Original subtitles

(soft orchestral music)

(clock tower chimes)

- Murdock?

Murdock?

Murdock?

The bread of the seat is sweet to a man,

but afterward his mouth shall be filled with gravel.

- Amen.

- I thought you agreed to stay out of this?

- Look, Mr. Brack,

just going to the airport and bringing the girl back,

that doesn't mean a major involvement.

- I told you not to go.

If she has to come, why make it easy for her?

Why make it look like we're bringing her in?

- Your mother said go, so I go.

- Last night my mother told--

- Well, that was last night.

This morning she said go fetch the girl.

- You listen to women?

- Try it sometime.

- She won't always be looking out that window.

Then we'll see, Murdock.

(solemn orchestral music)

(upbeat orchestra music)

- [Airport Announcer] 502, from North Wilksbarn,

Scranton, now arriving at gate three.

Mrs. Julie Brack, please come to the information desk.

Mrs. Julie Brack, please come to the information desk.

(solemn orchestra music)

(baby crying)

- If you had of cabled them about the baby,

I'm sure they would have after you themselves.

I mean, instead of sending me.

(chickens chirping)

- Stiles,

68 degrees for this batch, not 75.

- Alright, Mr. Brack, I thought I had it set at 68.

- You don't like me very much, do you, son?

- Honest time?

- Today everything gets said,

for once and for all.

It gets said, all of it.

Alright, I'm starting with you.

- What am I, a warm-up for the main event?

- I asked you straight off.

- Let's just say I don't jump for joy when I see you coming.

- Then why do you stick on this job?

You and that alley fighter?

The money, Laura?

- Maybe we like it, okay, end of discussion.

- What's everybody got against me?

The way people around here act,

you'd think I'd beat my wife, drank,

chased around.

Who won the church prize last month

for quoting the most scripture, me.

- Old Testament, wasn't it?

- I hold with the Old Testament.

Moses, the stone tablets, God's will

and fire and flood.

That's the way life is, Stiles,

with no mercy for the wicked.

You think I didn't check on her?

Last spring when I went over to fetch Mark's body home,

I checked on her good.

Mark took her at face value, went and married her,

poor fool, still wet behind the ears.

Well, I warned him

and I told Ma before he left,

anybody can see he's green as grass.

You let him go off to Europe alone,

he'll get himself in deep.

- Listen, Mr. Brack, this is a family affair

and I don't want any part of it.

- Don't try to backwater, Stiles.

I've heard Laura whispering her views of it to you.

Schoolgirl romance, Mark was taken and maybe more.

Maybe the way he died,

maybe she had something to do with that too.

- Look, Mr. Brack, I'm not in this--

- Yes, you are.

I'm putting you in.

I'm asking you

to talk to my ma, see?

You talk to her for me, like I'm gonna tell ya.

- You must be kidding.

- She likes you, Stiles, now and then,

don't ask me why, she takes fancies to certain people.

If she'll listen to anybody right now, she'll listen to you.

I can tell you things about the little Swedish girl,

one man to another, I don't dare tell my ma.

Big as I am, she'd come after me with a bar of soap

and lather out my mouth,

but after I've told you,

you'll see the right of it.

You'll go to her and you'll ask her

to let me handle this.

Let me tell off Mrs. Julie and send her packing

before she tries to sweet talk her way in here.

- Your mother's even more bitter toward the girl

than you are, I brought her the cablegram

with the flight arrival time,

I saw the way she looked at it

and the way she tore it up, so what's your problem?

- Women say one thing, do another.

You gotta keep the pressure on 'em, Stiles,

if you ever expect them to make any sense at all.

Last night, Ma said she wouldn't led the Swede

set foot on this farm.

This morning, what did she do?

She sends that sidekick of yours to fetch her back in style,

don't you see, it's already happening.

People around here think Ma is made of granite,

but she's got a crack here and there, believe me.

For all, she pretends.

- But you haven't found it yet, have you?

- You don't understand, Stiles, that girl,

she was experienced, she turned Mark's head.

They tell me over there, she was an actress,

some studio in Stockholm, but she doesn't have

much time for acting, she's so busy keeping dates

with visiting firemen.

That's what they paid her for at the studio.

That's what she really did for them.

I talked to her boss, face to face,

after Mark got killed, he told me.

- Mr. Brack, it's 75 degrees in here

and today that's past my boiling point.

- You and your hard-jawed friend clear out of here.

You clear on out, just as soon as he gets back.

- We work for your mother, Mr. Brack,

on this farm, she's the man.

(dramatic orchestral music)

Look, I'm sorry I said it,

will you just calm down and leave me out of it?

(melancholy orchestral music)

- Mark, I'm here.

I know it is not going to be easy.

They will try to hurt me.

I know they will hurt me,

but I won't forget what you told me.

Patience, much, much patience, Mark

and time.

Do you know a strange thing, Mark?

Everything you ever told me I can remember,

every moment and whenever it seems especially bad,

as it was this autumn,

I go back, I pick a time, any time,

I live it all over again.

Just ask me, ask me to tell you about,

about that Wednesday in Erland, remember?

When you rode the windmill all the way 'round

and I bit off my nails and I was so nervous,

so proud of you.

Now, wasn't that a foolish thing to do?

You could have fallen and been killed.

He's going to be three months old on Sunday.

Isn't he beautiful?

Oh Mark, I don't know if what I'm doing is right but,

it is the best I can think of.

I'm ready to go now.

- Look, this is none of my business but,

do you know what you're in for back there?

- Mother Agnes, Brother Frank, Laura.

- It's a full house.

You need a pack of aces.

It's my way of saying good luck.

Didn't Mark ever teach you poker?

- We had two weeks out of a lifetime, two weeks.

Can you imagine anything so brief

becoming so enduring, important?

- Would you like me to hold the baby,

probably getting heavy after all this time.

- Is a balloon heavy?

You know sometimes holding him,

I think if I don't catch onto something,

we will sail right up into the clouds, he and I.

I'm ready to go now, Mr. Murdock.

(foreboding orchestral music)

(chickens chirping)

- Stiles, don't choose the wrong side.

- She's come a long way.

This must be pretty important to her.

Why don't you listen before you condemn?

- I know why she's here.

After this is over,

after I've run her off,

I'll show you who's the man on this farm.

(dramatic orchestral music)

- Wait for me, please.

- You want to stay, don't you?

- If I have to get on my knees.

- That's the wrong technique.

Around here, anybody gets down on his knees

gets stomped on, so, don't tiptoe,

you just go in there swinging, huh?

(dramatic orchestral music)

Mrs. Agnes?

- Beth?

(glass shatters)

- A spoiled cup.

You know how she feels about that cup.

- It's a sign, Beth.

- That girl is standing out in the foyer,

just turned around so I can't see her.

- It's a good sign, Beth.

- Once before I mended this so she

didn't even notice it, but now,

I don't know, Frank.

- Get up off your knees, Beth.

Do as I tell you.

Don't you know what today is?

And that day the Lord will take away the bravery

of the tinkling ornaments about their feet

and their cauls,

and the bracelets, the bonnets and the ornaments

of the legs and the headbands and the tablets

and the earrings and the nose jewels

and the changeable suits of apparel

and the mattles and the whipples

and the crisping bins and the glasses

and the fine linen and the veils

and it shall come to pass that instead

of sweet smell there shall be stink

and instead of a girdle, a rand

and instead of well set hair, baldness

and instead of a stomach, girding of sackcloth

and burning instead of beauty.

- Stay out of this, Frank.

Your Ma will handle her.

- It's not just the Swede,

don't you understand anything?

Are you all butter, Beth?

Don't you ever want to be the lady of the house?

Don't you ever want somebody else

to have to worry when your cup is broken?

- I never thought much about it.

Frank, keep your place.

- Find my place, Beth.

(dramatic orchestral music)

(baby coos)

- You're Frank.

- Frank, dear.

Answer her.

- Who told you to bring these bags in?

- I don't know, conscience maybe.

- Well, you can trot them right back out again.

- Mrs. Agnes?

- Get yourself some coffee, Buz.

We'll talk in the parlor.

- Niece or nephew?

- I've named him Mark.

- Tod, your friend is in the kitchen

in case you're looking for him.

- Did you see how curly his hair is?

- Mark had straight hair.

(baby coos)

Now go busy yourself, darling, beyond earshot.

- Am I not a member of this family?

Am I not allowed to participate in family discussions?

- This is not a family discussion.

This is quite simply a matter briefly disposed of

between me and a visitor.

- It was nice seeing him.

- Laura.

- Thank you.

(baby coos)

- We both must have gained two pounds

since we left Stockholm.

They fed us all the way over,

beautiful carts of food and champagne.

Every time I ate, I fed him,

like a parchino.

Oh, I wonder, would you mind if,

he hasn't been changed in quite a while.

- Why weren't we told there was a child?

- 16 letters, Mrs. Brack, from Stockholm

to Boiling Springs, from Boiling Springs back

to Stockholm, unopened.

Now, they tell quite a story,

if you're able to read between the lines.

Dear Mrs. Brack,

I know how you must feel to learn of Mark's death

so far from home,

such an unnecessary death,

but I can assure you,

until that Wednesday afternoon,

I know how happy the last two weeks of his life were

and they go on like that,

starting with love, growing into surprise

and disbelief when I saw them coming back unread,

then anger, desperation and finally prayers even.

- For once in your life,

you've grasped the situation quite correctly, my dear son.

She is quite a little actress, isn't she?

- Among other things.

(baby crying)

How old is he?

- He is Mark's son.

- Don't you think it's time you let me handle things?

- The first thing I'll ever let you handle, my dearest son,

is my funeral, after I've arranged all the details.

Now please stand aside so I can see that girl

while I talk to her.

Please, Frank, be a dear, sit down.

When I sent Frank over to bring back Mark's body,

I told him, stay away from her.

I wanted no contact then

and I want it less now.

Don't think that baby makes any difference

and don't think that your entitled to anything,

no part of this farm.

I operate this farm, young lady.

I run it for 16 years, since my husband died

and I run it a lot better than he did,

puttering around here with his pipe

and his dirty old shoes.

It's in my name, all of it.

It always has been and it always will be.

So you see, when you trick my baby Mark

into marrying you, you married a mere boy

with nothing to his name.

That is your share, nothing.

(dramatic orchestral music)

(baby coos)

Now you take that baby of yours

and get out of here, out of our lives.

- You cannot be Mark's mother.

- And stay out, understand?

Stay out.

- I will go out of your house,

but I'll stay here in Boiling Springs

and whenever I can, whenever I can,

you will see me and you will see this baby,

Mark's baby and you will learn to miss him

and you'll think of him at night and

want to hold him and love him.

- Buz?

- I figured.

(solemn orchestral music)

- Aw, come on.

- Go right ahead, get it out of your system.

By the time you're back, I'll have the car loaded.

(knock at door)

It's open.

- I thought only the Assyrians folded their

tents and night and stole silently away.

- Arans, not Assyrians and it's the middle

of the day and we're not stealing.

As soon as I finish here,

I'm going up to the house and have it out with your mother

or I can't stand the odor of burning flesh.

- Anybody can quit.

- The day everybody can quit,

that'll be the day.

- Don't you think I'd like to run away too?

I didn't mean that, not really.

I couldn't leave her.

You see, I understand her.

She may not be a good mother,

but she is a good person.

Does that make any sense to you?

- Too much for a girl your age.

I understand her too, Laura,

that's why I've stayed as long as I have,

but there's a limit, you know?

- Then you don't understand.

That's what understanding is,

taking away all the limits.

Mama wasn't always like this.

She had to take over, for Frank and for Mark, for me,

because Papa, well Papa was a beautiful dreamer,

but somebody had to save the land.

There were bad years, Tod, very bad years.

Frank was sickly and Mama was forced to be the man

in the family, she worked hard, day and night,

harder than any man and then Papa died.

Well, she just kept right on

when that happens to a woman,

I just guess she can't go back to the sewing room.

Oh, don't leave, not yet.

At least not until I've tried one last thing.

I've been thinking about it all week,

ever since Mama ordered Julie out of the house.

Please?

(somber orchestral music)

- Mr. Brack?

Mr. Brack?

- In here.

(chickens chirping)

What do you want?

- Your Mom is not around,

does that give you any idea, Frankie?

Well, it better, because I got a great idea.

You see, there's this girl from Sweden,

very nice girl, except the way everyone acts

around here, you'd think she had leprosy or something.

Nobody in Boiling Springs will talk to her

or even rent her a room and that's because

you put pressure on 'em, right, Frankie,

and if it wasn't for that resort hotel down the road there,

who couldn't give a darn about you or your pressure,

she'd probably be camped in the woods or someplace,

but, you see, she's broke, dig?

Like where does the next meal come from

for her or the kid.

So I'll tell you my idea.

I'm gonna help that girl,

she's gonna get a job so she can stay here and bug you

and then after that, we're gonna cut out,

so get somebody else to raise your chicken dinners,

you got that picture, Frankie?

- Yeah.

- There's just one other thing.

(dramatic orchestral music)

Hey, Frank, I'm sorry.

Frank's inside, uh, you better go in.

(chickens chirping)

- The worst part was

I couldn't hit him.

It was the Lord's anger, Beth,

smiting me and that boy's fist.

The Lord's own anger.

- You get up now, Frank.

This is no place for a man.

- Down here on this floor,

I can see what's happened to me.

I'm like this mesh, I'm all stomped on.

I got no shape.

I've been waiting so long,

I just got blind when I saw that girl, her baby,

that's what made me, made me go to our friends

and tell them to turn their backs on her.

I just been waiting too long, Beth.

Oh, Beth, I'm ashamed.

I'm deep ashamed.

(dramatic orchestral music)

- If only Mama could see me now.

Anyway, I always did wanna know what

a spare tire feels like.

- So what does a spare tire feel like?

- Uncomfortable,

when commanders strike at dawn,

don't they get a little something for their morale?

- I don't know, it's been awhile since I--

- Hello.

- Hello.

Defying your mother, coming here wasn't easy, Laura.

- I'd rather not think about it.

Just let me hold him.

(baby coos)

Half an hour, Julie?

- All of a sudden, my arms feel so empty.

- Oh, he'll be alright.

You seen yellow breeches?

Right down there, across the meadow, a river,

it's jumping with history, not with fish.

It seems they fought a war down here,

some of our boys and the British.

Why don't we get down and see how it turns out, huh?

- Half hour will be fine.

(peaceful orchestral music)

- You know, they got this new package in the stores,

comes in a handy 500 pound package.

It's called instant conversation.

It's for cats who's tongues have been got by people

and all you do is add a little water and you stir

and then alakazam, you're on like a filibuster.

It's gonna be pretty big on the market.

What do you think?

Who needs instant conversation?

I told them it would never go.

Silence, that's what I told them at the board meeting,

I said, if you could find a way to package silence,

you'd make your first million, that's what I said.

- I wish.

- Oh, go on, take 10 if you want,

I mean, even the Genie digs inflation.

- I wish I could pretend you were Mark.

- I wish I could pretend I didn't want you try.

- What do you know about me, what I am,

what I've done, what do you really know about me?

- What do I have to know?

- Everything, nothing,

I cannot decide which.

(hair dryer hums)

(baby coos)

- I was out in the bullrushes, Mama

and there was this funny little rat,

well, I--

- Laura, you've come close a number of times before

to being an objectionable human being,

but you never before have gone past the allowable maximum.

Are you following me?

- Mama, please don't lecture me.

Talk to me,

why is it so wrong to love something?

- When did I ever teach you that it was wrong to love?

It's a question of what and whom one should love,

there's difference you know.

The only thing I've ever attempted to teach you

was to recognize that difference

and to acquire a sense of judgement about men.

- Men?

But Mama, look at him.

Just take him and hold him.

This is your grandson.

This is Mark's little boy,

all we have left to show for Mark.

- This is something that I choose not to discuss with you.

- I'm going to discuss it, I'm just going to

discuss it and discuss it and keep discussing it.

- I've been too lenient with you.

It's one of the penalties for growing old,

we become entirely too tolerant.

I want you to take that baby, whoever he is,

back to his mother.

As soon as you've done that,

you come back here and go to your room,

put all of your books out in the hallway,

Beth will serve you your supper, you'll eat alone.

- I've never seen you afraid before,

but you're afraid now, aren't you, Mama?

- Afraid?

- Afraid to hold him, to look at him,

to see Mark in his eyes, Mark's face,

his face, you don't dare, do you, do you, Mama?

(slap thuds)

(dramatic orchestral music)

(baby cries)

- I'll take the baby back to his mother.

You go back to your room, shut the door and stay there.

(baby coos)

(solemn orchestral music)

No, it's not Laura as you can plainly see.

Laura's being punished,

as for your part in this,

as long as you remain on this farm,

please mind your own affairs.

Now, if you'll be so kind, drive me to the place

where you got this child.

- I just want to tell you one thing, Mrs. Brack.

The only reason I'm still within 100 miles of your farm

is that Laura begged me to stay

and give you one last chance.

- Are you going to drive me or must I use my own car?

- I'll drive.

(solemn orchestral music)

(baby fusses and coos)

I'll see if they're back.

(baby cries)

They went into the theater, Mrs. Brack,

why don't you wait in the car, I'll take the baby in.

Julie's about at the end of her rope,

22 bucks and a broken dream,

so why kick her when she's down?

I'll take Mark in and I'll come back out

and drive you home.

- Oh, you talk to much, open the door.

(baby cries)

- Look, this is one of the best little theater groups

in the country and they've still got a month to go

before the season is over, so why isn't it a good idea?

You're not about to find work in Boiling Springs,

you know the Brack's took care of that

but they're not gonna push these people around.

- Why would they want me?

- Well, you're an actress.

- But the studio never gave me much to do,

they, no big parts.

- You don't have to tell 'em that.

Tell 'em you're the biggest thing since Greta Garbo.

How do they know?

- Oh, as soon as I walk on that stage, they would know,

believe me, they would know.

- On the contrary, you're quite an actress.

Why don't you go up on stage and show them

how talented you really are?

Well, how touching.

Look at them,

completely won over, convinced that I'm some

kind of a monster.

What you did just now,

tearing your child from my arms,

isn't what you really wanted to do, is it?

Actually, you came to this country

to put the child into my arms

and once I held him and wanted him,

you'd name your price.

How much?

- There's no law that says you have to stand here

and take this kind of abuse, come on.

- When you came to my house,

I saw through you, one look and I knew you.

Open your purse, Julie,

I'll stake my life that there's a return trip

ticket in there and once you've got the money

that you came for, you'd go back home alone

without that precious child of yours.

Well?

You win Julie, I'll take Mark's child.

How much?

I said, how much?

- When you have been used by life,

you grow mute, only one thing can give you back

your voice, your courage,

someone who truly cares, no matter what you've been.

Someone who can replace the real you with another you,

a better you and Mark did that for me

and when I lost him, I lost myself.

How could I ever be strong enough or worthy enough

to raise his child?

I could only fail him.

You were quite right, I brought him here to leave him,

but not for a price, not for money,

just so he could have a home and a life

and things I could not give him

so he could be brought up in his father's world and,

now that I know you, Mrs. Brack,

I'm not going to leave him here.

I'm not going to give you another man-child to destroy.

- Destroy?

You, who killed my son, halfway around the world.

- Not me, Mrs. Brack, you were his killer,

10,000 miles away, you were his killer.

He died in the water outside Old Town,

in Lake Malaren that empties into the Baltic

and he died alone, offshore and I stood on the rocks

and I screamed, Mark, come back, come back

and he wanted to prove his manhood,

not to himself, not to me, but to you.

No other boats went out that day,

not with those winds

and he went and I begged him not to go,

I held onto him and he bent his hand,

trembling on the tiller,

and I heard his last words and I hear them in my sleep.

If Mama could see me now, Mama, Mama!

(dramatic orchestral music)

We all drowned that day,

Mark and me and Little Mark.

- Wait!

You said that Mark gave you back your courage,

why run, why not stay and fight?

- For what?

- For your son, did Mark give you enough courage

for you to stay and fight for your son?

To protect him against me?

To fight, oh, not just this afternoon,

but when you're tired, off-guard,

when I challenge you or your son,

when I threaten, have you enough courage to try?

- Let Mrs. Brack hold her grandchild.

- Don't expect me to change,

and don't expect to have an easy time of it.

(baby coos)

(dramatic orchestral music)

(upbeat jazz band music)

- [Announcer] This has been a Screen Gems

film presentation from Columbia Pictures,

Herbert D. Leonard, Executive Producer.