Dodsworth Page #2

- All right, sir.

I'm waiting for my wife.

- I hope I'm not intruding.

- Not at all. Here she comes now.

- Dear.

- Hello, darling.

I want you to meet Mr. Lockert.

Mrs. Dodsworth.

- Captain Lockert.

- How do you do?

- How do you do?

- Shall we have a drink at the table?

- Serve them over here, please.

- All right, sir.

You see, darling, we didn't have

to dress for dinner the first night out.

Of course, we can't be expected to know

all the tricks the first trip over.

It's not my first trip over,

Sammy dear.

That's right. Mrs. Dodsworth went

to school in Switzerland one summer.

I can't see it's ever bad form

to dress for dinner.

I'm sure that anything

that permits a woman...

to look as lovely as Mrs. Dodsworth

is looking could never be bad form.

- Very good.

- This is just a simple dinner frock.

- Will you have this?

- Thank you very much.

- Another martini, please.

- Yes, sir.

- New York, and now I'm back to London.

- Really?

- How long will you be in England?

- We haven't made plans beyond London.

There aren't too many Americans...

Look at those two women.

Can't you just see them in Venice

with their Baedekers?

Why is it that traveling Americans

are always so dreadful?

Why is it Americans

are always such snobs?

You think it's snobbish to want to see

someone besides fellow citizens aboard?

You can't think of what one misses by

leading a safe and sane American life.

Will you put me in charge

of your safety and sanity?

And tonight between 11:15 and 11:30,

Mr. Dodsworth...

you will see

this light off the port bow.

- Bishop's Light, it's called.

- Bishop's Light?

Yes, on Bishop's Rock.

- You sorry it's over?

- What's over?

- The voyage.

- Oh, no.

Not that I've been bored though.

You've taken excellent care of that.

I'm making great plans

for us in London.

For us? I know these steamship

intimacies. They never survive dry land.

Why can't you believe that this,

as they say, is different?

- What?

- It was land.

- Was it, Sammy dear?

- Bishop's Light, they call it.

I could get ashore in an hour

if I had a motorboat.

I can't believe we've done it!

Ashore! In England!

I don't know what to do

about Sam's Anglomania.

That's all right about my Anglomania,

but come look at the light with me.

All right. Come on.

Let's look at the light.

Now don't hurry me, Sam.

I've got on high heels.

My hair will be ruined in this wind!

I'm freezing! I haven't got any coat!

- Put this on.

- Please.

What difference does it make?

- I don't see any light.

- Wait. You'll see it in a minute.

- Where will I look?

- Look straight over there.

- I can't see it.

- Wait. There it goes!

See it?

That's very pretty,

but you can have your coat now.

Captain Lockert and I

have to dance.

- It'll flash again in a minute.

- I just can't stay. It's too cold.

- There it goes again!

- I'd like to stay and watch...

- Coming, Lockert?

- Yes, coming.

Say, Fran, I could get ashore in

half an hour if I had a fast motorboat!

- I beg pardon, sir.

- Oh, yeah, sure. That's right.

Oh, well, sir,

last night of the voyage.

- Yes, sir, half an hour, maybe less.

- Beg pardon, sir.

- Bring me a drink out here, will you?

- What would you like?

Bring me something

quieting to the nerves.

- Quieting, sir?

- Yeah...

- Why don't you try stout, Mr. Dodsworth?

- I beg your pardon?

You asked for something quieting,

and I prescribed stout.

- A double stout, sir?

- All right, sure. Yeah.

What is it you called that light?

I saw it too.

Bishop's Light. Of course, I've never

been across before. I got excited.

I took one look at that light and

all I read about England came to light.

The town behind it with

those flat-faced brick houses...

and a cart crawling up a hill

between high hedges...

and Jane Austen,

Oliver Twist and Sherlock Holmes.

England. Mother England.

- Home.

- Have you always felt that way?

I don't know. It just now struck me,

but I guess I must have.

Most Americans would

if it weren't taught out of them.

- All my people came from England.

- Sit down, Mr. Dodsworth.

You do need soothing.

I've been having such a good time

on this trip. Everybody's so nice.

There's nothing

like a first trip to Europe.

Especially when you're old enough

to know what you're after.

"What you're after."

What are you after?

My wife, of course,

she's been over before.

She wants me to learn how to

enjoy my leisure, now I've retired.

But what it boils down to... I've been

doing things myself for a long time.

I thought I'd give things a chance

to do something to me.

- The education of an American.

- Yes, you might call it that.

- How long have you given yourself?

- Six months.

- To get all that done?

- I'll be homesick by then.

I was homesick the first year

I came over.

- Came over? Where from?

- Michigan.

- American, huh?

- I don't know what I am.

I used to be a British subject

by marriage.

I don't know that one can be

a British subject by divorce.

I expect I'm just a woman

who lives in Italy.

- Do people live in Italy?

- There are countless Italians.

I mean, people like you.

I live in Italy by the thousands.

- Why?

- It's cheap.

My wife tells me

I ask too many questions.

Dear Sam. Sometimes he has got

the most bourgeois ideas.

Bishop's Light. Look at my hair.

Can't do a thing with it.

Guess that'll have to do.

- Well, how do I look? All right?

- Superb.

- Shall we go?

- Look what I've got.

Can't we stay and

have our nightcap down here?

Why not?

We can't go off and leave everything as

perfect as this. That'd be ridiculous.

I'd like to stay right here

and see the dawn.

You don't think he'll roar around the

ship and shoot when he finds me here?

Who, Sam? Oh, no.

No, he's got all the old-fashioned

virtues, except jealousy.

You call that a virtue?

When a wife who isn't plain

seems to be attractive to men...

and doesn't mind

their showing they're attracted.

Yes, I think I see what you mean.

- Highball?

- Yes, thanks.

- Two highballs, please.

- Two scotch and sodas, sir?

Yeah, all right.

You got my name.

Would you mind telling me yours?

- Mrs. Cortright.

- Mrs. Cortright. Thanks.

We haven't spoken before.

You don't talk to many people on board.

My wife said you didn't

open up much when she tried you.

Perhaps I wasn't

feeling so well that day.

- Feeling better tonight?

- Much better. Thank you.

You've lived abroad.

What's it like?

That depends on what one's after,

as you would say.

When a man has no more job

and his wife wants a fling...

there are worse things than travel.

It wouldn't do for me though.

No, not long, it wouldn't.

For a steady thing, give me America.

For Americans, that is.

Drifting isn't nearly

so pleasant as it looks.

Why don't you give it up?

One drifts for lack of a reason

to do anything else.

Well, what do you want?

What do you suppose

any Ione woman wants?

Guess I've been

talking too much again.

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