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SECRET PEOPLE 89
from the first rough draft of the script. The episode demanded to be presented as a flashback and resisted any effort to force it into chronological continuity. There are thirty-one scenes in the relevant passage of the shooting script and seventy-four in the release script and the finished film.
The story leading up to this episode tells how Louis Balan finds two refugee sisters, Maria and Nora Brent, living in a cafe in Paddington. In their homeland Louis and Maria had been lovers. Louis' mission in London is to assassinate General Galbern, roving ambassador of a totalitarian Government, who was responsible for the death of Maria's father. Louis arranges for Nora to dance professionally at a garden party given in honour of Galbern, and for Maria to chaperon her. Just before the sisters leave to go to the party, Louis gives Maria a bomb to carry into the grounds of the country house : she is to hand it to a member of Louis' organization, who will give her the password 'curious tracery'. Louis waits at the cafe for the girls to return, and when they do so, he follows them upstairs.
The shooting script* continues as follows :
22 Interior Anselmo's Living-room. Night. (Studio).
Camera shooting from doorway of living-room towards window. Nora is standing with cloak open, still in her dance costume. She is very pale, but controlled. Her suitcase is in the middle of the floor. There is a faint resemblance to the scene of the girls* arrival seven years before. Maria turns her back, looks towards the window. louis : Hullo, you're back early! nora (vaguely): Something frightful happened there was an explosion. Penny enters the room carrying a tray of tea. penny: An explosion ? nora: It was terrible — Nora runs to the bedroom. Penny follows. louis (triumphant) : It worked!
* These scenes are reprinted from Lindsay Anderson's book Making a Film, the Story of 'Secret People \ George Allen & Unwin Ltd. by permission of the publishers and of Ealing Studios Ltd.