All language subtitles for The.Bostonians.1984

(film reel whirring)

("God Save the
Queen" by Thomas Arne)

(upbeat classical music)

(hoof beats clopping)

(horse snorting)

- Our fight is
directed against those

that want to keep women
in an inferior position.

- Oh, I'd change my
position for yours any day.

That's what I said to myself

as I sat there in your
comfortable parlor.

- But do you reproach me
for having a little money?

- Oh, certainly not.

- It's the dearest
wish of my heart

to do something
with it for others.

Don't you believe in the
coming of a better day?

That it's possible to do
something for the human race?

(clears throat)

- Well...

What strikes me
most, Miss Olive,

is that the human race has
just got to bear its troubles.

- Why, that's what men say
to keep women in the position

they have made for them.

- The position of women is
nothing but to make fools of men.

- Don't you believe
in our emancipation?

- I'll tell you
after the meeting.

- Your cousin looks
like a genius, my dear.

- He's only a distant cousin.

He's a lawyer from Mississippi.

He left his mother
and sisters behind,

and he's come to try to
make his living in New York.

He's not in
sympathy, I'm afraid.

- Well, I've often
found that people

are only waiting for the light.

Oh, there's our guest of honor.

- Miss Birdseye, what
a pleasure to see you.

- Excuse me but may I
ask you, who is that lady?

- Mrs. Farrinder is the leader,

and you might say the apostle,

of the movement to
emancipate the female sex.

- Oh, I see.

- How nice to see you again.
- Thank you.

- Matthias Pardon,
representing the press.

Transcript, don't you know?

Well, I'm hoping Mrs.
Farrinder will give an address.

I'll write it up for
the Transcript.

You know, there is a great
interest in the movement

among the public at large,

and I'm here in the
service of the public at large.

Pro bono publico.

(crowd conversing quietly)

- I beg your pardon.

Are you acquainted
with the lioness?

I mean, the renowned
Mrs. Farrinder.

Now, has she convinced you
that women are superior to men?

- I guess I know more
about women than she does.

I'm a doctor.

Prance is the name.

- I'm Basil Ransome, hello.

- Men and women
are all the same to me.

There's room for
improvement in both sexes.

Neither of them is
up to the standard.

(Basil chuckling)

- Mrs. Tarrant, Dr. Tarrant.
- Miss Birdseye.

- Verena, my dear.
- Hello, Miss Birdseye.

- The Tarrants.

Dr. Tarrant, he calls himself.

He's a mesmeric healer.

Miraculous cures.

- If I might request a
few moments silence.

I'll start her up.

Quietly...

Quietly...

It will come, my dear child.

- Is she asleep?
- The spirit will come.

Let it gather.

Let it come.

- The light...

The tide is rising...

Is rising...

I feel...

I hear a calling.

A calling for help.

Uncounted millions have
lived only to be tortured.

To be crucified.

Ages of oppression
have rolled over them.

But the day of their
delivery has dawned.

This is the only sacred cause.

This is the great,
the just revolution.

It must triumph.

It must sweep
everything before it.

It will be the greatest
change the world has seen.

And the names of those who
have helped to show the way

and lead the squadrons
will be the brightest

in the tables of fame.

- Do you know my
cousin, Miss Chancellor?

- I can't say I know her,

but I guess I know
others like her pretty well.

- When I look at the world,

and at the state that
men have brought it to,

I confess, I say to myself,

"Well, if women
had fixed it this way,"

"I should like to know
what men would think of it."

(crowd applauding)

- [Verena] They
pretend to admire us...

- Do you like it?

- What she's saying?

Nah.

But I suppose she's been
taught all that by her daddy.

- I say that if this is the best
they can do by themselves,

they had better let
us come in a little

and see what we can do.

(crowd applauding)

We couldn't possibly
make it worse, could we?

There is a brutal
element in the world

which tramples down the
feeble and treads down the weak.

(crowd applauding)

I stand in a place
of peace and beauty,

and I look into a wilderness

of poverty and
ignorance and misery.

The world is drenched in blood.

- I guess I've
heard it all before.

- But she looks so
pretty when she says it.

- I think she looks anemic

and she probably
eats too much candy.

Well, I've got work to do.

I don't want the gentlemen
doctors to get ahead of me.

- Oh, nobody'd ever get
ahead of you, Dr. Prance,

I'm very sure.

- Good night, sir.
- Good night.

- I'm only a girl.

A simple American girl.

And of course I
haven't seen much

and there's a great deal of life

I don't know anything about,

but there are some
things that I feel.

They are in my ears in
the stillness of the night,

and before my face in
the visions of the darkness.

Let us remember in our
trials and discouragements,

that if our lives are
true, we walk with angels.

If we trust one another,

if we are true and
gentle and kind,

those regal ideas that struggle
for liberty will come forth

and spread their
wings to soar high.

(crowd applauding)

- You speak well, and
no wonder for you speak

in a great cause.
- Isn't she wonderful?

There's money for
someone in that girl.

You see if she don't
have quite a run.

- Perhaps I could become
a sympathizer after all.

- Will you come and see me?

- Where do you live?

- I know where Miss
Chancellor lives.

I'm acquainted with your family,
of course, Miss Chancellor.

I believe your father
knew my father,

Abraham Greenstreet,
the abolitionist.

- I want to thank you.

Mr. Ransome.

(crowd conversing quietly)

I was certain you would come.

I felt it all day,
something told me.

- Mother said I'd
better come right on.

- Your mother saw
that I meant what I said.

I was shaken from head to foot.

What power, what
power, Miss Tarrant!

(chimes twinkling)

- It's a regular
dreamlike place.

- I want to know you.

I felt that as soon as I
heard you speak last night.

There's so much
I want to ask you.

- Well, I can't say
much except when father

has worked on me...

- [Olive] I don't care
anything about your father.

- He's wonderfully magnetic...

- It isn't your father,
it isn't your mother.

It's only you, just as you are.

Will you be my friend?

My friend of friends?

Forever and ever?

- My carriage was
ordered for three,

and it still hasn't appeared.

You have a visitor.

- Miss Verena Tarrant,
my sister, Mrs. Luna.

- Why, you're on the stage.

What do you do?

Are you an actress?

Do you sing?

- I can never carry a tune.

- Verena has a divine gift.

- Oh.

(gate squeaking)

Olive, we have another visitor.

Our interesting cousin,

whom you so
providentially discovered.

(upbeat drum music)

- [Olive] We'll meet again soon.

Very, very soon.

This is only the beginning.

- Why, Miss Chancellor.

Good afternoon.

- I'm so glad my
carriage is late,

or you would've
missed seeing me.

- Oh, Mrs. Luna, I
would've been disconsolate.

I've come to say goodbye.

I'm going back to
New York today.

- Mama!

I wanna go!

- Newton, you know
Mama will be back

an hour from now...
- I wanna go, I wanna go!

I wanna go!
- Mama has to go,

Newton dearest.
- I wanna go, I wanna go!

No!

- Miss Tarrant won't be
surprised if I recognize her,

if I take the liberty
to speak to her?

- Many gentlemen speak to me.

- We'll see each
other again tomorrow.

- Miss, Miss Tarrant, I
know what your ideas are.

You expressed them last
night in such beautiful language,

I am duly ashamed
of being a man.

But must you go the
moment I appear?

Do you flee before
the individual male?

- I like the individual
well enough.

- Won't you sit down again?

I'm certain Miss Chancellor'd
be extremely sorry

to part with you.

- You'll just catch
the Charles Street car.

- I would like to
interpret for you

the position of
women in history.

Now...

Well, what do you
say to Helen of Troy?

The fearful carnage she excited,

all without the
benefit of the vote.

- Excuse me.

He's a joker.

- He's an enemy.

An enemy of our
movement and our sex.

You must fear him.

- Do you?

- I fear his ideas.

Tomorrow, we'll be alone,
and we'll talk and talk.

Just you and I.

- All of Olive's
friends are like that.

What an extraordinary
young woman, Olive.

Is she your latest discovery?

- Your veil is not put
on straight, Adeline.

Goodbye, Mr. Ransome.

I hope you have a safe
journey back to New York.

Well, I thank you
very much for...

- Come away with me
and I'll explain her as we go.

I must get away from here.

We'll meet often.

I've made up my mind:

A winter in New York.

- Look here, Mrs. Luna,

if your sister was
not going to like me,

then why in the world
did she write to me?

- [Adeline] Because
she thought I'd like you.

(birds chirping)

- "Then when a little
more I raised my brow,

"I spied the master
of the sapient throng,

"seated amid the
philosophic train.

"Him all admire, all
pay him reverence due.

"There Socrates and
Plato both I mark'd,"

"nearest to him in
rank, Democritus,"

"who sets the world at chance,"

"Diogenes, with Heraclitus,
and Empedocles,"

"and Anaxagoras,
and Thales sage."

"Orpheus I mark'd, and
Linus, Tully, and moral Seneca."

"Euclid and Ptolemy,
Hippocrates,"

"Galenus, Avicen,
Zeno and Dioscorides"

"well-read in
nature's secret lore."

(dramatic music)

(speaking foreign language)

- What's it mean?

- Thou shalt give up.

(speaking foreign language)

It means to renounce everything.

Yourself, your life.

Are you ready for it?

- "I feel I am something of
a novice upon this platform.

"One of a race whose inheritance
has been outrage and wrong."

"Most of my life had been
spent in battling those wrongs."

"But I did not feel
as keenly as others"

"that I had these rights in
common with other women."

- ([Photographer) Ladies,
no movement please.

- "When we recited her Latin
and Greek to him, he said,

"'Very smart girls, unusually
capable, but can you cook?'

(both laughing)

"I answered with
the utmost patience,

"'Well, Mr. Quincy, we
want to go to Harvard College

'"with our brothers.'

'"No, my dear', said
he, 'That is not possible.'

"At that, I burst out,

"'Then I wish I were God
that I might kill every woman

'"from Eve down and let
you have a masculine world

'"all to yourselves, and
see how you like that!'"

(laughing)

(waves crashing)
(seabirds calling)

What if I were to
ask you to give up

your parents, everything?

Oh, how can I ask you?

I must give up.

- Perhaps you like me too much.

- Of course I like you too much.

When I like, I like too much.

♪ When I was a child ♪

♪ And you were a child ♪

♪ In our kingdom by the sea ♪

♪ We loved with a love ♪

♪ That was more than love ♪

♪ I and my Annabelle Lee ♪

(Verena humming melody)

(hoof beats clopping)

- "Rediscovery of natural order.

"As in any democracy, we
must establish", come in.

"Cannot resist the
vulgar", oh, thank you, Tim.

Right here.

- 10 cents, please, sir.

- W-would you ask Mr. Richard

if I might settle
with him tomorrow?

Thank you.

"Cannot resist the vulgar
temptation to serve themselves."

Serve themselves a bock.

"A true natural leader will
not keep another man down."

"Neither will he set him free."

Free.

"From manner, we pass
naturally to the notions of honor,

decorum:

"Of what is proper and
becoming to a man,"

"which constitute the deeper
essence of aristocracy."

"It is a sort of
primitive uprightness"

"that has ripened and expanded"

"into a great cleanness
and decency."

"A wholly admirable rectitude."

"And it is one of the
most pleasant things"

"that ever grew up
on American soil."

All this must be
very dull for you.

- I adore it.

- [Newton] Let me go!

Ow!

Stop it!

Let go!
- Kids, stop it!

Stop it right now!
- Let me go!

- Get that awful
brute off my Newton!

- Take your hands
off that boy this instant!

- Stop it, don't you be
calling my son no names!

- It was your little
shrimp that started it.

- Let go right now!
- Are you gonna do it again?

- [Newton] You stink!

- Newton, never start
a fight you can't finish.

- Oh...

Let Mother see.

Oh, poor Newton.

He needs a father's guidance

to help him stand
up for himself.

- Mm-mmm.

What do you hear from
Boston, from your sister?

- Can you imagine?

She's brought that red-headed
hoyden into her house to live.

She's educating her.

- Do you mean that rather...

Striking young lady
whom I met in Boston?

- Newton, you're too
heavy for Mama, get down.

- No, I don't want to...
- Dori?

Would you come and get him,
please, and give him a bath?

- No!
- Go on, Newton.

- [Newton] No!

- Yes, I remember your
being struck by Verena.

- Verena?

Is that her name?

- If you ask me, I think
she cares as much

for the rights of women as
she does for the Panama Canal.

The only right of a
woman she wants

is to be able to climb
up on something

where men can look at her.

But mark my words:

One of these days, she'll
give her the greatest cut

Olive's ever had in her life.

- Oh?

What will she do to your sister?

- She'll run away
with a lion tamer.

She'll marry a circus man.

(Basil chuckling)

Unless of course
you want to marry her.

You seem so interested in her.

- Well...

I thank you for an
excellent dinner.

- You are not to
belong to any Verena.

You are to belong to me.

- The mind rules the body
with a scepter of reason.

Can you feel my hand draw
out the rays of affirmation?

Have you got that, Mr. Pardon?

Shut your eyes.

Repeat after me.

I am the child of
reason, and as such,

pure, perfect and without flaw.

- I am the child of
reason, and as such,

pure, perfect and without flaw.

- Now, rest your
mind from the thought.

Eyes shut.

Shut, shut.

Now, draw back to the thought.

- I am a child of
reason, and as such,

pure, perfect and without flaw.

- That is all for today.

This healing must not
strain, but descend gently.

- I am the child of reason.

- I want you to
think of green fields.

Nothing but green
fields this week.

Our next session
will be on Thursday.

Remember to keep her knees warm,

we don't want
fluid on her joints...

- We're very grateful
to you, Dr. Tarrant.

She's felt a beautiful benefit.

- Have you got that, Mr. Pardon?

- Thank you, Doctor.

- It's time for Miss
Verena to press forward.

I want to see
her in a front seat.

- What do you have in mind?

- Her name on
the biggest posters,

her portrait in the
windows of all the shops.

I'll tell you straight:

I want to see her in the
music hall, at 50 cents a ticket.

- We shall have to talk
with Miss Chancellor.

- If Miss Chancellor hangs back,

I'm prepared to
take hold myself.

Do you understand me?

(bell pealing)

The American public
want to hear Miss Verena,

and they shall hear her.

Good day, sir.

I don't know what
everyone's waiting for.

I don't suppose they're
waiting 'til she's 50 years old.

There are enough old
ones in the field already.

You know, I've known a
lot of celebrated ladies,

and had the honor of
condensing them into shorthand,

and some of them
were quite voluminous.

- Help me concentrate on it...
- But I can tell you this:

There's never been a more
attractive female speaker

before the American public.

- They try to, but does it
mean going to lectures?

- And getting up
at nine o'clock.

- Oh, heaven forbid.

(Verena laughing)

- It's a pleasure to see you
in our home, Miss Chancellor.

It quite raises my appetite
for social intercourse.

Verena seems to be having
such a time with those gentlemen.

- I have the most
terrible prejudices.

I'm full of wrong ideas.

- It's a privilege
to hear you talking.

It's what I call
real conversation.

First I catch one
thing, then another.

Seems as if I
couldn't take it all in.

- Miss Verena has charm.
- Now I hope that those

really gallant gentlemen...

- And there's a great
demand for that nowadays

in connection
with the new ideas.

There are just so many
who've fallen dead for want of it.

But Miss Verena ought
to walk right up to the top.

The truth is, she needs
to shed her father.

She don't want him
pawing around her that way

on the platform.

It don't add to the
attraction one bit.

Now, I'll put it to
you, Miss Chancellor:

We could run her together.

- Might I tempt you, madam?

The apple fritters
are very fine.

- If you sat down and
listened for five minutes,

you would be convinced.

Do offer them over here, Father.

You know how students
from Harvard College

are always starving.

- Yes, for truth and knowledge,

and, of course,
principally beauty.

- They certainly
teach you to talk.

- We don't wanna talk at all.

We wanna listen.

- You should listen
to Olive Chancellor.

She knows much more than I
do and she has wonderful ideas.

Go and talk to her.

- [Tom] But we wanna hear you.

- You must speak.
- I can't.

I can't do anything
with a small audience.

- Gracie here's
a host in himself.

- [Tom] I wish we brought
some of our friends.

- Everyone in the
university wants to hear you.

We are sunk in
ignorance and prejudice.

- I didn't realize you
were Harvard University.

- Mr. Burrage is from New York.

He's very fashionable.

He goes out a
great deal in Boston.

I've no doubt you know
some of the places.

His family's very rich.

Well, he knows
plenty of that sort.

But he didn't know
anyone like us,

so we told Mr. Gracie,
"Of course, bring him."

- I speak seriously.

I don't want to
make money out of it.

- What do you want to make?

- I want to make history.

I wanna help the
ladies, in general.

- [Henry] We are ready
to listen and sincerely...

- And Miss Verena in particular.

- Father is here. (men clapping)

They're asking me to speak.

What do you say?

I know you like me to speak.

- Yes, at the right
time and the right place.

- Now is your chance
with Harvard College.

These gentlemen
will carry the news.

Make them gasp!

- Would you like
me to start her up?

- I'll do it alone,
if you prefer.

This might be a good
chance to try without father.

What do you want me to do?

- Oh, come on, give
us the whole program.

- I want you to address audiences
that are worth addressing.

Not to exhibit yourself to
(clears throat) individuals.

I want you to touch
the heart of nations.

Do as you like, my dear.

I must leave.

- I can see you don't want it.

- Come with me.

- You're angry.

What have I done?

- I'm not angry, I'm
anxious and afraid.

Verena, those young
men don't care for you.

They don't care for us.

All they want is to make
us give up everything

we think is sacred.

- No, they don't
want that, Olive.

They don't ask as much as that.

- Then go in and speak
for them and sing for them

and dance for them.

- [Verena] Olive, you're cruel.

- Yes, perhaps I am,
but promise me one thing,

and I'll be oh, so tender.

Oh, my poor darling's cold.

I'm selfish and
dreadful, I know it, but...

But promise me that...

- Verena, you'll catch
your death of cold out there.

- Promise me not to marry.

(pen scribbling)

Leave us alone,
entirely alone for a year,

and I'll write you another.

- The great thing is
to help her to develop.

That's all we ask of you,

just let her act
out her own nature.

Don't shut down the
cover, Miss Chancellor.

Just let her overflow.

(gentle music)

- Miss Birdseye?

Miss Birdseye.

Good morning, ma'am,
you don't remember me,

but I attended an evening
at your house last year,

at which a young lady
gave a wonderful speech.

I came with Miss Chancellor.

- I remember you now,
and Olive bringing you.

But you live in New York.

Have you come to
stay in Boston now?

- Well, I'm here on business
for a day or two, ma'am.

May I escort you a little ways?

- (chuckling) A
gentleman from the south

is not required to
escort an old Bostonian

around her own city.

- Well, only in
chivalry, Miss Birdseye.

Old southern chivalry.

- They didn't show
me so much of that

when I was down
there in the old days.

They were always round after me.

- Why was that?

On, on account of your
work for the negroes?

- Yes, I carried them the Bible.

- "A Woman of the 19th Century."

- Verena Tarrant
spoke on that subject

at the last convention.

- Does she speak often?

- She raises her voice a
good deal in places around,

like Framingham and Billerica.

It's as if she were
gathering strength

just to break over
Boston like a wave.

- What a great pity she isn't
speaking somewhere tonight.

Tomorrow I have to
return to New York.

- Today she's visiting with
her mother in Cambridge.

Olive mentioned that.

- Where in Cambridge
does her family live?

- Oh (chuckling) it's in
one of those little streets

that doesn't seem to
have much of a name.

(Basil chuckling)

- Well, it must be
called something.

Is it a street, a
square, a place?

- Yes, that's it.

A place, yes.

Uh...

Monadnoc.

- Monadnoc.

- Monadnoc Place.
- I see.

- But ain't you going
to see your cousin, too?

- Miss Birdseye, I
wonder if you'd be so kind

as not to mention our
meeting to my cousin.

- [Miss Birdseye] You
want me to conceal that...

- I don't want you
to conceal anything.

I simply wish you'd let
it pass, not mention it.

- I never did
anything of that kind.

Won't Verena tell her?

She tells her most everything.

Their union is so close.

- She won't want
her to be wounded.

- Well, you are considerate.

It's a pity you
can't sympathize.

- Well, perhaps Miss
Tarrant will bring me around.

You have before you
a possible convert.

- In that case, I won't
say a word to Olive

about our meeting.

- Hi.

(hoof beats clopping)

Whoa, boy, whoa.

Miss Birdseye, I do
hope to see you again.

- Well, I'm always about
the streets of Boston.

- 219 West Newton Street.

Good day, ma'am.

(upbeat classical music)

- I've decided to show
you Harvard College,

because it seems to
me that I ought to do

something for you in return...

In return for your kind visit.

And the weather is so splendid.

- What an ideal guide.

(water splashing)

Do you still make speeches?

- Olive's told me about you.

That you're a great
enemy to our movement.

- If you regard me as an enemy,

it was very kind of
you to receive me.

(Verena chuckling)

- A great many gentlemen call.

Everyone's so interested.

In our work, I mean.

- You know, this is where
I ought to have been.

I should have
liked to study here.

- Can't expect me to
speak with much admiration

of an institution in which the
doors are closed to our sex.

- Do you advocate a system
of education in common?

- I advocate equal rights,

equal opportunities,
equal privileges.

So does Miss Chancellor.

- Oh.

I thought what she wanted
was a different inequality,

simply to turn out
the men altogether.

(people singing in Latin)

- Now mind, if you
don't like what's in here,

it isn't my fault.

- Why, is anything
against Mississippi?

- [Verena] It's in
honor of our young men

who fought in the war.

- Oh, it says they're
brave, I suppose.

- Yes.

It says so in Latin.

- Well, so they were.

I ought to know that.

I had to fight them.

(classical music)

(people singing in Latin)

(people laughing)

- I wish you could've
seen us in June.

Oh, we just quivered,
Mr. Ransome.

It was our convention.

There were delegates from
every state and every city.

Olive had six wonderful women

staying in the
house, two in a room.

In the evenings, we sat in the
open windows and we talked.

And we talked...

We ate quantities of ice cream.

(chuckling)

- Well, now, Miss Tarrant,

I am forced to the
painful conclusion

that you're simply ruined.

- Ruined?
- Yes.

- Ruined yourself.

(Basil laughing)

Aren't you going
to see Olive at all?

She's different now.

She's much happier.

- Why, because of you?

- She'll know you've been here.

- Not unless you tell her.

- I tell her everything.

I do.

If I don't tell Olive, then
you must leave me here.

And there mustn't
be anything more.

There must not,
Mr. Ransome, really.

- Why, what are you
afraid there might be?

Miss Birdseye's
hoping it will be.

She's hoping you'll convert me.

Just think how effective,
out of darkest Mississippi,

I could blaze forth.

First-class proselyte.

- Mr. Ransome, do you
know what strikes me?

The interest you take in
me isn't a bit controversial.

It's just personal.

- [Basil] Are you gonna
tell Miss Chancellor?

(men whistling and catcalling)

- Come hither, come here!
- Over here, over here!

- Good afternoon, madam!

(upbeat classical piano music)

- Ah!

(Verena and Olive clapping)

- I'm very fond of him, yes.

He died not too long ago.

- Yes, I know.
- 130 years ago.

- My son's letters
are full of nothing

but you and Miss Tarrant.

And she is everything he says.

It's charming.

- What was it?

- "Lied ohne Worte"
by Mendelssohn.

- What does it mean?

- Song without Words.

- She's growing from
strength to strength.

Her dedication is unshakable.

It would be a privilege
for me to introduce her

to sympathetic
circles in New York.

I hope you'll let me.

It would make me happy.

(chuckling) And it would
make my son very happy.

(upbeat classical piano music)

- She is an original, no doubt.

I can see your
attraction for her,

with your collector's taste.

- Oh, Mother, it's a
very different affair

from my collect...

- Mrs. Burrage.

- Oh, yes, mister, um...

- Tom Gracie.

- Yes, Mr. Gracie.

How are you?

- Very well, ma'am.

- Are you off to supper?

- Uh, to a tutorial, I'm afraid.

How is the delightful
Miss Tarrant?

- Delightful, as always.

- Bundle up,
Mr. Gracie, it's chilly out.

- Enjoy the rest of
your visit, ma'am.

- Bye.
- Good night.

- Good night, Missy.
- Night night.

- Good night.
- Good night.

- You've been
so strange all day.

And yesterday.

Ever since you came back
from visiting your mother.

Your thoughts have
been away from me.

- You know, Olive...

I sometimes wonder,
if it weren't for you,

if I should feel
it so very much.

About not having a vote.

Women being exploited.

- I feel it all the time.

Night and day, I feel it here,

as one feels a stain
upon one's honor.

I know how it is for you,
how exposed to men you are.

Many would gladly stop
your mouth by kissing you.

- Olive, you know what you
asked me once to promise you?

- Hmm?
- I will promise now.

I'll take any vow you want.

- I hope with all my
heart you never marry,

but not because you promise me.

I would rather
trust you without.

You'll often be asked to marry.

I never will.

(both chuckling)

Don't promise.

But don't fail me.

- "The editor regrets..."

Respectfully yours, too, sir.

(chuckling)

- Thank you, Mary.

Perhaps, Miss Chancellor's
idea for Verena's future

may not coincide
with yours, or mine.

- Do you mind?

I know it's not what
you're entitled to expect.

The daughter of a faith healer.

- Oh, I like the girl, Henry.

Quite apart from
my liking for you.

(Henry chuckling)

- Well, you haven't
met the parents.

- It doesn't in
the least matter.

A girl like Verena
makes her own standards.

(upbeat classical music)

(hoof beats clopping)

- Good evening.
- Dear, how lovely you look.

Good to see you.

- Good evening.
- Good evening.

- Madam.
- Good evening.

Oh, my dear.

(upbeat classical music)

- [Woman] Are you a member?

I didn't know you'd joined.

- [Man] Oh, I haven't.

Nothing would induce me.

- Please come and hear
Professor Gougenheim.

I'll invite you.

He's going to talk
about the Talmud.

- [Woman] This woman
tonight, isn't she from Boston?

- [Man] You must be pretty
desperate when you've got to go

to Boston for your
entertainment.

- Why, Miss Chancellor, how
very nice to see you again.

May I join you?

Uh, it's very amusing.

We don't have anything
so brilliant in Mississippi.

And how wonderful to
see you and Miss Tarrant,

the heroines, on
an occasion like this.

- Do I look like the
heroine of an occasion?

- Well, now you would if
you didn't hide yourself away.

Are you not going
into the other room?

- I'm going when I'm asked.

When I'm invited.

- So, are you going to stir
up the fashionable world?

- We carry our work
where it is needed.

We have learned
to stifle our distaste.

You will understand when
you listen to Miss Tarrant.

- Hmm, Miss Tarrant.

- Why, what do
you know about her?

- Don't you remember my
hearing her speak that night

at Miss Birdseye's?

- That was the only time.

- No, I met her again the
next day at your house.

- Mr. Belmont, you
really should be going in.

We're just about to start.

- Thank you.

- Excuse me, Miss Chancellor,

but if you'll do me the
favor to take my arm,

I'll find you a good
seat in the other room.

I recommend you find
a seat without delay.

If you've never
heard Miss Tarrant,

you'll have one of the
greatest pleasures of your life.

- Oh, Mr. Ransome only
comes to ventilate his prejudices.

- Oh, don't be so rough on me.

(woman laughing)

- The last person I expected
to see at the Wednesday Club.

You never told me
you knew Mrs. Burrage.

- Well, I don't.

I never even heard of
her 'til she asked me.

- Then why in the
world did she ask you?

- Why, I suppose your
sister had her card sent to me.

Let me find you
a place inside...

- My sister, my grandmother.

I know how Olive loves you.

- Uh, the chairs
are all filled up,

but we could hear
from the doorway...

- [Adeline] We won't
be disturbed here.

- Well I don't intend to lose

any of the sport
in there, you know.

- Oh, you won't find much sport

at the Wednesday Club.

Isn't it more fun, just
the two of us, tete-a-tete?

- It is the greatest pleasure
and privilege for me

to welcome Miss Verena Tarrant

on her first appearance
in New York.

Some have called
her a great prophetess,

some a poetess, some a seer.

But I will confine myself to
introducing her to you only

as a young woman with
an extraordinary awareness

of the great question pertaining
to the equality of women.

(crowd applauding)

- There she goes.

She's off.

- You stand on historic ground.

100 years ago, on this ground,

our forefathers
poured out their blood

in the name of freedom.

In the name of freedom, I
ask you one simple question:

Do you think any good
can come to a society

where women are
treated as slaves?

The public life of the world
will continue in the same...

- It was her son's
idea, of course.

Just between you and me,

young Mr. Burrage is
in very thick with Verena.

Verena goes around lecturing

how no one should
ever get married.

But I think, in this case,

she's beginning
to change her mind.

But first they'll have
to deal with Olive,

because she has not changed
her mind about marriage.

- And if you ask me
what offices we may fill,

I should reply, "Any."

Let us be sea captains and
see how we prove ourselves.

The especial genius of women,

I believe to be
intuitive in function,

spiritual in tendency,

electrical in movement.

Try us and you'll see.

I am not here to recriminate,

nor to deepen the gulf

that already yawns
between the sexes...

- You know, I've never
understood how Olive can bear

Verena's really low style.

I'm surprised at
young Mr. Burrage.

After all, he is a gentleman.

Certainly he can see that
she is not his type of person.

- Let me find you
a place inside.

You can stand on a
chair, you can lean on me...

- Sit down, Mr. Ransome.

Surely you wouldn't
be so ungallant

as to leave a lady absolutely
alone in a public place?

- That is what I should
like to press home

to each of you individually.

Personally.

To give him the
vision of the world

as it hangs
perpetually before me.

Redeemed.

Transfigured by
a new moral tone.

There would be tenderness,
sympathy, generosity,

where now there is only
brute force and sordid rivalry.

- How silly she sounds.

- You can't even hear
what she's saying.

- Mr. Ransome, my
sister never sent you

an invitation to this place.

Didn't it come from
Verena Tarrant?

- If Miss Tarrant
sent me an invitation,

I ought to at least return the
courtesy by listening to her.

- If you rise from that seat,

I will tell Olive
what I suspect.

- Oh, what do you suspect?

- That the two of you have
been in correspondence.

Have you been
seeing Miss Tarrant?

Have you been going to
Boston on secret visits?

- You've lost your head.

- Who shall judge what we
require if not we ourselves?

We require simply freedom.

We require the lid to
be taken off the box

in which we have
been kept for centuries.

You say it is a very nice,
comfortable, cozy box,

with nice glass sides
so that we can see out.

And that all that is needed

is another quiet
turn of the key.

That is very easily answered.

Good gentlemen...

You have never been in the box,

and you do not
know how it feels.

(crowd applauding)

Do you know how you strike me?

You strike me as men
who are starving to death,

while at home they have
a cupboard full of bread

and meat and wine.

Or as blind, demented beings,

who let themselves be
cast into a debtor's prison,

while in their pockets
they have the keys of vaults

and treasure chests heaped
up with gold and silver.

The meat and wine,

the gold and silver,

are simply the suppressed
and wasted force.

The genius, the intelligence,

the inspiration of women.

We are the heart of humanity.

Let us have the
courage to insist upon it.

(crowd applauding)

(upbeat classical music)

(women laughing)

(people conversing quietly)

Don't you think it's all true?

- No, I don't.

But it doesn't
matter what I think.

- Oh, well, if you're
so indifferent...

- It's not because
I'm indifferent.

- Mr. Ransome here is
about the hardest subject

I've ever met.

He will stand out.

(Henry chuckling)

- Don't mean to say
you weren't moved.

- I didn't say that.

- [Verena] What is it?

- Champagne.

- Oh, I can't drink that.

- Is he a great follower?

- He's crazy about our movement.

But if you still wanna
draw me back 5,000 years,

I hope you won't
tell Miss Birdseye.

She's very romantic about us.

About our relations.

Yours and mine.

She is sure that I'm
going to convert you,

and that you're going
to become a champion.

And that when
you get to the top,

it will all have been
because of me.

(Basil chuckling)

A sort of marriage between
the South and Boston.

A marriage of ideas.

- You don't want
me to disillusion her.

- You mustn't.

Ever.

(people conversing quietly)

- Mrs. Burrage, I
thank you so much.

I never saw an
entertainment of any kind

which held me more
completely by its charm.

- I'm so glad you
were able to come.

Wonderful creature, isn't she?

- Yes.

- Uh, Miss Chancellor is
Miss Tarrant's great friend

and colleague.

Let me introduce mister, uh...

- No, I have the honor to be

a sort of cousin
of Miss Chancellor.

That is, if she
doesn't repudiate me.

- Oh.

Well, if you're Miss
Chancellor's cousin,

take her in to have some
supper instead of going so soon.

- I'm very much obliged.

I never take supper.

These occasions
leave me exhausted.

- Oh, I can imagine that.

I'll leave you to be
quiet with your cousin.

You're in the best
of hands, I'm sure.

- I won't disturb you further

than to ask you
a single question.

Where are you staying?

I want to come and
see Miss Tarrant.

I don't say I want
to come and see you

because I have the idea
you would not welcome me.

- Why do you ply to me?

- Well, it seems to me more
decent to go straight to you

for the information
I intend to get.

If you won't tell me
where you're staying,

perhaps you'll ask Miss
Tarrant herself to do so.

Would she send
me word on a card?

- Number 11, West 10th Street.

You're free to come.

- Of course I am.

Why shouldn't I be?

(sighing deeply)

(hoof beats clopping)

(gentle music)

- Steady.

- It was you who took
him up in the first place.

- [Olive] I thought you would
have married him by now.

- Marry him yourself.

What ever put such
an idea into your head?

Do you think I can marry every
man that follows me about?

It must have been you
who encouraged Verena

to send him an invitation
to Mrs. Burrage's.

- Verena, to him?

Why in the world should she?

- Why in the world wouldn't she,

since they're so very close?

- She had seen him twice
in her life before last night.

- [Adeline] Is that
what she told you?

- She tells me everything.

- Are you sure?

Are you sure that last
night was only the third time?

- Adeline Luna, what
are you insinuating?

- I'm just warning
you, that's all.

(loud clanging)

(water pouring)

- Mr. Burrage explains
everything so beautifully.

- Did he try to
make love to you?

- I suppose it was
meant for love.

He says he likes me for the
same reason he likes old enamels

and old altar cloths.

(Olive laughing)

- Well, you know, Verena,
this isn't our real life.

It isn't our work.

- No, it isn't, certainly not.

- How did you get his address?

Mr. Ransome's?

To enable Mrs.
Burrage to invite him.

- [Verena] It was in
a letter I got from him.

- [Olive] I didn't
know you correspond.

- He wrote me once.

I never told you.

(loud clanging)

- Why didn't you tell me?

- I knew you wouldn't like it
because you don't like him.

- I don't think of him.

He's nothing to me.

- How you suffer.

- Yes, you can make me suffer.

- I never will.

I found this note
when I came home.

He wants to see me.

He says he has so
much to say to me.

- Do you want to see him?

- Well, I must
confess, I'm curious.

He's so awfully opposed.

I would like to meet
him and make him give in

at just two or three points,

more than I'd like
anything in the world.

You needn't be afraid.

I'm strong enough.

(Verena humming happily)

Why do you make me
say such conceited things?

(Verena humming happily)

Look here, Olive Chancellor,

we can go home
tomorrow if you want.

- What do you want?

- To do whatever
you think is best.

- And if we do stay,

will you be very much of
the time with Mr. Ransome?

- I thought you knew
by now that I'm serious.

That I've dedicated my life.

I don't know why you
don't seem able to trust me.

(loud clanging)

Olive, I'm starving.

Get dressed.

I presume you want to be
President of the United States.

(Basil laughing)

- I certainly do.

However, since I shall no
doubt die poor and unheard of,

nobody'll ever know
what visions of greatness

I stifled and buried.

(Verena laughing)

- You won't die unheard of.

When you start, people had
better look out, with your will.

- What do you
know about my will?

- I know it's
stronger than mine.

It made me come out with you

when I thought
I'd much better not.

- Huh.

- Well, then...

It's settled.

Miss Tarrant will come to us,

and will stay 'til
she's tired of us.

- Why do you want her
to visit you, Mrs. Burrage?

You must know that your
son desires to marry her.

- My son firmly believes
in your movement.

And Miss Tarrant herself...

I expected success, but
I didn't expect what she...

What you gave us.

I know Henry will never
again care so much for any girl.

Oh, my dear Miss Chancellor.

The poor boy has put
the affair in my hands.

And you see, I put it in yours.

- I think you have never
seen Dr. Tarrant and his wife.

- You mean, they're
absolutely fearful?

Yes, Henry's told me
they're quite impossible.

I'm prepared for that.

And we can, we do
offer certain advantages.

I need hardly say that
whatever means we have

are at the disposal
of your movement.

You think I don't want everything
we poor women can get?

- And how can I be
sure that afterwards,

you would still care so
much about the question

that has all our
thoughts, hers and mine?

- You think we're feigning
interest only to get hold of her.

Now, that's not very nice
of you, Miss Chancellor.

Of course, you have to
be tremendously careful.

I dare say, you don't like
the idea of her marrying at all.

It would break up
a friendship that has

so much interest for you.

(people conversing quietly)

- Then I'm to understand
as your final word

that you regard
us as quite inferior?

- Oh, for public
uses, absolutely.

Perfectly weak and second-rate.

But privately, it's
another matter.

My plan is to keep you at home

and have a good
time with you there.

- You seem to think that
I control Verena's actions

and her desires, and that I'm
jealous of any other relations

she may possibly form.

I can only say your
attitude illustrates the way

that relations between
women are still misunderstood,

and misinterpreted.

It is these attitudes
we want to fight,

with all our strength and
all our life, Miss Tarrant.

Verena and I.

- Well, Miss Chancellor,
you're quite a speaker yourself.

- No, I'm not.

I'm awkward and dry.

It is she who is eloquent
and graceful and lovely.

- My son admires her
as much as you do.

Of course, he would
never obtrude himself.

But suppose he withdraws.

Do you think others
would be as reticent as he?

And would you feel yourself
as safe with these others?

(Olive coughing)

- [Olive] What
others do you mean?

- Well, no one in particular.

But, for instance,
there is the young man

whom she asked me to
send an invitation to my party.

I believe he said
he was your cousin.

Now, he seemed to me
like a possible admirer.

I wonder if I might give
you a word of advice?

My son is gentle,
he's good-natured,

and he believes in your ideas.

Miss Tarrant would be,
from every point of view,

safer with him than with others.

Adventurers, exploiters.

Or people who, once
they got hold of her,

would shut her up altogether.

(birds chirping)

- Why don't you
write out your ideas?

- I have.

Nobody wants to print 'em.

Editors are a mean, timid bunch,

always saying they
want something original.

But they're deadly
afraid of it when it comes.

So I get many letters.

They all start the same way.

"The editor regrets..."

Everyone regrets in New York.

That's all my
clients ever do, too.

There must be something
very wrong with me.

What do you think?

- No, I think you'll
do pretty well,

except for your opinions.

(Basil laughing)

- You'll pay for that.

One editor sent me
back a manuscript,

said my ideas were
300 years out of date.

But, doubtless some
magazine of the 16th century

would've been
happy to print them.

(Verena laughing)
Oh, he's right.

On the rights of minorities,

I am 300 years out of date.

But you see, I
haven't come too late.

I've come too soon.

- I'm very sorry you
can't get published.

You must keep on.

And I hope you do succeed,

even though all you
want is to put us back.

You may denounce
me by name if you like,

only don't say anything
about Olive Chancellor.

(Basil scoffing)

- There you are again.

You women, you always
think it's something personal.

You always think it
means yourselves.

- [Verena] Yes,
that's what people say.

- Well, I don't want
to talk about you.

My interest is in my own sex.

Yours evidently
can look after itself.

Anyway, I'm tired of
always hearing about women

and their freedom and
their education, their liberty.

(women laughing)

- Woe to American
women when you get going.

- I love American women.

It's only certain
examples of it I can't stand.

Ones that run around
screaming, "Down with men."

"Down with the love
between women and men."

Not you.

(dramatic music)

Shall I tell you?

I don't believe you
mean what you preach.

No, no.

It's just your sweet nature.

You always want
to please someone.

Miss Chancellor, your parents.

Whoever else is dear to you.

But it's not really you.

You're meant for
something different.

You're meant for privacy.

You're meant for love.

For me.

- You paid your
visit to Mrs. Burrage.

- Yes, I went through that.
- And what did she say?

- She wants you
to stay with her.

She says New York
will be at your feet.

- I won't stay.

I won't.

Olive Chancellor...

Take me away.

(fireworks exploding)

(crowd applauding and cheering)

("God Save the
Queen" by Thomas Arne)

♪ For is it not the
glorious fourth ♪

♪ We celebrate today ♪

♪ This day gave freedom birth ♪

♪ Its flame now
fills the earth ♪

♪ No storm from
off our banner fled ♪

♪ What glorious
light they shed ♪

(blowing breath)

(women laughing)

- Well, I guess I
go back a long way.

Not all the way to
'76, but near enough.

I have seen changes, I can
tell you, glorious changes.

Verena, come here.

Oh, there have been so many.

Elizabeth Stanton,
Susan B. Anthony,

Mrs. Lucretia Mott.

It's like we're one big
army just marching on.

(fireworks exploding)
- Ooh!

Isn't that lovely?

(crowd applauding and cheering)

♪ Columbia's free men brave ♪

♪ Rejoice to do a dare ♪

♪ This day the
winds exalt to praise ♪

♪ The stars and stripes in air ♪

- [Verena] Happy
Birthday, Miss Birdseye.

(upbeat drum music)

(birds calling)

- Good afternoon.

- Oh.

I guess it's time I should
take my remedy again.

- You must tell me
how much you take.

One spoonful or two?

- Well, I guess this
time I'll take two.

It's homeopathic.

- Well, I know you
wouldn't take anything else.

- Well, it's generally
admitted now

to be the true system.

- One.

- I thought you were Verena.

(Miss Birdseye laughing)

- Two.

Miss Birdseye...

You remember the
last time we met?

You very kindly gave me
Verena's address in Cambridge.

- [Miss Birdseye] Well,
here you are again.

So it seems she has shaken you.

- Yes, ma'am.

She has shaken me tremendously.

- We have seven letters
for you, Miss Birdseye.

- Why, Mr. Ransome.

Where in the world
were you washed ashore?

- Well, I walked up, I
found the door open,

Miss Birdseye seemed
to think I might stay.

Miss Birdseye, I
appeal to you now,

I put myself under
your protection.

- Don't we have room for all?

- Well, it was by my letter
that you knew we were here.

The one I wrote just
before we came, Olive.

Don't you remember,
I showed it to you?

- This is a charming place.

Only for you it has one defect.

Three-quarters of the
summer residents are women.

- Miss Tarrant said in her note,

this is a place you can
wear your old clothes

and lie on the ground.

Well, I delight to
lie on the ground.

All my clothes are old.

I hope to be able to
stay three or four weeks.

(Miss Birdseye laughing)

(gentle music)

They've accepted
one of my articles.

- They have?

When does it appear?

- I got a letter from the
editor of the Rational Review,

telling me he should
be very happy to print it,

and he should be very
happy to hear from me again.

Never fear, he shall
hear from me again.

Oh, this, this will
seem pitiful to you,

but you see, for me,

this changes the whole
way I look at my future.

- Why, didn't you feel happy
about your future before?

- No, I felt very blue.

But now...

Now I'm building
castles in the air,

and I'm putting you in the
biggest and the fairest of them.

- [Miss Birdseye]
Where's Mr. Ransome?

I hope you haven't
pushed him overboard.

(Verena laughing)

- He's gone off
round the other way.

- [Miss Birdseye] I hope he's
going to speak for us soon.

- He's written a very fine
article for the Rational Review.

- Well, it's delightful to see
the way it goes on, isn't it?

Oh, Verena Tarrant,
how cold your lips are.

- There's something
I want to tell you.

Mr. Ransome came out to
see me in Cambridge once.

We took a walk and
we saw the colleges.

I didn't like to tell you,

but now I want you
to know everything.

- [Olive] What is
there between you?

How can I believe you?

You've deceived me.

- Olive, it was to spare you.

- [Olive] He wouldn't be here
if you wanted to spare me.

- Do you mean that
I brought him here?

I never in my life was more
surprised than when I saw him.

- What has he come for?

- He's come to ask
me to marry him.

Help me.

Help me.

- Why not tell him
plainly that you love him?

- Love him?

Olive, how can I love
him when he tells me

he wants me to
give up everything?

All our work.

Never again to speak in public.

- He asks you that?

In just that way?

- No, it's not that way!

It's very tenderly.

- For heaven's
sake, don't grovel!

How does he dare come in here?

Doesn't he know
this is my house?

- Of course he
won't come into it.

He wants to meet me outside...

For just one hour.

And I've told him I will.

He says he wants
to know me better.

- [Olive] Oh, don't leave me.

You'll kill me.

- You must help me, Olive.

(insects chirping)

(gentle music)

Mr. Ransome, you have one hour.

- Hey, ho!

(Basil laughing)

Ho!

Here boy, come here, boy!

Nobody listens to me, see?

(water splashing)

Oh!

Dammit.

- [Verena] Are you all right?

- Let me.

Ah.

All right.

Verena, I need your help.

Nice and tight.

That's fine, I've got it.

(seabirds calling)
(gentle music)

(Verena laughing)

(waves crashing)

- Hello!

Hello, Mr. Ransome!

Basil, hello!

(insects chirping)

Olive wants us to leave.

- Well, you tell
her it's useless.

I'll follow you anywhere you go.

- If I ask you
very nicely to go,

to let me go...

Don't you see what
you're doing to her?

- Well, I'm not worried
about Miss Olive.

She's a fighting woman
and she's not given me

one inch of odds.

Can't I make you
see how much more...

Natural it is...

Not to say agreeable,

to give yourself to a man?

Instead of to a movement
of some morbid old maid?

- Oh, no, no!

- Shh, shh, it's all right.

It's all right.

(Basil sighing)

You know...

I'm going to have to be
tremendously nice to you...

All the rest of our days,

to make up for all this.

Poor Verena.

Come on now.

- Don't you understand?

It's not that he loves you,
but that he hates our cause.

He wants to prove a man
only has to whistle for a woman,

for you to come running!

You're not even listening to me.

- No, I am.

I want you to say all this.

I want to hear it.

I want you to make me hate
not him, but what I feel for him.

- Oh, don't let's talk.

Come and sit here beside me.

Hold my hand.

(waves crashing)

(gentle music)

- You're waiting for someone?

- Why, Dr. Prance,
I'm waiting for you.

(Dr. Prance laughing)
Let me help you.

- Why, thank you, sir.

- [Basil] What do
you hope to catch?

- "The judge had no
sooner taken his seat

"than the officer on
the floor of the court"

"called out 'Silence!'
In a commanding tone."

"Upon which another officer
in the gallery cried 'Silence!'"

"In an angry manner, whereupon
three or four more ushers"

"shouted 'Silence!' in a voice
of indignant remonstrance."

- Oh, don't stop.

I am enjoying it.

Now, go on, it's uh,

"Mr. Pickwick rang the bell."

That's where we were.

- "Mr. Pickwick
immediately rang the bell,

"and a coach having
been procured,"

"the four Pickwickians
and Mr. Perker"

"ensconced themselves
therein, and drove to Guildhall,"

"Sam Weller, Mr. Lowten"

"and the blue bag
following in a cab."

- Don't you have to
get back to the house?

- I presume you don't
know what it's like

to be one of four women
shut up in a small frame house.

And Miss Birdseye
doesn't need me.

She's asleep a
lot of the time now.

- Has she never wondered why
I don't come up into the house?

Have you never wondered?

- I can't speak
for Miss Birdseye,

but I don't wonder, Mr. Ransome.

If I did, I'd never stop, this
being the age of miracles.

(Basil chuckling)

You should hear them
up there in the house,

getting ready for
Verena's great appearance

at the music hall.

The music hall is a
pretty big building,

but I guess it's not so big
as Miss Chancellor's ideas.

- I'm surprised Miss Chancellor

doesn't require
more effort from you.

- She's given up on me.

She knows where I stand.

- [Basil] Where do you stand?

- I guess the same place
where you are, only I don't matter.

Isn't that strange?

They think women
the equal of men,

and yet they're a lot more
excited when a man joins

than when a woman does.

(Basil laughing)

(fire crackling)

What a pity it is that
you can't say, "Damn."

(Olive chuckling)

- Yes.

- Hello.

What?

- Olive will die.

It will kill her.

I can't be with you today.

- One hour.

We said one hour.

- The magic word.

(Basil chuckling)

If you don't want me to
appear in the music hall,

you're just going to
have to kidnap me.

- Oh, why sing in the music
hall when you can sing for me?

- Verena!

Verena, hurry,
it's Miss Birdseye.

Get back to the house.

- What's happened?
- Sir, it's Miss Birdseye.

- [Basil] Do we know
what happened?

What?

(bell pealing)

(women singing somberly)

- She asked to be buried here.

It's the only thing I ever
heard her ask for for herself.

(sighing)

This is a queer
place to give it.

And I'm a queer sort of
messenger for that kind of thing,

as I don't cultivate
the sentimental side.

I have a message for you.

- From Verena?

- She says she can't
meet you for a while,

for three or four days.

She wishes to be quiet and
think things over, she says.

- I understand.

- Well, I don't, but
that's no matter.

I'm leaving, Mr. Ransome.

I have to get back
and see my office slate.

- I hope we can
go fishing again.

- That will be a treat.

But my place is
empty in the city.

I wouldn't have stayed so long
for anyone but Miss Birdseye.

Goodbye, Mr. Ransome.

And good luck.

- I thought Miss Chancellor
would've invited us

to stay for a few days.

- She doesn't want
to inconvenience you.

I'll see you very
soon in Boston.

You're looking well, Mother.

- I can't say I've been
keeping perfect health,

and the sea air would
be very beneficial.

- You have a new dress.

- I was afraid it might
be a little too colorful

for the melancholy occasion.

- We are anticipating
great applause

on the occasion of Verena's
appearance at the music hall.

You've chosen a fine subject
for her, Miss Chancellor.

A woman's reason.

A very distinguished subject.

- We shall look forward
to seeing you there.

- And if in the meantime,

I might venture to
offer my assistance,

whatever falls within
my humble means...

- We shall certainly
let you know.

- Uh, Mrs. Tarrant
and I feel it is our duty

to participate in the,
uh, coming triumph.

Our sacred duty as parents.

- Bye-bye, dear.
- Bye, Mom.

- [Mrs. Tarrant] Take care.

(dramatic music)

- Giddap.

(people conversing quietly)

- Verena.

Oh, Verena, I
must see you today.

You can meet me
for 10 minutes...

- I can't.
- You go on, you tell her.

Go on.

- I promised him 10 minutes.

You must believe me, Olive.

My choice is made,
you know that.

You must believe me.

- What will you tell him?

- That it's impossible.

That I've thought
it over and over,

and I can't, I can't, I can't.

- 10 minutes, that
will give me time

to finish my letter
to Miss Peabody.

- [Verena] Mr. Ransome.

(birds chirping)

- Verena!

Hoo ooh!

Hoo ooh!

Woo ooh!

(waves crashing)

Has Miss Tarrant returned?

- No, ma'am, not yet.

It's getting late.

I hope they took the
boatman with them.

That gentleman from
the South don't look like

he knows much
about handling a boat.

- I'm sure he'll take
good care of her.

(waves crashing)

- Basil?

(birds chirping)

(dramatic music)
(waves crashing)

- Verena!

Verena!

(breathing heavily)

Oh...

Oh...

(Olive blowing breath)

(birds chirping)

(knocking)

- I'm sorry to disturb you.

I'd hoped for a moment
I might see Miss Tarrant.

- Miss Tarrant has gone away.

I took her to the
steamer this morning.

- Oh, yes?

Where is she going?

- I'm not sure I'm
obliged to tell you.

- Of course not.

Excuse me for asking.

It is much better that I
should find her for myself.

- [Olive] You won't find her.

- No?

- No, I'm sure of it.

- [Man] You there!

What are you doing in here?

- It's all right, I have
a ticket for the lecture.

For this seat here, C1.

I chose it so I could
have the best view.

- The lecture isn't until
seven o'clock this evening.

Please come back at that time.

- [Basil] Has the,
uh, orator arrived?

Perhaps I might
have a glimpse of her.

- [Man] No, sir, she isn't here.

- I understand she hasn't
been seen in a month.

She's disappeared.

- She will be here
punctually tonight.

You have my assurance.

Will you please leave?

(hoof beats clopping)

(dramatic music)
(crowd conversing quietly)

- It's nerves.

- He's here.

- Don't let anyone in.
- Don't worry, miss.

There's no one's
gonna get in here.

- Thank you.

Calm yourself.

This isn't like you at all, to
be so nervous and morbid.

It's more like me.

We seem to have
changed characters.

(dramatic music)

We're together, you and I.

We're together, Verena.

Trust me.

Lean on me.

- [Basil] I'd be obliged
if you take my card in

to Miss Tarrant.

- [Guard] Well I
guess it ain't much use.

You're just the very man
she wants to keep out.

- [Basil] I don't think Miss
Tarrant wants to keep me out.

- [Guard] It's not her.

It's the other one,
Miss Chancellor.

- Could you ask the
organist to play a little longer?

(loud thumping)

- [Dr. Tarrant] For
goodness sake, keep playing!

(sprightly music)

- I guess you'd better be quiet.

- Quiet?

Is it possible to be
more quiet than I am?

- I've seen crazy folks
look a good deal like you.

Now...

I wouldn't lose the
lecture if I was you.

Why don't you go and
sit around in the hall

with the rest of the public?

- This lecture won't take place.

- Yes, it will.

As soon as the organ stops.

Why the devil don't it?

Sir!

(crowd shouting loudly)

- There's a lot of
dollars out there waiting.

That's a fact that
should not be overlooked.

- I won't be able to bear it.

My ankles are swelling up.

It's always that way.

- Go and speak to them.

Will you speak to them?

Give her a few minutes.

I'm here.

I'm with you.

(sprightly music)
(crowd shouting loudly)

(crowd booing)

- Ladies and gentlemen...

I crave your patience for my
daughter, Miss Verena Tarrant,

who is with us
in close proximity.

(crowd shouting loudly)

Just waiting for the...
- Just trust me.

- The call will come...
- No one.

- To enable her to
bring you the message

which you have all
come here to hear.

(crowd shouting loudly)

Is it any wonder that
she is what she is?

She was nursed in
the dark seance room,

suckled midst meditations.

She had sat on the
knees of somnambulists,

she has been passed
from hand to hand

by celebrated trance speakers.

(crowd shouting loudly)

- Go home!

- I myself have not been
lacking in a certain public notice.

And while we are waiting,
you might be interested to hear

the report... (crowd booing)

- Why in the name of
goodness don't she go on?

If she wants them to call her,
they've done about enough.

Now, I have to go
in for the Transcript.

- You can't go in for anything.

I'm keeping this man out, too.

- Henrietta Stackpole
from The Vesper.

May I ask if you're a
supporter of Miss Tarrant's?

- I'm her greatest
supporter, madam.

You may quote
me in the headline.

- Oh!

How many times have
you heard her speak before?

- [Basil] About seven occasions.

- Do you think she has a
message for men as well as women?

(crowd shouting loudly)

- "A smaller hand and arm,

"when next to a presented,"

"dressed in a full-flowing
white illusion sleeve."

"This was said to belong to
Mr. Plimpton's sister, Mary."

(crowd shouting and booing)

"The blossoms
were then distributed"

"between Mr. And Mrs. Plimpton,"

"each receiving a tiny bouquet
from the hand of the spirit."

"The hand then
waved, bid adieu,"

"and while doing so,"

"the slate was projected
by another hand,"

"upon which were written
the words goodbye."

(crowd shouting loudly)

- [Crowd] We want Verena!

We want Verena!

We want Verena!

We want Verena!

We want Verena!

We want Verena!

We want Verena!

- I have never seen
anything like this!

What the hell are
they doing in there?

This thing has
gone on far enough.

- They're perfectly
good-natured...

- Why isn't she up there now?
- Oh, it's her father

who's up there.

- [Music Hall Official] If
you don't open up this door,

I'm gonna smash it down!

- Wait, please.

I'll see you tomorrow, if
you'll only go away now.

Let me go out there.

It's only for an hour.

- [Basil] No, you're mine.

You can't take
an hour out of it.

- Is anyone aware that
every quarter of a second

is worth $500?

- They can have
their money back!

Can't you give them
back their money?

- Verena Tarrant,
you don't mean to say

you're going to back down?

- Leave us alone.

Leave us alone
for a single minute.

Just let me speak to
him and it'll be all right.

Olive? (dramatic music)

As soon as I saw
you, I was paralyzed.

I knew that if I tried to speak,

I'd be the most
dreadful failure.

It isn't too late.

Let me go out there.

Please.

Where will we go?

What will we do?

- We shall take the
night train for New York.

In the morning,
we'll be married.

- [Olive] I will take her place.

- Are you going to speak?

You can't go out there.

- Ladies and gentlemen,
colleagues and friends,

Miss Verena Tarrant is
unable to speak to us tonight.

(hoof beats clopping)

What I want to say to you is

that when there
is a great cause,

the individual is of no account.

You've come to hear not
the voice of one individual,

however sweet,
however harmonious,

but the cry of all women,

past, present and future.

And like the great
William Lloyd Garrison said

in his fight against slavery,

I say we will be
as harsh as truth,

as uncompromising as justice.

On this subject,
we will not think

or speak or write
with moderation.

We will not excuse,

we will not equivocate,

we will not retreat
a single inch,

and we will be heard.

(crowd applauding)

(dramatic classical music)