Original subtitles

— Through another party? — Yes,

— Could we know who? — Think that would be a mistake,

I’ll tell you for what reason,

Not to take this person to task in anyway...

(Honking)

In the autumn of 1942, nearly a year after Pearl Harbor,

the United States had entered the race against Germany to produce an atomic bomb

and the Army were preparing to take over the running of the weapon project

While scientists, Robert Oppenheimer among them,

were puzzling over theoretical aspects of the weapon,

the Army had begun the search for a man to coordinate and supervise all the various projects

that would produce both the explosive material and the bomb mechanism.

The front runner for the job was an engineer,

a career soldier currently in charge of all Army construction in the United States.

His name was Colonel Leslie Groves.

At the end of September, Groves was summoned to the Pentagon

for an interview with Major General Wilhelm Styer of the Army Services Of Supply.

I'm putting you in charge of the Manhattan Project.

Now, you'll get briefing from people who are more expert than me but I can tell you this,

the Manhattan Project is an attempt to develop a new kind of weapon of shattering power,

the atomic bomb.

Well, you don't seem very excited, Colonel.

Well, I don't know, sir. The Japs are halfway across the Pacific,

the Germans about to walk into Moscow,

I don't know if I can get interested in some new wonder weapon at this point, sir.

Well, let me put it to you this way, Colonel.

If the Japs controlled the whole Pacific and the Germans took all of Russia and all of Asia

and Africa too and we had this bomb,

we would still win the war.

There's one more item that may be of interest to you.

There's a promotion... goes with the job.

Is that why you wanted a combat assignment?

And I thought you were a real fire—eater.

All right, now, let's get serious. You're gonna have to work for those stars.

The Manhattan Project's in a helluva mess right now.

Do you want to take notes?

The President gave the OK to the project back in 1939.

Since then, the whole thing's just diddled along.

These scientists, they're not living in the real world half the time.

For instance, I have got here a project estimate for five plants that they want to put up.

They put a figure of 85 million bucks on it.

That's ridiculous. I've just come from a TNT plant we built in Pennsylvania, cost 128 million.

— One plant. — OK, you see the problem.

There's worse.

They don't even know what process to use to make the material for this bomb.

Oh, they've got half a dozen different candidates

but I can't get any sense out of 'em as to which one is the favorite.

The thing is, Leslie, we have to get the damned scientists out of this project

and get the Army in.

The problem is we need their brains.

All right. Now, this is what I want you to do.

Go round the country, talk to these people.

— Where do I start? — The nearest, New York City.

They've got some damned thing going at Columbia University.

Uh... gaseous diffusion method for separating the uranium 235 isotope.

Make any sense to you?

— Well... — Well, it's got to make sense to you.

Look, I'm assigning Ken Nichols to you.

He's a pretty smart fella. You know, a PhD, etcetera. He'll help you out.

— Where after New York? — Chicago.

You got Enrico Fermi out there. You heard of him?

A genius and all that. Doesn't matter.

Look, you see these people, huh? Stand up to them and make them talk straight.

Right.

After Chicago?

The University Of California, Berkeley.

— Who do I see out there? — Ernest Lawrence.

(Groves) 0h, I heard of him.

(Styer) Oh and, uh... you should talk to a man called, uh... Robert Oppenheimer.

(Gro ves) Oppen... heimer.

— Mm—hm. — What's his interest?

Oppenheimer? Right now he's heading up a study group out there.

Uh... Theoretical Aspects Of A Fission Bomb.

I hear he's quite a useful guy...

for a scientist.

Now, the next problem with Washington is that in order to get the kind of funding we need,

we're going to have to convince them that this isn't a larger version of a conventional weapon.

Oscar, you've done a little work in that area.

I've done a little work but the British have done considerably more.

Obviously the size of the blast will depend upon the amount of fissionable material

we can obtain for the weapon and that we don't know yet.

OK, then all we can say very roughly is that, weight for weight,

a fission bomb will produce several thousand times the blast of TNT.

— Uh, here are the calculations. — Good.

I've had some of my students look into past large—scale explosions,

see if we can't come up with some equivalent of what we're trying to produce.

In uh... 1917, an ammunition ship blew up in the harbor in Halifax, Nova Scotia,

with 5,000 tons of TNT on board.

As you can see, the damage was extensive, to say the least.

The blast was felt over 60 miles away and half the city was destroyed.

This picture was taken half a mile from the blast.

Now, if we can show that a fission weapon will approach,

or even exceed a blast of this magnitude...

We're going to kill a lot of people.

— How dare you say I'm not to go in that room! — I'm sorry...

— Edward Teller. — (Arguing continues)

— I... — It's all right. He's one of ours.

— How are you, Edward? — I'm fine, fine.

I'm just mad at this cop here. I come halfway across the country...

You're supposed to have one of these, security.

I lost that the day it arrived.

— Hans Bethe, my dear friend! — You're late.

I'm late. I'm late. I'm a bit late.

— And Oscar. — Yes, now, we've met.

— Baltimore '38. — Of course. Yes.

— And this is Bob Serber. — Ah, Bob, I know your work. Nice to see you.

Emil Konopinski, how nice.

Oh, Oppie, what a good group of people!

(Chuckles) It's very exciting.

Well... we'll have some fun.

I hope so.

— Now...I've got lots to say. — (All talk at once)

— We have an agenda, Edward. — What?

We thought it would be best. Everything in its place, not a free—for—all.

Oh, Oh. OK. An Agenda.

So... what have I missed?

We've just been looking at these pictures of the Halifax explosion

and I think we can probably double that, at least.

Now, we've obviously got a very interesting and complicated problem.

— The best kind. — Agreed.

But we'll have to be careful in all of this to keep our discussions focused,

especially due to our constraints of time.

So right away I'd like to look at one of our fundamental problems,

which is to describe how exactly this weapon is going to look — shape, size...

Very roughly, we know we have a plutonium, or uranium, sphere wrapped in a tight shell.

Hans, if you would, I'd like you to take us on from there.

Oh, er, do you want me to...

(Chattering)

— I think you know... — The most important thing...

Absolutely, I think this morning was a miracle.

You know, I've never known a meeting go so smoothly.

Oppie, as the chairman, you are a genius,

except you wouldn't let me talk.

— You talked nonstop for two hours. — I had three hours in me.

I'm afraid I won't be able to join you for lunch. I have one or two things that can't wait.

— Bob, you'll look after them, will you? — Yeah, sure, Oppie.

Just a reminder. No discussion of this subject outside the room.

— Of course not. — We must clean up everything before we leave.

— Does that include the board? — I'm afraid so.

— I'll be back on time. — Bye—bye, Oppie.

(Doorbell)

I can only stay an hour.

— Drink? — No, thanks.

— Party work? — God, no, just stuff.

I couldn't remember if it was your day to see Belinsky.

No. Wednesdays and, um... Fridays.

— How's it going? — Slow.

I... I don't know about him.

(German accent) I am thinking of switching head shrinkers.

— To who? — Bernstein.

— Is he good? — He's cheaper.

You need money?

No.

No. How's your wife?

Fine.

Does she still butter you up as much as she used to?

— She still has a great deal of confidence in me. — Bully for her.

I never thought you weren't a big fish. I just thought you were in an awfully small pond.

— I'll come by another time. — No!

I just have to let it out. It doesn't take that long.

Is it out now?

Yup.

All out?

I could murder you.

It's been a long morning.

What you been doing?

We started a study group today, you know... talk, talk, talk.

About what?

Oh, nothing special.

The big news today is we can expect a visit from the Army brass shortly.

— Oh, boy, trouble. — Why do they have to get involved?

Well, Hans, they're going to pay for it. They're your employers.

— Not mine. — What are they coming for?

To see what we've got, speed us up a little.

Who is it who's coming?

Fellow by the name of Groves. General Groves.

— Who is it? — It's Nichols, sir.

I'm hungry, Nick.

Well, sir, I've got some Tootsie rolls and chocolate mints and Hershey bars.

— I'll have a Hershey bar. — Yes, sir.

I liked that fella Dunning, didn't you?

Sure.

I liked his method too. Straightforward. You could understand it.

That Yuri, though, he was a pain in the behind.

I thought he had one or two pretty sound objections, sir.

— Go through them. — Right.

One, uranium hexafluoride gas, that corrodes everything it touches

and they haven't found a way round that yet.

Two, the amount of U—235 that that process produces is so small,

they'd have to repeat it a helluva lot to get appreciable concentration.

To get the results we need, they'd have to build huge plants and the cost would be phenomenal.

Three, Dunning said that...

The problem is if you listen to all the objections, you end up so you don't get behind anything.

How will they know if the damned thing will work?

Nick, we gotta back the man.

So, when all these rods are withdrawn,

we should have this, uh, chain reaction

but the problem is, without enough uranium, we are not able to test the theory.

That's what I was saying. That's the biggest problem.

All right, gentlemen, what we seem to have here, to sum up,

this proposed uranium graphite pile of Dr. Fermi's will be operational very shortly.

I expect soon to conduct an experiment, which will lead to controlled nuclear chain reaction.

Good, good. Uh, glad to hear it.

Now, what I want to know is can we make that soon even sooner?

Um... for instance, one of the bottlenecks.

Now, what we have here is different approaches to how this thing's gonna be cooled down.

Now, can't you people get together and decide which approach is the most likely to work

and throw the rest out the window?

— (All mutter) — Dr. Compton.

— Well, the point is I feel, uh... — All the approaches are interesting.

I appreciate they may all be interesting, Dr... Dr. Szilard.

What I'm trying convey here is there's a war on and we're up against a pretty smart enemy.

Your German opposite numbers won't be wasting time on approaches that are interesting.

You don't have to tell me about the Germans. I know about the Germans.

— I'm glad to hear that. — Uh, gentlemen...

Look, all I want to know is which approach is the likeliest to work.

Enrico.

There are two approaches which seem most interesting.

Air cooling and helium. It's not possible to differentiate between them.

Right, thank you.

Is it possible that we can agree to restrict research to these two?

Yes, we can do that.

All right, thank you.

Now, uh, another thing... This estimate for the fissionable material needed to build the bomb,

it's awfully imprecise.

As an engineer, I'm used to getting estimates that are correct between 25 and 50%

but you've got a statement here that says the figure is accurate to a factor of ten.

Now, what am I supposed to do with that?

How do you expect me to build a factory based on these figures?

I mean, I don't know if I'm designing for three bombs a month or three tenths of a bomb,

or 30 bombs...

or what.

Dr. Fermi.

At present, it's not possible to be more precise.

General, it's getting late and perhaps, if there are any more questions we could...

Yeah, I got about a million questions but I got a train to catch.

Dr. Compton, I'll be in touch after I get to California.

I'll have done some more reading.

There's just one thing I want to say.

Now, you may know that I don't have a PhD. Colonel Nichols here has but I don't have one.

But let me tell you I had ten years of formal education after I entered college.

Ten years...| just studied.

That would be the equivalent of two PhDs, wouldn't it?

That's all. Good day to you.

All right, Nichols, I had to say something.

That you did.

Goddamn experts, trying to run rings around us, make me mad.

I'm hungry.

I still got some Hershey bars.

Picked up something new you might like to try A new Hershey bar with almonds.

— An almond in every bite. — OK.

They were a poor bunch, Nick, weren't they?

Wouldn't give you a dime for the lot of 'em.

Except Fermi. He seemed to be on the ball.

— I don't like these, too brittle. — It's just an experiment.

The whole setup made me angry.

People walking in and out of each other's offices, even the labs.

No security, none.

Same thing at Columbia.

I'd like to see the whole bunch of them in uniforms and under strict Army regulations.

Make a note of that.

Right.

Who are we seeing in Berkeley?

Basically Ernest Lawrence. We're supposed to talk to a fella named Robert Oppenheimer.

I'm looking forward to Lawrence. I hear he's quite a fella.

At least he's an American.

"You don't have to tell me about Germans."

"Germans."

I bet he's German himself, or a Russian.

I think Dr. Szilard's Hungarian.

Hungarian!

He was one of the first to alert the government about the bomb.

Saying's one thing, doing another.

That's where the real war is.

Look, Li'l Abner wants to get away from Daisy Mae to go fishing, so he tells her that he's...

OK, homework.

Dr. Robert Oppenheimer.

— Is he an American? — Yes, sir.

He was born in New York City. Does that count?

Hm.

Damn.

What is it, General?

I think I got a bad tooth.

All I'm talking about is efficiency.

Look, you take a fission bomb, you explode it, you get your explosion. OK, a big explosion.

— Very big. — What I'm saying is... and it's not just me.

Fermi's interested too. What we say is wrap the uranium in deuterium

and use your fission explosion to create a fusion in the deuterium.

Look, for the same mass of uranium, you can get an explosive yield five times greater

than the fission will give you.

Not just a nuclear but a thermonuclear reaction.

— Edward... — Please, Hans, not just a bomb

but a superbomb.

Look, you've seen the calculations.

Gentlemen, please. Yes, Edward, it is obviously an interesting idea and it has to be followed up.

— But we've taken it as far as we can... — Oppie, listen.

The fact is if we are going to have a weapon that we can use in this war,

— it has to be the fission. — That's a simple job.

— I'll order two for Christmas. — Hans, nothing simple interests me.

In order to get to the fusion weapon, we have to start with the fission, don't we?

— Yes. — Let's take it step by step.

— First fission, then the super. — It's absurd to neglect the super.

Edward, we're hardly neglecting it. The point is that...

The point is that it's taken the scientific community two years to get to this.

How much longer are you going to fool around?

— (All talk at once) — With a war on, there's only so much time.

We have spent the best part of the last three weeks talking about the super

and you are obviously going to keep concentrating on it, fine. Fine.

But at the moment, it has just too many problems.

They'd be a joy to solve.

OK... let's get a move on.

Bob. Bob has some thoughts for us on the likely problems we're going to have with plutonium.

— I've got something else. — Is it relevant?

Would I mention it otherwise, Oppie?

Last night I did some computations on the likely heat build—up inside an exploding fission bomb.

Now, it was interesting.

Of course, the calculations are rough.

But I said it was interesting.

— If those figures are correct... — That's right, Oscar, they're OK.

They seem to indicate that if we explode a fission bomb,

we have a reasonable chance of setting fire to the world's atmosphere.

We can't go on until this is settled.

Agreed?

Hans, do you want it?

Well, I can't work in here.

No but do you think you can do it in a hurry before the military arrives?

Probably.

Thank you.

(Chattering)

Watch the steps.

Well, this is it.

— Most impressive. — Yes.

Calutron. What does that signify, Professor?

Well, it's mostly homage to my employer.

Cal—u—tron... it's California University... tron.

This little baby derives from the 184—inch cyclotron we were working on before the war.

— Now, uh, Dr. Lawrence... — Ernest.

Ernest... I wonder if we could see this thing in operation.

Certainly.

OK, jimmy, we're ready to go.

If you'd like to come this way.

Watch the steps.

OK, jimmy, let's switch her on.

Now, then, by using high—electrical voltage,

the uranium atoms are accelerated through a vacuum tube

at speeds of many thousands of miles per second.

Come on, jimmy, let's goose it up here.

Now, then, at these speeds, they enter an intensely strong magnetic field.

The magnetic force pulls the atoms into circular paths.

Now, uranium has two kinds of isotopes.

238... and 235.

— Right. And 235 is... — Is lighter.

Is lighter.

OK.

And it is fissionable, which is what we want.

Now, how do we separate it out?

You see, your lighter isotopes are bent into a different circuit from your heavier.

I always like to say it's kind of like throwing two stones of different weight with the same force

and one of 'em's gonna go further than the other, right?

— Sure. — Right.

Now, at the end of the electrical park, you'll find two separate containers,

one to catch the heavier isotopes and one to catch the...

Lighter.

Lighter and there you have it, sir.

Electromagnetic separation.

OK, jimmy, you can save the taxpayers' money now.

So... how long do you have to keep this thing running to get any appreciable separation?

Well, it takes a long time to make a vacuum in the machine itself.

14 to 24 hours.

— And how long do you run it? — Never more than ten to 15 minutes.

So how much separation you got so far?

How much have you got in that basket?

Sir, as yet we don't have any sizeable separation at all.

(Sighs)

You see, all this is still completely experimental.

You gentlemen going somewhere? Can I give you a lift?

— No thanks, we've got to see someone else. — Ah.

— J Robert Oppenheimer. — He's right down the hall.

— What can you tell us about him? — Who, Oppie?

Well... he's a heck of a guy.

He's a theorist and I'm an experimentalist and you know what they say,

the two don't mix but uh...| like him, admire him.

He reads Sanskrit.

— Sanskrit? — Yeah, genuine Sanskrit.

Very fond of classical music, too.

(Knocking and door opening)

— Oppie. — Ernest, come in.

I can't but I brought you some visitors.

— Dr. Robert Oppenheimer, General Groves. — How do you do.

— This is Colonel, um... — Nichols.

Right.

— How's the infernal machine, Ernest? — Oh, very promising.

I heard you were in Berkeley.

— Just want to have a few words, Professor. — Sure.

Oh, Bob knows everything I know.

— All the same... — It's OK, really.

(Clears throat) I'm sory

— You be home later? — Yeah.

I'll call. You're wrong.

I suppose that seemed kind of unnecessary to you.

Not at all. We're at war, after all.

Well, I never thought I'd hear a scientist say that.

— Can I get you gentlemen some coffee? — Fine.

— I won't be a minute. — Oh, don't bother. Nichols'll get it.

Oh, right.

There's a canteen in the basement of the next building.

— You got that, Nick? — Yes, sir.

I'll have coffee, cream and sugar. If they've got a Danish or a sweet bun or something.

— Yes, sir. — Tea with lemon for me.

Right.

— I understand you've been on quite a tour. — Yeah, New York, Pennsylvania, Chicago, here.

— How have you been enjoying it? — To be frank, not much.

Well, uh, let's get down to business.

I understand your primary involvement is in the design of this bomb we're working towards.

— That's right. — I was talking to Dr. Lawrence.

I got the impression he thought it was premature

to be talking of bomb design before you know what you're going to be able to put in it.

Sure it is. It's premature ordinarily but I figure if we wait until they've produced

enough fissionable material before thinking about the problems

of bomb design and assembly and delivery,

we'd just be adding months, years to the program.

I can see that.

I tell you, Professor, that's the way I'm operating.

I'm putting up plants in Tennessee right now

and I can't tell the boys who are working on it anything but the vaguest specifications

but if I wait till I get better ones...

So, uh... how far's your work got?

Well, we're still in the theory stage, I'm afraid.

Sony

We had a very interesting study group here this summer, maybe too interesting.

Huh?

A lot of it was spent with Teller taking us down some pretty strange paths.

Have you met Edward yet?

Amazing man. For instance, he stopped us cold at one point with some calculations

that indicated the likely heat build—up in an exploding fission bomb

would create a reaction between deuterium and nitrogen.

Meaning...?

Meaning we could set fire to the world's atmosphere.

— My God. — It's all right.

Hans Bethe checked the figures and it turned out Edward had been a little imprecise.

There's no chance, huh?

Oh, there's a chance but not as great as Edward thought.

— There is a chance? — Three in a million.

We're going to keep quiet about that. Can't have fellas running around

shooting their mouths off about setting the world on fire.

You can't stop scientists speculating.

Woolly—minded speculation and talk. That's what I aim to stop.

I tell you, Professor, I've just had a bellyful of fancy—thinking experts.

Can't pin 'em down on anything.

Of course there really aren't any experts in this field.

— What? — Not really. It's too new.

That's about the best news I've had in weeks.

But for me to be able to do my job, uh, there's a lot of things I have to know.

Oh, yes, there's plenty to know.

Do you think that you could explain it to me?

Sure. What would you like to know?

— How did it go? — He's only a general.

— It could be important. — Relax. I played him like a violin.

Robert.

I played him like a violin.

Where's Peter?

He's home with the baby—sitter.

Steve Nelson came by and I didn't know what to do.

(Sighs) I should have told him to go away but he's been good to me.

I'm sory

No. We have a right to see our friends.

He was at the party when we met, remember?

Gave a speech. We ran off to a bar.

— Hadn't been for that speech... — I should've told him to go away.

— Damn it, I should have. — Take it easy.

# Well, there once was a union maid who never was afraid

# Of the goons and the ginks and the company finks

# And the deputy sheriffs who made the raid... #

— (Door opens) — Oh.

Excuse me. I guess some people never grow up but I do like that song and so does he, I think.

— So do I. — Don't you?

— (Baby whines) — Good.

— Hey, good. — Can I get you a drink, Steve?

— Well, I could sure do with some coffee. — You got it.

— (Baby cries) — Oh, it's all right.

— Keep on singing. — Well, now, what's the chorus to that song?

Let's sing the chorus.

# Well, you don't get me, I'm sticking to the union

# You don't get me, I'm sticking to the union

# You don't get me, I'm sticking to the union till the day I die

# Till the day I die #

Hi, Bob, Martha.

Would you mind leaving? I've got an important phone call to make.

— Hi, Lloyd. Steve. — Hi.

Hi. Listen, I bumped into that guy Oppenheimer today.

— Oh, really? — Just casual.

— But he was very friendly, very cordial. — So what about it? Can you approach him?

Well, that's what I was thinking but I can't decide.

Well, he used to be quite active before the war but not at all lately as far as I know.

Mmm. Well, what do you think?

From what joe says...

joe, works up at the radiation lab in Berkeley. Used to be a student of Oppenheimer's.

(Lloyd) Oh, yeah. Well, just sound him out

— (Steve) just stroke him? — Yeah.

(Steve) The question is like who and where?

(Lloyd) Yeah. Well, how about you? Or what’s his name, Joe?

(Steve) No, no, definitely not He’s jumpy enough as it is.

(Lloyd) Well, maybe just put him out on the cocktail circuit, get to him one way or another.

(Steve) Yeah, sure.

— Got your peanuts. — Thanks, Nick.

Got us a reservation for the second sitting. They're singing trout.

Fine.

Any news from Chicago?

I gather it's taking longer to build than expected.

Delay, delay.

But have success with the chain reaction. They'll be transmitting a signal.

The Italian navigator has landed in the New World.

— The what? — It's a humorous reference to Dr. Fermi.

I liked that fella, you know. That fella in Berkeley.

— Lawrence? — Oh, sure, Lawrence.

That other guy. Oppenheimer.

God, he's a smart fella.

Yet no... fancy stuff.

No airs.

Could understand him.

Sanskrit. Huh!

I'll bet he could us Sanskrit too if he wanted.

What do we know about him?

Julius Robert Oppenheimer, born 1904, educated Harvard University, University of Cambridge...

No... summary.

Well, he's reckoned to be a first—class teacher but not a first—class scientist.

— What does that mean? — He won't win a Nobel prize.

— Is that important? — In their world it is.

It's not important to me.

In fact, thank God. We don't need any more prima donnas.

All I know is I can talk to him.

I like what he has to say.

— Can we get him here? — What, here? On the train?

Well, if he can get a military plane out of Oakland, he could catch us in Chicago.

I'd have to send a wire from Omaha.

— Do it. — Right.

He understands security.

The first one.

And I don't give a damn about any Nobel Prizes.

He's the kind of guy I want to see brought into the heart of the project.

Maybe not.

What?

— Some information here from the FBI. — Oh, for God's sake.

His wife's a one—time member of the Communist Party.

His brother and sister—in—law are current and active members.

His ex—girlfriend, a woman named jean Tatlock, is thought to be a current member.

He himself has had many contacts with left—wing organizations in the Bay area.

Subscriber to the People's World Newspaper.

He's active in a teachers' union.

At present, he's under round—the—clock surveillance.

Better forget about that telegram.

No. Send him.

General? It's Nichols.

Come right in.

Have a seat. Uh...

— Good flight? — A little bumpy.

— Just made it. — Yeah.

The reason I asked you here is I liked some of the things you were saying in Berkeley

and there are a few things on my mind I'd appreciate talking over with you.

Sure.

My number one headache at this moment is security.

I can't seem to get it across to these scientists...

you scientists,

how important it is to restrict the flow of information.

Quit blabbing to each other.

Well, you see, you're asking them to go against their whole tradition.

Well, to heck with tradition, Professor. This is wartime.

— Oh, I think they'll come round. — Well, not soon enough for me.

Look, uh, one idea I had to get some kind of control is...

to get the whole lot of them into the Army.

How does that sound to you?

All right.

You wouldn't object personally? Uniforms, ranks...

I don't think so.

But that doesn't get to the heart of your problem.

If you cut everybody off from each other, you've got security, certainly, but... you see...

scientific research is basically a collaborative art, especially on a project like this.

One person may come up with a part of the answer

but he won't get there by himself but another person may have another part of the answer

and then a couple of other people will add a little bit more and that's the way it works.

But if you have everybody shut off in little departments, nobody talking to anybody else...

Well... what's the answer?

Cut the knot.

Bring all the specialists together in one laboratory where they can all talk to each other

and then cut them off from the rest of the world.

— One center. — A single central laboratory.

And put a wire round it.

— Uh... well... — Sure.

And guards and dogs. And screen out the undesirables.

The undesirables?

Nick, take a walk.

Sir.

Now, what is all this damned nonsense?

I can't understand it,

an intelligent man like you mixed up in all this... communistic left—wing garbage.

It's beyond me.

I could understand it if you came from some godforsaken European slum

but this is America and you're an American.

I'm an American that's spent a good deal of time abroad.

More's the pity maybe.

Look, Professor...I operate from a very simple premise,

one that's stood me well.

This is the best country in the world

and there's not another one that comes within a hundred miles of it.

We have the best businessmen in the world, we have the best athletes,

we have the best... movie stars.

I know we got the best soldiers in the world and you go right on down the line.

This is the American century.

Now, you think about it.

In your own field, are you telling me we don't have the best scientists in the world?

We have some of them. Milligan, Compton, Lawrence, but not all of them.

Well, who else is there?

Fermi's from Italy, Hans Bethe's from Germany,

Wigner and Teller are from Hungary...

All right. All right. And where are they now? These fellas with the funny names?

— Where are they now? — Now?

Right now.

Hans Bethe's in Cornell, Fermi's in Chicago...

— They're in the United States. — Yes.

And that's it! The American way.

If we can't grow 'em ourselves, we bring 'em in.

Bring 'em. They fight to get in.

This is America.

This is the American century.

— You may be right. — There's no maybe.

I want to ask you a question.

Are you a Communist?

No.

Have you ever been a Communist?

No.

Then why are half your damn friends Communists?

Not quite half.

If only your ideas weren't so good...

What about this, uh... bomb laboratory?

Where do we put it?

— What do you need? — Somewhere isolated.

We put it near a big city, the bastards'll be sneaking under the wire every night, I know.

— Canada? — Foreign government.

There'll be enough red tape as it is.

It's too cold up there. They have six—month winters, helluva problem with construction.

No, it's got to be in the United States.

Somewhere isolated... and short winters.

What?

I think I may know just the place.

(Groves) Well, it's isolated anyway.

What are those kids doing up here, Oppie?

Those buildings over there, that's the, uh... Los Alamos Boys School.

School? So you got housing in place already?

— Mmm. — Good.

How many people do you think we'd need up here, uh... maximum?

150, 200.

I think that might be an underestimate.

— I don't think so. — On other projects I've worked on...

— 200 maximum. — Sir, I think you're making...

OK, Nichols, button it up.

Now, look, Oppie, I want...

Oh, heck.

Nichols.

Come on, Nick. There's a lot of pressure.

I've got to have somebody to kick around.

Not in front of anybody else. No more.

— OK. — I mean it, General.

(Bleeping)

OK?

(Nichols) Yes.

General, there's a message from Chicago.

Yeah. Go ahead.

This is he.

Again.

Very good. Thank you.

The Italian navigator has landed in the New World.

God bless Fermi.

— We have a chain reaction. — You betcha.

— Well, that is good news. — Hah.

— You must be relieved. — Yeah.

There's nothing standing in our way now.

There's $2 billion.

It's a soundless...

— It's a silent movie? — Silent movie!

— The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse. — No.

— Uh... — The whole thing, everything together.

What an actor.

Gangster. Steal...

(All talk at once)

The Birth Of The Nations.

Third word.

The Day They Robbed...

Doctor?

— The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. — (All) Oh!

(All talk at once)

(Radio) Solomon islands. The Navy Department announces Army and Navy aircraft

continue daylight attacks on enemy positions on Guadalcanal.

Tunisia. The British 8th Army continues to advance on Misratah.

Germany. RAF attacks Duisburg, Germany, for the 56th time.

Eleven bombers reported missing.

Russia. Inside Stalingrad, Moscow reports 300—400 meter advance in factory district

Heavy Nazi counterattacks repulsed

However; Berlin Radio announces

German High Command well satisfied with the fighting in Russia,

which, the Nazis say, has resulted in the destruction, or capture,

of 70,000 Russian tanks, 70,000 guns

and a total of one million Red Army prisoners of war.

— Jesus, what's going on over there? — One million prisoners?

— What are those idiots in Washington doing? — They swore there'd be a second front.

Please. I'll tell you what they're doing, nothing.

Sitting on their asses while Russia goes down the drain.

— Oh, stop it, Haakon. — What did I do?

When Russia gets into it, you know when to switch.

— Now, Robert. — Never mind, Kitty.

— The dogs bark but the... — He is a dog too.

Oh, it's those Army jerks he's been his spending time with.

It's gone to his head.

I'll get the champagne.

We've got four minutes.

Uh—oh.

I don't even know how to behave.

Robert, he shouldn't even be in the house. It's so dangerous.

We'll be getting out of here soon, no more problems.

I wish it was now.

Forgive me?

— (Knock on door) — Can I be of any assistance?

He's all yours.

Two minutes.

— Sony — Forget it.

I'm edgy. Too much work.

Sure.

Want a preliminary?

Yeah.

Here you go.

— (Popping) — Oh. There we are.

Happy New Year.

It's been a good year for you.

Kitty.

You ever see jean these days?

Jean? Once in a while.

— How is she? — Sad.

— Robert? — Yeah.

— I'd better not. — What is it?

It's just that Russian news. It really...

— I'll shut up. — It bothers me too.

— Really? — What do you think I am nowadays?

Sure it does.

They're having a rough time, poor bastards

If they break in Stalingrad...

How much are you able to do for them?

Well, all that stuff you're working on up at the radiation lab.

Robert, it's common knowledge it's pretty big.

— Are you able to share it with the Soviets? — No.

That's crazy.

— Sure it is. — You think so?

Yeah. They're our allies.

We should be giving them our research and getting theirs in return, no question.

— You know, it could be done. — What?

There's a guy I know, an Englishman called George Eltenton.

He has contacts with the Soviet Embassy.

If you felt there was something the Soviets should have.

Do you know what you're saying?

(Laughs) Right. What's keeping those two lovebirds?

— I bet they're well into the champagne by now. — They would too, those sons of bitches.

— Oh, are you all right? — Kitty.

— Let Bob do it. — Yes, please, let me do it.

— Right. — Stay here.

(Both whispering)

Sony It's one minute to, uh?

— Right. — Help me bring the bottles.

And my glass.

Look at this!

One for you and for me. Careful, don't get wet.

— Any minute now. — (Chiming)

(All) Happy New Year!

The radio, wait a minute. Wait.

— We gotta sing. — (All) Yes.

(Radio blares and all talk at once)

# Should auld acquaintance be forgot

# And never brought to mind

# Should auld acquaintance be forgot

# For the sake of auld lang syne

# For auld lang syne...

(Laughter and chattering)

# For auld lang syne

# We'll drink a cup of kindness yet

# For the sake of auld lang syne... #

Happy New Year.

— Anything happened? — Are you kidding me?

You know this is crazy.

We sit here. How the hell do we know what's going on inside?

Relax, will you?

We got a new directive from Washington this morning.

Tomorrow a couple of the technical boys are gonna go inside,

leave 'em a few New Year's presents scattered around.

In the phones, behind the pictures.

(Distant chattering and laughter)

# ..drink a cup of kindness, dear

# For the sake of auld lang syne #