Original subtitles

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München, Stuttgart, Bonn, Hamburg, Frankfurt.

It's amazing how far they'll drive for a free drink.

Got any excuse to stay overnight with the girlfriend?

Come to her party tomorrow.

You might find a girl for yourself.

I've got kids to go home to, Werner.

They want a daddy with presents on Christmas morning.

Look, how many men have we got?

Four on the inside, two on the outside.

She didn't set this drop up a long time ago. I just hope to hell we haven't been

set up.

You hope? I hope. I'm the German.

An undersecretary from Bonn isn't monkey nuts.

Could spoil a lot of Christmases arresting him on false pretenses.

Well, it won't be the first time we've sat in a car in the dark waiting for

something to go wrong.

Mexico wasn't in a car.

And it wasn't dark.

Sina wasn't trying to run off as Stinnes.

She wanted to be sure nothing happened to him.

All the money.

Which is why she's not too impressed with her compensation from HMG.

Ah, that was Mr. Tiptree. Nothing to do with me.

Well, you damn well make it something to do with you.

One week private hospital in Mexico.

Two weeks physiotherapy back home for a broken rib and a fractured skull.

He's never coming inside here.

He's inside already.

The contact, I mean. How do you know he's inside?

His car's here.

Still trying to prove you're a good field man?

I am a good field man.

Or you wouldn't be here with me tonight.

And the Staatssekretär Fritz doesn't know what's about to hit him.

It's all yours.

Where's the contact?

The drop's already happened.

The waiter shall be a female.

He holds the world.

It's your catch.

Where was the compound?

The drop happened out here.

He left the papers in his car.

And your men had the car covered?

Just as well I chose you for this job.

Who is she, any idea?

I don't know.

Where is she now?

She'll be holding up somewhere. She's too late for the checkpoint.

We'll give her a surprise in the early morning.

First floor, number eight.

Looking this way.

She could almost jump back home again from that window, couldn't she?

Well, Under Secretary Fritz is denying everything, of course. They're driving

him back to Bond to turn his office over.

Come on, let's go now.

Who's up there?

Bring her over.

Name?

Carol Elvira Miller.

Born 1935, London.

Occupation, school teacher.

Are you English?

Are you in charge? I want to know what I'm charged with.

You've assumed we're policemen.

Only the police would behave with your kind of violence and arrogance.

I warn you, I know my rights.

Under Law 43 of the Allied Military Government legislation in force of this

city, possession of this knife is an offence for which the death penalty is

still imposed.

You're in Berlin, Mrs. Miller.

You have no rights.

Decree 511, ratified in 1951.

The gathering of information is an offence for which you can be sentenced

ten years in prison.

You mean if they haven't already hanged me for owning the pen, Nath?

Did you know what was in the envelope when you took it from the car?

I assumed it wasn't a love letter.

What was to be the next stage in this journey?

I'm an English tourist. I visit the opera in East Berlin through Checkpoint

Charlie.

Schoolteacher from London.

Supply teacher.

It's marginally better paid.

You join the party in London?

I was active in the Union.

Like sex, one thing led to another.

Was it sex?

I don't really believe in ideals.

It beats me what the Russians would want to know about the organisation of the

Inner London Education Authority.

It was nothing like that.

I was asked to collect parcels, look after things, give accommodation in my

flat.

East Germans, Russians, sailors usually, and a Polish priest.

When did all that stop?

They were trying you out to see how reliable you'd be.

What was the next step?

I came to East Berlin for a week.

A week?

Out of Potsdam?

How do you know?

They have a training camp there.

How long have you been transmitting information from London, Mrs. Miller?

If you make me take you back home, you'll end up answering these questions

formally at the Old Bailey.

How long were you transmitting information from London?

Five years.

How did you transmit?

Coded. Always the same code?

There were two different codes.

Two different sources of material?

I don't know.

I have nothing to do with the contacts.

How do you know which code to use?

It comes in under one of two names.

They must be very short -staffed in Berlin to bring you all the way out from

London just to pick up an envelope from a car.

I was invited over for Christmas.

When? A couple of months ago.

Are the two code words used in London?

How many times have you used this house, Mrs. Miller?

This is the first occasion.

I would like to be taken to England.

I'll make a statement to someone in British security.

I am British security.

And you're making a statement to me.

And you're trying very hard not to leave anything out.

I'm not a traitor.

I'm a Marxist.

You're in no man's land, Mrs. Miller.

You don't have time to make pretty distinctions like that.

I could take you outside and have you shot against that wall.

And no one would ask any questions.

What were the two code words you used for your material in London?

One was Jake.

The other was ironfoot.

Where are you going?

This is a team effort, Mrs. Miller.

It's the West Germans' turn now.

You can't just leave me like that.

I've told you everything I know.

Stinnes laid her in for this job two, three months ago.

Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

I don't know.

Is he feeling as under Secretary Fritz or is he feeling as Frau Miller?

Me, why?

Whenever you have an interrogation, it has to end in sirens and the flashing

blue lights.

How do you think this makes us look to the Germans?

She's their witness, for Christ's sakes.

I'm doing my best to keep her in Berlin.

They're already flaring her out on an air taxi from Frankfurt.

Now, you stay with her.

They want a signed statement back in London.

Everything about her activities there and any other contacts she may have

whether or not they were Soviets.

It's Christmas Eve, Frank.

I've got kids waiting for me at home.

A whole address book, Bernard.

With a signature and plenty of cards.

Sorry, I forgot you were having a party.

Hey.

Happy Christmas Eve.

We always sell our face.

Get you a drink.

You really look young when you dress nicely.

They made you stay in Berlin?

Or don't you want to go back?

Work, Liesl, I'm working.

You are in a filthy mood.

Now, show up and don't spoil the party.

It's a long time since you were here for Christmas.

You're such a Jewish mother, Mutti.

I should be at home with the kids.

Different sort of party these days, Verna.

I see much of this lot crawling around on their hands and knees at midnight.

Is that what you used to do together?

Crawl around on your hands and knees?

Yes, Zena.

Every night.

Legless as two young kittens.

Has the school teacher woken up yet?

Yeah, this morning.

You'll be unkind to her again.

Don't you start ranking any corner in here, both of you.

Just because you want to be home with your girlfriend, don't take it out on

Bernie.

Gloria, I'm old enough to be her father.

I mean, Zena, it doesn't stop us being happy.

Go to Covey, isn't it?

Yeah. I don't see Lange anywhere.

I should damn well hope not.

Right old, old faggot he's turned out to be.

She tries to come without him.

The Miller woman is handling two sources of information.

Both too important to go through the normal channels and both presumably

So you immediately assume the KGB have someone else in London Central.

That's what it's going to look like when I've written up my report.

And everyone is going to assume that someone is you.

That's what you're really worried about.

So you run around shouting fire in case they accuse you of arson.

Paranoia.

Eternal vigilance.

Go to your guests.

Come on.

Excuse me.

You are the contact the BFV man gave to me.

There were papers to transfer the patient to another hospital.

A private ambulance came for her.

Okay, thank you.

Has anybody seen the body

yet? There's no visibility.

Where is this Miss Miller?

She's an English school teacher.

You are here on Christmas Eve for a school teacher?

To think I

transferred from traffic division because standing in Point Beauty was too

You should have stayed in traffic at San Francisco Riviera.

I may be. That's where a job was offered to me.

My wife wanted to go, but this dumb man finds he can't leave his beloved Berlin.

A bloody mark anywhere. The kid breaks nothing.

Christmas Eve.

Drunk driver's thoughts. The river was the road. It would be the first one.

Unless he stopped on the bank and pushed it in.

That's your business, not mine.

No flags. We will be fishing them out. It's fun to look.

We'll be usually find them.

There was no one inside when he went into the water.

Can't shut a car door six feet under.

And not many people would bother closing windows before swimming away.

Is that a gangling?

That is a gangling.

He said it's neutral.

Who tipped you off today? An emergency call. Someone saw it crash.

They pushed it in and made the emergency call themselves.

And they took your school teacher away?

Somewhere else?

Yes, baby.

Will you be wanting a copy of our report?

Yeah.

It's Bernard Thompson feeling lonely on Christmas Eve.

Come to pick my brains, have you?

Buying information?

I've just come to see you, Lionel.

Nobody comes to see me these days without some ulterior motive.

Thank you.

King's College, Cambridge.

I don't know why I bother to listen.

Same damn thing every year.

That's precisely why you do listen.

Still with the department, then?

I'm sure you'll be the first to know the day I'm not.

Nobody tells me anything these days.

I push paper in London these days, Leonard.

Ah. Which is why you're here on Christmas Eve, I presume?

Routine.

Good days and bad days.

Good days in this city?

Look at him.

The heroic age died long ago.

Mitt Gelt.

That's the image of espionage these days.

Fancy clothes and moving money around the world.

You mean people like Brett Rensselaer and his private merchant bank? Oh, you

shouldn't be bitter about it. them.

They say London Central is in something of a mess, since your wife did a bunk.

Yes, you could say that.

They'd have written you a letter, if Langer had told me what to say.

Nothing to say, really, Gerda, except to comment on how blind I've been.

They said if they had left London and your father here in 1961, the Russians

would never have built the wall.

You exaggerate, Gerda.

Berlin was full of people who didn't know Berlin.

Confrontation.

The Russians got tired of it.

They sent your father back from London.

But Rensselaer had already done his damage.

Ivy League.

That man managed to unravel the best network I had ever strung together.

All those 1956 dissidents from Poland and Hungary.

They were fine, brave people.

Unraveled? Why?

I came from the wrong side of the tracks for Brett Rensselaer.

He didn't think I could handle it.

Brett Rensselaer is the best pal the Kremlin ever had.

And I'll give you that in writing any time, any place.

Stop treating me like a damn fool, Samson.

You're not the first person who's come here to dig up dirt to use against Brett

Rensselaer. Is that what I'm doing?

I said stop treating me like a damn fool.

People are whispering that there's another spy in London Central.

Stands to reason it has to be Brett Rensselaer.

Or you?

Do we have everything? Can we... Yes, it's all prepared.

Billy!

Billy!

Billy!

For God's sake, why do you drive that kid into all this? What are you doing in

there? It's not Mexico City, Samson. You have no gun to help you here.

You have both the kids?

Does it matter if you have one or both? The effect on you is the same.

While you work for the German station's controller in London and your wife is

here in Berlin, you're making life very difficult for both of you and all of us.

No worries, Thompson.

We give enough trying to recruit you. There is nothing here for you. And

you know in your head we don't already know. You have both my kids, damn you.

London Central will be filling a post in Washington in the next few weeks.

You have the seniority.

You will apply for it.

Come, Lewski.

It's time you stop pretending you still have a few legs. Look at you.

You're not damn good anymore.

Find a new woman. I'll take your misket with you.

Start another family.

Piss off.

What do I have to do to persuade you?

Nothing much you can do about any of this, is there?

except to agree what we ask you to do.

You apply for the Washington Posting, Herr Samson, and nothing will happen to

anyone.

You remember, Samson, we can pick you up anywhere we want, as easy as we did

today.

It's Bernard.

Are the children with you?

Of course they're with me, Bernard.

Happy Christmas, dear.

Yes, very happy Christmas.

Is she in Russia?

Yeah, sort of.

She's not coming back, is she?

No, probably not.

Perhaps she'll telephone.

Thank you, Daddy.

Come here, Squidge.

Time to pee.

And if you can give me something to drink coffee, yeah.

Bye. Yes, it's a joke.

We brought some crackers back from Gran's. I think we ought to pull them

Gloria. We're saving them for Easter.

Daddy!

But I'm sure we can buy some new ones for Easter.

Yes, I'll buy some for Easter.

You'll be here at Easter, will you?

I still have the key, darling!

We're going to the pantomime with our Auntie Tess. Do you know Tessa?

No, I don't think so.

Is that her mother's sister?

Gloria, this is Tessa, my sister -in -law.

Well, hello.

And what kind of pantomime are you two going to tonight?

I think you and Doris are in league.

Oh, now do you work that one out?

Three hours with an empty house, come on.

Did you see your wife in Berlin?

Why do you ask?

Well, something happened to you out there.

Hey, the screens are down, Bernie.

Look, when you don't talk, I don't know what's going on inside you.

Do I always know myself?

You don't like me being in the house when the children are here, do you?

Makes you uneasy.

No, I think you're very good with the kids.

I wanted to ask you out for New Year's Eve.

With the children, if you like.

Well, that's very sweet of you, but I'm afraid New Year's Eve is an immovable

feast.

Ah, yes.

Mr. Silas Gaunt.

Half the senior staff have given his number as their emergency call for

Wednesday and Thursday.

Hmm.

Mr. Silas Gorms finds out that he's got a beautiful,

intelligent, young lady

rising through London Central.

He'll be on his getter.

Don't worry, I shall be gone by the time they come home.

Let's face it, even the kids will stop pretending, won't they?

Bloody hell, Bernard, I thought you were an unmarked cop car.

What is that?

Look, Dickie, I have been trying to ring you.

Yes, a report was delivered by messenger. There was a list of questions

attached. We're back in the office on Monday.

Dickie, for Christ's sake, this is national security, not public school.

The world has not stopped going round because it's Christmas hauls, you know.

You make the point about two code names as though London Central were still

seething with spies.

That was my intention, Dickie.

Yes, well, for all our sakes. I want my German desk kept as far away from this

as possible. Listen.

The German desk has got to take over the debriefing of Stennis.

It's the only way we can trust the information we're getting and the only

can keep that information secure.

believe it. They're even talking shop in the middle of nowhere.

Sorry, Daphne, it's my fault.

Well,

next time they're going by train.

Here he comes.

Drink for the ladies, brew for the men.

If a woman ends up with aftershave, it's all down to Mrs. Potter.

All right, sir, the end.

Go on, Sally, get stuck in.

This must be pretty boring.

What did you

get? What number have I got here? Number three.

Number three.

I need a drink, Mrs. Porter.

Oh, that's nice.

Oh,

that's nice. That's really nice.

Take those things out of your mouth, you boy.

Some boring bird in the world to eat. But the only way to feed a dozen of them

are... breast and thigh for you, my dear.

You, uh, missed eating carp at Christmas, Frau Doctor?

I miss everything, Mr. Rensselaer.

Especially my language and my people.

It's not easy to move country at our time of life.

Well, I'm sure it'll get better.

Why should it?

Midwinter is never easy anywhere.

A bad time, then, to define the nature of defection.

Von Munter is not a defector, Brad.

How would you define the nature of defection, Bernard?

The nature of defection, Brett, is panic.

You wouldn't say that greed or moral fervor might have a part to play?

How do you have it defined in your files, Dickie?

Good Lord, do we have to have it defined?

You could have a stab at comparing it with adultery, darling.

Adultery? Oh, what a quaint old -fashioned word, Daphne.

What is it called nowadays?

Therapy? It's called a defection, Daphne, unless you're a Catholic.

What does George call it, Dessa?

George has to call it a pardonable offence, don't you, dear?

What about your priest, George?

My priest would call it betrayal, Daphne.

With a very, very small B.

You're being extremely reticent, Bernard.

You have no opinion on the nature of adultery?

Both adultery and defection are betrayals, Brett.

M. Trout is finding it all very difficult.

She still cannot quite realize that there is no possible way to go back

Perhaps like your wife also.

Madeira!

Not perhaps the finest, but not at all bad.

Oh, it's this bloody silly game you and Brett are playing with each other.

Not at my lunch table, Bernard, if you please.

Now, what is it you want to ask about here?

Oxford Ironfoot, Martello, Jake, Cecil.

They sound like cocktails.

Anything Bernard says sounds like a cocktail.

They're codenames.

Used by Soviet agents operating out of the UK.

I believe one of the names was used by my wife.

Eisenguss.

Nicht Eisenfuß, Eisenguss.

Pick iron.

Guss iron, cast iron.

Perhaps it was wrongly spelled or heard wrong.

Yes, the good material always had that code name.

Always just the one code name.

They would never split the identification code. It would be too

mistakes.

Is this official, Bernard?

No, not yet.

Sailing a bit close to the wind for chit -chat.

Oxford was used.

But in a different context. It was more scientific than economic.

But we did see some of the information produced.

I should have mentioned that in my debriefing, but it seemed irrelevant.

Why?

It was academic research.

I assumed it had come from journals in the science reference library.

It wasn't classified.

But you might not have seen all of it.

No.