A Brief Immortality

FADE IN:

INT. B-17 - NIGHT

A thunderstorm buffets the plane. Lightning strikes the plane and shimmers harmlessly along the fuselage.

Several SOE and OSS operatives (30s), wearing parachutes, sit on benches.

SUPER: “BANSKÁ BYSTRICA, CZECHOSLOVAKIA
MARCH 1944”

MAJOR DUNCAN WEST (early 30s), with an air of command and constant bemusement straddles the struts above the bomb bay. He wears a British army uniform and sips tea from a thermos top on a neck chain.

OSS AGENT
Major, one more sip, your bladder’s gonna burst before you hit the ground.

DUNCAN
One more sip, I’ll be battle-ready.

He downs the last gulp.

INT. Office - day (FLASHBACK)

Wooden desk with telephone and tray with teapots etc. Framed photographs on the wall.

SUPER: “64 BAKER STREET
SOE HEADQUARTERS
(SPECIAL OPERATIONS EXECUTIVE)
LONDON - APRIL 1944”

At the desk sits SOE Director Major General COLIN GUBBINS, balding, mustached, severe. Duncan, in uniform, sits opposite. He shakes the last drops of tea from the pot into his cup.

DUNCAN
Why not Romania? The oilfields-

He downs the cup.

GUBBINS
-are being dealt with.

DUNCAN
But-

GUBBINS
Major, you’re the only operative who could help Tito meld his men into an army.

DUNCAN
Anybody could have done it.

INT. YUGOSLAVIAN PARTISAN CAVE - NIGHT (FLASHBACK)

Candle lit. Boxes of ammunition. Weapons. Supplies.

Three grizzled YUGOSLAVIAN PARTISANS - SERBIAN, ALBANIAN, CHETNIK (late 30s) - confront Duncan. The SERBIAN fingers Duncans’s uniform.

SERBIAN
This looks counterfeit.

CHETNIK
He might be telling the truth.

SERBIAN
You royalist fools think the West will ever help us?

CHETNIK
What would you peasants know?

ALBANIAN
At least interrogate him before we kill him.

Duncan whips out his pistol and tosses it on an ammunition crate. The partisans reach for their pistols.

DUNCAN
Go ahead and shoot me. If SoE doesn’t receive the codes, good-bye weapons, ammunition, support whatever. I don’t give a damn if you argue amongst yourselves until the nazis slaughter every single one of you. But if you’re ever to be an effective fighting force, you’re gonna have to shut the hell up and get along with each other. Agreed?

The partisans mutter among themselves.

PARTISANS
Agreed.

DUNCAN
Agreed, sir!

PARTISANS
Sir.

The Chetnik returns Duncan’s pistol to him.

BACK TO SCENE:

GUBBINS
Nobody else has your language aptitude.

DUNCAN
Side effect of a classics degree.

GUBBINS
Operation Welding will make Yugoslavia look tiny.

DUNCAN
Impossible.

GUBBINS
It’s called the Slovak National Uprising. You will liaise with Lieutenant Colonel Jan Golian.

He rises.

GUBBINS
Unless, of course, you prefer to rest your arse on your commendations.

He salutes. Exits. Duncan returns the salute. Futilely shakes the teapot.

He withdraws a lavender envelope from his tunic. Studies the back: an embossed family crest with a return address of Pietrosul România. He inhales the letter. Sighs.

INT. BRIGHTON - HALL - DAY (FLASHBACK)

Tables with chess players, including Duncan and ILONA ARANYO (late 20s), Romanian, intense. Her art-deco dress emphasizes her bobbed black hair and pale skin.

SUPER: “BRIGHTON - MAY 1939”

Duncan moves his queen. Taps the chess clock knob. Ilona moves a pawn.

Surprised, Duncan scratches his head. Tips his king over.

They shake hands. Smile at each other.

B.G., Ilona’s parents, COUNT and COUNTESS ARANYO (late 40s), elegant, exchange alarmed glances. The countess shakes her head. The count nods.

BACK TO SCENE:

PILOT
(on speaker)
Drop zone coming up.

The hydraulics open the bomb bay doors.

OSS OPERATIVE
See you on the ground, major.

DUNCAN
As you Yanks say, Geronimo!

OSS OPERATIVE
With feeling, sir! With feeling!

DUNCAN
GERONIMOOOOOO ...

Duncan plunges into the air.

FX. DUNCAN’S JUMP

Duncan opens his parachute. Struggles to control it in the whipping wind and rain. Steers towards a glow on the ground that enlarges to a circle of burning oil.

EXT. FIELD - NIGHT

Duncan lands in the circle of fire. Rolls. Unhooks the parachute. Slides his pistol out of his holster. Rises to find armed GERMAN SOLDIERS encircling him.

DUNCAN
Didn’t expect to be greeted by all these smiling faces.

A soldier chambers a round.

Duncan drops his pistol. Slowly raises his hands.

ESTABLISH WAWEL CASTLE - NIGHT

A massive 1300s edifice.

SUPER: “WAWEL CASTLE
GENERALGOUVERNEMENT FÜR DIE
BESETZTEN POLNISCHEN GEBIETE
KRAKOW, POLAND”

INT. WAWEL CASTLE - LIBRARY - NIGHT

Wood paneling. Large Nazi flag.

Three men in Nazi uniforms study a map of Europe on a table. HANS FRANK (40s), Governor General of Occupied Poland, widow’s peak, scowling; COLONEL HELMUT GERHARDT (30s), angular, dueling scar on his cheek and MAJOR GENERAL OTTO MADELHARL (late 40s), portly, fastidious.

Frank indicates a red line drawn from Krakow to the Ploiesti oil fields in Romania.

FRANK
The Amerikaners and the island monkeys have cut off the southern route. Without a northern one, lack of oil will kill us all.

HELMUT
So Governor General?

FRANK
There’s a chieftain, Vlad Tsepesh, controlling the Carpathian passes, Oberst Gerhardt.

OTTO
Vlad? A name for Bolshevik scum.

FRANK
Then, Otto, make him OUR scum.

OTTO
Romania? It’ so- so- unsanitary.

FRANK
Be sure to wash your hands.

OTTO
And vampires!

FRANK
(laughs)
Eat lots of garlic. Heil Hitler.

HELMUT, OTTO
Heil Hitler.

EXT. POW CAMP - COOKHOUSE - DAY

Barbed wire. Guard towers. Barracks.

SUPER: “OFLAG VIII-E
JOHANNISBRUNN, CZECHOSLOVAKIA”

A gaunt Duncan, his uniform filthy, clutching his knapsack, kneels beside the cookhouse. A POW LOOKOUT peers around the corner at-

-three BRITISH POWs (20s) loading food waste garbage cans into a truck with a canvas back flap.

POW LOOKOUT
Sir, if you leave, who’s gonna keep this lot in order?

DUNCAN
You’ll find someone.

POW LOOKOUT
You’ve got it so easy. The war’s gonna be over in a few months.

DUNCAN
The reason I must leave now.

POW LOOKOUT
Why?

DUNCAN
To find someone.

POW LOOKOUT
Lots of someones are gonna be looking for you.

FRITZ (early 30s) in a great coat, rifle slung, signals POW #1 to join him beside the truck. He slides a bottle of schnapps from beneath his coat. POW #1 removes a box of Red Cross chocolate from his tunic.

POW #1
You know, Fritzie, you're coming out way ahead.

FRITZ
When was the last time you even TASTED alcohol?

POW #2
My last drink was made from the finest barley and pure spring water, not that shit we’re loading on the lorry.

SERGEANT
Shit?

He jerks the bottle back. POW #1 jerks the chocolate back. They glare at each other.

The sergeant reluctantly extends the bottle. He and POW #1 exchange. POW #1 takes a sip from the bottle. Fritz takes a bite of the chocolate. Both smile.

Behind the flap, POW #2 bends down to tie his bootlace. The POW lookout nods to POW #3, who stoops. Threads his fingers together.

Duncan quickly eases from behind the cookhouse. Steps into POW #3’s fingers, who helps him vault onto POW #2’s back and into the truck.

Duncan eases himself into an empty can. POW #2 jumps into the back.

POW #2
You’re in no shape to travel, Major West.

DUNCAN
I must go.

POW #4
We’ll keep you safe till- Uh-oh. Fartin' Fritzie.

Duncan ducks. POW #2 lowers the lid on the can.

Fritz drags himself onto truck.

FRITZ
Removen sie die Deckel. Schnell!

At POW #4’s blank look, the sergeant bangs the lid of a can with his rifle barrel.

POW #2
Fritzie, that's a very bad idea.

The sergeant aims his rifle at POW #2. POW #4 removes the lid and fans the reek of a disgusting stew of rotting bones, potato and cabbage towards Fritz.

POW #2
Ah, smells like Berlin 1945!

Retching, Fritz stumbles out of the truck.

POW #2 jumps down and latches the flap. Slaps the side of the truck. The engine revs.

INT. FIELD CAR - NIGHT

Helmut drives through a deserted village - roofs caving in. Windows broken. Otto is in the passenger seat.

HELMUT
Looks like Pavoloch after the cleansing. Your handiwork?

OTTO
(muffled)
Absolutely not.

Helmut glances at Otto, now wearing a gas mask.

EXT. FOREST - NIGHT

A horse-drawn, straw-filled cart with a grizzled CART DRIVER. Five armed SLOVAKIAN PARTISANS (20s-40s), camouflage uniforms, cups of schnapps in hand, cluster around Duncan, with his neck-chained teacup.

PARTISAN LEADER
If you hadn’t been captured, squabbling wouldn’t have ruined the uprising. Zdravi.

The partisans toast.

EVERYONE
Zdravi.

The partisan leader clasps Duncan by the shoulders.

PARTISAN LEADER
Major, your mission is over.

Duncan hands an envelope to him.

DUNCAN
Make sure that Ilona Aranyo receives this. Her father is the mayor of Pietrosul.

Duncan climbs into the cart.

DUNCAN
Să mergem!

The driver cracks the whip and the cart jolts off.

PARTISAN LEADER
(shouts)
We promised get you to Malta!

Duncan covers himself with straw.

PARTISAN LEADER
COME BACK!

EXT. BRIGHTON - ESPLANADE - DAY (FLASHBACK)

Duncan and Ilano lean over the rail, observing a water skier.

DUNCAN
Admit it, Ilona? After all the hours I spent learning Romanian. I scare you off saying
(mispronouncing)
“Te iubesc”? Do you know how difficult it is for an Englishman to say, “I love you.”

ILONA
You mean, “Te iubesc.”

DUNCAN
Glad to hear you finally admitting it.

ILONA
Correcting your pronunciation.

DUNCAN
The way you put your hand on my shoulder. The way you wrinkle your lips when you smile. Even the way your roll your eyes when I speak my mind. They all whisper, “I love you.”

ILONA
Your hearing’s playing tricks on you.

DUNCAN
Is there someone in Pietrosul?

ILONA
Absolutely not!

DUNCAN
Because I’m English and you’re Romanian. Class differences? Culture?

ILONA
No! No! No!

DUNCAN
Then why do you doubt how much I care for you?

ILONA
I’m not doubting.

DUNCAN
Certainly feels like it.

B.G., a Rolls-Royce pulls to a stop. Ilona’s parents, emerge from a Rolls Royce and stride towards the couple. Two THUGS (30s) dark suits, bowler hats, follow.

ILONA
Not doubt.

DUNCAN
Skepticism then.

ILONA
If I do doubt, it’s only because doubt enabled women to survive for centuries.

Count Aranyo grabs Ilona’s right arm, the Countess her left. They drag her away.

ILONA
Mama? Papa?

Duncan lunges for Count Aranyo. They drag her away.

DUNCAN
Hey!

Passers-by watch in shock as the thugs pinion Duncan’s arms. He knees Thug #1 in the groin. Thug #1 drops. Thug #2 clips Duncan in the back of the neck. He falls.

Ilona’s parents shove her into the back seat of the Rolls.

ILONA
Duncan! Help!

Duncan rises. Thug #2 kicks him in the gut. Duncan staggers.

Employing every technique forbidden by the Marquis of Queensberry, Duncan soon has the moaning thugs sprawled on the ground.

The Rolls speeds away. Ilona struggles to blow Duncan a kiss through the rear window but her father drags her down.

DUNCAN
Ilooo-

Duncan raises his leg to kick Thug #1 who shrinks into a fetal position.

DUNCAN
I never kick half-a-man when he’s down.