Mr. Arkadin Page #4

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- You know how it is. A fellow gets around, he -

- Where?

- Where did you get, Van Stratten?

- Naples. I'm not the only one

who knows about Bracco.

He's dead, but he told us something about you -

something you'd like kept quiet.

- He was knifed. Then there's Sophie.

- Knifed? Knifed by you?

- Do I look like a killer?

- No, you're simply a fool.

I will not ask you your price

because you have nothing to sell.

But, still, I'll make you an offer.

I am going to give you something to sell,

and then I will pay you for it.

Come on.

You have tried to threaten me

with a secret which does not exist.

Now I'll make you a present

of a real one -

the great secret of my life.

Come in.

My secretaries work here.

We can be private.

Now, tell me -

if I really had something to hide...

what do you think it would be?

- Well, uh-

- Take a guess.

Well, there is something.

- There has to be.

- Why?

Well, if there isn't -

How come you never let yourself

be photographed, for instance?

Oh, I've been photographed,

but usually I break the photograph.

Also head of the photographer.

I'm a strong man, Van Stratten.

- How old do you think I am?

- How would I know?

I don't know either.

See? That's my secret.

I don't know.

- You think I'm crazy?

- No.

I don't think you asked me back here

to try to help you guess your age either.

You've heard of

a thing in the army called...

"intelligence check"?

It's some kind of an investigation,

isn't it?

Yeah. These army people

are thorough.

They look under the wallpaper.

They turn up the carpets.

- Which army?

- Your army.

Yeah, I did happen to reside back in the States

in '42, so I got a polite invitation to join.

You know, greetings there.

What's with you and the army?

I'm interested in some proposed air bases

your army's building in Portugal.

And you want the contract.

I get it. You're afraid one of those

investigation deals could wreck it for you.

And you wanna hire me

to help you cover up a few little items.

You are informing me

or asking me, Mr. Van Stratten?

Mr. Arkadin, I'm just guessing.

But now I'll ask you something -

What makes you think you can trust me?

I think you will do what I tell you.

You're a fool, but not a silly fool...

and I'm not ungenerous.

"Not ungenerous"?

- That means -

- $10,000.

Tax-free, of course.

You can have it in gold in Liechtenstein.

- Make it 20,000.

- You're a poor businessman, Van Stratten.

You're bargaining

before you know what's for sale.

What I don't know I can find out.

Make it 15-

I am hiring your specialized knowledge,

your ability to move about in the underworld.

- The underworld?

- I want you to make an investigation

and prepare me a report.

Report? A report on what?

Gregory Arkadin.

All about Gregory Arkadin.

I'm serious.

It's me I want you to investigate.

What is it you're so afraid

they're going to find out?

Van Stratten...

on my mother's grave,

I swear to you... I wish I knew.

And you figure

that if I can't smoke it out...

the army boys

won't be able to either, huh?

I'm going to tell you a story,

a poetic little story.

It's winter of'27.

One night, one snowy night...

I found myself, a young man, in Zurich.

I had nothing, nothing -

only the one suit I was wearing...

and the wallet in which

there were 200,000 Swiss francs.

With that money,

my fortune was built.

- You see, I promised you this was poetic.

- Well?

- Well what?

- Who was she?

"She"? "Who was she?"

Isn't the question at all.

The question is, "Who was I?"

Okay, Mr. Arkadin. I'll buy it.

Who were you?

That's just it.

What happened before the winter of'27?

Where did I come from in my one suit?

That is my real secret...

and you are the first man

I ever told it to.

I do not know who I am.

Amnesia.

Yeah, but if it's as bad as you claim -

- What do you mean, as I claim?

- Well, look.

You don't have any memory of

what happened to you before '27, right?

So what makes you so sure

your name is Arkadin?

Well, maybe it's Arkadeen

or Arkadene or Arkapapalous.

- Or Smith even.

- Don't be a fool. I know my own name.

- Who says so?

- I say so.

Oh, who are you?

You just told me you don't know.

- I'm paying you to find out.

- So why does Ark-Arkadin stick in your mind?

Maybe - Maybe it's the name

of a cough medicine.

Maybe it's somebody you knocked off

for the 200,000 Swiss francs.

- You think that's how I got the money?

- Maybe you stole it. How do we know?

Is Guy in there?

I'm alone, Raina.

Why is the door locked?

I want to see Guy.

- What's going on between you two?

- Mr. Van Stratten is gone.

He has left the country, Raina.

You will not see him again.

That is a condition, of course.

She will not see you.

And, above all, she must never learn

that I've given you this job.

She might imagine that -

that I'm paying you off.

- Isn't that just what you're doing?

- You know, at first I thought it was something else.

I rather thought

you were blackmailing me.

Here's to character.

Where did I stand now?

Was he paying me off or lousing me up?

Why should he think that...

I could turn up something that...

he couldn't even remember?

My only answer to that

was a long way off.

I did a lot of traveling and asked an awful lot

of questions before I learned the truth.

From Helsinki to Lopoldville...

Brussels, Belgrade, Beirut...

Torino and Trieste,

Marseille and Mogador.

I talked to every crook

who'd even been around in 1927...

and a whole lot

of other characters besides.

Even some of the big moneymen-

financiers up in Arkadin's league.

I claimed I was a newspaperman...

but even that didn't always

get me in the door.

Sir Joseph is not well enough

to give interviews...

but out of respect

for Time magazine -

That is your magazine, isn't it?

Sir Joseph has consented

to make the following statement...

with the understanding

that it is not to be quoted.

"Gregory Arkadin is one of the shrewdest

of all adventurers in high finance...

"and certainly the most unscrupulous.

"During the last war, I had occasion

to make inquiries into his past.

"In another epoch, such a man might have

sacked Rome or been hanged as a pirate.

"Today we must accept him

for what he is -

"a phenomenon of an age

of dissolution and crisis.

"As to his place of origin

and the source of his first capital...

"the most painstaking investigation

has shown...

that these are

quite impossible to trace."

Mily, out on that cruise,

was keeping in pretty close touch with me...

whenever she could.

And with a few other good-looking dames

as fellow passengers...

Mily was junketing around all this time

with Arkadin on that yacht.

- What are you doing in my cabin?

- Would you prefer to come to mine?

Don't be funny.

You said you wanted to be alone with me.

Has that slipped your mind?

Oh, yes. The message.

You better have

a little more champagne.

It's not me that wants to talk to you.

It's a friend of mine.

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