Fortunes of War (1987): Season 1, Episode 3 - Romania: June 1940 - full transcript
(somber music)
(car engine roaring)
(car horn honking)
- 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?
(car engine revving)
(upbeat marching music)
(men singing in foreign language)
- What was that?
- The Iron Guard.
Our local fascists.
- [Harriet] I thought
they'd been wiped out.
- They're probably
running the country now.
(groans) 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.
- [Bella] 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.
- (sighs) I'll be careful.
(upbeat marching music)
(singing in foreign language)
(car engine revving)
(men yelling)
- Do you think they saw us?
- Could hardly fail, dear boy.
- [Harriet] How are you this morning?
- I'm fine, thank you.
- We shall have to ask you to
stay up here for the moment.
We've given our servant
a few days holiday,
but we also have 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.
- (whistles) Arka, come!
- "The love of liberty
is the love of others.
"The love of power, is
the love of ourselves."
Thank you.
(students applauding)
- 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?
- No, Sophie, I wouldn't have you die.
- All I need is 50,000 leu, no more.
- Well, the thing is Harriet organizes
the family finances now,
and 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.
- [Guy] 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.
- 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."
- [Guy] Byron.
- Byron.
- I was thinking the other day,
haven't seen a banana for about a year.
(Toby laughs)
- And you're wonderful, too,
(speaks in foreign language).
- [Yakimov] I was very fond of bananas.
- [Toby] Oh, I saw an
occasional banana in Cluj.
- Did you run away?
- (laughs) 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, 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. (chuckles)
- 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.
- [Harriet] Oh, don't.
May I look?
- [Sasha] If you wish.
- [Harriet] It's very good.
- [Sasha] 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.
- [Harriet] 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?
(somber music)
- 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 realize
that the Russians are the best guarantee
against a Hitler invasion.
- [Clarence] 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! (spits)
(men cheering)
(men applauding)
- They lack any sense of
their place in history.
(door clunks)
- 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.
- [Dobson] 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.
- Doesn't tell me.
Just don't destroy his integrity.
- How could I do that?
- 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.
- May lose you, too.
Not to me, I've made other arrangements.
- What are those?
- Oh, a present from the consulate.
Every British subject has to fill one in.
It's the usual stuff, you know,
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?
- Harboring a deserter.
- Well, we couldn't
possibly send Sasha away.
- I know, we're not going to.
- So, right.
Oh, it says religion.
I don't have any religion.
- [Harriet] Drinking?
- (chuckles) I should put rationalist.
- [Harriet] That doesn't count.
- Well, my father wouldn't
let me be baptized.
- Put Baptist, Baptists
don't get baptized.
- I'll put Congregationalist.
- [Harriet] Whatever for?
- Well, I understand that
soldiers who were Congregationalists
used to avoid church parades.
That sounds like a nice, awkward sect.
- You realize when we die,
we'll be in different places?
- Well, 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.
(relaxed music)
- I baptize 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,
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!
(all applauding)
- 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.
- [Toby] 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.
- [Inchcape] 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, 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.
(relaxed music)
- How did that strike you?
- Dull thud.
- Oi, give us a couple of beers.
- 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.
(men singing in foreign language)
- Are those crooks I hear singing?
- Iron Guard's having
a reception upstairs.
They're all busy practicing their German.
(men cheering)
(men chattering)
(Horace speaking in foreign language)
(men singing in foreign language)
- 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.
- 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.
(Inchcape speaks in foreign language)
(Horace speaks in foreign language)
(Guy speaks in foreign language)
(Horace speaks in foreign language)
- 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?
(Horace yelling)
- Mrs. Pringle, you are
a credit to the empire.
(majestic trumpet music)
- Despina queued for two
hours in the marketplace
this morning and got some tangerines.
- Would you like one?
- [Sasha] Thank you.
- And the newspaper.
- [Sasha] 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?
(relaxed music)
(men yelling)
- You really saw him?
- [Harriet] Yes, I really saw him.
- And spoke to him?
And told him I'm living here?
- Yes.
- [Sasha] And?
- He's looking very well
and he sends his love.
- Hungarians march into Cluj on the fifth.
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.
(train chuffing)
(ticket inspector speaks
speaks in foreign)
- Yes.
(man speaks in foreign language)
(ticket inspector speaks
speaks in foreign)
- 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.
(tense music)
(dog whimpers)
- Freddi!
- Is it possible?
Yaki, (speaks in foreign language)
- [Yakimov] How many bridges
go under the water since we last met?
- I must apologize
for the sandwiches, (speaks
in foreign language).
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, a job?
- 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 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?
- [Yakimov] These days,
practically everybody.
- [Freddi] 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.
(train rumbling)
- 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.
(somber music)
(door slams)
- Switch that damned light out!
- Pleasure, dear boy.
I say, dear girl, 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?
(man speaks in foreign language)
(heavy artillery booming)
- There they go.
- Guy, all right?
- Of course he is, why shouldn't he be?
(heavy artillery booming)
(guns firing)
- Natural concern for people I love.
(heavy artillery booming)
Is this what they call revolution?
- Something of the sort.
- Oh.
I'll just go to my room.
I may be some time.
(heavy artillery booming)
(triumphant music)
(solider speaks in foreign language)
- Guy, come and look.
- Yes, I see what you mean, darling.
We really must do something
about getting Sasha a passport.
(tense music)
(motorcycles roaring)
(man shouting in foreign language)
(men cheering)
- 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.
And they called it a death List.
(somber music)
- 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.
- [Guy] It works.
(dramatic music)
(airplay roaring)
(airport announcer speaking
in foreign language)
- [Guy] Professor Pinkrose?
- Professor Lord Pinkrose.
- Guy Pringle.
This is my wife, Harriet Pringle.
(men speaking foreign language)
- What in heaven's name is going on?
I thought this was supposed
to be a neutral country.
- Well, they're celebrating a 10-year pact
between Germany and Romania.
- Really and what are we doing about it?
- Well, I think we're hoping
your lecture will boost morale.
- Oh, of course!
(upbeat string music)
(car engine revving)
- 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 mustache?
- Found dead this morning,
100 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.
Fellow's handed in his hat, anyway.
Died a hero's death in the
service of his country.
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 program.
Lord Pinkrose will be lecturing
on the poetry of Byron.
- (laughs) 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?
- [Inchcape] Well, my lord,
all these things are relative.
Leverett was on the list.
- What list?
- The same list your name was on.
(boots thudding)
(relaxed harmonica music)
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.
- [Clarence] 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.
(somber music)
(glass smashing)
- Well, has anyone sent for a doctor?
- [Inchcape] 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 wanna 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.
(relaxed harmonica music)
- 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.
- Well, I'm working on the assumption
that everything will be back
to normal for the autumn term,
I have to prepare timetables.
- Nothing will ever
be back to normal.
- Well, I have to believe
in normality, darling.
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.
(bells ringing)
(car engine revving)
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 gonna run away
from a lot of hooligans
with pickax 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 vandalized 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.
- Are you running away?
- More or less, I'm going to Ankara.
With Sophie.
- With Sophie?
Well, this is splendid!
Well, I shall drink to that.
- And you're going to
marry her, of course.
- [Clarence] I suppose so.
- What about Brenda?
- [Guy] Brenda?
- Clarence has this fiancee
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?
- Well 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.
(somber music)
It's Hungarian, in the name of Gabor.
We put in visas for Turkey,
Bulgaria, and Greece.
- Oh, Clarence!
- [Clarence] You won't forget me?
- Of course I won't forget you.
(station announcer speaks
in foreign language)
- Bye.
- Give my regards to Dobson.
- I will, sir.
- Where's Harriet?
Thank you.
(train chuffing)
(instruments droning)
(audience chattering)
- Wrong glasses.
What are we going to see?
- What are we going to see, darling?
I think the posters said "Rigoletto".
- [Harriet] Not "Rigoletto".
- Ah, not "Rigoletto".
- "Tannhauser".
- Ah.
- Not "Rigoletto"?
(audience cheering)
(audience applauds)
- [Man] Hail Hitler!
- [Man] Hail Hitler!
(all singing in foreign language)
- 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!
Had to rely for my information
on some rapscallion from
a popular newspaper!
- Galpin?
- I don't know the man's name.
- Very goodnight.
- Questions will be asked,
Pringle, questions will be asked.
(guy huffs)
Which way is my hotel?
(Despina sobbing)
- Mrs. Pringle, (speaks
in foreign language).
- Sasha!
- [Guy] Well, they'll kill him, of course.
- Course.
(airplane whirring)
(airplane roaring)
You'll be careful?
- Darling, when will you
realize, I'm immortal!
Little monkey paws.
Come on, off you go,
I'll see you in Athens.
(airport announcer speaks
in foreign language)
(airplane roaring)
(somber music)
(car engine roaring)
(car horn honking)
- 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?
(car engine revving)
(upbeat marching music)
(men singing in foreign language)
- What was that?
- The Iron Guard.
Our local fascists.
- [Harriet] I thought
they'd been wiped out.
- They're probably
running the country now.
(groans) 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.
- [Bella] 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.
- (sighs) I'll be careful.
(upbeat marching music)
(singing in foreign language)
(car engine revving)
(men yelling)
- Do you think they saw us?
- Could hardly fail, dear boy.
- [Harriet] How are you this morning?
- I'm fine, thank you.
- We shall have to ask you to
stay up here for the moment.
We've given our servant
a few days holiday,
but we also have 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.
- (whistles) Arka, come!
- "The love of liberty
is the love of others.
"The love of power, is
the love of ourselves."
Thank you.
(students applauding)
- 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?
- No, Sophie, I wouldn't have you die.
- All I need is 50,000 leu, no more.
- Well, the thing is Harriet organizes
the family finances now,
and 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.
- [Guy] 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.
- 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."
- [Guy] Byron.
- Byron.
- I was thinking the other day,
haven't seen a banana for about a year.
(Toby laughs)
- And you're wonderful, too,
(speaks in foreign language).
- [Yakimov] I was very fond of bananas.
- [Toby] Oh, I saw an
occasional banana in Cluj.
- Did you run away?
- (laughs) 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, 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. (chuckles)
- 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.
- [Harriet] Oh, don't.
May I look?
- [Sasha] If you wish.
- [Harriet] It's very good.
- [Sasha] 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.
- [Harriet] 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?
(somber music)
- 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 realize
that the Russians are the best guarantee
against a Hitler invasion.
- [Clarence] 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! (spits)
(men cheering)
(men applauding)
- They lack any sense of
their place in history.
(door clunks)
- 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.
- [Dobson] 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.
- Doesn't tell me.
Just don't destroy his integrity.
- How could I do that?
- 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.
- May lose you, too.
Not to me, I've made other arrangements.
- What are those?
- Oh, a present from the consulate.
Every British subject has to fill one in.
It's the usual stuff, you know,
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?
- Harboring a deserter.
- Well, we couldn't
possibly send Sasha away.
- I know, we're not going to.
- So, right.
Oh, it says religion.
I don't have any religion.
- [Harriet] Drinking?
- (chuckles) I should put rationalist.
- [Harriet] That doesn't count.
- Well, my father wouldn't
let me be baptized.
- Put Baptist, Baptists
don't get baptized.
- I'll put Congregationalist.
- [Harriet] Whatever for?
- Well, I understand that
soldiers who were Congregationalists
used to avoid church parades.
That sounds like a nice, awkward sect.
- You realize when we die,
we'll be in different places?
- Well, 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.
(relaxed music)
- I baptize 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,
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!
(all applauding)
- 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.
- [Toby] 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.
- [Inchcape] 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, 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.
(relaxed music)
- How did that strike you?
- Dull thud.
- Oi, give us a couple of beers.
- 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.
(men singing in foreign language)
- Are those crooks I hear singing?
- Iron Guard's having
a reception upstairs.
They're all busy practicing their German.
(men cheering)
(men chattering)
(Horace speaking in foreign language)
(men singing in foreign language)
- 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.
- 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.
(Inchcape speaks in foreign language)
(Horace speaks in foreign language)
(Guy speaks in foreign language)
(Horace speaks in foreign language)
- 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?
(Horace yelling)
- Mrs. Pringle, you are
a credit to the empire.
(majestic trumpet music)
- Despina queued for two
hours in the marketplace
this morning and got some tangerines.
- Would you like one?
- [Sasha] Thank you.
- And the newspaper.
- [Sasha] 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?
(relaxed music)
(men yelling)
- You really saw him?
- [Harriet] Yes, I really saw him.
- And spoke to him?
And told him I'm living here?
- Yes.
- [Sasha] And?
- He's looking very well
and he sends his love.
- Hungarians march into Cluj on the fifth.
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.
(train chuffing)
(ticket inspector speaks
speaks in foreign)
- Yes.
(man speaks in foreign language)
(ticket inspector speaks
speaks in foreign)
- 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.
(tense music)
(dog whimpers)
- Freddi!
- Is it possible?
Yaki, (speaks in foreign language)
- [Yakimov] How many bridges
go under the water since we last met?
- I must apologize
for the sandwiches, (speaks
in foreign language).
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, a job?
- 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 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?
- [Yakimov] These days,
practically everybody.
- [Freddi] 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.
(train rumbling)
- 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.
(somber music)
(door slams)
- Switch that damned light out!
- Pleasure, dear boy.
I say, dear girl, 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?
(man speaks in foreign language)
(heavy artillery booming)
- There they go.
- Guy, all right?
- Of course he is, why shouldn't he be?
(heavy artillery booming)
(guns firing)
- Natural concern for people I love.
(heavy artillery booming)
Is this what they call revolution?
- Something of the sort.
- Oh.
I'll just go to my room.
I may be some time.
(heavy artillery booming)
(triumphant music)
(solider speaks in foreign language)
- Guy, come and look.
- Yes, I see what you mean, darling.
We really must do something
about getting Sasha a passport.
(tense music)
(motorcycles roaring)
(man shouting in foreign language)
(men cheering)
- 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.
And they called it a death List.
(somber music)
- 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.
- [Guy] It works.
(dramatic music)
(airplay roaring)
(airport announcer speaking
in foreign language)
- [Guy] Professor Pinkrose?
- Professor Lord Pinkrose.
- Guy Pringle.
This is my wife, Harriet Pringle.
(men speaking foreign language)
- What in heaven's name is going on?
I thought this was supposed
to be a neutral country.
- Well, they're celebrating a 10-year pact
between Germany and Romania.
- Really and what are we doing about it?
- Well, I think we're hoping
your lecture will boost morale.
- Oh, of course!
(upbeat string music)
(car engine revving)
- 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 mustache?
- Found dead this morning,
100 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.
Fellow's handed in his hat, anyway.
Died a hero's death in the
service of his country.
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 program.
Lord Pinkrose will be lecturing
on the poetry of Byron.
- (laughs) 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?
- [Inchcape] Well, my lord,
all these things are relative.
Leverett was on the list.
- What list?
- The same list your name was on.
(boots thudding)
(relaxed harmonica music)
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.
- [Clarence] 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.
(somber music)
(glass smashing)
- Well, has anyone sent for a doctor?
- [Inchcape] 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 wanna 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.
(relaxed harmonica music)
- 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.
- Well, I'm working on the assumption
that everything will be back
to normal for the autumn term,
I have to prepare timetables.
- Nothing will ever
be back to normal.
- Well, I have to believe
in normality, darling.
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.
(bells ringing)
(car engine revving)
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 gonna run away
from a lot of hooligans
with pickax 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 vandalized 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.
- Are you running away?
- More or less, I'm going to Ankara.
With Sophie.
- With Sophie?
Well, this is splendid!
Well, I shall drink to that.
- And you're going to
marry her, of course.
- [Clarence] I suppose so.
- What about Brenda?
- [Guy] Brenda?
- Clarence has this fiancee
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?
- Well 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.
(somber music)
It's Hungarian, in the name of Gabor.
We put in visas for Turkey,
Bulgaria, and Greece.
- Oh, Clarence!
- [Clarence] You won't forget me?
- Of course I won't forget you.
(station announcer speaks
in foreign language)
- Bye.
- Give my regards to Dobson.
- I will, sir.
- Where's Harriet?
Thank you.
(train chuffing)
(instruments droning)
(audience chattering)
- Wrong glasses.
What are we going to see?
- What are we going to see, darling?
I think the posters said "Rigoletto".
- [Harriet] Not "Rigoletto".
- Ah, not "Rigoletto".
- "Tannhauser".
- Ah.
- Not "Rigoletto"?
(audience cheering)
(audience applauds)
- [Man] Hail Hitler!
- [Man] Hail Hitler!
(all singing in foreign language)
- 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!
Had to rely for my information
on some rapscallion from
a popular newspaper!
- Galpin?
- I don't know the man's name.
- Very goodnight.
- Questions will be asked,
Pringle, questions will be asked.
(guy huffs)
Which way is my hotel?
(Despina sobbing)
- Mrs. Pringle, (speaks
in foreign language).
- Sasha!
- [Guy] Well, they'll kill him, of course.
- Course.
(airplane whirring)
(airplane roaring)
You'll be careful?
- Darling, when will you
realize, I'm immortal!
Little monkey paws.
Come on, off you go,
I'll see you in Athens.
(airport announcer speaks
in foreign language)
(airplane roaring)
(somber music)