[water running]
[distant crowd noise]
["Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" playing]
-[man and woman moaning] -[bed squeaking]
[man speaking Russian]
[moaning continues]
[loud moaning]
[moaning and panting over radio]
Whatever it takes.
[whistles "The Star Spangled Banner"]
[Caspar] A Russian general.
I crawled through poop, literally.
And he told his mistress all of it.
Wow.
They're bribing every German scientist to get them over to Moscow.
There's gonna be an arms race.
I got the general on tape.
Wow.
So, what about you? What are you working on?
Located a Russian spy in Whitehall.
Wow.
You got proof?
Working on it.
Where are the others?
Our man from Switzerland gets in on the four o'clock.
Our guys from Bulgaria and Yugoslavia got in late last night.
We pitch the Big Five...
tomorrow.
[Rowe] Well, look.
All of you need to type up written reports.
Emphasizing, one, what you've seen
as OSS agents indicating the Russian threat,
two, what you've done to combat it, and three, what you could do
with an actual budget and formal leadership.
I have bullet points for you here.
I would like to give Truman
a sheaf of documents from all of us
that present clearly, in black and white,
why he urgently needs to create
an operational American intelligence agency.
I prefer to do a verbal presentation.
[Rowe] Dictate it to me if you want.
I have to go.
Is the girl going tonight?
[clears throat]
You're welcome to bunk with me.
My place is pretty basic,
but I got a floor, blankets, and bottles of Scotch.
[drinks being poured in background]
Jimmy said he'd book rooms for out-of-towners at Claridge's.
Wow.
Did our budget increase?
The Big Five is taking this meeting very, very seriously.
And if Truman is planning on getting a second term...
he's going to jump through any hoop they say.
These guys, these guys' fathers, these guys' grandfathers.
They pick the president.
And they're taking off right after the meeting,
taking whatever intel you share right back to Truman.
And there's going to be a conversation about leadership, right?
[Caspar] I mean, who's going to be running this new organization?
Because otherwise,
what are we doing here?
Am I leaning on the general because he's cheating?
Am I staying in the shadows?
Stay in the shadows.
If he doesn't know you're listening, the more he'll talk.
Unless I pull his fingernails.
-[Jimmy chuckles] -So, Jimbo,
honey,
there needs to be a leadership conversation.
Like we talked about.
Honey.
-You're actually gonna pick out my outfit? -Yes, you have to look naive.
What you're wearing makes you look buttoned-up,
uptight, like you have secrets.
-Put this on. -But if it's sexy,
-Priscilla doesn't like it -That's not sexy, it's naive.
She doesn't like women to use their sexuality.
[Rowe] Walk through the whole place.
Look for a space we can put a bug.
I need a list of options for tomorrow.
Get as precise a portrait of her life as possible.
[Rowe] She's the key to uncovering the whole Russian operation in London.
I know you're frightened.
She trusts you.
We're nearly there.
[breathing rapidly]
[Priscilla laughs] That's terribly good.
I can't get a word out of the MI chaps on the Palestine Committee.
[Quick] I know! It's supposed to be Anglo-American.
I'm sure they must realize the Americans have their own agenda.
-[Winn] You'd have thought they would. -[Quick] Well, tell us!
Aren't you seeing a young man on the Committee?
Oh, yes, but he doesn't tell me a thing.
[Sullivan] And who's that?
Mm. Hugh Fenton.
Oh, Mr. Fenton. The earnest one.
-[Alex] Wedding bells? -[Sullivan] Really?
What, and he tells you nothing about the Committee?
Nothing.
[Izzy] Oh, not everyone likes to talk politics at social settings, Herbert.
I, for example...
[Izzy, over radio] ...would like to talk about anything else.
-[laughter] -[Winn] Why did you bring her?
What do you think we're going to talk about?
[Izzy laughs] I thought we might like to talk to his wife.
[Quick] I'll drink to that.
Now, Winn,
confirm or deny?
[Alex] Yes, go on. [chuckles]
The Ministry of Supply is pushing nuclear power plants
because our Mr. "United Nations World Peace" Attlee
wants to build a nuclear bomb for ourselves.
[Alex] Come on, Winn. Confirm or deny?
-Not playing that game. -[all groan]
What's the point of inviting the chief whip of the Labour party to dinner
-if he won't spill any beans? -Hear, hear!
Herbert, Herbert. Nicholas, don't put him in that position.
[Priscilla] The game's just supposed to be for silly gossip.
Kharasho.
-[Quick] I heard Attlee has a mistress. -[laughter]
-[Winn] Oh, don't be ridiculous. -[Quick] Can you believe that?
Excuse me, where is the loo?
It's just up the stairs and to the left.
-Thank you. -[Izzy] Well, gossip is a sin.
[Winn] True.
[Izzy] Of course, but...
-did you hear about Maria's son? -No, do tell.
[Izzy] Well, he was born with some dreadful disease.
Now, her husband has finally admitted that it was actually hereditary.
Runs in his family.
[conversation fades]
Is it tea time?
I'm sorry, I thought this was the loo.
[gasps]
-I thought that was the loo-- -[whispers] I know what you're doing.
-Sorry? -Stop.
Stop.
-Stop what? I don't know what you mean. -Let me be very, very clear.
[whispers] If something happens to me,
something happens to you.
[breathing rapidly]
Why are they any less important than the people who want independence?
-Good lad. -Now, who is for dessert?
Oh, I should actually get going.
Oh, you'll stay for dessert.
Well, if dessert is as good as the main course,
I'm going to insist you invite me to dinner every week.
[all chuckle]
Very good, very good.
-[Sullivan] So, yes, what is for dessert? -[Winn] Gooseberry crumble.
[laughter]
[indistinct chatter]
She's on to me.
She knows about me.
[Rowe] How do you know?
[Feef] She warned me off.
[breathing rapidly]
She warned you off?
She said, "If something happens to me, something happens to you."
Hey!
Cassandra, I have good news.
People who plan to murder other people don't give them a heads up.
She will murder me if I don't back off.
-We have to stop-- -No, no, no, honey,
the point is she doesn't want to hurt you.
Which means her commitment to the great cause wavers,
her loyalties are divided.
What did you say?
I pretended I didn't know what she was talking about, ate my fucking dessert,
and nearly threw it up.
We can turn her.
You can turn her.
[Rowe] She can work for us.
Look, here's what you're gonna do.
Tomorrow you're gonna ask her to get a cup of tea with you.
Out of the office. I'm gonna help you.
We'll do it together, a two-pronged approach, get into her head.
Oh, my God! You have to stop, please.
[Feef] Please, just let me go. Just let me go, please.
[Henry] That Mr. Winn really doesn't like Churchill.
Not much, no.
Hmm.
He was just drunk and showing off.
They were all drunk.
You sounded like you were having fun.
Did I?
You weren't?
I don't know anymore.
[inhales sharply]
I was...
I was wondering...
the other day.
Silly, really.
But if Jarvis had known that it was me, and that I'm the one...
would you have killed me too?
[ominous music playing]
You cannot be asking me that. No more for you.
You tell me.
Fifteen years we've known each other.
I cook for you, you drink with me, you help me with my garden,
I help you with your father.
We're friends.
Are we?
Now, you're silly.
Yes, I am.
I am very silly.
I'm going to put on a kettle.
[sighs]
[tap runs]
The girl.
[tap stops]
At the dinner.
She's on to me.
[distant dog barking]
[ominous music playing]
-[knocks on window] -[man] Oy. What are you doing here?
[man] Get back to where you came from.
Do I have to call the police?
[engine starts]
Mr. Mulligan.
Where's Ms. Symonds? She late?
[Alex] Called in. She's got that stomach bug that's been going around.
How miserable.
Let's send her something.
Can you get me her home address?
I think that's more of a secretary's job.
Thank you.
Close the door on your way out.
[door shuts]
[sniffles]
[Henry] Two Rs?
[Priscilla] Two Rs.
Thank you.
Well, I'll leave that with you.
Nice lunch?
Very nice.
[in Russian] What are your thoughts?
[in Russian] I’m going to make it look like it was…
[in Russian] ...this maniac.
[footsteps approaching]
[knocking]
[suspenseful music playing]
Hello, you must be here about the oven.
-[baby crying in background] -Oven. Yes.
Come in.
Now, it is a fairly old oven.
It's not entirely broken,
but for some reason it does keep switching itself off.
Now, I first noticed this on Wednesday,
because I managed to access some lamb finally. [laughs]
And I put it in, took it out 45 minutes later,
and it just wasn't cooked through.
Now, I assumed it was my fault,
but on the Thursday I put in a potato to bake and it came out raw,
and I actually thought, "Did I forget to turn the oven on?"
Bafflingly on Friday, I made a crumble and it was perfect. The oven's working.
And over the weekend, I tried to bake eggs, and nothing.
So I said to my husband, "Harry, you have to take a look."
-Husband? -Yes. And he did look. Only, predictably,
he shed no light on the matter, and that's when I called you.
There's a manual here which is about as much help as Harry.
But what I've discovered is
if you turn this on...
[door opens]
[door closes]
This place is very nice.
Who've you got paying for it?
Are you a mistress now?
-That's not me. -It is... you.
[inhales sharply]
And I think what needs to happen is you need to leave the country.
Why?
[inhales sharply]
Because I'm being blackmailed.
But I can't keep doing what these people want me to do, so...
-I have to let this come out. -[stammers] No, no, no, Feef.
They cut it off. They cut it off!
-That's what happened to my friend. -Yes. That's why you need to leave.
You need to go to Ceylon, you need to stay with your in-laws.
But they're coming home! It's not safe now!
Well, then go to India or Africa.
My God, Freddie, the sun never sets on the British Empire.
Just pick a spot and go there.
No, but the sun does set! It has!
There's nowhere for me to go!
I can't keep working for these people.
[Freddie] Who are they?
[Feef sniffles] Americans.
What's wrong with that? You like Americans.
Not these Americans.
Where are the negatives? Where are the fucking negatives?
-I don't know, Freddie. -You idiot!
This is not my fault!
-It is your fucking fault! -No!
This is your fucking fault because you were stupid enough to get caught!
You've always been stupid and you've always been selfish!
We never get to talk about it, we only talk about how I'm an idiot,
and I've failed, and I'm nothing, when it's not true!
Look at me.
[sniffles, sighs]
I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
[whispers] I'm sorry.
[Feef sobs]
[Freddie] Think, think.
There must be someone else who can help.
[ominous music playing]
Who?
[Rowe, in English accent] Ms. Symonds is not at her desk?
She is unwell?
Yes, just tell her that Norman Pittman telephoned in response to her queries
about our steel production figures.
Yeah, she has my number.
[hangs up phone]
[Rowe] I told you to watch her.
I told you. A neighbor threatened to call the police.
Watch your tone.
[Derby] It's in northern France.
Can produce five tons of fabricated sheet steel products every week.
Equipment's in good shape, workers are trained up.
Previous owner's Jewish, dead.
And the French government are just giving it away.
[Jimmy] You snap it up?
[Derby] You bet your ass I did. And ten more like it.
[knocking on door]
[Jimmy clears throat]
[indistinct chatter]
Hey there, beautiful.
What can I do you for?
Let me...
Let me introduce you to my dad.
These are a few of his friends. These guys are titans of industry.
[Jimmy] Heads of steel, coal, railroad.
This...
is Feef Symonds.
How do you do?
You will be briefed on her later. She's with us,
but as you can see,
she is quite the asset.
[men chuckle]
Great to meet you, sweetie.
[sharp inhale]
Can I talk to you in private?
Sure.
[Jackson] She can't have gone far.
Her clothes are still here and everything.
Well, if you want something done right, do it yourself.
Remind me where Ms. Garrick transfers buses.
And at what time.
[Jimmy] You look nice.
You always seemed... nice.
I am. That's the thing about me.
[Feef murmurs]
What's going on. You okay?
I need to talk to Peter McCormick.
Why?
Look, this is absolutely a secret.
Okay.
During the war, Peter and I were together.
That's how I got involved with all of this in the first place.
And he and I...
we had a daughter.
Whoops.
He wanted me to get rid of her.
I refused.
[Jimmy] Good.
Good for you, that's a... that's...
Wow.
Well, now there's a medical problem, and I'm sure it will be fine,
but the doctors are asking if it's hereditary,
questions about blood types,
and if they could just talk to Peter, it would be helpful because--
Wait, why the hell didn't Peter just give you his address?
Well, he said he was on a mission.
[laughs]
Uh, liar. He retired, he's in the States.
-He's in the States? -[door opens]
[Derby] Jimmy.
-[Derby] Are we going to eat? -Yeah.
Um, but they'll have his address on file.
-Who will? -The OSS. West London.
[door opens]
[door shuts]
[Rowe] I can get the number nine from here, right?
Yes, that's correct.
Must be a real page-turner.
Your book's open, but you're not reading.
It's absorbing.
-Excuse me. -I'm sorry.
Uh...
That's the problem with being alone all the time,
you start talking to strangers.
[chuckles]
[sighs]
What part of the States?
Oh, do you know it?
-Not really. -Well, uh...
Pennsylvania, originally.
I've traveled a lot since then, so...
What do you do?
Uh, work for the Red Cross.
What do you do with the Red Cross?
Ah.
Administrate recovery zones.
Logistics.
Enough hospital beds here, syringes there.
It's kind of boring, really. Facts, figures.
But for a very good cause.
Listen, I...
I don't suppose, uh...
No.
I don't suppose you'd like to get a bite to eat or something.
Uh, I...
I'm not really looking for that sort of thing.
That's okay. Of course.
No, I just...
I noticed you didn't have a ring on your finger,
and I'm sorry. I...
Oh.
The grayness in this city gets me down sometimes.
I'm sure there's got to be...
secret places in this town with lights and color and...
people going dancing, but...
I can't seem to find 'em.
Well, there...
there are a few.
Could I give you my number?
Yes, yes, that would be fine.
What's your name?
Peter.
[breathes rapidly]
[suspenseful music playing]
[Jackson] Yeah, good morning.
I was wondering if you guys were having any more meetings.
Yeah, I came one other time.
Well, why do you want to know my name?
Yes, the American.
Yeah, the colored chap.
I need to talk to who?
A Richard Gregory?
What does he do?
What, specialize in Negroes or something?
Can I help you?
I work for Jimmy Derby at the embassy.
He needs the number and address for Peter McCormick?
Peter? Yeah, he went home.
Wasn't he from DC?
Um...
Peter? From Idaho?
Uh, lived with his wife.
[officer] McCormick. Right. DC.
That's... not his wife.
[man] Go down the hall, Dixie will have his file.
I've no idea why, but Peter's file is missing.
-Really? -Yes, it's gone.
Must have...
Ugh. I don't know. It's odd.
It doesn't matter.
You don't have an address for Thomas Rowe, do you?
[distant hammering]
[indistinct chatter in background]
You Jackson?
[Jackson] You Richard?
[Richard] Simon tell you I was colored?
He said I'd like you.
Guess that's what they meant.
Have you read the Manifesto?
Bits.
What do you think?
Well I'm here, aren't I?
[chuckles]
Let's do this, okay?
So you're doing the intros, we go around the table with what everybody's up to,
then I'll summarize, lay out the case for an intelligence agency.
Sounds good, brother.
[Caspar] Gentlemen!
Take your seats.
My family ran north in the middle of the night.
Barely made it out.
But you made it all the way here?
[Richard] Mm.
I traveled with this white woman.
Left her but stayed here.
You ever fuck a white girl?
That's why you're a communist?
[chuckles]
Communism not only demands racial equality,
it can't function without it.
Why are you here?
I'm curious.
Curious?
Negroes have to be desperate to pick up the Manifesto.
Especially if you grew up in the South.
All that church nonsense they shove down your throat from the time you're born.
Messes with your head.
So I ask again.
Why are you here?
My brother Aaron.
He was in the service like me.
Got discharged a year ago.
This little white boy about ten years old lived down the road from us.
[chuckles]
Aaron liked telling him stories about the war.
Every day he begged him to tell another one.
Boy's father didn't like that too much.
First they beat him.
Then they shot him.
Then they burned him.
Just 'cause he told war stories?
Because before the war...
Aaron was a good boy.
"Yes, sir."
"No, sir."
"Whatever you need, boss."
After the war...
he stopped bowing his head.
[sobs] He really thought he was somebody.
So communism gonna fix that?
Negroes are uniquely qualified
to develop a larger vision for society because we are uniquely invested.
[Richard] Man, we need that revolution.
And we gon' get it.
What I need is to present Harry with a realistic business plan
of what we're talking about today.
Understood. And here is a budget proposal.
This is not enough money.
Jimmy and I have been through the figures with a lot of detail.
[Rowe] What kind of operations are you imagining?
This covers a thousand salaries.
We need people all over the world.
Gentlemen.
If there's one thing Hiroshima taught us,
it's that the world now knows to do what we say.
-[murmurs of assent] -[man] That's right.
[rapping on table]
[Rowe] Blowing up Russia,
or anywhere else, is not a long-term solution
unless you want to live in a graveyard.
We need to capture hearts and minds.
We need to hear about revolutions before they happen.
We need to take a leaf out of the Russian playbook
and beat them at their own game.
Agents infiltrated everywhere.
We can never be the last to know.
So, you want us to double the budget?
Multiply it by a thousand.
[laughter]
[Caspar] This is the one I told you about.
The one who lost his mind in Bucharest.
[laughter]
You think I'm delusional?
You are laboring under a delusion, gentlemen.
You think you're strong, but you're vulnerable.
You can sleep on a bed of money,
but a washed-up poet in a garret called Karl Marx
wrote a fuckin' pamphlet and he set the world on fire.
All he had was pen, paper, and an idea.
You want money and power?
But all the money and all the power in the world doesn't mean anything.
Because right at this very moment, some nobody somewhere
is sitting in his crappy flat or hut or jail cell,
plotting how to take down the entire world.
Now, this man...
doesn't have money,
access, or resources.
But all the armies in the entire goddamn universe
will never be able to defeat him
because you cannot destroy an idea.
And that's all it takes.
[Rowe] One idea that sparks the popular imagination.
One idea that tells the masses they can have it all if they just believe.
One idea,
and everything you built is lost,
just like that.
See, you think you're selling goods and services?
You're not.
You're selling democracy.
And the only way to sell democracy
is to have eyes and ears everywhere,
to stop every little guy who wants to undermine it.
[Rowe] You want free market?
You want to buy shit, sell shit in peace?
Then you need a government organization looking out for you at all times,
all over the world,
protecting democracy, protecting capitalism, protecting you.
[piano music playing]
It's a long expert game.
It costs money.
Real money.
But, my God,
don't you think it's worth it?
[clears throat]
[applause continues]
[lock clicking]
[piano music playing]
[suspenseful music playing]
[sniffles]
[sobbing quietly]
[bell tolling]
Let's go.
Don't want to keep Rowe waiting.
[engine starts]
When you went to Peter's hotel room and got his things,
did you know he was dead?
Why didn't you say anything to me?
He paid me.
I got a mother who skips meals so there's enough just to feed my sisters.
And in addition to that...
I don't want to tell you what I shouldn't
and end up at the bottom of the river myself.
I barely knew you.
You think I should risk my life for you?
Why?
Because you're a nice girl?
[Feef sighs]
It's such an ugly world, isn't it?
Oh, you didn't know that?
I'm getting out of here.
And if you're smart,
that's what you'll do too.
Just get on the train...
bus, a boat.
Because I don't see another way out of this.
[suspenseful music playing]
I don't want to leave England.
This is my country.
You didn't go to work today.
Everything all right?
Not really.
Want to talk about it?
Sure.
[Feef sniffles]
So when you told me Peter was off on a mission, that was a lie, wasn't it?
And the letter I received from him, you wrote that, didn't you?
I...
honestly don't know what you're talking about.
Someone told me once that when people add the word "honestly"
that means they're lying.
That's...
honestly bullshit.
You are going to leave me and my family alone.
If you don't, I will tell the English bloody army about you if I have to.
I don't know what's gotten you so worked up, but I have good news.
Really good news.
About our mission and our future.
I met Garrick, I asked her out.
I'll spend a few weeks getting to know her,
nudge-nudge, wink-wink, as you Brits like to say.
I think she's turnable.
You can make the approach, but I can lay the groundwork,
sow some doubt.
We have the luxury of time now.
Because the powers that be are very, very pleased with our work.
We're going to have more resources, more men and women,
we can uncover the entire Russian operation in London and beyond.
And I swear it, Feef, it'll be the stuff of legend!
And it'll have been an old man and a girl
that made it happen.
An old man and a girl saving the world!
I don't even want to stand near you, breathe the same air as you!
Tell me you killed him! I want you to say it!
Why?!
You just told me.
Go! Tell whoever you want!
[Rowe] I can disappear like a ghost.
And that's what I'll do.
And then one day when you least expect it,
your brother, your father, your mother,
something nasty will happen to 'em
that'll be because of you, bug!
[Rowe] Where are you gonna go?
And what could be better than what we do anyway? Jesus!
Kid!
How many people get to put the world to rights, and have fun doing it?!
-[car engine starts] -Ah, Jackson, don't drive her anywhere.
Hey!
Where do you think you're gonna go?
[engine revs]
[engine revs loudly]
[Rowe grunts]
[brakes squeal]
[panting]
[piano music playing]
I'm so scared of tomorrow.
We're fine.
It's over.
[suspenseful music playing]
["There is Mean Things Happening in This Land" playing]
♪ There is mean things happening In this land ♪
♪ Oh, the rich man boasts and brags ♪
♪ While the poor man goes in rags ♪
♪ There is mean things happening In this land ♪
♪ Too much cotton in our sacks ♪
♪ So we have none on our backs ♪
♪ There is mean things happening In this land ♪