All language subtitles for Oppenheimer 103.en

— Through another party?
— Yes,

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

I'll tell you for what reason,

Not to take this person to task in any way...

In the spring of 7945,
Oppenheimer went out to New Mexico

to supervise the setting up
of the Army’s new Atomic Bomb Laboratory

at tos Alamos,

Oppenheimer had originally planned it
for about 50 scientists

but already there were indications
that this had been a gross underestimate,

Yet to keep a much bigger laboratory supplied
in such a remote location

would be very difficult

And Oppenheimer had other problems.

Through his friend Haakon Chevalier,

he had learned that he was a prime target

for Soviet attempts
to penetrate America’s atomic secrets,

a matter he had so far failed to disclose
to United States security officers.

Even so, Oppenheimer was aware
he was still under suspicion

because of his pre—war left—wing associations,

Indeed, while he was away
directing operations in New Mexico,

his wife Kitty was visited
at their home in Berkeley

by a young colonel of Army counterintelligence,
john lansdale.

What's this about?

(Lansdale) I thought this would be a good time
to have a little chat.

— About what?
— As you probably know, Mrs. Oppenheimer,

there's been a certain amount of...concern

about some of your husband's
past and present associations.

Oh, I get it.

Tell me. Do you people
spend half as much of your time chasing Nazis?

— Sure.
— I'll bet.

What do you wanna know? You know,
they do happen to be our allies after all.

— I'm sorly?
— The Russians.

We're fighting on the same side, you know.

I didn't say anything about Russians.

Mrs. Oppenheimer, I don't want
to get off on the wrong foot with you.

Your husband has a very important job.

You must have known we'd need to investigate
his background and activities.

— We know you've been spooking us.
— Pardon?

There's always some man hanging around.

All right. Go ahead. You have the right.

(Baby cries)

(Kitty) Oh, ignore it. He's always yelling.

The joys of motherhood
are few and far between.

Tough with your husband away so much.

Yeah. Working for you people.

— Doing a heck of a job. Everybody says so.
— Glad to hear it.

And yet, there are all these associations.

— Is that all that stuff from back in the '30s?
— A lot of it.

Listen. How old are you?

31.

Well, you're old enough
to remember the Depression.

I mean, everybody was left wing then.
Everybody that was decent...

God, you had to be if you were a human being,
the mess the world was in.

Well, don't you remember?

All right. But the fact remains that he's kept up
a lot of these associations to the present day.

Like who?

Well, his brother.

It's true. He didn't drop his brother.

He didn't drop me, either.
I was a Party member, you know.

I'm aware of that.

— Who else?
— There was a woman called Jean Tatlock.

There was indeed.

And you're dying to tell me he still sees her,
aren't you?

I know it. That's our business.

I didn't want to...

Oh, right, but you can see our concern.

It's by no means certain
she's dropped her party membership.

From what I hear, that poor girl can hardly
boil an egg now let alone be a Communist.

Look. Robert has a lot of left—wing friends.
Communists, sure, it's true.

I mean, he can't drop his old friends
just because of their politics.

Well, now, that wouldn't be civilized.

No, but, Mrs. Oppenheimer, is it smart?

Colonel, my husband is so smart.

I mean, is it discreet?

— It would be such an awful shame.
— How much trouble is he in?

Well, they're still holding up
his security clearance.

And what does that mean?

I just don't see
how he can keep the job without it.

Start if off, start it off. You're doing push—ups
when you're down there. Ready?

Up, down! Up, down!

(Engines drown out speech)

Move the body, Kowalski. Come on, now.

Please, Professor. I'm very busy.

Just tell us.
Where's the hook—up to the cyclotron?

— What?
— The cyclotron.

It's being shipped out here. It's due any day.

I've never heard of a cyclo.
How many wheels has it got?

Just tell us, where's the wiring?

Christ knows. There's a whole bunch of wires
in those boxes there, I think.

These are light bulbs.

They could be way over
on the other side of the hill.

They dumped a heap of stuff in the canyons.

John, this is shocking.

Sergeant, look, will you listen? Sergeant?

(Engines drown out speech)

— Come on in.
— Kitty, I'm sorly

I'm sorly

— It was absolute murder.
— It doesn't matter.

(Indistinct chatter)

Well, you're Just in time.

Ah! The old Martini wizard!

— Ernest, you're Just in time.
— That's what I hear.

— (Kitty) The old master.
— The old lifesaver.

Here they are, finally.

— This is for you. Hold on to your hat.
— Boy, do I need this.

Heck of a time getting out of the lab tonight.

Really? Maria.

— Confusion to our enemies.
— Ah, yeah. The old Berkeley toast.

Well, I sure am gonna miss
having you around here, Oppie.

But congratulations on the Job.

They'd rather have had you.

Yeah.

Hey, I hear you managed to get ahold of Teller.

I don't know how you did that.
I thought he was all wrapped up on the super.

— I believe he was.
— Oppie, are you being devious?

Seemed like the first thing
was to get him out to Los Alamos.

If he thinks he can spend all his time
on the thermonuclear,

I figure we can let him down gently out there.

How's that kid I sent you getting along?

— Who?
— Lomanitz. Rossi Lomanitz.

Lomanitz? Fine, fine.

Oh, he's awfully bright. Why do you ask?

Oh, he, uh...
can sometimes be pretty hot—headed.

— What do you mean?
— Politics rubs people the wrong way. Not you?

No, no. I never worry about that stuff.

Doesn't seem to interfere with his work.
That's all I care about.

— Good.
— He's doing one heck of a Job.

Matter of fact, all your kids are.
Bohm, Weinberg.

Mm... No, I know if I've got
one of Oppie's boys working on something,

I don't worly, I know it'll be taken care of.

— Ernest?
— Rabi, what the hell? God!

Boy, does this character get around. I was Just
on the phone to him last week at MIT.

What can I tell you?
There's a war on. Right, generalissimo?

That was a very good Joke, Rabi, five weeks ago.

Excuse me.

OK. What was all that about?

Oh, Oppie came round
to see me and Hans Bethe.

— That's enough.
— About working at Los Alamos.

Turned out he had this crazy idea
we should all get into uniform.

— Rank? Saluting?
— The whole thing.

I think he Just wanted to get into costume.
Always the actor, Oppie.

Hey, come in. Good to see you.

Kitty, this is Bob Wilson.
John Manley, my wife Kitty.

Hello.

Bob and John have been in Los Alamos
looking things over.

Oh! Isn't the scenery fabulous?

It is. Look, Oppie,
we want to talk things over with you.

We'll do that. But first have a drink.
There are a lot of people here.

Lawrence, Rabi, Bob Serber.

— We wanna talk about it now, Oppie.
— We've got some hard decisions to make.

— OK, shoot.
— It really is a hell of a mess out there.

— Well, of course it is. What did you expect?
— I never expected this bad.

We spent two days there.
Things aren't moving.

There's no housing, still, practically.
No roads, telephone lines.

The power lines are ridiculous.
They'll have to be thrown out.

— It's being taken care of.
— I don't think so.

Nobody knows what's going on.
We told 'em about the cyclotron,

it's a surprise. No plans.

— I'm telling you...
— It's a shambles, Oppie!

We can't get any sense out of the Army.
Nobody's in charge.

— Nothing.
— It's a disaster.

Now, look. I'm telling you.
Things are under control.

— They're not.
— Wait a minute. Just wait a minute.

What the hell do you think you're doing?
Of all the nerye.

I'm telling you, we are all aware of these
things. They are being taken care of.

We are at the beginning! What did you expect?

We Just came from...

I'll be damned if I'm gonna let you two sons
of bitches come here in the middle of a...

They don't trust me.

That kid Wilson was my student.

What am I supposed to do,
let everybody...tell me my Job,

every Jackass tell me what to do, criticize me?

I don't know. Is it worth it?

I feel like a prizefighter.

Round two.

(Sighs)

(Buzzer)

— Yup.
— Dr. Serber.

Fine.

Ah.

— Ed Condon, Bob Serber.
— Oh, hello. How do you do?

Ed's gonna be helping us out on administration
here if I can persuade him.

— Tough Job.
— I'm beginning to find that out.

Got your speech ready?

— Has to go right.
— I think it's OK.

— Coming?
— Yeah.

Are you getting any reactions yet?

— To what?
— Housing, anything. How are people settling in?

Seems all right. No real grumbles so far.
I think they kinda like it.

It's like the first days at summer camp.

Let's have a look at that speech.

OK.

There you go.

(Clears throat)

— Yeah. You can't say that.
— Mm?

That's a double negative.

Double negative?

It's not so bad.

Mitzi?

What do you want me to say, hm?

Hi. I'm Alice Smith. We live upstairs.

Saw you were moving in.
Hey, welcome to Los Alamos.

— Thank you. Edward Teller.
— Hello.

— My wife Mitzi.
— Hello.

Looks grim, doesn't it? Oh, you'll see.
Couple of days, you'll have it all homey.

— That's what I say.
— It's a shame about the bathroom.

What about the bathroom?

There isn't one. Nobody's got one on the hill,
except the people that live on Bathtub Row.

Those are the old teachers' houses
from when this place used to be a school.

The big nobs live up there, the Oppenheimers
and the Parsons, people like that.

We call it Bathtub Row because...
Well, you can see why.

They're very nice about letting people
come in and use the tub.

— I have to go to other people's houses?
— I ought to get to the meeting.

If you're crazy about taking a bath, you do.

You've got your own shower.
That's through here.

There you are, you see?
It's not going to be so bad after all.

We had such a nice little house in Chicago.
I wish you could have seen it.

But Edward thought we'd be happier
behind a barbed wire fence.

For this, we could have stayed in Europe.

(Speaks Hungarian)

My, my.

It usually takes at least a couple of weeks
up here before they start to crack up.

How long have you been here?

A couple of weeks.

— Morning, gentlemen.
— Morning.

— Yeah. Heard anything about that?
— Nothing, nothing.

— Listen, I was wondering...
— I think he'll want us to know.

I'm very touched.

We begin here as we mean to continue.

Open discussion.

A free exchange of ideas and information.

And so far as it is consistent
with military security,

there will be no compartmentalization
in this laboratory.

To help me with overall administration,
we're lucky to have Ed Condon

from Westinghouse. Stand up, Ed. Take a bow.

To facilitate the work, I've divided
lab personnel into various divisions.

Er... Theoretical, Ordinance,
Experimental Physics, etc...

You should all have charts showing you
which division you're in and who heads it.

I don't think you'll find any surprises here.

These divisions are fluid.

Certainly, the lines between divisions
are by no means uncrossable.

What we're on the lookout for here
and at all times

is good ideas and we don't care
where we get them from.

I've asked Bob Serber
to give us a report on the work so far.

What we know up till now
are the avenues that look good for exploration.

Again, we're after good ideas.

From anybody.

Bob?

I did it. I did it!

— It's lit?
— You bet!

Fantastic!

35 minutes.

Well, that's not bad.

My Job here in the coming months is to convert
rough estimates into precise measurements

and hypotheses into realities.

(Applause)

Well, I think that gives us all
a lot of food for thought.

So if there are no more questions for now,

thank you and to work.

We got through a heck of a lot.

— Mm. Mm.
— Well, I'm impressed.

So far, so good.

— Problem, Edward?
— This chart.

It says I'm in the Theoretical Division
under Hans Bethe.

Right. Well, you are a theorist, aren't you?

I was given to understand
I was to work independently here.

And you are, more or less.

— But I am under Hans Bethe here.
— Just for convenience.

Why wasn't it convenient
to put my name over Bethe's?

Two. I was given to understand I was to be
allowed to work primarily on the thermonuclear.

Look, Edward, this is Just the very beginning.

I'm sure there'll be plenty of opportunity
to work on the super as time goes by.

That's why I came here, Oppie. Only for that.

(Women shouting)

(Groves) What in heck is that?
(Condon) Wives are having a protest.

(Groves) What do you mean?

Construction unit had orders
to take all the trees out around here.

Wives are trying to save that big one.

(Groves sighs) Good God.

(Condon) Well, they show spirit.

Drive on.

(All shout) General! General!

Morning, General.

— Hello, Ed.
— Hello, Oppie.

Well, Mr. Condon and I
have had a little talk and, uh...

I think he understands his duties pretty well.

So, uh... Well, I'll Just let you two get on with it.

Say, Oppie.
Was there something you wanted to tell me?

I don't think so, General.
Everything's going smoothly.

OK.

Incidentally, what about all this nonsense here?

— What nonsense is that, General?
— This tree nonsense. All those women.

That's Army Jurisdiction.
I'm very careful not to interfere.

Hmm...

Now, he is quite a...

(Door shuts)

(Buzzer)

— Yeah?
— He’s gone.

He has a habit of suddenly reappearing.

— Well, what do you think of him?
— I don't know.

— He's got some very strange ideas.
— For instance?

For instance, only the top 30 people around
here are supposed to know what's going on.

Nobody else.

Compartmentalization.
What do you think of it?

Well, frankly, I think it's crazy.

I think it's pretty crazy too. We're not gonna
have it here. There's gonna be free discussion.

But you heard his nibs.
The question is, how do you get past him?

Head—on collision or stealth?

I don't know.
And I'm not very good at playing games.

Well, you're gonna get a lot of practice here.

So, while Hanford and Oak Ridge
are preparing the fissionable material,

hopefully, our central task here
is to devise a critical assembly.

How to bring two sub—critical pieces together
as fast as possible

so that together they exceed the critical mass

and an uncontrolled chain reaction,
the big bang, takes place.

Now, the method that we're all pretty convinced
is the most promising

is the gun method.

Literally, a sawn—off anti—aircraft gun here

propels this uranium metal shy,
one of the sub—critical pieces,

straight into the hole of this doughnut—shaped
second piece of uranium here.

Now when the two pieces come together,
they make more than the critical mass

and the bomb goes, but, to avoid a fizzle,

it's got to be almost instantaneous.

Now uranium we know will need
a velocity of around 2,000ft a second.

Plutonium we can't even guess at.
It's likely even higher.

This is way out of my field,
but at those velocities,

aren't you gonna have a very serious problem
with wear on the gun barrel?

— (Oppenheimer) Deke?
— It's true.

In the Navy, we found that with guns firing
at an even lower velocity,

barrel wear became a problem
after very few rounds.

Any ideas?

May I say, I consider the problem of barrelwear
to be unimportant.

— Why is that?
— Because this gun will fire only once.

Thank you, Enrico.

(Laughter)

— Go ahead, Bob.
— There's something I'm wondering.

— First time up. Say your name.
— Sony

(Clears throat) Seth Neddermeyer.
Yes, I've been thinking. Um...

I can't quite give it the words but, um...

The gun will, uh...compress in one direction only
of course.

To achieve as fast an assembly as possible,

two dimensions will be better,
three of course will be better still.

(Seth) I suggest, um... Er...

I can see...

If you could create explosions
all over the surface of the mass,

pushing it together,

it's not an explosion, it's an implosion.

I Just, like, um...

Can't you see
the speed of assembly would be, uh...

(Deke) Seth, come on.

If I've got it right,
what you're suggesting is a sphere of uranium...

— Or plutonium.
— (Deke) OK. OK.

A sphere made up of pieces of the metal,
held apart somehow,

and then encased
in a sphere of explosives, right?

When it's detonated,
it pushes the pieces together

and bingo, they all go critical.

Well, a simplistic...

Fine. How the hell are you
gonna get an absolutely even shockwave

all around the sphere simultaneously?

If you don't, that metal's gonna shoot and spurt
everywhere. You'll never get critical assembly.

— There must be... There must be ways.
— Possibly.

But is it worth diverting limited resources
to chase every hare that comes in here?

But it is a real possibility, isn't it?

It might be faster than the gun method.

— Sure, it could be, but there's a chance that...
— Then I think it deseryes some time.

Will you think about this implosion some more,
Seth? Come back to us?

Go ahead, Bob.

Everything seems to be on schedule out there,
General. It's all going well.

Going too well.

Too damn smooth.

I thought Oppie'd work out all right in the end.

I never thought it'd take him Just three weeks.

He learns too fast.
He's got everybody eating out of his hand.

— It's good.
— It's bad. I got no grip on it, Nick.

I know these people.
I know what they're thinking.

"Everything's fine, what do we need
the Army for?" They can Just ignore us.

— It's not that bad.
— Sure it is. What about compartmentalization?

It's a Joke. Never even got started.

Just didn't bother. Smile on their face and go
behind my back and do whatever they want.

That Condon, he's the worst one of the lot.

Boy, did I ever make a mistake
when I hired him.

He was supposed to keep an eye on
Oppenheimer. They're having a true romance.

I don't know what Oppie does to people.

I have to watch myself with him sometimes.

Clever guy.

Oppie in Chicago. I can hardly believe it.

Yes, sir. Chicago. And he flew there.

He flew there? Good God.

Hey, Ed? Ed?

Have your people had a chance
to duplicate those graphs yet?

— Yeah, they're back in the office.
— Terrific. God bless you.

There's Condon.

Condon? I wanna talk to you.

You keep on popping up, General.
I thought you were in Chicago.

I was.

I heard Oppenheimer was up there last week.

— Yeah, he flew up there for a couple of days.
— He flew?

After I gave strict orders that key personnel
will use ground transport only.

— Is that what this is all about?
— Not entirely.

I heard he was talking all over the shop, telling
everybody what was going on down here.

I've spoken to him.
He said that you condone the entire trip.

I'm not in a position
to condone anything that Oppenheimer does.

— But I thought it was a good idea.
— You thought?

He went down to Chicago to beg
for a speck of plutonium for the metallurgy lab.

— Now, we need that very much.
— And talking to everybody?

— Talking to who?
— Well... Compton.

What, he's not allowed
to talk to Arthur Compton?

The lab chief? Now, come on, General.

It completely disregards my instructions.

No matter what goes on here
within the perimeter,

there's absolutely no excuse
for loose talk going beyond it.

— Compartmentalization.
— Phooey on compartmentalization!

We need plutonium.

Condon, your behavior
is unsatisfactory in the extreme.

Stop the car. Stop the car!

(Groves) Condon?

Condon! Condon!

— I've never been talked to like that. No place.
— Yes, he bawled me out too.

Well, what are we gonna do about it?
Tell him to go straight to hell, right?

I can't tell him to go to hell.
This is an Army proJect.

You can't escape the Army, Ed.
We can't do this without them.

— I'd like to see them do it without us.
— Just give a little. Groves isn't inflexible.

It's not a little. It's too much.
It's too much for me, anyway.

— I can fix Groves.
— But he wants me out, Oppie. Now doesn't he?

Come on. You're gonna back me up, aren't ya?

It's not that simple, Ed.

Wait a minute. Whose side are you on?

I don't have to take that garbage!

— I'm gonna make a stand.
— And what'll that prove?

That they can't come in here
and walk all over us.

— Ed...
— No Job is worth it,

worth taking that crap from a moron.

— What are you gonna do, quit?
— Are you gonna back me up?

Right. Now I've got you two together.

Come on, Oppie.

What's it gonna be?

OK. I'll see you around.

Now Just a minute, Condon.

He's quit.

To tell you the truth, I'm glad.

He didn't fit in here.
We never got a decent day's work out of him.

Now, look, Oppie. I've been thinking.

You and I,
we got a pretty good working relationship.

We don't need a go—between.

Oh, we've had our ups and downs

but that's because we hadn't worked out
our Jurisdictions properly.

Now your Job is up here on the hill.

That's what I hired you for.

But the problem of coordinating this whole
proJect, that's not your Job. That's mine.

I think having wishy—washy people like Condon
around kept you from seeing that clearly.

Isn't that so?

God knows,
you've got a big enough Job to do right here.

Well, Oppie? What do you say?

Whatever you say, General.

(Footsteps)

Do you mind?

Whole bunch of those damn women
are in the house having baths.

It's like a slumber party.

Get me a drink?

— Are you sure?
— Oh, for God's sake.

Tired?

Parking regulations, maid seryice,
Indian dancers, shoemakers.

Oh, it's crazy for you to have to do all that.

I'm working on Groves
to give me a couple of assistants.

He's afraid of another Condon.

But he's weakening, it'll get better.

(Sighs) I'm going to Berkeley next week.

Oh.

I have to. There's a problem.

Remember a kid called Rossi Lomanitz?

(Sighs) Well, I sent him
to work at the radiation lab.

And now it seems that he's doing
exactly what I told him not to.

— Which is?
— Shouting his politics around,

organizing a union.

What else, I don't know.

Well, what else?

Well, there's some hysterics about espionage.

Rossi says he's being framed
because of his politics.

The Army wants to draft him,
get him out of Berkeley.

Robert, don't get involved.

I'm responsible.

— I recommended him for the Job.
— Robert, that is...

I've already sent telegrams.

Oh... What a burden of responsibility
you bear your friends.

And first Haakon. Now Rossi Lomanitz.

I'm involved.

Has your security clearance come through yet?

Also, he's doing a heck of a Job down there
when he isn't politicking.

Ernest Lawrence is going to bat
for him much more than I have

and he doesn't have any security problems.

Exactly. You do.

Can't you find some way of showing the Army
that you want to cooperate?

I'll think about it.

Will you be seeing her?

You'll be seeing her.

Listen, I know what you're gonna say.
It's not my fault.

You don't know the people at the lab.
They're sick, Oppie.

— Like whom?
— Like George Eversole.

I quote: "United States has three enemies.

"Stalin, Roosevelt and Hitler, in that order."

Incredible. I can't keep my mouth shut
when I hear shit like that.

Rossi, when I recommended you for this Job,
you promised me you'd stay in line.

— I can't obJect to fascism?
— You can't do what you're doing.

— For instance?
— You're trying to organize a union in the lab.

Jesus, it's a basic American right.
What are we fighting for?

And the other things.

There are no other things.

It's common knowledge they're trying to
infiltrate the proJect. If you're mixed up in it...

Oh, come on, Oppie. Naturally, there are people
thinking, "Well, what the hell.

"The Russians are allies.
Why not give them information?"

— Maybe they got a point.
— Don't be a fool.

Am I a spy?

It's a frame—up. I promise you, Oppie.

— You're hurting yourself, Rossi.
— I can take care of myself.

— You're doing harm to other people too.
— Like who?

Who do you think?

I'm sorly I never meant it to hurt you, Oppie.
I can't see why it should.

— You're my student.
— Ex—student.

— I got you the Job.
— I can't help it. It's a matter of principle.

— You don't have to tell me...
— No!

That bastard Eversole.
Jesus, I hate this country sometimes.

Don't let me down.

Me let you down?

You used to be one of us, Oppie,
before the war.

I thought you took it seriously.

I did.

I'm sorly I've gotta go.

Come in, sir.
I'm Boris Pash, Army Counterintelligence.

I must say, it's a pleasure to meet you, sir.

— Thank you.
— A real pleasure.

Have a seat.

And, uh...I'd like to thank you
for coming by to see me today.

That's quite all right.

Now, Lieutenant Johnson told me about a little
conversation you had with him yesterday.

Well, yes. I'm naturally a little concerned
about the situation with Rossi Lomanitz.

I was rather uncertain as to whether I should
or should not see him while I was here.

That's why I wanted you to know right away.

What I wanted to say to this fellow was that
he had been indiscreet and that I knew it.

I know that Just saying that to some people
might in some cases embarrass them

but it doesn't seem capable
of embarrassing him, to put it bluntly.

Yes, well, er...
that's not the particular interest that I have.

It's something a little more, in my opinion,
more interesting than Mr. Lomanitz.

I understand you feel that there is a possibility

that there may be some other groups
involved in espionage.

Well, I've been over all this
with Lieutenant Johnson yesterday.

Yes, yes. Well, it's all new to me.

Well, all right. Er... There was a man
whose name was mentioned to me.

I believe he's a chemical engineer.
His name is Eltenton.

I think there's a possibility that he's been asked
to pass on whatever information he can get.

And the form it came to me was that an
interyiew be arranged with this man Eltenton

who had very good contacts
with a man in the Soviet Embassy

who was a reliable guy and had a lot of
experience with microfilm work or whatever.

Would you, er...give us the names of anyone
who's been contacted to supply information?

I would think that the people asked to supply
information were almost purely accidental

and I would be doing some harm in telling you.

I can tell you this.
There were, I think, two or three cases...

I think two of the men
were with me in Los Alamos.

All right. These people you mentioned.
Were they contacted by Eltenton direct?

No.

— Through another party?
— Yes.

— Could we know who?
— I think that would be a mistake. Er...

I tell you for what reason.
Not to take this person to task in any way,

officially, unofficially, in the open, whatever.

But Just to see if we can determine
the method of Eltenton's approach.

I understand that
but I think in mentioning Eltenton's name,

I'm essentially saying that this man may be
involved in things dangerous to this country

which ought to be watched.
I won't name anyone else in the same breath,

even if you say you can make a distinction.
I can't do that.

Dr. Oppenheimer,
I don't want to seem to you insistent.

But I would like to explore the possibility

of seeing if we can determine
this other person's name.

I have told you where the initiative came from.

And the other things
were almost purely accidental

and would involve people
who ought not to be involved.

(Sighs) All right. This person.
Is he a member of the proJect?

No. He's a member of the faculty here
but not on the proJect.

Well...

I can see you picture me
as an old bloodhound on a trail.

And, er...I am trying to get all the information
out of you that I can.

That's your duty, to some extent.

Yes.

It is also my duty to protect those people
who are acquaintances or colleagues of mine

of whose position I am absolutely certain.

It's my duty to protect them.

(Doorbell)

Hi.

I was asleep. I'm sorly

And into the house for a cozy little reunion...

with Miss Jean Tatlock.

Is she a commie too?

No, she's a Sagittarius.

What do you think?

God, what a guy.

What's the bet?

I'll say midnight.

I got five dollars that says our Red Romeo
is not outside that house

a minute before nine in the morning.

— You've got a bet.
— Take it.

Sucker.

So what have you been doing?

— Been busy?
— No.

Wanna hear a funny stony?

Jean?

What is it?

Nothing. I've been ill.

What?

No, not really.
I thought I was better, but seeing you...

What does Bernstein say?

I'm going to, um...Zimmerman now.

— What does he say?
— He says I'm nuts.

Seems I can't believe we're really not together,
you and me.

But it's been years.

Yeah. Incredible, isn't it?

I guess I always thought we'd make it.

You did?

But we fought all the time.

Yeah. I thought we'd fight for 40 years
and then be happy old people together.

When we had our chance, you didn't want me.

I know. Why?

Every time, you turned me away.

Didn't you?

— Well, it's better this way.
— Is it?

We don't fight.

No.

We don't fight.

You're right, I know.

It's not you.

I told Zimmerman. It's not a man. It's my life.
It's my stinking, messy life. I hate it.

It's all right.

As long as you come to see me.

Doesn't matter as long as you come to see me.

Oh, Robert...

You've always been so kind to me.

You've always been so kind.

Sat there cool as a cucumber, within a couple
of hours he was in that woman's apartment.

It's the immorality of it that disgusts me.

You say he spent the whole night
with this er...Tatlock?

Yes, sir. He left her house
at ten minutes past nine in the morning,

cab to the airport and plane to New Mexico.

And I told him not to fly.

Did you get what was said?

Yes, sir. The FBI bugs picked up most of it.

Some of it was kind of pathetic.

He told her he wouldn't see her for a long time
and he had to go away and do a Job.

Did he say where?

No, sir. Anyway, she didn't like it very much.

She sounded very...shaken by the whole thing.

Weird.

Then what?

The scene shifted to the bedroom.

You think he's got any idea
we know about these things?

Does he know he was bugged?
No, sir, I doubt it.

Know he was tailed? I would think so.

— He Just went right ahead.
— Oh, it's arrogance is what it is.

I see him as a very arrogant person.
And dangerous!

You got the whole picture right there. You got
all those people working at the radiation lab.

Weinberg, Lomanitz, Bohm, Friedman.

All Oppenheimer's ex—students, all commies,
all up to their eyeballs in it.

Weinberg we know
has been selling information to the Reds,

to Steve Nelson, Communist, who Just happens
to be good buddies with Oppenheimer's wife.

— Rossi Lomanitz.
— Wait a minute. Lomanitz...

— He's been taken care of, hasn't he?
— Yes. He's Private Lomanitz now.

It's all a pattern, General,
and Oppenheimer's right in the middle of it.

You got his brother Frank, Communist,
working at the radiation lab.

All right, Pash.

Just remember,
he gave us that man's name at least.

Eltenton?
Sir, we've been on to that guy for months.

And they know it.
That's why they let Oppenheimer disclose it.

Standard operating procedure. You throw
some little unimportant guy overboard

to distract attention from the big fish.

And the big fish is J. Robert Oppenheimer.

He still hasn't told us the name of the man
who made the contacts for Eltenton.

You don't think I should sign
this security clearance for him?

No, sir. I do not.

Nichols, can we hold off on this any longer?

No, sir.

You realize if I don't sign it
he's gonna lose his Job.

Well, that would be a happy day
in my opinion, sir.

Lansdale?

Well, sir, I've spoken with him
on several occasions now.

I'm very disturbed by his attitude,

particularly that he won't name the man
who made all the contacts.

But, by my definition,
I don't think he's a Communist.

Well, what's your definition?

A Communist is a person who is more loyal
to Russia than to the United States

and I don't think Oppie's that.

With respect, John, I think
that's a dangerously limited definition.

I say if a man looks like a duck and quacks like
a duck and spends all his time with ducks...

— He's a duck.
— He's a Red, sir.

— I've talked a lot with Mrs. Oppenheimer too.
— Another Communist.

Well, whatever she was, Boris, I get the
impression her husband and his Job

are the most important things
in the world to here.

She'll move heaven and earth
to make sure he stays on the right lines.

— I think she's a powerful ally.
— Whose?

Ours.

I've decided
I'm going to sign the security clearance.

Look, I don't like these associations
any more than you do.

We've got to bite the bullet.
He's doing too good a Job at Los Alamos.

Darn him, he's irreplaceable.

All right, sir.
What about naming Eltenton's contact?

What does he say about that?

He'll only do it on a direct order from you, sir.

I won't do it yet.

See if he gives it of his own accord.

OK, gentlemen.

— Thank you, sir.
— Thank you, sir.

(Groves) What do you think, Nichols?

It's your decision, General.

What would you do if you found out
he really was a Communist?

I'd blow the whole thing sky high.

(Crowd sing) # Come and behold him

# Born the king of angels

# 0 come let us adore him

# 0 come let us adore him

# 0 come let us adore him...

No rest for the wicked.

# Christ the Lord

# God of God, light of light... #

Carol singers.
Glad they get the time to spare.

You, uh...going back to Berkeley for Christmas?

You going by train?

It's Toni's first Christmas.

— Toni?
— My little girl.

Ah.

I've got a girl too.

Course, she's a big girl now.

I Just love her to death.

They're something, girls.

I was wondering, er...
Do you actually celebrate Christmas?

Well, I mean you being a different, er...
Well, Jewish.

We have a tree.

Ah. Good.

I was, uh...wondering if you'd... Well...

put that under it for me.

Why, General!

Ah, go on, open it now.
I don't wanna miss the fun.

Gee.

Well, it's been a good year altogether,
all things considered.

I Just want to show my appreciation. You like it?

It's a beauty.

That was bought in the Haymarket, London,
one week ago.

Don't ask me how I got it over here.
Privileges of rank.

That reminds me.
All those British personnel'll be arriving soon.

Never liked the British.

— Where you gonna put 'em?
— I don't know. Have to find somewhere.

We sorta underestimated how big
this place was gonna get, didn't we?

We sure did.

Oppie, I'd like you
to give me a Christmas present now.

Well, General, I've really...

I know what I want. I want that name.

Man who made the contacts.

You said you'd give it to me
if I gave you a direct order.

It's been five months, Oppie.
I can't wait any longer.

You see, there's pressure on me too.

It's an order, Oppie.

His name is Haakon Chevalier.

How do you spell that?

H—A—A—K—O—N.

C—H—E—V—A—L—I—E—R.

What's he do?

Teaches at Berkeley.

— Physics?
— French.

Now, Oppie, don't you feel better?

Word of advice.

I wouldn't see this Chevalier any more
if I were you.

Not while the war's on.

I've got no plans to see him.

And this woman, this Communist woman.

No plans to see her either.