Keeper of the Flame

I bet a bright boy like you

could get me through this old gate...

...if you wanted to. Hmm?

Jeb?

Jeb, what are you doing?

Mr. Rickards,

I forgot to give you this yesterday.

I told you newspaper fellows yesterday.

Nobody gets inside.

That's Mrs. Forrest's orders.

Halt!

Left face!

Eyes left!

Heads front!

I'm sorry, gentlemen, no rooms.

No rooms, no baths.

No rooms, no...

- Stick close by, will you?

- Oh, yes, sir.

Still raining out, Bob?

- A slight drizzle.

- Oh, dear.

- Hello, Jane.

- Hello.

Steve. What in the wor...?

Steven O'Malley.

Oh, gee, let me...

Come over here

and let me take a look at you.

Oh, I can't believe it, Stevie.

Oh, imagine eating your heart

out for a guy for two years.

You see him, you don't even recognize him.

- Careful, I might take you seriously.

- Oh.

- Want coffee?

- No, thanks.

Get me a cup of coffee.

Plenty of cream and sugar.

Where I've been, you don't get cream

and sugar, you don't get coffee.

It's your eyes, that's what it is.

You've seen an awful lot over there,

haven't you, Stevie?

Is it that bad?

Were you in a concentration camp

or with the Berlin Press Bureau?

I'm still wondering, Jane.

Oh. Well, did it hurt much?

Jane, Jane, Jane. Did what hurt?

- When Hitler kicked you out?

- Oh, ha, ha. Hit...

Ha, ha.

- Thanks, good.

- Good old Janie, my, it's nice to see you.

- Oh, Stevie.

- How am I gonna get a room in this joint?

- Didn't you wire?

Tsk. Oh, Steven, honestly.

Come on, follow Grandma.

Uh, Mr. Arbuthnot,

guess what's happened?

The hot water doesn't run.

No, no, even worse than that.

My husband just arrived.

Uh, change the register to read

Mr. And Mrs. O'Malley, please.

Ha, ha. Come, darling.

Oh. Freddie, isn't it wonderful

to have Steve back?

Well, it's wonderful to have you back,

but not this wonderful.

- You're kidding about that Mrs. O'Malley?

- Of course, dear.

- Did you know he was coming?

- Mm-mm.

Nobody knows I'm back but the boss.

Got it.

I'll take your room, you move in with Steve.

Oh, fine. The five other men in my room

will welcome you.

Oh, great. Of course, Steven

we could get married...

...or use the room in shifts.

My best hours are from 3 to 10.

- Those are mine too.

- Oh.

- We better push along.

- Yeah, let's go.

Now, guard those with your life, sonny.

- Ah, O'Malley. How are you?

- Fine, Mr. Ambassador.

I thought they'd have chopped

your head off by now. I'm glad they didn't.

Oh, just a considerate guy.

He knows

when two people wanna be alone.

Oh, don't be silly.

He doesn't even know I'm alive.

Better come down from there, son.

You'll slip.

Come on, son. Come on down.

Come on.

Steady there. Now, you mustn't let it

get you like that.

If it hadn't been for me,

he'd be alive today.

Hey!

No news.

I've got it.

Thanks. Thanks very much.

Oh, boy, I'll say it was.

O'Malley. When did you get back?

Hello, stranger.

- Hello, Pat. You get a good one?

- Oh, not so hot, Steve.

No, never mind. I'll sit this one out.

Sit this one out?

What are you? A trained seal?

- I haven't got any whiskers.

Ha, ha.

I haven't got a deadline either.

- Oh, he's a journalist, not a newspaperman.

- I'm a prima donna.

- I'm sorry we got separated, Jane.

- Mm. How do you spell Frisbee? With a Y?

Oh. Thanks.

What's the matter, Stevie?

No more worlds to conquer?

- No more hot water to scramble out of.

- Oh.

Well, you might fall in love.

No. No, I think I'll dodge that.

I've had luck so far.

Oh. Tough guy, aren't you?

"The accident happened at 8:00

or thereabouts.

The coroner placed the washout

between 6:
30 and 7."

Heh. Don't mind Freddie.

Ever since he helped the police,

he's taken to crime.

Doesn't believe

in honestly broken necks.

The bridge had been weakened

by the storm.

- Maybe.

You're not on the level, Freddie.

Could be anything.

Even suicide.

What's the difference?

He's gone, that's the real tragedy, isn't it?

In Europe, I watched

most of the decent things of life change.

But I could look across the Atlantic and see

Forrest standing here, firm as a rock...

...standing for things

that were decent and honest.

That's why I'm here,

to write the story of his life...

...so that we'd always have it to lean on

in the dark days ahead.

Thought it was gonna be easy

until I saw what he meant to these people.

I'm not so sure now.

It's tough on his wife.

She's got something to live up to.

- That's why I wanna see her.

What?

Get within 10 miles of

Mrs. Forrest, I'll give you the Pulitzer prize.

I'll do even more than that for you,

I'll marry Freddie.

Oh, no kidding, Steven.

That woman thought Robert Forrest

was to be locked up...

...in a safety-deposit vault.

The queen of Jericho.

Say, she's built the highest, thickest walls

of Jericho around that place.

- And you're no Joshua.

- Yeah, ha, ha.

Huh. A visitor.

Anything I can do for you?

Yes.

Mind your own business

as far as Mrs. Forrest is concerned.

I heard what you said.

Take a tip from me and keep off her track.

Try to have respect

for what she's going through.

Or it'll be my privilege

to knock your head off.

He's a big man.

I don't wanna have any trouble with him.

Gentlemen.

Gentlemen, excuse me. Pardon me.

Gentlemen, I have a few words

I'd like to say to the press.

Fine.

- Lf you'll go into the parlor...

About time we're getting news.

- You've been very kind, very patient.

Looks like a lead.

- You're the fabulous Steven O'Malley.

- My name is O'Malley.

I'm Clive Kerndon, Mr. Forrest's

private secretary for the past years.

Mr. Forrest was a great admirer

of your writing.

- He used to quote you a lot.

- Really?

Well, that's very nice.

Uh, I wonder if I could talk to Mrs. Forrest

after a day or two.

You're not going back?

I'd like to see her first.

How do you do?

Press conference will be in the parlor.

Well, it's been a very great pleasure,

Mr. O'Malley. If you'll just come this way.

All you do is blow your trumpet, Joshua,

and the walls of Jericho fall right down.

May I have a glass of water please?

Heh. These reporters are annoying,

aren't they?

Mr. Midford is Mrs. Forrest's cousin.

Oh. Oh, indeed.

Poor Mrs. Forrest.

I've wanted just to hold her hand...

...but, of course, I wouldn't have

the lack of taste to bother her.

Or you.

- Drunk?

- Not at all.

He was drinking ginger ale.

Oh, poor fellow.

He seems so overcome

by the family tragedy...

...that he didn't even go to the funeral.

I wonder why not.

Gentlemen, if it had been my say-so, I'd

have thrown open the gates of the estate...

...the moment the accident happened,

but...

But I was acting

under Mrs. Forrest's orders.

I've prepared a few brief biographical notes

that may help you.

Possibly in a week or so,

Mrs. Forrest might relent a bit.

Robert Brindley of the Tribune.

- A bully job you did on those labor hearings.

- Thank you.

No, Mr. Brindley, I'm afraid even you

will have to bow to Mrs. Forrest's...

...shall we say, unfortunate prejudices.

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