an individual touch.
You'd never know there was a war on.
There hardly is.
First blitzkrieg, and now sitzkrieg.
''The Phony War.
'' And how long does that continue? That is up to the opposition.
Our Fuehrer has offered peace.
They can have it tomorrow.
lf they accept his conquests and his crimes.
Crimes? Well, the rape of Czechoslovakia, for one.
The Allies themselves handed Czechoslovakia to him at Munich.
And Poland? As for Poland Some other time.
l found this all laid out for me this morning.
Oh, Pug, l may never leave Abendruh.
The British regard the invasion of Poland as a crime.
Poland was worse than a crime.
lt was a mistake.
The great victory? The Fuehrer bluffed himself into a corner over Poland.
He got out of it with a pact with Stalin.
A coup de theatre, perhaps, but the Russians gained half of Poland without firing a shot.
A strategic disaster for us, despite our victory in the field.
Great men can make great mistakes.
And with greatness, maybe they overcome them.
- You call Hitler great? - A great politician, without question.
He has united the country, like your Roosevelt.
He is what l believe you call a ''winner''.
And his master-race stuff, you buy that too? Bunkum for the masses.
A vulgar distortion of German nationalism.
But that is politics for you.
You're not a Nazi, then.
l? l am a conservative monarchist.
Do the other generals think as you do? As in your Navy, l imagine, we have all kinds.
l see.
One thing we all share: Loyalty to the head of state.
One thing we all believe: Orders are orders.
Let us join the others.
There is Captain Henry.
What better authority do you want? - Let's ask him.
- lt might embarrass him.
No war talk, please.
That's out.
This weekend is for pleasure.
l don't mind.
What's the question? Please - l am, as you know, an actor.
- One of Germany's greatest.
l create illusions for a living.
And l say it is an illusion to hope that the United States will ever allow England to go down.
Please, let's talk of something else.
l'm a businessman, a realist.
l maintain this isn't 191 7.
The Americans are realists.
Once Europe is normalized, we can have a thousand years of peace.
What do you say, Captain Henry? The problem may never come up.
You still have to lick England.
Oh, l think we can assume that's in the cards.
Providing the Americans don't step in.
Your president doesn't try to hide his British sympathies, eh, Victor? Although, wouldn't you say that the people are against him, or at least sharply split? Yes, but America is a strange country, Herr Stoller.
Public opinion can change fast.
Remember that in dealing with us.
Public opinion doesn't just change.
lt is manufactured.
There you have the live nerve.
The power of the Jews.
l think you exaggerate that.
You fellows tend to do that, as a form of kidding yourselves.
Victor, who is your minister of the treasury? The Jew, Morgenthau.
Who sits in your highest court with the most power? The Jew, Frankfurter.
Who? Well, l could go on and on.
But no.
Admit it, Victor.
The Jews have American finance, communications, justice, even the presidency in their pockets.
To begin with the treasury post has very little power.
All the other cabinet positions are held by Christians.
Financial power lies in banking, shipping, oil and so forth.
All in the hands of Christians, always has been.
That's always the Jewish line, how unimportant they are.
You recommend that we force them out of their businesses at 10 cents on the dollar? You are better-informed than many Americans, Victor.
But anyway, it would be an excellent idea for the health of your economy.
And you'll come to it sooner or later.
Please, Stoller, enough of this! But is it truly your position that the Jewish question really has no bearing on America's entry into the war? Oh, l didn't say that.
Americans react very sharply to injustice and suffering.
And your Negroes in the South? lt's bad, but it's getting better.
And we don't put them behind barbed wire.
That's a political penalty.
A Jew who behaves himself doesn't go to a camp.
No, the American Jews would be making the greatest possible mistake to drag in the United States.
You know what the Fuehrer said in his January speech: ''lf they start another world war, that will be the end of them.
'' And he was in deadly earnest, l assure you.
War or peace is not in the hands of the Jews.
You've greatly distorted that situation.
l don't think so.
Anyway, l can only pray that your government will come to its senses.
And soon, so that the Jews might be spared the very, very bad fate which they seem determined to bring on themselves.
Now, we have a little lunch prepared, gentlemen.
Nothing elaborate, you understand, but what would you say to an omelet, a glass of champagne? Please.
- Who are you? - Rosenthal.
- You are living in my house.
- Of course.
Forgive me but my wife and l are going to be sent to Poland soon.
And we were wondering if there were any articles in our home you and Mrs.
Henry would care tobuy.
But you have a factory here.
You must have people who can keep an eye on things until conditions improve.
ln fact, l have sold my firm.
So there is nobody.
To Stoller Bank? You know about these matters? l have received a very fair price.
Very fair.
Herr Rosenthal, l told you when we rented your house, l had no wish to profit by your misfortune.
l don't.
l do not.
Captain Henry, you could not possibly do me or Frau Rosenthal a greater kindness.
lf you want to telephone me, you can get me here.
Merry Christmas.
There you are! - What on earth? - l decided to walk.
Four miles in the snow? We're due back at the embassy at 8:00.
l'll change clothes real fast.
Lord, l hope this party will be fun.
This is one grim Christmas.
Amen.
The best parties you have ever seen.
They are the nicest people.
Spending time with the Stollers? Honey, the trouble with you is, you don't know what the hell is going on.
How dare you say that to me?! Hey, what's it all about, Fred? The Wolf Stollers, Pug.
Loveliest people your wife ever met.
l said the nicest Germans, and they are.
l thought broadcasters were supposed to be impartial.
You are wildly prejudiced.
Time for you to go home, Rhoda.
And what does that mean? lf you think the Wolf Stollers are nice, you've got to get back on American chow and The New York Times.
Well, aren't we the nice, clever radio personality? l just know the German people are not monsters with tails and horns.
They're just ordinary people, however misguided.
Or did some Fraulein climb into your bed with cloven hoofs, dear? lt might be easier to navigate in this country, Rhoda, if the bad ones did sprout horns and grow hair on the palms of their hands or something.
What Wolf Stoller has on his palms is blood, lots of it.
He acts unaware of it.
You encourage his color-blindness by acting the same way.
Lords of mercy me! lf that isn't the wildest poppycock! Freddie Fearing, you are the one who should go home.
Merry Christmas.
Now, Fred, it's Pug's job to socialize with people like Stoller.
l propose a moratorium tonight on discussing Germans.
- l agree! - Hear, hear.
l agree.
- Absolutely.
- Christmas Eve.
Pug Henry, l like you.
l guess l'll go for a walk.
Fred.
Fred? - Forget it.
- Fred.
- Pass the wine, will you? - Yes.
Give me ''Give me'' have some.
That Freddie Fearing.
Big-shot authority on Germany, he thinks.
Why, Mrs.
Stoller is an absolute darling.
We meet at the hairdresser and gab away by the hour.
We're already invited to the big hunt party in April at Abendruh.
- We'll decline.
- What? We're never going back to Abendruh, Rhoda.
We most certainly are.
The only fun l have had here Wolf Stoller is Goering's man for extorting money from the Jews.
He can't be.
That's what Fearing was talking about.
Claremont showed me the file on Stoller.
He's made millions out of it.
That charming man? That charming man drove Rosenthal to the wall.
- Rosenthal? - The man we rent our house from.
He approached me tonight on the street, like a beggar.
He wanted us to buy some things from his house.
Anything for a little cash, because they're shipping him to Poland.
How awful.
What did you say? l didn't take him up on it.
l don't want to suck his blood.
The man must be desperate for money.
l'd be glad to give him money.
l will not buy up his possessions.
He won't accept your money.
There are lovely things in the house.
We can pay him a very fair price.
A very fair price? Like Stoller gave him a very fair price? l think it's time we got out of this hellish town, Rhoda.
l don't want to be disturbed.
Dear AdmiraI PrebIe: I am requesting BuPers to reIieve me, preferabIy before ApriI, and the sooner the better.
BerIin is a nightmarish pIace.
It's bad for me, worse for Rhoda.
I've trained 25 years for combat at sea.
I'm a gunnery man and nothing eIse.
I ask, I beg for transfer to sea duty.
Pressure against Sweden and Norway in the intensified bIockade sunk the Norwegian ship Navarra.
Briny, dear, the doctor says my father's coming aIong Just fine, but I don't Iike his fragiIe Iook.
He doesn't do much but sit in the sun and Iisten to the news.
He's terribIy worried about UncIe Aaron.
He never used to speak much of him.
Now he goes on and on about him.
He's terrified that HitIer is a deviI who's going to conquer the worId and murder aII the Jews.
WeII, it won't be Iong untiI your brother's wedding, wiII it? Time flies.
Before we face each other again, I'd better IeveI with you about me and LesIie SIote.
Don't panic, Iove.
It's nothing earth-shaking.
Last December, when I reached New York and found out my father was out of the hospitaI, I decided to stop off in Washington to see LesIie.
I owed him that much, dear.
He was definiteIy not expecting the answer I brought back to his proposaI.
Lord, did he carry on! ''You and that boy,'' he kept saying.
''There can't be anything substantiaI between you.
'' In the end, I came flat out with it.
I said the thing between us is damn substantiaI, that by comparison, nothing eIse Just now seems very substantiaI.
WeII, he caIIs it a ''physicaI infatuation, very temporary''.
He insists I'II marry him in due course, that he and I are meant for each other.
He keeps teIephoning and once he flew down to see me.
Nothing has happened that can make me forget the Iook in your eyes, the feeI of your arms around me when The Phony War has ended.
A fierce air, sea and Iand battIe is raging for Norway.
We bring you speciaI reports from the war capitaIs.
First, London.
This is the BBC.
In a Iightning attack without warning or provocation, Nazi Germany has invaded neutraI Norway by sea and air, and German Iand forces have roIIed into Denmark.
The RoyaI Navy is moving rapidIy to cut off the invasion.
Winston ChurchiII, first Iord of the admiraIty, has decIared: ''AII German vesseIs entering the Skagerrak wiII be sunk.
'' Next, BerIin.
Fred Fearing in BerIin.
The propaganda ministry has issued this buIIetin: ForestaIIing a British pIan to seize Scandinavia and deny Germany access to Swedish iron ore and other materiaIs, Germany has taken Denmark and Norway under its protection.
- Papa? - And now, Paris.
In an officiaI communique, France has announced that the AIIies wiII raIIy to the cause of democratic Norway, and wiII meet the German onsIaught ''with coId steeI''.
Papa! Mama! Mama! Mama! Mama, come quick! This wouId mean the coIIapse Well, what do you think of the news? So much for the Sumner Welles mission.
This may just get you that sea duty you keep writing all those letters about.
- Hell of a way to get it.
- Yeah.
Your report on the GianeIIi meetings was reaIIy tops, oId feIIow.
Gave me an exceIIent feeI of how they went.
HitIer's a strange one, isn't he? Everybody's reaction is a IittIe different.
AdmiraI PrebIe teIIs me you're returning briefly in May for your son's wedding.
Be sure to drop in on me before you return to BerIin.
I'm absoIuteIy deIighted that you are where you are, and I've toId oId PrebIe that, in no uncertain terms.
Sir? A man named Rosenthal.
Call him at that number.
Aye, aye, sir.
- Pug? - Hello, Rhoda.
Everything stinks.
Yes.
l know, the war's breaking wide open.
Look, honey, you better make yourself a hair appointment.
That hunt party at Abendruh, call Mrs.
Stoller and accept.
Oh, marveIous.
And l want you to make out a list of everything you want to buy from the Rosenthals.
After each item, put down a very fair price.
This is more Iike it.
The Second WorId War is in its ninth month, and Paris is having a IoveIy spring.
AdoIf HitIer's Germany has conquered PoIand and occupied Norway.
But aII is quiet on the western front.
For, in the West, the Germans face the Maginot Line, that impregnabIe chain of great fortresses shieIding France from the Swiss to the BeIgian borders.
The French army, the strongest, best-trained, best-equipped in the worId, Ied by the great GeneraI GameIin.
The British expeditionary army, backed by the RoyaI Air Force and the worId's most powerfuI navy.
And so, Paris is tranquiI.
The British caII this IuII the ''sitzkrieg''.
American headIine writers caII it ''the Phony War''.
But on May 10, 1940, the Phony War comes to an end.
After 19 postponements, six months of deIays, Case YeIIow, the attack on France, begins, with the assauIt on BeIgium and HoIIand.
Then, as the AIIied armies move to stop them, the Germans strike through the hiIIy Ardennes.
This main armored punch bypasses the Maginot Line, catching the AIIies by compIete surprise, and threatens to cut the front in two.
The AIIied armies are in peII-meII retreat to avoid entrapment.
In London, the ChamberIain government faIIs.
Winston ChurchiII is the new prime minister.
- Madeline! - Put it! Oh, Pa! Gosh, you look great! Both of you look great! This is Janice Lacouture and she's in town shopping for her trousseau.
Oh, my dear! Your snapshots don't do you justice at all.
- You're ravishing! - Thank you.
l always said that Warren had good taste.
And how is he, anyway? All right, l hope.
He's sweating out carrier landings, down off Puerto Rico.
Byron, l'd like for you to meet Byron? - Byron.
Byron? - Where the devil is he? Yeah, just now.
l'm in New York at La Guardia.
Natalie, l'm sorry about your father.
Well, did Aaron come home? No, he's stuck.
He said he'd write you and teII you about it.
- Listen, l'm flying down there.
- What about your famiIy? Don't you worry about them.
l'll phone you and tell you what flight l'm on.
Byron, are you sure? Hey, bye for now.
l love you.
Janice.
l'm Warren's brother, Byron.
- Hi.
- l knew you'd be here, so Go ahead, Janice, open it.
What a beautiful little elephant! You marry any of us, you must have the patience of one.
- My God, if that isn't the truth.
- Oh, Mom, Palmer Kirby called.
He's at the Waldorf and he's invited us all to dinner.
Well, for heaven's sake, what's he doing here? l don't think we can go, can we, Pug? As a matter of fact, l want to talk to Fred Kirby.
Oh, it's impossible.
l have nothing to wear to the Waldorf.
My clothes are a mass of wrinkles.
Well, if only l could get to a hairdresser.
I have nothing to offer but bIood, toiI, tears and sweat.
He's a genius.
Where has he been till now? Head of the British navy when U-boats got into Scapa Flow and sunk the RoyaI Oak and when the Germans crossed the Skagerrak - and took Norway.
- Will you shut up and listen? I wiII say, it is to wage war by sea, Iand and air with aII our might and with aII the strength that God can give us to wage war against a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark, IamentabIe cataIogue of human crime.
That is our poIicy.
You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: victory.
Victory at aII costs.
Victory in spite of aII terror.
Victory, however Iong and hard the road may be for without victory, there is no survivaI.
Let that be reaIized.
No survivaI for the British Empire.
No survivaI for aII that the British Empire has stood for, that mankind wiII move forward towards its goaI.
But I take up my task with buoyancy and hope.
I feeI sure that our cause wiII not be suffered to faiI among men.
At this time I feeI entitIed to cIaim the aid of aII.
And I say, ''Come then, Iet us go forward together ''with our united strength.
'' You have Just heard the newIy appointed prime minister of Britain, Winston ChurchiII.
That man will save civilization.
- Do you think we'll get in? - Oh, no.
We'll never let them conquer England.
Fred, can l talk to you for a couple of minutes? Caviar, champagne and business as usual.
That's Pug! Sure, we can talk in the bedroom.
Dad, l gotta be moseying.
l'm leaving for Miami at La Guardia in an hour.
You know that Fred Kirby expects you to be dining with us.
Well, the reservations are already made, so What about Madeline? She wants us to come to her show right after dinner.
l know, Dad, but l really think l ought to go.
Byron, you are impossible.
Couldn't this have waited until tomorrow? Mom, don't you remember what it was like to be in love? Me? Of course not! What a silly thing to say.
- l'm a million years old.
- That must be some girl in Miami.
- Yeah, she's all right.
- Bring her to the wedding.
Don't forget.
Byron, you have a real talent for disappointing your father.
He'd be disappointed if l didn't disappoint him.
- Bye, Mom.
- Goodbye, honey.
Yes, yes, these will be very helpful.
Thank you, Pug.
l thought you might find them interesting.
Fred you're working on a uranium bomb, aren't you? Now, of course, you can tell me it's none of my business, but l'm visiting the president this trip, and if the occasion arises, you might want me to volunteer my valued opinion and tell him to do something about uranium.
The real question here, Pug, are the Germans.
How far along are they? lf uranium bombs are possible, and if Hitler gets them first that could prove to be disagreeable.
The invasion of France is stiII under way.
Winston ChurchiII, the new British prime minister, a night worker, a Iate sIeeper, has ordered his staff not to wake him, except in extreme war emergency.
On his fifth day in office, they awaken him.
Sir.
The premier of France is on the phone.
- Reynaud himself? At this hour? - From Paris.
- What's the news? - Lord Gort's forces are still holding.
But Holland will surrender at 1 1 AM and the Belgians are wavering.
- And the French? - Retreating everywhere.
Churchill.
Mr.
Churchill we are beat.
We We have lost the war.
Surely it cannot have happened so soon? The front is broken near Sedan.
The enemy's armored forces are pouring through in irresistible numbers.
Then he will outrun his surprise, and we will counterattack.
That was the winning principle of your great Marshal Foch in 1918.
We are defeated.
SureIy, CorporaI HitIer cannot have accomplished in five days what Kaiser Wilhelm could not manage in four years! There is only one chance left.
You must throw in your entire air force at once to stop the flood of German tanks.
Where are General Gamelin's reserves? Your ''masse de manoeuvre'' for counterattack? There is none.
Commit your whoIe air force in France, I impIore you! Do it now! Otherwise the war is lost.
l shall fly to Paris.
Have courage.
Pray summon Air Vice Marshal Dowding.
The Germans have flanked the Maginot Line, Dowding, with their armored thrust through the Ardennes hills, where General Gamelin thought tanks could not operate.
The French front is cut in two.
They are surprised and routed.
These two German forces threaten to encircle and cut off our entire army in France.
All this in five days? The world order trembles in the balance.
Our empire, the French Empire.
Yes, civilization itself.
Lord Gort is falling back on Dunkirk, the only port left open to us.
But he is in grave peril of being cut off.
Now, if l have to rescue my army from France, can you master the air over the Channel while l do it? At high cost, yes.
lf l have to fight on alone, how many squadrons must l hold back from the battle for France, to defend our island against the full fury of the Luftwaffe? Cut to the bone.
Twenty-five squadrons.
Well, l'm off to Paris.
l'll hold back your 26 squadrons.
Thank you, sir.
No war, no death.
lt's just the sky and the sea and the sun shining down on us, all alone.
Hey, Mr.
Henry! You awake up there? - Yeah.
- Just got a call from the beach.
Your father wants you to come in.
- Wrong boat.
He's in Washington.
- ls your father a Navy captain? - Yeah.
- He's on the wharf waiting for you right now, buddy.
- What on earth? - l haven't got the foggiest.
- Go ahead and turn it around.
- OK.
l'd better get dressed.
l am green.
You should try putting on eyebrows and lipstick sometime in a rocking boat.
Yeah, just like l thought.
There he is on the dock.
l'd recognize that walk anywhere.
He's probably here with my mother.
l'm going to tell them, Natalie.
Listen, l only decided to marry you an hour ago.
l've got a few things l want to work out.
For example, l'd like to tell my mother.
Well, you'd better hurry.
Dad's got a way of getting to the facts real quick.
Come on, let's get your stuff.
Up.
Hell of a thing to do to you, Natalie.
- Everybody all right? - Everybody's fine.
The war news is shaking things up a bit, though.
Warren's leave is cancelled.
The wedding's been moved to tomorrow.
One-day honeymoon, he goes straight out to the Pacific Fleet.
You two had lunch? Well, l packed some sandwiches, but we kind of forgot.
The smells from that joint there have been driving me nuts.
l haven't eaten.
Would you mind going up there? Some of these waterfront places can be pretty good.
Well, it looks like France is really folding.
The German army may actually bag the entire British regular army.
l heard the president on my car radio, making an emergency address to a joint session of Congress.
He asked them for 60,000 planes a year.
- 60,000? - lt's just wild talk.
He said we'll have to build factories to start making them.
He'll get the money too.
l saw the mood up there in Washington.
The panic is finally on.
Now then, number one.
You have to be in Pensacola tomorrow morning at 10.
- All right, l'll be there.
- OK.
Number two.
Sub school starts earlier.
May the 20th.
lf you wanna get in, you have to report to New London Saturday for a physical.
Applications are piling in.
Red Tully told me.
May 20th? That's three days from now.
Do you have to go to the submarine school so soon? lt's a possibility.
l don't know.
When does the school start? Three months.
Then what? Well, as far as l can make out, he'll go straight out to the fleet.
Three months and then you're gone.
We'll talk about that when we get to the wedding.
l haven't been invited.
Oh Janice said to make sure l brought you along.
You know Natalie and l are getting married.
l see.
Well, that might affect your admission to the school.
The unmarried ones tend to get the preference.
We only just decided this morning.
lt's a terrible tangle.
There are all kinds of complications for me too.
None that can't be overcome.
The last thing l wanna do is stop you from going to school.
l was in Warsaw! Well, that's that.
Great chowder.
Hit the spot.
Hey, l can still catch that afternoon plane to Pensacola.
Why didn't you just telephone this? Wasn't it simple enough? - Why did you come all the way here? - lt wasn't much out of my way.
Where's Mom and Madeline? They're still in New York, shopping.
They're flying down tomorrow.
So you'll come, Natalie? Well, l don't know if l can.
Yeah, we'll be there.
At least l will.
l guess that covers everything? What about sub school? l told Red Tully l'd call him today.
lf Captain Tully has to know today, then l'm out.
OK? Byron! Don't make decisions like that.
l don't know how else to make a decision.
Well, talk to me.
l'm involved.
Well, l've spoken my piece and now l'll leave.
We can pick this up tomorrow.
Then you really don't have to call Red Tully today after all.
Keep trying to remember, l didn't start this war, Byron.
l happen to think you'll make a good submariner.
They're all a bunch of goofy individualists too.
On the other hand, l can't hate you for wanting to marry this brilliant and beautiful young lady.
Well, l'll be going.
l'll see you in church, and be early.
You're to be best man.
Goodbye, Natalie.
l'm sorry for breaking up your day on the boat.
- Please try to come to the wedding.
- Yes, sir.
Thank you.
l'll pick up the check.
l have always loathed the smell of cooking fish.
Hey, what's the matter with you? l don't like the way you treated your father.
You know what he came here for, don't you? To separate us.
He was utterly right.
You're blaming him for the whole war situation.
That is completely immature.
l was embarrassed for you.
l hate that feeling.
You know, l never wanted anything before from life.
Or from him or from anybody.
And now l do.
That's all the more reason to look at reality and stop throwing tantrums.
Well, he really got to you, didn't he? - He gets done what he intends to do.
- That's how much you know.
l love you.
l'm going to Pensacola with you.
Now shut up and take me home.
He saved our lives.
The last plane we could get from New York didn't leave us a minute to finish shopping.
Your daughter and l would've come to this wedding in rags.
Pug lsn't this a cunning number? Found it the last second at Bergdorf's.
Oh, honestly, a small plane is so much fun.
You really know you're flying.
Well, that was nice of him.
ls Fred Kirby that rich? Well, l wouldn't hear of it, but it's charged to his company.
He's taking it on to Birmingham today.
Anyway, l didn't want to argue too much.
lt was a deliverance.
Zip me up in back, will you? Pug, did Briny really bring that Jewish girl? - Yeah.
- Oh, of all things.
l've never, ever laid eyes on her.
Now she'll have to sit with us, - and they'll all think she's family.
- She may well be.
l don't believe it.
l just don't! How much older is she? Four years? Oh, that Briny! Just enjoys giving us heart failure.
Always has, the monster! Pug, what's taking you so long? Land, it's hot in here.
She may be older than he is, but she is terrifically attractive.
Well, you've got me curious, l'll say that.
l pictured her as one of those tough Brooklyn chickens who shove past you in New York department stores.
Rhoda, this is Natalie Jastrow.
- How do you do? - How do you do? Well, my dear, how very nice you do look.
Oh, Augusta, oh! l am so glad you made it.
Well, l guess we'll see you inside.
Big hit l made.
- Don't let Mom bother you.
She's OK.
- You see how she looked at my suit? You're still in mourning.
She knows that.
This must be Byron's sidekick from that jaunt in Poland.
Natalie, this is my sister Madeline and Mr.
Palmer Kirby.
- How do you do? - Hello.
l can see why the little devil left us so flat in New York.
Well, l can't say l blame him.
He shouldn't have rushed down here so fast.
Why not? Dearly beloved, we are gathered here in the sight of God to join together in holy matrimony this man and this woman.
She looksinteresting.
Doesn't she? From the looks of her, she might almost be an Armenian or even an Arab.
Byron met her in ltaly.
Well, Warren did tell the congressman and l that she was beautiful.
Yes.
Don't tell them l'm your fiancee.
Let them think whatever.
- l just don't wanna get into it.
- Take it easy.
l swear, l'm the only Jew in Pensacola.
When l walk through these doors l'm going to set off gongs.
l told Byron this morning that l'm all for you.
- That was sight unseen.
- Do you always take such blind risks? A flyer should be more prudent.
Well, l know what you did in Warsaw and that's enough for me.
You're cheering me up.
l feel terribly out of place here.
You shouldn't.
Janice is as much for you as l am.
Byron, he's changed already.
Thank you.
Come on, children, we're going to the head table.
Come on, follow me.
60,000 planes a year! That's a billion dollars! He'll get it, congressman.
lt's politically hysterical, financially irresponsible, and industrially inconceivable.
And you're willing to watch the British and French go down? Now, that's how that question is usually put.
Ask me if l'm willing to send three million American boys overseas against the Germans to prop up the old status quo in Europe.
That's what this is all about.
- Don't forget it.
- The British navy is propping up our own status quo right now, free of charge.
lf Hitler gets that fleet, his reach will extend all the way to Pensacola Bay.
Oh, yes.
l can just visualize the old Rodney and the NeIson out there at the marina streaming the swastika and shelling the hell out of our poor old yacht club.
That's not where they're coming, congressman.
They're not coming at all.
That's New York Times stuff.
Now, when those limeys see they're in a jam, they'll throw out that blowhard Churchill, make a deal with Germany.
They're gonna hang in there as long as they think that the Roosevelts and the British sympathizers and the New York Jews are gonna get us over there.
Well, l'm from Denver and l'm lrish.
Well, error is contagious.
lt knows no boundaries.
l was in Warsaw during the siege.
That's right! So you were.
You and Byron.
Pretty bad, was it? For three weeks, the Germans bombed a totally defenseless city.
They knocked out every hospital except the one l was working in.
The wounded were piled up in our entranceway like logs.
ln one of the hospitals, actually pregnant women were burning.
Well, that sort of thing has been going on in Europe for centuries, my dear.
And that is exactly what l want to spare the American people.
l heard a good one yesterday.
Old Abe and his family are driving down to Miami, and along about Tampa they run out of gas.
So they pulled into this filling station, and the attendant says, ''Juice?'' And old Abe says, ''Well, what if we are? Don't we get no gas?'' Oh, that's pretty cute.
Picked that one up yesterday.
Hey, sugar, give us a smile.
lt's your wedding day.
Hey, listen, nobody meant anything by that up there.
l know.
You know, darling, l'm really finally getting organized.
l think l may as well fly up to New London, take that sub school physical.
What's the matter? Oh, nothing.
Go on.
You're going up to New London.
Only if we both agree.
l won't do anything from now on unless we concur.
All right.
So anyway, l take the physical, making sure that a married applicant has a chance, that if he's accepted he gets time with his wife.
That takes care of the first few months.
Then l'll probably get shipped out to a submarine base.
Chances are it's Pearl Harbor.
Might even end up with Janice and Warren.
They have a university in Hawaii.
You could teach there.
Goodness, you've been thinking about this with might and main, haven't you? - You looking for us? - l understand you're using the congressman's car to take Madeline to the airport.
Well, don't leave without me.
l just talked to Washington.
l gotta scoot.
Your mother's staying on.
What time is that plane? 1 :40.
Darling, can you lend me money? l'll take that plane to Washington.
Oh? l'll be glad for the company.
l have to run upstairs and change.
l'll meet you out front, OK? - Why are you going to Washington? - See Leslie about Aaron's citizenship.
l thought while you're in New London, l could just take care of it.
What is the matter? You look as if you'd been shot.
You're mistaken.
l'll give you the fare.
Let me just show you Aaron's letter.
He wrote me and asked me to go see Slote about his passport problems.
He's really worried about it.
What's the point? l believe you.
Look, l know you and Janice have better things to do - with the little time you have left.
- Nothing that won't wait.
Dad, we're riding to the airport with you, now that's that.
Who knows when we're gonna see you all again? This family has been gypped by this miserable, stupid war.
This is the first time we've been together in how long? And we can't even stay together for 12 hours.
Well, l say, excuse me, that if this is gonna be a short reunion, it is damn well going to be a merry one.
Cheers! - Cheers! - Cheers, Mom.
You going to the airport? Wait a second.
All right, Mom.
All right, everybody.
Let's sing something.
BeII-bottom trousers Coats of navy bIue He'II cIimb the rigging Like his daddy used to do When I was a Iady's maid Down in Drury Lane My mistress, she was good to me My master was the same TiII we meet at Jesus' feet TiII we meet TiII we meet God be with you TiII we meet again TiII we meet TiII we meet TiII we meet at Jesus' feet SDl Media Group
How's your ltalian? Fair.
Normally l'd be accompanied by our ambassador, but this whole errand is unusual.
The president feels that a negative reply to a San Francisco banker would not affect formal relations between our two countries.
The president highly values your discretion and feels it might be wise to have you along at my interviews.
Another pair of eyes and ears.
l'm not sure that ll Duce will like it.
Suppose l just come along as though it were the natural thing, unless, of course, they stop me.
Duce.
The Fuehrer will know long before you get the chance to tell him.
OK.
Commander Henry to see Captain Kirkwood.
Commander Henry, sir.
Captain Kirkwood won't be in until this evening.
You're welcome to use his office if you like.
Very well.
Oh, sir, the captain left an envelope.
lt's on the desk.
''Captain Roger Kirkwood presents his compliments to Captain Victor Henry, ''and trusts he is free to dine at 9 at the Osteria dell'Orso.
''P.
S.
You're out of uniform, Pug.
''Four stripes, please.
'' - Congratulations, captain.
- Thank you.
l'm catching the morning train to Berlin.
Would you convey my regrets to Captain Kirkwood regarding dinner? - Aye, aye, sir.
- And l'm expecting my son.
- Will you show him right in, please? - Yes, sir.
Hey, Dad, four stripes, and on the first ALNAV too.
- Congratulations.
- Thanks.
Glad l came to Rome now, just for this.
Surprised me, after all my shore duty.
One's not supposed to mention this kind of thing, but doesn't this put you way at the front of your class? You're never in front until you retire.
All it takes now is one false move.
Some helmsman doping off on midwatch.
l've got to go to the hotel and change clothes.
l gotta catch a train.
Sorry about breakfast, Briny.
lncidentally, that submarine school starts classes in June, right after Warren's wedding, so if you apply now June's a long way off.
How about if l ride to the station with you? Hey, Dad, you know, l'm really proud you made captain.
About sub school Look, if Natalie stays in the States, well, who knows? - What do you mean, l'm not going? - Your name is not on the invitation.
But that's just their form.
Wives always go.
l'm just going there for security reasons.
Take my word for it.
Security reasons! That old chestnut.
When you want things your way, it's always security reasons.
l'd rather take you along.
You know that.
Then prove it.
Call the protocol officer at the air ministry.
Or if you're too bashful, l will.
Are you well? l'm bored! This Berlin weather stinks.
Everything stinks.
l have horrible headaches.
You're never here.
- l'm going out of my mind.
- You will not call the air ministry.
- Hitler will be at Karinhall.
- l know.
All Berlin's talking about this party at the Goerings.
Oh, here's a letter from that Kirby fellow.
- l wonder what he's got to say.
- Read it.
Dull as he is.
All about how glad he is to be home and how good the skiing is in Denver.
Three pages of nothing.
- Well, you look wonderful.
- l do not.
That darned hairdresser baked my hair to shredded wheat again.
l'm tired.
l'll open a couple of bottles of champagne and we'll celebrate my promotion.
Celebrate it with the Goerings.
Oh, if only he could marry, eh, Luigi? He loves children.
Stoller! Reich Marshal Goering told me you'd be here.
Captain Henry.
Wolf Stoller, one of the great German bankers.
General Armin von Roon is my good friend.
He's a tough tennis player.
He speaks highly of your tennis and of you.
l'll tell you what, they promised - Oh, yes.
- lt's a fairyland.
Oh, we are quite mad about San Francisco.
Mostly because of Luigi's hospitality.
Always a pleasure.
At last we can reciprocate.
You must come to Abendruh.
- Our little country place.
- This weekend.
- We're giving a small party.
- Yes.
- You too, captain, of course.
- General von Roon will be there.
Unfortunately, l fly to Lisbon first thing in the morning.
But you don't fly to Lisbon.
l'm sure Mrs.
Henry will enjoy the outing.
Said and done.
Good.
Brigitte will excuse us.
l think Alas, no time to show you the wonders of Karinhall.
The Reich marshal and the foreign minister are waiting.
- These are indeed wonders.
- Just odds and ends.
Gifts from governments, from cities, from monarchs.
He is a brilliant collector.
- A man of great wealth.
- Oh, wealth You will have exactly seven minutes of the Fuehrer's time to state your business.
Your Excellency, l am here in a private capacity, and l regard that amount of time as an extraordinary courtesy.
This peculiar visitation is another studied insult by your president to the Fuehrer.
Between civilized countries, the diplomatic structure is used.
Germany did not withdraw its ambassador in Washington by choice! The United States first made the hostile gesture.
Your president's change of the so-called Neutrality Act that he pushed through Congress is a blatant act of aggression against Germany.
And your maladroit mission is a show of contempt for a powerful nation of 80 million people.
May l respectfully The willingness of the Fuehrer to give a hearing in these circumstances is a testimony to his desire for peace that history will record some day.
And that, l'm afraid, is the sole value this peculiar interview possesses.
Captain Henry, l beg you to confirm my instructions to the great field marshal.
We already know all that, andwe also know the question.
Your president feels that from time to time he must give me those stern, fatherly admonitions, but, of course, l am giving up my life for the renaissance of my people.
And l cannot help seeing things from that limited point of view.
Germany's political aims are simple, open, moderate and unchanging.
Five centuries before Columbus discovered America, there was a German empire at the heart of Europe.
War has come over and over to this heartland through the attempts of many powers to fragment the vigorous German people.
And often their attempts have had temporary success.
But the German nation, with its strong instinct for survival has time and time rallied and thrown off the foreign partitioners.
And so l restored the Rhineland, l brought back Austria into the Reich, l normalized the Bohemian plateau, and the manufactured monstrosity of Czechoslovakia has once again become the traditional protectorate of the Reich.
Now this restoration of normal Germany is complete, and it has been done almost without bloodshed.
Only Britain's foolish guarantee to Poland forced on me the brief police action to solve the Polish question.
l share the president's desire for peace.
l hunger and yearn for it.
l was born to create! Not to destroy.
l am an artist, a builder.
But the British and French leaders called for the destruction of Hitlerism.
l have made Germany strong again, and that does not suit them.
But this, their hate, if persisted in, will doom Europe, because l and the German people cannot be separated.
We are one.
This is a simple truth, though l fear it will need a test of fire to prove it.
How can they be so blind? l achieved air parity in 1937.
Since then l have not stopped building planes, planes, planes! U-boats, U-boats, U-boats! l have piled bombs, bombs, bombs, tanks, tanks, tanks to the sky! What a wasteful, staggering burden on my people, but our enemies understand no other language.
Out of strength, l have offered the outstretched hand of peace.
l was rejected, scorned! At the price of peace, our foes demand my head.
My people only laugh at such pathetic nonsense.
l have done my utmost, and my conscience is clear before the bar of history.
So let the test of fire come.
Germany will emerge victorious.
lf not, we will all go down together, and Europe as we know it will cease to exist! Now this visit of Sumner Welles, l have no wish to return discourtesy for discourtesy.
l would do anything for peace.
But until the British will to destroy me itself is destroyed, the only road to peace is through German victory.
Anything else is irrelevant.
l will continue to hope with all my heart for a last-minute signal of sanity from the other side, before the great cataclysm bursts on the world.
My observation, Mr.
President, is that aII three men acted as though the offensive in the West is ready to roII.
I don't think they give a damn whether WeIIes comes or not.
If the British are reaIIy as set on their terms as HitIer is on his, you'II have an aII-out war in the spring.
The gIimpse of cross-purposes at the top may show a weakness of the Nazi structure, but it has nothing to do with HitIer's hoId on the Germans.
That incIudes Goering and Ribbentrop.
When he entered the room, they cringed.
If HitIer were the haIf-crazy, haIf-comicaI gangster we've been reading about, this war wouId be a pushover.
UnfortunateIy for the AIIies, he is a very abIe man.
Now, this is everything on StoIIer.
His bank is the conduit by which Goering has become so rich.
- Mainly by extortion from Jews.
- l didn't know that, sir.
Oh, it's all very legal, German style.
The new laws put stiff restrictions on Jewish firms.
They can't get export licenses, can't use the railroad, shipping and so on.
Heavy taxes.
Naturally, after a while, they go under.
Now, Stoller's bank has access to the Gestapo.
He is the first person who knows when a big Jewish firm is sinking to its knees.
So he steps in with a very low takeover bid.
Other bankers won't bid against a Goering front, so the Jewish owners sell for a song, Goering acquires another major company, and Stoller is in there for a big share.
l'll just decline the invitation.
Your business is gathering intelligence.
Just know what you're getting into.
Life with you is full of marvelous surprises.
Please come with me.
Well, l must say, this is very peculiar.
Well, this is more like it.
Oh, what a magnificent suite! Yeah, Wolf Stoller hasn't done too bad for himself.
l would say.
Come in.
Sir, madam, dinner will be at 7.
We are here to assist you with dressing.
What's all that? Well, Rhoda, now you know why they brought us up the back way.
Oh, dear heaven, Pug, l'll die! l can't possibly.
l've practically nothing on underneath.
Why can't they warn a girl?! When in Rome - General.
- Oh, Henry.
Quite an icebreaker.
Stoller, l must say, has quite an individual touch.
You'd never know there was a war on.
There hardly is.
First blitzkrieg, and now sitzkrieg.
''The Phony War.
'' And how long does that continue? That is up to the opposition.
Our Fuehrer has offered peace.
They can have it tomorrow.
lf they accept his conquests and his crimes.
Crimes? Well, the rape of Czechoslovakia, for one.
The Allies themselves handed Czechoslovakia to him at Munich.
And Poland? As for Poland Some other time.
l found this all laid out for me this morning.
Oh, Pug, l may never leave Abendruh.
The British regard the invasion of Poland as a crime.
Poland was worse than a crime.
lt was a mistake.
The great victory? The Fuehrer bluffed himself into a corner over Poland.
He got out of it with a pact with Stalin.
A coup de theatre, perhaps, but the Russians gained half of Poland without firing a shot.
A strategic disaster for us, despite our victory in the field.
Great men can make great mistakes.
And with greatness, maybe they overcome them.
- You call Hitler great? - A great politician, without question.
He has united the country, like your Roosevelt.
He is what l believe you call a ''winner''.
And his master-race stuff, you buy that too? Bunkum for the masses.
A vulgar distortion of German nationalism.
But that is politics for you.
You're not a Nazi, then.
l? l am a conservative monarchist.
Do the other generals think as you do? As in your Navy, l imagine, we have all kinds.
l see.
One thing we all share: Loyalty to the head of state.
One thing we all believe: Orders are orders.
Let us join the others.
There is Captain Henry.
What better authority do you want? - Let's ask him.
- lt might embarrass him.
No war talk, please.
That's out.
This weekend is for pleasure.
l don't mind.
What's the question? Please - l am, as you know, an actor.
- One of Germany's greatest.
l create illusions for a living.
And l say it is an illusion to hope that the United States will ever allow England to go down.
Please, let's talk of something else.
l'm a businessman, a realist.
l maintain this isn't 191 7.
The Americans are realists.
Once Europe is normalized, we can have a thousand years of peace.
What do you say, Captain Henry? The problem may never come up.
You still have to lick England.
Oh, l think we can assume that's in the cards.
Providing the Americans don't step in.
Your president doesn't try to hide his British sympathies, eh, Victor? Although, wouldn't you say that the people are against him, or at least sharply split? Yes, but America is a strange country, Herr Stoller.
Public opinion can change fast.
Remember that in dealing with us.
Public opinion doesn't just change.
lt is manufactured.
There you have the live nerve.
The power of the Jews.
l think you exaggerate that.
You fellows tend to do that, as a form of kidding yourselves.
Victor, who is your minister of the treasury? The Jew, Morgenthau.
Who sits in your highest court with the most power? The Jew, Frankfurter.
Who? Well, l could go on and on.
But no.
Admit it, Victor.
The Jews have American finance, communications, justice, even the presidency in their pockets.
To begin with the treasury post has very little power.
All the other cabinet positions are held by Christians.
Financial power lies in banking, shipping, oil and so forth.
All in the hands of Christians, always has been.
That's always the Jewish line, how unimportant they are.
You recommend that we force them out of their businesses at 10 cents on the dollar? You are better-informed than many Americans, Victor.
But anyway, it would be an excellent idea for the health of your economy.
And you'll come to it sooner or later.
Please, Stoller, enough of this! But is it truly your position that the Jewish question really has no bearing on America's entry into the war? Oh, l didn't say that.
Americans react very sharply to injustice and suffering.
And your Negroes in the South? lt's bad, but it's getting better.
And we don't put them behind barbed wire.
That's a political penalty.
A Jew who behaves himself doesn't go to a camp.
No, the American Jews would be making the greatest possible mistake to drag in the United States.
You know what the Fuehrer said in his January speech: ''lf they start another world war, that will be the end of them.
'' And he was in deadly earnest, l assure you.
War or peace is not in the hands of the Jews.
You've greatly distorted that situation.
l don't think so.
Anyway, l can only pray that your government will come to its senses.
And soon, so that the Jews might be spared the very, very bad fate which they seem determined to bring on themselves.
Now, we have a little lunch prepared, gentlemen.
Nothing elaborate, you understand, but what would you say to an omelet, a glass of champagne? Please.
- Who are you? - Rosenthal.
- You are living in my house.
- Of course.
Forgive me but my wife and l are going to be sent to Poland soon.
And we were wondering if there were any articles in our home you and Mrs.
Henry would care tobuy.
But you have a factory here.
You must have people who can keep an eye on things until conditions improve.
ln fact, l have sold my firm.
So there is nobody.
To Stoller Bank? You know about these matters? l have received a very fair price.
Very fair.
Herr Rosenthal, l told you when we rented your house, l had no wish to profit by your misfortune.
l don't.
l do not.
Captain Henry, you could not possibly do me or Frau Rosenthal a greater kindness.
lf you want to telephone me, you can get me here.
Merry Christmas.
There you are! - What on earth? - l decided to walk.
Four miles in the snow? We're due back at the embassy at 8:00.
l'll change clothes real fast.
Lord, l hope this party will be fun.
This is one grim Christmas.
Amen.
The best parties you have ever seen.
They are the nicest people.
Spending time with the Stollers? Honey, the trouble with you is, you don't know what the hell is going on.
How dare you say that to me?! Hey, what's it all about, Fred? The Wolf Stollers, Pug.
Loveliest people your wife ever met.
l said the nicest Germans, and they are.
l thought broadcasters were supposed to be impartial.
You are wildly prejudiced.
Time for you to go home, Rhoda.
And what does that mean? lf you think the Wolf Stollers are nice, you've got to get back on American chow and The New York Times.
Well, aren't we the nice, clever radio personality? l just know the German people are not monsters with tails and horns.
They're just ordinary people, however misguided.
Or did some Fraulein climb into your bed with cloven hoofs, dear? lt might be easier to navigate in this country, Rhoda, if the bad ones did sprout horns and grow hair on the palms of their hands or something.
What Wolf Stoller has on his palms is blood, lots of it.
He acts unaware of it.
You encourage his color-blindness by acting the same way.
Lords of mercy me! lf that isn't the wildest poppycock! Freddie Fearing, you are the one who should go home.
Merry Christmas.
Now, Fred, it's Pug's job to socialize with people like Stoller.
l propose a moratorium tonight on discussing Germans.
- l agree! - Hear, hear.
l agree.
- Absolutely.
- Christmas Eve.
Pug Henry, l like you.
l guess l'll go for a walk.
Fred.
Fred? - Forget it.
- Fred.
- Pass the wine, will you? - Yes.
Give me ''Give me'' have some.
That Freddie Fearing.
Big-shot authority on Germany, he thinks.
Why, Mrs.
Stoller is an absolute darling.
We meet at the hairdresser and gab away by the hour.
We're already invited to the big hunt party in April at Abendruh.
- We'll decline.
- What? We're never going back to Abendruh, Rhoda.
We most certainly are.
The only fun l have had here Wolf Stoller is Goering's man for extorting money from the Jews.
He can't be.
That's what Fearing was talking about.
Claremont showed me the file on Stoller.
He's made millions out of it.
That charming man? That charming man drove Rosenthal to the wall.
- Rosenthal? - The man we rent our house from.
He approached me tonight on the street, like a beggar.
He wanted us to buy some things from his house.
Anything for a little cash, because they're shipping him to Poland.
How awful.
What did you say? l didn't take him up on it.
l don't want to suck his blood.
The man must be desperate for money.
l'd be glad to give him money.
l will not buy up his possessions.
He won't accept your money.
There are lovely things in the house.
We can pay him a very fair price.
A very fair price? Like Stoller gave him a very fair price? l think it's time we got out of this hellish town, Rhoda.
l don't want to be disturbed.
Dear AdmiraI PrebIe: I am requesting BuPers to reIieve me, preferabIy before ApriI, and the sooner the better.
BerIin is a nightmarish pIace.
It's bad for me, worse for Rhoda.
I've trained 25 years for combat at sea.
I'm a gunnery man and nothing eIse.
I ask, I beg for transfer to sea duty.
Pressure against Sweden and Norway in the intensified bIockade sunk the Norwegian ship Navarra.
Briny, dear, the doctor says my father's coming aIong Just fine, but I don't Iike his fragiIe Iook.
He doesn't do much but sit in the sun and Iisten to the news.
He's terribIy worried about UncIe Aaron.
He never used to speak much of him.
Now he goes on and on about him.
He's terrified that HitIer is a deviI who's going to conquer the worId and murder aII the Jews.
WeII, it won't be Iong untiI your brother's wedding, wiII it? Time flies.
Before we face each other again, I'd better IeveI with you about me and LesIie SIote.
Don't panic, Iove.
It's nothing earth-shaking.
Last December, when I reached New York and found out my father was out of the hospitaI, I decided to stop off in Washington to see LesIie.
I owed him that much, dear.
He was definiteIy not expecting the answer I brought back to his proposaI.
Lord, did he carry on! ''You and that boy,'' he kept saying.
''There can't be anything substantiaI between you.
'' In the end, I came flat out with it.
I said the thing between us is damn substantiaI, that by comparison, nothing eIse Just now seems very substantiaI.
WeII, he caIIs it a ''physicaI infatuation, very temporary''.
He insists I'II marry him in due course, that he and I are meant for each other.
He keeps teIephoning and once he flew down to see me.
Nothing has happened that can make me forget the Iook in your eyes, the feeI of your arms around me when The Phony War has ended.
A fierce air, sea and Iand battIe is raging for Norway.
We bring you speciaI reports from the war capitaIs.
First, London.
This is the BBC.
In a Iightning attack without warning or provocation, Nazi Germany has invaded neutraI Norway by sea and air, and German Iand forces have roIIed into Denmark.
The RoyaI Navy is moving rapidIy to cut off the invasion.
Winston ChurchiII, first Iord of the admiraIty, has decIared: ''AII German vesseIs entering the Skagerrak wiII be sunk.
'' Next, BerIin.
Fred Fearing in BerIin.
The propaganda ministry has issued this buIIetin: ForestaIIing a British pIan to seize Scandinavia and deny Germany access to Swedish iron ore and other materiaIs, Germany has taken Denmark and Norway under its protection.
- Papa? - And now, Paris.
In an officiaI communique, France has announced that the AIIies wiII raIIy to the cause of democratic Norway, and wiII meet the German onsIaught ''with coId steeI''.
Papa! Mama! Mama! Mama! Mama, come quick! This wouId mean the coIIapse Well, what do you think of the news? So much for the Sumner Welles mission.
This may just get you that sea duty you keep writing all those letters about.
- Hell of a way to get it.
- Yeah.
Your report on the GianeIIi meetings was reaIIy tops, oId feIIow.
Gave me an exceIIent feeI of how they went.
HitIer's a strange one, isn't he? Everybody's reaction is a IittIe different.
AdmiraI PrebIe teIIs me you're returning briefly in May for your son's wedding.
Be sure to drop in on me before you return to BerIin.
I'm absoIuteIy deIighted that you are where you are, and I've toId oId PrebIe that, in no uncertain terms.
Sir? A man named Rosenthal.
Call him at that number.
Aye, aye, sir.
- Pug? - Hello, Rhoda.
Everything stinks.
Yes.
l know, the war's breaking wide open.
Look, honey, you better make yourself a hair appointment.
That hunt party at Abendruh, call Mrs.
Stoller and accept.
Oh, marveIous.
And l want you to make out a list of everything you want to buy from the Rosenthals.
After each item, put down a very fair price.
This is more Iike it.
The Second WorId War is in its ninth month, and Paris is having a IoveIy spring.
AdoIf HitIer's Germany has conquered PoIand and occupied Norway.
But aII is quiet on the western front.
For, in the West, the Germans face the Maginot Line, that impregnabIe chain of great fortresses shieIding France from the Swiss to the BeIgian borders.
The French army, the strongest, best-trained, best-equipped in the worId, Ied by the great GeneraI GameIin.
The British expeditionary army, backed by the RoyaI Air Force and the worId's most powerfuI navy.
And so, Paris is tranquiI.
The British caII this IuII the ''sitzkrieg''.
American headIine writers caII it ''the Phony War''.
But on May 10, 1940, the Phony War comes to an end.
After 19 postponements, six months of deIays, Case YeIIow, the attack on France, begins, with the assauIt on BeIgium and HoIIand.
Then, as the AIIied armies move to stop them, the Germans strike through the hiIIy Ardennes.
This main armored punch bypasses the Maginot Line, catching the AIIies by compIete surprise, and threatens to cut the front in two.
The AIIied armies are in peII-meII retreat to avoid entrapment.
In London, the ChamberIain government faIIs.
Winston ChurchiII is the new prime minister.
- Madeline! - Put it! Oh, Pa! Gosh, you look great! Both of you look great! This is Janice Lacouture and she's in town shopping for her trousseau.
Oh, my dear! Your snapshots don't do you justice at all.
- You're ravishing! - Thank you.
l always said that Warren had good taste.
And how is he, anyway? All right, l hope.
He's sweating out carrier landings, down off Puerto Rico.
Byron, l'd like for you to meet Byron? - Byron.
Byron? - Where the devil is he? Yeah, just now.
l'm in New York at La Guardia.
Natalie, l'm sorry about your father.
Well, did Aaron come home? No, he's stuck.
He said he'd write you and teII you about it.
- Listen, l'm flying down there.
- What about your famiIy? Don't you worry about them.
l'll phone you and tell you what flight l'm on.
Byron, are you sure? Hey, bye for now.
l love you.
Janice.
l'm Warren's brother, Byron.
- Hi.
- l knew you'd be here, so Go ahead, Janice, open it.
What a beautiful little elephant! You marry any of us, you must have the patience of one.
- My God, if that isn't the truth.
- Oh, Mom, Palmer Kirby called.
He's at the Waldorf and he's invited us all to dinner.
Well, for heaven's sake, what's he doing here? l don't think we can go, can we, Pug? As a matter of fact, l want to talk to Fred Kirby.
Oh, it's impossible.
l have nothing to wear to the Waldorf.
My clothes are a mass of wrinkles.
Well, if only l could get to a hairdresser.
I have nothing to offer but bIood, toiI, tears and sweat.
He's a genius.
Where has he been till now? Head of the British navy when U-boats got into Scapa Flow and sunk the RoyaI Oak and when the Germans crossed the Skagerrak - and took Norway.
- Will you shut up and listen? I wiII say, it is to wage war by sea, Iand and air with aII our might and with aII the strength that God can give us to wage war against a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark, IamentabIe cataIogue of human crime.
That is our poIicy.
You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: victory.
Victory at aII costs.
Victory in spite of aII terror.
Victory, however Iong and hard the road may be for without victory, there is no survivaI.
Let that be reaIized.
No survivaI for the British Empire.
No survivaI for aII that the British Empire has stood for, that mankind wiII move forward towards its goaI.
But I take up my task with buoyancy and hope.
I feeI sure that our cause wiII not be suffered to faiI among men.
At this time I feeI entitIed to cIaim the aid of aII.
And I say, ''Come then, Iet us go forward together ''with our united strength.
'' You have Just heard the newIy appointed prime minister of Britain, Winston ChurchiII.
That man will save civilization.
- Do you think we'll get in? - Oh, no.
We'll never let them conquer England.
Fred, can l talk to you for a couple of minutes? Caviar, champagne and business as usual.
That's Pug! Sure, we can talk in the bedroom.
Dad, l gotta be moseying.
l'm leaving for Miami at La Guardia in an hour.
You know that Fred Kirby expects you to be dining with us.
Well, the reservations are already made, so What about Madeline? She wants us to come to her show right after dinner.
l know, Dad, but l really think l ought to go.
Byron, you are impossible.
Couldn't this have waited until tomorrow? Mom, don't you remember what it was like to be in love? Me? Of course not! What a silly thing to say.
- l'm a million years old.
- That must be some girl in Miami.
- Yeah, she's all right.
- Bring her to the wedding.
Don't forget.
Byron, you have a real talent for disappointing your father.
He'd be disappointed if l didn't disappoint him.
- Bye, Mom.
- Goodbye, honey.
Yes, yes, these will be very helpful.
Thank you, Pug.
l thought you might find them interesting.
Fred you're working on a uranium bomb, aren't you? Now, of course, you can tell me it's none of my business, but l'm visiting the president this trip, and if the occasion arises, you might want me to volunteer my valued opinion and tell him to do something about uranium.
The real question here, Pug, are the Germans.
How far along are they? lf uranium bombs are possible, and if Hitler gets them first that could prove to be disagreeable.
The invasion of France is stiII under way.
Winston ChurchiII, the new British prime minister, a night worker, a Iate sIeeper, has ordered his staff not to wake him, except in extreme war emergency.
On his fifth day in office, they awaken him.
Sir.
The premier of France is on the phone.
- Reynaud himself? At this hour? - From Paris.
- What's the news? - Lord Gort's forces are still holding.
But Holland will surrender at 1 1 AM and the Belgians are wavering.
- And the French? - Retreating everywhere.
Churchill.
Mr.
Churchill we are beat.
We We have lost the war.
Surely it cannot have happened so soon? The front is broken near Sedan.
The enemy's armored forces are pouring through in irresistible numbers.
Then he will outrun his surprise, and we will counterattack.
That was the winning principle of your great Marshal Foch in 1918.
We are defeated.
SureIy, CorporaI HitIer cannot have accomplished in five days what Kaiser Wilhelm could not manage in four years! There is only one chance left.
You must throw in your entire air force at once to stop the flood of German tanks.
Where are General Gamelin's reserves? Your ''masse de manoeuvre'' for counterattack? There is none.
Commit your whoIe air force in France, I impIore you! Do it now! Otherwise the war is lost.
l shall fly to Paris.
Have courage.
Pray summon Air Vice Marshal Dowding.
The Germans have flanked the Maginot Line, Dowding, with their armored thrust through the Ardennes hills, where General Gamelin thought tanks could not operate.
The French front is cut in two.
They are surprised and routed.
These two German forces threaten to encircle and cut off our entire army in France.
All this in five days? The world order trembles in the balance.
Our empire, the French Empire.
Yes, civilization itself.
Lord Gort is falling back on Dunkirk, the only port left open to us.
But he is in grave peril of being cut off.
Now, if l have to rescue my army from France, can you master the air over the Channel while l do it? At high cost, yes.
lf l have to fight on alone, how many squadrons must l hold back from the battle for France, to defend our island against the full fury of the Luftwaffe? Cut to the bone.
Twenty-five squadrons.
Well, l'm off to Paris.
l'll hold back your 26 squadrons.
Thank you, sir.
No war, no death.
lt's just the sky and the sea and the sun shining down on us, all alone.
Hey, Mr.
Henry! You awake up there? - Yeah.
- Just got a call from the beach.
Your father wants you to come in.
- Wrong boat.
He's in Washington.
- ls your father a Navy captain? - Yeah.
- He's on the wharf waiting for you right now, buddy.
- What on earth? - l haven't got the foggiest.
- Go ahead and turn it around.
- OK.
l'd better get dressed.
l am green.
You should try putting on eyebrows and lipstick sometime in a rocking boat.
Yeah, just like l thought.
There he is on the dock.
l'd recognize that walk anywhere.
He's probably here with my mother.
l'm going to tell them, Natalie.
Listen, l only decided to marry you an hour ago.
l've got a few things l want to work out.
For example, l'd like to tell my mother.
Well, you'd better hurry.
Dad's got a way of getting to the facts real quick.
Come on, let's get your stuff.
Up.
Hell of a thing to do to you, Natalie.
- Everybody all right? - Everybody's fine.
The war news is shaking things up a bit, though.
Warren's leave is cancelled.
The wedding's been moved to tomorrow.
One-day honeymoon, he goes straight out to the Pacific Fleet.
You two had lunch? Well, l packed some sandwiches, but we kind of forgot.
The smells from that joint there have been driving me nuts.
l haven't eaten.
Would you mind going up there? Some of these waterfront places can be pretty good.
Well, it looks like France is really folding.
The German army may actually bag the entire British regular army.
l heard the president on my car radio, making an emergency address to a joint session of Congress.
He asked them for 60,000 planes a year.
- 60,000? - lt's just wild talk.
He said we'll have to build factories to start making them.
He'll get the money too.
l saw the mood up there in Washington.
The panic is finally on.
Now then, number one.
You have to be in Pensacola tomorrow morning at 10.
- All right, l'll be there.
- OK.
Number two.
Sub school starts earlier.
May the 20th.
lf you wanna get in, you have to report to New London Saturday for a physical.
Applications are piling in.
Red Tully told me.
May 20th? That's three days from now.
Do you have to go to the submarine school so soon? lt's a possibility.
l don't know.
When does the school start? Three months.
Then what? Well, as far as l can make out, he'll go straight out to the fleet.
Three months and then you're gone.
We'll talk about that when we get to the wedding.
l haven't been invited.
Oh Janice said to make sure l brought you along.
You know Natalie and l are getting married.
l see.
Well, that might affect your admission to the school.
The unmarried ones tend to get the preference.
We only just decided this morning.
lt's a terrible tangle.
There are all kinds of complications for me too.
None that can't be overcome.
The last thing l wanna do is stop you from going to school.
l was in Warsaw! Well, that's that.
Great chowder.
Hit the spot.
Hey, l can still catch that afternoon plane to Pensacola.
Why didn't you just telephone this? Wasn't it simple enough? - Why did you come all the way here? - lt wasn't much out of my way.
Where's Mom and Madeline? They're still in New York, shopping.
They're flying down tomorrow.
So you'll come, Natalie? Well, l don't know if l can.
Yeah, we'll be there.
At least l will.
l guess that covers everything? What about sub school? l told Red Tully l'd call him today.
lf Captain Tully has to know today, then l'm out.
OK? Byron! Don't make decisions like that.
l don't know how else to make a decision.
Well, talk to me.
l'm involved.
Well, l've spoken my piece and now l'll leave.
We can pick this up tomorrow.
Then you really don't have to call Red Tully today after all.
Keep trying to remember, l didn't start this war, Byron.
l happen to think you'll make a good submariner.
They're all a bunch of goofy individualists too.
On the other hand, l can't hate you for wanting to marry this brilliant and beautiful young lady.
Well, l'll be going.
l'll see you in church, and be early.
You're to be best man.
Goodbye, Natalie.
l'm sorry for breaking up your day on the boat.
- Please try to come to the wedding.
- Yes, sir.
Thank you.
l'll pick up the check.
l have always loathed the smell of cooking fish.
Hey, what's the matter with you? l don't like the way you treated your father.
You know what he came here for, don't you? To separate us.
He was utterly right.
You're blaming him for the whole war situation.
That is completely immature.
l was embarrassed for you.
l hate that feeling.
You know, l never wanted anything before from life.
Or from him or from anybody.
And now l do.
That's all the more reason to look at reality and stop throwing tantrums.
Well, he really got to you, didn't he? - He gets done what he intends to do.
- That's how much you know.
l love you.
l'm going to Pensacola with you.
Now shut up and take me home.
He saved our lives.
The last plane we could get from New York didn't leave us a minute to finish shopping.
Your daughter and l would've come to this wedding in rags.
Pug lsn't this a cunning number? Found it the last second at Bergdorf's.
Oh, honestly, a small plane is so much fun.
You really know you're flying.
Well, that was nice of him.
ls Fred Kirby that rich? Well, l wouldn't hear of it, but it's charged to his company.
He's taking it on to Birmingham today.
Anyway, l didn't want to argue too much.
lt was a deliverance.
Zip me up in back, will you? Pug, did Briny really bring that Jewish girl? - Yeah.
- Oh, of all things.
l've never, ever laid eyes on her.
Now she'll have to sit with us, - and they'll all think she's family.
- She may well be.
l don't believe it.
l just don't! How much older is she? Four years? Oh, that Briny! Just enjoys giving us heart failure.
Always has, the monster! Pug, what's taking you so long? Land, it's hot in here.
She may be older than he is, but she is terrifically attractive.
Well, you've got me curious, l'll say that.
l pictured her as one of those tough Brooklyn chickens who shove past you in New York department stores.
Rhoda, this is Natalie Jastrow.
- How do you do? - How do you do? Well, my dear, how very nice you do look.
Oh, Augusta, oh! l am so glad you made it.
Well, l guess we'll see you inside.
Big hit l made.
- Don't let Mom bother you.
She's OK.
- You see how she looked at my suit? You're still in mourning.
She knows that.
This must be Byron's sidekick from that jaunt in Poland.
Natalie, this is my sister Madeline and Mr.
Palmer Kirby.
- How do you do? - Hello.
l can see why the little devil left us so flat in New York.
Well, l can't say l blame him.
He shouldn't have rushed down here so fast.
Why not? Dearly beloved, we are gathered here in the sight of God to join together in holy matrimony this man and this woman.
She looksinteresting.
Doesn't she? From the looks of her, she might almost be an Armenian or even an Arab.
Byron met her in ltaly.
Well, Warren did tell the congressman and l that she was beautiful.
Yes.
Don't tell them l'm your fiancee.
Let them think whatever.
- l just don't wanna get into it.
- Take it easy.
l swear, l'm the only Jew in Pensacola.
When l walk through these doors l'm going to set off gongs.
l told Byron this morning that l'm all for you.
- That was sight unseen.
- Do you always take such blind risks? A flyer should be more prudent.
Well, l know what you did in Warsaw and that's enough for me.
You're cheering me up.
l feel terribly out of place here.
You shouldn't.
Janice is as much for you as l am.
Byron, he's changed already.
Thank you.
Come on, children, we're going to the head table.
Come on, follow me.
60,000 planes a year! That's a billion dollars! He'll get it, congressman.
lt's politically hysterical, financially irresponsible, and industrially inconceivable.
And you're willing to watch the British and French go down? Now, that's how that question is usually put.
Ask me if l'm willing to send three million American boys overseas against the Germans to prop up the old status quo in Europe.
That's what this is all about.
- Don't forget it.
- The British navy is propping up our own status quo right now, free of charge.
lf Hitler gets that fleet, his reach will extend all the way to Pensacola Bay.
Oh, yes.
l can just visualize the old Rodney and the NeIson out there at the marina streaming the swastika and shelling the hell out of our poor old yacht club.
That's not where they're coming, congressman.
They're not coming at all.
That's New York Times stuff.
Now, when those limeys see they're in a jam, they'll throw out that blowhard Churchill, make a deal with Germany.
They're gonna hang in there as long as they think that the Roosevelts and the British sympathizers and the New York Jews are gonna get us over there.
Well, l'm from Denver and l'm lrish.
Well, error is contagious.
lt knows no boundaries.
l was in Warsaw during the siege.
That's right! So you were.
You and Byron.
Pretty bad, was it? For three weeks, the Germans bombed a totally defenseless city.
They knocked out every hospital except the one l was working in.
The wounded were piled up in our entranceway like logs.
ln one of the hospitals, actually pregnant women were burning.
Well, that sort of thing has been going on in Europe for centuries, my dear.
And that is exactly what l want to spare the American people.
l heard a good one yesterday.
Old Abe and his family are driving down to Miami, and along about Tampa they run out of gas.
So they pulled into this filling station, and the attendant says, ''Juice?'' And old Abe says, ''Well, what if we are? Don't we get no gas?'' Oh, that's pretty cute.
Picked that one up yesterday.
Hey, sugar, give us a smile.
lt's your wedding day.
Hey, listen, nobody meant anything by that up there.
l know.
You know, darling, l'm really finally getting organized.
l think l may as well fly up to New London, take that sub school physical.
What's the matter? Oh, nothing.
Go on.
You're going up to New London.
Only if we both agree.
l won't do anything from now on unless we concur.
All right.
So anyway, l take the physical, making sure that a married applicant has a chance, that if he's accepted he gets time with his wife.
That takes care of the first few months.
Then l'll probably get shipped out to a submarine base.
Chances are it's Pearl Harbor.
Might even end up with Janice and Warren.
They have a university in Hawaii.
You could teach there.
Goodness, you've been thinking about this with might and main, haven't you? - You looking for us? - l understand you're using the congressman's car to take Madeline to the airport.
Well, don't leave without me.
l just talked to Washington.
l gotta scoot.
Your mother's staying on.
What time is that plane? 1 :40.
Darling, can you lend me money? l'll take that plane to Washington.
Oh? l'll be glad for the company.
l have to run upstairs and change.
l'll meet you out front, OK? - Why are you going to Washington? - See Leslie about Aaron's citizenship.
l thought while you're in New London, l could just take care of it.
What is the matter? You look as if you'd been shot.
You're mistaken.
l'll give you the fare.
Let me just show you Aaron's letter.
He wrote me and asked me to go see Slote about his passport problems.
He's really worried about it.
What's the point? l believe you.
Look, l know you and Janice have better things to do - with the little time you have left.
- Nothing that won't wait.
Dad, we're riding to the airport with you, now that's that.
Who knows when we're gonna see you all again? This family has been gypped by this miserable, stupid war.
This is the first time we've been together in how long? And we can't even stay together for 12 hours.
Well, l say, excuse me, that if this is gonna be a short reunion, it is damn well going to be a merry one.
Cheers! - Cheers! - Cheers, Mom.
You going to the airport? Wait a second.
All right, Mom.
All right, everybody.
Let's sing something.
BeII-bottom trousers Coats of navy bIue He'II cIimb the rigging Like his daddy used to do When I was a Iady's maid Down in Drury Lane My mistress, she was good to me My master was the same TiII we meet at Jesus' feet TiII we meet TiII we meet God be with you TiII we meet again TiII we meet TiII we meet TiII we meet at Jesus' feet SDl Media Group