WEBVTT 00:02:10.301 --> 00:02:21.301 ..:: Presented By ZarFilm Website ::.. ‏.:: www.bolboljan.net ::. 00:02:23.625 --> 00:02:25.250 -I can help you. -It's all right. 00:02:25.333 --> 00:02:27.166 I've got this. I'm good. 00:02:27.250 --> 00:02:28.458 Please come in. 00:02:36.625 --> 00:02:37.458 Here. 00:02:46.583 --> 00:02:50.708 Well, I've had them set you up out here so you wouldn't feel quite so confined. 00:02:50.791 --> 00:02:53.166 The ladies will scandalize the neighborhood 00:02:53.250 --> 00:02:55.375 by occupying both bedrooms. 00:02:55.458 --> 00:02:58.625 I will be staying in town at a bucolic spa called, 00:02:58.708 --> 00:03:01.166 if you can believe it, The Shoulder Arms. 00:03:01.250 --> 00:03:03.875 I will do my editing there. Now, as you know, 00:03:03.958 --> 00:03:06.625 Fraulein Freda is not only a nurse and physical therapist, 00:03:06.708 --> 00:03:09.166 she studied nutrition back in the old country. 00:03:09.250 --> 00:03:12.166 -Ja, liebes Fräulein? -Jawohl, Herr Houseman. 00:03:13.250 --> 00:03:15.083 It's a dry house. 00:03:15.166 --> 00:03:17.875 The owner of the ranch doesn't permit alcohol. 00:03:17.958 --> 00:03:20.833 But you're from Pennsylvania. You're no doubt used to it. 00:03:21.916 --> 00:03:24.125 Saved by the proverbial bell. 00:03:24.750 --> 00:03:26.000 Set it here, please. 00:03:27.125 --> 00:03:30.500 And careful. Thank you. 00:03:35.875 --> 00:03:36.791 Observe. 00:03:39.583 --> 00:03:41.583 Naturally, you'll do your damnedest to get at it. 00:03:41.666 --> 00:03:44.958 By the time you finish the first draft, which is to say, in 90 days, 00:03:45.041 --> 00:03:47.625 you should be a world-class sprinter. 00:03:49.250 --> 00:03:51.000 Rita, come in here, will you? 00:03:51.833 --> 00:03:53.791 This is Mrs. Alexander. 00:03:53.875 --> 00:03:57.416 She types 100 perfect words a minute and takes dictation like a clairvoyant. 00:03:57.500 --> 00:03:59.666 Rita Alexander, Herman Mankiewicz. 00:03:59.750 --> 00:04:01.333 How do you do, Mr. Mankiewicz? 00:04:01.416 --> 00:04:03.625 That's a big question. 00:04:04.458 --> 00:04:07.958 Well, since you like working nights, Rita here runs on London time. 00:04:08.041 --> 00:04:10.791 Her husband is one of our bold lads in the RAF. 00:04:10.875 --> 00:04:13.875 -Flies… What is it, Rita? Spitfires? -Hurricanes. 00:04:13.958 --> 00:04:16.625 -My sympathy and prayers. -I beg your pardon? 00:04:16.708 --> 00:04:21.500 Given the speed, climb, and turning radius of the Messerschmitt Bf 109-- 00:04:21.583 --> 00:04:24.250 I hope we won't need your sympathy, Mr. Mankiewicz. 00:04:24.333 --> 00:04:26.791 We'll do the praying and the fighting. 00:04:26.875 --> 00:04:30.625 I will meet with Orson weekly. Keep him to date on our progress. 00:04:30.708 --> 00:04:32.708 We're expecting great things. 00:04:32.791 --> 00:04:36.750 What is it the writer says? "Tell the story you know." 00:04:39.250 --> 00:04:41.500 I don't know that writer. 00:04:44.833 --> 00:04:45.666 Hello. 00:04:46.375 --> 00:04:48.208 Yes. Yes, he's right here. 00:04:48.708 --> 00:04:52.125 Well, you should have everything. If I've forgotten, there's a clipboard. 00:04:55.583 --> 00:04:57.416 -Yes? Hello? -They're getting him. 00:04:58.125 --> 00:05:01.625 Our wunderkind does have the gift of theatrical timing. 00:05:02.875 --> 00:05:04.750 Orson, hello. We just got in. 00:05:16.041 --> 00:05:17.416 -Hello. -Mank. 00:05:17.500 --> 00:05:20.166 Houseman tells me we have you just where we want you. 00:05:20.250 --> 00:05:21.625 Lucky me. 00:05:21.708 --> 00:05:24.750 -How's the leg? -"Thigh bone's connected to the hip bone." 00:05:24.833 --> 00:05:27.833 Excellent. Ready and willing to hunt the great white whale? 00:05:27.916 --> 00:05:32.708 Just call me Ahab. I understand we've 90 days. 00:05:32.791 --> 00:05:34.166 Let's aim for 60. 00:05:34.916 --> 00:05:36.833 He's just cut a month. 00:05:36.916 --> 00:05:40.791 I used to do it in five for you at the Mercury. This is leisurely. 00:05:40.875 --> 00:05:44.666 -Sixty days, and then we can noodle. -Nothing like a good noodle. 00:05:44.750 --> 00:05:49.291 Is the reason you lopped 30 days to run it past the RKO legal? 00:05:49.375 --> 00:05:52.875 I thought I told you, Mank. I have final cut, final everything. 00:05:52.958 --> 00:05:54.458 There are no studio notes. 00:05:54.541 --> 00:05:56.750 We'll have no one but ourselves to blame. 00:05:56.833 --> 00:05:59.416 -Sixty days and a noodle. -Mr. Welles, we're ready. 00:05:59.500 --> 00:06:01.833 Gotta run. I'm doing tests for Heart of Darkness. 00:06:01.916 --> 00:06:04.166 Little that, lesser Joe Conrad. 00:06:04.250 --> 00:06:06.583 If anyone should ask, tell 'em you're adapting. 00:06:06.666 --> 00:06:09.458 You don't know this sun-bleached sewer here, my friend. 00:06:09.541 --> 00:06:11.333 Break wind at Hollywood and Vine, 00:06:11.416 --> 00:06:14.333 and a producer in Santa Monica reports a ruptured main. 00:06:14.416 --> 00:06:17.250 No, I don't know this burg, not yet. 00:06:17.333 --> 00:06:21.000 I'm toiling with you in spirit, Mank. And I don't hear any typing. 00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:26.125 No notes. 00:06:27.333 --> 00:06:29.583 And then he turns 24. 00:06:31.583 --> 00:06:32.875 Trapped. 00:06:46.166 --> 00:06:47.666 Let me take off these clothes. 00:06:49.250 --> 00:06:53.291 They let me go just as I achieved perfect equilibrium. 00:06:54.208 --> 00:06:57.041 I won't work with half the producers on the lot, 00:06:57.125 --> 00:06:59.916 and the other half won't work with me. 00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:04.666 -What's this, a racing form? -You stop reading, you stop learning. 00:07:04.750 --> 00:07:05.875 Hold still. 00:07:08.333 --> 00:07:09.458 Lay back. 00:07:11.833 --> 00:07:13.708 Cigarette, please. 00:07:13.791 --> 00:07:16.833 Hermie, if a match gets near your breath, you'll burst into flames. 00:07:16.916 --> 00:07:19.666 Even the dog's name is awful. 00:07:19.750 --> 00:07:22.250 Sounds like a Japanese houseboy. 00:07:22.333 --> 00:07:24.333 You mark my words, Sara. 00:07:24.833 --> 00:07:28.708 The Wizard of Oz is gonna sink that studio. 00:07:28.791 --> 00:07:31.458 Sleep. You're driving to New York tomorrow. 00:07:32.458 --> 00:07:36.500 Remember when you used to take the train from back East? 00:07:36.583 --> 00:07:40.791 I'd sneak aboard in Albuquerque and climb into your compartment naked. 00:07:40.875 --> 00:07:43.875 I also remember how I spent my honeymoon in Berlin, 00:07:43.958 --> 00:07:46.083 with hookers running up and down the stairs all night 00:07:46.166 --> 00:07:49.125 because my dashing correspondent couldn't afford a nice hotel. 00:07:49.208 --> 00:07:52.791 -Weren't those the days? -Yeah, and the nights weren't bad either. 00:07:53.541 --> 00:07:56.041 -Schnutz? -For the last time, what? 00:07:56.125 --> 00:07:58.625 -What year is it? -Herman… 00:07:59.125 --> 00:08:02.708 -I should have done something by now. -Hermie… 00:08:02.791 --> 00:08:04.833 Give me a sign, oh, Lord. 00:08:04.916 --> 00:08:09.875 I am as your servant Moses, though I won't work half as cheap. 00:08:09.958 --> 00:08:11.666 Go to sleep, meshuggener. 00:08:14.750 --> 00:08:16.125 -Schnutz? -What? 00:08:16.208 --> 00:08:18.041 Why do you put up with me? 00:08:20.666 --> 00:08:21.666 I don't know. 00:08:22.166 --> 00:08:24.125 That bush in the front yard, 00:08:24.208 --> 00:08:28.458 if it catches fire tonight, you will let me know? 00:08:31.541 --> 00:08:33.458 I mean, you know all kinds of things. 00:08:33.541 --> 00:08:36.750 Iambic pentameter, the words of the great poets. 00:08:36.833 --> 00:08:39.291 What about the way she signed it? "Always, Ethel." 00:08:40.083 --> 00:08:43.875 Can you beat that? Not just "Ethel," "Always, Ethel." 00:08:43.958 --> 00:08:46.583 Tommy, if we can find civilization by sundown, 00:08:46.666 --> 00:08:49.791 I hope to climb out of this crate and into a cold martini. 00:08:49.875 --> 00:08:52.500 She's not the kind to use "always" if she didn't mean it. 00:08:52.583 --> 00:08:55.250 If she meant just "Ethel," she'd write just "Ethel," not "always." 00:08:55.333 --> 00:08:57.291 -Wouldn't you think? -The road, Tommy. 00:08:57.375 --> 00:09:01.416 I know. You read it. See what I mean. 00:09:12.041 --> 00:09:14.333 She loves me, don't you think? 00:09:33.708 --> 00:09:37.375 Mank? It's Orson Welles. 00:09:38.666 --> 00:09:42.875 -Of course it is. -I think it's time we talked. 00:09:43.708 --> 00:09:45.750 I'm all ears. 00:09:52.541 --> 00:09:55.250 Once a castle on a hill, 00:09:56.000 --> 00:09:58.833 now a memory of what once was. 00:09:59.791 --> 00:10:05.250 Alone in his unfinished, already decaying pleasure palace, 00:10:05.333 --> 00:10:09.250 aloof, seldom visited, never photographed, 00:10:10.125 --> 00:10:15.416 we see an old man in a robe, smoking a pipe, 00:10:15.500 --> 00:10:18.291 sitting alone by his pool… 00:10:20.500 --> 00:10:24.291 discarded pages scattered at his feet. 00:10:25.041 --> 00:10:26.208 Narrator, 00:10:27.000 --> 00:10:33.708 "An emperor of newsprint continued to direct his failing empire, 00:10:33.791 --> 00:10:36.583 vainly attempting to sway, as he once did, 00:10:36.666 --> 00:10:38.125 the destinies of a nation 00:10:38.208 --> 00:10:40.583 which had long since ceased to listen to him…" 00:10:41.083 --> 00:10:43.625 No. "Had ceased to trust him." 00:10:44.125 --> 00:10:49.083 We see through trees as an aide pushes this old man in a wheelchair 00:10:49.166 --> 00:10:51.958 across neatly groomed lawns. 00:10:52.041 --> 00:10:54.791 Narrator, "There, last month, 00:10:55.541 --> 00:10:59.375 as it must to all men, death came to--" 00:11:01.958 --> 00:11:03.708 Let's have that cuppa, Mrs. A. 00:11:12.083 --> 00:11:13.541 I know who it is. 00:11:18.125 --> 00:11:20.875 Or… who it's meant to be. 00:11:22.708 --> 00:11:25.250 What makes you think it's meant to be anybody? 00:11:25.333 --> 00:11:26.166 Come now. 00:11:26.250 --> 00:11:29.166 Everyone in the English-speaking world will recognize him instantly. 00:11:29.250 --> 00:11:31.500 Exactly what he would say. 00:11:32.000 --> 00:11:34.375 -Did you know the man? -Maybe. 00:11:37.208 --> 00:11:38.083 I used to. 00:11:39.125 --> 00:11:41.875 -You wrote for one of his papers? -No, praise God. 00:11:41.958 --> 00:11:45.666 I met him after he started bankrolling his girlfriend's pictures. 00:11:47.166 --> 00:11:48.875 You knew Marion Davies? 00:11:49.666 --> 00:11:51.750 -If anyone did. -Really? 00:11:52.791 --> 00:11:54.000 What's she like? 00:11:54.083 --> 00:11:58.208 Why is it when you scratch a prim, starchy English schoolgirl, 00:11:58.291 --> 00:12:00.791 you get a swooning moving-picture fan 00:12:00.875 --> 00:12:03.833 who's forgotten all she learned about the Battle of Hastings? 00:12:03.916 --> 00:12:07.250 Hastings. Fourteen October 1066, 00:12:07.333 --> 00:12:08.958 ten centigrade. 00:12:43.958 --> 00:12:44.958 Mank? 00:12:51.083 --> 00:12:53.041 Sorry. Somebody told me Mankiewicz was in here. 00:12:53.125 --> 00:12:56.125 He is. I'm the promising brother, Joe. 00:12:56.958 --> 00:13:00.541 -I didn't know Herman had a brother. -Neither does anyone else. 00:13:01.041 --> 00:13:03.833 Let me guess. "There are millions to be made, 00:13:03.916 --> 00:13:06.625 and your only competition is idiots," stop. 00:13:07.375 --> 00:13:08.291 How did you know? 00:13:08.375 --> 00:13:11.125 I hate to tell you, anyone who can rub three words together 00:13:11.208 --> 00:13:13.000 and make a sentence gets one. 00:13:17.166 --> 00:13:18.125 Come on. 00:13:25.083 --> 00:13:28.625 It's after lunch, and we're on a deadline. He may be busy. 00:13:29.416 --> 00:13:32.750 -I promise I won't be a bother. -Not exactly what I meant. 00:13:38.125 --> 00:13:39.833 Come on! 00:13:39.916 --> 00:13:42.083 -Hey, you know I'm good for it. -Fellas. 00:13:42.750 --> 00:13:44.291 These are high stakes. 00:13:48.375 --> 00:13:51.208 -Tails! That's it! -God damn it! 00:13:51.291 --> 00:13:53.833 -Mank! -All right. Double or nothing. 00:13:53.916 --> 00:13:56.291 This time, banjo-eyed son of a bitch, let it hit the floor. 00:13:56.375 --> 00:13:57.833 -Banjo eyes. -Son of a bitch… 00:13:57.916 --> 00:13:59.416 Mank once bet me a five-spot 00:13:59.500 --> 00:14:02.625 to see how long it would take a falling leaf to hit the ground. 00:14:02.708 --> 00:14:05.875 -Had to go to management to cover it. -For five bucks? 00:14:05.958 --> 00:14:07.500 Five thousand. 00:14:07.583 --> 00:14:08.791 Come on. 00:14:09.458 --> 00:14:12.750 Heads, you bastard! 00:14:15.291 --> 00:14:16.208 Mank! 00:14:18.166 --> 00:14:20.125 Pleasure doing business with you, gentlemen. 00:14:20.208 --> 00:14:22.125 Hey, Charlie. 00:14:22.208 --> 00:14:26.708 Yeah. You all remember the Algonquin cabin boy, Charlie Lederer, 00:14:26.791 --> 00:14:29.250 a poor but somewhat talented magazine writer, 00:14:29.333 --> 00:14:31.291 come West to join our merry band? 00:14:31.375 --> 00:14:33.583 -Well, you know most everyone. -Mr. Kaufman. 00:14:33.666 --> 00:14:34.833 George is fine, kid. 00:14:34.916 --> 00:14:36.500 -Mr. Perelman. -Nice to meet you. 00:14:36.583 --> 00:14:38.250 Do you prefer Sidney or S.J.? 00:14:38.333 --> 00:14:41.125 He takes what he gets. The great Charles MacArthur. 00:14:41.208 --> 00:14:42.750 Good to see you again. 00:14:42.833 --> 00:14:45.250 My resident jack-of-all-trades, Shelly Metcalf. 00:14:45.333 --> 00:14:46.625 -Hey, kid. -Mr. Metcalf. 00:14:46.708 --> 00:14:48.625 Save the "mister" for the anointed. 00:14:48.708 --> 00:14:50.791 And last, not yet among them, my brother Joe. 00:14:50.875 --> 00:14:54.791 Have Cyclone say, "I don't mind the heat as much as I do the humanity." 00:14:54.875 --> 00:14:58.541 And the one and only Ben Hecht. 00:14:58.625 --> 00:15:00.041 Have you been laid yet? 00:15:01.208 --> 00:15:03.083 Do you have to think about that? 00:15:06.333 --> 00:15:07.208 Hello. 00:15:07.916 --> 00:15:09.958 Yeah. Right away. 00:15:10.666 --> 00:15:13.250 Selznick, everyone. Five minutes. 00:15:13.333 --> 00:15:15.208 You've arrived in the well-known nick. 00:15:15.291 --> 00:15:18.708 Just in time for a story conference with the great David O. 00:15:18.791 --> 00:15:20.208 Once more unto the breach… 00:15:20.708 --> 00:15:22.333 Breach? Hell, unto the wire… 00:15:22.416 --> 00:15:23.541 Without a net. 00:15:23.625 --> 00:15:26.250 Keep your mouth shut and watch us for your cue, okay? 00:15:26.333 --> 00:15:27.166 Cue? 00:15:28.000 --> 00:15:31.833 What I wouldn't give to see that in a tight sweater. 00:15:31.916 --> 00:15:33.791 Herm, can I use that? 00:15:35.208 --> 00:15:36.375 I need a status report. 00:15:36.458 --> 00:15:38.291 Boys. Come on in. 00:15:41.750 --> 00:15:43.333 Make yourselves at home. 00:15:45.708 --> 00:15:47.833 Now, you all know Joe von Sternberg. 00:15:48.583 --> 00:15:51.708 You wanted 72 hours, you got 72 hours. 00:15:51.791 --> 00:15:53.333 Tell us what you have so far. 00:15:55.291 --> 00:15:57.875 Ben, why don't you start? 00:15:57.958 --> 00:16:00.208 Well, this was tough, David. 00:16:00.291 --> 00:16:03.291 In the beginning, we couldn't agree on an approach. 00:16:03.375 --> 00:16:04.375 Really? Why was that? 00:16:04.458 --> 00:16:08.291 Well, we see a different kind of Paramount picture. 00:16:08.375 --> 00:16:09.250 Different how? 00:16:10.333 --> 00:16:13.875 Frankenstein and The Wolf Man all rolled into one, only-- 00:16:13.958 --> 00:16:16.541 I don't make cheap horror pictures. Universal does. 00:16:16.625 --> 00:16:20.208 This is different. This is about something. 00:16:21.750 --> 00:16:22.750 Okay… 00:16:23.750 --> 00:16:24.833 Sidney. 00:16:26.291 --> 00:16:28.875 Imagine a mad scientist, 00:16:28.958 --> 00:16:33.625 touring the boonies with a mechanical freak he's fabricated. 00:16:33.708 --> 00:16:35.333 What does he mean, "fabricated"? 00:16:35.416 --> 00:16:38.583 And displays it to superstitious hayseeds 00:16:38.666 --> 00:16:42.500 in a giant, silk-lined casket for the price of admission. 00:16:42.583 --> 00:16:48.875 But, every full moon, the monster awakens and raises unholy hell with the villagers. 00:16:48.958 --> 00:16:50.916 Give it a Eastern European look. 00:16:51.000 --> 00:16:53.875 Men in leather shorts, gals in tattered peasant blouses. 00:16:53.958 --> 00:16:57.125 -They think it's the devil? -Villagers always think it's the devil. 00:16:57.208 --> 00:17:00.125 And the scientist and his creation are forced to flee 00:17:00.208 --> 00:17:02.041 during a raging electrical storm. 00:17:02.125 --> 00:17:04.541 Flee from outraged peasants… 00:17:04.625 --> 00:17:06.166 Who pursue them mit torches… 00:17:06.250 --> 00:17:08.000 Overturn their creaky wagon… 00:17:08.083 --> 00:17:09.375 And set fire to it. 00:17:10.750 --> 00:17:14.291 Tell him about the finale, Charlie. 00:17:19.916 --> 00:17:20.791 Well… 00:17:21.958 --> 00:17:24.500 the rain turns to sleet, 00:17:25.083 --> 00:17:29.083 puts out the fire, and entombs the monster in solid ice. 00:17:31.208 --> 00:17:35.583 While, nearby, an old priest weeps. 00:17:39.083 --> 00:17:40.166 A weeping priest? 00:17:40.250 --> 00:17:42.666 Thunder, lightning, blood, 00:17:42.750 --> 00:17:44.625 fire, religion… 00:17:44.708 --> 00:17:45.666 All in one film? 00:17:45.750 --> 00:17:47.500 And with an unseasonal thaw, 00:17:48.333 --> 00:17:49.458 a sequel. 00:17:49.958 --> 00:17:52.833 You said this was about something, this was different. 00:17:52.916 --> 00:17:55.916 Plus, the ominous futility of man playing God. 00:17:56.000 --> 00:17:58.916 The Faustian bargain of life everlasting. 00:17:59.000 --> 00:18:00.583 The triumph of the human spirit 00:18:00.666 --> 00:18:04.208 over the beast incarnate in our far-too-solid flesh. 00:18:05.291 --> 00:18:06.500 It's director-proof. 00:18:06.583 --> 00:18:07.458 Joe. 00:18:08.375 --> 00:18:09.208 B picture. 00:18:09.291 --> 00:18:11.708 It's not for Joe. Boys, this is serious. 00:18:11.791 --> 00:18:12.916 We need your help. 00:18:13.000 --> 00:18:15.500 We've got to get people into theaters, but… 00:18:16.750 --> 00:18:17.583 how? 00:18:22.083 --> 00:18:24.041 Show movies in the streets. 00:18:28.208 --> 00:18:31.833 You okay, Charlie? Taken care of this weekend? 00:18:31.916 --> 00:18:34.958 -I'm going to see my aunt. -That sounds like fun. 00:18:35.041 --> 00:18:38.750 You obviously don't know my aunt. If you're not doing anything, come along. 00:18:38.833 --> 00:18:40.250 Careful, I just might. 00:18:40.750 --> 00:18:43.791 Glendale station at 7:00. Bring Sara if you like. 00:18:43.875 --> 00:18:46.375 -Who? -Sara, isn't that your wife? 00:18:46.458 --> 00:18:49.000 Oh, you mean Poor Sara. 00:18:49.083 --> 00:18:51.250 No, she and the kids are back East. 00:19:11.458 --> 00:19:12.375 Herman. 00:19:15.958 --> 00:19:16.958 Herman. 00:19:22.958 --> 00:19:25.166 -Herm! -Charlie! 00:20:38.625 --> 00:20:40.833 Cut! Next setup, please. 00:20:49.041 --> 00:20:50.708 What is Mank doing here? 00:20:51.708 --> 00:20:53.333 -Who? -Herman Mankiewicz. 00:20:55.375 --> 00:20:57.833 -Do I know him? -He wrote one of our Lon Chaneys. 00:20:58.916 --> 00:20:59.750 Mank! 00:21:01.625 --> 00:21:05.875 -Thalberg, the boy genius. -I am shocked to see you here. 00:21:05.958 --> 00:21:10.833 I'd be shocked to see me here, too, Irving, if only I knew where here was. 00:21:10.916 --> 00:21:13.791 -You wrote one of our Lon Chaneys. -Among many. 00:21:13.875 --> 00:21:15.250 -Pictures? -Writers. 00:21:15.333 --> 00:21:19.333 -At MGM, movies are a team sport, Mank. -Which may be why I'm at Paramount. 00:21:19.416 --> 00:21:22.583 Since when don't Paramount use writers by the truckload? 00:21:22.666 --> 00:21:26.125 But all at once, not in relays. Helps spread the blame around. 00:21:26.208 --> 00:21:28.250 You remember our chairman, Louis B. Mayer? 00:21:28.333 --> 00:21:29.750 By reputation only. 00:21:29.833 --> 00:21:32.666 -Long night? -A short one. Plagued by spirits. 00:21:33.458 --> 00:21:36.375 It's a hell of a way to spend the Sabbath, fellas. 00:21:36.458 --> 00:21:38.000 Here in support of a friend. 00:21:38.083 --> 00:21:41.208 His leading lady is making a mid-career adjustment. 00:21:41.291 --> 00:21:45.041 I'm on my way over. Any notes from the oversight tent? 00:21:49.666 --> 00:21:52.000 -Who was that again? -Just a writer. 00:21:54.750 --> 00:21:57.166 Slumming on a Saturday, Mr. Metcalf? 00:21:57.250 --> 00:21:59.916 Mank. No sir! Helping out on B camera. 00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:02.750 It's a home movie, but his idea of a home movie. 00:22:02.833 --> 00:22:03.916 I know you. 00:22:04.708 --> 00:22:07.041 Well, what's at stake here? 00:22:07.541 --> 00:22:11.250 We met at John Gilbert's birthday. You're Herman Mankiewicz. 00:22:11.333 --> 00:22:12.166 Guilty. 00:22:13.083 --> 00:22:15.125 And I remember you, Miss Davies. 00:22:15.875 --> 00:22:20.208 Regaling us with stories about dodging trolley cars in Brooklyn. 00:22:21.541 --> 00:22:23.416 Your Flatbush was showing. 00:22:26.625 --> 00:22:29.916 You fractured Wally Beery's wrist Indian wrestling. 00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:31.041 A lucky break. 00:22:31.125 --> 00:22:33.833 Boy, was he surprised. You're stronger than you look. 00:22:33.916 --> 00:22:36.500 And from what I understand, you're smarter. 00:22:37.583 --> 00:22:39.500 That was a compliment. 00:22:39.583 --> 00:22:42.125 -See what I mean? -You are interesting. 00:22:42.208 --> 00:22:45.208 I need a favor, but promise you won't laugh. 00:22:45.291 --> 00:22:47.500 Given the state of the world, a tall order. 00:22:47.583 --> 00:22:48.916 I just know you are. 00:22:49.000 --> 00:22:54.083 I have got such a hangover right now, there's just a fighting chance I won't. 00:22:54.166 --> 00:22:57.583 I'm being burned at the stake and I am dying for a ciggie-boo. 00:22:58.791 --> 00:23:00.416 There. God's punishing you. 00:23:02.708 --> 00:23:05.208 Watch those stairs. They're treacherous. 00:23:05.708 --> 00:23:08.125 Every moment of my life is treacherous. 00:23:10.791 --> 00:23:12.166 Any last words? 00:23:12.958 --> 00:23:14.625 Welcome to San Simeon. 00:23:15.666 --> 00:23:16.625 I've written worse. 00:23:16.708 --> 00:23:20.666 -You've never seen it? -No, but George Bernard Shaw was right. 00:23:21.791 --> 00:23:22.750 How's that? 00:23:23.375 --> 00:23:26.083 "It's what God might've built had he had the money." 00:23:26.583 --> 00:23:30.583 Well, as they say in the Bronx, "Make yourself to home," Mr. Mankiewicz. 00:23:30.666 --> 00:23:33.958 -Or shall I call you Herman? -No. Please, call me Mank. 00:23:34.041 --> 00:23:36.250 -Good morning, Charles. -Charlie. 00:23:36.333 --> 00:23:39.416 -Aunt Marion. Mank. -You sleep well? 00:23:40.083 --> 00:23:42.083 Until your rather dramatic wake-up call. 00:23:42.166 --> 00:23:46.458 This is all Pops's idea. He wants me ready to take on the talkies. 00:23:46.541 --> 00:23:47.791 First positions, please! 00:23:48.500 --> 00:23:49.916 Riders, ready! 00:23:51.000 --> 00:23:52.125 Rolling! 00:23:52.916 --> 00:23:55.333 -Speed. -Speed! Action! 00:24:05.875 --> 00:24:09.541 Help! Please! Someone save me! 00:24:13.291 --> 00:24:14.291 Cut! 00:24:24.541 --> 00:24:28.875 Pops, this is Herman Mankiewicz, but we have to call him Mank. 00:24:29.541 --> 00:24:30.458 Mankiewicz? 00:24:31.708 --> 00:24:35.458 Herman Mankiewicz, New York playwright and drama critic? 00:24:35.541 --> 00:24:38.250 Turned humble screenwriter. Mr. Hearst. 00:24:38.333 --> 00:24:43.125 Why, no need to be humble, Mr. Mankiewicz. Pictures that talk are the future. 00:24:43.208 --> 00:24:46.416 They're gonna need people who honor words, give them voice. 00:24:46.500 --> 00:24:48.500 There's a golden age coming 00:24:48.583 --> 00:24:53.166 when all the world will be a stage, and you, perhaps, their Shakespeare. 00:24:53.250 --> 00:24:55.958 I wouldn't have thought you'd be that keenly interested 00:24:56.041 --> 00:24:57.416 in the honoring of words. 00:24:58.333 --> 00:24:59.416 What's so funny? 00:25:00.541 --> 00:25:04.666 I'm just surprised that a vaunted muckraker like yourself 00:25:04.750 --> 00:25:07.958 sees Hollywood's future as such a shiny penny. 00:25:08.458 --> 00:25:09.416 Back to one. 00:25:09.500 --> 00:25:11.500 Times are changing, Mr. Mankiewicz, 00:25:12.125 --> 00:25:14.416 and I'm not just referring to this Depression. 00:25:14.500 --> 00:25:15.375 All that bother. 00:25:15.458 --> 00:25:16.875 And when all this is over, 00:25:16.958 --> 00:25:20.250 picture-makers are gonna have to service this new entertainment. 00:25:21.000 --> 00:25:25.083 I intend to make pictures with the help of real literary minds. 00:25:25.166 --> 00:25:26.291 I support that. 00:25:26.375 --> 00:25:28.458 Instead, what do most studios give us? 00:25:28.541 --> 00:25:30.958 Gangster flicks, zanies. 00:25:31.041 --> 00:25:32.041 Too true. 00:25:32.125 --> 00:25:35.125 Now, how many gangsters do Americans meet in a lifetime? 00:25:35.750 --> 00:25:38.000 How many families are like the Marx Brothers? 00:25:38.083 --> 00:25:39.625 You mean, besides my own? 00:25:40.833 --> 00:25:44.708 Very good. Have him seated next to me. 00:25:48.708 --> 00:25:50.416 Miss Davies, Mr. Hearst would like 00:25:50.500 --> 00:25:53.125 Mr. Mankiewicz seated to his left at dinner. 00:25:55.666 --> 00:25:57.125 Pops likes you. 00:26:12.666 --> 00:26:14.750 Why is it when Houseman edits, 00:26:14.833 --> 00:26:18.875 everyone ends up speaking like a constipated Oxford don? 00:26:23.875 --> 00:26:24.708 Hello. 00:26:25.416 --> 00:26:26.291 Yes, he is. 00:26:27.166 --> 00:26:28.375 No, not at all. 00:26:28.458 --> 00:26:29.375 Please hold on. 00:26:29.458 --> 00:26:30.458 It's Poor Sa-- 00:26:31.416 --> 00:26:33.625 I'm sorry. It's your wife. 00:26:40.458 --> 00:26:42.375 -Schnutz. -I heard that. 00:26:42.458 --> 00:26:44.666 Joe called four times in the last three days. 00:26:44.750 --> 00:26:47.375 -He wants your number up there. -So give it to him. 00:26:47.458 --> 00:26:48.541 Knock it off! 00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:51.208 The boys are remodeling. 00:26:51.291 --> 00:26:54.166 He seemed concerned about something. Is everything okay? 00:26:54.250 --> 00:26:56.541 If I could swim, I'd be doing swimmingly. 00:26:56.625 --> 00:27:00.666 And don't mind Joe. He's a worrisome old woman in disguise. 00:27:00.750 --> 00:27:02.458 Well, he wants to offer you work. 00:27:02.541 --> 00:27:04.708 Baby Joe, offering me? 00:27:06.666 --> 00:27:08.916 If he calls again, give him this number. 00:27:09.000 --> 00:27:11.041 I've gotta run. Kiss the offspring. 00:27:16.958 --> 00:27:18.500 I say… 00:27:19.208 --> 00:27:21.916 a letter from the gallant lieutenant. 00:27:22.875 --> 00:27:25.458 Now, let's hope it makes more sense than the last. 00:27:25.541 --> 00:27:27.791 Fighters off the decks of aircraft carriers. 00:27:27.875 --> 00:27:30.541 -Whoever had that idea? -It's not good? 00:27:30.625 --> 00:27:31.750 Not good? 00:27:31.833 --> 00:27:34.208 German U-boats are starting to hunt in packs, 00:27:34.291 --> 00:27:38.500 and a Stuka dive-bomber can drop one down your stack from 500 feet. 00:27:39.083 --> 00:27:42.041 What's our valiant laddie have to say for the cause-- 00:27:57.375 --> 00:27:58.875 It's not from her husband. 00:28:00.708 --> 00:28:02.333 His ship's been sunk off Norway. 00:28:03.041 --> 00:28:04.500 Presumed lost at sea. 00:28:07.458 --> 00:28:10.166 Always the smartest guy in the room. 00:28:37.291 --> 00:28:38.416 You're right. 00:28:38.500 --> 00:28:42.833 Aircraft carriers are a shitty idea, but I don't appreciate the callousness. 00:28:43.666 --> 00:28:45.375 I expect more of you. 00:28:48.250 --> 00:28:52.583 Presumed means they don't know, so I choose to believe he's alive until… 00:28:55.291 --> 00:28:56.291 Mank. 00:28:58.875 --> 00:28:59.750 Mank. 00:29:01.083 --> 00:29:02.416 Mr. Mankiewicz? 00:29:22.500 --> 00:29:24.541 He's all right. Just sleeping. 00:29:25.291 --> 00:29:27.791 Well… I shouldn't wonder. 00:29:27.875 --> 00:29:31.750 There's enough Seconal in those bottles to bring down a bull elephant in heat. 00:29:34.583 --> 00:29:37.000 Young Orson doesn't believe in chance. 00:30:01.750 --> 00:30:04.958 Houseman, you sly thing. You slipped me a Mickey. 00:30:05.041 --> 00:30:06.041 So we did. 00:30:06.541 --> 00:30:08.958 How you reached it so early in your rehabilitation, 00:30:09.041 --> 00:30:09.875 I cannot imagine. 00:30:09.958 --> 00:30:11.333 How was it? Mother's milk? 00:30:11.416 --> 00:30:15.416 On balance, better than nothing. I plan to use it as a nightcap. 00:30:15.500 --> 00:30:17.750 As you Yanks say, "He went out like a light." 00:30:17.833 --> 00:30:22.500 I couldn't have put it better myself, which may be why I write for the movies. 00:30:22.583 --> 00:30:24.000 Will you stop? 00:30:24.083 --> 00:30:26.500 You write for the movies because you're super at it. 00:30:26.583 --> 00:30:29.916 Excuse me, you two, I've masses of typing to do. 00:30:31.833 --> 00:30:33.250 Seventy-six pages. 00:30:33.333 --> 00:30:35.833 By the time she translates your chicken scratch, 00:30:35.916 --> 00:30:37.250 it'll be less than 40. 00:30:37.333 --> 00:30:38.833 At this rate, you'll never finish. 00:30:38.916 --> 00:30:41.583 What I wanna know is what you think of it. 00:30:41.666 --> 00:30:44.250 The writing is first-rate, but you know that. 00:30:44.333 --> 00:30:47.208 His lust for power, your evocation of his hunger for love 00:30:47.291 --> 00:30:49.166 from those who fear his worst side, but-- 00:30:49.250 --> 00:30:51.291 The dreaded yet foreseeable "but." 00:30:51.375 --> 00:30:54.041 You're asking a lot of a motion picture audience. 00:30:54.125 --> 00:30:57.666 -It's a bit of a jumble. -Did you say "jumble" or "jungle"? 00:30:57.750 --> 00:30:59.333 A hodgepodge of talky episodes. 00:30:59.416 --> 00:31:03.416 Fragments that leap around in time like Mexican jumping beans. 00:31:03.500 --> 00:31:04.958 Welcome to my mind, old sock. 00:31:05.041 --> 00:31:08.250 The story is so scattered, I'm afraid one will need a road map. 00:31:08.333 --> 00:31:11.375 -You mean it's a mess. -Would you consider simplifying? 00:31:11.458 --> 00:31:13.000 As Pascal once said, 00:31:13.083 --> 00:31:16.500 "If only I'd had more time, I would have written a shorter letter." 00:31:16.583 --> 00:31:19.250 All I am saying is no one can write like that. 00:31:19.333 --> 00:31:22.791 But I can write like that, Houseman. I have. 00:31:22.875 --> 00:31:26.916 The narrative is one big circle, like a cinnamon roll, 00:31:27.416 --> 00:31:30.791 not a straight line pointing to the nearest exit. 00:31:30.875 --> 00:31:34.458 You cannot capture a man's entire life in two hours. 00:31:34.541 --> 00:31:36.916 All you can hope is to leave the impression of one. 00:31:37.000 --> 00:31:38.791 But nobody expects Shakespeare. 00:31:38.875 --> 00:31:42.791 People aren't spending their hard-earned 25 cents to see Macbeth. 00:31:42.875 --> 00:31:45.166 Maestro the Dog-Faced Boy did Macbeth. 00:31:45.250 --> 00:31:48.291 Voodoo Macbeth. Don't be fooled. He's a showman. 00:31:48.375 --> 00:31:50.625 Busker reveling in sleight of hand. 00:31:51.125 --> 00:31:53.333 Save yourself the trouble, be done in 60 days. 00:31:53.416 --> 00:31:55.875 He'll get this, and the audience will too. 00:31:55.958 --> 00:31:58.125 Stop worrying. Have a pickle. 00:31:58.208 --> 00:31:59.875 No, thank you. I'm not hungry. 00:32:00.416 --> 00:32:02.250 Haven't been since we got here. 00:32:03.708 --> 00:32:04.541 Cheerio. 00:32:07.916 --> 00:32:10.916 Write hard. Aim low. 00:32:18.666 --> 00:32:19.875 Where were we, chief? 00:32:20.833 --> 00:32:21.958 What are you gonna do? 00:32:22.750 --> 00:32:23.958 -About what? -He's right. 00:32:24.041 --> 00:32:25.791 You won't be done till Christmas. 00:32:25.875 --> 00:32:28.041 -What? -You made a promise. 00:32:28.125 --> 00:32:30.875 -I did what? -Sixty days is two weeks from now. 00:32:32.750 --> 00:32:34.250 Where were we? 00:32:39.166 --> 00:32:42.250 Bernstein's speech, the young woman on the ferryboat. 00:32:42.750 --> 00:32:44.666 Read it back, please. 00:32:46.041 --> 00:32:49.708 "A white dress she had on, and she was carrying a white parasol, 00:32:50.625 --> 00:32:55.000 and I only saw her for one second, and she didn't see me at all." 00:32:56.125 --> 00:33:00.750 "But I'll bet a month hasn't gone by since that I haven't thought of that girl." 00:33:02.708 --> 00:33:04.833 A snapshot from the Mankiewicz family album? 00:33:04.916 --> 00:33:06.166 You might say that. 00:33:07.708 --> 00:33:09.750 It really is a gorgeous-- 00:33:09.833 --> 00:33:11.375 Spot to get stuck? 00:33:14.708 --> 00:33:18.666 -Is Bernstein meant to be Louis Mayer? -If form follows function. 00:33:18.750 --> 00:33:22.416 Mayer is the same pathetic sort of lapdog to our Charles Foster? 00:33:22.500 --> 00:33:25.000 Bernstein is a far nicer character. 00:33:25.083 --> 00:33:27.125 You don't much like Mayer. 00:33:27.208 --> 00:33:29.541 If I ever go to the electric chair, 00:33:30.041 --> 00:33:32.625 I'd like him to be sitting in my lap. 00:33:38.083 --> 00:33:41.041 Seven-fifty a week? That's half what you make, Herman. 00:33:41.125 --> 00:33:43.625 -You're a junior writer, Joe. -So? 00:33:43.708 --> 00:33:46.166 So, you're only half the wit your big brother is. 00:33:46.250 --> 00:33:49.625 -How many half-wits make that? -Herm, how do I look? 00:33:50.333 --> 00:33:54.291 -You look like you. Fine. -What should I be expecting? 00:33:54.375 --> 00:33:57.916 You're related to me. He already thinks you're a genius. 00:33:58.000 --> 00:33:59.000 Enough. 00:33:59.500 --> 00:34:02.166 The job will be yours if you can do two things. 00:34:02.250 --> 00:34:06.125 One, don't roll your eyes. Two, try not to fall asleep. 00:34:06.791 --> 00:34:08.208 This isn't Gower Gulch. 00:34:08.291 --> 00:34:10.708 You want I should make a picture about a prostitute? 00:34:10.791 --> 00:34:13.750 What's wrong with that? My mother was nothing but a whore. 00:34:13.833 --> 00:34:16.416 You would talk about your own mother that way? 00:34:16.500 --> 00:34:19.083 The woman who gave you life? 00:34:19.166 --> 00:34:21.916 You ungrateful bastard! I ought to cut your balls off! 00:34:22.000 --> 00:34:25.583 Do it, you fucking junk dealer! I'll still be the better man! 00:34:29.333 --> 00:34:32.000 L.B., this is my brother, Joe. 00:34:32.083 --> 00:34:34.541 Nice to meet you, Joseph. I'm Louis Mayer. 00:34:34.625 --> 00:34:36.958 I can't tell you what this means to him, Louis. 00:34:37.041 --> 00:34:41.250 -They're all there, Mr. Mayer. -On my way. Joe, walk with me. 00:34:47.500 --> 00:34:50.291 My boy, there are three work rules at this studio. 00:34:50.375 --> 00:34:53.916 Rule number one, ars gratia artis-- art for art's sake. 00:34:54.000 --> 00:34:54.916 How you doing? 00:34:55.000 --> 00:34:58.541 One million dollars a year we spend on stories we never even film. 00:34:58.625 --> 00:35:02.250 Why not? I'll tell you. They don't make me cry. 00:35:02.333 --> 00:35:04.833 What makes me cry? Emotion. 00:35:04.916 --> 00:35:06.958 Where do I feel emotion? 00:35:07.041 --> 00:35:09.625 Here, here, and here. 00:35:09.708 --> 00:35:10.833 Rule number two. 00:35:10.916 --> 00:35:14.000 You may have heard MGM has more stars than the heavens. 00:35:14.083 --> 00:35:15.333 Do not believe this. 00:35:15.416 --> 00:35:19.250 Hiya. We have only one star. That is Leo the Lion. 00:35:19.333 --> 00:35:20.625 Never forget that. 00:35:20.708 --> 00:35:23.583 Many stars have, and now they twinkle elsewhere. 00:35:23.666 --> 00:35:24.708 Rule number three… 00:35:24.791 --> 00:35:28.458 People think MGM stands for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. 00:35:28.541 --> 00:35:29.625 It does not. 00:35:29.708 --> 00:35:34.375 It stands for Mayer's gantze mishpokhe, Mayer's whole family. 00:35:34.458 --> 00:35:35.708 Never forget that. 00:35:35.791 --> 00:35:37.791 You got a problem, come to Papa. 00:35:38.458 --> 00:35:42.583 This is a business where the buyer gets nothing for his money but a memory. 00:35:42.666 --> 00:35:45.583 What he bought still belongs to the man who sold it. 00:35:45.666 --> 00:35:49.500 That's the real magic of the movies, and don't let anybody tell you different. 00:36:11.625 --> 00:36:17.541 I find myself in a horrendous position, and I come to all of you on bended knee. 00:36:19.458 --> 00:36:25.000 We are suffering, as all Americans are, from our country's terrible economic woes. 00:36:25.791 --> 00:36:29.125 Good people, everyday people, can't afford to go to the movies. 00:36:29.208 --> 00:36:33.125 So even our preeminent dream factory… 00:36:34.291 --> 00:36:36.875 is in grave financial difficulty. 00:36:38.916 --> 00:36:44.500 I am asking everyone in the MGM family to take a painful step. 00:36:45.375 --> 00:36:47.916 I am asking to roll back salaries. 00:36:48.916 --> 00:36:50.375 I don't want to, 00:36:50.875 --> 00:36:55.625 but for this hallowed place to continue to exist, I am forced to. 00:36:56.208 --> 00:37:00.291 I won't break up this family over something like money. 00:37:01.125 --> 00:37:03.625 -How long are you asking for? -Shouldn't be long. 00:37:03.708 --> 00:37:05.250 How much are you asking for? 00:37:05.333 --> 00:37:06.750 -Half. -Half? 00:37:06.833 --> 00:37:09.458 -Could be less. -Is everybody going to be pitching in? 00:37:09.541 --> 00:37:10.541 Are you, Mr. Mayer? 00:37:10.625 --> 00:37:13.958 Real families root for each other in the good times, 00:37:14.041 --> 00:37:17.125 take care of each other in tough ones. 00:37:18.000 --> 00:37:19.000 We're with you, L.B. 00:37:19.083 --> 00:37:20.500 You may be, Mr. Barrymore, 00:37:20.583 --> 00:37:23.041 but a 50% pay cut for grips and electricians-- 00:37:23.125 --> 00:37:26.375 Eight weeks, my friends, eight short weeks. 00:37:26.458 --> 00:37:31.125 As soon as FDR reopens the banks, you'll get back every penny. 00:37:31.208 --> 00:37:36.541 On that, you have the sacred word of L.B. Mayer. 00:37:44.333 --> 00:37:45.583 Well, I vote yes. 00:37:47.750 --> 00:37:50.375 -I do as well. -Me too. 00:38:10.208 --> 00:38:12.708 -How'd I do, Ben? -It was great, Mr. Mayer. 00:38:17.958 --> 00:38:21.208 Not even the most disgraceful thing I've ever seen. 00:38:28.000 --> 00:38:29.250 Good. 00:38:30.500 --> 00:38:31.541 Okay. 00:38:33.208 --> 00:38:35.000 -Yeah? -Yeah. 00:38:35.083 --> 00:38:37.458 Yeah? Okay. 00:38:37.541 --> 00:38:39.125 Maybe a little bit left? 00:38:39.625 --> 00:38:41.375 -Yeah? -Yeah. 00:38:41.458 --> 00:38:42.416 Here? 00:38:42.500 --> 00:38:45.416 -Yeah. -I've got to get typewriter ribbon. 00:38:45.500 --> 00:38:48.250 -Here are this morning's pages. -It's all dreck! 00:38:48.333 --> 00:38:50.291 Don't flagellate. At least you're writing. 00:38:50.375 --> 00:38:53.083 None of it sings. None of it. Not a note. 00:38:53.166 --> 00:38:54.750 You're not writing opera. 00:38:56.041 --> 00:38:57.041 Hello? 00:38:59.041 --> 00:39:00.708 But I am writing an opera. 00:39:03.916 --> 00:39:04.916 It's for you. 00:39:07.708 --> 00:39:09.708 -Yeah? -Herman, it's Joe. 00:39:09.791 --> 00:39:11.750 Hey, kid. What's up? 00:39:11.833 --> 00:39:14.958 -Checking in. How are you getting around? -Gingerly. 00:39:15.041 --> 00:39:17.375 -Any rest? -Haven't seen a sunrise yet. 00:39:17.458 --> 00:39:19.375 You've never seen a sunrise. 00:39:19.458 --> 00:39:22.333 -Sara said you wanted this number. -Just to hear your voice. 00:39:22.416 --> 00:39:26.416 She said you had some work you wanted to talk about. 00:39:26.916 --> 00:39:30.291 I was thinking about that old play, 00:39:30.375 --> 00:39:32.875 The Wild Man of Borneo, that you wrote in the Ice Age. 00:39:32.958 --> 00:39:36.375 One never remembers one's disasters. It's considered gauche. 00:39:36.458 --> 00:39:39.625 A play is never a disaster till the movies say it is. 00:39:39.708 --> 00:39:41.666 I brought it to my people at the studio. 00:39:41.750 --> 00:39:44.708 We want W.C. Fields, and we want you to adapt. 00:39:44.791 --> 00:39:47.541 I'm kind of on something right now. 00:39:47.625 --> 00:39:50.458 I can get you paid for the play and the adaptation. 00:39:50.958 --> 00:39:53.625 Sounds great, but I'll have to think about it. 00:39:53.708 --> 00:39:55.500 These things have their moment. 00:39:55.583 --> 00:39:58.291 So, this isn't an offer. It's a subtle ultimatum. 00:39:58.875 --> 00:40:01.333 Nobody could ever tell you what to do. 00:40:02.208 --> 00:40:04.083 Did Sara put you up to this? 00:40:04.166 --> 00:40:06.583 Not at all, but I know how things are. 00:40:06.666 --> 00:40:08.083 I can tell by her voice. 00:40:08.166 --> 00:40:11.041 -And how bad is that, baby brother? -How bad? 00:40:11.125 --> 00:40:12.583 I went to a party last night 00:40:12.666 --> 00:40:16.458 where Scott Fitzgerald referred to you as a ruined man. 00:40:16.541 --> 00:40:20.125 -That's how bad things can get. -That's good. I may use that. 00:40:20.208 --> 00:40:21.041 Hermie-- 00:40:21.125 --> 00:40:24.333 Please, stop, Joey. Just tell me what's on your mind. 00:40:26.083 --> 00:40:28.791 I hear you're hunting dangerous game. 00:40:29.541 --> 00:40:34.291 Word on the street is radio's golden boy wants to go toe-to-toe with Willie Hearst, 00:40:34.375 --> 00:40:36.375 and you're helping in the kitchen. 00:40:42.041 --> 00:40:43.416 -And? -"And?" 00:40:45.125 --> 00:40:46.333 Herman, "And?" 00:40:46.416 --> 00:40:47.500 How stupid of me. 00:40:47.583 --> 00:40:50.916 I thought I was rejecting a humiliating handout, 00:40:51.000 --> 00:40:54.208 when all the time, I was nixing a respectable bribe. 00:40:54.291 --> 00:40:56.000 And I'm sorry I ever cared. 00:41:08.458 --> 00:41:09.458 Come on. 00:41:18.375 --> 00:41:21.875 Marion and I are so pleased you could all come stay for the weekend. 00:41:22.375 --> 00:41:24.708 I hope the train ride wasn't too arduous. 00:41:25.833 --> 00:41:30.458 And tonight, we're celebrating our great friend's birthday 00:41:30.541 --> 00:41:32.416 in our little hillside home. 00:41:32.500 --> 00:41:33.500 Charlie. 00:41:33.583 --> 00:41:37.458 Happy birthday to you 00:41:37.541 --> 00:41:41.083 Happy birthday to you 00:41:41.166 --> 00:41:45.208 Happy birthday, dear Louis 00:41:45.708 --> 00:41:49.166 Happy birthday to you 00:41:53.000 --> 00:41:56.750 Louis, you should be joyous. You don't look a day over 48. 00:41:56.833 --> 00:41:58.500 I feel 35. 00:42:03.583 --> 00:42:06.791 Mr. Hearst, Marion, all of you, 00:42:07.333 --> 00:42:09.916 my heart is full to bursting. 00:42:10.958 --> 00:42:12.958 I can't express in words… 00:42:13.041 --> 00:42:14.791 Please don't try. 00:42:14.875 --> 00:42:21.250 W.R., nothing is more precious to me than your friendship and sage advice. 00:42:21.333 --> 00:42:23.875 I am blessed to call you my friend. 00:42:25.416 --> 00:42:28.250 God bless William Randolph Hearst. 00:42:28.750 --> 00:42:30.375 God bless us, every one. 00:42:31.458 --> 00:42:34.041 -Hear, hear. -A very happy birthday, Louis. 00:42:34.125 --> 00:42:37.708 Our country should be flattered you picked its birth date as your own. 00:42:37.791 --> 00:42:41.250 The rest of us have to be satisfied with the one we happened to be born on. 00:42:41.333 --> 00:42:42.250 Mank. 00:42:42.750 --> 00:42:46.375 Here's to your rich Canadian imagination. 00:42:46.458 --> 00:42:49.500 To rich Canadian imagination! 00:42:49.583 --> 00:42:50.916 Here's to banks reopening. 00:42:51.000 --> 00:42:52.875 -And to freedom. -Freedom! 00:42:52.958 --> 00:42:55.708 I believe you've met our distinguished guest, 00:42:55.791 --> 00:42:57.708 Mr. Rexford Tugwell. 00:42:57.791 --> 00:43:00.666 Now, Rex is special assistant to President Roosevelt. 00:43:00.750 --> 00:43:03.916 And we're all interested in what you might share with us. 00:43:04.500 --> 00:43:06.541 We all wanna welcome the Thalbergs 00:43:06.625 --> 00:43:09.583 back from Irving's long convalescence in Europe. 00:43:09.666 --> 00:43:12.041 -Thank you, W.R. -Good to see you, Irving. 00:43:12.125 --> 00:43:13.625 -Thank you, Mr. Hearst. -Norma. 00:43:14.333 --> 00:43:16.041 Anybody seen anything good lately? 00:43:16.125 --> 00:43:18.083 I just saw 42nd Street. 00:43:18.166 --> 00:43:20.125 It blew my wig! 00:43:20.208 --> 00:43:22.041 You can take the girl outta Bed-Stuy. 00:43:22.125 --> 00:43:24.666 -When was that? -Over the weekend. 00:43:24.750 --> 00:43:27.333 You were in D.C. I went to the pictures in Santa Barbara. 00:43:27.416 --> 00:43:29.166 We have a fine screening room here. 00:43:29.250 --> 00:43:32.291 Warner's picture? Why waste money on that? 00:43:32.375 --> 00:43:34.583 -Next time, I'll go with you. -Of course. 00:43:34.666 --> 00:43:39.166 I am bonkers about Movietone News. I love Lowell Thomas's voice. 00:43:39.250 --> 00:43:40.250 Is he single? 00:43:41.500 --> 00:43:43.916 I sat across from him at the Brown Derby once. 00:43:44.791 --> 00:43:46.250 -He bought me a drink. -He didn't! 00:43:46.333 --> 00:43:47.500 Not technically. 00:43:47.583 --> 00:43:50.375 But I made sure to run into him in the parking lot after. 00:43:50.458 --> 00:43:53.541 -I asked him, "Do you need a lift?" -You didn't! What did he say? 00:43:53.625 --> 00:43:56.916 -I'll never tell. -There's a point to this, dear? 00:43:57.000 --> 00:44:01.666 Well, yes, they showed that Hitler giving a speech, kissing babies. 00:44:01.750 --> 00:44:03.166 He is creepers! 00:44:03.250 --> 00:44:06.250 Lederhosen and suspenders. Terrifying. 00:44:06.333 --> 00:44:08.708 No, it's the mustache that's the horror. 00:44:08.791 --> 00:44:11.458 Don't be alarmed, Marion. He won't be around for long. 00:44:11.541 --> 00:44:14.541 The Germans are a thoughtful, considerate people. 00:44:14.625 --> 00:44:16.291 Enough about Nazis. 00:44:16.375 --> 00:44:18.583 Irving, tell us about your travels. 00:44:18.666 --> 00:44:19.750 Where were you? 00:44:20.916 --> 00:44:22.333 Berlin, in fact. 00:44:23.041 --> 00:44:24.333 But it was interesting. 00:44:24.416 --> 00:44:27.541 Thugs in brown shirts goose-stepping past our hotel all night, 00:44:27.625 --> 00:44:29.333 screaming anti-Semitic slogans. 00:44:29.416 --> 00:44:30.791 I was terrified. 00:44:30.875 --> 00:44:32.666 This Hitler sounds like a drip. 00:44:32.750 --> 00:44:35.416 Shouldn't the United States do something, Mr. Tugwell? 00:44:35.500 --> 00:44:37.125 We are weighing all options. 00:44:37.208 --> 00:44:40.041 Can't last. Who takes a lunatic like that seriously? 00:44:40.125 --> 00:44:42.666 The last time I looked, 40 million Germans. 00:44:42.750 --> 00:44:45.250 Mank! You're always so wonderfully contrary. 00:44:45.333 --> 00:44:50.125 "Chase & Sanborn's der coffee. Can 40 million Nazis all be wrong?" 00:44:50.208 --> 00:44:53.333 I just read they've opened their first concentration camps 00:44:53.416 --> 00:44:54.916 and started burning books. 00:44:55.000 --> 00:44:57.791 -What's next? Movies? -Enough. 00:44:57.875 --> 00:45:00.000 -Is that true, Irving? -Yes, L.B. 00:45:00.916 --> 00:45:02.250 Hitler, Schmitler! 00:45:02.916 --> 00:45:05.000 You don't turn your back on a market as big as Germany. 00:45:05.083 --> 00:45:08.875 Please. It's upsetting enough Marion had to endure the man in newsreel. 00:45:08.958 --> 00:45:10.583 What's a concentration camp? 00:45:10.666 --> 00:45:12.958 It was fascinating. Those people adore him. 00:45:14.916 --> 00:45:18.541 -I'm probably talking nonsense. -You're the first tonight that isn't. 00:45:18.625 --> 00:45:21.125 Speaking of socialists, how about Sinclair's book? 00:45:21.208 --> 00:45:24.250 He wants to turn private enterprise over to the state. 00:45:24.333 --> 00:45:26.125 There's one we won't be optioning. 00:45:26.208 --> 00:45:27.583 It's selling like crazy. 00:45:27.666 --> 00:45:30.541 Walter Winchell says Sinclair may run for governor. 00:45:30.625 --> 00:45:33.666 That rat Bolshevik belongs right up there with Hitler 00:45:33.750 --> 00:45:36.583 on the list of people not to be taken seriously. 00:45:36.666 --> 00:45:39.041 There's a world of difference between communism and socialism. 00:45:39.125 --> 00:45:42.666 -They both want something for nothing. -Like a workforce for free? 00:45:42.750 --> 00:45:44.416 Half, and only in the interim. 00:45:44.500 --> 00:45:47.041 It's safe to assume none of us here would welcome 00:45:47.125 --> 00:45:50.125 a crusading socialist as California's political savior. 00:45:50.208 --> 00:45:52.666 Certainly not FDR. Am I right, Rex? 00:45:52.750 --> 00:45:55.375 Off the record, President says the man bears watching. 00:45:55.458 --> 00:45:58.916 Especially now that Republicans seem bent on running Frank Merriam again. 00:45:59.000 --> 00:46:01.750 Sinclair's run twice before and got, what, 2% of the vote? 00:46:01.833 --> 00:46:05.750 -Good people, the man is an author. -As was Thomas Jefferson. 00:46:05.833 --> 00:46:09.500 Come now, Mank. Upton Sinclair as Thomas Jefferson? 00:46:09.583 --> 00:46:10.958 No, you're right, W.R. 00:46:11.041 --> 00:46:14.375 Jefferson never got federal laws passed to ban oil monopolies, 00:46:14.458 --> 00:46:17.541 the railroad trusts, or cleaned up the stockyards. 00:46:17.625 --> 00:46:20.958 -He's an angry scribe, a provocateur. -Because he provokes thought. 00:46:21.041 --> 00:46:22.916 You always side with the writer, Mank. 00:46:23.416 --> 00:46:26.625 Poor souls surviving a depression on five grand a week. 00:46:26.708 --> 00:46:28.125 -Commies. -L.B. is not wrong. 00:46:28.208 --> 00:46:29.916 Irving, you're a literate man. 00:46:30.000 --> 00:46:32.750 You know the difference between communism and socialism. 00:46:32.833 --> 00:46:35.000 In socialism, everyone shares the wealth. 00:46:35.083 --> 00:46:37.458 In communism, everyone shares the poverty. 00:46:37.541 --> 00:46:39.041 Thank you, Mr. Mankiewicz. 00:46:39.125 --> 00:46:43.000 Upton just wants you to apportion some of your Christmas bonus, Irving, 00:46:43.083 --> 00:46:45.041 to the people who clean your house. 00:46:46.166 --> 00:46:48.583 Now, that's why I always want Mank around. 00:46:48.666 --> 00:46:49.625 Me too. 00:46:49.708 --> 00:46:52.708 Upton? Nobody's asking to hear you sing "The Internationale." 00:46:54.250 --> 00:46:57.250 -What's that? -The Communist national anthem, darling. 00:46:57.333 --> 00:46:59.750 I would. Do you sing? 00:46:59.833 --> 00:47:02.208 No one should have to hear me sing. Right, Sara? 00:47:02.291 --> 00:47:03.458 If at all possible. 00:47:03.541 --> 00:47:05.625 As Republican state chairman-elect, 00:47:05.708 --> 00:47:08.250 I'm telling you, nothing's going to happen here. 00:47:08.333 --> 00:47:11.333 The people who count in California won't let it. 00:47:11.833 --> 00:47:14.625 All this talk is so much pissing in the wind. 00:47:14.708 --> 00:47:15.583 Nicely put. 00:47:15.666 --> 00:47:19.125 I heard Pops on the phone helping to pick the president's cabinet 00:47:19.208 --> 00:47:20.416 like casting a movie. 00:47:20.500 --> 00:47:22.708 They can stop a guy like Sinclair. 00:47:22.791 --> 00:47:23.916 Couldn't you, Pops? 00:47:27.166 --> 00:47:28.166 Pardon. 00:47:30.250 --> 00:47:32.041 I don't know what I'm saying. 00:47:45.333 --> 00:47:46.250 Go. 00:48:06.708 --> 00:48:08.250 Hello, Tokyo? 00:48:10.375 --> 00:48:12.000 London, you there? 00:48:13.208 --> 00:48:14.333 Nerts! 00:48:14.416 --> 00:48:17.791 -What is that? -Pops's radio-phones. 00:48:17.875 --> 00:48:20.333 Never ever be out of touch with your empire. 00:48:20.416 --> 00:48:22.750 No, what's "nerts"? 00:48:22.833 --> 00:48:25.125 Nerts is Brooklynese for "nuts." 00:48:25.708 --> 00:48:26.708 Jeepers! 00:48:36.250 --> 00:48:38.541 What did I do that was so terrible? 00:48:39.250 --> 00:48:42.208 I shouldn't have said that about the cabinet in front of Tugwell, 00:48:42.291 --> 00:48:45.750 but since when does anybody care what I have to say? 00:48:45.833 --> 00:48:48.125 Those things just pop out of my mouth, 00:48:48.208 --> 00:48:51.458 and the moment they do, I feel like… 00:48:51.541 --> 00:48:53.541 Like you got caught, jambes en l'air. 00:48:54.541 --> 00:48:55.375 No! 00:48:56.208 --> 00:49:00.250 Well, do you always just say whatever you think? 00:49:02.458 --> 00:49:04.000 You're blushing. 00:49:04.500 --> 00:49:05.833 -Am not. -Are, too. 00:49:05.916 --> 00:49:10.250 -Am not. -Are, too. I can see it even in the dark. 00:49:10.333 --> 00:49:11.875 Well, what can I tell you, Mank? 00:49:11.958 --> 00:49:15.958 Marion Douras went to convent school. 00:49:16.041 --> 00:49:18.750 Hedda! Louella! 00:49:18.833 --> 00:49:21.500 Where's a gossip columnist when you need one? 00:49:22.291 --> 00:49:25.416 I hate shop talk. I never know what's going on. 00:49:26.291 --> 00:49:29.708 The one thing you never ever talk about is Upton Sinclair. 00:49:29.791 --> 00:49:31.083 I noted. 00:49:31.166 --> 00:49:33.708 The moment he's mentioned, the evening turns. 00:49:33.791 --> 00:49:36.416 -It's sort of a sore subject. -Really? 00:49:37.666 --> 00:49:38.708 Do tell. 00:49:42.375 --> 00:49:44.750 I don't even know who this Mr. Sinclair is, 00:49:44.833 --> 00:49:46.750 but he wrote about us for a book. 00:49:47.250 --> 00:49:49.375 I used to quote it word for word. 00:49:50.041 --> 00:49:54.375 "I saw our richest newspaper publisher keep his movie mistress 00:49:54.458 --> 00:49:57.750 in a private city of palaces and cathedrals, 00:49:57.833 --> 00:50:01.625 furnished with shiploads of junk imported from Europe 00:50:01.708 --> 00:50:07.000 and surrounded by vast acres reserved for use by zebras and giraffes, 00:50:07.083 --> 00:50:10.916 telling in jest that he had spent six million dollars 00:50:11.000 --> 00:50:13.208 to make his lady's reputation 00:50:13.291 --> 00:50:16.291 and using his newspapers to celebrate her change of hats." 00:50:16.875 --> 00:50:20.250 It must be hard to be on the receiving end of that. 00:50:20.333 --> 00:50:22.791 People think because you're on the cover of Modern Screen, 00:50:22.875 --> 00:50:24.000 they know you. 00:50:25.125 --> 00:50:27.666 Nerts! What do I have to complain about? 00:50:27.750 --> 00:50:30.583 I live in a fishbowl, but anything I want is mine. 00:50:31.416 --> 00:50:35.250 If I could, I'd share with everyone. You know that, Mank. 00:50:35.750 --> 00:50:38.916 This Upton doesn't know a thing about the real… 00:50:40.750 --> 00:50:46.500 Nobody, but nobody, makes a monkey out of William Randolph Hearst! 00:50:47.708 --> 00:50:49.958 I understand why Mayer loathes him. 00:50:50.041 --> 00:50:53.916 -Why? -Sinclair caught him with his pants down. 00:50:54.416 --> 00:50:55.250 Yikes! 00:50:55.333 --> 00:50:59.166 He wrote that Mayer took a bribe to look the other way 00:50:59.250 --> 00:51:01.375 so a rival could buy MGM. 00:51:02.375 --> 00:51:05.208 -It's complicated. -Over my head? 00:51:05.291 --> 00:51:08.416 No, over mine. You'd need a degree in larceny. 00:51:08.500 --> 00:51:11.750 -Isn't bribery a crime? -That's what Sinclair said. 00:51:11.833 --> 00:51:14.416 The little sausage might have gone to jail. 00:51:14.500 --> 00:51:16.125 Jeepers! 00:51:16.208 --> 00:51:17.583 The hypocrisy. 00:51:18.083 --> 00:51:20.833 "Mayn gantze mishpokhe. My mishpokhe." 00:51:20.916 --> 00:51:23.708 -I don't speak a lot of Jewish. -Really? 00:51:24.208 --> 00:51:26.333 "My mishpokhe. My family." 00:51:26.833 --> 00:51:30.166 Everything he does is for family, 00:51:30.250 --> 00:51:32.500 except when it comes to selling his last name 00:51:32.583 --> 00:51:34.791 to a competitor in the middle of the night. 00:51:36.041 --> 00:51:37.958 He would do that to his own studio? 00:51:38.500 --> 00:51:41.875 He doesn't own MGM any more than Sam Goldwyn. 00:51:41.958 --> 00:51:44.083 They just run it for the moneyboys back East. 00:51:44.916 --> 00:51:49.291 And jail is not something an animal like Mayer is likely to forget. 00:51:53.541 --> 00:51:55.166 Irving must be clean. 00:51:55.250 --> 00:51:57.458 He looks like he shaves three times a day. 00:51:58.208 --> 00:52:00.875 Well, there's clean, and there's clean. 00:52:01.583 --> 00:52:04.125 Irving bought one of Sinclair's novels. 00:52:04.750 --> 00:52:09.291 Sinclair demanded a guarantee that not one word could be changed, 00:52:09.375 --> 00:52:12.375 in writing, on the back of the purchase check. 00:52:12.916 --> 00:52:15.750 He didn't want notes from Irving Thalberg? 00:52:15.833 --> 00:52:19.208 When Thalberg refused, Sinclair took his money 00:52:19.291 --> 00:52:23.666 and ran off to Mexico and financed a picture about the Russian Revolution. 00:52:26.791 --> 00:52:29.416 Now, that's sticking the old neck out. 00:52:40.166 --> 00:52:42.666 I'm sorry. Instinct! 00:52:43.166 --> 00:52:44.250 My fault. 00:52:45.333 --> 00:52:47.791 I've been a little sixes and sevens recently. 00:52:48.791 --> 00:52:51.166 Tell me something, Mank. The truth. 00:52:52.833 --> 00:52:54.125 Could you see me playing 00:52:54.208 --> 00:52:56.583 Elizabeth Barrett Browning or Marie Antoinette? 00:52:56.666 --> 00:53:00.833 Irving's bought 'em both. You know, because of Pops. 00:53:02.125 --> 00:53:03.125 What do you think? 00:53:03.708 --> 00:53:05.416 And honestly. 00:53:07.958 --> 00:53:10.000 I see you more as Dulcinea. 00:53:10.583 --> 00:53:12.416 -Who? -Dulcinea. 00:53:12.500 --> 00:53:14.708 From the Spanish, for sweetness. 00:53:16.791 --> 00:53:18.875 "Her hair, gold." 00:53:19.750 --> 00:53:21.416 "Her cheeks, roses." 00:53:21.500 --> 00:53:22.666 Nice. 00:53:22.750 --> 00:53:24.666 "Her lips, coral." 00:53:25.875 --> 00:53:28.041 "Her neck, alabaster." 00:53:28.541 --> 00:53:30.083 "Her bosom, marble." 00:53:30.166 --> 00:53:32.250 Marble? Maybe once. 00:53:32.958 --> 00:53:37.250 "Ivory, her hands, and her whiteness, snow." 00:53:38.083 --> 00:53:42.041 -You wrote that? -No. A fella named Cervantes. 00:53:43.250 --> 00:53:45.750 "There are meters of accent and meters of tone, 00:53:45.833 --> 00:53:48.666 but the best of all meters is to meet her alone." 00:53:49.333 --> 00:53:53.416 -A poem with a message. -That's just the first verse. 00:53:53.958 --> 00:53:54.875 The last? 00:53:56.291 --> 00:53:58.958 "There are letters of accent 00:53:59.041 --> 00:54:00.666 and letters of tone, 00:54:00.750 --> 00:54:03.375 but the best of all letters is to let her alone." 00:54:06.125 --> 00:54:08.166 Now, those, I wrote. 00:54:58.666 --> 00:54:59.708 Do come in. 00:55:02.916 --> 00:55:04.958 Jesus! What is that? 00:55:05.041 --> 00:55:06.875 Sunlight. It's nearly noon. 00:55:06.958 --> 00:55:09.916 Mother of God! Where did the night go? 00:55:11.083 --> 00:55:14.916 -Your support device is here. -Good. Send it in. 00:55:15.000 --> 00:55:16.333 As is Mr. Houseman. 00:55:18.875 --> 00:55:20.458 What would you like me to do? 00:55:21.125 --> 00:55:22.708 Well, send him in, too. 00:55:38.875 --> 00:55:40.750 Put it over there, please. 00:55:41.791 --> 00:55:44.750 -You're early. -I thought we should talk. 00:55:45.333 --> 00:55:47.750 -Why are you wearing a coat? -I always wear a coat. 00:55:47.833 --> 00:55:49.375 Must be 108 degrees. 00:55:49.458 --> 00:55:51.791 We're at a Rubicon moment, Mank. 00:55:51.875 --> 00:55:54.791 It's not the work. That's everything we hoped it would be. 00:55:54.875 --> 00:55:57.333 -Enough room there? -It should be. 00:55:58.958 --> 00:56:00.416 I'm sorry, John. 00:56:01.750 --> 00:56:04.000 -You've only written 90 pages. -Ninety-one. 00:56:04.083 --> 00:56:07.041 In my expert opinion, you're hardly out of the first act. 00:56:07.125 --> 00:56:09.250 I mean, how do you hope to be done in 14… 00:56:10.250 --> 00:56:11.625 13 days? 00:56:11.708 --> 00:56:14.458 We gave him our solemn word we would deliver. 00:56:14.541 --> 00:56:17.375 -"We"? -I don't think he's going to take it well. 00:56:17.458 --> 00:56:19.708 You said 90 days. Welles said 60. 00:56:19.791 --> 00:56:21.583 I'm doing the very best I can. 00:56:21.666 --> 00:56:25.416 -We are surely to be axed. -Not just yet. 00:56:26.666 --> 00:56:27.875 I've never been fired. 00:56:29.000 --> 00:56:31.500 -I've never not been fired. -I don't get fired. 00:56:31.583 --> 00:56:33.875 It's not as unpleasant as you might imagine. 00:56:33.958 --> 00:56:36.000 You worry too much, John. 00:56:36.083 --> 00:56:37.875 What do you do for pleasure? 00:56:38.875 --> 00:56:39.750 Hello? 00:56:40.416 --> 00:56:41.541 Yes, he's here. 00:56:44.041 --> 00:56:44.958 It's Orson. 00:56:47.125 --> 00:56:50.041 -Will you talk? -He'd like to speak with Mr. Houseman. 00:56:51.083 --> 00:56:51.916 Me? 00:56:59.333 --> 00:57:00.166 Orson. 00:57:02.083 --> 00:57:04.333 I came early to see where we were with… 00:57:05.416 --> 00:57:08.875 No, not at all. Everything's going absolutely according… 00:57:09.916 --> 00:57:12.708 Well, that's difficult to say exactly. 00:57:13.250 --> 00:57:15.416 Yep. Yes, I know the clock… 00:57:17.375 --> 00:57:19.708 Well, as I've told you, it's quite unique. 00:57:19.791 --> 00:57:21.500 In fact, I'd say one of the most… 00:57:24.333 --> 00:57:27.541 Yes, well, it will absolutely need your marvelous… 00:57:29.041 --> 00:57:31.666 He's on the mend and working tirelessly. 00:57:33.291 --> 00:57:34.541 Of course. When? 00:57:36.000 --> 00:57:39.250 I'm on my way. Yes. Hang on, he's right here. 00:57:41.958 --> 00:57:44.458 He wants to see me right away. Wouldn't tell me why. 00:57:45.291 --> 00:57:46.500 Perhaps he will you. 00:57:52.541 --> 00:57:53.541 Orson! 00:57:54.208 --> 00:57:55.666 Tell me what's up, Mank. 00:57:56.166 --> 00:57:57.500 He's getting on my nerves. 00:57:57.583 --> 00:57:59.666 I sensed that. I told him I had to see him. 00:57:59.750 --> 00:58:02.083 Hopefully, I can think of a reason before he gets here. 00:58:02.166 --> 00:58:04.458 I've finished my test for Heart of Darkness. 00:58:04.541 --> 00:58:06.708 I'm turning my attention to our project. 00:58:06.791 --> 00:58:08.083 "Let there be light." 00:58:08.166 --> 00:58:12.041 -Tell me what to expect. -I thought you'd want to be surprised. 00:58:12.125 --> 00:58:14.875 You're always surprising. That's why you were my only choice. 00:58:14.958 --> 00:58:19.125 No one else is Mankiewicz. I can almost hear the finish line. 00:58:19.208 --> 00:58:22.333 -We're about to turn a corner. -Unto the breach! 00:58:23.708 --> 00:58:25.291 Slim, you may tote 00:58:25.375 --> 00:58:27.208 those lovely highland beauties to the kitchen. 00:58:27.291 --> 00:58:29.416 Fraulein Freda, empty the Mickeys 00:58:29.500 --> 00:58:32.416 and start replacing their contents. Raus. Schnell. 00:58:35.083 --> 00:58:37.041 -Thank you, Slim. You may go. -Slim. 00:58:44.250 --> 00:58:48.125 Mr. Mankiewicz, please don't ask us to help you in this sad deception. 00:58:48.208 --> 00:58:49.583 My dear Mrs. Alexander, 00:58:49.666 --> 00:58:52.291 Charlie Lederer and I went to a great deal of trouble 00:58:52.375 --> 00:58:54.583 to engineer this sad deception. 00:58:54.666 --> 00:58:57.625 My deadline is two weeks away, and I intend-- 00:58:57.708 --> 00:58:59.291 It could mean our jobs. 00:58:59.375 --> 00:59:03.750 I do my best thinking before I fall asleep. 00:59:03.833 --> 00:59:06.750 And I am sick and tired of having my evenings end 00:59:06.833 --> 00:59:10.041 with the abrupt sensation of being struck on the head 00:59:10.125 --> 00:59:11.500 with a croquet mallet. 00:59:11.583 --> 00:59:13.875 -A way to put it. -I'm not asking you to help. 00:59:13.958 --> 00:59:15.916 -You're not? -I am telling you. 00:59:17.708 --> 00:59:21.708 I'm sorry. I won't be bullied. You'll have my resignation in the morning. 00:59:21.791 --> 00:59:24.625 I know Fraulein Freda's been sneaking you nightcaps. 00:59:24.708 --> 00:59:27.166 If she continues to cooperate in this cheap ruse, 00:59:27.250 --> 00:59:29.083 I shall report the both of you. 00:59:29.166 --> 00:59:31.416 -Fraulein Freda. -Ja, Herr Mank? 00:59:31.500 --> 00:59:34.125 -Please do as I instructed. -Ja, Herr Mank. 00:59:51.166 --> 00:59:53.125 You mustn't let him intimidate you. 00:59:54.458 --> 00:59:56.625 I'm not intimidated, Frau Alexander. 00:59:56.708 --> 00:59:57.916 Then, why? 01:00:02.625 --> 01:00:05.375 Herr Mank sponsored my family's entry into this country. 01:00:05.458 --> 01:00:09.666 He's responsible for us getting safely out of Germany, legally and financially. 01:00:10.375 --> 01:00:13.250 -Really? -Our entire village, he brought here. 01:00:14.250 --> 01:00:15.833 Entire village? 01:00:15.916 --> 01:00:17.458 Over 100 people. 01:00:19.083 --> 01:00:21.125 Joseph Goebbels, the propaganda minister, 01:00:21.208 --> 01:00:24.166 will not allow his films to be shown in the Fatherland. 01:00:25.291 --> 01:00:26.875 I didn't realize. 01:00:27.375 --> 01:00:31.750 He wrote a picture about the Nazis which no studio anywhere will dare make. 01:00:32.958 --> 01:00:37.291 I assume if he wishes to drink, he's a grown man, a good man, 01:00:37.791 --> 01:00:39.333 and should be treated as such. 01:00:40.666 --> 01:00:41.791 Nicht wahr? 01:00:54.166 --> 01:00:56.750 To Mank-town. Or is it Mank-ville? 01:00:59.958 --> 01:01:00.958 Dear Freda. 01:01:02.083 --> 01:01:04.416 What's German for blabbermouth? 01:01:04.500 --> 01:01:06.583 Either you demonstrate you can handle this, 01:01:06.666 --> 01:01:08.541 or we will all end up getting sacked. 01:01:08.625 --> 01:01:11.833 There's nothing like a vote of confidence from one's peers. 01:01:11.916 --> 01:01:13.875 To Mank-berg. Prosit. 01:01:13.958 --> 01:01:16.666 Mank-heim. Bottoms up. 01:01:33.208 --> 01:01:36.291 Hey, Mank, you remember me? 01:01:36.375 --> 01:01:39.750 Oh, my God. Of course I remember you, C.C. 01:01:39.833 --> 01:01:42.791 C.C. for Central Casting. How you been, Mank? 01:01:42.875 --> 01:01:43.833 What happened? 01:01:43.916 --> 01:01:46.458 "What happened?" The goddamn Depression happened. 01:01:46.541 --> 01:01:49.333 I ain't had so much as a walk-on since Tugboat Annie. 01:01:49.833 --> 01:01:51.541 Listen, I hate to, you know… 01:01:51.625 --> 01:01:54.791 Yeah. Ed, lend me a buck. 01:02:02.958 --> 01:02:07.125 Me and Grady here been thinking of bummin' east to Miami. 01:02:07.625 --> 01:02:10.875 I heard from someone the Hollywood studios are moving to Florida. 01:02:10.958 --> 01:02:14.166 -Who told you that? -I can't say, but somebody in the know. 01:02:14.250 --> 01:02:16.500 In certain echelons, it's common knowledge. 01:02:16.583 --> 01:02:18.500 Well, people in certain echelons 01:02:18.583 --> 01:02:21.416 don't usually trust me with sensitive information. 01:02:21.500 --> 01:02:25.833 But the studios aren't moving anywhere. That's company-town propaganda. 01:02:25.916 --> 01:02:29.000 Believe what you want, but, say, you think you could spare… 01:02:31.083 --> 01:02:32.000 Ed? 01:02:34.708 --> 01:02:36.125 Bless you, Mank. 01:02:36.208 --> 01:02:38.416 The bastard reneged. You were there. 01:02:38.500 --> 01:02:40.166 Yes, he reinstated salaries, 01:02:40.250 --> 01:02:42.541 but he never gave back the money he promised. 01:02:42.625 --> 01:02:43.833 Giant surprise. 01:02:43.916 --> 01:02:47.666 Come on, Mank. We need guys like you to keep people like Mayer honest. 01:02:47.750 --> 01:02:50.250 I'd refer you, for that, to the power of prayer. 01:02:50.333 --> 01:02:52.166 The Writers Guild doesn't have to hit the bricks 01:02:52.250 --> 01:02:54.125 for the $2,500-a-week guy. 01:02:54.208 --> 01:02:56.583 We're doing it for the $250-a-week guy. 01:02:56.666 --> 01:03:01.208 Joe, all the $250-a-week writers I know are getting $2,500. 01:03:01.791 --> 01:03:04.958 Stop crying for your just deserts. They're liable to give them to you. 01:03:05.041 --> 01:03:07.333 Then we'll all be working for 75 bucks a week. 01:03:07.416 --> 01:03:09.333 I don't know if you've walked a picket line. 01:03:09.416 --> 01:03:11.916 -You might have to. -And Dave Chasen will cater. 01:03:12.000 --> 01:03:15.583 "Junior writers only paid $750 a week." 01:03:15.666 --> 01:03:17.875 If that happens, you'd better run 01:03:17.958 --> 01:03:21.541 before real folk with real troubles stone you to death. 01:03:22.916 --> 01:03:26.083 Hermie, the guild's in its infancy. 01:03:26.166 --> 01:03:27.833 -It needs you. -You're telling me. 01:03:27.916 --> 01:03:29.541 What writer failed to notice 01:03:29.625 --> 01:03:32.291 the Screen Writers Guild needs an apostrophe? 01:03:33.000 --> 01:03:34.791 As Groucho always said, 01:03:34.875 --> 01:03:36.333 "Never belong to any club 01:03:36.416 --> 01:03:38.833 that would have someone like you for a member." 01:03:40.500 --> 01:03:41.583 And look at him. 01:03:42.083 --> 01:03:44.833 The most miserable bastard on God's green earth. 01:03:44.916 --> 01:03:48.541 I'd tell him you said that, only he'd think you were brownnosing. 01:04:01.875 --> 01:04:02.708 Close the door. 01:04:07.208 --> 01:04:08.041 Summer. 01:04:08.125 --> 01:04:11.541 Inez, you are not to let the brothers Marx wait in my office. 01:04:11.625 --> 01:04:13.750 They've been grilling hot dogs again. 01:04:14.916 --> 01:04:15.750 Sit down. 01:04:32.750 --> 01:04:33.833 You wanted to see me? 01:04:33.916 --> 01:04:34.875 Not that I care, 01:04:34.958 --> 01:04:38.625 but why aren't you contributing to MGM's anti-Sinclair fund? 01:04:38.708 --> 01:04:40.416 Well, call me old-fashioned, 01:04:40.500 --> 01:04:43.916 but I don't like being told which side of a fight I'm already on. 01:04:44.000 --> 01:04:46.333 How's it gonna look if the GOP chairman himself 01:04:46.416 --> 01:04:48.791 can't get unanimous support from his own studio? 01:04:51.375 --> 01:04:52.583 You're serious. 01:04:52.666 --> 01:04:54.000 I was taught by my parents 01:04:54.083 --> 01:04:56.625 to be straightforward, to ask simply for what I want, 01:04:56.708 --> 01:04:59.166 and expect that I may have to elucidate my position. 01:04:59.250 --> 01:05:01.583 I was encouraged by mine to use my imagination, 01:05:01.666 --> 01:05:03.958 but I taught myself to avoid the consequences. 01:05:04.041 --> 01:05:05.583 It's ten bucks, Mank. 01:05:06.291 --> 01:05:08.833 You piss that away between hopeless bets. 01:05:08.916 --> 01:05:11.958 I hate to think what L.B. might do if he knew you were the only holdout. 01:05:12.625 --> 01:05:16.083 -I am, and he doesn't? -And we're not gonna tell him. 01:05:19.041 --> 01:05:22.041 -I could let you go for this. -It is a hanging offense. 01:05:22.125 --> 01:05:24.458 But I'll add the amount to your gambling debt 01:05:24.541 --> 01:05:26.625 and forget we ever had this conversation. 01:05:26.708 --> 01:05:30.291 You do that… and the brand-spanking-new Writers Guild 01:05:30.375 --> 01:05:33.708 might find it very interesting, not to mention the newspapers. 01:05:33.791 --> 01:05:36.708 I'm not sure the guild intends to cover games of chance. 01:05:36.791 --> 01:05:41.208 And you won't go to the press, because in California, that means Hearst. 01:05:41.291 --> 01:05:44.875 Irving, you are the shrewdest executive in this town. 01:05:44.958 --> 01:05:48.291 Why are you acting like some dumb ward heeler? 01:05:51.416 --> 01:05:53.125 You don't need my donation. 01:05:53.625 --> 01:05:57.541 You don't need anybody's. You have everything it takes right here. 01:05:58.375 --> 01:05:59.333 Meaning? 01:06:01.416 --> 01:06:05.708 Meaning you can make the world swear King Kong is ten stories tall 01:06:05.791 --> 01:06:08.125 and Mary Pickford, a virgin at 40. 01:06:08.833 --> 01:06:12.666 Yet, you can't convince starving voters that a turncoat socialist 01:06:12.750 --> 01:06:15.416 is a menace to everything Californians hold dear? 01:06:16.458 --> 01:06:18.000 You're barely trying. 01:06:32.500 --> 01:06:36.000 Millions of Californians are being taxed out of their homes, 01:06:36.083 --> 01:06:38.458 yet the Depression is one of abundance. 01:06:38.541 --> 01:06:41.750 Fruit rots on the ground, and vegetables are dumped into the ocean 01:06:41.833 --> 01:06:43.666 because there are no markets for them. 01:06:43.750 --> 01:06:47.708 Aimee Semple McPherson says you're a godless commie, Upton! 01:06:48.208 --> 01:06:52.416 Too often, sir, the religion of Jesus is used by the ruling classes 01:06:52.500 --> 01:06:55.791 to keep themselves in power and the poor ever poorer. 01:06:55.875 --> 01:06:59.916 And that, my friends, is a sin and an error. 01:07:00.000 --> 01:07:01.458 I say, with Thomas Jefferson, 01:07:01.541 --> 01:07:06.958 "Truth has nothing to fear from error where reason is left free to combat it." 01:07:08.958 --> 01:07:11.000 My friends, income in this country 01:07:11.083 --> 01:07:14.583 is going to be redistributed by one of two methods, 01:07:14.666 --> 01:07:18.041 legal enactment or violent revolution. 01:07:18.125 --> 01:07:21.291 We haven't much longer to exercise our choice. 01:07:21.375 --> 01:07:22.791 Thank you all for coming. 01:07:24.166 --> 01:07:26.083 Tell us about Hollywood! 01:07:26.166 --> 01:07:29.375 Are the studios really moving to Florida like they've been saying? 01:07:29.458 --> 01:07:30.750 Absurd, sir. 01:07:30.833 --> 01:07:34.083 If they were serious, why have the brothers Warner broken ground 01:07:34.166 --> 01:07:36.875 on an additional 100,000 square feet of sound stages, 01:07:37.458 --> 01:07:42.083 while MGM has the most contracts with stars in their history? 01:07:42.583 --> 01:07:47.041 Well, he may not get Mayer's vote, but he gets mine. 01:07:47.125 --> 01:07:48.458 …in California. 01:07:48.958 --> 01:07:50.416 Thank you all for coming. 01:07:56.333 --> 01:08:02.208 Well, I have seen some miracles in my day, but I have over 200 pages in 13 days. 01:08:02.291 --> 01:08:03.958 I never thought it possible. 01:08:05.083 --> 01:08:06.708 To support devices. 01:08:06.791 --> 01:08:08.500 Support devices. 01:08:14.416 --> 01:08:15.708 It's good, Mank. 01:08:15.791 --> 01:08:17.125 Damn good. 01:08:17.208 --> 01:08:20.208 I have it on highest authority it's the best thing he's done. 01:08:20.958 --> 01:08:22.916 As a moving picture, it's more than good. 01:08:23.000 --> 01:08:28.375 I'm at a loss to even express how wealth and influence can crush a man. 01:08:28.458 --> 01:08:31.583 It's Lear. The dark night of the soul. 01:08:31.666 --> 01:08:33.500 And I was completely mistaken. 01:08:33.583 --> 01:08:37.083 The shifting point of view is revolutionary. 01:08:37.166 --> 01:08:40.000 I never thought one could care so much about a sled. 01:08:40.583 --> 01:08:42.250 It's kind of you to say. 01:08:42.333 --> 01:08:43.166 But. 01:08:43.750 --> 01:08:45.625 "But," again. 01:08:45.708 --> 01:08:47.708 It's 327 pages. 01:08:47.791 --> 01:08:49.625 An embarrassment of riches. 01:08:49.708 --> 01:08:53.333 When the Dog-Faced Boy gets here, there will be branches to prune. 01:08:53.416 --> 01:08:57.750 "A far too long screenplay for the ages." John Houseman. 01:08:59.250 --> 01:09:03.500 I built him a watertight narrative and a suggested destination. 01:09:04.125 --> 01:09:06.291 Where he takes it, that's his job. 01:09:13.041 --> 01:09:16.000 I was looking to get you paid. 01:09:16.875 --> 01:09:19.125 I don't know if you were aware or not. 01:09:21.041 --> 01:09:24.250 You signed your rights to the Mercury. You agreed not to take screen credit. 01:09:24.333 --> 01:09:27.416 -I needed the work. -You may want to reconsider. 01:09:27.500 --> 01:09:33.458 All I currently want is a real shower, a cocktail, and my Sara to wake up to. 01:09:33.541 --> 01:09:34.666 Are you certain? 01:09:36.166 --> 01:09:37.166 It worked out. 01:09:42.791 --> 01:09:46.541 Mank, if I may be so bold, why Hearst? 01:09:47.750 --> 01:09:50.333 Lord knows, outside his own blonde Betty Boop, 01:09:50.416 --> 01:09:52.791 you were always his favorite dinner partner. 01:09:55.083 --> 01:10:01.666 John, are you familiar with the parable of the organ grinder's monkey? 01:10:43.166 --> 01:10:47.208 Today, our roving reporter is visiting Mrs. Elsie Hammontree of Azusa. 01:10:47.291 --> 01:10:51.083 Elsie, would you mind telling the folks at home why you're voting Republican? 01:10:51.166 --> 01:10:52.916 Young man, I'm a widow, 01:10:53.000 --> 01:10:56.875 and this little home may not be much, but it's all I have left. 01:10:56.958 --> 01:10:59.875 -And I intend to protect it. -Poor old woman. 01:10:59.958 --> 01:11:03.250 Would you mind telling the folks why you're voting for Frank Merriam? 01:11:03.333 --> 01:11:06.916 Well, I'm voting for Frank Merriam because I wanna keep our way of life. 01:11:07.416 --> 01:11:08.791 I know that voice. 01:11:10.041 --> 01:11:11.083 It is familiar. 01:11:11.583 --> 01:11:13.333 That's Maude Anderson. 01:11:14.625 --> 01:11:16.833 It is. Aunt Bertha from Lonely Trails. 01:11:16.916 --> 01:11:20.958 Well, she's no widow. And she's absurdly rich. 01:11:21.458 --> 01:11:25.250 That "poor old woman" has got enough oil wells south of El Segundo 01:11:25.333 --> 01:11:26.916 to buy us both, Schnutz. 01:11:29.166 --> 01:11:32.125 I'd know that whiskey gargle anywhere. 01:11:47.125 --> 01:11:49.166 Hey, Mank. 01:11:50.916 --> 01:11:53.250 Looks like you found work, C.C. 01:11:53.750 --> 01:11:57.000 Don't nose it around, but yeah, just in the nick. 01:11:58.666 --> 01:12:00.458 -Who's hiring? -MGM. 01:12:01.166 --> 01:12:04.958 They cleaned out the Washington and Culver gates like a dose of Ex-Lax. 01:12:05.041 --> 01:12:07.083 Grady gets a speaking part. 01:12:07.166 --> 01:12:09.375 They told us to come dressed as we are. 01:12:09.458 --> 01:12:13.708 I don't know who thought of it, but it keeps a lot of us off the streets. 01:12:15.333 --> 01:12:16.916 Don't forget to vote. 01:12:19.125 --> 01:12:20.166 Okay. 01:12:20.250 --> 01:12:22.208 He's confused with Sinclair Lewis. 01:12:22.291 --> 01:12:26.166 So many hicks think he wrote Elmer Gantry, it's cost him the Dust Bowl vote. 01:12:26.250 --> 01:12:27.375 I'm in. 01:12:27.958 --> 01:12:29.958 Poor sap. Not only has he got no money, 01:12:30.041 --> 01:12:32.333 he's an idealist, for Christ's sakes. 01:12:32.416 --> 01:12:34.958 Talk about political handicaps. I'm out. 01:12:35.041 --> 01:12:37.000 Times says he'll lose by 200,000. 01:12:37.083 --> 01:12:39.458 It's amazing what $10 million against him bought. 01:12:39.541 --> 01:12:40.375 Raise. 01:12:40.458 --> 01:12:43.000 That's what he gets for surrounding himself with amateurs. 01:12:43.083 --> 01:12:47.625 They not only charge admission to rallies, they pass a plate once suckers are inside. 01:12:47.708 --> 01:12:48.666 Call. 01:12:48.750 --> 01:12:51.791 He's the most famous schlub after FDR, Hitler, and Mussolini. 01:12:51.875 --> 01:12:53.416 That ought to count for something. 01:12:53.500 --> 01:12:55.583 -Hiya, Shell, sit in. -The bookies know. 01:12:55.666 --> 01:12:57.791 Soon as Maude's radio spots started running, 01:12:57.875 --> 01:13:01.291 the odds went from 7-5 for to 2-1 against. 01:13:01.375 --> 01:13:04.875 Could you effete political snobs please shut up and play? 01:13:04.958 --> 01:13:06.083 Mank, can I talk to you? 01:13:06.166 --> 01:13:07.833 I'll see you guys 01:13:07.916 --> 01:13:09.958 and bump you two big ones. 01:13:10.041 --> 01:13:11.125 It's important. 01:13:11.208 --> 01:13:13.333 What? Now, Shelly? 01:13:15.500 --> 01:13:16.666 It better be. 01:13:17.666 --> 01:13:20.291 That's the first good hand I've had all day. 01:13:22.333 --> 01:13:24.875 I didn't know he knew what a good hand looked like. 01:13:24.958 --> 01:13:25.916 I'm out. 01:13:26.416 --> 01:13:29.083 Mind telling us who you favor in this fall's election? 01:13:29.166 --> 01:13:33.375 -I'm going to vote for Frank Merriam. -Mind telling us your principal reason? 01:13:33.458 --> 01:13:36.041 Well, I want Merriam because I want a job. 01:13:36.541 --> 01:13:39.583 If you drive all the capital out of the country, who'll pay us? 01:13:39.666 --> 01:13:42.333 So, you think Merriam would be safest for all of us? 01:13:42.416 --> 01:13:43.458 Absolutely. 01:13:44.041 --> 01:13:46.833 It's no time to trade horses in the middle of a stream. 01:13:46.916 --> 01:13:49.083 Are you going to vote in the coming election? 01:13:49.166 --> 01:13:51.500 -I most certainly am. -Who would you vote for? 01:13:51.583 --> 01:13:55.708 -I'm sure I'm gonna vote for Mr. Sinclair. -You must have a good reason to. 01:13:55.791 --> 01:13:58.916 Well, Mr. Sinclair got something new. He got that EPIC Plan. 01:13:59.000 --> 01:14:02.375 And I feel as though it's time we should try something new out again. 01:14:02.458 --> 01:14:04.000 I need prosperity. 01:14:04.500 --> 01:14:06.791 Well, first of all, I'm an American, 01:14:06.875 --> 01:14:10.041 and I believe that Mr. Merriam will support 01:14:10.125 --> 01:14:13.583 all the foundations and principles 01:14:13.666 --> 01:14:16.416 that this country has stood for in the past 150 years. 01:14:17.000 --> 01:14:19.000 I have a job now, and I wanna keep it. 01:14:19.083 --> 01:14:21.916 My wife and I love California, and we'd like to stay. 01:14:22.000 --> 01:14:24.666 But in case we should have to leave, 01:14:24.750 --> 01:14:26.958 I'd like to have at least a couple dollars. 01:14:28.000 --> 01:14:28.916 Cut. 01:14:34.750 --> 01:14:38.291 Mrs. Hammontree, mind telling the folks why you're voting for Frank Merriam? 01:14:38.375 --> 01:14:41.375 Well, I'm voting for Frank Merriam because I wanna keep our way of life. 01:14:41.458 --> 01:14:44.083 You don't believe a Democrat would protect your way of life? 01:14:45.083 --> 01:14:46.416 Why, that man's a socialist. 01:14:46.500 --> 01:14:50.333 I don't know much about politics, but I do know this. 01:14:50.833 --> 01:14:52.916 If Upton Sinclair wins this election, 01:14:53.000 --> 01:14:56.083 private ownership in California won't amount to a hill of beans. 01:14:56.666 --> 01:14:59.583 Well, we need complete rejuvenation of our system, 01:15:00.500 --> 01:15:02.500 so I vote for Comrade Upton. 01:15:02.583 --> 01:15:05.666 His system work in Russia, why not here? 01:15:05.750 --> 01:15:07.250 Cut. Do it again. 01:15:08.875 --> 01:15:09.958 What'd you think? 01:15:10.916 --> 01:15:14.000 Truthfully, Shelly, if the performances were any better, 01:15:14.083 --> 01:15:15.500 you'd be ashamed of yourself. 01:15:15.583 --> 01:15:17.250 Only half of 'em were actors. 01:15:17.750 --> 01:15:21.375 It's got that raw newsreel feel, hasn't it? 01:15:21.875 --> 01:15:26.500 -But it isn't news, and it isn't real. -I wasn't looking to have a debate. 01:15:26.583 --> 01:15:29.000 -When did they cook this up? -At a meeting in production. 01:15:29.083 --> 01:15:31.500 They were passing around a pamphlet Sinclair wrote 01:15:31.583 --> 01:15:33.375 called "Ending Poverty in California." 01:15:33.458 --> 01:15:36.166 "America's unemployed will invade the Golden State." 01:15:36.250 --> 01:15:39.583 -Mayer was giddy to use it against him. -Yeah, I bet he was. 01:15:41.291 --> 01:15:44.375 It's enough to persuade me that a writer is more of a menace 01:15:44.458 --> 01:15:46.875 to an unsuspecting public than a party hack. 01:15:46.958 --> 01:15:48.000 Manky-- 01:15:49.083 --> 01:15:49.916 You okay? 01:15:51.125 --> 01:15:52.125 Just nerves. 01:15:53.791 --> 01:15:56.916 If it's bothering you, Shelly, why get involved? 01:15:58.125 --> 01:15:59.708 They gave me a chance to direct. 01:16:03.791 --> 01:16:06.833 You don't think anyone old enough to vote's gonna buy this shit? 01:16:07.333 --> 01:16:10.458 Only the ones who believe King Kong is ten stories tall 01:16:10.541 --> 01:16:13.083 or Mary Pickford a virgin at 40. 01:16:25.458 --> 01:16:27.125 Thanks, Cedric. These are fine. 01:16:32.541 --> 01:16:35.333 I've just watched our Sinclair films. 01:16:37.166 --> 01:16:38.041 What did you think? 01:16:38.125 --> 01:16:41.625 Well, with all due respect to Shelly, King Kong, they ain't. 01:16:43.291 --> 01:16:45.000 Though I do think footage 01:16:45.083 --> 01:16:48.666 of invading hobos has a certain xenophobic power 01:16:48.750 --> 01:16:52.875 when front-paged in the Times and backed by those tacky billboards. 01:16:52.958 --> 01:16:57.000 Shelly got a chance to direct, and I canceled your $12,000 gambling debt. 01:16:57.083 --> 01:16:59.625 I'd call that a fair return on a one-minute lecture 01:16:59.708 --> 01:17:01.333 for uninspired studio chieftains. 01:17:02.750 --> 01:17:05.250 Your director's been stricken with a bout of conscience. 01:17:05.333 --> 01:17:07.291 I'm sure he'll tell me himself. 01:17:09.666 --> 01:17:12.333 Don't do this, Irving. 01:17:14.083 --> 01:17:17.333 When I was just a boy, passing out socialist leaflets in the Bronx, 01:17:17.416 --> 01:17:20.791 a couple Tammany goons came to show me the error of my ways. 01:17:20.875 --> 01:17:22.750 One of them crushed my testicles 01:17:22.833 --> 01:17:26.333 until I volunteered to distribute my wares into the East River. 01:17:26.916 --> 01:17:30.458 That's politics. I didn't invent it, I don't apologize for it. 01:17:35.125 --> 01:17:36.958 Mayer's not paying for this. 01:17:38.083 --> 01:17:39.625 He never pays for anything. 01:17:43.166 --> 01:17:44.250 Willie? 01:17:46.750 --> 01:17:50.750 -Marion might be interested. -Well, you're gonna have to hurry. 01:17:50.833 --> 01:17:53.541 Mayer's over there now, giving her the company kiss-off. 01:17:54.708 --> 01:17:55.875 Haven't you heard? 01:17:57.541 --> 01:17:59.958 She's taking her playpen to Warner Bros. 01:18:00.541 --> 01:18:01.416 Permanently. 01:18:02.250 --> 01:18:05.541 -Warner's? -I wouldn't let her do Marie Antoinette. 01:18:06.041 --> 01:18:09.833 Goldwyn's right for once. "A comedienne in that role is to laugh." 01:18:10.916 --> 01:18:13.916 Besides, her pictures haven't made a dime in a decade. 01:18:14.625 --> 01:18:16.375 Congratulations, Irving. 01:18:17.750 --> 01:18:19.333 I know what I am, Mank. 01:18:19.958 --> 01:18:22.166 When I come to work, I don't consider it slumming. 01:18:22.250 --> 01:18:24.666 I don't use humor to keep myself above the fray. 01:18:24.750 --> 01:18:26.833 I go to the mat for what I believe in. 01:18:26.916 --> 01:18:29.791 I haven't the time to do otherwise. 01:18:31.041 --> 01:18:32.083 But you, sir, 01:18:33.000 --> 01:18:36.958 how formidable people like you might be if they actually gave at the office. 01:18:38.416 --> 01:18:39.583 Close the door. 01:19:24.958 --> 01:19:27.375 Mank! Are you okay? 01:19:27.958 --> 01:19:30.791 No, that almost killed me. Where's Willie? 01:19:31.416 --> 01:19:32.541 Cairo, I think. 01:19:32.625 --> 01:19:35.791 -Can you phone him? -I don't phone him, he phones me. 01:19:35.875 --> 01:19:36.958 When's he due back? 01:19:37.041 --> 01:19:39.916 After November 6th. I'm joining him in Europe next week. 01:19:42.125 --> 01:19:45.333 Marion, I need a favor. It's just a little joke on Willie. 01:19:45.416 --> 01:19:46.666 Sure, Mank, anything. 01:19:46.750 --> 01:19:49.750 I want you to go back and tell Mayer 01:19:49.833 --> 01:19:53.458 Willie wants the phony Sinclair films pulled. 01:19:55.625 --> 01:19:57.458 Which phony Sinclair films? 01:19:57.541 --> 01:20:00.791 There isn't time to explain. I just need you to tell him that. 01:20:01.541 --> 01:20:03.250 I couldn't, not even as a joke. 01:20:03.333 --> 01:20:06.166 -Why not? -You know I don't lie. 01:20:06.916 --> 01:20:09.458 And that's why he'd believe you. 01:20:09.541 --> 01:20:12.625 Marion, please, you're not in convent school anymore. 01:20:16.083 --> 01:20:20.166 -I'm sorry. I know it's silly, but-- -But what? Why not? 01:20:20.250 --> 01:20:24.500 -Promise you won't laugh. -I promise I won't laugh. 01:20:25.166 --> 01:20:27.416 -My exit. -What? 01:20:28.833 --> 01:20:30.875 I already made my exit. 01:21:01.166 --> 01:21:02.916 -Manky! -Whatie? 01:21:03.416 --> 01:21:05.208 It's an ash-throated flycatcher! 01:21:05.291 --> 01:21:07.833 Congratulations. Best kind. 01:21:08.875 --> 01:21:11.708 What can I say? She's my aunt. 01:21:11.791 --> 01:21:14.708 It's not about her, it's about him. 01:21:15.833 --> 01:21:19.375 -Or rather, it's him, but it's not her. -It isn't? 01:21:19.875 --> 01:21:23.000 The lonely showgirl, trapped in a castle, doing jigsaw puzzles. 01:21:23.083 --> 01:21:27.166 It's more her as people who don't know her imagine her to be. 01:21:27.250 --> 01:21:28.375 I see. 01:21:29.625 --> 01:21:32.625 It's her as they imagine her, but it's him as you knew him. 01:21:32.708 --> 01:21:35.125 -Damn it, Charlie. -You asked me out here. 01:21:35.208 --> 01:21:37.458 I was honored to come and read your latest. 01:21:37.958 --> 01:21:41.041 -Is this a test? -A test? Of what? 01:21:41.833 --> 01:21:44.708 -Friendship? Loyalty? -Come now. 01:21:44.791 --> 01:21:46.958 Or just your way of avoiding responsibility? 01:21:48.000 --> 01:21:49.000 What do you mean? 01:21:49.083 --> 01:21:52.791 Are you hoping I might absolve you of such a personal betrayal? 01:21:54.375 --> 01:21:55.500 I won't give you that. 01:21:59.083 --> 01:22:01.000 Are you going to say anything? 01:22:06.083 --> 01:22:09.500 -I have to think about it. -Why? 01:22:09.583 --> 01:22:12.208 I haven't made up my mind how she might react. 01:22:12.291 --> 01:22:14.041 What does instinct tell you? 01:22:14.125 --> 01:22:15.666 That it's mighty strong medicine 01:22:15.750 --> 01:22:18.250 for a lifetime of starry-eyed self-absorption. 01:22:18.333 --> 01:22:21.458 It's one of those cures that could be worse than the disease. 01:22:21.541 --> 01:22:23.958 But you, of all people, should know about that. 01:22:31.333 --> 01:22:32.750 He took the script? 01:22:35.625 --> 01:22:36.583 Will he show it to her? 01:22:39.916 --> 01:22:40.958 I don't know. 01:22:42.291 --> 01:22:43.458 Do you want him to? 01:22:46.000 --> 01:22:47.000 I don't know. 01:23:21.583 --> 01:23:23.958 Sinclair is yesterday's fish-wrap. 01:23:24.916 --> 01:23:26.458 Never stood a chance. 01:23:27.625 --> 01:23:28.625 Make up your mind. 01:23:28.708 --> 01:23:31.625 Are we home licking our wounds or here making the best of it? 01:23:32.666 --> 01:23:34.416 We're making the best of it. 01:23:37.166 --> 01:23:39.583 -Good evening. Name? -Mankiewicz. 01:23:39.666 --> 01:23:40.750 Sorry, what was that? 01:23:40.833 --> 01:23:44.125 M-A-N-K-I-E-W-I-C, and outta nowhere, a Z. 01:23:44.208 --> 01:23:47.291 -Table 14. -Ends of the earth. A clean exit. 01:23:47.375 --> 01:23:49.166 Mankiewicz, Herman. 01:23:50.791 --> 01:23:53.708 Terribly sorry. Table one. Right this way. 01:23:55.875 --> 01:23:59.208 If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. 01:24:11.291 --> 01:24:12.833 -Table one. -Sara! 01:24:12.916 --> 01:24:15.583 Good grief. Look who's here. How about that? 01:24:15.666 --> 01:24:18.500 -Sara. -What a loyal friend you are. 01:24:18.583 --> 01:24:21.416 -I never thought we'd see Mank. -I'm surprised. 01:24:21.500 --> 01:24:23.500 I would've imagined you in pajamas by now. 01:24:23.583 --> 01:24:26.375 Mank, turns out we have the same dentist on Camden. 01:24:26.458 --> 01:24:29.458 Sara, we have to plan a day of shopping and catch up. 01:24:29.541 --> 01:24:32.250 Herman, I met your brother. He's a chip off the old block. 01:24:32.333 --> 01:24:33.416 Quite handsome. 01:24:37.333 --> 01:24:38.833 Please, sit. 01:24:41.000 --> 01:24:44.041 I can't tell you how much it means. I'm touched you'd come. 01:24:44.125 --> 01:24:45.250 Thank you for this. 01:24:48.458 --> 01:24:49.666 Why do I love you? 01:24:57.041 --> 01:24:58.541 What's everyone else having? 01:25:39.041 --> 01:25:42.458 -What a great night. Great result. -I'll drink to that. 01:25:42.541 --> 01:25:45.958 You see, if you just give people what they need to know 01:25:46.041 --> 01:25:49.958 in an emotional way, you can expect they'll do the right thing. 01:25:50.041 --> 01:25:51.666 I think what you mean, 01:25:51.750 --> 01:25:54.125 "If you keep telling people something untrue, 01:25:54.208 --> 01:25:56.750 loud and long enough, they're apt to believe it." 01:25:56.833 --> 01:25:58.083 That's not what he was saying. 01:25:58.166 --> 01:26:01.000 What's going on here? Are we quoting Goebbels? 01:26:01.083 --> 01:26:03.833 -I'd like to debate that with L.B. -I'd like to see that. 01:26:03.916 --> 01:26:05.583 Mank, have another. 01:26:05.666 --> 01:26:08.250 It's early. Every vote counts. 01:26:08.333 --> 01:26:11.250 Maybe the informed of California are late leaving work. 01:26:11.750 --> 01:26:14.125 The last I heard, Irving, it's still a democracy. 01:26:14.208 --> 01:26:16.291 -Of the people. -By the people. 01:26:16.375 --> 01:26:18.291 What are you two talking about? 01:26:18.375 --> 01:26:20.875 I tell you what, how about… 01:26:22.166 --> 01:26:23.166 double or nothin'? 01:26:23.250 --> 01:26:25.000 -What's he saying? -Herman. 01:26:26.458 --> 01:26:28.375 You really will bet on anything. 01:26:29.500 --> 01:26:31.750 Keep your money. I'm happy enough 01:26:31.833 --> 01:26:34.625 just to nail that utopian son of a bitch to the wall. 01:26:34.708 --> 01:26:37.458 I told you, your obligation was canceled out of gratitude. 01:26:38.250 --> 01:26:39.458 Wait a minute. What? 01:26:40.416 --> 01:26:42.125 He wants to wager double or nothin' 01:26:42.208 --> 01:26:44.208 on a debt he doesn't even owe us? 01:26:44.291 --> 01:26:46.791 -Mank. -It's a matter of principle, L.B. 01:26:46.875 --> 01:26:48.166 You wouldn't understand. 01:26:49.875 --> 01:26:54.125 I understand plenty. I'll take that bet. 01:26:55.500 --> 01:26:58.125 Okay, Mank, you're on. Twenty-four grand or nothing. 01:27:02.875 --> 01:27:04.083 Excuse me. 01:27:05.333 --> 01:27:06.875 I'm going to throw up. 01:28:18.791 --> 01:28:19.833 I needed some air. 01:28:36.291 --> 01:28:38.208 Why do you love me? 01:28:52.041 --> 01:28:54.000 Excuse me, my friends. 01:28:55.875 --> 01:29:00.166 The final, incomplete count for tonight is… 01:29:01.958 --> 01:29:05.333 Upton Sinclair, the lousy Bolshevik… 01:29:06.500 --> 01:29:09.625 728,653. 01:29:10.666 --> 01:29:11.791 Frank Merriam… 01:29:13.166 --> 01:29:15.541 the good Republican, 01:29:15.625 --> 01:29:19.208 948,814. 01:29:19.291 --> 01:29:21.875 My friends! 01:29:21.958 --> 01:29:25.583 Everybody get up and sing with me! 01:29:25.666 --> 01:29:28.750 Sing with me! Everybody, up and sing! 01:29:33.000 --> 01:29:34.791 It was a team effort. Thanks. 01:29:46.125 --> 01:29:48.833 Mr. Mankiewicz, I'm so sorry to bother you, 01:29:48.916 --> 01:29:51.916 but there's a telephone call for you. Right back this way. 01:29:57.083 --> 01:29:59.375 -Hello. -Mank, it's Shelly. 01:29:59.458 --> 01:30:00.541 It's Shelly. 01:30:00.625 --> 01:30:03.750 -He lost, Mank. -Yeah, it's been a bad night. 01:30:05.416 --> 01:30:06.250 It's my fault. 01:30:06.333 --> 01:30:10.416 -Easy, fella, you only voted once. -He was just on the radio. 01:30:10.916 --> 01:30:15.416 He said the phony newsreels cost him the election. 01:30:15.500 --> 01:30:17.208 That shows how naive he is. 01:30:17.291 --> 01:30:20.208 FDR cost him the election by staying on the sidelines. 01:30:20.291 --> 01:30:21.291 Sleep it off. 01:30:21.958 --> 01:30:22.916 I'm not at home. 01:30:23.000 --> 01:30:24.916 Where are you? Let me call you a cab. 01:30:25.500 --> 01:30:28.041 Never mind. I'll take the Pasadena Freeway. 01:30:28.125 --> 01:30:30.541 Nobody'd be on it election night. 01:30:31.333 --> 01:30:32.166 Hello? 01:30:32.666 --> 01:30:33.500 Hello? 01:30:36.541 --> 01:30:40.041 -How may I direct your call? -Normandie, 4761. 01:30:40.750 --> 01:30:42.166 He's shit-faced. 01:30:43.375 --> 01:30:44.416 Shell, is that you? 01:30:44.500 --> 01:30:46.458 It's Herman Mankiewicz. 01:30:46.541 --> 01:30:49.458 -Where is he? -I don't know. I'm so worried. 01:30:49.541 --> 01:30:53.458 He left here very upset, and he's got a pistol with him. 01:30:53.541 --> 01:30:56.000 Don't worry, Fay. I'll find him. 01:30:56.083 --> 01:30:57.833 -Eve. -What? 01:30:58.500 --> 01:31:01.708 -I'm Eve. Fay was his first. -I'll find him. 01:31:05.833 --> 01:31:10.250 Is Houseman coming back? I never thought I'd miss him. 01:31:11.291 --> 01:31:13.958 He and the wunderkind are cutting the first draft. 01:31:14.041 --> 01:31:16.916 A form of creative vivisection. 01:31:17.000 --> 01:31:20.041 Vital organs are exposed, nothing is learned, 01:31:20.125 --> 01:31:22.000 the patient dies on the table. 01:31:27.291 --> 01:31:29.250 What have we here? 01:31:31.583 --> 01:31:36.791 Why, it's a puffed-up, sharp-tailed, red-ruffled magpie. 01:31:36.875 --> 01:31:38.125 A whatie? 01:31:58.666 --> 01:32:03.375 -How do you like the Mojave? -God's answer for drunks and reprobates. 01:32:03.458 --> 01:32:05.458 Perfect place to dry out. 01:32:05.541 --> 01:32:08.875 -How's that working? -It didn't take. Cheers. 01:32:09.458 --> 01:32:10.583 L'chaim. 01:32:17.291 --> 01:32:18.458 Why are you doing this? 01:32:19.083 --> 01:32:21.750 -Posterity. -Posterity, my ass. 01:32:21.833 --> 01:32:24.125 -From the original Latin. -Don't patronize me. 01:32:24.208 --> 01:32:28.000 -My Latin grades were better than yours. -Bibamus, moriendum est. 01:32:32.625 --> 01:32:34.708 I read your little script. 01:32:36.375 --> 01:32:37.708 News travels fast. 01:32:37.791 --> 01:32:39.250 Even without the title page, 01:32:39.333 --> 01:32:42.166 you don't need to be Philip Marlowe to know who wrote it. 01:32:43.125 --> 01:32:44.125 Have at it. 01:32:44.791 --> 01:32:45.833 It's very… 01:32:48.208 --> 01:32:49.041 complicated. 01:32:49.125 --> 01:32:50.833 Well, thanks for coming out. 01:32:51.833 --> 01:32:53.708 Herman, this is me. 01:32:54.333 --> 01:32:56.875 You pick a fight with Willie, you are finished. 01:32:57.458 --> 01:32:59.458 Mayer can't save you. Nobody can. 01:32:59.541 --> 01:33:01.833 Especially the boy genius from New York. 01:33:01.916 --> 01:33:05.875 -You're far too political, Joe. -Self-preservation is not politics. 01:33:06.458 --> 01:33:07.791 Him, I get. 01:33:08.541 --> 01:33:12.291 -But what did Marion do to deserve this? -It's not her! 01:33:13.958 --> 01:33:17.500 You know better than anyone, not all characters are headliners. 01:33:17.583 --> 01:33:18.875 Some are secondary. 01:33:18.958 --> 01:33:22.875 Well, that's why I'm here. On behalf of the secondary characters. 01:33:25.083 --> 01:33:27.333 I thought you'd wanna know there's a rumor 01:33:27.416 --> 01:33:30.708 you're out to get Hearst because they dropped you from L.B.'s payroll, 01:33:30.791 --> 01:33:32.541 that they didn't want you around. 01:33:32.625 --> 01:33:34.875 Don't believe everything you hear at Schwab's. 01:33:34.958 --> 01:33:37.333 Hey, you made yourself court jester. 01:33:40.375 --> 01:33:42.083 Someone had to say it. 01:33:51.333 --> 01:33:55.875 People are speculating Rosebud is W.R.'s pet name for Marion's genitalia. 01:33:56.375 --> 01:33:59.750 -I know you'd never stoop to that. -Only because I hadn't heard. 01:34:15.166 --> 01:34:18.208 Charlie tells me you're up for Thalberg's old job. 01:34:18.291 --> 01:34:20.875 -Not anymore. -Did I bollix that? 01:34:20.958 --> 01:34:24.250 Don't flatter yourself, Herman. I did it all alone. 01:34:24.333 --> 01:34:25.416 Now, there's a first. 01:34:25.500 --> 01:34:29.208 I exposed myself, not entirely metaphorically, in court. 01:34:29.291 --> 01:34:30.166 Do tell. 01:34:30.791 --> 01:34:34.458 Somebody was bitching about Mervyn LeRoy running over budget on Wizard of Oz. 01:34:34.541 --> 01:34:37.416 -Goddamn movie again. -I said, "Le Roy s'amuse." 01:34:37.500 --> 01:34:39.416 I was then forced to spend 20 minutes 01:34:39.500 --> 01:34:41.166 having to explain that "Le Roy" 01:34:41.250 --> 01:34:43.958 is "le roi" in French and means "the king." 01:34:44.041 --> 01:34:45.958 Or to be specific, François I 01:34:46.041 --> 01:34:50.583 and his royal habit of s'amus-ing himself by diddling all the ladies of his court. 01:34:55.416 --> 01:34:58.875 You know, Pop was right. You should've been a professor. 01:34:59.583 --> 01:35:02.125 Nobody knew what the fuck I was talking about. 01:35:02.750 --> 01:35:06.125 They say I was passed over because I'm not a team player. 01:35:06.791 --> 01:35:07.750 But I know better. 01:35:08.250 --> 01:35:10.625 It was the goddamn French pun that did me in. 01:35:17.708 --> 01:35:19.208 I'm washed up, Joe. 01:35:22.500 --> 01:35:23.916 Have been for years. 01:35:29.625 --> 01:35:31.750 It's the best thing you've ever written. 01:35:48.958 --> 01:35:50.458 A rare bird, that. 01:35:52.833 --> 01:35:54.000 A Mankiewicz. 01:36:17.833 --> 01:36:20.958 -You can't do it that way. -Do what? 01:36:21.041 --> 01:36:23.291 Kill yourself. I've tried. 01:36:23.375 --> 01:36:24.500 It takes years. 01:36:25.000 --> 01:36:28.333 I was tired of doing inserts and pick-up shots. 01:36:28.416 --> 01:36:31.125 You're not the first person to trade integrity 01:36:31.208 --> 01:36:33.041 for a chance in the big chair. 01:36:34.125 --> 01:36:36.875 Thalberg said this was your idea. 01:36:36.958 --> 01:36:40.208 Sometimes my asides are too clever by half. 01:36:43.750 --> 01:36:45.708 Go home to Fay. 01:36:45.791 --> 01:36:47.958 -Eve. -Eve. Sorry. 01:36:50.458 --> 01:36:52.041 Look at what we did. 01:36:52.125 --> 01:36:54.250 We can't un-ring this bell. 01:36:54.333 --> 01:36:56.208 We have to be vigilant. 01:36:56.291 --> 01:36:57.791 In regards to? 01:36:57.875 --> 01:36:59.750 People sitting in the dark, 01:36:59.833 --> 01:37:02.625 willingly checking their disbelief at the door. 01:37:03.125 --> 01:37:05.583 We have a huge responsibility. 01:37:07.125 --> 01:37:08.125 I got it. 01:37:09.291 --> 01:37:10.250 Got what? 01:37:11.750 --> 01:37:13.083 Parkinson's. 01:37:18.958 --> 01:37:21.000 No, Shelly. 01:37:27.250 --> 01:37:28.500 I'm so sorry. 01:37:29.500 --> 01:37:31.000 First, you get the tremors, 01:37:32.375 --> 01:37:34.583 and your muscles begin to fail. 01:37:35.916 --> 01:37:38.291 Pretty soon, you can't get out of a chair. 01:37:39.500 --> 01:37:42.625 Then smiling, speaking, 01:37:42.708 --> 01:37:44.166 everything goes. 01:37:45.375 --> 01:37:47.750 And it keeps going till… 01:37:48.500 --> 01:37:50.333 You could always produce. 01:37:57.416 --> 01:37:59.208 Give me the gun, Shelly. 01:38:23.208 --> 01:38:24.041 Take 'em, Mank. 01:38:26.666 --> 01:38:29.458 Go on home. I'll be fine. 01:39:15.125 --> 01:39:16.125 Is he with you? 01:39:17.500 --> 01:39:18.750 He wouldn't come. 01:39:20.458 --> 01:39:21.833 Tell me you got the gun. 01:39:29.125 --> 01:39:30.083 Oh, my God! 01:39:31.875 --> 01:39:34.458 -What? -He had a whole box. 01:39:49.333 --> 01:39:50.541 Mank. 01:39:52.166 --> 01:39:53.583 You have another visitor. 01:39:55.250 --> 01:39:56.250 What? 01:40:17.458 --> 01:40:18.583 Drink it fast. 01:40:19.250 --> 01:40:21.208 In this heat, it'll flash to sugar. 01:40:28.958 --> 01:40:30.791 Why the wine and dine, Marion? 01:40:31.625 --> 01:40:33.083 Good cop, bad cop? 01:40:33.166 --> 01:40:36.083 -How do you mean, Mank? -First Joe, now you. 01:40:38.041 --> 01:40:40.291 Can't you just tell me what's on your mind? 01:40:42.166 --> 01:40:45.000 Well, I read the script. 01:40:45.083 --> 01:40:46.291 Who hasn't? 01:40:46.375 --> 01:40:48.791 It's very grand, Mank, in its own way, 01:40:48.875 --> 01:40:50.250 and very much you. 01:40:51.166 --> 01:40:53.083 I would've loved to play me ten years ago. 01:40:53.166 --> 01:40:55.208 It was never meant to be you. 01:40:55.291 --> 01:40:57.875 For myself, I don't care, Mank. Really, I don't. 01:40:58.750 --> 01:41:02.833 But I beg you, don't kick Pops when he's down. 01:41:02.916 --> 01:41:04.750 Willie, down? 01:41:07.833 --> 01:41:09.625 I haven't told a soul this, 01:41:10.333 --> 01:41:14.083 but I had to loan him a million dollars just to save San Simeon. 01:41:14.166 --> 01:41:15.791 You hocked your jewels? 01:41:16.375 --> 01:41:20.083 Of course not, just some real estate. He bought me most of it anyway. 01:41:20.625 --> 01:41:22.125 Willie sent you. 01:41:23.083 --> 01:41:23.958 Didn't have to. 01:41:27.458 --> 01:41:28.958 That surprises you? 01:41:29.458 --> 01:41:31.375 You're the most observant man I know. 01:41:31.458 --> 01:41:34.583 -Then you deserve better. -That's very sweet. 01:41:37.208 --> 01:41:38.458 I always wanted better. 01:41:39.416 --> 01:41:40.541 Mama Rose, too. 01:41:40.625 --> 01:41:43.333 She made sure her daughters learned to sing and dance. 01:41:44.041 --> 01:41:46.291 We were never gonna end up in Brooklyn. 01:41:46.958 --> 01:41:50.500 I was only 16 when I was cast in Stop! Look! Listen! 01:41:50.583 --> 01:41:52.333 That's some title. 01:41:53.125 --> 01:41:55.833 Willie came to the show. Same seat, every night. 01:41:55.916 --> 01:42:00.625 And all the other girls said to watch out. He was too old for me and too interested. 01:42:00.708 --> 01:42:03.458 Come now, he wasn't your only admirer. 01:42:05.500 --> 01:42:08.041 The thing you got so right in your script… 01:42:08.875 --> 01:42:11.416 was how lonely he'd been as a boy. 01:42:14.458 --> 01:42:18.333 When my own mother heard he was one of the richest men in America, 01:42:19.000 --> 01:42:20.791 she said, "Kick a little higher." 01:42:23.333 --> 01:42:26.625 He has always been so kind to me. 01:42:28.458 --> 01:42:30.000 I love the old guy, Mank. 01:42:31.750 --> 01:42:33.333 Maybe I didn't always, 01:42:33.416 --> 01:42:36.000 back when he was my social security. 01:42:36.666 --> 01:42:39.333 But now, there are things about us together… 01:42:40.000 --> 01:42:41.625 that no one could possibly… 01:42:45.541 --> 01:42:47.291 Am I persuading you at all? 01:42:50.791 --> 01:42:53.583 I hope, if this gets made, 01:42:55.416 --> 01:42:56.750 you'll forgive me. 01:42:57.833 --> 01:42:58.916 And I hope, 01:42:59.833 --> 01:43:00.916 if it doesn't, 01:43:02.541 --> 01:43:03.666 you'll forgive me. 01:43:14.000 --> 01:43:15.666 He was a modest man. 01:43:16.166 --> 01:43:18.000 His name never appeared on the marquee 01:43:18.083 --> 01:43:22.250 with the great stars, great producers, great directors who worked alongside him. 01:43:23.416 --> 01:43:26.291 But he loved moving pictures more than he loved anything. 01:43:26.375 --> 01:43:30.000 And he left his impeccable taste, his incredible attention to detail 01:43:30.083 --> 01:43:32.416 on every frame he touched. 01:43:32.500 --> 01:43:36.583 It is not for us to say why he was taken from us so unexpectedly. 01:43:36.666 --> 01:43:38.791 Behind, he leaves his memory. 01:43:39.291 --> 01:43:42.291 The memory of a great man, a talented man, 01:43:42.375 --> 01:43:44.583 a man of unblemished integrity. 01:43:45.416 --> 01:43:47.750 Irving G. Thalberg. 01:44:01.541 --> 01:44:02.500 Mank. 01:44:03.875 --> 01:44:07.666 I haven't seen you since, what was it, Jack Gilbert's funeral? 01:44:07.750 --> 01:44:10.541 Well, I haven't seen you since Shelly Metcalf's. 01:44:11.375 --> 01:44:12.625 Has it been that long? 01:44:14.416 --> 01:44:17.041 -How you been, Mank? -Between pictures. 01:44:18.125 --> 01:44:21.208 -I thought you were still at MGM. -I am. 01:44:23.666 --> 01:44:27.000 Well, look. Come see me at International. Let's work something out. 01:44:27.083 --> 01:44:28.500 I did come to see you. 01:44:29.000 --> 01:44:32.041 You gave me the same invitation after Shelly's funeral. 01:44:32.541 --> 01:44:35.708 I couldn't get past your secretary's secretary. 01:44:36.916 --> 01:44:37.958 Is that right? 01:44:40.750 --> 01:44:42.083 Good to see you, Mank. 01:45:27.458 --> 01:45:29.375 -Hello. -Mank? 01:45:30.250 --> 01:45:31.416 One moment, please. 01:45:38.416 --> 01:45:39.333 Mank. 01:45:39.833 --> 01:45:40.750 Mank! 01:45:41.500 --> 01:45:42.375 It's Orson. 01:45:43.208 --> 01:45:44.083 It's Orson. 01:45:53.125 --> 01:45:54.416 -Hello. -Mank. 01:45:54.500 --> 01:45:57.166 I've just finished your first draft, and I must say, 01:45:57.250 --> 01:45:58.958 I'm pleased and impressed. 01:45:59.041 --> 01:46:02.458 -Are you? Good news. -It'll need work, of course. 01:46:02.541 --> 01:46:05.291 But there are no problems that can't be solved together. 01:46:05.375 --> 01:46:07.000 Well, I'm delighted to hear it. 01:46:07.083 --> 01:46:09.000 Houseman's bringing my notes. Think about 'em. 01:46:09.083 --> 01:46:11.208 Meantime, I'll run everything through my typewriter. 01:46:11.291 --> 01:46:12.666 Everything will thank you. 01:46:12.750 --> 01:46:15.083 You're in touch with your Hollywood crowd? 01:46:15.958 --> 01:46:17.166 Good old Houseman. 01:46:17.250 --> 01:46:20.291 Perhaps you've heard. None of the theater chains will touch us. 01:46:20.375 --> 01:46:23.500 It looks like RKO will have to sue for restraint of trade. 01:46:23.583 --> 01:46:25.083 They'll countersue, of course. 01:46:25.166 --> 01:46:27.250 If you own any part of that lovely home of yours, 01:46:27.333 --> 01:46:30.541 it might be a good idea to put it in Poor Sara's name. 01:46:31.791 --> 01:46:36.041 -You still there, Mank? -Yes. Where else would I be? 01:46:36.125 --> 01:46:37.541 I've saved the best for last. 01:46:37.625 --> 01:46:40.166 Guess who phoned with an offer to buy out RKO's investment 01:46:40.250 --> 01:46:41.875 and shelve the picture permanently. 01:46:41.958 --> 01:46:44.500 -Not Hearst? -Mank, I'm surprised. 01:46:44.583 --> 01:46:47.750 Would Othello snoop on Desdemona when he has Iago? 01:46:48.541 --> 01:46:51.958 Mayer. What did RKO say? 01:46:52.041 --> 01:46:55.041 No dice, but they're on their uppers. Whether they-- 01:46:55.125 --> 01:46:57.958 -You'd better drive up. -I plan to, as soon as I'm done-- 01:46:58.041 --> 01:46:59.916 Today, if possible. 01:47:00.416 --> 01:47:02.791 Dear Jove, did I say something I shouldn't have? 01:47:02.875 --> 01:47:05.000 I hope you haven't lost your nerve. 01:47:05.083 --> 01:47:07.250 Nerve's about all I've got left. 01:47:14.875 --> 01:47:18.000 What a year you've had, Louis. How have you weathered it? 01:47:18.083 --> 01:47:23.291 Despite everything, the MGM ship, I'm happy to say, is full steam ahead. 01:47:23.375 --> 01:47:28.833 We're on track with this recent slate for our most successful year ever. 01:47:28.916 --> 01:47:30.125 Well, that's great news. 01:47:30.750 --> 01:47:32.625 Would you like to go and lay down? 01:47:32.708 --> 01:47:34.750 I think I'd rather stay upright. 01:47:34.833 --> 01:47:39.166 -Perhaps we can find you a costume. -Well, why would I need a cost-- 01:47:42.250 --> 01:47:45.583 Hello, everyone. Better late than never. 01:47:45.666 --> 01:47:47.208 Mank! Where's Sara? 01:47:47.291 --> 01:47:49.958 Caring for clan Mankiewicz. 01:47:50.041 --> 01:47:54.958 -And what train did you take? -Glendale. I missed my stop. 01:47:55.041 --> 01:47:57.416 Got a taxi from Morro Bay. 01:47:57.500 --> 01:47:58.375 I'm confused. 01:47:58.458 --> 01:48:01.708 I thought the invitation called for circus attire, 01:48:01.791 --> 01:48:03.500 not flea circus. 01:48:03.583 --> 01:48:07.500 I was cornered by a man who sold vacuum cleaners. 01:48:07.583 --> 01:48:11.500 A show of hands, who knows what a vacuum cleaner is? 01:48:11.583 --> 01:48:14.208 Martin, would you set a place for Mr. Mankiewicz, 01:48:14.291 --> 01:48:16.541 somewhere where he might get some air? 01:48:19.041 --> 01:48:20.791 Would you follow me this way, sir? 01:48:21.416 --> 01:48:23.083 And offer him some coffee. 01:48:23.166 --> 01:48:26.125 Yeah. Mr. Monkeywitz could use some coffee. 01:48:32.916 --> 01:48:35.625 And how's Marie Antoinette coming together? 01:48:36.458 --> 01:48:39.166 Previews have been a struggle for general audiences. 01:48:39.250 --> 01:48:41.875 We made some trims, but I should've known. 01:48:42.541 --> 01:48:45.500 Versailles, all those costumes and wigs. 01:48:45.583 --> 01:48:46.958 You can't tell those stories 01:48:47.041 --> 01:48:49.333 without overhauling them for a modern audience. 01:48:49.416 --> 01:48:51.458 How's the performance of your leading lady? 01:48:51.541 --> 01:48:53.166 The picture depends upon her. 01:48:53.250 --> 01:48:56.291 Norma put her heart and soul into it. 01:48:56.375 --> 01:48:58.958 I should've insisted she take some time. 01:48:59.041 --> 01:49:02.833 -It's a lot to deal with a loss like that. -Marion would've made it her own. 01:49:02.916 --> 01:49:05.416 Marion would have been perfection. 01:49:05.958 --> 01:49:08.958 -Marion Antoinette. -But it was Irving's picture. 01:49:09.041 --> 01:49:10.291 Marionette. 01:49:11.708 --> 01:49:14.333 I'm not interested in educating our customers. 01:49:15.041 --> 01:49:17.541 You want to send a message? Call Western Union. 01:49:19.458 --> 01:49:20.833 Literary pictures. 01:49:20.916 --> 01:49:22.416 "Let them get cake." 01:49:23.000 --> 01:49:24.333 Who needs to see that? 01:49:28.583 --> 01:49:29.875 Joanna, come along now. 01:49:29.958 --> 01:49:32.083 I'll show you those horses we talked about. 01:49:40.250 --> 01:49:41.416 She's very pretty. 01:49:42.125 --> 01:49:45.916 Also, very bright, bullheaded, and British. 01:49:47.833 --> 01:49:50.208 Are you here to try your luck, too, Schnutz? 01:49:50.708 --> 01:49:54.125 -At what? -Changing my mind. 01:49:55.291 --> 01:49:57.625 I never had much success with that, Herman. 01:49:58.125 --> 01:49:59.750 You'll do what you need to. 01:49:59.833 --> 01:50:02.708 Charlie's been here, Joe's been, Marion's been. 01:50:02.791 --> 01:50:06.000 For one reason or another, all of them want me to walk away. 01:50:06.625 --> 01:50:08.375 You care to hear what I've decided? 01:50:09.541 --> 01:50:10.416 Not really. 01:50:11.833 --> 01:50:14.166 After 20 years of connubial bliss, 01:50:14.250 --> 01:50:17.208 blind loyalty can get a little suffocating. 01:50:17.291 --> 01:50:18.125 Okay. 01:50:19.458 --> 01:50:20.416 Here goes. 01:50:21.125 --> 01:50:23.041 God knows I've rehearsed it enough. 01:50:23.625 --> 01:50:26.541 I've raised your kids kosher and all but by myself. 01:50:26.625 --> 01:50:28.666 I've put up with your suicidal drinking, 01:50:28.750 --> 01:50:31.875 your compulsive gambling, your silly platonic affairs. 01:50:31.958 --> 01:50:33.458 You owe me, Herman. 01:50:35.291 --> 01:50:36.791 Joe says he can't promise, 01:50:36.875 --> 01:50:40.416 but he thinks if you make nice with Mayer, you can have your old job back. 01:50:40.500 --> 01:50:43.708 Is that what you want me to say? I know what your answer'll be, 01:50:43.791 --> 01:50:47.791 so don't ask me to give you Poor Sara's seal of approval. 01:50:48.666 --> 01:50:51.375 Why do you put up with me, Schnutz? 01:50:51.458 --> 01:50:54.583 My movie-star looks or my diplomat's charm? 01:50:55.208 --> 01:50:58.291 I suppose because being married to you, Herman, 01:50:58.375 --> 01:50:59.291 I'm never bored. 01:51:00.000 --> 01:51:01.458 Exhausted, yes. 01:51:01.541 --> 01:51:03.125 Exasperated, usually. 01:51:03.208 --> 01:51:05.083 But having devoted so much, 01:51:05.583 --> 01:51:08.041 I have to stick around to see how it turns out. 01:51:12.416 --> 01:51:14.125 And whatever you decide… 01:51:16.291 --> 01:51:19.833 please be mindful of those who care about you most. 01:51:24.041 --> 01:51:25.291 I'm going riding. 01:51:25.875 --> 01:51:28.083 Haven't seen a horse's face in years. 01:51:30.791 --> 01:51:32.416 And one last thing, Herman. 01:51:33.708 --> 01:51:36.625 I don't want nobody calling me Poor Sara no more. 01:51:50.166 --> 01:51:53.083 I've got a great idea for a picture, Louis. 01:51:53.583 --> 01:51:57.500 A picture I just know you're gonna love. 01:51:58.625 --> 01:52:02.958 It's a modern-day version of Quixote. 01:52:06.833 --> 01:52:10.625 Now, I know none of you read, but you know what it's about. 01:52:10.708 --> 01:52:13.041 A deluded old nobleman 01:52:13.125 --> 01:52:15.291 who tilts at windmills. 01:52:16.791 --> 01:52:19.625 So how might we update this story? 01:52:19.708 --> 01:52:21.833 -Do you want me to get someone? -No. 01:52:21.916 --> 01:52:24.291 How about we make our Quixote… 01:52:25.958 --> 01:52:27.250 a newspaperman? 01:52:28.125 --> 01:52:31.250 Who else could make a living tilting at windmills? 01:52:31.333 --> 01:52:32.500 But that's not enough. 01:52:32.583 --> 01:52:33.625 No, sir. 01:52:33.708 --> 01:52:36.125 No, he wants more than readership. 01:52:36.208 --> 01:52:40.708 He wants more than adulation. He wants love. 01:52:42.125 --> 01:52:44.500 So, he runs for public office, 01:52:44.583 --> 01:52:47.041 and because he's notably rich, he wins. 01:52:48.208 --> 01:52:49.916 No, wait a minute. 01:52:50.000 --> 01:52:51.791 Notably rich and powerful 01:52:51.875 --> 01:52:53.250 can't win over an audience 01:52:53.333 --> 01:52:57.791 unless notably rich and powerful sees the error of his ways in the final reel. 01:52:58.500 --> 01:53:00.375 Notably rich and powerful 01:53:00.458 --> 01:53:05.708 and making no goddamn excuses for it is only admirable in real life. 01:53:05.791 --> 01:53:07.166 Isn't that right, Louis? 01:53:10.750 --> 01:53:12.208 So what do we do? 01:53:14.458 --> 01:53:15.916 Anybody? 01:53:18.333 --> 01:53:20.833 We give him ideals. 01:53:20.916 --> 01:53:23.541 Ideals that any dirt-poor, 01:53:23.625 --> 01:53:26.916 depression-weary audience can identify with. 01:53:27.000 --> 01:53:29.750 Our Quixote is against crooked trusts. 01:53:29.833 --> 01:53:33.625 He's for the eight-hour workday, fair income tax, better schools. 01:53:33.708 --> 01:53:37.541 Why, he's even for government ownership of railroads. 01:53:38.500 --> 01:53:40.250 You know what we call those people? 01:53:40.333 --> 01:53:41.625 -Communists? -Anarchists? 01:53:41.708 --> 01:53:43.291 No, our Quixote, 01:53:43.375 --> 01:53:46.083 he's a two-fisted muckraker. 01:53:46.166 --> 01:53:50.083 In fact, someone predicts that he will one day 01:53:50.166 --> 01:53:53.833 win the presidency and bring about, get this… 01:53:58.708 --> 01:54:01.458 a socialist revolution. 01:54:01.541 --> 01:54:04.416 -What a bunch of bullshit! -Is it? 01:54:05.541 --> 01:54:06.416 Tell him, Willie. 01:54:07.958 --> 01:54:08.958 Tell him. 01:54:10.208 --> 01:54:15.041 Upton Sinclair used exactly those words 01:54:15.125 --> 01:54:18.041 to describe a young William Randolph Hearst. 01:54:18.125 --> 01:54:21.000 -You miserable bastard! -How do you do? 01:54:23.916 --> 01:54:27.041 Our Quixote, he hungers, he thirsts, 01:54:27.125 --> 01:54:29.750 he lusts for the voters to love him. 01:54:30.333 --> 01:54:32.500 Love him enough to make him president. 01:54:32.583 --> 01:54:34.958 But they won't, and they don't. 01:54:35.041 --> 01:54:37.333 How do you suppose that could happen? 01:54:37.416 --> 01:54:39.291 Could it be because, in their hearts, 01:54:39.375 --> 01:54:43.083 they know that he values power over people? 01:54:44.083 --> 01:54:46.041 Disillusioned in Congress, 01:54:46.125 --> 01:54:50.666 he authors not one single piece of legislation in two terms. 01:54:50.750 --> 01:54:53.708 Can you believe that? That'll take some writing. 01:54:54.875 --> 01:54:57.208 Placed in nomination for president, 01:54:57.291 --> 01:55:00.625 but it's too radical for the boys in the back. 01:55:00.708 --> 01:55:02.916 His bid goes nowhere, 01:55:03.000 --> 01:55:04.791 but we're doing something. 01:55:05.291 --> 01:55:07.625 We're building sympathy. 01:55:08.625 --> 01:55:12.208 Rejected, he flees to lotus land, 01:55:12.291 --> 01:55:15.000 where his faithful troll, Sancho, 01:55:15.083 --> 01:55:17.916 has prepared a mythical kingdom. 01:55:20.166 --> 01:55:21.666 Wait a minute. 01:55:23.250 --> 01:55:25.250 I forgot the love interest. 01:55:25.958 --> 01:55:26.916 Her name… 01:55:27.958 --> 01:55:29.375 Dulcinea. 01:55:29.458 --> 01:55:32.958 Funny, adventurous, smarter than she acts. 01:55:33.041 --> 01:55:36.041 She's a showgirl, 01:55:36.708 --> 01:55:38.291 beneath his social stratum, 01:55:38.375 --> 01:55:39.333 but that's okay, 01:55:39.833 --> 01:55:43.000 because true love on the big screens, 01:55:43.083 --> 01:55:45.333 we all know, is blind. 01:55:46.416 --> 01:55:47.458 And she… 01:55:48.875 --> 01:55:50.541 Yeah, she loves him, too. 01:55:52.250 --> 01:55:56.166 So he takes her away to his mythical kingdom. 01:55:56.250 --> 01:55:57.708 Can I get a bicarb? 01:55:58.791 --> 01:56:02.583 Now, along comes nemesis. 01:56:02.666 --> 01:56:05.416 That's Greek for any guy in a black hat. 01:56:06.000 --> 01:56:08.208 Nemesis runs for governor, 01:56:08.291 --> 01:56:11.375 and he's a shoo-in to win. 01:56:11.458 --> 01:56:12.458 Why? 01:56:13.208 --> 01:56:17.833 Because he's exactly what our Don used to be. 01:56:17.916 --> 01:56:19.458 An idealist, 01:56:19.541 --> 01:56:20.666 you get it? 01:56:21.333 --> 01:56:22.500 And not only that, 01:56:23.083 --> 01:56:26.750 nemesis is the same guy who once predicted 01:56:26.833 --> 01:56:31.833 our Quixote would one day preside over a socialist revolution. 01:56:33.083 --> 01:56:37.833 Our Quixote looks into the mirror of his youth 01:56:37.916 --> 01:56:41.333 and decides to break this glass, 01:56:41.416 --> 01:56:45.041 a maddening reminder of who he once was. 01:56:45.125 --> 01:56:48.708 Assisted by his faithful Sancho 01:56:48.791 --> 01:56:53.708 and armed with all the black magic at his command, 01:56:53.791 --> 01:56:55.916 he does just this. 01:56:56.416 --> 01:56:58.750 Destroying, in the process, 01:56:58.833 --> 01:57:00.250 not one man… 01:57:01.500 --> 01:57:02.708 but two. 01:57:05.458 --> 01:57:07.041 Well, what do you think, Louis? 01:57:08.458 --> 01:57:09.916 You think it'll play? 01:57:22.541 --> 01:57:24.333 Don't worry, folks. 01:57:25.541 --> 01:57:28.125 The white wine came up with the fish. 01:57:30.541 --> 01:57:34.250 Who the fuck do you think you are, Mankiewicz? 01:57:35.666 --> 01:57:37.916 You're nothin' but a court jester. 01:57:38.833 --> 01:57:41.041 And let me let you in on a little secret. 01:57:41.125 --> 01:57:44.458 Do you have any idea who pays half your salary? 01:57:44.541 --> 01:57:46.791 He pays half your fucking salary. 01:57:46.875 --> 01:57:48.666 Him, you fucking ingrate. 01:57:49.333 --> 01:57:51.000 You didn't know that, did ya? 01:57:51.083 --> 01:57:52.166 You wanna know why? 01:57:52.666 --> 01:57:54.541 Because he likes the way you talk. 01:57:54.625 --> 01:57:56.125 Not the way you write, 01:57:56.208 --> 01:57:57.875 the way you talk. 01:57:58.583 --> 01:58:00.625 Don't that chap your ass? 01:58:05.416 --> 01:58:06.375 Stay. 01:58:22.833 --> 01:58:25.333 -Please, follow me. -It's very quaint. 01:58:33.166 --> 01:58:35.000 Rise and shine, hombre. 01:58:35.958 --> 01:58:37.875 Shoot-out at the O.K. Corral. 01:58:39.500 --> 01:58:42.958 Before we buckle down, you have something to get off your chest? 01:58:43.041 --> 01:58:45.041 As a matter of fact, I do. 01:58:45.125 --> 01:58:47.083 Frankly, I think what I said upset you. 01:58:47.166 --> 01:58:50.291 I know your health's not what it might be, and that comes first. 01:58:50.375 --> 01:58:53.416 -Really? -This studio fuss, this lawsuit. 01:58:53.500 --> 01:58:55.458 God knows what pressure's yet to come. 01:58:55.541 --> 01:58:58.250 At your age, you'd be justified in wanting out. 01:58:58.333 --> 01:59:00.500 I'm 43, but that's very understanding. 01:59:00.583 --> 01:59:02.500 Mayer's buyout was rejected, 01:59:02.583 --> 01:59:05.166 so the fat's only starting to hit the fire. 01:59:05.791 --> 01:59:09.208 Now, I talked to RKO, and I'll tell you what they're ready to do. 01:59:09.291 --> 01:59:12.208 In recognition of the outstanding work you've done so far, 01:59:12.291 --> 01:59:14.291 they're prepared to relieve you of the rewrite 01:59:14.375 --> 01:59:16.041 and still honor your full pay… 01:59:16.791 --> 01:59:19.416 plus $10,000. 01:59:20.208 --> 01:59:21.041 How's that? 01:59:22.875 --> 01:59:24.458 That's more than generous. 01:59:25.875 --> 01:59:27.875 But I don't intend to walk. 01:59:29.875 --> 01:59:30.833 All right. 01:59:33.250 --> 01:59:34.958 What's bothering you, then? 01:59:35.041 --> 01:59:37.666 You're not going to like this, Orson. 01:59:42.250 --> 01:59:43.541 I want credit. 01:59:45.625 --> 01:59:46.750 Come again? 01:59:47.791 --> 01:59:50.000 It's the best thing I've ever written. 01:59:50.875 --> 01:59:53.250 Jack, get me some Cuban cigars. 01:59:53.333 --> 01:59:55.375 -In Victorville? -Do what you can, Jack. 01:59:55.458 --> 01:59:59.125 Stay, Houseman. You'll miss the third act complicator. 01:59:59.208 --> 02:00:01.166 Get going, Jack. Muy pronto. 02:00:01.958 --> 02:00:04.166 I believe that means right away. 02:00:21.291 --> 02:00:23.000 Mank. 02:00:24.541 --> 02:00:28.416 What I said was more in sorrow than in anger, Willie. 02:00:31.541 --> 02:00:36.083 Are you familiar with the parable of the organ grinder's monkey? 02:00:36.166 --> 02:00:40.125 Now, the organ grinder's monkey is tiny in stature, 02:00:40.208 --> 02:00:42.083 and having been taken from the wild, 02:00:42.166 --> 02:00:46.833 he's naturally overwhelmed by the enormous world around him. 02:00:47.833 --> 02:00:49.000 But every morning, 02:00:49.083 --> 02:00:51.791 a sweet elderly woman dresses him 02:00:51.875 --> 02:00:53.875 in a fine suit of clothes. 02:00:54.541 --> 02:00:59.041 She fits him with a red velvet vest adorned with pearl buttons 02:00:59.125 --> 02:01:02.750 and a handsome red fez with a silk tassel. 02:01:02.833 --> 02:01:05.583 She slips on brocade shoes 02:01:05.666 --> 02:01:07.500 that curl at the toe. 02:01:08.000 --> 02:01:13.416 And he's paired with a fine gilt music box on an exquisite gold chain 02:01:13.500 --> 02:01:16.708 fastened to his neck and his neck alone. 02:01:17.375 --> 02:01:22.000 Whenever he ventures into the city to perform, he thinks, 02:01:22.083 --> 02:01:24.625 "What a powerful fellow I must be." 02:01:24.708 --> 02:01:28.583 "Look how patiently everyone waits just to watch me dance." 02:01:28.666 --> 02:01:29.500 Willie-- 02:01:29.583 --> 02:01:32.000 "And wherever I go," he thinks, 02:01:32.083 --> 02:01:34.458 "this music box must follow, 02:01:34.541 --> 02:01:38.416 and with it, this poor downtrodden man." 02:01:38.500 --> 02:01:41.208 "And if I chose not to dance, 02:01:41.291 --> 02:01:44.333 this sorry street peddler would starve, 02:01:44.416 --> 02:01:47.708 and every time I do decide to dance, 02:01:47.791 --> 02:01:48.833 every time… 02:01:53.708 --> 02:01:55.250 he must play." 02:01:57.083 --> 02:01:58.958 "Whether he wishes to or not." 02:02:00.541 --> 02:02:02.666 You've had a bit too much to drink, Herman. 02:02:02.750 --> 02:02:05.625 I'll get Raymond to drive you to the station. 02:02:06.916 --> 02:02:07.791 Goodbye. 02:02:16.416 --> 02:02:17.916 Put aside gratitude, Mank. 02:02:18.000 --> 02:02:20.166 That you've done your best work was no accident. 02:02:20.250 --> 02:02:23.500 I removed any distraction, eliminated every excuse, 02:02:23.583 --> 02:02:26.083 your family, your cronies, liquor. 02:02:26.166 --> 02:02:27.750 I gave you a second chance. 02:02:27.833 --> 02:02:30.250 And for that, I cannot thank you enough. 02:02:30.333 --> 02:02:34.958 But with credit for a risky undertaking must go the weight of real responsibility. 02:02:35.041 --> 02:02:37.166 Given your health, I wonder if you're up to it. 02:02:37.250 --> 02:02:39.791 And frankly, I wonder too, but we'll find out. 02:02:39.875 --> 02:02:42.375 You may never work in this town again, Mank! 02:02:42.875 --> 02:02:44.000 Orson, please… 02:02:44.083 --> 02:02:46.541 Then you force me to remind you! 02:02:46.625 --> 02:02:50.125 We have a contract that you understood and agreed to. 02:02:50.208 --> 02:02:53.833 If you fight this, it will go to what your new guild calls arbitration, 02:02:53.916 --> 02:02:57.291 and you, my friend, will lose script, money, 02:02:57.375 --> 02:02:59.875 and, assuming such a thing still exists in Hollywood, 02:02:59.958 --> 02:03:01.958 the respect of those who honor their word. 02:03:02.041 --> 02:03:04.708 How can I put this nicely? 02:03:05.833 --> 02:03:08.000 I may be a loose cannon, 02:03:08.083 --> 02:03:11.041 but you, my friend, are an outsider. 02:03:11.125 --> 02:03:14.208 They're exasperated by me, and I've earned it, 02:03:14.291 --> 02:03:17.458 but you, a self-anointed savior-hyphenate, 02:03:17.541 --> 02:03:20.416 they're just waiting to loathe you. 02:03:20.500 --> 02:03:23.166 Remind me never again to work with a washed-up alcoholic! 02:03:23.250 --> 02:03:26.083 Duly noted. Nelson Algren, please copy. 02:03:26.166 --> 02:03:28.791 All right! No doubt you'll get your credit. 02:03:28.875 --> 02:03:31.666 But ask yourself, "Who's producing this picture?" 02:03:31.750 --> 02:03:34.333 "Directing it? Starring in it?" 02:03:37.208 --> 02:03:39.375 That's what we need when Susan leaves Kane. 02:03:40.125 --> 02:03:42.041 An act of purging violence. 02:03:44.666 --> 02:03:45.625 Maybe. 02:03:58.708 --> 02:04:01.458 Mank, where are you? 02:04:02.458 --> 02:04:03.958 Mank, come quick! 02:04:09.208 --> 02:04:10.291 He's alive! 02:04:11.250 --> 02:04:12.583 Ian's alive! 02:04:13.083 --> 02:04:15.791 -He fetched up on the Orkneys! -The what? 02:04:15.875 --> 02:04:17.875 The Orkney Islands, you idiot. 02:04:18.791 --> 02:04:20.375 Mank, are you ever serious? 02:04:21.541 --> 02:04:23.166 Only about something funny. 02:04:49.416 --> 02:04:52.125 And the winner of the best original screenplay is… 02:04:53.750 --> 02:04:55.416 Herman J. Mankiewicz… 02:04:57.750 --> 02:05:01.000 and Orson Welles for Citizen Kane. 02:05:02.875 --> 02:05:06.625 This is the first nomination and first win for Mr. Mankiewicz and Mr. Welles. 02:05:06.708 --> 02:05:08.458 Neither were able to attend tonight. 02:05:08.541 --> 02:05:11.250 Accepting for both is the president of RKO Radio Pictures, 02:05:11.333 --> 02:05:12.750 Mr. George Schaefer. 02:05:14.541 --> 02:05:18.375 -Excuse me, Mr. Welles. -Good morning, gentlemen. 02:05:18.458 --> 02:05:21.083 Morning, Mr. Welles. You missed a big night. 02:05:21.166 --> 02:05:24.041 Well, I was unable to attend the Academy Awards 02:05:24.125 --> 02:05:28.208 because I'm here in Rio making a marvelous motion picture. 02:05:28.291 --> 02:05:31.708 Kane was nominated in nine categories, including best actor. 02:05:31.791 --> 02:05:34.666 Aren't you disappointed that it only won one Oscar? 02:05:35.458 --> 02:05:39.541 Well, that, my good man, is Hollywood. 02:05:40.583 --> 02:05:43.541 Anything you'd like to say to your coauthor, Mr. Mankiewicz? 02:05:43.625 --> 02:05:45.166 I do have a brief message. 02:05:45.250 --> 02:05:46.875 You may tell him from me… 02:05:48.541 --> 02:05:51.583 "Mank, you can kiss my half!" 02:06:00.250 --> 02:06:05.041 You ask me what my acceptance speech might have been. 02:06:06.791 --> 02:06:07.791 Well, here goes. 02:06:08.875 --> 02:06:14.166 I am very happy to accept this award 02:06:14.250 --> 02:06:17.625 in the manner in which the screenplay was written, 02:06:18.125 --> 02:06:22.541 which is to say, in the absence of Orson Welles. 02:06:25.291 --> 02:06:26.416 How's that? 02:06:26.916 --> 02:06:28.333 How come he shares credit? 02:06:29.750 --> 02:06:35.166 Well, that, my friend, is the magic of the movies. 02:06:35.916 --> 02:06:38.875 Hold up the Oscar, Mank. Big smile. 02:06:38.899 --> 02:06:49.899 Telegram Channel and Instagram Page .:: @bollbolljan_com ::.