The Hindenburg Page #4

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You know how Congress feels

about helium.

They're afraid that Chancellor Hitler

will use it for military...

What's been done about this?

Everything possible to guarantee

the safety of the Hindenburg.

The chief danger to her

is the American monopoly of helium.

Now, if anything does happen,

Mr. Handford...

it could be blamed on your country.

Would you step outside

for a moment, Lessing, please?

Certainly, Colonel.

Get this off to Gestapo

Headquarters, Berlin.

Attention:
Hochwald.

Send results

Freda Halle surveillance so far.

Also run check on her lovers

before Boerth.

Signed, Ritter.

Destroy that after it's sent.

- Record the message by code number.

- Yes, sir.

I don't like the dog so far away.

- Suppose something happens.

- Impossible, Mr. Channing.

Your dog is traveling first class.

Better than some of the passengers.

- You see? She agrees.

- Kirsch.

What are you doing bringing passengers

into the interior of the ship?

Colonel, when we bought our tickets

we were told we could visit the dog.

That may be, Mr. Channing,

but the ship's interior is now...

no matter how much anyone tips.

So, please.

Damn it, I'm going to visit my dog.

Passengers are barred

for their own safety.

Take a look, Mr. Channing.

If you fell, you'd go

right through, into the sea.

Rot.

Last year passengers were permitted

inside the hull, but not this voyage.

Typical. You're running this ship

like a concentration camp.

- I agree that I am running this ship.

- Go to hell.

I take it back. That would be

a lot better than Germany is today.

I'm curious as to why people like

yourselves would choose the Hindenburg.

If you must know,

only because my wife is...

Well, she...

she gets sick on boats.

The Zeppelin Company couldn't ask

for a better recommendation.

I'll assign the cabin boy

to visit your dog every watch...

and report to you. Fair enough?

Why don't we talk about

the arrangements for your concert.

Do you really think

I'm going to go through with that?

I announced the concert.

I'm sure you won't disappoint us.

Okay. You're the captain.

You want a concert,

I'll give you a concert.

Take her down below the fog layer, Hans.

But no lower than 200 meters.

By all means, come right in, Franz.

Where did you get the lighter?

Our radio operator is hot-blooded.

Give it to me, Countess.

Behave, Ursula. You know it's dangerous.

Franz, I've learned a new game:

breaking all the rules.

It's much more fun for people like us...

than those shoe clerks and butchers

in their brown shirts...

because, my darling, we made the rules.

I made this one.

Go ahead. Take it.

Help yourself to anything else.

That's the official policy now,

isn't it?

- They've taken my house and my land.

- So I heard.

- How generous of you.

- Generous? I screamed bloody murder.

Oh, Franz, if I told you what was

going on in Peenemunde...

You don't know. No one knows.

If they thought you knew, you would

never be allowed out of the country.

Listen to me.

No questions asked or answered.

You have made a great sacrifice

for the Fatherland.

Do you understand me?

Good.

Why anyone would want

that wretched island I'll never know.

Did I tell you, Franz,

I managed to get rid of it?

Trudi will be delighted.

Oh, Franz, she's growing up so nicely.

She'll be at the airfield.

Perhaps you'll see her.

Beautiful child.

I heard you say she was going

to school in Boston. That's marvelous.

And doing very well.

It's the best school

for the deaf, I'm told.

She's learning to speak and lip-read.

Maybe this summer we'll...

- Sorry. Sorry.

- Where are you?

What is this? What is all that?

It's atmospheric pressure.

Yes! Stuart, I want my things

out of the safe.

It's making me choke.

What is this? What is all this?

Oh, thank God, it's going away.

Please, please, don't, uh...

don't be upset.

You've just been treated

to a harmless display of St. Elmo's fire.

- What's that?

- As the ship came through the fog...

we accumulated an electrical charge...

like a child shuffling his shoes

across a carpet.

We've been in no danger.

The ship is completely

bonded together...

and the charge

was dissipated harmlessly.

- Thank you.

- I was pretty sure...

it was St. Elmo's fire all along.

Personally, I could use

a little shot of something.

Marvelous sensation on an airship.

Floating.

Timeless.

Past, present, no difference.

They all seem to run together here.

Don't you find it so, Franz?

- Do you still play cards, Countess?

- Why?

Major Napier and Mr. Bajetta

pique my professional curiosity.

I've been propositioned frequently...

but this is the first time I've ever

been recruited by the German Luftwaffe.

That is what you're doing,

isn't it, Franz?

Yes. With apologies.

I'll give you

ten percent of my winnings.

You probably remember,

I'm good at games of chance.

You're in the right place.

Well, that's an odd thing to say.

It's obviously some kind

of private code.

In any case, we'll see the answer

before Douglas does.

- That gives us an advantage.

- True.

Go ahead and send it.

Spah made this sketch

of the ship's interior.

- See if you can open this.

- Standard combination.

Now what do you think of your pet clown?

I think we better

watch him more closely.

Simple for a man who knows his job.

Douglas got rid of

that airport telegram very quickly.

We'll have to wait

for the answer to the one he sent.

How long is this concert

supposed to last?

No telling. However, I asked

the captain to arrive 15 minutes late.

A coding device.

I've never seen one quite like it.

Luftwaffe Intelligence has been

too busy sunning themselves in Spain.

"Operation 'K'." What do you suppose

that stands for, Vogel?

"Kraut"? "Knockwurst"? "Kosher"?

What more do you need

to question Napier and Pajetta?

My orders are to move quietly.

Besides, when you surface

a spy, and he doesn't know it...

you can turn him to your own advantage.

With your permission, Captain...

I would like to play

for the first time in public...

a little number from my upcoming show...

and Mr. Joe Spah has kindly agreed

to take part in this little entertainment.

I hope you like it. Captain.

- Mr. Spah.

- Mr. Channing.

- Danke schn.

- De nada.

Thank you so much, Mr. Channing.

Unfortunately, your humor

is not the same as ours.

Good night, sir.

It was really surprising.

Oh, it's you, Boerth.

What the devil were you doing up there?

- Routine inspection, Colonel.

- Inspecting what?

Control cables, sir. A rigger's duty.

Is there anything

I can help you with, sir?

I understand you were

a Hitler Youth leader.

Yes, sir.

But you haven't been active

for the last two years.

Only because of the Hindenburg, sir.

I helped build her in Friedrichshafen...

and last year I made all ten trips.

If there's nothing else, sir,

I'll get on with my duties.

Boerth!

I wonder what you

were really doing, Boerth.

MY duty, sir.

We're from the F.B.I., Mrs. Rauch.

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