British Agent (Warner Bros.) (1934)

Sell them this way—right in their own homes. Radio station's staff players or local acting group can do the parts. Material is smart and fast—the kind that makes an interesting 15 minute program. THREE CHARACTERS STEPHEN LOCKE (Leslie Howard): Young Englishman in Moscow during the Revolution—loves Elena, a Russian girl. ELENA (Kay Francis): Zealous Revolutionist, who loves ‘Locke but loves her country more. PAVLOV (Irving Pichel): Revoluticnist, formerly the ac cepted lover of Elena. Station Announcement followed by ANNOUNCER: By special arrangement with Manager ............ OPsthe ts a. Theatre we offer for your entertainment, flashes of the dramatic action of “British Agent,’ the First National production, which opens a local engagement here next — starring Leslie Howard and Kay Francis. The exciting picture was inspired by the R. H. Bruce Lockhart story. The hero and heroine are purely fictitious characters. Mr. (narrator) will briefly summarize the situation at the opening of the sketch. NARRATOR: Stephen Locke, an Englishman, — and Elena, a revolutionist, — love each other desperately — but love the opposite causes to which they have dedicated their lives, much more. The tedium of his weeks of enforced waiting at the Embassy is broken by visits to a gypsy cafe. (Begin gypsy music —violin and other stringed mstruments—to go through scene.) It is there that he meets Elena. ELENA: Ah, again, my Englishman! LOCKE: (evidently pleased) And the lady of the garden! ELENA: The garden, yes, and you standing there in the snow— all for a girl you’d never seen before. Tell me, did you catch cold? LOCKE: I sneezed once and then decided against it. ELENA: Good. LOCKE: (trying to be-casual) With your revolution going on, { didn’t know when I’d get my handkerchiefs back from the laundry! (both laugh) ELENA: I thought you’d gone back to England with the others. LOCKE: They went in such a hurry they forgot all about me and my old umbrella. Sit down, won’t you. ELENA: There are the others ... Comrade Pavlov and... LOCKE: They would think we were frightfully impolite... wouldn’t they? ELENA: I’m afraid so. I must go back to them, really. LOCKE: I suppose you must ... but... before you go... one glass of wine? In celebration of ... (thinking) ELENA: In celebration of... LOCKE: What is today? ELENA: Tuesday. LOCKE: (as if it’s a brilliant thought) In celebration of Tuesday, of course! ELENA: (as with lifted glass) I drink to Tuesday! (clink of glasses) LOCKE: To Tuesday! ELENA: (in furtive tone) Do you come here... often? LOCKE Every night. I sit in the Embassy all day... here all night. ELENA: But... but haven’t you anything to do? LOCKE Not a blessed thing . sitting for the last month watching you negotiating for a separate peace. . ELENA: What would you want us to do? LOCKE: Just keep right on fighting. Regular ELENA: (with contempt) At least I keep right on fighting for my people. LOCKE: (Bitterly) I know you do... and I son ELENA: I didn’t mean it that WEY as LOCKE: Of course you didn’t. Forgive me. I’ve been vigorously doing nothing for so long, it’s getting on my nerves... (suddenly) Let’s get out of here and get some air. ELENA: I'd like to, but... LOCKE: (sighing) Yes, I know. ELENA: (recklessly) Oh, let’s go! Come! Let them think what they want to think! ... Hurry! . . (vor opens and shuts ... sound vo, the gypsy music grows fainter) LOCKE: Is it always snowing here> 2-28 ELENA: Ah, you should see it in the Spring... LOCKE: When Spring comes . we may be... Which of those eight sleighs is yours? ELENA: None of them... LOCKE: Come let’s get in the red one. . (faint tinkle of sleigh bells) ELENA: To sit and talk, you mean? LOCKE: No, to ride! I’ve been sitting for the last three months! ELENA: (laughing) Are you mad? LOUSE: No... what difference does it make who owns the sleigh; Everything belongs to everybody here, doesn’t it? ELENA: Can’t we talk about something else? LOCKE: Surely we can. Get in ... that’s it... (bells jingling more clearly) V’ll tuck the robes around you, like this! Now we’re Olieriy a gt (jingling more swift) What shall we talk about. . moonlight? ELENA: No. LOCKE Stars? ELENA: No. LOCKE Us? ELENA: No. LOCKE: (with gay finality) YES!—about you— ELENA: (coyly) What about aC an see LOCKE: Your eyes... they are very beautiful ... Your lips ... your lips are... (pause) I don’t suppose I should have done that culena... Ls ELENA: Where are we going? LOCKE: (laughing) Getting farther away from it! ELENA: From what? (laughing just a little, softly) Where are we going? LOCKE: Farther... and farther ... and farther ... (the words and the sounds of the bells grow fainter fading into voice of narrator) NARRATOR: Stephen Locke has personally promised the Soviet things, with which his own government does not agree. Pavlov, Elena’s former lover, jealous and mistrustful of Locke has set detectives on his trail. Elena fearing for his safety comes to him in the night. ‘ ELENA: (off, eagerly) StephOecd srs LOCKE: Elena, you shouldn't have come here—that stupid Cheka is watching me—they may suspect you. ELENA: I had to come! I wanted to tell you, rather than have you humiliated by learning it from them. LOCKE: What are you talking about? ELENA: Troops landed at Archangel this afternoon. LOCKE: (triumphantly) That —that’s the answer to my telegram! I’ve won!!! ELENA: No, you’ve lost. LOCKE: What do you mean? ELENA: They’ve fight against us. LOCKE: (denying it to himself) They couldn’t do that—I promised—there’s some mistake. ELENA: It’s true... the official telegram. LOCKE: (suddenly sobering) Then... then. ELENA: Betrayed you . LOCKE: (hotly) No.. mo... I knew the promises I made were lies. I just wanted to delay the separate peace, that’s all. ELENA: I tried to make you admit that, the day you sent the wire. Stephen come to . L saw LOCKE: You’dbetter go now ... you'll get in trouble being here. ELENA: You ... you shan’t see me again, Stephen. LOCKE: (startled) Not see you? ELENA: The government is moving to Moscow ... naturally, I go with it ... We shan’t see each other again, Stephen, even in Moscow. LOCKE: So you think more of this red ideal than you do of me? ELENA: Yes. LOCKE: (sadly) Well... ELENA: And I worship you, —TI adore you!—Too much to suffer the hatred of everything for which you stand. That’s agony, Stephen—the pain of it would kill the most beautiful thing Tl ever know... our love. I want it to live, Stephen... don’t... see me again... LOCKE: Good bye... Elena .. . (far-off bells chime slowly.) NARRATOR: Mutiny breaks out in the Bolshevik ranks, Suspicion fall on Stephen Locke. The fact that he has been seen with Elena makes her former lover Pavlov suspect her loyalty. He orders her to come to his office. Pavlov smiles a little sardonically on seeing Elena— PAVLOV: Comrade Elena. ELENA: (wearily) You sent for me. PAVLOV: (softly) I haven’t seen you for a long time. ELENA: (a little curtly) I’ve been busy. PAVLOV: (ironically) Thank you. Cigarette? ELENA: No. PAVLOV: Thank you for not telling the truth and saying it was because you no _ longer wanted to see me. ELENA: (gently) If it’s true, I can’t help it, Sergei. PAVLOV: I know that... and it makes it very difficult for me to ask what I must ask of. you. (pause) ELENA: (faintly) Well? PAVLOV: (in hard tone) This Englishman—Locke . . start, I see... ELENA: I... 5 PAVLOV: Locke, apart from being a man of whom I am very jealous—is, we have good reason to believe, the central figure in the White revolt against the Soviet. ELENA: (grimly) Why are you so sure of that? PAVLOV: At any rate he is being credited with it. ELENA: And you: want a scapegoat. PAVLOV: We must have sufficient evidence to arrest him. ELENA: (coldly) What do you want me to do? PAVLOV: Obtain that evidence. If he is arrested now, he will only be deported—later he will be shot. You see—you will be saving his life. (pause) ELENA: (steeling herself) Is that an order? PAVLOV: It is. ELENA: I have no choice, then. PAVLOV: You are familiar enough with his habits to present yourself to a certain Lettish officer named Zvobodu. Ask for a promissory note on London. Your knowledge of Locke and the existence of the note should be enough to convince Zvobodu that you are one of his agents— so that he’ll turn the evidence over to you. .— ELENA: (slowly) I hope it won’t be, but if it is.... youll have it. PAVLOV: (with suggestion of eagerness) Tonight? ELENA: (hollowly) Tomorrow morning... PAVLOV: (remembering their own past) I’m sorry, Elena... ELENA: (off . .. in dead tones) Why ... say that? (door closes heavily) NARRATOR: Stephen Locke knows that his part in the counter-revolution is known and that he is being trailed. He is in his apartment alone when Elena slips in. . Ah, you ELENA: Stephen— LOCKE: Elena! ... Tm glad you came. I wanted you to be here. ELENA: Don’t say that... don’t! LOCKE: It’s true ... every thing else has gone to pieces. Youw’re the only thing that’s left to me... ELENA: (tortured by his words) Stop, Stephen ... you don’t know what you’re saying. LOCKE: Why Should I try to. deceive myself? I’ve made a mess of everything. ELENA: (stalling) But I heard today that someone from the Foreign office has been sent to support you... LOCKE: Support me? Replace me, you mean... and they haven’t even let me know. Did you come here to tell me this? ELENA? Noss osode <a Ob, Stephen, if you could only understand that a woman can love a man, yet fight against him... LOCKE: (puzzled) What do you mean... Elena... ELENA: You’ve always put country before everything, haven’t you? LOCKE: Go on. ELENA: This morning I pretended to be your agent. LOCKE: (scarcely above a whisper) Go on. ELENA: The Cheka wanted evidence on which to arrest you. LOCKE: (voice suddenly cold) And you volunteered to get iv. ELENA: (desperately) Thev told me if you are arrested now that you’d only be deported... but that later ... you’d be. LOCKE: Shot! I see. Well? ELENA: There’s a man named Zvobodu to whom you gave a promisory note... I... oh, forgive me, Stephen . .. understand me ... I persuaded him to let me have it. (eagerly) Don’t you see it was to save your life as well as... LOCKE: Have you given this evidence to the Cheka? ELENA: Not yet. LOCKE: (icily) A pity, because now you have lost your chance. You have been very clever, Elena, but you are going to be cheated of the praise that was coming to you. Yov wanted it both ways, didn's you . ths gratitude of the State ana my udmiration for a patriotism that made you strong enough to betray someone you pretended to love. (hard tones) Well, it isn’t going to work out that way. (sound of key turning) ELENA: Why do you... lock the door? LOCKE: (ignoring her question) My country may have no further use for me... but I’m not cashing in without a struggle... (pause) I’m sorry to upset your plans with the Cheka, but the inside-of-a-prison doésx’t-——— appeal to me. So you are stay ing here, for as long as it suits me to keep you. ELENA: (in hushed voice) And if I said that I wanted to stay? LOCKE: (huskily) For how long? ... For... life? ELENA: As long as it suits you... to keep me... LOCKE: (incredulously) You’d give up everything? ELENA: If you would. LOCKE: I? I’m out of the game. That’s easy. But with you, it’s different. Elena, we could leave here .. . together. ELENA: (playing with the word) Together! I wouldn’t have believed ‘together’ could be the loveliest word in the world. LOCKE: Oh, Elena ... Elena ... We’ll drink to the “loveliest word.” ELENA: Together! glasses) LOCKE: Goodbye! ELENA: No... not... not that ... we’ll drink to our being together! LOCKE: To us, then — (they drink) ... and to the kindly fate that does for a man when he believes that all that’s worthwhile has ended! ELENA: (dreamily) When truly it has only begun! LOCKE: (lost in the dream of it) One day we'll have a house ... and in the mornings, when the world’s waking up, we’ll go out through the wet grass and see the motherly old Downs heaving themselves out of the mist. There will be no more rumble of guns from the Western Front but only ... (sound, off, of machine guns — windowglass crashes — voices shouting — commotion fades into narrator’s voice.) NARRATOR: And this, ladies and gentlemen, is only a hint of the thrilling action of “British Agent” which comes to the .......... Theatre next. Until then good night and good luck. THE END (click of Page Eleven