- 2 weeks ago
Classy, intelligent, witty political drama series about the fascinating, ruthless businessman/politician sir John Wilder who becomes Special Envoy (the original name of the series was "Special Envoy'') - ambassador for special situations and trade - and has to deal with the equally ruthless competition. His wife is the witness, trying to support him without interfering much, while his handsome secretary is too ambitious for his own good. The sequel to "The Plane Makers". Starring Patrick Wymark, Barbara Murray, Jack Watling, Michael Jayston, Clifford Evans, Peter Barkworth, George Sewell, Ian Holm, Richard Hurndall, Barrie Ingham, Donald Burton, Norma Ronald, Robin Bailey, James Maxwell, Rachel Herbert, William Devlin, Philip Madoc, Norman Tyrrell, John Brooking, Peter Hughes, Peggy Sinclair, Ralph Michael. Written by Peter Draper, Wilfred Greatorex, Edmund Ward, John Bowen, Raymond Bowers.
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Short filmTranscript
00:10The End
02:05Are you there, Don?
02:23Yes, Sir John?
02:24Jill.
02:26Dead hold of Darling and Henderson.
02:29Tell them to get here right away.
02:31Mr. Darling's out of the office, Sir John.
02:33Mr. Henderson is in with the minister.
02:36With the minister?
02:38Henderson, are you sure?
02:39Quite sure, Sir John.
02:42Thank you, Jill.
02:47I'm not asking you to sneak, Don.
02:50I'm not asking you to be disloyal.
02:52Your loyalty to Wilder is your most appealing characteristic.
02:56But you must every now and then ask yourself whether you're being quite fair to yourself.
03:00Especially now that Sir John is an ambassador with no ambassadoring to do.
03:06I suppose you learnt the trick when you were a business consultant.
03:10What trick?
03:11Why, leaving somebody so far out on a limb that they chuck it in out of sheer boredom without even
03:15a golden handshake.
03:16Now that for you, Don, is a staggeringly uncharitable thought.
03:19Besides, there are no golden handshakes in the Foreign Office.
03:22So why don't you just ask him to resign?
03:24I have.
03:25And he refused.
03:26Well, his actual reply was he'd see me fry in hell first.
03:30In which case, minister, I suggest you get yourself a flame-proof jumpsuit.
03:36You could try to sack him.
03:38No, he has friends among the cabinet.
03:39Well, if you think you're going to drive him, Don,ty, through boredom, you don't know John Wilder.
03:45Foreseen.
03:46Which is why I asked you to come here.
03:48He's about as capable of remaining inactive as Vesuvius.
03:52So, the sight of that bleak desk being what it is, he'll move.
03:56Any time now, he'll move.
03:57Knowing his style, I expect a spectacular eruption.
04:05I just want to know when and where it's coming.
04:09He doesn't invariably have me on his early warning net.
04:12That's not what I hear.
04:15Snooping on my master's not my forte, minister.
04:17If John's out, then so am I.
04:20Well, that's very noble of you.
04:23But, managing directorships on the scale to which he's accustomed aren't too a penny these days.
04:27As many of our top flight managing directors are finding out as they pad around their local golf courses every
04:32working day.
04:34And I'm sure you don't want to end up as his caddy.
04:37If that's all, minister.
04:44Don, I suppose you have no idea where Lincoln Dowling might be hiding.
04:49No, minister.
04:50I think you have.
04:53Anyway, think over what I've put to you.
04:56If I turn you down, you'll invite Dowling.
04:59No, Don.
05:00I have quite other plans for that.
05:08What's DIS, full stop, W, full stop?
05:12Mm-hmm.
05:13Estate agent shorthand should be forbidden by law.
05:17Dishwasher.
05:18Oh, they could have left in the H.
05:20I mean, it's not even as if they're buying space if their own hand out run off in the office.
05:24There's habit and a congenital lack of respect for the language.
05:27All they're interested in is C.O.M.
05:29C.O.M.?
05:30Commission.
05:32And what does a foreign office bachelor want with four bedrooms and three loos?
05:37I never specified loos.
05:39Anyway, what's wrong with this?
05:40I've grown out of it.
05:42Here you are, gorgeously snug, and you have to go and want to live in Mayfair or Belgravia,
05:49Regent's Park, or as this agent quotes you, the better parts of Westminster.
05:53What's happening to you, Lincoln?
05:55I've just become more ambitious.
05:56Ambition could make a fool of you.
05:58I'm not staying here.
06:00Oh, don't be a fool, Lincoln.
06:03Trying to emulate John, struggling to get into the same league, you'll only get hurt.
06:08Look what it's done to him.
06:09Is that what you want?
06:10You know what I want?
06:12Or rather, who?
06:14Oh, I'd never come and live with you, Lincoln.
06:16You might when I live there.
06:20BELL RINGS
06:21BELL RINGS
06:22BELL RINGS
06:22BELL RINGS
06:253492
06:27Hello?
06:29Hello?
06:33I do hate people who do that.
06:36Well, burglars sometimes find it professionally necessary.
06:38and you'll soon have them calling if you're all going to live in Mayfair.
06:43But Lincoln, how does a young, young-ish diplomat like yourself
06:48on a modest, fixed Whitehall income expect to keep up a pound like this?
06:52I could be in the pay of the Russians or the Chinese.
06:55You never know, you may be watching the arrival of the coolest traitor since Kim Philby.
06:59What do you? Trait never.
07:00Trait?
07:01Trait.
07:02What I could do is succeed in business without really trying.
07:05There you go again, trying to be like John.
07:08I do hope you know what you're doing.
07:10I have three firm offers.
07:11Two from merchant banks, one from a construction firm.
07:14John again. His industry's both.
07:16Well, it might be easier to find a lady than find an industry John hasn't been in
07:19or been booted out of.
07:21Don't be a bitch, Lincoln. Bite if you like, but don't scratch.
07:25Before I leave the department, I'd like to see Garfield Kane develop a limp.
07:27Lincoln?
07:28Oh, I know you like him.
07:30What?
07:30The poor man only takes me out to dinner very, very publicly.
07:34And to his flat, very unpublicly.
07:36Oh, what do you expect?
07:37Should he have me greeted at his penthouse door with a fanfare for an hour's old cavalry?
07:42You know what I'm talking about.
07:45One thing, though.
07:47You do make the most delicious coffee.
07:50More, please.
07:53Lincoln?
07:55Do you suppose that was a burglar?
08:00I've tried, darling, everywhere.
08:02Then try at least six other places he might be.
08:05I need those big ears of his.
08:07Well, he may be a thousand places I don't know about.
08:09Have you tried his flat?
08:11No.
08:12Try it.
08:13Well, he won't be there this time of day.
08:15Try it.
08:15I have, John.
08:17There was no reply.
08:19Oh, you mean that perhaps there was?
08:23Don, if Pamela is there, there's nothing to get red around the neck about.
08:31Yes, sir, John?
08:32Jill, darling, is at his flat.
08:34Tell him to get in here immediately.
08:36Yes, sir, John.
08:38Don't be a moral ostrich, Don.
08:41It gets in the way of your work.
08:43You seem to forget that your loyalty is not to Pamela or to anyone else, but to me.
08:47Don't talk to me about loyalty, John.
08:48Not to me.
08:48Not today.
08:49Why, especially today?
08:51Oh, forget it.
08:52What happened today?
08:53Hmm.
08:54Well, in India, a few hundred people died for lack of food in their bellies.
08:58In Africa, a few from far too many bullets in the head.
09:02And in concentration camps all over the world, some prisoners of conscience, no doubt, had their ribs smashed in.
09:11But what happened today, Don, here in this department?
09:15Here, John?
09:16Here.
09:17Here, John, the Minister of State, Mr. Garfield Kane, MP, invited me to change sides.
09:26And, as you didn't...
09:28I'll get my reward in heaven.
09:30What makes you so sure I didn't?
09:32I know you, Don.
09:33You always back winners.
09:36Yes?
09:37Mr. Dowling will be in soon, Sir John.
09:39He has a prior appointment with the Minister of State.
09:43Thank you, Joe.
09:45Kane's been looking everywhere for him.
09:48So it seems that we all...
09:50Well, now, if you can manage a week here next time, Coover, I'll prove to you just how far London's
09:55catching up on Paris for the gourmet.
09:57Wishful thinking, Garfield.
09:59And you too, if you can spare the time, Minister.
10:01I never have time to enjoy food in Paris, let alone in London.
10:04But then I have simple tastes.
10:05Oh, I remember.
10:08I developed a taste for roast beef when I was here during the war.
10:12Oh, well, now, I'm very grateful to both of you for making the trip.
10:15Now, all we need is action at both sides.
10:17Oh, my company is deeply interested, Garfield.
10:20I can give you that assurance now.
10:21I don't want to sound over-optimistic, but I feel sure there will be no objections from the kiddos.
10:27Paris a week today, then?
10:28I can hardly wait.
10:30I need only the slightest pretext.
10:31My passport looks like a travel warrant to Orley.
10:35Oh, well, Mr. Minister, merci.
10:36A tout le monde, monsieur.
10:37A bientôt, à Paris, j'espère.
10:44Well, Frank, what do you think?
10:50As long as there are equal shares, joint responsibility, equal publicity, no patriotic one-upmanship,
10:57you can count on National Electric to support you.
11:00I've always held the view we could get together with electronic français on big overseas projects.
11:05Reservations?
11:07We'll need strong safeguards.
11:09I don't wholly trust the French, or for that matter, politicians like yourself, Garfield.
11:14And you're not going to stick your noses into the business side.
11:17Well, you want the juicy jobs in the developing countries.
11:20And you want us in there.
11:22And the Chinese and the Russians out.
11:24Hmm. So, mutual interest, Frank?
11:27I must have strictly equal status to the French managing director.
11:31Oh, I'll see to that.
11:32Good.
11:33Brandy?
11:34I have 120,000 men's noses to keep to the grindstone.
11:38Nice meeting you, darling.
11:40I gather we may be seeing much of each other.
11:44Well, I hope so.
11:45I'll see myself out, Garfield.
11:47Thank you, sir.
11:50So.
11:52It's up to you, Lincoln.
11:54What is?
11:55You set up an Anglo-French consortium with Frank Orwell and your French friends to attack the world electronics market.
12:00And you ask me here to watch you do it.
12:02Well, congratulations, Minister.
12:03Impressively smooth.
12:05What's my job?
12:06To parade down Whitehall with a placard saying Garfield came for PM?
12:09Well, that's a very nice thought.
12:11But you'd not do it with enough sincerity.
12:14And that's not the way a promising diplomatic service officer should talk to his minister.
12:18Now, for me, the age of serfdom's nearly over.
12:20Hmm.
12:21Yes, I'd heard about your plans to break out and invade the free market, the John Wyler territory.
12:25And don't ask me where I heard.
12:29Why not?
12:30Well, it might be embarrassing.
12:32Don't play games, Minister.
12:35Her leadership?
12:36She wouldn't tell you anything.
12:38Oh, come now, Lincoln.
12:41I know that she has you helping her on my charity committee.
12:45And I know that you have her helping you, um, domestically.
12:51But what happens outside office hours concerns me very little.
12:54I wonder whether a Minister of State has ever been taken from this office straight across the river to St.
12:58Thomas' Casualty Department.
12:59For a diplomat, Lincoln, you are thin-skinned.
13:01I'm offering you the best chance you ever had.
13:05What's your present salary?
13:07You know, to the penny.
13:08After allowances, it's still under $3,000.
13:10This consortium needs a foreign expert.
13:13It could be you.
13:15I'd be seconded on the same salary.
13:17No.
13:17No, you'd resign from the service and take up a contract with the consortium.
13:22My price would be high.
13:24Well, I had in mind $10,000.
13:30And I'd get the contract before resigning.
13:32Of course.
13:33Look, I'm not trying to con you into the wilderness.
13:37Why?
13:39Well, I must say, I'd expect a little hesitation on your part.
13:43I mean, on $10,000 a year, you stand a better chance of making a ladyship, don't you?
13:48You shouldn't have been a Minister of State.
13:49You've got all it takes to be a ponce.
13:53Well?
13:54Well, what?
13:55You can work with me.
13:57Or with Wilder.
13:58Who can only lose.
14:01I'd have to see the colour of that contract first.
14:16Lincoln?
14:20You must be the most elusive private secretary in Her Majesty's diplomatic service.
14:27I'm sure you won't mind if I join you and my wife at lunch.
14:32Where are we going?
14:34The Cordon Francais.
14:35Yes, I thought we might have a talk about your session with Cain.
14:39Nothing to talk about.
14:39It was tedious.
14:40Very promising, though.
14:42Lincoln, I know what he is up to with National Electric and Electronic Francais.
14:48Then why ask me?
14:50What did he offer?
14:52That's beneath contempt.
14:54My question, or his offer?
15:00Lincoln, that consortium is not going to happen.
15:04I have a better idea.
15:36Tell me Lincoln.
15:40What do you think of the brandy?
15:42Well, you should know a good brandy.
15:45Oh?
15:46He wasn't getting at your age, darling.
15:48Were you, Lincoln?
15:50I didn't think he was.
15:52It's not need to look so sheepish, Lincoln.
15:55This isn't the last supper.
15:57But if you intend to become a tycoon,
16:02we're going to start learning to behave like one.
16:04With a little bit of practice,
16:05you may not look out of place behind a cigar.
16:10Pamela, remind me to get in a stock of best Havanas for him
16:14when he moves to Mayfair,
16:16or wherever it is he aspires to.
16:20Oh, no, no, no, it wasn't Pamela.
16:22If you spend half your mornings on the phone to West End agents,
16:26you must expect a little gossip.
16:27I don't have to account for my private life to you or anyone.
16:30Are you sure?
16:33When your private life gets in the way of your professional,
16:35you'd better...
16:37at least to Foreign Officers of Security.
16:39Well, yes.
16:40And to me.
16:42Oh, no.
16:43And to me.
16:45I think I'll just go and call the boxing board.
16:48See if they've got a spare referee.
16:49No, Pamela, it's essential that you're here
16:51when Lincoln answers the question that I'm going to put to him.
16:54Oh, for heaven's sake, John.
16:57Stop behaving like a cat pawing its prey.
16:59He needs careful handling just now.
17:02He's at a stage when he could
17:04take off like the whiz kid that some people are making him out to be.
17:07Or he could fizzle out like a damp squib.
17:10My career's my affair.
17:12It's not in your keeping.
17:14You're still my private secretary.
17:17I know Cain has bribed you to keep an eye on you.
17:21Nobody bribes me.
17:22Then how do you propose to pay
17:24for the properties that you have been looking at?
17:27My affair...
17:29My business.
17:30Some maiden aunt has left you a fortune.
17:33I've never inherited a penny in my life.
17:35The richest member of my family died
17:36owing eleven pounds, seven and sixpence.
17:39John, you're being quite horrible.
17:40I'm teaching them to grow up.
17:42When you get round to inspecting flats
17:45with a rent of two thousand and a half plus,
17:47it's clearly not limited to your foreign office salary.
17:50There is private industry.
17:51Some of it not exclusively yours.
17:55We're of the same breed, Lincoln, you and I.
17:58You're a late developer.
17:59But the killer instinct's there.
18:03That's the one thing I like about you.
18:05He's not your son.
18:07Oh, I should have been bloody worried recently if he had been.
18:12All right, Lincoln.
18:14How are you going to pay for this two and a half thousand year Mayfair flat?
18:18Plead the Fifth Amendment.
18:20Don't you answer that?
18:21I have offers.
18:22From Cain?
18:23And elsewhere.
18:24As I know you had some harebrained scheme with Kenneth Bly.
18:27That would have only led to bankruptcy.
18:31No, not Kenneth Bly.
18:34What salary do you need, bearing tax in mind,
18:38to live in the style to which you would wish to become accustomed?
18:43Well, come on, Lincoln.
18:44I'm trying to be practical.
18:47Ten thousand a year, plus expenses.
18:49And that's what he offered you.
18:53Lincoln, until two weeks ago, until Cain got at you,
18:57you were considering six thousand without lavish expenses.
19:01Enough to keep you, say, in Hampstead, but not Grosvenor Square.
19:06You're just fishing.
19:07The offer came from Grafton's Merchant Bank,
19:10as foreign advisor, a contract for three years.
19:14And what seedy little private eye did you get to dig that one up?
19:18I got Grafton's to make you the offer.
19:22Thanks for the dinner, Pamela.
19:25Don't be juvenile, Lincoln.
19:28You no more want Cain to get through than I do.
19:32And quite possibly for personal reasons.
19:36Even less than I do.
19:40I'll top his offer.
19:43By how much?
19:45The difference between a mere flat and a penthouse.
19:54Have some more brandy, Lincoln.
19:56Might help you to make up your mind.
19:58If the answer is yes, I shall want you to stay on.
20:02We shall need to work through the night.
20:04But if the answer's no, then you'd better leave before my other guests arrive.
20:07I could say yes and still work against you for Cain.
20:11If you agree to join me, I'll take your word for it.
20:15As long as you say it in front of Pamela.
20:26Don't lose your ash.
20:31There's nothing odd about meeting at a sauna.
20:33Some of my best thinking is done in sourness.
20:36Well, it's only producing some of my worst.
20:38You mean you've never had one before?
20:41Baptism of fire.
20:43And never again.
20:45Phew, can't we turn it down a bit?
20:47Ah, then he has come in.
20:49Yeah, I wish I hadn't.
20:51But it's only, uh...
20:52It's only on a hundred.
20:54You get a few minutes.
20:55You'll come through, Henderson.
20:59Nostrils burning?
21:00And a few other parts.
21:02Oh, I say, are you sure this isn't harmful to the old ticker, Minister?
21:06Hmm, mine's thumping away like one of those heart-lung machines.
21:10Well, there's no record of anyone actually having dropped dead in a sauna.
21:14No, they just liquefy.
21:17We had half a dozen dancing girls in here, you'd not be so floppy.
21:21You'd still not catch me staying.
21:24Anyway, I'm, um...
21:26I'm glad you had second thoughts about your future, Henderson.
21:29Yes, but I didn't know that part of the deal was holding meetings in hell boxes like this.
21:34How's Wilder taking to the monastic life?
21:37Well, he hasn't started saying his prayers yet.
21:40And don't expect him to take vows not to hit back.
21:43He knows about my consortium with the French.
21:47Enough?
21:48How much is enough?
21:50He's, uh, flying to Paris on Friday.
21:54Who's he meeting there?
21:57Well, he hasn't said.
22:01Still, whoever meets in Paris, don't do him any good.
22:06What are you doing?
22:08Making it hotter.
22:15Don't forget the cold plunge, Don.
22:18Well, never mind the ifs and buts, Kerry.
22:21Just recap what you told me yesterday.
22:25National Electric's worth about 300 million.
22:27And I don't think Norton would argue if I put a value of 240 million on his company.
22:33A merger would make the combined firm the biggest in its field in Europe.
22:37The biggest outside the States.
22:40And finance?
22:41Oh, it shouldn't be difficult.
22:42And, uh, quite unofficially, of course, I can promise support of my people.
22:46The Commercial Reconstruction Board sees the merger as a natural marriage.
22:51The new firm should soon move up to gross annual sales around the 600 million mark.
22:57Strictly on commercial grounds, it has everything in its favour.
23:01Rapid growth, cost reductions.
23:04An infinitely more efficient overseas marketing set-up.
23:08We should be able to stand up to any political criticism by promising vastly increased exports.
23:14And with Kerry and his board throwing his weight about.
23:17I don't see how anyone can put a stop to it.
23:22I'm convinced, John.
23:24Subject to details.
23:26It's up to National Electric.
23:28Our board, I know, will not welcome any merger.
23:31They see their muddled old heads rolling in the gutters of the City of London.
23:36What about your managing director, Orwell?
23:38He'll fight, John.
23:40He wants us to go ahead with tie-ups with the French.
23:42That's his baby.
23:43No, no, no, that's Keynes.
23:45Now, what support can you expect from the rest of your board, Wendell?
23:50Three of the younger ones immediately.
23:53Others are open to persuasion, provided they can be sure of places on the new combined board.
24:00Ah, we'll see that they get tucked in.
24:03Lincoln, how about passing round the Armagnac?
24:06Certainly.
24:08I should like to think that it would be less than a week before the press gets the first whisper.
24:19And Wilder not mentioned once, not even linked with that damn thing.
24:23Now one of you must have had some inkling.
24:27No, Minister?
24:28Not even a whisper.
24:29I heard there was an all-night meeting at Wilder's house with Wendell and Norton present.
24:34And, er, others.
24:39And what happened to that Paris trip he was supposed to be making?
24:42Cancelled.
24:43If it was ever on.
24:44Far from wrecking the consortium in Paris, he's crippling its chances without even moving out of his office.
24:49He hasn't been here for days.
24:50Then where the hell has he been? Doesn't anybody check?
24:51Shouldn't you know, Lincoln?
24:53Not that you should admit to your extra duties with a temporary civil servant present.
24:58All right, Henderson, leave us.
25:02But don't roam too far.
25:06Well?
25:07If Fowler is suggesting because I'm also with intelligence I should know of Wilder's movements,
25:10he's forgotten what it's all about.
25:12I doubt whether they even give him a second look.
25:14Then they should be carpeted for dereliction of duty.
25:17Yes, Jane?
25:18Mr Orwell is here.
25:19Show him in.
25:21I'd like you to stay, Jason.
25:23And you too, Lincoln.
25:26Now don't worry, Frank, you're among friends.
25:30Which is quite a change.
25:32Sir Jason Fowler is Deputy Under-Secretary at my department and must necessarily be in the picture.
25:38And Lincoln Darling have already met.
25:40He'll most likely be working for the consortium.
25:42If it ever comes to anything.
25:43Oh, now don't throw in the sponge, Frank. You've only just started fighting.
25:47I've already been knifed in the back twice.
25:49Well, it's your spine they're going for. They know it's your weakest part.
25:53As long as you don't leave a trail of blood right through our foreign office corridors,
25:57that kind of thing is apt to bring out the worst in our gunboat diplomats.
26:00I must say you're taking it very well.
26:02Well, I've never got in for desk banging and foot stamping. It's bad for the heart.
26:09Wilder's behind it, isn't he?
26:11I mean he must be.
26:13Garfield, I don't know what you stand to lose, but they're after my shirt.
26:16I think you've all got a Wilder complex.
26:18You've got no proof he's behind it.
26:21I have a member of my board named Wendell, who should have been christened Judas.
26:25He's in Wilder's pocket, and he's already got half the board behind him,
26:29with at least another two coming out in goose pimples.
26:31How do you know?
26:31How do I know what?
26:32He's in Wilder's pocket.
26:33He's twice taken a company car to Belgrave Square recently, to Wilder's house.
26:39Wilder bested him on a deal two years ago.
26:42And ever since he's seen Wilder as some sort of heroic figure.
26:54This merger has to be stopped, Garfield. I don't mind how.
26:57And you don't know how.
26:58Now don't panic, Frank. That's just what he wants.
27:01My contract is still six years to run.
27:04I'm too young to be put out to grass, and golf bores me.
27:08What is more, the revenue are tough about golden handshakes,
27:11and Wilder would do his damnedest to drive holes in my contract.
27:14He'd be too busy to bother.
27:20Lincoln.
27:22I want a briefing on my desk by this evening,
27:24giving every reason why a merger between Norton's and National Electric
27:29is not in the public interest, or in anybody's.
27:34Lincoln, he'll have to John Wilder and tell him I want to see him as soon as possible.
27:37In your office?
27:38Wherever is convenient.
27:39I'm afraid that won't be possible, Minister.
27:41I'd have to see the merger man at the Board of Trade.
27:44And I have an important meeting on this afternoon.
27:46And you and the man from the Board of Trade can work through the night.
27:49But I want that report on my desk by 7.30 in the morning.
27:56If you'll excuse me.
28:02So I hinted at a highly classified meeting.
28:05Which I suppose is what this is.
28:07Though why I should hold your hand while you're trying to find somewhere new to live,
28:11I really don't know. You're a grown boy now.
28:13Yeah, that's why.
28:15Looking for skeletons?
28:17What?
28:18You can't depend on anybody.
28:20You know, there's something very peculiar about people who go around peering in cupboards.
28:24Ah.
28:27Did you expect to find that there?
28:29Yes.
28:31Didn't they leave a barman?
28:32Always be sure when taking over a new place,
28:34if the previous owners leave enough booze for you to get over the sadness of an empty home.
28:39Lincoln, they didn't.
28:41Why do you never believe a word I say?
28:43Because you're just like John.
28:45Just as big a liar, if a more romantic one.
28:48Who did leave the hooch, really?
28:49The estate agent.
28:51As bait?
28:51As a service for which I paid.
28:53Well, cheers.
28:54As to the flat, and all who sail in her.
28:57Oh, no, Lincoln.
28:59No sailing or any other sport?
29:02I say yes.
29:17Does it make you feel good, John, to have the minister come to you?
29:20You wanted to talk.
29:22Still, you should have accepted my invitation.
29:25To meet in a sauna bar?
29:26You make it sound obscene.
29:28A few saunas and you could look the world in the face.
29:32I can do now, without.
29:36I acted too hastily.
29:38I should have kept you busy.
29:40Instead, you chose to try and cut me out.
29:44That only works with terrified nonentities.
29:48Why are you against my consortium, my dear?
29:51Because it stinks.
29:54I had a discussion today with Orwell and his French counterpart Cartier.
30:00And we all agree there could be an important chair for you in the consortium.
30:05Forget it.
30:07I don't hedge my bets, Cain.
30:09Nor should you yours, if you intend to go into business.
30:12I play politics till your heart turns to stone.
30:15But don't take me on in business.
30:17You'd only get hurt.
30:19I don't think you're a masochist.
30:22Despite your saunas.
30:25Oh, hang on a moment.
30:26I think he's just come in.
30:34Lincoln Dowling.
30:35For me.
30:38Hello, Lincoln.
30:39I'm working out just why your merger shouldn't go through.
30:42How are you?
30:43For Cain.
30:43He's pretty cock-a-hoop.
30:45I can't think why.
30:46He thinks he's found a cast-iron way of stopping you.
30:48He's having your merger referred to the Monopolies Commission.
30:52Good.
30:53I thought that's the way he would boo.
30:56Thank you, Lincoln, and good night.
30:58Don't stay up too late.
31:00I shall need your mind at its sharpest and most devious in the morning.
31:31Whose baggage boy are you today, Don?
31:33The ministers or the ambassadors?
31:35One of these days, darling, your lip will land you on the floor.
31:37Or rather your very own.
31:40On whose behalf, do you ask?
31:41Mine.
31:43Only you make such a do about your intelligence connections these days,
31:45I sometimes wonder who you're not spying on.
31:48It's a role, I must say, that suits your personality.
31:50And you're in the role that suits yours, running errands.
31:57Pamela must be out of her mind.
32:07Ah, setting us all an example, Henderson.
32:10Which way? North, south, east or west?
32:13You know, I never did manage to master the compass.
32:16Which way, Jason, to Wagga Wagga?
32:18Very well.
32:19I presume it is bona fide foreign office business.
32:23Or what else?
32:26The entire press is packed with reports on what politicians will do to kill my merger.
32:32And all you're concerned about is where Don's going.
32:36Where's your sense of proportion?
32:37I thought the Monopoly's commission didn't worry you.
32:39I don't.
32:41But you do.
32:43What if I said that Don was off to Paris?
32:46No point in warning the Bluebell girls, he's safe.
32:49Who would you warn?
32:51Not Cain.
32:53All right then.
32:54Don's off to Paris.
32:56Is he having trouble at home?
32:58Only if he's off to Paris, why should he leave a message for his wife telling her he's gone to
33:01New York?
33:03Oh yes, I forgot that you also worked with those professional nosy Parker boys from Intelligence.
33:12Has it not occurred to you that you are treading a high wire held at one end by Cain and
33:17at the other end by me?
33:19Either of us could drop you from a great height.
33:22Don't worry.
33:23I have a safety net.
33:26And that'll be all, Ambassador.
33:29Yes, Lincoln.
33:33Jason, I know that Wilder was in his office at 6.45 this morning, having presumably been tipped off by
33:38his Fleet Street chums at the contents of today's papers.
33:41Now that doesn't indicate a man who's going to throw in the sponge.
33:44It's a myth about early risers.
33:45They're not necessarily the ones who get things done.
33:48Often they're just insomniacs who can't bear to lie about any longer in a rumpled bed.
33:52Well, you'd best assume that Wilder isn't one.
33:54Well, after this lot he should be.
33:56His merger couldn't possibly go through in face of the public wrath. This will ignite.
34:01Well, the Commons will certainly be up in arms.
34:03And I've managed to persuade Headley, as a leading trade union backbencher, that his principles have been affronted.
34:08He's going to issue a statement saying that the merger will put 6,000 men out of jobs.
34:12How can he know?
34:13Well, he can't, but the figure has a suitably alarming ring.
34:15Well, you know, if Wilder had a trace of decency, he'd resign now.
34:19Do you think he might, Minister?
34:20No!
34:20Pity.
34:21He's still the outsider to you, isn't he, Jason?
34:23He belongs in the marketplace, not this office.
34:26Now, there, if you're not careful, is where we might part company.
34:29Don't forget, and certainly not while I'm the minister here, that we are the department for special situations and trade.
34:35And that calls for men from the marketplace.
34:37I'm one.
34:37Ah, but you do have an instinct for the more civilized virtues of diplomacy.
34:42I'm a salesman, Jason.
34:44As an orphan, I had to spend most of my early life selling myself.
34:47You strolled through Eton and Oxford and then nobly offered your services to the country.
34:53In fact, you are less my kind, really, than Wilder is, so just disabuse yourself of this idea that selling
35:00is a dirty word.
35:02Yes, Jane?
35:03Mr. Dowling to see you, Minister.
35:05Oh, send him in, Jane, and bring some coffee, will you?
35:09You may not know where Henderson's gone, but for sure, Dowling will.
35:12Yes, I feel that that young man knows far too much for the peace of mind of any of us.
35:16His extramural work for intelligence is corrupting you.
35:20Good morning, Lincoln. You read the papers?
35:22Quite a killing, Minister.
35:24And what does your suspicious mind tell you could still stop my consortium, if anything?
35:28Don't count your French chickens yet.
35:29No.
35:30Wilder was up before daybreak.
35:31And busy by sunup.
35:32We were curious as to where Don Henderson has gone, do you know?
35:36Oh, yes.
35:40He's gone to Paris.
35:42Oh.
35:43Another cup for Mr. Dowling.
35:45Oh, no, if you don't mind, I have some clearing up to do for Wilder.
35:48Oh, that is a very comforting ring about it.
35:53The sound of impending departure.
35:56Hmm?
35:59All right, Lincoln.
36:06Do you believe him, Jason?
36:10I'm afraid I don't, Minister.
36:13Jane, get me suddenly at the Home Office.
36:16Immigration.
36:17Yes, Mr.
36:18Yes, sir.
36:22Only first-class passengers, remember.
36:29We've got him.
36:30Donald Henderson, you said.
36:32He's on a BOAC flight to New York, taking off just about now.
36:50New York.
36:51Yes, Minister.
36:55Yes, Minister.
36:56Yes, and come in for a moment, will you?
36:58And on the way, try to work out why Henderson should have gone for his master to New York.
37:02Wilder did say Paris.
37:03Oh, I have no doubt, Lincoln.
37:05Anyway, that's probably a dummy run to fool us.
37:07Us, Lincoln?
37:08Count me in or out.
37:10Just please yourself.
37:12Latterly, you've hardly proved yourself one of us.
37:15I'd like to trust you, Lincoln.
37:17I'd like to very much.
37:20I had great hopes of you.
37:23You talk as though you were my father.
37:27At the moment, I feel that's a handicap that fate has mercifully spared me.
37:34Of course, you could tell Cain that Henderson's a British member of the American CIA.
37:37That would curl his toes a bit.
37:40Flippancy, as I've told you, Lincoln, is often a cover for the basest behaviour.
37:46Even treason.
37:51Are you coming to help, or not?
37:55I have an important engagement.
37:57Oh.
37:59Highly classified, no doubt.
38:03Highly suggestive.
38:05If you'd bring the sideboard in, we'd have something to put them on.
38:07Yes, and if you'd bring in a chair, I'd have something more comfortable to sit on.
38:10Well, chairs then.
38:15Lincoln.
38:17Where on earth did you find them?
38:19Oh, a bargain I picked up in the King's Road one lunchtime.
38:22After lunch?
38:23Hmm?
38:23And how many brandies?
38:24You mean you don't like them?
38:26Lincoln.
38:28They're absolutely hideous.
38:30Well, I was going to turn them into lamps, but you don't like them.
38:32Well, what matters is that you like them. You have to live with them.
38:36And you might.
38:39Oh, yes.
38:42Have you, um...
38:44Have you ever wondered who lived here a hundred years ago?
38:47I mean, who was born here, who died here?
38:50There isn't a blue plaque commemorating anyone famous, is there?
38:52All that concerns me is tomorrow, not yesterday.
38:55I also said you might live here.
38:57What, me? With them?
38:59I could always abandon them.
39:01I shouldn't think it's the first time they've been dumped either.
39:05Well...
39:05Oh, Lincoln, don't be ridiculous.
39:07I mean it.
39:08Yes, I know you do. That's what makes it so sad.
39:12You must stop rushing at life. Learn to pace yourself.
39:16Like Garfield Cain?
39:17No.
39:18Like the man you've more in common with.
39:20John.
39:21All we have in common at the moment are mergers.
39:24His big business merger.
39:25And mine with you.
39:29Lincoln, I never suspected.
39:32Oh, you never saw it in the old place.
39:34I kept it in the attic, which had a skylight.
39:35It soothes me to look at the moon occasionally.
39:39Only the moon.
39:45Sheraton.
39:46Yes, it's very attractive.
39:49You sound doubtful.
39:50No, no, I like it.
39:52You mean it's not authentic, Sheraton?
39:54I said no such thing, Lincoln.
39:56But the bloody thing's not, is it?
39:59No, Lincoln.
40:01Zala.
40:04Normal service restored so quickly?
40:06And the brotherhood of burglars know already.
40:07And I carry a rather high priority.
40:09I mean at Whitehall, not among the criminal classes.
40:15Lincoln, darling.
40:18Yes, I'll be over right away.
40:23I thought something like that would happen.
40:25Still, it's better if you supervise the layout, if you don't mind.
40:29I do want you to like the place.
40:32Should I lock up afterwards?
40:34If so, where should I leave the key?
40:35Oh, I almost forgot.
40:37I have two.
40:40One for you.
40:42I mean you may want to do more supervising when I'm not here.
41:01You know, you could get arrested for doing that.
41:05Sorry.
41:06Oh, take those out again with you, Will.
41:09Certainly.
41:14Leave it in the pram cupboard.
41:22We think you're right, darling.
41:25Whether we get the Anglo-French consortium or the all-British merger is academic to intelligence.
41:30But it is important that we penetrate any organisation of such a size,
41:35selling military electronics and other defence equipment to foreign powers.
41:38You will hear further from us.
41:41Presently.
41:52Hello?
41:57I suppose one day there'll be a night that doesn't go bleep.
42:01Hello.
42:01Hello.
42:02It's Don.
42:03Oh, hello, Don.
42:04Can you hear me, John?
42:05Very clearly. Go on.
42:06Well, it's all fixed.
42:07John has agreed to have a press conference.
42:09When did their news agencies put it out?
42:12After the last edition.
42:13I see.
42:14They should catch our third edition.
42:16Sounds good, Don.
42:18Now, catch the next flight back.
42:20We're going to be very busy.
42:25Won't it wait, John? Say till daybreak?
42:27Now, try to get out of good old.
42:29Oh, he's had a busy day, driving me around antique shops.
42:32Where the hell are you going to put the stuff?
42:34Not for us.
42:36You going somewhere I shouldn't know about?
42:39No, it's business. Fleet Street.
42:42Well then, let good old sleep, John.
42:56I want to hold the first edition.
42:58Yes, sir.
42:58There we are.
43:24So there goes our chance with the Monopolis Commission.
43:27Nobody will lift a damn finger to stop the merger
43:30if the alternative is to let the Americans get control.
43:32Now, look, if you'd like a tranquilizer, ask Jason.
43:34He's got a pocketful.
43:35I am about to have my firm snatched up by a bunch of Americans,
43:38and all you can do is to sit there and prescribe drugs.
43:40Electric shock therapy if you go on like this.
43:43The Americans will get nothing, and Wilder knows it.
43:46You've got Wilder on the brain.
43:47What the hell's he got to do with it?
43:48His messenger boy went to New York yesterday.
43:51Wilder's well in with the president of the American firm
43:54who are making this bid,
43:55and he's fixed this bombshell to scatter our MPs
43:58who are attacking his merger.
43:59Well, it will, won't it?
44:00Not if we show what's behind it and who,
44:03and convince everybody that our consortium
44:05is preferable to Wilder's merger.
44:07Don't forget half my board.
44:10More than half by now is grasping at the merger.
44:13It's a life raft of them.
44:15They know what will happen to them under the Americans
44:17to be thrown overboard and left to drown.
44:18Well, they could always learn to swim.
44:20Now, come on, Frank.
44:21Your managing director will manage them.
44:23Direct.
44:24It's up to you to keep their heads above water.
44:26This whole American business is just a rumour to stir things up.
44:29Well, of course, it is conceivable that there is a genuine American bid.
44:32Oh, now, you need a tranquilizer yourself, Jason.
44:35Yes, Jen?
44:36Sir John Wilder's seat, Minister.
44:38Oh.
44:39Well, show him in, Jen.
44:41I'm already here.
44:44You'll never get away with this.
44:46Once we show you're behind the Americans,
44:47you'll be completely discredited.
44:49You're too late, Cain.
44:51I can hardly be behind the Americans
44:53when I've just gone to great lengths
44:55to persuade an old friend of mine,
44:56the president of the American company,
44:58to hold off any bid
45:00as long as your get-together with the French is called off.
45:05Arnold J. Eastman, Jr.
45:08will never forgive the French
45:09for what they did to him and his company in recent years.
45:12He doesn't share your fondness for frogs, legs, and garlic.
45:15Oh, no.
45:16You're behind the Americans, and I intend to make it known.
45:21Then you better be careful where you wag your politician's tongue.
45:25The only safe place is in the chamber of the House.
45:28There, at least, you can hide
45:29under the women's skirts of parliamentary privilege.
45:34There'll be no perks for you personally,
45:36should your merger go through.
45:37It would look too much like a fiddle.
45:39Which is indeed what it would be.
45:42The contract's already signed.
45:44I'm managing director for seven years,
45:47and some of your political colleagues, Cain,
45:50senior to you see it not only as fiddle-free,
45:53but as central in the public interest that I run the group.
45:58As a minister of the Crown,
46:00they would expect you to keep a dignified silence.
46:04Of course, you could always resign.
46:07But you're too fond of the soft line
46:10to chuck it in at this stage of the game.
46:14So it's up to you.
46:17Ball your head off to the public and press, if you dare.
46:21John.
46:24Do you think you and I could talk?
46:26What about Frank?
46:28Your top hat pension?
46:31Whether you should take up golf or growing sunflowers?
46:49I still say it's bluff.
46:53Oh, for God's sake.
46:55Get your head out of the sand, Jason.
47:01Oh, now.
47:03If you'll excuse me, gentlemen.
47:29Yes, Minister.
47:30Jen?
47:32Yes, Minister.
47:33Get me the Prime Minister.
47:48Mr. Kane insisted that he had no comment to make, but this evening he issued a statement from his home
47:53saying that he had resigned on a matter of principle.
47:57His resignation will enable him to make a full statement to the House of Commons tomorrow.
48:02And now, further news of the Midlands rail accident.
48:07Principal?
48:08He diddle his grandma and said it had to be done on principle.
48:11Hasn't got one, Lincoln.
48:12Hasn't got what?
48:13A grandma.
48:14He's an orphan.
48:14Even orphans have grandmas.
48:16They have to be grandmas.
48:17Anyway, he was a fool to mix it with John.
48:20You only come off worse.
48:22Really?
48:24Very much, really.
48:28Well, John, it's been quite a day.
48:30Ah.
48:32And it's not over yet.
48:35I don't think why you're here, though I can guess.
48:38He came to see me.
48:40No, you.
48:42I promised you a job on the new combine.
48:44You got it.
48:46Your first task is an immediate sales recce in the Far East.
48:51That should keep you busy for at least six months.
48:54Now, if you don't mind, Pamela and I have some personal things to discuss.
48:58I can't think of even one.
49:00I'm not going to the Far East or anywhere else, Wilder.
49:04Then you're fired.
49:05No, no.
49:06I'm not becoming one of your executives, Wilder.
49:08They'll be tossed into the world's far corners at your whim.
49:11I'm becoming one of your directors on the new board.
49:18What have you been giving this upstart of yours, Pamela?
49:21Hallucinatory drugs?
49:22Call the office, then.
49:24Go on.
49:24Ring them.
49:25And the higher you go, the thermal will be the confirmation.
49:28I'm on your board, Wilder, and there's nothing you can do about it.
49:31Besides, I've just taken a three-year lease on a new place in Grodon Square.
49:35It would be such a waste if I wasn't in London to enjoy it.
49:50You're wasting your time.
49:53What's the address?
49:55The address?
49:56It's of Lincoln's new place.
49:58Flat 2, 190 Grosvenor Square.
50:02Well, your extra duties at the Foreign Office have paid off, haven't they?
50:08Do your chums in intelligence make a habit of squeezing people onto boards,
50:12or is this special to services rendered?
50:18Hello.
50:19Apprentice and Walker.
50:20This is Sir John Wilder.
50:23I want you to send round a box of your very best Havana cigars to...
50:30All right, get a pencil and paper.
50:32I wouldn't say no to one now.
50:40The address is Lincoln Darling, Flat 2, 190 Grosvenor Square.
50:49Yes.
50:51Yes, thank you very much.
50:56You'll find the cutter on the drinks table.
50:59Oh, that's all right.
50:59I have my own now.
51:28I have my own now.
51:29On camera.
51:31I've got one now.
51:31On camera.
51:58We can grab it.
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