"MOSFILM" "Creative Association TELEFILM" "John Boynton Priestley DANGEROUS CORNER" "Directed by Vladimir BASOV" "Directors of Photography I.MINKOVETSKY, P.TERPSIKHOROV" "Production Designer A.PARKHOMENKO" "Music by V.BASNER" "Sound Engineer E.FEDOROV" "Lyrics by M.MATUSOVSKY" "Producer N.DOSTAL" "English subtitles by Boris Bulgakov" "Starring:" "Yury YAKOVLEV as Robert Caplan" "Valentina TITOVA as Freda Caplan" "Alexander DIK as Gordon Whitehouse" "Yelena VALAEVA as Betty Whitehouse" "Antonina SHURANOVA as Olwen Peel" "Vladimir BASOV as Charles Stanton" "Rufina NIFONTOVA as Maud Mockridge" "John Boynton Priestley DANGEROUS CORNER" "Part One" "You have just been listening to a play in eight scenes, specially written for Broadcasting, by Mr Humphrey Stoat, called 'The Sleeping Dog'." "And that's that." "I hope it didn't bore you, Miss Mockridge?" "Not in the least." "I don't like the plays and the stuffy talks." "I like the dance music, and so does Gordon." "You know, Miss Mockridge, every time my brother Gordon comes here, he annoys us by fiddling about trying to get dance music." "I adore switching off the solemn pompous lecturers - just extinguishing them." "What did they call that play?" "The Sleeping Dog." "Why the 'sleeping' dog?" "Because you had to let him lie." "Let who lie?" "Well, they were all telling lies, weren't they?" "How many scenes did we miss?" "Five, I think." "I suppose they must have been telling a lot of lies in those scenes." "That's why that man was so angry - the husband, I mean." "But which was the husband?" "Was it the one with the adenoidy voice?" "Yes; the one with the adenoidy voice:" "and he went and shot himself." "Very pathetic, I'm sure." "Rather too many adenoids." "They're rather pathetic, too." "Listen to the men." "They're probably laughing at something very improper." "No, just gossip." "Men gossip like anything." "Of course they do." "Quite right." "People who don't like gossip aren't interested in their fellow creatures." "I insist upon my publishers gossiping." "Yes, but the men pretend it's business." "They've got a marvellous excuse now that they're all three directors of the firm." "Yes, of course." "Miss Peel," "I think you ought to marry Mr Stanton." "Oh, why should I?" "To complete the pattern here." "Then there'd be three married pairs." "I was thinking so all through dinner." "There you are, Olwen." "I'm almost prepared to marry Mr Stanton myself to be one of your charmed circle." "Car for Miss Mockridge?" " Yes, sir." " Please wait." "What a snug little group you are." "Snug little group..." "How awful!" "Not awful at all." "I think it's charming." "It sounds disgusting." "Yes." "Like a Christmas card." "And very nice things to be." "In these days almost too good to be true." "Oh, why should it be?" "I didn't know you were such a pessimist, Miss Mockridge." "Didn't you ?" "Then you don't read the reviews of my books - and you ought to, you know, being an employee of my publishers." "I shall complain of that to my three directors when they come in." "Certainly I'm a pessimist." "But I didn't mean it that way, of course." "I think it's wonderful." "It is rather nice here." "We've been lucky." "Enchanting." "I hate to leave it." "You know, I'm in the town office now - not down here at the press - but I come back as often as I can." "I'm sure you do." "It must be so comforting to be all so settled." "Pretty good." "But I suppose you all miss your brother-in-law." "He used to be down here with you too, didn't he?" "You mean Robert's brother, Martin?" "Yes, Martin Caplan." "I was in America at the time, and never quite understood what happened." "Something rather dreadful, wasn't it ?" "Oh, have I dropped a brick?" "I always am dropping bricks." "No, not at all." "It was distressing for us at the time, but it's all right now." "Martin shot himself." "It happened nearly a year ago - last June, but at Fallows End." "He'd taken a cottage there." "Oh yes - dreadful business, of course." "I only met him twice, I think." "I remember I thought him very amusing and charming." "He was very handsome, wasn't he?" "Yes, very handsome." "Who's very handsome?" "Not you, Charles." "May we know, or is it some grand secret between you?" "They were talking about me." "Betty, my girl, why do you allow them all to talk about your husband in this fulsome fashion?" "Darling, I'm sure you've had too much manly gossip and old brandy." "You're beginning to look purple in the face and bloated - a typical financier." "Sorry to be so late, Freda - but it's that wretched puppy of yours." "Oh, what's it been doing now?" "It was eating the script of Sonia William's new novel, and I thought it might make him sick." "You see, how we talk of you novelists." "Yes, I heard you." "I've just been saying what a charming cosy little group you've made here." "I'm glad you think so." "I think you've all been lucky." "I agree, we have." "It's not all luck, Miss Mockridge" "You see, we all happen to be nice easy-going people." "Except Betty - she's terribly wild." "That's only because Gordon doesn't beat her often enough - yet." "You see, Miss Peel," "Mr. Stanton is still the cynical bachelor." "I'm afraid he rather spoils the picture." "Miss Peel can't afford to talk - she's transferred herself to the London office and deserted us." "I come back here as often as I'm asked." "But whether it's to see me or Robert, we can't yet decide." "Anyhow, our wives are getting jealous." "Oh, frightfully." "What's disturbing the ether tonight?" "Anybody know?" "Oh, Gordon, don't start it again." "We've only just turned it off." "What did you hear?" "The last half of a play." "It was called 'The Sleeping Dog'." "Why?" "We're not sure - something to do with lies," "and a gentleman shooting himself." "What fun they have at the BBC." "You know, I believe I understand that play now." "The sleeping dog was the truth, and that man - the husband - insisted upon disturbing it." "He was quite right to disturb it." "I think it a very sound idea - the truth as a sleeping dog." "Why wake it up?" "..." "It can..." "Of course, we do spend too much of our time telling lies and acting them." "Oh, but one has to." "I'm always fibbing." "I do it all day long." "You do, darling, you do." "It's the secret of my charm." "Very likely." "But we meant something much more serious." "Serious or not," "I'm all for it coming out." "It's healthy." "I think telling the truth telling the truth is about as healthy as skidding round a corner at sixty." "And life's got a lot of dangerous corners - hasn't it, Charles?" "It can have - if you don't choose your route well." "To lie or not to lie - what do you think, Olwen?" "You're looking terribly wise." "I agree with you." "I think telling everything is dangerous." "The point is, I think - there's truth and truth." "I always agree to that." "Something and something." "Shut up, Gordon." "Go on, Olwen." "Yes - go on." "Well - the real truth - that is," "every single little thing, with nothing missing at all, wouldn't be dangerous." "That's God's truth." "But what most people mean by truth, what that man meant in the wireless play, is only half the real truth." "It doesn't tell you all that went on inside everybody." "It simply gives you a lot of facts that happened to have been hidden away and were perhaps a lot better hidden away." "It's rather treacherous stuff." "Yes, like the muck they drag out of everybody in the law courts." "'Where were you on the night of the twenty-seventh of November last?" "Answer yes or no.'" "I'm not convinced, Miss Peel." "I'm ready to welcome what you call half the truth - the facts." "So am I." "I'm all for it." " You would be?" " What?" "Anything; nothing." "Let's talk about something more amusing." "Drinks, Robert." "And cigarettes." "Oh, I am sorry." "There aren't any here." "There are some in this one." "Miss Mockridge, Olwen - a cigarette?" "Oh, I remember that box." "It plays a tune at you, doesn't it ?" "I remember the tune." "Yes, it's the Wedding March, isn't it?" "Good, isn't it?" "It can't have been this box you remember." "This is the first time I've had it out." "It belonged to - someone else." "It belonged to Martin, didn't it?" "He showed it to me." "He couldn't have shown it to you." "He hadn't got it when you saw him last." "How do you know he hadn't got it, Freda?" "That doesn't matter." "I do know." "Martin couldn't have shown you this box, Olwen." "I know that he didn't have the box at the time." "Couldn't he?" "No, perhaps he couldn't." "I suppose I got mixed up." "I must have seen a box like this somewhere else, and then pushed it on to poor Martin because he was always so fond of things like this." "Olwen, I'm going to be rather rude, but I know you won't mind." "You know you suddenly stopped telling the truth then, didn't you?" "You're absolutely positive that this is the box Martin showed you, just as Freda is equally positive it isn't." "Well, does that matter?" "Not a hoot." "I'm trying to find some dance music, but this thing has suddenly decided not to function." "Then don't fiddle about with it." "Don't bully Gordon." "Well, Betty, you stop him." "No, I don't suppose it does matter, Olwen, but after what we'd been saying," "I couldn't..." "I couldn't help thinking... that it was rather an odd, provoking situation." "Just what I was thinking." "It's all terribly provoking." "More about the cigarette box, please." "It's all perfectly simple..." "I don't think it is all perfectly simple, dear Freda, but I can't see that it matters now." "I don't understand you." "Neither do I. First you say that it can't have been the same box, and now you say it's not all perfectly simple." "I believe you're hiding something, Olwen, and that isn't like you." "Either that box you saw was Martin's, or it wasn't..." "Oh, damn the box!" "Oh, but Charles - we'd like to hear..." "But, Mr. Stanton..." "I hate a box that plays tunes at you like that, anyway." "Let's forget it." "Yes, and Martin, too." "Yes." "About the box, about Martin... about everything." "He's not here - and we are, all warm and cosy... such a charming group..." "Let's not talk about him..." "Shut up, Gordon." "Don't let's mention Martin or think about him." "Bad form." "He's dead." "Well, there's no need to be hysterical about it, Gordon." "One would think you owned Martin, to hear you talk." "Instead of which, nobody owned Martin." "He belonged to himself." "He'd some sense." "What does all that mean, Betty?" "It means that I'm being rather stupid and that you're all talking a lot of rot, and I'm going to have a headache." "Is that all?" "Isn't that quite enough?" "Go on, Freda." "I wish you wouldn't be so absurdly persistent, Robert." "But it's quite simple." "It came to us with some other of Martin's things from the cottage." "This is the first time it's been out here." "Now the last time Olwen was at the cottage that Saturday, at the very beginning of June - you remember?" " What a day that was!" "And a marvellous night, wasn't it?" "That was the time when we all sat out in the garden for hours, and Martin told us all about those ridiculous people " "the handwoven people." "Yes - and the long, thin woman who always said" "'Do you belong?" "'" "I don't think I ever had had a better day." "We'll never have another like that." "Yes, it was a good day." "Though I'd no idea you'd been so excited about it, Gordon." "Neither had anybody else." "Gordon seems to have decided that he ought to be hysterical every time Martin is mentioned." "I suspect it's Robert's old brandy." "And those enormous glasses." "They go to his head." "Well, where do you want them to go to?" "The point is, then, that that first Saturday in June was the last time Olwen was at Martin's cottage?" "Yes, and I know that he hadn't got this cigarette box then." "No, he'd have shown it to us if he'd had it then." "As a matter of fact, I never remember seeing the thing at the cottage." "So there you are, Olwen." " There I am." "Yes, but - hang it all - where are you?" "You are a baby, Robert." "I don't know where I am." "Out of the dock or the witness box, I hope." "Oh no, please." "That would be too disappointing." "You know, that wasn't the last time you were at the cottage, Olwen." "Don't you remember, you and I ran over the next Sunday afternoon, to see Martin about those little etchings?" "Yes." "Yes, that's true." "But I don't remember him showing us this cigarette box." "In fact, I've never seen it before." "I've never seen it before, and I don't think I ever want to see it again." "I never heard such a lot of fuss about nothing." "I wouldn't be too sure about that, Charles." "But I may as well tell you - if only to have done with it - that Martin couldn't have shown you the box that Sunday anyhow, because he hadn't got it then." "You seem to know a lot about that box, Freda?" "That's just what I was going to say." "Why are you so grand and knowing about it?" "I know why." "You gave it to him, didn't you?" "Did you, Freda?" "Yes, I gave it to him." "That's queer." "I don't mean it's queer your giving him the cigarette box - why shouldn't you?" "But it's queer your never mentioning it." "When did you give it to him?" "Where did you pick it up?" "That's all quite simple, too." "You remember the day before that awful Saturday." "You were staying up in town, and I came up for the day." "Well, I happened to see the cigarette box at Calthrop's." "It was amusing and rather cheap, so I bought it for Martin." "And Calthrop's sent it to Martin, down at Fallows End, so that he never got it until that last Saturday?" "Yes." "Well, that's that." "I'm sorry, Freda, but it's not quite so simple as all that." "You mustn't forget that I was with Martin at the cottage that very Saturday morning." "Well, what about it?" "Well, I was there when the parcel post came." "I remember Martin had a parcel of books from Jack Brookfield - with the letters." "I don't forget anything about that morning, and neither would you if you'd been dragged into that hellish inquest as I was." "But he didn't have that cigarette box." "I suppose it must have arrived by the afternoon post, then." "What does it matter?" "It doesn't matter at all, Freda darling, except that at Fallows End parcels are never delivered by the afternoon post." "Yes they are." "No." "How do you know?" "Because Martin used to grumble about it and say that he always got books and manuscripts a day late." "That cigarette box didn't arrive in the morning, because I saw the post opened, and it couldn't have been delivered in the afternoon." "I don't believe those shop people in town ever sent the box." "You took it to Martin yourself." "You did, didn't you?" "You are a fool, Gordon." "Possibly." "But remember, I didn't start all this." "You did take it to Martin, didn't you?" "Did you, Freda?" "Well, if you must know - I did." "Freda!" "I thought so." "But, Freda, if you went to the cottage to give Martin the box after Gordon had left," "you must have seen Martin later than anybody, only a few hours before he... before he shot himself." "I did." "I saw him between tea and dinner." "But why have you never said anything about it?" "Why didn't you come forward at the inquest?" "You could have given evidence." "I could, but why should I?" "What good would it have done?" "It was bad enough Gordon having to do it..." "It was hell!" "If it could have helped Martin, I'd have gone." "But it couldn't have helped anybody." "That's true." "You were quite right." "Yes, I can understand that." "But why didn't you tell me?" "Why did you keep it to yourself?" "Why have you kept it to yourself all this time?" "You were the very last person to talk to Martin." " Was I the last person?" " You must have been." "Then what about Olwen?" " Olwen.." "Oh - the cigarette box." " Yes, of course - the cigarette box." "Martin didn't get that box until after tea on that Saturday afternoon, and Olwen admitted that he showed it to her." "No, she didn't." "She said it was some other box, and I vote we believe her and have done with it." "No." "No, Mrs Whitehouse..." "Yes, I do." "It's all wrong going on and on like this" "And I second that." "And I don't." "Oh, but Robert..." "I'm sorry, Betty... though, after all, you don't come into this and it can't hurt you." "But Martin was my brother, and I don't like all these mysteries," "and I've a right to know." "All right, Robert." "But must you know now?" "I don't see the necessity." "But then I didn't see the necessity why I should have been cross-examined, with the entire approval of the company apparently." "But now that it's your turn, Olwen, I've no doubt that Robert will relent." "I don't see why you should say that, Freda." "I'm sure you don't, Robert." "You might as well admit it, Olwen." "Martin showed you that box, didn't he?" "So you must have been to the cottage that Saturday night." "Yes, he did show me the box." "That was after dinner - about nine o'clock - on that Saturday night." "What?" "You were there too?" "First Freda - then you." "And neither of you has said a word about it." "I'm sorry, Robert." "I just couldn't." "But what were you doing there?" "I'd been worried about..." "something... something..." "that I'd heard... it had been worrying me for days, and at last I couldn't stand it any longer." "I felt I had to see Martin to ask him about it." "So I ran over to Fallows End." "I had some dinner on the way, and got to the cottage just before nine." "Nobody saw me go and nobody saw me leave - you know how quiet it was there." "Like Freda, I thought it wouldn't serve any good purpose to come forward at the inquest - so I didn't." "That's all." "But you can't dismiss it like that." "You must have been the very last person to talk to Martin." "You must know something about it." "It's all over and done with." "Let's leave it alone." "Please, Robert." "I'm sure we must be boring Miss Mockridge with all this stuff." "Oh no, I'm enjoying it - very much." "We don't mean to discuss it, do we, Freda?" "There's nothing to discuss." "All over." "But look here, Olwen, you must tell me this." "Had your visit to Martin that night anything to do with the firm?" "You say you'd been worried about something." " Oh, Robert, please." " I'm sorry," "I'm sorry, but I must know this." "Was that something to do with that missing 500 pounds?" "Oh - for God's sake - don't drag that money into it." "We don't want all that all over again." "Martin's gone." "Leave him alone, can't you, and shut up about the rotten money." "Gordon, be quiet." "You're behaving like an hysterical child tonight." "Oh, so am I, I beg your pardon, Miss Mockridge." "Not at all." "But I think it must be getting late." "Oh, no." "It's early yet." "The Pattersons said they'd send their car over for me." "Has it arrived yet?" "Yes, I heard it arrive when we left the dining room, and I told the man to wait." "I'll get hold of him for you." "Thank you." "Oh, must you really go?" "Yes, I really think I ought." "It's at least half an hour's run to the Pattersons', and I don't suppose they like their car and chauffeur to he kept out too late." "I think you left your coat in my room." "I'll get it for you." " Goodbye, Miss Peel." " Goodbye, Miss Mockridge." "It's been so delightful seeing you all again - such a charming group you make here." "Goodbye, Mrs. Whitehouse." "Goodbye." "Mr Stanton!" "Goodbye." "Goodbye." "That's good." "Please, Miss Mockridge." " Thank you." "Good night." "All the best." "I hear that you had a very good time in America..." " Oh, yes." " Galley proofs will be sent out to you." "Best regards to the Pattersons." "It got easier to breath right away." "Good Lord - yes." "I'm sorry, but I can't bear that woman." "She reminds me too much of a geometry mistress." "I've always suspected your geometry, Betty." "Drink, Gordon?" "No," "thanks." "It's very rum - but nevertheless, she's not at all a bad novelist." "I don't mean she's just a good seller, but she's a goodish novelist too." "Why is it there seems to be always something rather unpleasant about good novelists?" "But I don't call Maud Mockridge a good novelist, Stanton." "I bet she's a gossiper." " She is." " She's notorious for it." "That's why they ought to have shut up." "She'll embroider that cigarette box story" "and have it all round London within a week." "The Pattersons will have it tonight, to begin with." "It must have been agony for her to go away and not hear any more." "She wouldn't have gone if she'd thought she'd have heard any more." "But she's got something to be going on with." "She'll probably start a new novel in the morning and we'll all be in it." "Well, she'll have to use her imagination a bit about me." "And me." "Perhaps she'll invent the most frightful vices for us, Betty." "She can't really do much with what she's just heard, you know." "After all, why shouldn't Freda have taken Martin a cigarette box," "and why shouldn't Olwen have gone to see him?" "Yes, why not?" "Oh" " I'd forgotten you were there, Olwen." "Can I ask you something?" "After all, I don't think I've asked anybody anything, so far?" "You can ask." "I don't promise to answer." "I'll risk it then." "Were you in love with Martin, Olwen?" "Not in the least." "I thought you weren't." "As a matter of fact, to be absolutely candid, I rather disliked him." "Yes, I thought so." "Oh - rot!" "I'll never believe that." "You couldn't dislike Martin." "Nobody could." "I don't mean he hadn't any faults or anything;" "but with him they just didn't matter." "He was one of those people." "You had to like him." "He was Martin." "In other words - your god." "You know, Gordon literally adored him." "Didn't you, darling?" "Well, be could he fascinating." "And he was certainly very clever." "I must admit the firm's never been the same without him." "I should think not." "How could it be?" "Now we can thrash this out." "Oh no, please, Robert." "I'm sorry, Olwen." "But I want to know the truth now." "There's something very queer about all this." "First Freda going to see Martin, and never saying a word about it." "And then you going to see him too, Olwen, and never saying a word about it either." "You've both been hiding this all along." "You may be hiding other things too." "It seems to me it's about time some of us began telling the truth - for a change." "Do you always tell the truth, Robert?" "I try to." "Noble fellow." "But don't expect too much of us ordinary mortals." "Spare our weaknesses." "What weaknesses?" "Anything you like, my dear Freda." "Buying musical cigarette boxes, for instance." "I'm sure that's a weakness." "Or making rather too much use of one's little country cottage." "I think that too, in certain circumstances, might be described as a weakness." "Do you mean Martin's cottage?" "I hardly ever went there." "No, I wasn't thinking of Martin's," "I must have been thinking of another one - perhaps your own." "I'm afraid I don't understand." "Look here, what's all this about?" "Are you starting now, Stanton?" "Certainly not." "Well, I want to get to the bottom of this Martin business." "Oh Lord," "is this going to be another inquest?" "Well, it wouldn't be necessary if we'd heard more of the truth, perhaps, when there was an inquest." "And it's up to you, Olwen." "You were the last to see Martin." "Why did you go to see him like that?" "Was it about the missing money?" "Yes, it was." "Did you know then that Martin had taken it?" "No." "But you thought he had?" "I thought there was a possibility he had." "You were all damned ready to think that." "Gordon, I want to go home now." "So soon, Betty?" "I'm going to have an awful headache if I stay any longer." "I'm going home..." " All right." "Just a minute." "I'll take you along, Betty," "if Gordon wants to stay on." "No, I want Gordon to come along too." " All right." "But hang on a minute." " I tell you take me home." "Why, what's the matter, Betty?" "I don't know." "I'm stupid, I suppose." "All right." "We'll go." "I'll come along too." "But, Betty, I'm awfully sorry if all this stuff has upset you." "I know it's nothing to do with you, anyhow..." "Oh, don't go on and on about it." "Why can't you leave things alone?" "Well, good night, everybody." "I'll see these infants home and then turn in myself." "Very good of you." "Good night." "And now, Olwen, you can tell me exactly" "why you rushed to see Martin like that about the missing money." "We're all being truthful now, are we?" "I want to be." "What about you, Freda?" "Yes, yes, I don't care." "What does it matter?" " Queer way of putting it." " Is it?" "Well sometimes, Robert, I'm rather a queer woman." "You'd hardly know me." "You started all this, you know, Robert." "Now it's your turn." "Will you be truthful with me?" "Good God!" "Yes - of course I will." "I loathe all these silly mysteries." "But it's not my turn." "I asked you a question that you haven't answered yet." "I know you have." "But I'm going to ask you one before I do answer yours." "I've been wanting to do it for some time, but I've never had the chance or never dared." "Now I don't care." "It might as well come out." "Robert, did you take that money?" "I?" "Did I take the money?" "Yes." "You must be crazy, Olwen." "Of course not." "Do you think, even if I had taken it," "I'd have let poor Martin shoulder the blame like that?" "Martin took it, of course." "We all know that." "Oh, what a fool I've been!" "I don't understand, Olwen." "Surely you must have known that Martin took it." "You can't have been thinking all this time that I did?" "And I've not been thinking it - I've been torturing myself with it." "But why?" "Why, Olwen?" "Damn it all - it doesn't make sense." "I might have taken the money " "I suppose we're all capable of that, under certain circumstances " "but never on earth could I have let somebody else - and especially Martin - take the blame for it." "How could you think me capable" "of such a thing?" "I thought you were a friend of mine, Olwen " "one of my best and oldest friends." "You might as well know, Robert, that Olwen is not a friend of yours." "Of course she is." "Oh no, Freda." "Please." "She's a woman who's in love with you - a very different thing." "Freda, that's damnably unfair." "It's cruel." "It's not going to hurt you." "And he wanted the truth." "Let him have it." "I'm terribly sorry, Olwen." "We've always been very good friends and I've always been very fond of you." "Stop!" "Oh, Freda, that was unforgivable." "You'd no right to say that." "But it's true, isn't it?" "You wanted the truth, Robert, and here it is - some of it." "Olwen's been in love with you for ages." "I don't know exactly how long, but I've been aware of it for the last 18 months." "Wives always are aware of these things." "And it seems very foolish to me that you haven't seen it earlier and haven't resiprocated her feelings." "Freda, I understand now." "Understand what?" "About you." "I ought to have understood before." "If you mean by that, that you understand now that Freda doesn't care for me very much " "you're right." "We've not been very happy together." "Somehow our marriage hasn't worked." "Nobody knows ..." " Of course they know." "Do you mean you've told them?" "No, of course I haven't told them." "If you mean by they - the people we know intimately - our own group here - they didn't need to be told." "But Olwen here has just said she understood about it for the first time." "No, I knew about that before, Robert." "It was something else I've just..." "Well, what is it?" "I'd rather not explain." "Being noble now, Olwen?" "You needn't, you know." "We're past that." "No, it's not that." "It's - it's because..." "I couldn't talk about it." "There's something horrible to me about it." "And I can't tell you why." "Something horrible?" "Yes, something really horrible." "Don't let's talk about that side of it." "I beg you, please." "But, Olwen..." "I'm sorry I said I understood." "It slipped out." "Please..." "Very well." "But you've got to talk about that money now." "You said you believed all along that Robert had taken it." "It looked to me as if he must have done." "But if you believed that, why didn't you say something?" "Can't you see why she couldn't?" "You mean - she was shielding me?" "Yes, of course." "Olwen" " I'm terribly sorry." "I'd no idea" "Though it's fantastic, I must say, that you could think I was that kind of man and yet go on caring enough not to say anything." "But this is completely natural." " I said I'd been torturing myself with it." " But it's not fantastic at all." "If you're in love with somebody, you'll forgive them." "At least, some women will." "I don't see you doing it, Freda." "But there are a lot of things about me you don't see." "But this is what I wanted to say, Olwen." "If you thought that Robert had taken that money, then you knew that Martin hadn't?" "Martin hadn't taken it." "I was sure after I had talked to him that last night." "But you let us all think he had." "I know." "But it didn't seem to matter then." "It couldn't hurt Martin any more." "And I felt I had to keep quiet." "Because of me?" "Yes, because of you, Robert." " But Martin must have taken it." " No." "That's why he did what he did." "He thought he'd be found out." "He was terribly nervy." "And he simply couldn't face it." "No, it wasn't that at all." "You must believe me." "I'm positive that Martin never touched thed money." "I've always thought it queer that he should." "I know he could be wild - and rather cruel sometimes." "He could never be calculating." "And he didn't care enough about money." "He spent enough of it." "He was badly in debt." "He could have cheerfully gone on being in debt." "Now, you loathe being in debt." "You're entirely different." " That's why I thought that you..." " Yes, I see that.." "Yes, I see that, Olwen." "Though I think those fellows who don't care about money, who don't mind being in debt, are just the sort of fellows who help themselves to other people's." "Yes, but not in a cautious sneaky way." "That wasn't like Martin at all." "I wonder" " Olwen, where did you get the idea that I'd taken it?" "Why, because Martin himself was sure that you had taken it." "He told me so." "Martin told you so?" "Yes." "That was the first thing we talked about." "Martin thought I had taken it." "But he knew me better than that." "Why should he have thought that?" "You thought he'd been the thief." "You didn't know him any better." " Yes, but that's different." "There were special circumstances." "And I'd been told something." "Besides, I wasn't at all sure." "It wasn't until after he shot himself that I felt certain." "You say you'd been told something?" "But then Martin had been told something too." "He'd practically been told that you'd taken that cheque." "My God!" "And do you know who told him that you'd taken the cheque?" " I can guess now." " Who?" "Stanton, wasn't it?" "Yes, Stanton." "But Stanton told me that Martin had taken that cheque." "Oh, but he..." "He practically proved it to me." "He said he didn't want Martin given away - said we'd all stand in together, all that sort of thing." "But don't you see - he told Martin all that too." "And Martin would never have told me if he hadn't known that I would never give you away." "Stanton..." "Then it was Stanton himself who got that money?" "It looks like it." "I'm sure it was." "And he's capable of it." "You see, he played Martin and Robert off against one another." "Could you have anything more vile?" "It doesn't follow that Stanton himself was the thief." "Of course he was." "Wait." "Let's get this clear." "Old Slater wanted some money, and Mr Whitehouse signed a bearer cheque for five hundred." "Slater always insisted on bearer cheques - though God knows why." "The cheque was on Mr Whitehouse's desk." "Slater didn't turn up the next morning, as he said he would, and when he did turn up, three days afterwards, the cheque wasn't there." "Meanwhile it had been taken to the bank and cashed." "And the bank wasn't the firms usual place." "And the bank was different at that, not the branch through which our firm handled our payments." "because the cheque was on Mr Whitehouse's private account." "Only Stanton, Martin or I could have got at the cheque - except dear old Watson, who certainly didn't take it." "And - this is the point - none of us was known at this branch at all, but they said the fellow who cashed the cheque was about Martin's age or mine." "They were rather vague, I gathered, but what they did remember" "of him certainly ruled out Stanton himself." "Mr Whitehouse wouldn't have you identified at the bank, I remember." "No, he was too fond of them all, and too hurt." "He wasn't well at the time, either." "I understood that he simply wanted the one who had taken the money to confess and then go." "He told me that too." "Me too." "Father was like that, of course." "But what made you believe" "Martin had taken the cheque?" "The evidence pointed to Martin and me..." "To Martin and me..." "And I knew I hadn't taken it." " And Stanton told you..." " Stanton told me he'd seen Martin coming out of your father's room." "Stanton told Martin he'd seen you coming out of that room." " Stanton took that money himself." " Well..." "Whether he took the money or not - it's an open question," "Stanton's got to explain this." "He's got too much to hide." "We'd all got too much to hide." "Then we'll let some daylight into it for once, if it kills us." "Stanton's got to explain this." "When?" "Today!" "Right now!" "Are you going to get them all back, Robert." "Yes." "Chantbury one-two." "Thank you." "Is that you, Gordon...?" "Stanton is, is he?" "Well, I want you both to come back here..." "Yes, more and more of it..." "It's damned important..." "Yes, we're all in it." "Oh, no, of course not." "We can keep Betty out of it." "Of course..." "All right then." "They're coming back." "End of Part One" "MOSFILM" "Creative Association TELEFILM" "John Boynton Priestley DANGEROUS CORNER" "Directed by Vladimir BASOV" "Directors of Photography I.MINKOVETSKY, P.TERPSIKHOROV" "Production Designer A.PARKHOMENKO" "Music by V.BASNER" "Sound Engineer E.FEDOROV" "Lyrics by M.MATUSOVSKY" "Producer N.DOSTAL" "English subtitles by Boris Bulgakov" "Starring:" "Yury YAKOVLEV as Robert Caplan" "Valentina TITOVA as Freda Caplan" "Alexander DIK as Gordon Whitehouse" "Yelena VALAEVA as Betty Whitehouse" "Antonina SHURANOVA as Olwen Peel" "Vladimir BASOV as Charles Stanton" "Then we'll let some daylight into it for once, if it kills us." "Stanton's got to explain this." "When?" "When?" "Today!" "Right now!" "Are you going to get them all back, Robert." "Yes." "Chantbury one-two." "Thank you." "Hello, is that you, Gordon...?" "Stanton is, is he?" "Well, I want you both to come back here..." "Yes, more and more of it..." "It's damned important..." "Yes, we're all in it." "Oh, no, of course not." "We can keep Betty out of it." "All right then." "They're coming back." "John Boynton Priestley DANGEROUS CORNER" "Part Two" "All of them?" "No, not Betty." "Wise little Betty." "I don't see why you should use that tone of voice, Olwen - as if Betty was cleverly dodging something." "You know very well she's not mixed up in this business." "Do I?" "Well, don't you?" "Poor Robert!" "Look at him now." "This is really serious, he's saying to himself." "How we give ourselves away." "It's a mystery we have any secrets at all." "Hang it all, Olwen - you've no right to sneer at Betty like that." "You know very well it's better to keep her out of all this." "No, we mustn't soil her pure young mind." "Well, after all, she's younger than we are - and she's terribly sensitive." "You saw what happened to her just before they went." "She couldn't stand the atmosphere of all this." "But that wasn't..." "Obviously you dislike her, Olwen." "I can't imagine why." "She's always had a great admiration for you." "Well, I'm sorry, Robert, but I can't return her admiration - except for her looks." "I don't dislike her." "But I can't be as sorry for her as I'd like to be or ought to be." "You can't be sorry for her?" "Is it necessary for you or anybody else to be sorry for her?" "You're talking wildly now, Olwen." "I suspect not, Robert." "And anyhow, it seems to be our evening for talking wildly." "Also, I'm now facing a most urgent problem, the sort of problem that only women have to face." "If a man has been dragged back to your house to be told he's a liar and a cad and a possible thief, ought you to make a few sandwiches for him?" "He'll get no sandwiches from me." "No sincerity, no sandwiches - that's your motto, is it?" "Oh dear - how heavy we are without Martin." "And how he would have adored all this." "He'd have invented the most extravagant and incredible sins to confess to." "Oh, don't look so dreadfully solemn, you two." "You might be a bit brighter - just for a minute." "I'm afraid we haven't got your light touch, my dear Freda." "I suppose I feel like this because, in spite of everything," "I feel like a hostess expecting company, and I can't help thinking about bright remarks and sandwiches." "And there they are." "You'll have to let them in yourself." "Have you really known a long time?" "Yes." "More than a year." "I've often wanted to say something to you about it." "What would you have said?" "I don't quite know." "Something idiotic." "But friendly, very friendly." "And I only guessed about you tonight, Freda." "And now it all seems so obvious." "I can't think why I never guessed before." "Neither can I." "This is quite mad, isn't it?" "Quite mad." "And rapidly getting madder." "I don't care." "Do you?" "It's rather a relief." "Yes, it is - in a way." "But it's rather frightening too." "Like being in a car when the brakes are gone." "And there are crossroads and corners ahead." "I'm sorry about this, Freda, but Robert insisted on our coming back." "Well, I think he was right." "That's a change, anyhow." "Well, what's it all about?" "Chiefly about that money." "Oh - hell" "I thought as much." "Why can't you leave poor Martin alone?" "Wait a minute, Gordon." "Martin didn't take that cheque." "Is that true?" "Are you sure?" "Yes." "You know, I never could understand that." "It wasn't like Martin." "Do you really believe that Martin didn't get that money?" "Who did?" "Why did he shoot himself?" "Stanton, we don't know." "But we're hoping that you'll tell us." "Being funny, Robert?" "Not a bit." "I wouldn't have dragged you back here to be funny." "You told me - didn't you - that you were practically certain that Martin took that cheque?" "And I told you why I thought so." "All the evidence pointed that way." "And what happened afterwards proved that I was right." "Did it?" "Well, didn't it?" "If it did, then, why did you tell Martin that you thought Robert had done it?" "Don't be ridiculous, Freda." "Why should I tell Martin that I thought Robert had done it?" "Yes, why should you?" "That's what we want to know." "But of course I didn't." "Yes, you did." " Are you in this too?" " Yes, I'm in it too." " Olwen!" " Because you lied like that to Martin, you've given me hours of misery." "But I never meant to." "How could I know that you would go and see Martin and that he would tell you?" "It doesn't matter whether you knew or not." "It was a mean, vile lie." " Olwen!" " After this I feel that I never want to speak to you again." "I'd rather anything had have happened than that." "I'm sorry, Olwen." "Apparently the rest of us don't matter very much." "But you owe us a few explanations." "You'd better stop lying now, Stanton." "You've done enough." "Why did you play off Martin and me against each other like that?" "There can only be one explanation." "Because he took that cheque himself." "My God - you didn't, did you, Stanton?" "Yes, I did." "Then you're a rotten swine, Stanton." "I don't care about the money." "But you let Martin take the blame." " Shut up, Gordon." "Don't be such a hysterical young fool." "You let everybody think he was a thief." "Keep quiet and stop waving your hands at me!" "We don't want this to develop into a free fight." " But you let..." "I didn't let Martin take the blame, as you call it." "It happened that in the middle of all the fuss about this money," "Martin went and shot himself." "You all jumped to the conclusion that it was because he had taken the money and was afraid of being found out." "I let you go on thinking it, that's all." "Where he's gone to, it doesn't matter a damn whether people here think you've stolen five hundred pounds or not." "But you deliberately tried to fasten the blame on to Martin or me." "Of course he did." "That's what makes it so foul." "I'd not the least intention of letting anybody else be punished for what I'd done." "I was only playing for time." "I took that cheque because I'd got to have some money quickly, and I didn't know where to turn." "I knew I could square it up in a week, and I knew, too, that if necessary I could make it all right with old Slater, who's a sportsman." "But when it all came out," "I'd got to play for time, and that seemed to me the easiest way of doing it." "But you couldn't have cashed the cheque at the bank yourself?" "Of course, no..." "I got a fellow who could keep his mouth shut." "It was pure coincidence that he was a fellow about the same age and build as you and Martin." "Don't go thinking there was any deep-laid plot." "It was all improvised and haphazard and damned stupid." "Why didn't you confess to this before?" "Why the devil should I?" "If you can't understand why, it's hopeless for us to try and show you." "But there's such a thing as common honesty and decency." "Is there?" "I wonder." "Don't forget that you happen to be taking the lid off me." "It might be somebody else's turn before we've finished." "Possibly." "But that doesn't explain why you've kept so quiet about all this." "Martin's suicide put paid to the whole thing." "Nobody wanted to talk about it after that." "Dear Martin must have done it, so we won't mention it." "That was the line." "It wasn't the five hundred." "I'd have been glad to replace that." "But I knew damned well that if I confessed, the old man would have had me out of the firm." "I wasn't one of his pets like you and Martin." "I hadn't been brought in because I had the right university and social backgrounds." "I'd had to work myself up from nothing in the firm." "If the old man had thought for a minute that I'd done it, there'd have been none of this hush-hush business." "He'd have felt like calling in the police." "Don't forget, I'd been a junior clerk in the office." "You fellows hadn't." "It makes a difference, I can tell you." "But my father's been retired from the firm for six months." "Well, what if he has?" "The whole thing was over and done with." "Why open it up again?" "It might never have been mentioned if you hadn't started on this damnfool inquisition tonight." "Robert, Gordon and I were all working well together in the firm." "What would have happened if I'd confessed?" "Where are we?" "Who's better off because of this?" "You're not, it's true." "But Martin is." "And the people who cared about Martin." "Are they?" "Of course they are." "Don't be too sure." "least we know now that he wasn't a mean thief." "And that's all you do know." "But for all that he went and shot himself." "And you don't suppose he did it for fun, do you?" " Oh - you..." " You are a rotter, Stanton." "Drop that sort of talk, Stanton." "Why should I?" "You wanted the truth, and now you're getting it." "I didn't want to come back here and be put in the witness box." "It's your own doing." "I'll say what I damn well like." "Martin shot himself, and he did it knowing that he'd never touched the money." "So it must have been something else." "You see what you've started now." "Well, what have we started?" "You're talking now as if you knew a lot more about Martin than we did." "What I do know is that he must have had some reason for doing... and that if it wasn't the money, it must have been something else." "You're probably a lot better off for not knowing what that something is, just as you'd have been a lot better off if you'd never started poking about and prying into all this business." "Perhaps he did it because he thought I'd taken the money." "And then again - perhaps not." "If you think that Martin would hav shot himself because he thought you'd taken some money - then you didn't know your own brother." "Why, he laughed when I told him." "It amused him." "A lot of things amused that young man." "That's true." "He didn't care." "He didn't care at all." "Look here - do you know why Martin did shoot himself?" "No." "How should I?" "You talk as if you do." "I can imagine reasons." "What do you mean by that?" "I mean he was that sort of chap." "He'd got his life into a mess." "Well, I don't think it's..." "I don't blame him." "You don't blame him!" "Who are you to blame him?" "You hung your mean little piece of thieving round his neck, tried to poison our memory of him, and now when you're found out and Martin's name is clear of it, you want to begin all over again and start hinting" "that he was a criminal or a lunatic or something." "That's true." "The less you say now, the better." "The less we all say, the better." "You should have thought of that before." "I told you as much before you began dragging all this stuff out." "Like a fool, you wouldn't leave well alone." "Anyway, I've cleared Martin's name." "You've cleared nothing yet, and if you'd a glimmer of sense you'd see it." "But now I don't give a damn." "You're going to get all you ask for." "One of the things we shall ask for is to be rid of you." "Do you think you'll stay on with the firm after this!" "I don't know and I don't care." "You did a year ago." "Yes, but now I don't." "I can get along better now without the firm than they can without me." "Well, after this, at least it will be a pleasure to try." "You always hated Martin, and I knew it." "I had my reasons." "Unlike the Whitehouse family - father, daughter and son - who all fell in love with him." "Does that mean anything, Stanton?" "If it doesn't, just take it back - now." "If it does, you'll kindly explain yourself." "I'll take nothing back." "Please, don't let's have any more of this." "We've all said too much already." "You can't blame me." "I'm sorry, Olwen." "I'm waiting for your explanation, Stanton." "Don't you see, it's me he's getting at?" "Is that true?" "I'm certainly not leaving her out." " Be careful, Stanton!" " It's too late to be careful." "Why do you think Freda's been so angry with me?" "There's only one reason, and I've known it for a long time." "She was in love with Martin." "Is that true, Freda?" "I must know, because if it isn't I'm going to kick him out of this house." "Don't talk like a man in a melodrama, Caplan." "I wouldn't have said it if I hadn't known it was true." "Whether she admits it or not is another matter." "But even if she doesn't admit it, you're not going to kick me out of the house." "I'll go in the ordinary way, thank you." "Freda, is it true?" "Yes." " Has that been the trouble all along?" " Yes." "All along." "When did it begin?" "A long time ago." "Or it seems a long time ago." "Ages." "Before we were married?" "Yes." "I thought I could - break it - then." "I did for a little time." "But it came back, worse than ever." "I wish you'd told me." "Why didn't you tell me?" "I wanted to." "I've said the opening words to myself... and sometimes I've hardly known whether I didn't actually say them out loud to you." "I wish you had." "It would be better." "But why didn't I see it for myself?" "It seems plain enough now." "I must have been a fool." "I know now when it began." "It was when we were all down at Tintagel that summer." "Yes, it began then." "Tintagel, that lovely summer." "Nothing's ever been quite real since then." "Martin went away walking, and you said you'd stay a few days with the Hutchinsons." "Was that..?" " Yes," "Martin and I spent that time together, of course." "It was the only time we did really spend together." "It didn't mean much to him - a sort of experiment, that's all." "What?" "...Martin care?" "...ðàçâå îí íå ëþáèë?" "No, not really," "If he had have done, it would have been all so simple." "That's why I never told you." "And I thought when we were married, it would be - different." "It wasn't fair to you, I know, but I thought it would be all right." "And so did Martin." "But it wasn't." "You know that too." "It was hopeless." "But you don't know how hopeless it was - for me." "But why..." "But why..." "didn't Martin..." "But why didn't Martin himself tell me?" "He knew..." " He couldn't." "He was rather afraid of you." "Martin?" "Martin afraid of me?" "Yes, Robert, he was." "Nonsense." "He wasn't afraid of anybody - and certainly not of me." "Yes, he was, in some queer way." "I knew that, Robert." "So did I." "He told me that when you're really angry, you'll stop at nothing." "Queer." "I never knew Martin felt like that." "And it was he who - I wonder why?" "It couldn't have been - this..." "No, no." "He didn't care." "Oh, Martin, Martin..." "A good evening's work this." "That's how it goes on, you see, Caplan." "I'm not regretting it." "I'm glad all this has come out." "I wish to God I'd known earlier, that's all." "What difference would it have made?" "You couldn't have done anything." "To begin with, I'd have known the truth." "And then something might have been done about it." "I wouldn't have stood in their way." "You didn't stand in their way." "No, it was Martin himself, you see." "He didn't care, as Freda says." "I knew." "He told me about it." "He told you?" "Yes." "Freda's brother?" "I don't believe you." "Why should I lie about it?" "Martin told me." "Rubbish." "He thought you were a little nuisance - always hanging about him." " That's not true." " It is." "He told me so that - that very last Saturday, when I took him the cigarette box." "He told me..." " You're making this up, every word about me." "You're making this up." "Martin would never have said that about me." "He knew how..." " That's simply a disgusting lie." " It isn't." " It is." "He told me himself how tired he was of your hanging about him." "Every time he's been mentioned tonight you've been hysterical." "What are you trying to persuade me into believing you are?" " Freda!" "It's all..." "If he'd thought I was..." "But he was tired of you, pestering him and worrying him all the time." "He told me..." " No!" " What?" "He wanted me to tell you so that you'd leave him alone." "You're making me feel sick." "Well, now you know everything!" "Everything!" "Stop it." "Stop it, both you." "Let them have it out, now they've started." "And I was going to tell you, too." "Only then - he killed himself." " I don't believe it." "Martin couldn't have been so cruel." " Couldn't he?" "What did he say to you that afternoon when you took him the cigarette box?" "What does it matter what he said?" "You're just making up these abominable lies..." "Look here," "I'm not having any more of this." "You're like a pair of lunatics - screaming at each other like that over a dead man." "I understand about you, Freda, but for God's sake keep quiet about it now." "I can't stand any more." "As for you, Gordon - you must be tight or something..." "I'm not." "I'm as sober as you are." "Well, behave as if you were." "You're not a child." "I know Martin was a friend of yours..." "Friend of mine!" "You talk like a fish." "He was the only person on earth I really cared about." "Five hundred pounds!" "My God, I'd have stolen five thousand pounds from the firm if Martin had asked me to." "He was the most marvellous person I'd ever known." "Sometimes I tried to hate him." "Sometimes he gave me a hell of a time." "But it didn't really matter." "He was Martin, and I'd rather be with him, even if he was just jeering at me all the time, than be with anybody else I've ever known." "I'm like Freda... since he died, I haven't really cared a damn," "I've just been passing the time." "But what about Betty?" "You can leave her out of this." "I want to." "But I can't..." "I can't help thinking about her." "Well, you needn't." "She can look after herself." "That's just what she can't do, and she oughtn't to have to." "Well, I don't see it." "And I know Betty better than you do." "You know everybody better than anybody else does." " You would say that." "I can't help it if Martin liked me better than he liked you." "How do you know that he..." "Oh, stop that." "Stop it, both of you." "Can't you see that Martin was making mischief, just to amuse himself?" "No, I can't." "He wasn't like that." "Not at all like that." "You couldn't ask for a quieter, simpler, more sincere fellow." "Nobody's going to pretend he was that." "But at least he didn't steal money" "and then try to put the blame on other people." "Dear Freda, we could all start talking like that." "Just throwing things at each other's heads." "But I suggest we don't." "I agree." "But I do want Freda and Gordon to understand that it's simply madness quarrelling over anything Martin ever said to them." "He was a born mischief-maker and as cruel as a cat." "That's one of the reasons why I disliked him so much." "Disliked him?" "Yes, I'm sorry, Robert, but I didn't like Martin." "I detested him." "You ought to have seen that." "I saw it." "And you were quite right." "I'm afraid you always are." "No, I'm not." "I'd trust your judgment." "Very..." "So would I, for that matter." "No." "No." "And you're the only one of us who will come out of this as sound as you went in." "No, that's not true." "It was Olwen and that damned cigarette box that began the whole business." "Oh, that was nothing." "I knew about that all along." "You knew about what?" "I knew you'd been to see Martin Caplan." "You knew?" "Yes." "But how could you!" "I don't understand." "I was spending that weekend at my own cottage." "You remember that garage, where the road forks?" "One leads to Follows-End, the other - to my cottage" "You stopped there that night for some petrol." " Yes, I believe I did." "I, too, was at that garage, right after you." "They told me, and said you'd taken the Fallows End road." "You couldn't have been going anywhere else, could you?" "So I knew you must have been going to see Martin Caplan." "Quite simple." "And you've known all this time?" "Yes." "All this time." "I suppose, Stanton, it's no use asking you why you've never said a word about it?" "I'm afraid not." "I think I've done my share in the confession box tonight." "Well, I wish I'd known a bit more, that's all." "There was I dragged into that foul inquest." "Did I know this?" "Did I know that?" "My God - and all the time" "I wasn't the last person he'd talked to at all." "Don't talk rubbish." "Well, is it rubbish?" "Freda had been there some time in the afternoon." "Olwen was there that very night, at the very moment - for all we know." "Is it rubbish?" "What was Olwen doing there?" "She's told us that." "She was there to talk to Martin about the money." " Really?" "And how far does that take us?" "What do you mean by that?" "He means... that Olwen hasn't told us very much so far." "We know she went to Martin to talk to him about the missing money." "And we know that Martin thought Robert had taken it and that she thought so too." "And that's all." "Yes, we don't know how long she was there or what Martin said to her, or anything." "It's a good job she wasn't pushed in front of that coroner, or they'd have had it out of her in no time." "I think it's up to her to tell us a little more." "Well, there's no need to sound so damned vindictive about it." "Hello, what's the matter?" "What's the matter?" "They darted away." "But I'll swear there was somebody." "They'd been listening." "Well, they couldn't have chosen a better night for it." "There's nobody there now." "It's impossible, Olwen." "Nobody." "And there isn't a sign of anybody." "Thank the Lord for that." "Go." "Who on earth can this be?" "Don't ask me." "Go and see." "I thought you'd gone to bed, Betty." "What's the matter?" "You're talking about me, all of you." "I know you are." "I wanted to go to bed." "And then I couldn't." "I couldn't stand it." "I had to come back." "Well, you were wrong." "You're the one person we haven't been talking about." "Is that true?" "Yes, of course." "You were outside just now, weren't you?" "Outside the window, listening?" " No, I wasn't listening." "I was going to bed, took three sleeping pills at once." "Now I feel so foggy!" "Don't mind me, who knows what I may end up saying." "I'm so sorry, Betty." "Can I get you anything?" "Betty..." "And not a word's been said about you." "In fact, we all wanted... to keep you out of this." "It's all rather unpleasant." "But seeing that Betty has married into one of the families concerned," "I think she ought not to be too carefully protected from the sordid truth." "Oh shut up, Freda." "I won't." "Why should I?" "I thought we should see a different Robert now." "After what you've said tonight," "I can't see that it matters much to you how different I may be." "Perhaps not, but I still like reasonably decent manners." "Then set us an example." "Oh, shut up, both of you." "But what have you been talking about then?" "It began about the money." "You mean that Martin took?" "Martin didn't take it." "Stanton took that money." "We know that now." "He's admitted it." "Admitted it!" "Stanton?" "Oh, surely - it's impossible." "It sounds impossible, doesn't it, Betty, but it isn't." "I'm sorry to go down with such a bump in your estimation but this is our night for telling the truth," "and I've had to admit that I took that money." "Terrible, isn't it?" "What did you mean by that, Stanton?" "I meant what I said." "I nearly always do." "Why did you use that tone of voice to Betty?" "Perhaps - because I think that Betty has not a very high opinion of me " "and so need not have sounded so surprised and shocked." " I don't quite understand that." " I'm sure you don't, Robert." " Do you?" " Yes, I think so." "But if Martin didn't take the money... then why... why..." "did he shoot himself?" "That's what we want to know." "Olwen saw him last of all... but that's all she's told us." "I've told you that he thought Robert had taken the money." "And that was enough to throw him clean off his balance." "All that stuff about his merely being amused is nonsense." "Nonsense!" "That was just his bluff." "Martin hated anybody to think he was really moved or alarmed by anything." " That's true." "And he depended on me." "He depended on me." "You've told me yourselves - that he was secredy rather frightened of me." "It was because Martin had a respect for me." "He thought I was the solid steady one." "I was one of the very few people he had a respect for." "And suddenly" " I am a thief!" "It must have been a hell of a shock to poor Martin." "I don't think it was, Robert." "Neither do I." "But neither of you knew him as I did." "He was in a wretched state, all run down and neurotic," "and when he heard that I'd taken the cheque he must have felt that there was nobody left he could depend on, that I'd let him down." "He'd probably been brooding over it day and night - he was that sort." "He wouldn't let you see it, Olwen." "But it would be there all the time, giving him hell." "Oh, what a fool I was." "You?" "Yes, of course." "I ought to have gone straight to Martin and told him what Stanton had told me." "If this is true, then the person really responsible is Stanton." "Yes." "Rubbish!" " It isn't." "Don't you see what you did?" "." " No, because I don't believe it." "Because you don't choose to, that's all." "Oh, talk sense." "Can't you see Martin had his own reasons?" "No." "What drove Martin to suicide was my stupidity and your damned lying, Stanton." "Be calm!" "Pray, be calm, Betty!" "Don't worry." "But this has got to be settled, once and for all." "You're none of you in a state to settle anything." " Listen to me, Stanton!" " Oh, drop it, man." "You've got to answer." "I'll never forgive you for telling Martin what you did - by God I won't!" "You've got it all wrong." " They haven't, you rotten liar!" " Oh, get out!" "You made Martin shoot himself." "Wait!" "Wait a minute." "Martin didn't shoot himself." "End of Part Two" "MOSFILM" "Creative Association TELEFILM" "John Boynton Priestley DANGEROUS CORNER" "Oh, what a fool I was." " You?" " Yes, of course." "I ought to have gone straight to Martin and told him what Stanton had told me." "If this is true, then the person really responsible is Stanton." " Yes." " Rubbish!" "It isn't." "Don't you see what you did?" "No, because I don't believe it." "Because you don't choose to, that's all." "Oh, talk sense." "Can't you see Martin had his own reasons?" "No." "What drove Martin to suicide was my stupidity and your damned lying, Stanton." "Be calm!" "Pray, be calm, Betty!" "Don't worry." "But this has got to be settled, once and for all." "You're none of you in a state to settle anything." " Listen to me, Stanton!" " Oh, drop it, man." "You've got to answer." "I'll never forgive you for telling Martin what you did - by God I won't!" "You've got it all wrong." "They haven't, you rotten liar!" "Oh, get out!" "You made Martin shoot himself." "Wait!" "Wait a minute." "Martin didn't shoot himself." "John Boynton Priestley DANGEROUS CORNER" "Part Three" "Martin didn't..?" "Of course he didn't." "I shot him." "Olwen..." "That's ridiculous..." "Olwen, you couldn't have done." "Is... is this your idea of a joke?" "I wish it was." "She... must... must... be... hysterical or something." "I believe people often confess to all sorts of mad things in that state;" "things they could not possibly have done." "Never..." "Olwen's not hysterical." "She means it." "But she can't mean - she murdered him." "Can she?" "You might... as well tell us exactly what happened now, Olwen, if you can stand it." "And I might as well tell you - before you begin - that I'm not at all surprised." "I suspected it was you at the first." "You suspected I'd done it?" "But why?" "For three reasons." "The first was that I couldn't understand why Martin should shoot himself." "You see, I knew he hadn't taken the money, and though he was" "in every kind of mess, he didn't seem to me the sort of chap who'd get out of it that way." "Then I knew you'd been with him quite late, because - as I said before - I'd been told you'd gone that way." "And the third reason..." "Well, that'll keep..." "You'd better tell us what happened, now." "It was an accident, wasn't it?" "Yes, it was really an accident." "I'll tell you what happened..." "I think we'd all better... tell everything we know now, really speak our minds." "I agree." " Will you have a drink before you begin?" " I'll just have a little soda-water..." " Sit here, Olwen." " Thank you." "I'll sit by the fire." "I went to see Martin that Saturday night, as you know, to talk to him about the missing money." "Mr Whitehouse had told me about it." "He thought that either Martin or Robert must have taken it." "I didn't like Martin and he knew it," "but he knew, too, what I felt about Robert," "He believed that Robert had taken the money and he wasn't a bit worried about it." "I'm sorry, Robert, but he wasn't." "He was rather maliciously amused." "The good brother fallen at last." "I can believe that." "I hate to, but I know he could be like that sometimes." "You found that too, that day?" "Yes, he was in one of his worst moods." "He could be cruel - torturing - sometimes." "I've never seen him as bad as he was that night." "He wasn't really sane." " Olwen." "I'm sorry, Robert." "I didn't want you to know all this, but there's no help for it now." "You see, Martin had been taking some sort of drug..." "Drug!" "Do you mean dope stuff?" "Yes." "He'd had a lot of it." "Are you sure?" "It's true, Caplan." "I knew it." "So did I." "He made me try some once, but I didn't like it." "It just made me feel rather sick." "He liked it... and took more and more of it." "But where did he get it?" "Through some man he knew in town." "When he couldn't get it, he was..." "I..." "Not so bad as those dope fiends one reads about... but nevertheless, pretty rotten." "But didn't you try to stop him?" "Of course - but he only laughed." "I don't blame him really." "We knew nothing of it..." "None of you can understand what life was like to Martin - he was so sensitive and nervy." "He..." "He was one of those people... who are meant to he happy." "We're all those people who are meant to be happy." "Martin's no exception." "Yes, that's true." "You are right, Stanton, but I know what Gordon means." "You couldn't help knowing what he means, if you knew Martin." "There was no sort of middle state, no easy jog-trot with him." "Either he had to be gay, he was gayer than anybody else in the world or he was intensely miserable." "I'm like that." "Everybody is - aren't they?" " except old and stuffy people." "But what about this drug, Olwen?" "He took some... while I was there." "It was in little... white tablets... and it had a horrible effect on him." "It gave him a sort of devilish gaiety." "I can see him now." "His eyes were queer." "Oh - he really wasn't sane." "What happened?" "It's horrible to talk about." "I've tried not to think about it." "He knew..." "I disliked him, but he couldn't believe I really disliked him." "He was frightfully conceited about himself." "He seemed to think that everybody ought to be falling in love with him." "Yes, he did." "And he'd every reason to." "He began taunting me." "He thought of me as a priggish spinster full of repressions, who'd never really lived." "He spoke at length on this subject." "I ought to have run out and left him, but I felt I couldn't while he was in that state." "In a way I was sorry for him, because really he was ill, sick in mind and body." "I might dislike him, but after all he wasn't a stranger." "He was one of our own set, mixed up with most of the people" "I liked best in the world." "But everything I said seemed to make him worse." "And then he tried to show me... some beastly foul drawings he had." " Oh, my God!" "Oh, Freda," "Freda, I'm so sorry." "Please forgive me." "I'm so sorry..." " Martin!" "Martin!" " Don't listen to any more." "I'll stop if you like." " Oh, no..." " Or go and lie down." "I couldn't." "If you'd known him as I'd known him - before." "I know that." "We all do." "He was different." "He was ill." "Go on, Olwen." "Yes, Olwen." "You can't stop now." "Go on." "There isn't a lot to tell now." "When I pushed... his beastly drawings away... and was rather indignant about them," "he got still more excited, completely unbalanced." "He tried to tear my clothes." "I was running for the door." "But then he stood between me and the door." "And he had a revolver in his hand" "and was shouting something about danger and terror and love." "He was just waving it about - being dramatic." "I didn't even believe it was loaded." "I told him to get out of the way." "When he wouldn't, I tried to push him out of the way." "And then we had a struggle." "It was horrible." "He wasn't any stronger than I was." "I'd grabbed the hand..." "I'd turned... the revolver... towards him." "His finger must have been on the trigger." "I must have given it a jerk." "The revolver went off." "I've tried and tried to forget that." "If he'd just been wounded, I'm sure I would have stopped with him." "But he was dead." "You needn't tell us." "When I realized what had happened," "I rushed out and sat in my car outside" "for I don't know how long." "I couldn't move a finger." "And it was so quiet in the cottage, so horribly quiet." "You know how lonely that cottage was." "I just sat on and on in the car, shivering." "I've gone through that over and over again." "God!" "You can't be blamed, Olwen." "Of course she can't be blamed." "And there must never be a word spoken about this - not to anybody." "We must all promise that." "It's a pity we can't all be as cool and business-like about this as you are, Stanton." "I don't feel very cool and business-like about it." "But you see, it's not as big a surprise to me as it is to you people." "I guessed long ago that something like this had happened." "But it looked so much like suicide that nobody bothered to suggest it wasn't." "I can't think how you could have guessed even though you knew Olwen had been there." "I told you I had a third reason." "I was over fairly early next morning - the postmistress rang me up - and I was there before anybody but the village constable and the doctor." "And I spotted something on the floor that the village bobby had missed, and I picked it up." "I've kept it in my pocket-book ever since." "I'm rather observant about such things." "Let me see." "Yes, that's a piece of the dress" "I was wearing." "So that's how you knew?" "That's how I knew." "But why didn't you say anything?" "I can tell you that." "Because he wanted everybody to think that Martin had shot himself." "That meant that Martin must have taken the money." "That's about it, I suppose." "It falls into line with everything we've heard from him tonight." "No, there happened to be another reason, much more important." "I knew that if Olwen had had a hand in Martin's death, then something like that must have happened..." "So Olwen couldn't be blamed." "I knew her better than any of you." "I understood her better... or I felt I did." "And I trusted her." "She's about the only person I would trust." "She knows all about that." "I've told her often enough." "She's not interested, but there it is." "And you never even hinted to me that you knew." "Surprising, isn't it?" "What a chance I missed to capture your interest for a few minutes." "I suppose even nowadays, when we're all so damned tough, there has got to be one person that you behave to always as if you were Sir Roger de Coverly," "and with me you've been that person for a long time now." "And I knew all along that you were saying nothing because you thought Robert here had taken the money, and that he was safe after everybody put it down to Martin." "And that didn't always make it any easier for me." "But what a fine romantic character you are, aren't you?" "Steady, Betty." "You don't understand." "How could she?" "Why do you say that - in that tone of voice?" "Why does one say anything - in any tone of voice?" "You know, I nearly did take you into my confidence." "And that might have made a difference." "But I chose a bad moment." "Why?" "When was this?" "Tell me." "I told you I sat in my car for some time not able to do anything..." "But then, when I felt a little better," "I felt I had to tell somebody, to tell somebody about all," "and you were the nearest person." " But you didn't go there that night?" "Yes, I did." "I drove over to your cottage and I got there about eleven o'clock." "I left my car and walked up to your cottage." "And then" " I walked back again." "You walked up to the cottage?" "I walked right up to your cottage and saw enough to set me walking straight back again." "So that's when you came." "After that, it was hopeless," "I suppose?" "Quite hopeless." "I think that added the last touch to that night." "I don't think I've ever felt the same about people not just here, but everybody..." "And you must all have noticed that I've been completely off country cottages." "Yes, even Betty's noticed that." "Why?" "Why, what's the matter, Betty?" "What's the matter, Betty?" "Betty?" "What's the matter?" "What a..." "You..." "What a little liar you are, Betty." "Haven't we all been liars?" "But you..." "But you haven't," "Betty." "Oh, don't be a fool, Robert." "Of course she has." "She's lied like fury." "What about?" "Why don't you ask her?" "Oh, what does it matter?" "Leave the child alone." "I'm not a child." "That's the mistake you've all made." "Not you - and Stanton?" "Is that what they mean?" "Why don't you tell them it's ridiculous?" "How can she, Robert?" "Don't be absurd." "You see, Robert, I saw them both in Stanton's cottage that night." "I'm sorry, Olwen, but I won't take even your word for this." "Besides, there are other possible explanations." "Oh, drop this, Caplan." "We've had too much of it already." "I'm going." "You're not going." "Don't be a fool." "It's no business of yours." "That's where you're wrong, Stanton." "This is where Robert's business really begins." "I'm waiting for an answer, Betty." "What do you want me to say?" "Were you with Stanton at his cottage?" "Yes." "Were you his mistress?" "Yes." "How could you, Betty?" "But why - in God's name - why?" "How could you?" "How could you?" "How could I?" "Because I'm not a child, and I'm not a little stuffed doll." "You would drag all this out and now you can damned well have it." "Yes, I stayed with Stanton that night, and I've stayed with him other nights." "And he's not in love with me and I'm not in love with him." "I wouldn't marry him if I could" "But I'd got to make something happen." "Gordon was driving me mad." "If you want to call someone a child, then call him one." "Betty darling and Gordon darling." "It's just nothing - pretence, pretence, pretence." "He..." "He..." "And the very sight of him makes me want to scream." " Betty, you mustn't go..." "It's not my fault." "I was in love with him when we were married and I thought everything was going to be marvellous." "He can't even talk to me." "For God's sake, shut up, Betty." "I won't shut up." "They want to know the truth and they can have it." "I don't care." "I've had nothing out of my marriage but shame and misery." "Betty, that's simply nonsense." "If I were the nice little doll you all thought me, perhaps it wouldn't have mattered." "But I'm not." "I'm not a child either." "And Stanton was the one person who guessed what was happening." "I wouldn't have blamed you if you'd gone and fallen in love, but this was just a low sordid intrigue, a dirty little affair, not worth all your silly lies." "I suppose Stanton was the rich uncle in America who kept giving you all those fine presents?" "Yes, he was." "You couldn't even be generous." "I knew Stanton didn't really care for me, so I got what I could out of him." "It served you right." "Men who say they're in love with one woman and keep spending their weekends with another deserve all they get." "Is that why you suddenly found yourself so short of money, Stanton?" "Yes." "Queer how it works out..." "Then Betty is responsible for everything..." "You see!" "For Martin." "Always Martin." "Always Martin!" "If I was responsible for all that, then it's your fault really" "Because you're responsible for everything that happened to me." "You ought never to have married me." "It was a mistake." "We seem to make that kind of mistake in our family." "I ought to have left you long before this." "That was my mistake - trying to make the best of it." "pretending to be married to somebody who wasn't there." "Yes, I think I am dead." "I think I died last summer." "Olwen shot me." "Gordon, I think that's unfair... and also rather stupid and affected." "It may have sounded like that, but it wasn't." "I meant it." "I began this." "Well, I'll finish it." "I'll say something now." "Betty, I worshipped you." "I suppose you knew that?" "If she didn't, she must have been very dense." "I'm talking to Betty now." "You might leave us alone for a minute, Freda." "Did you realize that I felt like that, Betty?" "Yes." "But I didn't care very much." "No, why should you?" "No, it isn't that." "But I knew you weren't in love with me." "You were only worshipping somebody you'd invented." "And that's not the same thing at all." "I thought that you and Gordon were reasonably happy together." "Yes, we put up a good show, didn't we?" "You did." "Yes, we did." "What would have happened if we'd gone on pretending like hell to be happy together?" "Nothing." "No." "If we'd gone on pretending long enough, we might have been happy together." "It often works out like that." "Never." "Yes it does." "That's why all this is so wrong really." "The real truth is something so deep... you can't get at it this way," "and all this half-truth... does is to blow everything up." "It isn't civilized." "I agree." "You agree." "You'll get no sympathy from me, Robert." "Sympathy from you." "I never want to set eyes on you again, Stanton." "You're a thief, a cheat, a liar, and a dirty, cheap seducer." "And you're a fool, Caplan." "You look solid, but you're not." "You've a good deal in common with that cracked brother of yours." "You won't face up to real things." "You've been living in a fool's paradise, and now, having got yourself out of it by tonight's efforts - all your doing - you're busy building yourself a fool's hell to live in." "I think this was your glass." "Your glass?" "And now take yourself after it." "Get out." "Get out." "Good night." "I'm sorry, Olwen, about all this" " So am I." "Good night." "Good night, Freda." "Good night." "I suppose you're coming along?" "Gordon?" "Not with you, I'm afraid." "And don't forget, Stanton, you owe the firm five hundred pounds" "and a resignation." "Oh, you're going to take it that way, are you?" "Yes, I'm going to take it that way." "You'll regret it." "Don't be too hasty, Gordon." "Whatever his faults, Stanton's a first-class man at his job." "If he goes, the firm will suffer." "I can't help it." "I couldn't work with him after this." "The firm will have to suffer, that's all." "That's all." "Don't worry." "The firm's smashed to hell now." "Nonsense." "Is it?" "I don't think so." "No, don't trouble." "I can find my way out." "Good night." "Well," "Betty darling, my sweetie." "I think we'd better return to our happy little home, our dear little nest..." "Oh, don't, Gordon." "I'll let you out." "Why do you look like that?" "I am not looking at you." "I don't know you." "I'm not saying goodbye to you." "I'm saying goodbye to this." "That's all." "The elegantly packaged filth." "Robert, please don't drink any more tonight." "I know how you feel, but it'll only make you worse." "What does it matter?" "I'm through, anyway." "Robert, I can't bear seeing you like this." "You don't know how it hurts me." "I'm sorry, Olwen," "I really am sorry." "You're the only one who's really come out of this." "Strange, isn't it - that you should have been feeling like that about me all the time?" "Yes, all the time." " I'm sorry, Olwen." " I'm not." "I mean about myself." "I suppose I ought to be, but I'm not." "It's hurt like anything sometimes, but it's kept me going too." "I know." "Now I've stopped going." "Something's broken - inside." "It never does." "It won't seem bad tomorrow." "It's always been the case." "All this isn't going to seem any better tomorrow, Olwen" "Freda will help too." "After all, Robert, she's fond of you." "No, not really." "It isn't that she dislikes me steadily, but every now and then she hates me " "and now I see why, of course." "Because I'm Robert Caplan and not Martin," "because he's dead and I'm alive." "She may feel differently - after tonight." "She may." "I doubt it." "She doesn't change easily - that's the trouble." "And then again, I don't care any more." "Whether she changes or doesn't change I don't care now." "And you know there's nothing I wouldn't do, Robert." "I'll run away this very minute with you if you like." "I'm terribly grateful, Olwen." "But nothing happens here - inside." "Nothing happens." "All hollow, empty." "I'm sure it's not at all the proper thing to say at such a moment, the fact remains that I feel rather hungry." "What about you, Olwen?" "You, Robert?" "Or have you been drinking too much?" "Yes, I've been drinking too much." "Drinking too much..." "Well, it's very silly of you." "Yes." "Very silly..." "And you did ask for all this." "I asked for it." "And I got it." "Though I doubt if you minded very much until it came to Betty." "That's not true." "But I can understand your thinking so." "You see, as more and more of this rotten stuff came out, so more and more I came to depend on my secret thoughts of Betty - as someone who seemed to me to represent some lovely quality of life." "I've known some time that you were getting very sentimental and noble about her." "And I've known some time, too, all about Betty, and I've often thought of telling you." "I'm not sorry you didn't." "You ought to be." " Why?" " That kind of self-deception's rather stupid." "What about you and Martin?" "I didn't deceive myself." "I knew everything - or nearly everything - about him." "I wasn't in love with somebody who really wasn't there, somebody I'd made up." "I think you were." "Probably we always are." "Then it's not so bad then." "You can always build up another image for yourself to fall in love with." "No, you can't." "That's the trouble." "You lose the capacity for building." "You run short of the stuff that creates beautiful illusions." "Then you have to learn to live without illusions." "Can't be done." "Not for us." "We started life too early for that." "Possibly they're breeding people now who can live without illusions." "I hope so." "But I can't do it." "I've lived among illusions." "You have." "Well, what if I have?" "They've given me hope and courage." "They've helped me to live." "I suppose we ought to get all that from faith in life." "But I haven't got any." "No religion or anything." "Just... this... damned farmyard to live in." "That's all." "Then why didn't you leave them alone, instead of clamouring for the truth all night like a fool?" "Because I am a fool." "Stanton was right." "That's the only answer." "I began this evening with something... with something... something..." "to keep me going." "Martin..." "I'd good memories of Martin." "I'd a wife... who didn't love me but at least seemed too good for me." "I'd two partners I liked and respected." "There was a girl I could idealize." "And now..." " No, Robert - please." "We know." "But you don't know, you can't know " "not as I know - or you wouldn't stand there like that," "as if we'd only just had some damned... silly little... squabble about a hand at bridge." " Robert, please..." "Don't you see, we're not living in the same world now." "Everything's gone." "My brother was an obscene lunatic..." " Stop that!" "And my wife doted on him and pestered him." "of my partners is a liar and a cheat and a thief." "The other..." "God knows what he is - some sort of hysterical young pervert." "And the girl's... a greedy little cat on the tiles." " No, Robert, no." "This is horrible!" "Please, please don't go on." "It won't seem like this tomorrow." "Tomorrow?" "Tomorrow..." "There can't be a tomorrow." "He's got a revolver there." "Stop!" "Stop, Robert!" "It can't happen!" "It can't happen..." "And that's that." "I hope it didn't bore you, Miss Mockridge?" "Not in the least." "How many scenes did we miss?" "Five, I think." "I suppose they must have been telling a lot of lies in those scenes." "That's why that man was so angry - the husband, I mean." "Listen to the men." "They're probably laughing at something very improper." "No, just gossip." "Men gossip like anything." "They've got a marvellous excuse now that they're all three directors of the firm." "What a snug little group you are." "Snug little group..." "How awful!" "Enchanting." "I hate to leave it." "I should think you do." "must be so comforting to be all so settled." "Pretty good." "But I suppose you all miss your brother-in-law." "He used to be down here with you too, didn't he?" "You mean Robert's brother, Martin?" "Oh, have I dropped a brick?" "I always am dropping bricks." "No, not at all." "It was distressing for us at the time, but it's all right now." "Martin shot himself." "Oh yes - dreadful business, of course." "He was very handsome, wasn't he?" "Yes, very handsome." "Who's very handsome?" "Not you, Charles." "They were talking about me." "Betty, my girl, why do you allow them all to talk about your husband in this fulsome fashion?" "Darling, I'm sure you've had too much manly gossip and old brandy." "Sorry to be so late, Freda - but it's that wretched puppy of yours." "Oh, what's it been doing now?" "It was eating the script of Sonia William's new novel, and I thought it might make him sick." "You see, how we talk of you novelists." "Yes, I heard you." "I've just been saying what a charming cosy little group you've made here." "I think you've been lucky." "It's not all luck, Miss Mockridge." "You see, we all happen to be nice easy-going people." "Except Betty - she's terribly wild." "That's only because Gordon doesn't beat her often enough - yet." "You see, Miss Peel," "Mr. Stanton is still the cynical bachelor." "I'm afraid he rather spoils the picture." "Well..." "What's disturbing the ether tonight?" "Anybody know?" "Oh, Gordon, don't start it again." "We've only just turned it off." "What did you hear?" "The last half of a play." "It was called 'The Sleeping Dog'." "Why?" "We're not sure - something to do with lies," "and a gentleman shooting himself." "What fun they have at the BBC." "Yes, don't they?" "Shots and things." "You know, I believe I understand that play now." "The sleeping dog was the truth, and that man - the husband - insisted upon disturbing it." "He was quite right to disturb it." "I think telling the truth telling the truth is about as healthy as skidding round a corner at sixty." "And life's got a lot of dangerous corners - hasn't it, Charles?" "It can have - if you don't choose your route well." "Let's talk about something more amusing." "Drinks, Robert." "And cigarettes." "There aren't any here." "There are some in this one." "Oh, I remember that box." "It plays a tune at you, doesn't it ?" "I remember the tune." "Yes, it's the Wedding March, isn't it?" "Wait a minute." "Listen to this." "Oh, I adore that tune." "What is it?" "It's a foxtrot." "What?" "It's a foxtrot..." "Miss Mockridge?" "When autumn lives to see the falling snow" "Like humans live to see the wrinkled face," "Just wrap yourself in plaid, relax" "And lay a fire in the fire-place." "Then fill your pipe, breathe deeply in" "To fill the darkness with the smoke of blue" "And take my word, the word of gentleman," "The world will seem quite different to you." "The world will seem quite different to you." "The window now has melted, and your glass" "Is now as good as empty, and your soul" "And heart may not be warm enough, alas," "But you can warm your body, after all." "To while away the winter time with ease" "And keep yourself from cold and chills and gloom" "Provide yourself with candles for the night" "And lay a fire in the sitting room," "And lay a fire in the sitting room." "The winter winds are blowing now" "The smoky fog is rising now" "With heavy sticky snow" "We've got the storm all night again" "But we'll forget before too long" "All our grieves when we go wrong" "And we will be able" "To understand each other's pain." "Directed by Vladimir BASOV" "Directors of Photography I.MINKOVETSKY, P.TERPSIKHOROV" "Production Designer A.PARKHOMENKO" "Music by V.BASNER" "Sound Engineer E.FEDOROV" "Lyrics by M.MATUSOVSKY" "Producer N.DOSTAL" "English subtitles by Boris Bulgakov" "Lyrics translation by Alec Vagapov" "The End"