Original subtitles

TRUMPET FANFARE

Crowd up, ladies and gentlemen. This way for Moll Flanders.

Wickedest woman in the world.

See for yourself, the wages of sin.

No need to be frightened, she's chained up.

And now, Moll Flanders.

Born in Newgate. Stolen by gypsies!

Saved by the Mayor of Colchester!

A whore to one brother and a wife to the other, for five years.

And now, Moll Flanders.

Wickedest woman in the world!

Haaah!

'I knew now that money ruled the game.'

'And if I had not money, I must seem to have it.'

'I took the road to Chatham,...

..a town full of seafaring men.'

'I bought new clothes and had it put about that I was a wealthy widow.'

'I took the name of Mrs Flanders.'

LAUGHTER

She's a good one. Fifteen hundred a year, they say.

Call her over, Nellie.

Mrs Flanders, will you not join us?

I'd be glad to, Mrs Capstick. Thank you kindly.

We were talking of marriage.

A happy state for a seafaring man.

I've heard that sea captains look for nothing but money in a wife.

No, no, ma'am. You malign us.

I don't think so.

You choose your mistresses from the heart.

You like your whores well-shaped.

In a wife, money is the only consideration.

No, no, no.

Though money will make a good woman better.

I heard a sea captain married a sow when he heard of her thousand pounds

You seafaring men are all the same.

Not me, ma'am.

And I am a sea captain, in search of a wife.

I won't deny that money can help.

But there are more important things. Such as...

Such as a pleasing person.

And a good and loving heart.

When I marry, it will be for love.

Should I believe you, sir?

What do you think?

'I determined to test his sincerity'

'This was a business venture, with all at risk.'

I have searched the world for a wife

From the moment I saw you, I felt that we belonged together.

Oh, Moll! I would marry you if you were a beggar, if you would have me.

Oh! Truly?

Truly, truly, truly!

Please! You will make me the talk of the town!

You're very hot, sir.

I've been a long time waiting.

A long time searching.

Come. Come, here is my ship.

Here, let me help you.

Careful. Oh! Careful.

Oh, you're so strong.

Now, forgive me if I ask one or two particulars.

If you will take a wife without a portion,...

..you must have a fortune of your own.

Aye, I'm well enough.

There is this ship.

Very fine, but ships may sink, sir. Have you nothing else?

Three plantations in Virginia,...

..worth twelve hundred pounds a year.

Twelve hundred! That's a lot.

Could you bear to live there with me, Moll, so far away?

Amidst the heathen savages and the wild beasts?

I might be persuaded by a very personable man.

I wonder...

W-would you care to inspect the captain's private quarters?

You'll find they're full of the handiest and most practical notions.

I should find that very interesting.

This way, then, dearest Moll.

It is very... snug.

Aye, snug.

A very apt and pleasing epithet.

We are very snug here, Moll, you and I.

We are.

Is that your bed?

Aye. Aye, it is, Moll.

It's... er... not very big,...

..is it?

Big enough for two, Moll. With a squeeze.

With a squeeze?

Aye.

Oh, Moll...

'This was not love, on my side, though not unpleasant.'

'It was a business venture.'

'I determined to risk all.'

'To lay out everything I had to draw him in.'

'To give him, in short, a taste of paradise.'

'That paradise that women can offer men, when they've a mind to it.'

SHE SOBS

What is the matter? Why do you weep?

I cannot say.

Tell me what it is.

Only... that now you will leave me.

Never!

Oh, yes.

For what I told you was the truth.

And what you believed, is a lie.

I have no fortune.

Only a few pounds and that is all.

Now you will say you have been deceived.

No.

I will not.

I cannot. You never deceived me, Moll.

If anyone deceived me, it was I, myself.

I confess I am disappointed in my expectations of a fortune.

But I am far from disappointed...

..in my expectations of a wife.

I don't give a fig for your money...

..or your lack of it.

Dry your tears, my love.

Marry me, and we will make a paradise in our new-found land!

'So I was married for the third time, to my Virginian sea captain,..

..knowing that my second husband was alive and well in France.'

'But there was little likelihood of anybody finding out.'

'We loaded the ship with stores of linen and other accessories.'

'My husband embarked a good cargo for sale.'

'It was a trade he liked little, but knew well.'

We are paid five pounds a man to transport them.

Those with money can buy their freedom.

The rest can work it off, if they have the will.

It is a chance for them, at least.

Poor devils.

Better than the gallows.

Shall we go below, my dear?

Now, my dear...

Should you not direct the ship?

Oh, no, my love.

The mate can take care of that.

You hear them, Molly, my love?

Cast off, cast off.

'To give an account of our voyage is out of my way.'

'Suffice it to say that it was a hard passage, very rough indeed.'

CRASHING WAVES AND THUNDER

Take her port to leeward and top her off!

Are you all right, my love?

You must go in. Go below!

'Eventually the tempests subsided.'

'We came into calmer waters.'

'We felt the warm breezes that drew us towards our new-found land.'

ALL: ♪ Roll the cotton

♪ Roll the cotton, Moses

♪ Roll the cotton

♪ Oh, roll the cotton down

♪ When the sun don't shine and the hens don't lay

♪ Roll the cotton down

♪ When the boys don't work and the boss don't pay

♪ Oh, roll the cotton down

♪ Roll the cotton

♪ Roll the cotton, Moses

♪ Roll the cotton

♪ Oh, roll the cotton down

♪ When I was young before the war

♪ Roll the cotton down ♪

Land ho!

SAILORS CHEER

Who is that woman, my dearest?

That is my mother, Moll. Oh.

Steady, ma'am.

Kneel with me, Moll.

We thank thee, Lord, for our safe passage.

And our happy homecoming.

Amen.

Amen.

Mother.

Come here, my little one.

Well, Lemmy, you're a good boy.

Did you miss your mother?

Every day, Mother, dear.

Oh, I'll be bound (!)

So, who is this? This is Moll, Mother.

My dear bride, who is come to live with us.

Well, she's pretty, I grant you that

But how much is she worth?

Er...

My marriage portion was small, ma'am How small?

How much did you bring to the wedding?

Little more than I stand up in.

Well, well, Lemmy, after all I told you.

Bewitched and bedazzled by a handsome trollop.

Begging your pardon, ma'am!

I never said I was a fortune.

He chose me of his own free will.

I was happy to have him for his honest heart.

I am no trollop!

I was a respectable widow.

There is no sin in poverty.

Nor yet no virtue in wealth, or so the Bible tells us.

MURMURS OF AGREEMENT

I love her, Ma. I wouldn't change her for the world.

She's got a tongue on her.

And I dare say she's lively enough between the sheets.

Knows how to keep you happy there.

Jig-a-jig, around the world, and I know not what. I can tell.

This one knows how to get the marrow out of a bone in 20 different ways.

Oh, I know those games.

Ma! Please!

You look at me strange.

Well, I wasn't always what you see before you now.

Come. What's done is done. You make Lemmy happy.

Kiss me, Moll. Call me Mother.

We shall be one happy family.

(ONLOOKERS CHEER)

Thank you for your kind welcome, Mother.

I shall do my very best to be a good and loving wife.

And a good daughter-in-law.

I shall be happy to call you Mother.

For, sadly, my own died bringing me into this world.

So, now we shall be happy, all together in our brave new world!

(ONLOOKERS CHEER)

There, Moll. See!

There's our home!

(LAUGHS)

Oh, oh!

I am a gentlewoman again.

This is my home.

This is my family.

'Everything seemed to be ordered right.'

'As in the first paradise, the Garden of Eden.'

'A place for everyone, and everyone in his place.'

Their life seems very hard.

To work without expectation of betterment.

They are not like us, Moll. The Lord has ordered it so.

Who are we to question His divine will?

There are the Newgate birds.

They work till their time is out.

Then they can plant for themselves, and so prosper.

And many do.

There's more than one great man that was a Newgate bird.

And had been burned in the hand.

Why burned in the hand, my love?

To mark them for what they are. Here, Bill Cormack!

Show your hand to the lady.

CHUCKLES

CHOIR: ♪ And knoweth more of all my needs

♪ Than all my prayers have told

♪ Enough that blessings undeserved

♪ Have marked my erring track

♪ That wheresoe'er my feet have swerved

♪ His chastening turns me back

♪ That more and more a providence

♪ Of love is understood

♪ Making the springs of time and sense

♪ Sweet with eternal good ♪

'My husband delighted in me, and I in him.'

'This was not love as I had known before, and would know again.'

'If only I had foreseen the future.'

For thine is the kingdom,

The power and the glory, for ever and ever, amen.

GIGGLES

HE BREATHES HEAVILY

Oh! Oh, Moll!

Molly!

Uh... Uh... Uhh... Uhh...

UHHH!

Praise... the... Lord!

'Take care, he's coming into you the back way!'

BOTH LAUGH LUSTILY

Oh, it's been that long since I was at the play.

LAUGHING: Oh, Lord, Lord...

Mother, dear, may I ask you something I have often thought upon?

How did you first come into Virginia?

Have you not guessed, Moll, my dear?

I have not liked to ask, for fear of giving offence.

Have you not wondered why I wear my gloves, day in, day out?

I thought it was to do with being proper.

Then you're a bigger fool than I thought!

I think you know me well enough now.

Look, here.

Aye, there's not many have seen that

So, are you ashamed of me now?

Will you tell my son to turn his old mother out of the house?

No, I would never do that.

You have been good to me.

Many a poor woman has been in your situation.

Who would not steal to feed her babies?

Lemuel told me that many respectable people here first came as convicts.

Aye, that's true enough.

Some of the best men in Virginia are burnt in the hand.

Major Bastock, an eminent pickpocket.

MOLL GASPS No! Really?!

Yes! Look where he goes.

Morning, Major Bastock!

Morning, ma'am.

Oh, there are many of us who have led bad lives in another world.

But God has given the chance to set things straight.

I am sure what you have done can not have been so very wrong.

I was a thief, Moll, and a whore.

Necessity drove me to it.

Bad company showed me how to make my living.

I did well enough by it, more shame to me.

Till I was sent to Newgate, where I pleaded my belly to escape the gallows.

And so it was I came to this land.

I worked my time.

Then the master took a fancy to me, and made me his wife.

I bore him a son, then the master died and left all to me.

And so you see me now.

God moves in mysterious ways!

Let us walk back to the carriage.

Why do you look at me so curiously?

Nothing. No reason.

I've made my peace with God, now.

Only one thing ever made me fret.

That was when I thought of my child.

Snatched from me, and given to strangers.

Your child?

Aye. I told you I pleaded my belly.

I begged and I sobbed.

But they snatched her from my breast as she was suckling.

The child was a girl?

Aye, poor little mite.

I could not rest, thinking of the hands she might have fallen into.

Murdering wretches, foul fiends!

But, praise the Lord, she was saved.

After I came into my prosperity, I had inquiries made.

She had first been taken by gypsies, but ran away from them.

The Mayor of Colchester himself...

..took her in, almost as one of the family!

And I thought, she's as well there as ever she will be with me.

So my mind was set at rest.

Why, whatever is the matter, Moll?

So this woman,...

..mother to my husband,...

..is my own long-lost mother!

And I am married to my own brother!

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,

For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory,

For ever and ever,

Amen.

No, Lemuel. I don't want to.

No?

No.

Let me be tonight. I'm not well.

Please be patient with me, my love.

Surely it's not those Redcoats on the march again?

No.

They struck camp two weeks ago.

No, Lemuel, let me be!

Let you be?!

What am I supposed to do with this?

Do what you will with it. I'm not...

Take it away, Lemuel! Be told!

Molly, my love.

You have never refused me before.

Well, think yourself lucky, then.

It is a sin against God for a wife to refuse her husband.

Better that sin than a worse one.

What worse one? How can it be a sin for man and wife to lie together?

What do you mean, Moll?

What is the matter with you?

For God's sake!

'I had only postponed my difficulty'

'I reasoned that if I let him lie with me,...

..it would be the same thing we had done, in innocence.'

'A duty to my husband and to God.'

'It's the duty of a wife to make her husband happy.'

'And so I reasoned myself into incest and whoredom.'

'And made myself a hostage to the devil.'

Uh... Uhh!

Uhhh!

Praise... the... Lord!

♪ ..thoroughly from mine iniquity

♪ And cleanse me from my sins

♪ For I acknowledge my transgressions

♪ And my sin is ever before me

♪ Behold, I was shapen in iniquity

♪ And in sin conceived

♪ Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean ♪

SCREAMS WILDLY

Mother! What shall I do?

The devil is in her, sure!

No! No! We are damned!

No. No! Don't let him come near me!

Leave her now, son. She is not herself.

Your mother will be well again soon, children.

'But I knew I could not be well again with him.'

'So was my paradise turned into a desert.'

'Everywhere I looked was beauty.'

'But I saw nothing but sadness.'

'Sadness and despair.'

Go away!

Stop looking at me! I hate you!

How can you be like this?

You are killing me.

Oh, what am I to do?

'My poor husband came to hate me, for my unreasonable behaviour.'

'At times, it seems, we were all in Hell together.'

Ma'am.

Mother, would you ask your son to be so good as to pass the sauce?

Could you not ask him yourself?

Well, to keep the peace -

Tell her to shift for herself!

She does nothing for me. Nothing!

What should I do for her?

SMASH

GASPS

Oh, Moll!

That's enough!

I want to go back to England.

NO!

You shall stay until you've learnt to be a proper wife!

And to obey me, your husband!

I can't do it.

I can't touch you any more.

I'm sorry. I can hardly bear to look at you!

Let me go back to England!

Whore! Bitch!

Strumpet! Trollop!

Oh, Mother!

Where has my life gone?

Lemmy, my baby, my love.

Best face up to it and be a man.

Send her back with nothing.

As for you, miss...

Mother, can I speak with you, in private?

You call me mother?

With better reason than you know.

Please. This concerns you both.

Don't listen! She has the devil in her!

I will hear you, Moll.

SOBBING: No!

No!

Be sensible, my love.

A little talking can't do any harm.

I am truly sorry to bring this upon you.

If indeed it was I who did it.

Who else could it be?

You have been a bad wife and a bad mother.

After beginning so well.

Aye, I did begin well.

Do you remember the day you told me about the child you lost?

Why should that affect you?

I was that child.

You?!

I was born in Newgate, taken in by the Mayor of Colchester.

I am the child you lost.

We must not be enemies.

O-oh!

Moll!

O-oh...

Moll!

Daughter!

Daughter!

You must go back to England.

Immediately.

But Lemuel won't let me.

Should I tell him?

I fear it would kill him, to hear that his wife is his sister.

He's been brought up very God-fearing.

There's men I know wouldn't turn a hair, but not him.

I wish I hadn't been so strict, now. But there it is.

He wants to put me in a madhouse.

Oh, you're not mad, girl.

Though many would go mad, knowing this, and telling no-one.

I wish I had never come here.

Moll.

I've grown exceedingly fond of you.

And though sin is sin, and I'm a religious woman,...

..circumstances alter cases, I do always feel.

Couldn't you forget all you've heard and lie with him as before?

Forget he is your brother.

I could stand it, if you could.

We've all been very happy together now, haven't we?

The children need never know, poor babes.

Moll?

I cannot, Mother.

I have tried, and I cannot.

I could lie with him before I knew he was my brother.

But not now.

I could love him as a brother, but as a husband he is hateful to me.

Well, that's a pity.

This is no fault of mine, nor his.

I want to go back to England.

I should have a fair portion of our estate to take with me.

How will you get him to agree?

I think I must tell him.

Oh! I fear it would kill him.

Go from me, whore!

One step nearer,...

..I'll blow you to kingdom come!

God help me, if I don't!

Mother, leave her.

Come over here.

She is a whore and a madwoman.

And she shan't be near my children.

Lemuel, we must talk.

Talk?

Talk?!

Why would I talk to you?

You have destroyed me.

You have broken my happiness.

You have killed my heart.

You are no proper wife.

You are unnatural.

Stand away from her, Mother!

BOTH SCREAM

If I am unnatural, then so are you.

We have committed incest, Lemuel, though you never knew it.

I have discovered that I am your own sister.

You are my brother.

Your mother is my mother!

No.

No.

You filthy, lying whore!

Stand away from her, Mother!

Put that gun down, Lemmy, my love.

It's the truth.

Goodbye, Mother.

Perhaps we'll meet again.

Perhaps, my dear.

Goodbye, Lemuel.

BABY CRIES

Now, you be good boys and girls while I'm away.

Ready, ma'am? Mind your step.

Give me your hand.

'And so I left my paradise.'

'I had found my family, but now I was alone again.'

'Lemuel sent me off with a good cargo so I could make a new start.'

'I agreed never to go back in his lifetime.'

'He would put it about that I was dead, so he could marry again.'

CRASHING WAVES AND SHOUTING

'Indeed, we were all very nearly lost at sea.'

'Most of our cargo was destroyed.'

'I found myself with little more than £200 to start a new life.'

'Well, fortune-hunting was a game I knew well enough.'

'Some who had only £200 would save it, scrimp it, and eke it out.'

'But ours is an age of trade.'

'I was a going concern, my face and body my prime assets.'

'A bold investment policy was recommended.'

'I hired a fine carriage and went to Lancashire, where I was not known.'

'But where, I heard, the gentlemen were finer than in London.'

'And fine estates and fortunes were easy to come at.'

'In Lancaster, I took the best rooms in the best inn.'

'I made it known that I was a wealthy widow, visiting relations.'

Well, if this is the best, it will have to do.

It is the finest in Lancaster.

I dare say. Decent and respectable.

Though hardly good enough to receive guests in.

You may bring the baggage in.

'Before long, the fish began to bite.'

Beg your pardon, ma'am, there's a lady waiting on you.

Very well. Let her be admitted.

Quality.

Lady Flanders?

You are very good to receive me.

Not at all, Mrs Seagrave.

Though I was rather surprised.

I was travelling incognito.

Secrets are hard to keep.

And visitors of such quality are rare here.

If your wish is to be private, of course we will respect that.

All Lancashire will be silent as the grave...

..as to your passing through our county.

You are very considerate, ma'am.

But if you would honour us with your company,...

..my cousins, the Preston-Seagraves,...

..have charged me to invite you to a reception at Highpeak Hall.

My brother, James, my dear, only brother,...

..the heir to that estate,...

..desires to make your acquaintance.

He will send his carriage, if you will honour us.

You are very kind.

If I may honour you with a confidence.

My brother has seen you in your carriage.

He was so struck by your beauty,...

..which I am hardly surprised at,..

..that he says his heart is broken if you will not meet him.

He sounds rather a headstrong youth, ma'am, if I may say so.

No. No, no, indeed.

He is the best of brothers.

And, though I say it myself, the best of men.

The best of men?

How can I refuse?

What do you think?

Turn tail, or play the game for what it's worth?

Lady Flanders, this way.

My lords, ladies and gentlemen - Lady Flanders!

My dear Lady Flanders!

How good of you to come.

Now, let me introduce you to my dear brother, James.

Delighted.

She's a handsome woman.

Handsome lady, you should say.

She has a fortune of fifteen thousand pounds.

Fifteen thousand!

Now, there's a catch!

Pretty, too. And fine, strong-looking legs on her.

Get those round your back, ride a good gallop.

Fifteen thousand.

The fine birds you see when you've not your gun about you.

Your brother seems well pleased with her. And she with him.

Aye.

My brother has the art of pleasing women.

To your fine eyes, Lady Flanders.

I can't remember ever enjoying a dance so much.

We were made to dance together. What do you think?

That you've made that speech before.

Well, if I did, it was never so true as it is now.

You have a very fine house here, sir

Ah, yes.

It's only rented for the season.

My own estate lies in Ireland.

I hear that's a very pleasant country to live in.

Indeed it is.

When I find a wife, I will take her there, and breed fine horses.

I love a fine horse better than anything else in this world,...

..except one.

Yaah!

'It was not as I had planned.'

'It was supposed to be a business enterprise.'

'But Mr James Seagrave spoke to my heart.'

'And to other parts, too.'

'Indeed, I think he could have had me on any terms he wished.'

My dear Lady Flanders,... er...

I must call you by your name. Moll.

You must marry me, Moll.

What?

Marry me.