The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp Page #12

They win the shirts off our backs

and now they want to give them back.

Because the game is over.

War is a most unpopular thing in England.

They are already organising pacifist societies.

Their newspapers are anti-milita....

Wait a moment.

Here we can get to something.

Anti-military.

This childlike stupidity is a raft for us...

..in a sea of despair.

Do you know

what my friend General Candy said?

"Don't you worry, old chap,

we'll soon have Germany on her feet again."

I think we made an impression on him.

The last thing I said to him was,

'Dontyou worry.

We'll soon have Germany on her feet again. '

- And he believed it?

- Theo? I believe so.

I...hope so.

(Hums "l Am Titania")

- Darling.

- Hm?

Don't hum.

Was I humming?

Mm-hm. It's a little habit you've got.

Mm.

What'll I do if I don't hum?

(Giggles) Oh, Clive.

(Gunshot)

(Gunshot)

(Gunshot)

(Gunshot)

MAN:
Theodor Kretschmar-Schuldorrf.

THEO:
Here.

MAN:
This way, please.

Your registration book and identity card, please.

Please.

Sit down.

When did you arrive in this country?

The 6th of June, '35.

- From?

- Paris, France.

I arrived in France the 1 5th of January '34.

- From Germany?

- Yes.

Why did you leave Germany?

My outlook of life is against the Nazis.

Most refugees left Germany early in 1933

when Hitler came to power.

I had nothing to fear from Hitler.

At least, l... I thought so.

It took me eight months to find out I was wrong.

Rather a long time.

Don't you think so?

Please, I mean no offence,

but you in England took five years.

Yes, quite right.

Have you been in England before?

Yes. I was prisoner of war in the last war.

I see you were an officer.

When did you leave the Army?

In 1 920.

Eight out of ten officers had to retire

when the German Army ceased to exist...

- as a large army.

- You prefer the existence of a large army?

Not any more.

In '20 I chose a new profession.

I became a military chemist.

- I worked for 1 3 years in a factory in Mannheim.

- Are you married?

My wife is dead.

Children?

Two.

I have no connection with them.

They are good Nazis.

As far as any Nazi can be called good.

I am afraid, Mr Kretschmar-Schuldorff,

that doesn't sound very much in your favour.

I've tried to answer correctly.

Personally, I don't doubt your good faith,

but I'm here to safeguard my country's interests.

You may be an anti-Nazi, you may not be.

In times like these, one enemy in our midst

can do more harm than ten across the Channel.

If you were here to work for the enemy,

what would you tell me now?

Exactly the same.

That you were a friend of England.

That our enemy was your enemy.

I know this is hard on those

who are really with us,

but it should be their best assurance

that this time we mean business.

If you are a friend,

ourprecautions are your precautions,

and our interests your interests...

because our victory will be your victory.

Is there anything else you'd like to say?

- If you don't mind, sir.

- No, go ahead.

In earlier years, the most important principle

of my life used to be "never lie,

- always tell the truth. '

- A very good principle. I hope you stick to it.

Oh, I have not told a lie, but l...

I also have not told the truth.

A refugee soon learns

that there's a big difference between the two.

The truth about me is that I'm a tired old man

who came to this country

because he is homesick.

Oh, please, don't stare at me like that, sir.

I am all right in the head.

You know that after the war

we had very bad years in Germany.

We got poorer and poorer.

Every day retired officers and schoolteachers

were caught shoplifting.

Money lost its value.

The price of everything rose...

except of human beings.

We read in the papers that the after-war years

were bad everywhere.

That crime was increasing

and honest citizens were having a hard job

to put the gangsters in jail.

Well, I needn't tell you, sir, that in Germany

the gangsters finally succeeded

in putting the honest citizens in jail.

My wife was English.

She would have loved to come back to England.

But it seemed to me that I would be letting down

my country in its greatest need.

And so she stayed at my side.

When, in summer '33, we found...

that we had lost our children to the Nazi party,

and I was willing to come,

she died.

None of my sons came to her funeral.

Heil Hitler.

And then, in January '35, I had to go to Berlin

on a mission for my firm.

Driving up in my car,

I lost my way on the outskirts of the city,

and suddenly...the landscape

seemed so familiar to me.

And slowly I recognised...the road, the lake...

..and a nursing home

where I spent some weeks recovering...

..almost 40 years ago.

I stopped the car and sat still...remembering.

And... You see, in this very nursing home, sir,

I met my wife for the first time.

And I met an Englishman

who became my greatest friend.

And I remembered the people at the station

in '1 9, when we prisoners were sent home...

cheering us, treating us like friends.

The faces of a party of distinguished men

around a table,

who tried their utmost to comfort me when the

defeat of my country seemed to me unbearable.

And...very foolishly...

..I remembered the English countryside,

the gardens, the green lawns,

the weedy rivers and the trees...

..she loved so much.

And a great desire came over me

to come back to my wife's country.

And this, sir, is the truth.

(Traffic outside)

Haven't you got anyone in this country

who knows you well? A British citizen?

The doorman at the chemical works

where I offered my services.

The police officers at the Aliens' Department

at Bow Street.

Sentry.

Don't you know

Major General Clive Wynne-Candy?

THEO:
Yes, sir, I used to know him.

Did you ask him to come here

and testify on your behalf?

Yes, I did send him a letter,

but I suppose he...

Theo, my dear chap.

Let's have a good look at you.

By God, you've kept your figure

better than I have.

Bit of a bay window, what?

You see, sir,

I wouldn't be surprised if this fellow disliked us.

He comes to England twice in his life.

The first time he's a prisoner,

and the second time he's about to be one.

May I talk to him, sir? I haven't seen him for 1 9...

- 20.

-..20 years and a bit.

Not here, General.

We have many Kretschmar-Schuldorffs waiting.

Do you mean to say that I've travelled 1 1 hours

from...mustn't say where...

and you won't allow me to have a word

with a condemned man?

- Do you have to go back this minute?

- Tomorrow. Infernally early.

That's all right. You can talk to him

all day and all night, till midnight.

Aliens' curfew, you know.

- And I can take him with me?

- If you say you know him.

- Do I know him?

- And will stand surety for him?

With everything I have, sir.

(Clock ticks)

(Clock chimes)

- It's time I was going.

- The night's young yet.

Don't you remember? Curfew for aliens.

- Oh, yes.

- I have to be at home by midnight.

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