Original subtitles

BluRay / BRRip / BDRip FPS: ����: 1:40:00 -- 23.976

On December 25, an airplane was sighted

off the coast of Barcelona.

It was flying empty.

Investigation of this case reached into the highest

circles, and the scandal was very

nearly responsible for the fall of at least

one European government.

This motion picture is a fictionalized reconstruction

of the events leading up to the murder

and to the appearance last Christmas

morning of the empty plane.

Jakob Zouk?

Jakob Zouk?

I'm sorry, but you're going to have to talk to me.

We gotta get out of here.

Look, if we don't start moving right away,

you're going to be killed.

I mean that-- murdered.

I'm a dying man with no money.

Somebody wants to kill me?

He's wasting his time.

No money, huh?

But you could use some dough, couldn't you?

How would you like to earn 500 marks?

Earn?

Or even 1,000.

We can go to my hotel.

No, that's no good.

He might find us.

We go to another hotel.

I'll get you a fine room with a nice bed

and lots of warm, big, thick, heavy blankets.

Oh, yeah?

And who are you, Santa Claus?

I am the one who's going to keep you from getting murdered.

Oh, I know you, Zouk.

You're an old jailbird.

Yeah, just out of stir.

An ex-dope pusher.

The world's forgotten you.

I wouldn't give you a thought if I

didn't have to-- if my own life didn't depend on it.

I'd better tell you my story.

Who are you?

My name's Van Stratten.

Though just a little while ago, when they caught me,

I was running American cigarettes in Italy.

A lot of us were doing it after the war.

So what's this got to do with me?

I'm dying.

Nothing, but would you listen--

Leave me alone.

Will you shut up and listen?

There's hardly any time left.

You've gotta get this straight-- if I'm

going to save your miserable life for you,

you're going to have to understand this story, see?

It all began one night last spring in the harbor at Naples.

Mily-- that's my girl--

she was asleep on board the boat.

I'd been in town.

I was just coming back along the docks,

when suddenly I see this character with a peg leg.

Seemed like he was in an awful hurry to get away from there.

Then a couple of minutes later, I see this other guy.

At first, I thought he was drunk.

Who is this man?

You know we can't afford any trouble.

Go get a doctor, quick.

Too late for a doctor.

But the police--

Try to keep them away.

I don't want to spend my last few minutes with a lot of cops.

I don't blame you.

Guy, you didn't do it?

Of course not, but we can't let him bleed to death.

No, mademoiselle.

It was another who stabbed me.

He got away.

Go see what's happening.

Must have gotten whoever it was that knifed you.

Seems like they're trying to shoot it out with the cops.

What is your name?

Van Stratten, Guy.

I am Bracco.

You call me Marcel.

This way I spend my last few minutes among friends.

All right, old man. Take it easy.

I'm with you.

You're with me?

After all the friends I've had, you

that I've known a few minutes--

you're the only one.

I want to give you something to show you my thanks.

It's all right, fella.

The police-- they're coming this way.

The police.

What can they do for me now?

What about us?

Guy, will they put me in jail, too?

Shut up.

Now listen.

What I give you is two names.

You don't have to give me anything.

Here they come.

This, I didn't think I'd give to anyone.

It isn't money, but it is worth millions.

This is my gift to you.

It will make you rich.

It's Bracco.

The American?

What's he doing here?

Look, I just happened by.

I've got a boat here.

Your papers.

I'll go on board and get them.

We'll come with you.

Come here.

Come here.

Please-- I must tell you this.

Now remember, this is secret.

Give it only to your friend.

These cigarettes are contraband.

It's worth a great deal of money.

That's jail for you, Jail.

Real smart cop.

You'll remember the other name, too.

And the woman.

OK, so you found the cigarettes.

This girl has no connection with my business.

Come on, Bracco. What were you saying?

What?

Is he dead?

What do you think?

Bracco was whispering something.

Yeah, what was the message he gave you?

Yes, Bracco was talking to you.

What was it?

He wasn't making any sense.

It was just a name.

He was dying.

What name was it?

Arkadin.

Gregory Arkadin.

There was another name, too, that Bracco

had whispered to Mily, but I couldn't ask her what it was.

Not while the cops had me. - Bracco.

Mily.

Who are these people?

Mily was my girlfriend at the time.

I already told you.

Bracco I'd never even seen before.

As to what this racket was or how he got himself stabbed,

or why he should give me Gregory Arkadin's name--

I hadn't a clue.

So why should this Bracco do you a favor

if he didn't know you before?

I don't know.

Maybe he got some kind of a sympathy for me.

He was dying.

Oh, I'm dying, but I got no sympathy for you whatsoever.

I don't know you either, but I'm doing you a favor.

I'm going to save your life.

Oh, so all of a sudden you're a doctor.

Will you tell me please how you figure to save me?

You are going to find out, Mr. Zouk, if you'll just

try keeping your yap shut for a minute and your mind,

if you have such a thing, on what I'm trying to tell you.

Like I say, I had to do time for the cigarette smuggling.

They confiscated my boat.

I was broke.

So when I got out, I had nothing else to do but look

around and ask questions.

Arkadin-- he had a villa near Monte Carlo, a castle in Spain,

one of the biggest yachts in the world,

and at least three passports.

But who he really was and where all that dough came from,

nobody could tell me.

Old Mily wasn't waiting for me at the prison gates,

but I traced her down to Juan-les-Pins, to a nightclub

where she was doing a bubble dance.

We got paid to let her off at that party.

Which party?

The party, naturally.

This season, a party means just one thing--

Gregory Arkadin.

So Mily'd got next to Arkadin already.

She was a birdbrain, but at least

she had something to go on--

that other name that Bracco whispered to her.

So, you've been to Arkadin's party.

How'd you make out?

Well, there must have been 50 other girls

out there on that boat.

Yeah.

I hear he's sailing it back to Spain.

And next week, he's giving a big society ball.

Why don't you try to get yourself invited,

and then we can--

To a society ball?

On the yacht, stupid.

All right.

Look, try and go on that cruise

he's taking if you can do it.

All right.

Then maybe, if you can get close to him,

you can sort of throw that other name at him.

That's the trouble.

You forgot it, you mean?

Well, you see, I--

I couldn't hear very well.

Oh.

And right after that, the-- what's-his-name--

Bracco died.

So I couldn't very well ask him to repeat it.

OK.

OK.

Now look, you tell Mr. Arkadin--

Shh.

--that you have a friend who knows somebody named Bracco.

Mm-hmm.

Don't use my name.

Oh, Guy.

Be careful.

You just tell him that if he's interested,

a meeting can be arranged.

Look, it's different for me.

I'm a girl, and he's a man.

Will you please stop trying--

Well, I can handle him.

I hope so.

There must be an opening for a bright young man

in some company that Arkadin happens to control.

Stranger things than that have happened in big business.

Sure.

Come to think of it, who knows how Mr. Arkadin got started?

Started?

I didn't even know what we were really after.

Some of that Arkadin money, of course, but how?

Shake him down?

What about?

Some name a guy whispered to Mily and that Mily forgot?

I not only knew it was crazy, but

the closest I could even get to Arkadin was that yacht of his.

The Raina, it was called--

after his daughter.

She's quite some dame, Raina.

A real looker.

With her money, she wouldn't need to be.

No, Arkadin thinks everybody's after her for his dough.

And he's wrong about you.

All I wanted was to use her to get close to him.

That is, at first.

And now it's love.

Let me this in my own way?

Raina's been to some high-class schools in America, but she's--

well, tough.

No illusions about anything.

Oh, then there's her boyfriend-- a long drink of cold water

called the Marquis of something or other.

The Marquis of Rutleigh.

But I don't think it's anything serious.

Oh.

How come she's not at his party?

It isn't the kind of party you ask your daughter to.

That the telephone switchboard back there?

- Yes, right over there. - Good.

Excuse, me Darling.

I seem to be wanted on the telephone.

Awful bore.

OK.

Excuse me, Would you like to dance?

We haven't met--

No, I'm sorry, I--

Your friend's gonna to be some time on a long-distance phone.

How do you know Bob's taking a long-distance call?

Well, who would know better?

I put the phone call in myself.

You gonna be stuffy about it, or shall we start dancing

right now and save some time?

Ecoutez, Operator!

With her British boyfriend occupied

on the telephone, Raina and me were just

getting nicely acquainted--

then we got the bad news.

Mr. Arkadin-- he was waiting for her in the car,

and the message was that it was getting kind of late.

BOB: Yes, but how did he learn that you

were here, and so quickly?

He runs the greatest private spy system on Earth.

Yes, I know that.

But when am I going to see you next?

I'm leaving for Spain in the morning.

Are you flying?

In In Father's plane?

No.

Oh, driving yourself.

Getting an early start before dawn.

I say, that sounds perfectly frightful.

There he is, in the car.

Your father?

Better get back inside.

I say, but look here, old girl--

I'd rather he didn't see us together.

All right.

Oh, excuse me, old man.

OK.

So sorry.

Hey, that's quite a coincidence.

I mean, you're going to Spain tomorrow.

I'm going there myself, you know.

- Small world, isn't it? - Yeah.

Hi, Pops.

How was your party?

It wouldn't be so tough to get stuck

on a doll like that, dough or no dough,

but romance wasn't any part of my plan.

Plan?

The truth is, I didn't have any plan.

I was just knocking myself out, chasing something.

I didn't have any idea what it was.

But daybreak, there I was in front of the Arkadin villa,

hitching myself a ride to Spain.

I threw Raina a line about how my own car just

happened to break down there, and would

she please give me a lift?

But just then, I noticed some character spying on me.

Oh, that?

He's one of my father's secretaries.

He has all kinds of secretaries.

Some of them double as vice presidents.

That one's a masseur, and there's Rico.

He's in charge of ladies' telephone numbers.

But that's something I'm not supposed to know about,

of course.

Well, they all seemed

to be very interested in who it was that was bumming a ride

with the boss's daughter.

It was quite some ride, at that.

She really made time.

And so did I.

Well, that's a castle in Spain, for sure.

Thanks for the lift.

You're spending the night here?

I wanna try and talk the local hotel into giving me a bed.

I'll show you where it is.

It's either that, or--

Or what?

Or we develop a sick headache or a leaky carburettor

or something like that, and we'd be forced to spend the night

the other side of the border.

Uh-oh.

Here comes the Ogre.

Ogre? What's that?

The Ogre's my nickname for Father.

Oh, your father.

Didn't you ever read any fairy tales?

No, not many.

You know, "Fee-fi-fo-fum, I smell

the blood of an Englishman.

Be he alive or be he dead, I'll grind

his bones to make my bread."

And that's an ogre, huh?

Some kind of a bogeyman.

If you meet my father, you'll see what I mean.

If?

You mean when I meet him.

That's him up there, huh?

That plane?

Yes, he flew to Tangiers this morning.

Now joining me here to get ready for our famous masked ball.

That's not till Sunday night.

Good.

What's good about it?

Gives us almost a week.

For what?

Getting better acquainted.

Don't tell me you're staying on.

I'm going to your party.

I don't believe it.

Well, why not?

You know all your guests personally?

Of course not.

Well, you know me.

Do I?

Maybe not yet, honey, but you're going to.

What's so comical?

I like your being tough.

It's just too bad you're such a cornball.

I've been looking for you.

So were Father's secretaries.

The who?

And please stop smoking.

Uh-huh.

On account of those characters with a hood?

Shh.

I thought the Masquerade wasn't until Sunday.

It's a religious procession.

Ah.

They're Penitentes.

What?

If you'll keep quiet, I'll explain it to you.

Uh-huh.

Look.

Some of them are barefoot.

Others have chains.

Excuse me a minute.

Oh, I thought you were looking for me.

I just spotted somebody down to crowd

I ought to say hello to.

The girl in the sweater who was waving to you?

Mily?

Well, as a matter of fact, I think

she's down here to get on that cruise your father's giving.

She's more a friend of his.

Well, if she's his type.

Yeah, but--

Thanks for dragging yourself away from your new girlfriend.

I'd ask what--

Yeah, I heard you were in town at the local hotel.

I'd ask what she's got for you that I haven't got,

except I happen to know the answer--

a couple of $100 million.

Will you please be quiet?

What gives with those crazy Klu Kluxers?

They're Penitentes.

Yeah, I know, but what are they dressed up like that for?

They're doing penance.

That means they're sorry for their sins.

They must be awful sorry.

Well? - Hmm?

Did you get on that cruise yet?

What do you think I came to Spain for, to see you?

Look, Mily, I've been thinking this thing over.

I think maybe we ought to forget it.

Guy!

Coming.

Forget it?

You're going after Arkadin's money in your own way,

through his daughter, aren't you?

Well, you'd better watch your step,

or I might decide to start talking.

I mean it, Guy.

And it won't be about Bracco or anything mysterious like that.

It'll be all about you.

Are you, by any chance, trying to threaten me?

I'm just telling you to leave her alone.

Hi, chum.

What are you doing here?

Just waiting.

Not right under the castle like this,

where we can be seen.

Yeah, that castle's kind of hard to get away from.

I know, and the town's swarming with secretaries.

I'll phone you as soon as I get away from the Ogre.

Look, why don't you take me up there, introduce me to him,

and be done with it?

Because we're having fun, and I'd like it to last a few days,

cornball.

Look!

You win!

Hey!

I knew it.

Well, what do I win?

These.

Come on.

Hey, what's all the rush?

There are a couple of secretaries back there.

- Checking up on you, huh? - Yes.

He treats you like he's a jealous husband.

If Father had his way, I'd never get married.

You don't have to worry about that, honey.

Oh? What do you mean?

I'll make you a promise.

As long as I live, I'll never ask you to marry me.

Gee, thanks.

Hey!

One moment please, sir.

Beg your pardon?

Does the Count de Torregon know that you're

here with his invitation, sir?

Well--

Don't be dreary, Rudi.

Of course he does.

Raina sent me to fetch you, old boy.

Oh, thanks.

No, this way.

And put your mask on.

That's the form, you know.

Well, anyway, where's the Ogre?

- I beg your pardon? - Our host.

I would like to see him. - Well, you can't mean that.

Why not?

I've been trying to keep him from seeing me.

What do you mean?

Well, ever since I was caught taking

Raina out without official permission,

I've been persona non grata. - Who?

Nice.

All right.

So it's a masquerade, but it isn't Halloween, is it?

What's with all these crazy Frankensteins?

Now look, old boy, you don't understand.

All these people are supposed to represent the paintings.

Now, some of us have come as the visions and monsters--

Goya.

Who?

You know Goya.

Glad to meet you.

Now what?

Just a whim of the Ogre.

Tell me, do I have to fight a duel with these two characters?

No, drink the triple vodka and you pass.

A triple-strength vodka?

Sorry, sir.

There are no exceptions.

Father likes his guests to be ready for a party

before it starts.

Savage, of course, but then, so then so is he.

Try and make an impression on him.

I'm sorry.

I see you were talking with out hostess.

Well, I--

The young Miss Arkadin.

Well, of course I know Raina, Mister--

We won't introduce ourselves.

This is a masquerade.

You've known her long?

Raina?

Oh, we've met a few times.

All sorts of people are always trying to meet her.

In her position, that's natural, of course.

Fortune hunters, adventurers-- you know the type.

Well, sure.

thought you would.

Come here.

Let me show you something.

You might be interested.

You know where we are, don't you?

Shut the door, please.

This is her bedroom.

Oh?

Raina's bedroom.

You understand?

Well, it's a very beautiful room.

This whole place is--

This is her bed.

Her pillow.

I left this here for her to study.

You can look at it if you want to.

"Confidential Report."

It has my name on it.

Oh?

Yeah.

Yeah, my name is Van Stratten, Mr. Arkadin.

According to that dossier, you were born George Streitheimer.

Streeter!

My father's name was Streeter.

Your father's identity does not

seem to have been established.

Go on.

Read it.

Be sure to leave it for Raina after the party's over.

The party seems to be over already, Mr. Arkadin.

Who got this up for you?

Private detectives.

It may seem a considerable investment

to make for a mere gigolo--

a petty adventurer-- but you see, my daughter

is very important to me.

There's nothing I would stop at--

So I'm a petty adventurer, am I?

And what about you, Mr. Arkadin?

How do you think it would look if someone

got up a dossier on you?

What are you two doing in my bedroom?

One moment, Raina.

I want to be very sure I understand what your friend

here is talking about.

Yeah, it's quite true.

I ran cigarettes-- even some gold once.

But What about you, Mr. All-Mighty Gregory Arkadin?

How about if somebody got up a confidential report

on the subject of you, huh?

All the dirt, I mean, from Bracco on down.

I'm ashamed of you.

Yeah, that's just about the idea.

I mean Father.

Do you really think this is the way to--

Guy!

Come back.

What's wrong?

I don't make a habit of striking women.

- Guy! - Don't worry.

You're safe.

I'm sick of jails, and there's a law against murder.

What did you say to Arkadin?

I haven't seen him-- not here in Spain.

Did you tell him anything about me?

No, why should I?

He's got private detectives onto me.

You put him onto me, did you?

No, Guy.

I swear I had nothing to do with it.

Both of you wanted to break things up between Raina and me.

Well, now you've succeeded.

Where are you going?

Just leaving, that's all.

Am I going with you?

I want to get as far away from here as possible.

Guy, I never once talked to Arkadin about you.

Oh, and another thing--

I've remember that name.

You mean that other name?

That woman's name the Bracco told you about?

Am I going with you?

Now don't get smart.

All right, all right.

It was-- it was Sophie.

Sophie?

Sophie what?

Well, it's just that I can't remember.

It was something Russian.

Hello?

Oh, I beg your pardon.

I was told I would find Mr. Van Stratten there.

Will you put him on, please?

Secretary.

Secretary?

Mr. Arkadin.

Mr. Van Stratten?

Speaking.

Mr. Arkadin is calling you.

I'll put you through.

Mr. Van Stratten, I'm prepared to talk

business with you.

I said I'm prepared to talk business with you.

My car is downstairs.

I'm waiting.

Oh, Van Stratten.

Mr. Arkadin is waiting for you.

Thanks.

And now I am going to tell you about a scorpion.

This scorpion wanted to cross a river,

so he asked the frog to carry him.

"No," said the frog.

"No, thank you.

If I let you on my back, you may sting me,

and the sting of a scorpion is death."

"Now where," asked the scorpion, "is the logic in that?"

For scorpions always try to be logical.

"If I sting you, you will die and I will drown."

So the frog was convinced and allowed

the scorpion on his back.

But just in the middle of the river, he felt a terrible pain

and realized that, after all, the scorpion had stung him.

"Logic," cried the dying frog as he started under, bearing

the scorpion down with him.

"There is no logic in this."

"I know," said the scorpion, "but I can't help it.

It's my character."

Let's drink to character.

Excuse me, sir, but Mr. Arkadin

would like you to wait for him on the terrace.

I thought you called me back here because you

wanted to talk business.

Your business, Van Stratten.

You told me you knew so much about me

you could fill out a dossier on me.

You know how it is.

A fellow gets around, he--

Where?

Where did you get, Van Stratten?

Naples.

I'm not the only one who knows about Bracco.

He's dead, but he told us something about you.

Something you'd like kept quiet.

He was knifed.

Yeah, and then there's Sophie.

Knifed?

Knifed by you?

Do I look like a killer?

No, you're simply a fool.

I will not ask you your price, because you

have nothing to sell.

But still, I'll make you an offer.

I am going to give you something to sell,

and then I will pay you for it.

Come on.

You have tried to threaten me with a secret

which does not exist.

Now I'll make you a present of a real one--

the great secret of my life.

Come in.

My secretaries work here.

We can be private.

Now tell me, if I really had something to hide,

what do you think it would be?

Well--

Take a guess.

Well, there is something.

There has to be.

Why?

Well, if there isn't--

well, how come you never let yourself

be photographed, for instance?

Oh, I have been photographed,

but usually I break the photograph.

Also-- head of the photographer.

I am a strong man, Van Stratten.

How old do you think I am?

How would I know?

I don't know, either.

See, that's my secret.

I don't know.

You think I'm crazy?

No.

I don't think you asked me back here to try to help

you guess your age, either.

You've heard of a thing in the army

called "intelligence check?"

Some kind of an investigation, isn't it?

Yeah.

These army people are thorough.

They look under the wallpaper-- they turn up the carpets.

Which army?

Your army.

Yeah I did happen to reside back

in the States in '42, so I got a polite invitation to join.

You know, greetings there.

What's with you and the army?

I'm interested in some proposed air bases your army's

building in Portugal.

And you want the contract.

I get it.

You're afraid one of those investigation deals

could wreck it for you, and you wanna hire me to help you

cover up a few little items.

You are informing me or asking me, Mr. Van Stratten?

Mr. Arkadin, I'm just guessing.

But now I'll ask you something--

what makes you think you can trust me?

I think you will do what I tell you.

You are a fool, but not a silly fool.

And I am not ungenerous.

Not ungenerous.

That means--

$10,000.

Tax-free, of course.

You can have it in gold in Liechtenstein.

Make it $20,000.

You're a poor businessmen, Van Stratten.

You're bargaining before you know what's for sale.

What I don't know, I can find out.

Make it $15,000.

I am hiring your specialized knowledge--

your ability to move about in the underworld.

Underworld?

I want you to make an investigation

and prepare me a report.

Report?

A report on what?

Gregory Arkadin.

All about Gregory Arkadin.

I'm serious.

It's me I want you to investigate.

What is it you're so afraid they're going to find out?

Van Stratten-- on my mother's grave I swear to you,

I wish I knew.

And you figure that if I can't smoke it out,

the army boys won't be able to either, huh?

I'm going to tell you a story--

a poetic little story.

It's winter of '27.

One night, one snowy night, I found

myself a young man in Zurich.

I had nothing-- nothing.

Only the one suit I was wearing and a wallet in which there

were 200,000 Swiss francs.

With that money, my fortune was built. You see,

I promised you this was poetic.

Well?

Well, what?

Who was she?

She?

Who was she isn't the question at all.

The question is who was I?

OK, Mr. Arkadin, I'll buy it.

Who were you?

That's just it.

What happened before the winter of '27?

Where did I come from in my one suit?

That is my real secret, and you are the first man

I ever told it to.

I do not know who I am.

Amnesia.

Yeah, but if it's as bad as you claim--

What do you mean, as I claim?

Well, look-- you don't have any memory of what

happened you before '27, right?

Right.

So what makes you so sure your name is Arkadin?

Huh?

Well, maybe it's Arkadeen or Arkadini or Arkapapalous,

or Smith, even. - Don't be a fool.

I know my own name.

Who says so?

I say so.

Oh?

Who Are you?

You just told me you don't know.

I'm paying you to find out.

So why does Arkadin stick in your mind?

Maybe-- maybe it's the name of a cough medicine.

Maybe it's somebody you knocked off

for the 200,000 Swiss francs.

You think that's how I got the money?

Well, maybe you stole it. How do we know?

Is Guy in there?

I'm alone, Raina.

Why is the door locked?

I want to see Guy.

What's going on between you two?

Mr. Van Stratten is gone.

He has left the country, Raina.

You will not see him again.

That is a condition, of course.

She will not see you, and above all, she must never learn

that I've given you this job.

She might imagine that--

that I'm paying you off.

Well, isn't that just what you're doing?

You know, at first I thought it was something else.

I rather thought you were blackmailing me.

Here's to character.

Where did I stand now?

Was he paying me off, or lousing me up?

Why should he think that I could turn up something

that he couldn't even remember?

Well, the answer to that was a long way off.

I had to do a lot of traveling

and ask an awful lot of questions

before I learned the truth.

From Helsinki to Leopoldville--

Brussels, Belgrade, Beirut, Torino and Trieste,

Marseille and Mogador--

I talked to every crook who'd even been around in 1927,

and a whole lot of other characters besides--

even some of the big money men--

financiers up in Arkadin's league.

I claimed I was a newspaperman, but even that didn't

always get me in the door.

Sir Joseph is not well enough to give interviews,

but out respect for "Time" magazine-- that

is your magazine, isn't it?

Sir Joseph has consented to make the following statement

with the understanding that it is not to be quoted.

"Gregory Arkadin is one of the shrewdest

of all adventurers in high finance,

and certainly the most unscrupulous.

During the last war, I had occasion to make

inquiries into his past.

In another epoch, such a man might have sacked Rome

or been hanged as a pirate.

Today we must accept him for what

he is-- a phenomenon of an age of dissolution and crisis.

As to his place of origin and the source

of his first capital, the most painstaking

investigation has shown that these

are quite impossible to trace."

Mily, out on that cruise,

was keeping in pretty close touch with me

whenever she could.

And with a few other good-looking dames

as fellow passengers, Mily was junketing around all this time

with Arkadin on that yacht.

What are you doing in my cabin?

Would you prefer to come to mine?

Don't be funny.

You said you want to be alone with me.

Has that slipped your mind?

Oh, yes.

The message.

You'd better have a little more champagne.

It's not me that wants to talk to you.

It's a friend of mine.

Guy Van Stratten.

You know everything, don't you?

Only what I need to know.

Bracco, for instance?

For my business.

Oh, sure.

Guy told me.

Money changing, munitions-- some of the guns

you sent to the Reds in China didn't even shoot.

Is Van Stratten a communist?

Are you kidding?

Then what's he complaining about?

Nobody's complaining.

He's just doing that crazy job you gave him.

Hey, you didn't answer my question about Bracco.

Bracco.

Van Stratten mentioned that name.

When did you talk to him last?

Bracco was killed and murdered on the dock in Naples, Italy.

No, I mean, when did you talk to Van Stratten?

Seems you were pretty chummy

with some Nazi collaborators in Vichy.

Have some champagne.

They trusted you with all their money, those Nazis--

to invest in South America for after the war.

They didn't even ask for a receipt.

I've heard that story before.

Now their families can't even prove the money's theirs.

And then-- and then there's Mussolini.

All those roads you built for the fascists in Ethiopia.

Bad water, not enough food--

Guy says more than 100 of the men died.

You know, you're kind of cute in a weird sort of a way.

After a person gets over being scared of you.

Why'd you grow that awful beard?

To scare people with.

When'd you grow it?

1927?

You know something about that year?

Van Stratten's discovered something?

We know where you came from.

That's more than I do.

Warsaw.

Huh?

What's that?

That's why Guy wants me to see Tadeus when we get to Tangier.

Who?

Ta-- Tadeus.

Uh-huh?

He's an organized smuggler.

I mean he organizes smuggling.

Shut up.

He knows all the crooks in all the world, and he's Polish.

What's that got to do with it?

Warsaw is a city in Poland.

I was aware of that.

You see, Guy went to see your tailor in Zurich.

My what?

The tailor who made your first suit of clothes

when you came there.

He's dead.

You probably never even noticed the cutter,

but he remembers you and the label

in the coat you were wearing when

you first came in the shop.

Label?

The tailor's label.

Your suit was made in Warsaw, so that's where you came from.

Guy couldn't get into Poland now.

He'd never get a visa.

Awful lot of Poles left home these last few years.

Refugees?

They went everywhere-- all over the place.

Tha-- that's what Guy's gonna do--

look up an awful lot of Poles.

But where?

Just wherever you say, Mr. Arkadin--

everywhere.

All over the place.

Now, remember that Bracco had made

us a present of two names--

Arkadin and somebody called Sophie.

So I asked around about this Sophie, too.

Well, the first nibble I got on that was up in Copenhagen--

in a flea circus.

Why come to me?

I am illegitimate entertainer now.

Please watch your smoking.

I am only interested in my fleas.

And now we are rehearsing.

Besides, I have to get ready for a show in a few minutes,

so I cannot give you much time.

Oh, please, please, please-- the fleas don't like it.

Who likes it?

Will you at least try guessing?

Have you ever seen a football game?

Allez-houps Ah.

Between-- allez-houps.

Allez-houps.

Ah.

Educated fleas.

Now here's the kickoff.

Allez-houps.

Ah.

Now allez-- allez--

allez-houps.

Ah.

Allez-houps.

Ah.

Now here is August.

He's the goalkeeper.

Pick it up, August.

Put it in the right position, August.

That's right.

Allez-- Allez, August.

Allez-- Allez, August.

Poop.

Ha!

Why would a man want to escape from Poland?

In the past few years, my country

has offered its people a wide variety of incentives

for moving elsewhere.

Now, wait a minute, Professor.

In your day, you were one of the best con men in Europe.

Please, not so loud.

I don't see any reason why I should lower my voice if you're

not going to offer me a--

cooperation.

Feeding time.

Come on, Professor, think back.

A police case in Warsaw involving a woman

called Sophie.

Couldn't you find another pole?

There's Tadeus, that contraband fellow.

Yeah, yeah, in Tangiers.

Why not try him?

Nah, he's too young.

There's nothing a type like that doesn't know about crooks.

Crooks-- bah.

He has them jumping around for him like my fleas--

only the fleas are smarter.

I got a friend that's due in Tangiers this week.

She'll see Tadeus.

Oh, come on, Professor.

What about Sophie?

Sophie?

No.

A type like that, if she's alive, she's legitimate by now.

What makes you think she'd go straight?

Simple.

She was intelligent.

Did you ever stop to think why cops are

always famous for being dumb?

Simple-- because they don't have to be anything else.

Crooks aren't the worst people.

They're just the stupidest.

The fleas of the world.

And murder?

My friend, after 20,000 years, murder

is still a business that's mainly

in the hands of the amateurs.

You!

You know Tadeus?

Tadeus.

I'm a friend of Guy's.

We used to see you every time we came to Tangiers.

You must remember me.

I never pretty women.

It's too expensive.

But the Japanese cameras--

There I can't help you.

Van Stratten?

Has he got a new boat?

This is not about business, Mr. Tadeus.

We just want you to do us a favor.

I never do favors.

We only want a little information about Poland.

I never give any--

Poland?

This won't cost you anything.

Do you know of a fence in Amsterdam called--

Fence.

-- Burgomil Trebitsch?

Trebitsch?

We're not going to Amsterdam.

You and Van Stratten?

No.

I'm not with him anymore.

I'm on a sort of a cruise.

Enjoy yourself.

Trebitsch?

I'll remember the name.

Thanks, Tadeus.

Thanks for nothing.

Here Ah, ah.

Here we have a telescope.

Uh, 110 guilder, my dear.

Wife can always fix it with a weenie bit of tape.

Why not try to stick to the subject?

You were gonna tell me about a woman called Sophie.

Remember?

Mmm-- Sophie Radzweickz.

Hmm.

She was quite a girl.

Ah, not that I remember her personally, only by reputation.

And with the telescope comes a leather case.

You fool. - What happened to her?

Where is she?

Ah.

Where is anybody?

Do you know if she's still alive?

Well, if you don't want the case,

I can sell you the telescope without it, but then of course,

the price would be a weenie bit steeper.

You haven't answered my question.

You haven't bought my telescope.

But I will.

I will, Mr. Trebitsch.

I'm going to buy it.

Now what were you going to tell me?

Those girls.

Those girls were the ruin of of Sophie.

Girls?

Ah, Hildegarde wants more strudel.

What girls, Mr. Trebitsch?

Imagine, my dear-- they were hired

by the police to pose as members of Sophie's dancing academy.

What dancing academy?

Well, perhaps you'd be interested in a lovely aquarium

for your tropical fish?

No, thanks.

I already got a telescope.

You haven't paid for it, have you?

Still, we can always discuss price, can't we, my dear?

Now look, about this dancing academy--

I am buying information.

Shut up.

To be buying means that I'm prepared to pay.

I make it a principle never, never to give information,

even about people who are dead.

I mustn't get a reputation for being indiscreet, now,

must I-- especially in my profession.

No, what you are buying is a telescope.

Oh, fine.

Looks as if I'm also buying an aquarium, but if Sophie's dead,

I can't see what difference it could--

Dead? Who said she's dead?

Well, nobody says she's alive.

I seem to remember she got away from the police

when they broke up the gang.

The gang?

Well, come on Mr. Trebitsch.

What did the gang do?

White slavery?

Warsaw was the center of that, my dear, before the last war.

Oh, my poor baby.

You don't know a thing.

Why, half the place, it was running

to South America from Central and Eastern Europe--

came right through Warsaw.

Wait.

I've got something for you.

No, I don't want to buy anything else.

You will buy this one-- it's an idea.

Well?

Those young girls--

What girls?

The girls I spoke of that acted as special police agents.

Well, it just happened, my dear, that one of them

turned up here during the war--

during the occupation.

What's her name?

Come on, Mr. Trebitsch.

I'm paying you for this.

And she was quite a heroine of the resistance movement--

connected, one imagines, with the British.

Once spent the night

here in my little shop in '42.

We-- ah, we got to talking about Warsaw.

You know To Poles are.

Well, the Baroness could tell you all about Sophie.

Well, Mr. Trebitsch.

Where is this Baroness?

The Baroness Nagel.

Well, OK, but where does she live?

And here is the telescope.

You see, I believe in giving value.

Value?

This thing doesn't even have a lens.

Well, what can you expect for 200 guilder?

Two-- 200?

You can always find the lens--

Ah, Gustie.

Danny, mittagessen. Ah, you can pay me in dollars.

I can offer you a very good rate.

Oh-- guilder.

What?

Of course, there will be the usual charge for breakages.

Breakages?

Oh, my beaded curtain I can perhaps re-string,

and I may be able to mend up my alligator,

but you've absolutely ruined the pretty aquarium, my dear.

Eh, well, you'll remember the name.

Nagel, hmm?

N-A-G-E-L-- Nagel.

Nagel.

Mm-hmm.

Is that all I'm getting?

The Baroness Nagel, hmm?

B-A-R--

I can spell Baroness.

Now you just tell me where I can find her.

My dear, I swear to you on my heart--

I haven't the remotest idea where the Baroness is

or what happened to her.

Baroness Nagel?

the Baroness Nagel.

Nagel?

The Baroness Nagel?

Oh, she wouldn't have gone back to Poland.

Not the way things are now.

Try London.

Nagel?

Yes, she was decorated by our people and the French.

Wonderful girl.

Nagel?

I think she's working in Paris.

She's at one of the big dress houses.

Dior, I think.

She's a vendeuse.

A what?

A saleswoman.

Oh, good.

I got something I want to buy.

Well, she live here.

Of course I remember you.

You are the gentleman who was here the other day.

Well, I'm sorry, monsieur, but the Baroness

won't be in till late tonight.

She has a dinner appointment.

Oh, thank you, monsieur.

I think it might be with the gentleman who

brought her the beautiful flowers just

the day after you were here.

He was a big, tall man with a beard.

Yes, with a beard.

Sommelier.

Criminal underworld in Warszawa?

Mmm.

It's true that for a year or so,

I did see a little something of that sort of thing.

It wasn't as amusing as you might think.

Criminals aren't ever very amusing.

It's because they are failures.

Those who make real money aren't counted as criminal.

This is a class distinction.

Not an ethical problem.

Here's to crime.

I suppose you want me to tell you about Sophie.

Sophie?

She was, in those years, the most

important criminal in Poland.

However, we did manage to put her out of business.

We?

There were several of us--

young girls.

And I won't pretend to you that we

were not rather thrilled at being

part of the secret police.

Also, in my case, our family needed the money badly.

We were sort of wooden ducks-- how you call it?

A decoy?

You mean you were used to collect evidence.

Oh, it was a rather nasty business, really.

The gang masqueraded as a dancing school

where the young ladies went to learn the tango.

The victims, of course, ended up in South America.

I was glad, actually, to be useful in breaking it up.

The leader got away.

Oh, Sophie's been living abroad

ever sense, in great style.

Sophie.

What is her last name again?

She married years ago.

So what's her married name?

You are inquisitive.

Before telling you that, I ought to ask

my employers for permission.

Your employers, Baroness?

You're a vendeuse working for a dress shop.

That means you sold a dress to her, right?

She's a good customer.

And she's been in your shop more than once?

Every year, when she comes to Paris.

Comes from where?

That is something one mustn't tell, I should think.

I thought they were very strict about people with

criminal records in Argentina.

Not Argentina, no.

Oh?

And not Chile, either.

No.

Don't imagine you can trap me so easily.

I'll bet you a couple of hundred dollars I can trap you,

Baroness.

Let's make it $500.

It's more sporting.

$300.

That's sporting enough.

Here.

Write Sophie's married name and address,

and then we'll compare notes.

Aha.

First we'll have some more gypsy music,

and you'll buy me another bottle of champagne.

Then afterwards, just for the fun of it,

you'll show me your money.

As you wish.

No, no.

I really can't.

I hate people who sell information.

There was somebody else only last week who

wanted to know the same thing.

What?

Yeah, about Sophie.

Ah, digging into the past.

It's really too disgusting.

Here-- take it as a gift.

After all, what's that woman to me?

You can't object if I settle our wager.

There.

You see what I've written?

I didn't come within a mile of it.

It was Van Stratten who approached you?

Yes.

Mmm.

I'm a fool.

Why?

Baroness, a fool is a man who pays twice for the same thing.

Until I learned about it from the Baroness,

I hadn't even realized that Arkadin was in Paris,

but I didn't bother to see him.

If he was trying to do my job for me,

I'd have to hurry up and beat him to the finish.

Before catching the plane for Mexico,

I stopped by at my hotel.

There still wasn't any word from Mily.

I hadn't heard from her in weeks.

No, sir.

There's no message.

But there is someone to see you.

Going to ask me up for a drink?

Come on.

Guess we have time for one.

Oh, yes-- and there's somebody else waiting for you.

You've been avoiding me.

Why?

I hope it isn't because of my father.

No.

I've been away.

Belgrade, Zurich.

Why all this traveling around?

Job.

For my father?

Funny-- I thought I caught a glimpse of him

here in your hotel, but that doesn't make sense, does it?

You don't trust me, do you?

That's really why I haven't wanted to see you.

You mean you need to be trusted?

Funny-- so does Father.

Quite funny.

Simply because nobody in their right mind

could trust either one of you.

What are you doing in this man's room?

That's my question, isn't it, Father?

Yes, and I think I'd better ask it, too.

What are you doing here?

You can't have known I was coming.

I didn't know it myself.

I have business with Van Stratten.

Business?

And you gave me your word.

His word.

He gave me his word he wouldn't see you again.

Oh, really?

And he swore to me that he wouldn't take money from you.

How cheap did you come?

Well, Van Stratten--

No.

I'm asking the questions now.

$15,000.

Well, you wanted the truth, didn't you?

You can save us that old-fashioned melodrama

about your innocent daughter all alone with a wicked bachelor

in his hotel room.

I only came back to get my bags, then I'm

on my way out of the country. - $15,000?

There's a price tag on every man.

Yeah?

What's yours, Mr. Arkadin?

200,000 Swiss francs?

You know that was the basis of the great Arkadin fortune?

Well, maybe $15,000 will be the basis of mine.

You imagine I'm going to give you that now?

A man needs money to make money, Mr. Arkadin.

I wouldn't dream of asking your daughter to marry

me as long as I'm broke.

Marry you?

That dough he started with figures to be

earned in some dirty way, too.

I'm going to find out how, and when I do, who knows?

Maybe I'll wind up an Arkadin myself someday.

You hear, Raina?

That's the sort of man you think you're

in love with-- a blackmailer.

Who says I'm in love with him?

I was hired by your father to do

a little checking up for him.

Investigations, like.

Well, it was his idea, not mine.

Doesn't sound much like blackmail to me.

But you aren't in love with him.

It does rather look as though he's been taking

money to stay away from me.

I never promised to do that.

Now I'm going to see you whenever I can, job or no job.

But you're going away again.

It's just a short trip.

If I'm lucky, it may be the last.

You're staying in Paris, aren't you?

I'll see you here on my way back from Mexico.

I wish we could all settle down somewhere

for just a couple of minutes.

Frankly, I'm fed up with living the life of an expensive gypsy.

Raina, there's no need to discuss

this with Van Stratten.

You know your life can be whatever you want.

We only came to Paris because you--

Because I said I wanted to, and that

was because I hoped to see Guy.

See, Mr. Arkadin?

I'm afraid things are getting just a little bit

out of your control.

Out of his control.

Hmm.

Well, that brings us to Mexico-- to Sophie,

and Oscar, and his accordion.

Concertina.

First thing that I--

so there is somebody in this story you finally recognize.

Oscar and Sophie was married.

Yeah, well now she's got a new husband-- a retired general

of the Mexican Revolution.

Oh.

Oscar's playing his accordion in Sophie's

restaurant for tips.

A concertina.

And blackmailing her a little on the side.

Blackmailing Sophie?

That would take a nerve.

Shut up.

What is it?

I thought I heard that car.

Sophie's car?

Sophie's in Germany?

Will you please get dressed nice, Mr. Zouk,

and I will tell you the rest when

we are somewhere that is safe?

I don't wanna hear.

I don't wanna tell.

I keep what I know to myself, which is healthier.

Oh, you don't want to talk.

That's what Oscar said.

Ah, Oscar.

He's a drug addict.

He'll never be well.

I almost made him well.

I got him out in the water.

Took away his needle.

You hired me to played my music for a pleasure cruise--

pleasure.

Ha.

I don't know for how long we've been out on this boat--

for how many days I've been without my--

Without your heroin?

Ain't that the stuff you use?

You didn't throw it away?

You'll get your junk when you start to talk.

I won't talk.

I won't tell you anything.

Now we gotta through all this just once again.

You were married to Sophie--

I still am.

Well, she's got a new husband.

Some big shot here in Mexico.

You mean she was never divorced, it that it?

So it's bigamy.

Is this bigamy?

I won't talk.

OK.

OK, buster, we'll just keep you here till you do.

What is it you want me to tell you?

I want you to tell me about Sophie's gang--

all about it.

Everything that happened.

You could kill me first.

I may have to.

I don't know how long it was

I had to keep him out there drifting around

in a chartered fishing boat, but finally, he spilled everything.

So even though I hadn't managed to get to Sophie,

now I knew all about it--

and her connections with Arkadin.

But back in my hotel, there were a couple more

surprises waiting for me.

Your passport, please.

This will be returned at the airport.

Tossing me out of the country, huh?

Well, you'd better get a chance to pack.

There is someone in Mexico City who would like to see you.

Who's that?

La Senora Jesus Martinez, the wife of General Martinez.

Sophie.

You know the lady?

Well, I don't exactly know her.

Never mind, senor.

You will soon.

Sit down mister.

We are putting you on the plane in an hour,

but I'd like to hear first what you've got to say for yourself.

Sorry, but I really don't have much of anything

to say for myself, Madame Radzweickz.

Senora Jesus Martinez.

This here is my husband.

I guess Oscar told you that the General, my husband didn't--

Yeah, but don't think I'm trying to embarrass

you, Senora Martinez.

You don't do anything to me, Mr. Smarty.

I'll let you in a secret-- it's Oscar I was never married to.

He's older now and he's--

he's talked himself into it.

A man's got to keep a little pride,

and he doesn't earn much playing the concertina,

poor little fellow, so

allow him to blackmail me.

Not much.

Just enough to keep up his self-respect.

And you--

I'm the one that's got questions to ask.

You're the one that's getting tossed

out of the country, Mr. Smarty.

People torturing other people-- that I don't go for.

Poor little Oscar.

Why did you have to pick on him?

I wish you'd try to understand.

I'm involved in a serious investigation.

Investigation?

Why not leave in peace the people

that's minding their own business

and not hurting other people?

I am married.

I got a legitimate business.

There's nothing against me that is not all done

and over with a long time ago.

So what are you after?

I just want to check a few names with you, that's all.

Men who worked for you back in Warsaw.

You got all that from Oscar?

Yeah.

Athabadze, Herschelize, Jakob Zouk, Andre Bloch.

Bloch was the one with the peg leg, huh?

I saw him fished out of the harbor in Naples.

Is this true?

Seems he'd came on a freighter from the Balkans.

He jumped ship.

For some reason, he knifed the guy called Bracco, then tried

to shoot it out with the cops.

If he knifed this--

Bracco.

Why did he then use a gun?

Why-- I never thought of that.

So you got the names.

What else do you want?

I want you to tell me about Athabadze.

It's a or-- Atha--

What about him?

I'd like you to tell me what you thought about him.

I was crazy in love with him, mister.

But what's all this to you?

Well, you see, I work for Athabadze.

Of course, he has a different name now.

Sure.

Gregory Arkadin.

You knew that?

Years ago.

Chato, give me those photograph albums.

And you never said anything?

But you must have realized what that information was worth.

Money.

Money I don't need.

But even if I did, Mister, that kind of money I couldn't use.

Not that Wasaw don't owe me.

He does.

200,000 Swiss francs?

It was in gold.

He borrowed this money?

If that's the way he remembers it.

Give me the old one.

Come here.

Oscar.

There.

I guess he must have grown his beard after he left you.

He had a beard when I saw him in Monte Carlo.

But I knew him.

It was years later--

sitting right next to me, he was, and he

didn't know me Why should he?

Not that he hadn't changed, too, of course.

But why the beard, I don't know.

I think maybe it had something to do

with his daughter growing up, but I wouldn't know, either.

This isn't the first time I've heard about the child.

Who is he married to?

Somebody in Berlin.

Berlin?

She died when Raina was born.

Ah.

The only time I saw him afterwards

was at night in the casino.

When he got up from the game and moved over to the roulette,

somebody whispered, "There goes the famous Gregory Arkadin.

So that's how I found out what happened to my boyfriend--

and the money.

I was going to talk to him.

"Hello, Wasaw," I was going to say.

"Where's the money you stole from me? "

Where's the gold pieces I had stored away in my old

pair of drawers, Wasaw?

Now that you are the great Mr. Arkadin,

maybe you could afford to pay me back."

But I didn't.

There was that old, hard, lonely kind of look in his eyes.

I thought of all the fun we had together.

Besides, he was winning.

I'd been playing his numbers and I was winning, too--

a whole lot more than what he took from me all those years

ago, even figuring interest.

So, thought to myself, here

he's gone to so much trouble to be somebody else.

Why should I spoil it for him?

I've had my money's worth 20 years now.

You can go now, mister.

And when you see your boss, tell him from me

he could leave well enough alone.

You mean he doesn't have to worry about you?

Why does anybody worry?

He's a billionaire with a new name.

So Oscar takes dope.

Let them both have what they need.

It's your deal, darling.

Yeah?

Mr.Arkadin is calling you.

OK.

How are you coming, Van Stratten?

Couldn't be better, Arkadin.

I finally got the goods on you.

What?

The dirt-- all of it from before '27.

Can you prove it?

On the long-distance telephone?

Come and talk to me.

Well, I--

I want to talk to you now.

I don't think you understand.

I'm in Mex--

You-- you didn't know I was on this side of the ocean?

This your first trip to Mexico?

It's mine.

Seem to be treating you pretty good, huh?

In this part of the hotel, it's private.

They keep it for me.

I suppose you own the hotel.

Well, as a matter of fact--

OK.

What did she say?

Chiquita says she wants to go water skiing.

It's an amusing sport.

I'd like to try it myself.

Yeah, you'd look real cute in a pair of water skis.

Oh, you think it'd be funny?

I'll take your picture.

You can judge for yourself.

Mr. Arkadin would look exactly like Neptune.

Who?

Neptune.

He was the god of the sea.

Yeah?

Did you know that?

No.

That's what I thought.

We're both a couple of mugs.

I'm leaving tonight.

Sell our Mexican pesos and buy Chilean.

Remember what I said about copper.

Oh, and-- get Chiquita a little present. to remember us by.

Check.

I found Sophie.

Sophie.

She's married money, but a character known as Oscar's

her real husband.

He's blackmailing her.

Oh?

I'll put all the details in my report.

Never mind your report.

But I do mind it.

I'm going to get paid for it, remember?

Tell me what you know.

In the old days in Warsaw, Sophie

had nine men working for her.

Four are dead, two are behind the Iron Curtain,

so they can't make any trouble.

Oscar's here.

That leaves somebody in Germany called Jakob Zouk,

and one other.

And this other man?

What's he up to?

He says he wants to go water skiing.

Any proof?

Not till I take your picture.

Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot-- you're camera shy.

Stop trying to be funny.

I think it's funny.

You're born near Tiflis, your real name is Wasaw Athabadze.

I think it's funny.

- Who says that's my name? - Oscar.

So would Sophie.

She--

Are you trying to tell me in all seriousness

that I belonged to this gang?

You belonged to Sophie.

I-- this man in Germany-- can he identify me, too?

Zouk's in a safe place, Mr. Arkadin.

He's in jail.

Speaking of jail--

some gentlemen waiting to talk to you.

Well, tell them I'm busy.

I think you'd be wiser to see them.

They're from the police, and they

want to take you to your plane.

Oh, and one thing more--

Yeah?

These things you claim to be finding out about me--

don't speak of them to my daughter.

I have your word on that?

My word?

What's that word to you?

Perhaps a man like you can't realize

what it is to have a conscience and no memory at all.

You imagine it's pleasant to be ashamed of something

you can't even remember?

Attention, please.

Attention, please.

Will all passengers proceed--

I wanted to go to Germany, too, you know, for Christmas.

But of course, the Ogre wouldn't let me, so I'm off to Spain

to wait for him there.

Your father's going to Germany, too?

What, checking up on me, huh?

Well, you know Pops.

He can't help it.

Counterespionage, mystery-- after all, he is a Russian.

Hmm.

It's the breath of life to him.

Hey, wait a minute.

What makes you think he's a Russian?

Well, I'm his daughter.

He doesn't know himself.

He really doesn't.

Is that what he told you?

Well, what about the famous amnesia?

Amnesia?

Look, in 1927, your father found himself alone in Zurich

with no memory at all.

He didn't know who he was or where he ca-- what's so funny?

Almost 30 years.

Oh, really, chum.

I never heard of amnesia lasting that long.

So the whole gag about him losing his memory

was just a lie.

Naturally it was a lie.

The only true part was the money he stole,

and all he really wanted for me was to see how

much I could find out about it.

Hmm.

Well, I got a little further than he expected.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah-- you got to Munich.

How did you find me?

The jail.

The warden told me they let you out because you were sick,

and it was Christmas.

Christmas?

They wanted to save themselves the price of the coffin.

Now listen to me, Zouk.

What I'm going to tell you now happened today.

I was on my way here when suddenly, I

realized I wasn't alone.

Polizei. Polizei.

Yes.

OK, what do you want?

we are acting as a political courtesy

for the Italian police.

There is a question of murder.

This happened in Italy? A knifing?

- Yes-- - Uh.

As matter of fact--

It's very interesting to learn how you that knew.

Knew that.

Well, a man died right in front of me.

Well, the Italian police sent us a photograph of the victim.

But this is an old case.

It's already settled.

Look, why don't you just let me go?

Mr. Arkadin's giving a party.

I've got to get--

Arkadin?

Gregory Arkadin?

Hey.

But to you're not on your way to his hotel.

Oh, yes, I am.

I just changed my mind.

Uh-huh.

Uh, we'll bring the photograph to Mr. Arkadin's apartment.

He says, "Have a nice time at the party, please."

Christmas merry.

Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas.

Tell him thanks.

Oh.

People here

Yes, thanks.

I know all about it.

Merry Christmas.

Are you kidding?

What about the man in jail, the one you came here to see--

what's his name?

You know as well as I do--

Jacob Zouk-- and he's gone.

Gone?

You mean escaped?

No, his time was almost up and he's dying,

so they let him out.

He lives in a rooming house in Sebastianplatz 16.

If he's dying, then there's nobody

left for me to worry about.

Except you, of course.

I'm not the only one.

What about Sophie?

And Oscar?

Long-distance operator, please.

Long-distance, I want to place a call.

It's urgent.

I'll wait at this number.

The call is to Mrs. Sophie Jesus Martinez of Mexico City--

He says a gentleman downstairs asked him to deliver this.

Oh, thank you.

Danke schon.

Yes?

You got the photograph?

Oh, you hadn't looked at it yet?

Please do so, Mr. Van Stratten.

As we say, there's reason to believe that you

knew the murder victim.

Van Stratten?

Yes.

About that call of yours--

What about it? What call?

What call?

What call?

Oh, it appears that Mr. Van Stratten

wished to speak personally to a certain Madame Jesus Martini--

or Martinez.

What are you calling Sophie for?

Just a hunch.

Well, Madame Martinez is not available.

She appears to be deceased.

Perhaps Mr. Van Stratten would like to speak to her house?

Yes.

Yes, I certainly would.

There's no need to call Mexico.

What happened to Sophie?

Did she get it like Mily--

with a knife?

And Oscar?

I was wondering if there was any point in trying to call him.

What for?

I don't know.

Wish him a Merry Christmas.

You'd be wasting your time.

Cops in Naples shot down a guy with a wooden leg.

They think he killed Bracco.

But I think that this Bracco was knifed by the man he

and the peg leg were trying to blackmail.

It's a theory.

Yeah, and I could prove it if the blackmailers weren't dead.

They aren't all dead, Mr. Van Stratten.

Yeah.

And there was Mily.

Poor kid.

All she was deliver a message.

Don't try to pretend she wasn't in on it with you.

She didn't even know what the names Sophie and Bracco meant.

What? Yeah, and Sophie.

Sophie knew all about you-- who you were.

She'd known for years and she didn't even care.

Live and let live, that was Sophie's motto.

Why didn't you tell me about this before?

I didn't know she was in any danger.

That should have been obvious.

Bracco and Mily, Sophie and Oscar.

Now there's only Jakob Zouk.

Just one left.

Sure you aren't losing count?

To you, Van Stratten.

Ask me why--

why he's been knocking off everybody

that might remember that crummy little secret of his.

That's it-- it's all because of Raina.

He's gone right off his rocker at the thought

that she might find out about him.

Well, you're the next to go.

He's saving me for the last, when

I've done all the dirty work.

The only way I could save myself is by saving you--

hiding you.

That's why you're so important-- you're the last living

member of the gang.

Gang, schmang.

I belong to lots of gangs.

Yes, I know--

So who once said you are the boss?

So now he's got another name--

he's rich.

So go ahead, get some the money away from him.

But for this, you gotta drag me out in the cold?

He might be here at any minute.

I gave him your address.

You mean here?

That was before I knew it was the--

Killer, schmiller.

You gotta prove it.

Prove it?

Yeah.

A big, important man like this does something

he shouldn't do--

gotta prove it good.

Oscar and Sophie were found dead in a ditch in Mexico City

with their throats cut.

I just found that out on the long-distance telephone.

Go ahead and laugh.

I'm not laughing.

I'm coughing.

Well, go ahead and cough.

Die, if you've got your heart set on it.

Look, I'm young.

I don't want to wind up with a knife in my gut.

Where I'm going, nobody could bother me.

I ain't scared, but you are.

So better start running.

Running?

Where to?

It's a big world, mister.

Not so big when Arkadin's after you.

Besides, he owns half of it.

So what do you want with me?

You knew him in Warsaw.

You're the last one alive that did.

Now as-- long as I can keep you alive--

He's here.

He's coming up.

We've got to get out of here and hide.

Hey. Mister.

- Come on. - Mister.

Give my blanket to me.

You're coming with me.

There must be something you want-- something you dreamed

of all those years in jail.

But this late Christmas Eve, how could you go shopping?

What is it?

Where you going? Out.

We gotta get out.

But this way ain't out, mister.

Which way?

That way.

Listen.

Whatever you want, I'm going to get it for you, Mr. Zouk.

If I have to commit robbery, arson, or murder,

you're going to have it.

At least let me get my pants.

What do you want with your pants?

What I do without them?

Come on.

Ain't you got no sense of decency?

Also, it's cold, mister.

I'll catch me a chill.

He's coming into the courtyard now.

I've gotta hide you.

I just moved in.

I don't know nobody who lives here.

Why couldn't we stay up in my room?

Where do you think he's going to look?

He's gotta find you're gone.

What's he gonna think if he catches me out here, dancing

around in my underdrawers?

Also, the police, mister.

I'm on parole-- good behavior.

No-- for this, I can go right smack back into the jail.

Shut up.

This door is open.

So it's open. Who's door is it?

What's it matter? Get in.

Psst.

Give me my pants.

Get in there and shut up.

Get in that bed. - Who's bed?

You-- here's some money.

Lock the door.

What I do for you understand?

I'm on parole.

Hey, mister.

You know what the man said.

I ain't heard that piece in 14 years.

Get into bed.

That's something else I ain't heard in 14 years.

Too late.

I tell you, I just got here.

That's why I haven't seen him.

Tha-- that's the wrong room.

I-- I went in there by mistake.

Zouk lives up in the garret.

Shall we go see if he's there?

There's just a woman in there.

She's entertaining.

What do you want?

Can't you see I got company?

Go away.

Go away or I'll call the police.

Coming back to the party?

The party?

Oh, yes, your party, Mr. Arkadin.

Of course.

Well, first I think I'd better go upstairs.

And talk to Jakob Zouk.

Go ahead, Van Stratten.

Go upstairs and talk to him.

Shivering.

It's cold.

There is no heat in this building,

and the rent they charge you, you--

How much would it cost to move where it's warm?

I owe three weeks.

How much?

150 marks, or-- or something like that.

Hmm.

Here's 1,000.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

There was nobody at home?

That's right.

Nobody.

So what's funny?

Old age.

Old age.

Hey, merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas.

What did you tell him?

Well, we just talked about how cold it is.

You-- what did you say to you?

I just now thought of what I want.

We've still gotta get out of here, quick.

You said I could have anything--

- Well, of course you can-- - Anything in the world?

Anything in the world.

Anything.

Now for 14 years I've been dreaming of this--

dreaming.

In jail, that's all you could do.

Well, what is it?

A goose liver.

Did you say a goose liver?

Fresh and hot, with mashed potatoes and apples and onion.

Merry Christmas.

A goose liver on Christmas Eve?

And my usual stuff?

Never!

Leave me alone or I quit.

Well?

It's no use, Herr George.

A hot goose liver-- that's the thing--

with a one-day warning-- - Goose liver.

Thank you very much. I'll think of something.

Thank you.

If I don't get that goose liver, I'm going home.

Well, how about a nice, big cut of roast beef?

Or maybe a hot stuffed turkey?

Goose liver.

But look--

Arkadin--

Arkadin, schmardin-- aaah.

He didn't even recognize me.

Are you sure?

Didn't say nothing.

Hey.

Hey. Hey!

You're leaving me.

Wait.

Get back!

Will you keep the door locked?

We registered in the hotel under false names,

but can't tell-- he may have traced us.

I'll give you an hour to get my goose liver.

OK.

If you ain't back by that time--

I'll be back.

Hot and fresh?

Fresh and hot.

With mashed potatoes and apples and--

--onions?

You're locking me. Hey, mister!

Hey, if you don't unlock the door, I'll yell for help.

Help!

Help!

Help!

OK, you win.

The door is unlocked.

But it you don't behave yourself,

there'll be no goose liver.

You understand?

I'll give you an hour.

Hey, mac, could you fix me up with a goose liver?

Merry Christmas.

What are you doing now?

Shopping.

Just some shopping.

You'd better get in.

We're blocking the road.

They know me at this restaurant.

They'll take care of you.

Well, why don't we go in?

Or don't you want to be seen with me?

Quite a number of people have been seen with you.

Bracco, for instance.

Bracco was with you when he died.

Sophie and Oscar were in Mexico.

Mily was your girl.

Yeah but--

You're a dangerous man to be seen with.

Yeah.

I guess that's the way you had it planned all along.

I knew what I wanted.

That's the difference between us.

In this world, there are those who give and those who ask.

Those who do not care to give--

those who do not dare to ask.

You dared, but you were never quite

sure what you were asking for.

Now there's nothing more you could hope

to beg from me, Van Stratten.

Not money.

Certainly not my daughter.

Not even your life.

Give the gentleman his goose liver.

Well, here we are.

I finally got it.

Wake up, Mr. Zouk.

Here's what you've been waiting for.

Hey, Mr. Zouk--

Sanctuary?

What?

Try praying for both of us.

Well, I had to go somewhere.

Somebody might have run me down in the street.

I can't go back to my hotel room.

In case you've forgotten, there's a corpse in there.

I haven't.

I don't suffer from amnesia.

A pity.

It is a merciful affliction.

Might prove useful in your conversations with the police.

Go to the cops?

About you?

Raina's father?

Do you think I could do that?

I no longer think of you at all.

You don't think of anything else, not anymore.

Just me and yourself and Raina.

We're all sorta tied up together, the three of us,

aren't we?

She's what matters.

What matters to you is what she thinks of you.

Maybe she'd be better off without either one of us.

Well, don't worry.

She's safe with me.

I don't think anyone is ever safe with a blackmailer.

Where will you go now?

Where I'll be safe.

Safe?

I've got a seat on a plane--

the last seat.

Where will fly to ?

Spain.

You've got a castle in Spain, Mr. Arkadin--

a regular fortress.

That's where I'll be safe-- with your daughter.

To the airport, quick.

Arkadin's orders.

Oslo, Copenhagen,

Hello this is Mr. Gregory Arkadin's secretary here again.

I'm sorry, sir.

I told you before there's nothing--

we are completely booked up, sir.

But you simply have to hold that flight, I tell you.

Mr. Arkadin is racing to the airport now.

He's got to be on that plane.

We are completely booked up, sir.

This is Christmas.

Listen to me.

One of the passengers is a Mr. Guy Van Stratten.

You must put that man off the plane.

He works for Mr. Arkadin.

But sir, Mr. Van Stratten has a reservation.

Miss, I want to send a telegram, please.

Just a moment please.

Mr. Arkadin is one of the leading

shareholders in your airline.

Sorry, sir, but an airline is a public--

Besides, this is Christmas.

Announcing the departure of Flight 16

for Barcelona and Madrid.

All--

Did you get my telegram off to Spain for me?

Yes, Mr. Van Stratten.

Will you please step this way?

There's a gentleman waiting to see you.

See me?

But what about my plane?

He promised to keep you only a minute.

There's nothing at this late hour.

I want your seat on that plane.

So you can get to talk to Raina before I do?

You hired me to buy me off, didn't--

even thought you could give me to cover up what you

didn't want her to find out.

I want that seat. What's your price?

Too late.

Too many people are dead.

Zouk's dead in my hotel room.

Somebody's going to have to hang for that.

I don't want it to be me.

If you do see her first, what makes

you think she'll believe you?

When she hears my story--

She'll hear my story first, Arkadin.

Too bad, Mr. Arkadin.

I wish I could help, but--

I must be on that plane.

Listen to me, everybody.

I must have a seat on that plane.

I will pay anything.

I'll give you a check now.

I'll pay in dollars-- any currency.

50 million marks for a seat on that plane.

My name is Gregory Arkadin.

Yeah, and I'm Santa Claus.

I'll pay in dollars--

any currency.

Merry Christmas.

Raina.

Raina Arkadin.

She's there somewhere in the airport.

She's meeting a man called Van Stratten.

He wired her to meet him.

I want to speak to her first.

She's there, I tell you, at the airport.

Bring her to the radio at once.

Raina.

- Well, chum, what's eating you? - Raina, listen, I--

- Miss Arkadin. - Yes?

It's your father. Something urgent.

I don't care what that is.

I've gotta talk to you first-- alone.

Now wait--

Senorita, I really think that Mr.--

- Alone. - Just a minute.

- If Mr. Arkadin-- - OK, OK.

What's all the rush with you?

Look, your father's on his way here on a chartered plane.

He'll be here any time now.

Exactly.

Now I know this sounds nutty, but--

Senorita--

Please-- will you please excuse us for just a second.

Of course it's all right, old boy, if you insist.

Mr. Arkadin says that--

I'm sorry.

Both of you.

You, too.

Now, look.

I want you to pretend to him that I've told you something.

If it's so important, why shouldn't you really tell me?

Why pretend? - Why?

Well, I can't go to the cops.

They'll be coming after me.

So that's what you're in such a flap about.

Not just the cops. Your father.

If he thinks I've talked to you, he'll

know he can't lay a hand on me without proving

to you that it's true.

Why use me to trick him?

Because you're all he really cares about--

you and what you think of him.

What are you trying to do, break his heart?

I want to save my life, Raina.

Senorita.

I really think you'd better come now.

My daughter--

I want to speak to my daughter.

We don't know his exact position.

He's alone, flying himself in a chartered plane.

He's been on the radio for quite a while

now, asking to talk to you.

He sounds-- well, you'd better speak to him yourself.

Put her on.

I want to talk to her.

My daughter-- I want to speak to my daughter.

Yes, Father.

Have you seen Van Stratten?

Yes. Tell him yes.

Yes.

Yes. yes, just now.

Don't let him talk to you.

Refuse to listen.

I beg you, Raina, wait.

Tell him it's too late.

Too late.

It's too late.

Father.

Why don't you answer?

Father.

Father.

Father.

Hey.

Hey, look.

Is it true?

That Arkadin's plane is flying around up there empty?

I saved your precious life for you.

I had to kill my father to do it.

Is there anything else you want from me?

Want to know the real truth?

He was-- he was capable of anything.

Once, a long time ago, he was something

less than Mr. Arkadin.

That's what couldn't stand having you know about.

That he was once something like me.

That's why that plane is flying around up there empty.

I might as well have thrown him out of my own hands.

He would have done it to you.

Maybe you oughta go after her.

You sure she wouldn't rather be alone?

No, but I would.

Yes, I suppose so.

Of course, it is rather awful, but to tell the truth--

Rather awful?

Well, I mean, she loved him well enough,

but the way he felt about her, well it wasn't healthy.

It's better just as well.

She's better off without him.

Yeah?

Better off without me, too?

Rather awful.

What did you say?

Losing the girl I love-- a beautiful girl who loved me,

just inherited $100 million bucks--

rather awful?

Maybe you ought to find a better word.

Go on, beat it, Your Lordship.

I might just forget myself and take

a punch right at your nose.

Oh, yes?

And you might get punched back, too, you know.

Yeah, I know.

That's why I'd rather be alone.

What are you going to do now?

Drive you into town.

I'll do the driving.