More. More. Another? Another? More!
Woo hoo hoo!
Get back!
Circles!
Ooh, do you want to burn yourself, Stevie?
No. - Stand back, Stevie.
Stand back.
- Circles, Stevie. - Circles.
- Yeah.
Oh. That was wonderful.
Well, it's time I got off.
If you want any more, Stevie, just look up at the sky.
FIREWORKS EXPLODE
He's really grateful, Anton. We all are.
Wasn't it a lot of fun tonight, Stevie?
There was a lot of fireworks! Whoosh.
You have to calm down now, it's time to go to sleep.
Calm me down, Winnie.
Night night.
Michaelis.
Work to do, comrades.
I need to go out. Can you look after the shop?
Of course. Stevie, go and get Mr Verloc's hat.
Mr Verloc's hat!
Up early today, Mr Verloc. What brings this about?
Mr Verloc's hat.
- Goodbye, Mr Verloc. - Goodbye, Mr Verloc.
Please, sir. A farthing.
Oi, mind yourself.
Appointment with Mr Vladimir.
ATTENDANT SPEAKS RUSSIAN
TELEPHONE RINGS
Very well.
This way.
They all know about you.
KNOCKS ON DOOR
Doesn't look the part. Starving Proletariat?
Desperate Anarchist? Really?
I inherited you from my predecessor and I'm not sure I really know why.
What use are you to Russia?
Beg your pardon, your excellency?
As a secret agent. There doesn't seem to be any point to you.
About three months ago I gave notice of an attack
during Duke Romauld's visit to Paris which was telegraphed to the French police...
You passed a message on which didn't need heeding anyway.
But that's what I do. I inform.
I'm an informer and I've insinuated myself with the Anarchists...
You are lazy! We don't just want warnings
we don't just want things stopped, we want things started!
Started?
You think this is enough?!
You think it's enough just to produce this?!
I have managed to become Vice President of the Revolutionary Red...
The game's about to change, Mr Verloc. You will start to earn your money here.
You will have to do so much more than sit on a committee and pass on tittle tattle.
So much more.
I'm thinking of cutting you off.
No work. No pay.
BELL RINGS
We're going for a ride.
Where?
Now Stevie, get the coal in for your sister.
Yes, Mummy. Coal for my sister. Coal for Winnie.
Can I help any of you gentlemen?
Any questions? Anything you don't see, just ask.
This country is absurd with its sentimental regard for individual liberty.
Harbouring convicted terrorists! It's intolerable!
First Secretary, I am ideally positioned to prevent...
You must provoke now not prevent! You must set them to work.
England is in need of a jolly good scare.
An outrage that will summon this country from its slumber.
Unleash a law that will clamp down on the anarchist threat.
How?
Now an attempt upon a Crowned Head or a President is sensational enough
in a way, though not as much as it used to be. It's almost conventional.
The sacrosanct fetish of the day is science.
It's become the new measure of progress, of how the world is ordered.
Of a civilization moving forward.
And here we have the Prime Meridian, zero longitude.
The centre point of the Earth that divides the world in two.
That orders the world Eastern and Western.
One line. Emanating from this building in Greenwich.
Blow up the observatory?
Well, it's a building so it needn't be particularly... sanguinary.
And you'll have enlisted your friends in the plot so it shouldn't be too difficult.
Of course it would be symbolism but at the same time it would be sheer...
. incomprehensible, random madness.
Without regards for limits or sense. Pure destruction.
An intention to make a clean sweep of the whole social creation.
And in that madness is true terrorism.
True terrorism!
Forgive me, Mr Vladimir.
It's contemplation of the actual deed I'm having difficulty with.
How on earth am I meant to persuade them?
Isn't that the business they're in?
Isn't that the business you're supposed to be in? Provoking them.
Well then, go it alone.
Let everyone think it was your friends' handiwork.
I can't... I can't plant a bomb!
Some encouragement then, to get you out of your bed.
I want my plan followed through.
And if you fail, however you fail
I will ensure that every radical in Europe knows that you are on our payroll.
They'll kill me! - Exactly.
There is a conference in Milan on the suppression of political crime.
The British think they're immune.
Their complacency needs to blow up in their face. Literally.
It takes place in a month. And that's how long you've got.
I give you a month. Dynamite, chemicals - you have carte blanche!
Oi, Verloc. Got any new ones for me, eh?
Gentlemen.
Everything all right?
You leave the door on the latch?
I know the drill.
Fingers and thumbs! Why is he so clumsy?
Not yourself tonight, Mr Verloc. Is he, Winnie?
Tired, I expect.
BELL RINGS
Your friends are here, Anton.
Come on, mischief, better make ourselves scarce.
Bring your plate. There's a good lad.
Good evening. - Hello.
Verloc.
Chief Inspector Heat.
May I, Home Secretary...?
Be my guest.
This is the particular cell we've been following.
Michaelis always protested he was no more than...
just a lookout for the gang that killed a policeman.
Now released, he may be looking for revenge.
Struggle and warfare is the condition of private ownership.
It is fatal to itself.
Oh I see, capitalism sows the seeds of its own destruction?
80 therefore we just sit back and do nothing?
Yundt, an unapologetic revolutionary.
He's older and weaker now but he was violent, sir.
We have to attack some banks.
It isn't enough to just leave a few bank tellers quivering.
Ossipon. He's wanted all over Europe, sir.
Fled his own country. Here he writes radical pamphlets.
We cannot wait for a crisis, we have to bloody create one!
Come up with a target we can hit then!
Verloc runs a seedy shop in Soho. To be honest, sir
I don't think he's capable of seeing anything through.
Come on! One that will cause not only
destruction but will actually shock everyone.
We need to show that our intention is to sweep away the whole social creation.
That is true terrorism.
If they are ever taken up by their working class counterparts...
BELL RINGS
Well, you left the door on the latch didn't you?
- You're late. - Apologies.
Should Anarchists apologize for interrupting a meeting?
That's very good, Ossipon.
What's your opinion?
I beg your pardon?
Verloc is suddenly restless. Thinks we should refashion our tactics.
Attack the rich. That is the only way.
They nourish their greed on the quivering flesh of our people.
Their jaws drip with our blood so we should spill theirs!
A capitalist is a cannibal!
OSSIPON CLAPS
Is that the sort of thing you had in mind?
Hurt a few wealthy individuals? It's meaningless.
Yes. Yes, it is. Quite meaningless. Not nearly enough violence.
Refers to himself as The Professor.
Ironic really, as he couldn't even remain as a lab technician.
Only a detonator means anything.
You all tolerate my company because I know how chemicals combine.
But I've never heard a peep from any of you about getting your actual hands on 'em.
What might temper your scorn?
If the conversation were to turn to... bombs?
- Will that ever happen? - Look, let us reconvene...
I've spent fifteen years in prison, Verloc. I'll bide my time.
If I weren't too old to escape the blast...
Who cares about the blast?
Just as I thought.
Revolution is not a dynamite campaign.
It's impressive intelligence, Chief Inspector, so what conclusion am I to draw?
Well, you can go to the conference in Milan, sir.
And you can announce that we can put our finger on every single Anarchist in London.
And I give you have my word that as long as we keep our eye on this cell
they're capable of nothing.
Nothing whatsoever.
It appears you have no takers.
Will you help me?
I'll listen to what you have to say.
- Was it Yundt? - Mr Yundt!
I don't know why you put up with it. You know what it does to Stevie.
Anton needs an outlet.
If they're in there trying to put the world to rights, I can't begrudge him that.
It's just a bunch of men letting off steam.
Mr Verloc wasn't just letting off steam. You didn't hear him.
He was talking about violence, Winnie.
Talking about it? I remember daddy doing more than talk about it.
He didn't understand him, that's all!
And you don't understand Anton.
Come on, Stevie. Bedtime.
Kitchen not big enough for two women?
What's wrong?
Headache.
Starting to not feel very well.
Did you remember to take the cashbox out of the shop?
Ever the pragmatist, Winnie!
Well, we wouldn't want your headache getting any worse, would we?
Mind you, you'd have noticed it was lighter than normal.
Takings are down.
I'll do what needs to be done.
What does that mean?
CRASHING AND SHOUTING
Anton!
Be careful.
I won't let them eat me! I won't let them eat me!
Don't let them eat me.
Winnie's coming. - Don't let them eat me! Don't!
Stevie!
There's knives here, Winnie. Knives here! Knives here! Knives here!
Stevie, it's not true. - Help me!
No-one's going to eat you or anybody.
- It's a just a tale. - Help me!
It's just a fairy-tale.
It's just a bunch of silly men saying the first thing that comes into their heads.
Isn't that so, Anton?
Words, that's all. Bunch of silly men.
Don't worry, Stevie. No-one's going to hurt you. Come on.
Mind the knives.
There's a lot to clear up in the morning, Stevie.
Stevie's made quite a mess, hasn't he?
I can forbear that.
You walked along far too quickly. As if you were in a hurry.
It's not good at all really. Amateur.
You're very cocksure all of a sudden.
Oh, Mr Verloc. Have you not already found me to be a wolf in sheep's clothing?
A lone wolf.
What should I do - admire the chit chat of you and your friends every Tuesday night?
That's true. They talk too much but you are all words yourself.
Provocative ones, mind, but...
I mean exactly what I say. Now be explicit yourself.
Can you supply a bomb?
I can supply a bomb. That's one thing.
But the main thing is will you explode it?
That needs a cool head. And you are a hot flush.
Do you know the most frequent customers to my shop are from parliament and the pulpit?
The men who uphold the social order of this country
are not only rank hypocrites but their tastes...
beyond the limit.
I'd have them dragged out into plain sight and torn apart.
Their skin and their pretence laid bare.
But I must ask you something - in order to accomplish your mission
would you do so even at the cost... of your own life?
I see.
Look. What I have in mind is a building. An important building.
Symbolic of this country and everything...
No death, just destruction? What, you will be a conscientious terrorist, will you?
Well, that won't wash, not with me, Verloc.
I prefer to give my stuff to people who are deadly.
People who have character. Who have no illusions about what it is they are in.
Think again.
This isn't quite the excitement people come in here looking for.
Given out at discount, they may yet become receptive to it.
And their passions turning to a different kind of struggle.
Perhaps.
Now here's some excitement given out freely.
Circles! Circles, circles, circles, circles, circles, circles, Mr Ossipon! Tom!
And very good circles they are too. Very... round.
- Can I take this with me? - No! Greedy!
Showing only! Say how many, Mr Ossipon! Tom!
Stevie, let Mr Ossipon get on now. - Not at all.
Twenty-two.
Twenty-one!
Then have you got room for one more?
- One more? - Mmm.
One more! One more, Winnie! One more! One more!
There's some scientific fools who dismiss boys like Stevie as degenerates.
I had a doctor inspect the lobes of his ears once.
As if that might explain something. - Nonsense!
He can write and read and draw.
And he's full of life... because you are.
It seems Verloc and the Professor are having their own private encounter.
Just the two of them?
Not the usual kind of meeting at all, sir.
Let's have our own encounter.
Two whiskies, please.
Thought you might like a bit of company, Professor.
Chief Inspector Heat, Special Crimes Division.
Don't matter what you say about them 'revolutionary' friends of yours
you can't really go to the pub with them, can you?
To be honest, I don't even know why you bother.
Better hobbies out there for a lonely fellow like you to pursue.
What do you want?
Why are you meeting Verloc away from the others?
What are you talking about?
Suddenly I'm a 'person of interest'?
Actually, you are a person of very little interest.
But if you're gonna have independent conversations with the bigger boys
in this network then it's my duty to ask.
You think I am in thrall to them?
They must seem very exciting.
For a person with such a humdrum life like you.
You couldn't even remain a lab technician.
Now you want to dabble in a bit of subversion and feel all 'heroic'?
If I am such a fantasist, Chief Inspector, explain this.
You say I'm friendless? Oh no, Inspector. I am very attached to this.
I always walk with my left hand closed around...
this India rubber ball that I keep in my pocket.
And the pressing of this ball actuates a detonator inside this flask in my jacket.
It's the principle of the instantaneous shutter of a camera.
The tube leads up here and round into the flask.
The detonator is part mechanical, part chemical.
Now this pressing of the ball, that starts everything rolling.
What? And lead to your own destruction?
And yours, and his, and God knows how many more besides.
As for myself. I am the least of it.
Well, what use would you be?
I will have served my purpose.
Oh, I've no doubt the newspapers will give you a very good obituary.
Chief Inspector Heat, implacable enemy of terror.
The man who kept us safe in our beds.
But you'd be buried alongside me.
Mark no doubt your friends will make an effort to sort us out as much as possible.
Give this up.
To deal with me, you'd require sheer, naked, inglorious heroism.
Do you possess such?
You can't win this game. We're too many for you!
What now, sir?
I've come to see Mr Verloc.
Is he expecting you?
I wouldn't think so.
Anton, you have a visitor.
You still importing from the continent?
Everything you see here is legal, Chief Inspector.
What about what I can't see?
I could have the Customs House men down here anytime.
Confiscation. Prosecution. Prison.
What is it you want?
The services of my sometime informer.
It's been two years since I've seen you.
And two hours since you saw the Professor.
Are you following me?
It's all right. It's only him I want.
Have you got an address for him?
Why was it just the two of you? What did he want?
What did he talk about?
If your associates were to find out
that you were being paid by the Russian Embassy to spy on them
it could end in your death.
He wants to supply me with explosives.
The meeting ended badly.
He went away. Didn't trust me.
When do you think he realised you weren't all you seemed?
Did he smell a rat?
Why were you talking about explosives?
I was just being provocative.
It's my job.
You can't leave. Why would you want to live there?
This is nonsense.
They are homes for the dependents of licenced victuallers.
A good, charitable arrangement from the brewery for widows like me.
An almshouse! Can you credit it?
It will work very well for me!
And what about us?
You must look after your own family.
You don't feel this is your home anymore?
I don't do this lightly!
Why are you doing it at all?
I know I'm Stevie's mother. But you are Mr Verloc's wife.
Anton, please stop this nonsense!
- Mummy? - Perhaps it's a practical solution.
What about Stevie?
Look, Winnie. I've got troubles of my own!
Everybody's very cross today! Very cross today, why?
It's nothing, Stevie. Come and give me a hand.
Go. Go. Go. Go... Go!
Threaten me!
PROFESSOR GRUMBLES TO HIMSELF
Threaten me. Threaten me. I'll...
Too much. I will be too much for them.
Ladies and gentlemen, I'm
delighted to welcome Mr Michaelis to our salon.
Please.
Mr Vladimir.
80 Special Crimes releases its anarchists and murderers?
He is involved with the killing of a policeman
and is then indulged by romantic liberals as the victim.
He was given a life sentence as an accessory.
Besides, the man can't help but be chastened after fifteen years in prison.
Or embittered by his incarceration, intent on
achieving new heights of radical depravity
a campaign unwittingly funded by the Lady Patroness.
How I love the British justice system - renowned for its humanitarianism.
That's most kind.
Don't you realize the kind of people you have in your midst?
Some of them are your people too, aren't they?
Oh, absolutely. On the run from all kinds of outrages.
They won't commit any here.
The way your institutions stand on ceremony?
I am sure they will.
If you'll excuse me.
He will make fools of you all.
Mr Michaelis, this is my husband, Assistant Commissioner Stone.
I can assure you I'm here socially not professionally.
And enjoying Lady Blackwood's hospitality.
I bear no enmity. I am a ticket of leave man.
My freedom... conditional. My appreciation of it boundless.
Mr Michaelis is going to my cottage in Kent to write a book, a memoir!
How extraordinary is that?
That's... - Quite. Quite.
- There's no need to come with me. - Don't be silly.
Where are we going?
When are you going to tell him?
On the way. Come on, Stevie.
I want to sit up by the horse!
Wait for me.
Look after yourself.
Look after them.
Whoa, good. Good boy. Good boy. Don't make him go too fast.
- No. No. Mummy doesn't go in there! - Stevie.
Look, mummy doesn't go away from me! Mummy doesn't go in there!
You'll come and see me every Sunday, won't you, Stevie?
Get the omnibus over here. Like a big boy.
I'll get lost! - No.
No. No. That's Mummy's.
You didn't need to do this at all, Mother.
He'll be fine with you. As long as there's you.
Don't touch them. They're mummy's things. - And Anton.
Did I make you do this? Did I make you? I'm sorry, Mummy.
No, Stevie. You're a good boy. - I'm sorry.
Daddy didn't think I was a good boy.
Daddy's not here anymore. You have Mr Verloc as your guardian now.
I made a good match, Mother.
How do you really know?
These things don't bear too much looking into as long as he's good to us.
Come on, Stevie. Say goodbye now, we've got to go. See her soon, eh?
Yes. Yes.
She won't see me. She doesn't like me!
Stevie! - She doesn't.
Stevie!
Wurmt! Wurmt! Wurmt! I need to see the First Secretary!
I can't do what he wants.
Wurmt!
Stevie! You shouldn't have just run off like that.
Anything could have happened to you.
What will happen to me?
Nothing. Everything'll stay the same.
Really the same?
Yes, Stevie, because you've got me.
Yes.
Yeah. And no-one's ever taking that away.
No. No.
Come on.
What did you mean?
Eh?
You said you had troubles of your own.
I don't know how much longer I can keep this up.
Tell me.
Anton?
The shop. You were right.
The figures just don't add up.
Nothing's adding up. As for us, I'm sure we'll be all right.
You always find a way to make things work.
What's wrong with him? He looks like a sick dog.
He misses having something to do. He misses Mother.
He needs routine. He needs things to settle down.
I thought maybe he could help you out in the shop.
You could show him the ropes. He'd really enjoy it. - Don't.
Don't what?
Make plans for me. Everyone is always making plans for me!
Sir. Sir. I was told to take you with me.
Who by?
Verloc. Boy.
I've cut the bottom out of this one-gallon Copal varnish can.
The can encloses this.
That is encased in wet clay and it contains sixteen ounces of X2 powder.
The detonator will be connected with the screw top of the can.
It will work on a combination of time and shock.
Why are you willing to help me now? You weren't before.
Come. Look at this.
What's wrong with you?
It's becoming real.
You're not having second thoughts are you, Verloc?
I can't. I'm set on this course. Regardless.
Regardless of what?
This is a war.
You can't get away with making just some kind of gesture.
People will die. You do understand that, don't you?
I just need a bomb.
Leave it with me.
You seem in a better mood.
I suppose a few pints of beer can do that to a man.
I've been thinking. This boy needs to get out more.
You know how I am for my little 'journeys'.
I need a walking companion. To the park, for a start.
Did you hear that, Stevie?
Park!
Oh, thank you Anton. He needs something to look forward to. Don't you?
Yes. Yes.
Perhaps my reward will be in Heaven.
You believe in Heaven?
I didn't think that was the stuff of revolutionaries.
I have my weaknesses, Winnie.
If you can't wait for your reward until then we could go upstairs shortly.
Be good to forget myself for a while.
DOOR OPENS - Out we go.
All right, come on then.
Have fun.
Could be father and son! It's such a lovely a sight, Anton!
Bye.
What intelligence is to be had watching me take a defective relative for a walk?
Father and son, commendable.
But it doesn't change the fact you're in the Embassy's pay.
And still in my debt.
And what if I'm out of it! All of it!
Free to live a simple life between the shop and the park.
Is that your fervent wish?
Yes!
Any idea where the Professor is?
Inspector Heat - I tell you this now - I am no longer of use!
VERLOC WHISTLES
Hello.
We shamed him, Stevie.
He had to get out of our way and leave us alone.
How could he do anything else?
Thank you.
Prominently displayed, Winnie! Prominently displayed!
Are you not ever... affronted by what you pass across this counter?
I find the main thing is not to blush.
Does it not offend your morals though?
Needs must is my morals.
Anyway, I thought yours was freedom of the individual.
I think the act of love should be an act of love.
An affirmation. Now, if you could ever find such love...
the joy would be... would be real.
I think I'm blushing now.
Something new has come your way. Heading in the direction of your heart maybe.
If so I'll have to see it off, won't I?
Why?
Because Anton is good to me.
Beard.
Wolfman. It's a Wolfman.
I've lost my hat.
Hup. Hup. Hup. Come on. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hup. Hup.
It's a beautiful creature trapped behind bars, Stevie.
At the whim of his master. Locked in, lonely, so unhappy.
Animal from the jungle!
That's what it should be. Free.
I'm free!
None of us are, Stevie.
You know, I have known men who have had their tongues...
ripped out because of what they've spoken about.
They've had flesh torn from them because they won't tell their secrets
tell tales on their friends.
No, no, we are we're animals too, Stevie, trapped in a cage
and on the inside we cry like these animals. Listen to it... listen.
Do you hear that? That noise, is pain, Stevie. Ah, pain.
CROWD APPLAUDS
Pain... Pain.
Oh, ah, aw, oh, I'll call the police.
Is this the place?
Is this the wicked place where they lock them up, Mr Verloc?
Yes, Stevie.
So.
We have to make a hole in the building and let them out.
Let them come through the hole and be free.
Free.
And I can confirm there is absolutely no need for additional officers.
KNOCKS AT DOOR - STONE: Yes.
You look rather grave, Heat - what is it?
It's the Professor, sir.
The hanger on? The one who's promoted himself from lab technician.
The trouble is he's a bit more of a threat than we first thought.
In what way?
He has a bomb. He wears it. Inside his jacket.
I think he might use it.
Fifty two, Winnie.
Thank you, Stevie. You have been busy at the park.
Greenwich Park!
Greenwich park?
That's a long way from here.
Gave the boy a bit of an adventure.
So composed now! The change in this boy.
Imagine the good a few days in the country would do for him.
The country?
Freedom to roam. Talk man to man. I could put him right on a few things.
He'd take it in down there.
Whyever would you want to take him to the country?
I was thinking we could visit Michaelis in Kent.
A sort of outing?
Exactly.
And then you two become much closer.
He's never had it, Anton. Not from his father, not from any man.
Well then.
This is some change.
For the better. Oi! Let's make a plan.
Do you know what a secret is, Stevie?
It is the necessity of silence.
Silence?
It means saying nothing when you're asked what we talk about.
Police?
Especially not the Police.
Not even Winnie must know.
Not even Winnie.
- Ready? - Ready!
You're going to have such a good time, Stevie!
Busy.
Carefree. You can do what you like.
Mr Verloc's in charge of me.
Yeah, of course he is, but he wants you to enjoy yourself.
I won't let him down.
There you go.
Come on then.
Could be father and son.
Busy, Mr Verloc. Lots of people.
WHISTLE BLOWS
Train to Michaelis' cottage.
Oh!
Hello! Are you coming too?
I'll be there in spirit.
How far is Michaelis' cottage from Greenwich?
Ten miles. We'll lay low there for a few days
and go through things with the boy.
What does he know?
That it's a holiday.
Where's the train?
- Soon. - All aboard!
Not now, Stevie. Soon.
Hide your deed behind a harmless boy - very clever.
Playing the doting father?
No-one will even notice me.
You're not the bravest, are you?
When you screw the top on tight it makes a connection.
Set at twenty minutes. But a short sharp shock. Be careful.
Can we go now?
Yeah, time to act, Verloc.
Come on, Stevie.
Mr Verloc has quite taken Stevie up.
Stevie!
They're in Kent together.
I've a weapon deadlier than any gun.
The Professor's on an omnibus. Get a message sent; he's not to be approached.
This is very kind of you.
Betrayal. Hidden in a satchel.
He's a suspect, sir. And Verloc was there with him.
You're an agent, aren't you? You're a spy.
I can't just go.
Who's stopping you?
Despite what you said, my marriage is real, Mother.
And despite what you thought, we are a true family.
You got your wish. It is more than mere bricks falling down.
CLOCK TICKS