Original subtitles

(light cheerful music)

- Yes, yes.

I do fully appreciate that.

Yes.

Something is being done about it.

I am mindful of the need for continual vigilance.

A man at this very moment is conducting

a discreet observation.

Blair his name is, a very competent functionary.

No, not Mr. Palfrey, he's otherwise engaged.

On other assignments.

This other person is quite able to conduct the surveillance.

Yes, discretion will be his watchword.

Blair has my complete confidence.

Oh, that's really very kind of you to say so.

I should greatly look forward to that.

Dreadful woman.

Quite dreadful.

Hyacinth, it is the Conyers case Blair is on?

- Morning sir, miss.

- What's all that then?

- Transposition exercises.

- Homework?

- Yeah.

- What speeds you up to now?

- Shorthand about 100, typing 50.

- Got to do better than that

if you're going to join us, you know.

- I'm not working for the defense ministry, thank you.

- Sound like your mother.

- Sorry.

I didn't mean it quite like that.

(speaking in foreign language)

- Oh come come Miss Phelps, this really won't do.

- [Melissa] Anna!

- Hello.

- Well, Anna?

- Yes, yes I am.

Thank you.

Goodbye.

(speaking foreign language)

- Sorry.

- I'm just off.

- So you are.

- Who is it this time?

- [Caroline] What?

- Young Lord (mumbles)?

- Oh lord, he's wet.

- Well he wasn't wet last week, was he?

- Not last week, week before.

- Oh, sorry.

- His best friend actually, Giles Nugent.

He's bril.

- Good.

What's he getting?

- Duck pate to start with.

Then I thought I'd try skate wings in black butter

and a bottle of (speaking French).

- Lucky Mr. Nugent!

Right.

Well I'll see you later.

And do some work!

- Annabelle?

- [Annabelle] Hello, Caroline.

- Guess who's coming to dinner.

(ringing)

- Gatehouse.

Yes.

Okay.

(playing piano)

(singing)

- God, it's freezing here.

- [Woman] Control, yes?

- Anything for cedar tree, over?

- [Woman] Nothing.

- Bloody hell.

- [Woman] Say again?

- My mistake, over and out.

- Nothing in the diary for this afternoon, is there?

- [Secretary] No, Sir John.

- Good.

I want to call in at the dentist.

- Shall I make an appointment?

- No, it's been done.

It's just a filling.

- Ready for Charles?

- Thank you.

(knocking)

- Good morning sir.

- Morning, Charlie.

(beeping)

- Ready, sir.

- Thank you.

- You want me with you this afternoon, sir?

- So that you can hold my hand?

I don't think so, thank you Charlie.

- And the weekend, sir?

- I may go down to (mumbles).

- Cold for it.

- Yes, well just turn the engine over, pump the bilges.

Oh, thank you.

Now, (mumbling).

Norwegian Sea, plus SSBN six five nine plus S two six

plus SSBN seven two seven?

- One of their newer, sir.

The Michigan.

- Oh yes.

Forties.

Plus six ASWC kings plus seven (mumbles) plus RO five.

Hmm.

Well log those changes, will you?

- [Charles] Sir.

- Thank you.

(beeping)

- [Blair] Cedar tree to control, over.

- [Woman] Subject leaving imminent.

Timed 11:25.

Got that?

- Roger.

(piano music) (singing)

- Mr. Palfrey.

- Oh, I do apologize.

It's a divine piece, well-sung.

There's a touch of diffidence on the high F

of perforatum, a shade more attack on the second note,

I'm inclined to think.

(singing)

But well done, well done.

- Pull up here, it's just across the road.

Just here, sir.

No need to wait, I'll take a cab home.

- [Driver] Right sir.

(camera clicking)

(mysterious music)

- Who owns the freehold?

Who's got the lease?

Who pays the rates?

Who's on the voting lists?

Okay, over.

- [Woman] Understood, over.

- And a firm.

Philatilists of London.

Complete rundown.

Over and out.

- [Woman] Wilco.

- I should put Perry to my QQR.

- I'm sorry.

- QQR.

Quin Quenial Review.

It's a routine security check.

See if I can still be trusted with secrets.

- And this, us?

- Oh, an adulterous relationship

involving a foreign national?

- It's true.

(mumbles)

- Well I think you are.

- But these people.

They will know, about us I mean.

- No, don't worry.

We've been very discreet.

- [Anna] But this Q thing.

They check up on you, they spy on you?

- [Conyers] It's not like that at all.

No well positive vetting isn't that positive.

- [Anna] I hope so.

- [Conyers] Trust me.

(camera clicking)

(speaking foreign language)

- Speak English.

- Right.

It is compatible, this machine?

- It is what they use.

- Good.

There must be a code.

Where is telephone directory?

Thank you.

There is no such exchange.

Good.

(beeping)

Oh no.

- What?

- [Man] There's another code.

- [Bald Man] In here?

- No, it will be a word probably, known only to him.

If we do not get it right,

the disk will be wiped clean, nothing.

It's necessary to have the word.

- [Conyers] No regrets.

- Oh, no regrets?

Why should I have regrets?

Nyet.

(speaking French)

- Checkered French.

- Oh, the pun, eh?

That English thing.

(phone ringing)

Oh, better see.

Hello, yes?

- There is a secret word.

Only he knows.

We must have it.

Anna?

- [Anna] Wait.

It will be very difficult, stepfather.

- You can do it.

We must have it.

Anna.

- [Anna] And Pavel?

- Not now.

- [Anna] Yes, now.

- Very well, Anna.

- [Anna] Pavel may leave Czechoslovakia?

- He may.

- [Anna] And come here?

- He may go anywhere.

- [Anna] It is a faithful promise, da?

- It is a faithful promise.

I will see to it.

- [Anna] Alright.

I will get the word.

- Problems?

- Problems, why?

Why do you say so?

- You closed the door.

- Oh no no no, just a silly girl wanting to chatter.

You are such a man of secrets.

- [Conyers] Me, secrets?

- [Anna] From your wife, from your daughter

who is a friend of mine.

From me too.

- [Conyers] No, from you nothing.

- [Anna] What is the biggest secret that you have?

- [Conyers] A name.

- [Anna] A name?

Why should a name be a secret?

- [Conyers] This one is.

- [Anna] Whose name?

- [Conyers] Why do you want to know?

- [Anna] From me you have no secrets.

- [Conyers] Alright, I'll tell you.

The Helmsman.

Who fell asleep.

- [Anna] The Helmsman?

- [Conyers] It's a man (mumbles).

- [Anna] Whose (mumbles)?

- [Conyers] In years.

- [Anna] In years?

As in (mumbles)?

- [Conyers] That's right.

- [Anna] By (mumbles).

- [Conyers] The very same.

- [Anna] And that is the name?

- [Conyers] Oh no.

- [Anna] But then tell me baby.

- [Conyers] The Helmsman.

- [Anna] The Helmsman.

- It's too bad dragging me off like this.

What's a choral scholarship compared to

the safety of the realm?

- Oh rather more important in the boy's

own estimate of it, I should think.

- Well give it to him then.

I was enjoying it.

- This place is like a vault, which is what it is.

- PSA has promised us a new paraffin heater.

- And a tallow dip to see by?

I bet the KGB don't have to put up with this.

- Pavlocek, Jan, lieutenant.

State secret security.

Cover, driver, messenger, freelance photographer.

Specialized in electronic surveillance,

computer systems.

- It's surely him.

- The light was going by then.

- I know him.

Horvath.

Stefan Horvath.

Also state secret security.

- Horvath, Stefan, colonel, state secret security.

Cover, businessman, sometimes deals in postage stamps,

old maps, books, et cetera.

- Stepson, Pavel Chapek, dissident journalist,

stepdaughter Anna Chapek, language student.

Is that her?

- The branch say that's her registered address.

- Well perhaps she'll help you with your Czech.

I suppose you want to be off

to cook your young man's goose.

- Fish, actually,

(speaking French)

- If you're taking that much trouble

you are cooking his goose.

Off you go.

- Night, have a nice weekend.

- Hell this started as a normal catch one PV,

how would it end, with MI-5?

- [Blair] It looks promising.

- Promising be damned!

There will be hell to pay if Conyers is talking

in his sleep.

- [Blair] A man like him, falling for that old trap.

- It's the condition of man, it's why it works.

- So, what do we do?

- I must talk directly to him.

- He'll deny it.

- Deny what?

- Deny any...

- Imprudence?

Well we don't actually know how imprudent he's been.

- Spending the afternoon with a girl who's the stepdaughter

of an Eastern Block agent seems to me very imprudent.

- Well perhaps he's also learning Czech.

How's it going, by the way?

- When he told his office he was going to the dentist.

- Your informant there can throw no light, I suppose?

- This is going to come as a very nasty surprise.

- Informants are supposed to tell you things.

- Yes.

- [Mr. Palfrey] So keep your own council.

- Not easy in this case.

- Why not?

- Because he's a CIA man.

- And he expects a quid for his quo?

- Wouldn't you?

- I would, but in this particular case

I don't want the payment made, understand?

- But he would expect me to--

- That is an instruction!

(exploding)

(shouting and chattering)

- Grownup schoolboys.

- I can think of worse things.

- Pipes.

Pipe.

(whistles blowing)

- Palfrey. - Sir.

You know each other of course.

- Madam.

This is a terrible business, he was a very decent chap.

- And a first rate commander, I believe.

- Absolutely first rate, it's a great loss.

Do I take it though from your presence

there's something sinister?

- I'm afraid so, Admiral.

- Those damn people everywhere.

It's quieter below.

Thank you, Captain.

Come this way, please.

- Are they always like this these occasions?

- Occasion, madam?

- Old boy get togethers.

(murmuring)

- You mean it wasn't an accident?

- We don't know yet, it could be.

A fisherman heard his boat start up

followed by an explosion.

- Well these things happen.

Poor ventilation, petrol vapor.

- We know from his ADC he was going down to Poole.

Pump the bilges, he said.

- There you are, one spark, that's all it needs.

- [Co-Ordinator] There's virtually nothing

left of the boat to examine.

- And yet?

- Sir John was chief of air support surface forces,

directly answerable to you, Deputy Sackland.

- [Admiral] Yes.

- As a NATO commander and under the Anglo-American

special security agreement he was subject

to a special category of positive vetting.

As you are, of course.

Mr. Palfrey's office has been conducting his PV,

unknown to the subject, of course.

- As a routine procedure?

- Oh yes, we had no cause for concern until today.

- Today we've established a clandestine relationship

between Air Vice Marshal Conyers

and the stepdaughter of a known Czech agent.

- My god.

- We don't know the nature of the relationship,

but she's an attractive young woman.

And there were difficulties with his wife, I believe.

- She's neurotic, and she drinks.

- In the ordinary course of events, Mr. Palfrey

would naturally have interviewed him

to obtain a personal account, but...

- As Cassforce he has a daily intelligence update,

both NATO forces and Warsaw Pact.

It's all zenith stuff.

- But both situations will soon become dated, I take it.

- Of course.

But the state of our knowledge of their forces

will compromise their own surveillance systems.

- We must, I think assume the possibility

of a security breach.

How damaging would that be, Admiral?

Only you can tell us that.

- Supremely.

- [Co-Ordinator] Even though his knowledge

is a wasting asset?

- Well it's not the military evaluations,

that would be bad enough.

It's the diversified command structure.

In the event of red one alert,

it's virtually the order of battle.

- That can't be changed?

- It would still provide tactical insight

into our strategic intentions

of the most damaging kind.

- Well we must first assess the risk

before calculating the damage.

- I have duty to NATO council, you understand?

- I appreciate that.

The cabinet secretary wants the wraps kept on

until we're sure.

- I can see why.

How special is the relationship, for god's sake?

- How long can you give us?

- By noon Monday I shall have to advise

the Supreme Allied Commander.

- Unless we give you the all-clear?

- Exactly so, madam.

- Mr. Palfrey.

- I think, in the circumstances, a large pink gin.

- I'll go back to DNCR after Northbrook.

- Right.

- Mr. Palfrey?

- [Mr. Palfrey] Yes.

- Please come in.

- Thank you.

- May I take your things?

- Thank you.

- My mother feels unable to see you.

She sends her apologies.

- I understand.

There's still no news?

- We've been told nothing more.

- I'm most terribly sorry.

- Will you come in?

- Thank you.

- Please sit down.

- Thank you.

Beautiful room.

Miss Conyers, because of your father's importance,

there are things I have to ask which

in other circumstances would be an unpardonable imposition.

- You are in the Ministry of Defense?

- Well more a Whitehall warrior, but I have

a lot to do with MOD.

- [Melissa] Please ask me what you want, Mr. Palfrey.

- Thank you.

Do you love your father?

- Of course.

- And your mother?

- Yes.

- Would you say that they get on extremely well?

Quite well?

Tolerate one another?

- I really don't see how these questions have anything--

- They're not capricious, believe me.

- But they suggest...

- What do they suggest?

- Nothing.

- Well?

- My mother is often not well.

My father is very concerned for her.

- Thank you.

You have a friend at secretarial college, Anna?

- Anna Chapek.

- What do you know about her?

- She's Czech.

She's very nice.

Her brother is a dissident journalist in Prague.

She came here as a language student.

- Do you know anything about her parents?

- Her father is dead, her mother lives in Czechoslovakia.

- But does she ever mention a stepfather?

- No.

- [Mr. Palfrey] I would like to see her.

- She lives in Notting Hill.

- I know.

She's not there.

Does she ever come here?

- Yes, not recently.

- [Mr. Palfrey] Why not?

- I don't know.

- Where do you go on your holidays, family holidays?

- Malta a couple of times.

Corfu, Bavaria, Brittany.

- This country, ever?

- Scotland one summer, and Devon.

- Hotel or self-catering?

- [Melissa] Always hotel.

- What were your, I'm so sorry,

what are your father's particular interests?

- Boats, of course.

Books, he reads a lot.

- This his?

May I?

Does he play the violin?

- [Melissa] He can, but that's not why that's there.

- No?

- He's an expert on them.

It's his hobby.

He repairs them.

He's quite well-known for it.

He's restoring that, it's very valuable,

it's a Guaneri.

- Well thank you Miss Conyers, you've been very helpful.

Oh, thank you.

- I feel I haven't been able to tell you very much

about Daddy.

- Oh, you have, and I'm sorry to have imposed on you.

Please give my respects to your mother.

- The operational state is contained on a floppy disk

which is updated daily

through a command intelligence computer.

He has to have it with him at all times,

they all do.

It carries deployment of NATO forces

in the greatest detail.

In his safe he had another disk.

In every respect the same except that it's called

a code X and not a code op.

It's from a NATO exercise three years ago.

I asked his ADC to key in this disk.

It wasn't the code X.

It was the real thing.

- Which he is supposed to carry with him at all times?

- Exactly.

- The other disk, which presumably he was carrying with him.

Has it any security significance?

- Virtually none now.

- I see.

(rotary phone dialing)

(piano music)

- Now, Mr. Palfrey.

- I do apologize for disturbing you

but it's really very important.

If I had a valuable violin which needed restoration,

who would I go to?

- Well, if it was a really good one,

an historical one, I would go to Josef Hoffman and Sons.

- Anybody else?

- Well not in this country.

They're unique.

- Mr. Lambton, could I request your assistance?

- It's just come into our hands.

A Guaneri, we're almost sure.

- [Mr. Hoffman] Well, that's interesting.

Because we have somebody joining us

whose special interest is Guaneri.

Look, why don't you bring it down here next week?

- Monday?

- Well, the chap only starts here on Monday,

but well we may as well start him off

with something interesting, I suppose.

I look forward to seeing you then, Mr. Lambton.

Goodbye.

- Goodbye, Mr. Hoffman.

- Thank you Mr. Lambton, we'll pick you up here.

- Yes, but what about the violin?

- I'll bring it.

- A Guaneri?

- What else?

- Three and a half hours to noon.

- Yes?

(speaking foreign language)

(dings bell)

- Hello, Mr. Lambton.

How nice to see you.

- Mr. Hoffman, this is Mr. Palfrey.

Who I believe has something

that might be of interest to you.

- Oh yes.

My, this is a treasure.

If I may, I'll just show it to Tom, our new man.

- The girl and her brother.

- Mr. Lambton, will you go with Blair?

And thank you for your help.

(metronome clicking)

- [Conyers] You've been very clever, Mr. Palfrey.

- Your daughter got in touch, didn't she?

You could have changed your plans, why didn't you?

- Explosion on the boat.

Was supposed to solve everything.

- But what about your wife?

Did she know?

- No, only my daughter.

- And your wife could accept your death

more easily than your desertion?

- I think so.

- The girl, Miss Chapek, sought you out?

- At the beginning.

She was under orders.

Then later on she told me.

We knew they were listening in all the times

that we told them what they wanted to hear.

Anna was determined to get her brother, Pavel, out.

So we used them.

At no time have I told them anything damaging

to this country.

I betrayed no one except my wife.

Possibly myself.

- Well, that's your business.

I'll leave your violin.

- Aren't you going to arrest me?

- You're of no professional interest to me.

And a man who restores violins is arguably of more use

to mankind than an Air Vice Marshal.

Goodbye, Mr.?

- Dodd.

Thomas Dodd.

One of the best of the English violin makers.

1752 to 1839.

- Who will remember us in 100 years' time?

Goodbye, Mr. Dodd.

I have established the details, madam.

We have no reason for further concern.

Perfectly, madam.

Will you tell the Admiral?

Yeah.

Yeah, he.

A tragic loss of a good man, I do agree.

Goodbye, madam.

If music be the food of love, play on.

(light music)