The Hindenburg Page #3

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A booby-trapped crate of eggs.

Remember what happened the last time

we took the Los Angeles up?

Yes, sir. If we hadn't had helium,

we wouldn't be here.

Have you found it, Colonel?

- Found what?

- There are no secrets on zeppelins.

Let's hope not.

- When do we eat? - A light supper

will be served at 10:00, sir.

It's important that you put me

at Mr. Reed Channing's table.

I've been checking on his dog.

You should not have gone

back there, Mr. Spah.

It's against regulations.

So, don't say anything.

Okay, comrade?

Well, I still say the French line

has the best society.

Daddy.

There's something

I've been meaning to show you.

A young man at the airfield

gave me this.

- He told me...

- Where did you get that?

- Daddy, I'm trying to tell you.

- Give it to me, dumpling.

Valerie, your father's right.

You shouldn't accept gifts

from strange men.

- Mother!

- Enough.

She's a pretty little thing.

Only 4,000 miles to go.

I'd better meet her.

- Four thousand, one hundred.

- Excuse me?

- We've got 4,100 miles to go.

- Right.

Ah, Holland.

Nine minutes late.

Or do you make it ten, Mr. Douglas?

Bring me a beer, please.

When you are quite through,

may I, Mr. Bajetta?

Only one damn lighter.

Hell on cigar smokers.

Filthy habit, cigars.

Oh, no.

Join me, Colonel?

Gring adores it.

But it's true, sir.

Right in there on the bar.

The pen stood upright

for more than two hours.

That's how steady the Hindenburg flies.

Let's have a go at it ourselves,

shall we? Who has a pen?

Do you mind, old boy?

- Uh, yes, I need my pen.

- Not for a few minutes, surely. Come along.

Fifty quid the bally pen

will be toppled in less than an hour.

- Really, this is nonsense.

- Leave it. Be a sport.

- I'll take the bet.

- Righto. Anyone else?

Howell! You'll defend the honor

of old Eli, won't you?

- It's Harvard.

- A hundred did you say.

Gentleman from Yale wagers $100.

I didn't say that. I said it's...

What would we bet, Colonel?

The honor of the Third Reich...

- also hangs in the balance.

- On so thin a thread.

Five hundred marks

it stands eight hours.

I'll take that bet.

Will you watch it

through the night with me?

- I told you, I need my pen.

- Sorry. All bets are off.

When they came to me,

I refused to do it.

They brought it to my daughter,

but she didn't know what it was.

- Neither did my wife.

- Are your relatives Jews?

Damn you. Yes. My grandmother was a Jew.

Look here, Colonel. I import a lot

of German surgical instruments.

You can bet the manufacturers...

won't be so sensitive about

my grandmother's background.

Mrs. Milstein.

Yes.

They wanted me to sell the diamonds

so they could get out of Germany.

Does their name

have to be a part of it now?

You know what could happen to them.

Just make sure that you declare

those to U.S. Customs.

I'll keep the pen

for the Gestapo museum.

It's all right.

Oh, yeah, when I saw your dog,

it was doing fine.

That was real kind, Joe.

- Thank you, sugar. - Oh, no, thank you.

I never touch the stuff.

Over here, Captain. See it?

A clearing in the storm.

Alter course 30 degrees.

Head for that bright spot.

Forward engine to half speed.

We'll slow down in this turbulence.

That's how your American friends

lost all their ships.

I would like to be

in your new show, Mr. Channing.

I'm working on this new act. A zep act.

Real sophisticated.

Perfect for a show like yours.

- Oh, my...

- It's all right. It's okay.

Sugar, next time let's take the Titanic.

That pen incident.

It was obvious

what you were looking for.

Obvious to me, at least.

I knew he was the kind

for diamonds not bombs.

I could have told you about Breslau.

All the characteristics.

Brachycephalic skull,

heavy lower jaw, skin...

Breslau happens to be

just one-quarter Jewish.

The world is mongrelized, Vogel.

Only in Berlin is everyone so pure.

Well, we have all shapes

of heads to choose from.

Can your X-ray eyes see inside them?

Major Napier, for one...

who has no traceable income

but makes frequent trips on luxury liners.

Good way to pick up information

from important people.

Why suddenly the Hindenburg?

His big earlobes make me

think he's a British spy.

There's no need for sarcasm, Colonel.

May I humbly suggest that

Mr. Edward Douglas also bears watching?

So very afraid we'll arrive late.

He's head of the foreign branch of

an advertising company in Berlin.

Their big account is pharmaceuticals.

But he collected information from German

plants that supply parts for the Hindenburg.

America also prepares for war.

He was naval intelligence

during the last one.

Stayed abroad, went into advertising.

But he's careful not to advertise

his business this trip.

- Joe Spah is just the opposite.

- Spah's just a clown.

A clown who canceled

a performance for the Fuhrer...

just to be on this flight.

Also spent a week in Moscow,

just to see the Russian circus, he says.

Can't deny Spah

has an unfriendly attitude.

A lot of people fail to

see all our lovable qualities.

Which are well displayed in the countess.

How do you happen to know her?

Her husband and I were members

of the same flying club...

in the days before the Luftwaffe.

He was killed in a crash.

She went back to her estate.

I hadn't seen her in years.

A rich widow with an estate.

Yes, she's from a very

distinguished North Baltic family.

Von Reugen from Peenemunde.

Peenemunde? At the mouth of the Oder?

- Owns half the island.

- Not anymore.

Peenemunde's just been taken over

by weapons research.

Big new development in rockets.

If she knows what's going on there,

it's risky letting her out of the country.

It's risky for the ship's photographer

to step out of line with the countess.

If I were you, I'd find out how much

she knows before I let her off this ship.

Leave that to me.

You stay away from her.

Tomorrow this photographer

might take some pictures of the crew...

find out what the common people

are thinking.

They say the rigger, Karl Boerth...

has a mistress who works in

the Frankfurt branch of a French bank.

- Where did you hear that?

- I also hear she's been around.

Boerth is not the first.

Her name is Freda Halle.

I understand Boerth's a good man.

Hitler Youth leader.

By the way, am I also a suspect?

You?

Why, you're my staunch ally.

My teammate, my good right arm.

The Gestapo.

Ridiculous.

Where'd you get such an idea?

Detailed information on everyone

except Martin Vogel.

All it says here is

"Official Hindenburg photographer."

Gestapo sources of information

are really excellent.

Maybe not so good as you think.

It fails to mention that Colonel Ritter

doesn't like Gestapo methods.

Doesn't use them himself...

and doesn't want you

operating behind his back.

That's why we're cabin mates.

I'm sorry, Dr. Luther.

Captain Lehmann

is wasting his time coming here.

Well, perhaps this at least

will persuade State...

to make arrangements

for appointments for him.

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